November 1st Means Fire Sales on Fog Machines

It's that time of year again -- Halloween is almost in the books and anyone who sells those cheapo novelty fog machines will be pretty much giving them away tomorrow morning.They only start out at about $30, were in the low $20's by today and soon will be about ten bucks. The fog juice will be cheap, too.They don't work too great (they tend to gum...

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On Assignment: Reluctant Poet

I spent the morning recently with poet Linda Joy Burke, doing photos which were to be used for publicity and marketing. We chose as our location Ellicott City, MD, a neat little historic town that was convenient for both of us.Linda Joy is a free spirit and a very creative person. So I knew I would be able to play a little with the lighting. But, like...

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UK Readers, Save the Date: London Lighting Seminars Coming December 6th and 7th

Just a quick note to the UK folks: I am in London in early December, so I have booked a classroom at ULU for two full-day lighting seminars. We'll be doing the regular format (see here for example). The current exchange rate means the price will be £129,00.Registration opens Monday, Nov 3rd, at 8:00 p.m. (2000 hours) London time. Full info and links to register via PayPal will be posted at that time.-...

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OT, But Critical and Time Sensitive: Digital Railroad Implosion Info

Please pardon the OT post. It's a bit of an emergency for many shooters. Thanks.__________If your stuff is on Digital Railroad, which is shutting down in such an abrupt way as to hose its photographers, you have until midnight on Oct 31st (PST/GMT-8) to migrate your stuff to someplace safe. Even this short time frame was won of hard negotiation.This is way off topic for this site, and I have thus far resisted the urge to go off-niche to cover this story. But I am sure that many readers are affected, and DRR simply is not giving its shooters time...

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Nick Turpin Ditches his SB-800s for a Cell Phone

(RSS and email subscribers may have to click on the post title to see the video.)Remember Nick Turpin, who did those beautiful SB-800-lit street portraits of thriller writers for Arena Magazine?Now, he has ditched even those and is shooting his current month-long campaign for Samsung using only a cell phone. No DSLRs, no flashes, no female assistants holding long poles. And he is not even in control of what he is shooting -- you are. Your clicks on each new photo in the the evolving site decide where he is going next. It is live now, at The Photographic...

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FYI: DIY PVC CSB

I finally got a chance to meet Peter Geller, of California Sunbounce, at PDN's Photo East shindig up in NYC last week. He had all of CSB's toys strewn out in a way that is very unfair to those of us looking to escape the show with our wallets intact.Their system is totally comprehensive and can create just about any light-modifying setup you could...

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On-Axis Fill: Ring Fill Against Restricted Light

Having begun to explore fill with a ring flash, I knew there would be other ways to push light from on or near the lens axis. But before I tried them out, I wanted to learn how a ring light fill would work in combination with a more restricted key light.Hard key light leaves hard shadows. And if you are not taking into account the ambient light (maybe...

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Great Video on Overclocking Your Sync Speed

We talked about this in the sunset tiki hut portrait a ways back, but wedding shooter David Ziser has put together a well-done twelve-minute tutorial on working above your flash's native sync speed for outdoor lit portraiture.(This, of course, does not get you anywhere near the insane sync speeds with the SB-800 diagnostic mode detailed early last April, but it is way easier to pull of, with no complicated button sequences...)See the original post at Digital Pro Talk. Thanks to David for the vid and to everyone that let me know about it.-...

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Nikon SB-900: Joe Bob Goes to the Movies

Those of you of a certain age will remember Joe Bob Briggs, who used to review guys' movies for the newspapers the way a guy would want a movie reviewed. Steel Magnolias? Zero stars. Way too much emotional junk.Texas Chain Saw Massacre? Instant classic -- it has chain saws, fer cryin' out loud. Get the Oscar buzz started!I was very disappointed to...

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Heading to the Big Apple

I'll be out of touch up in NYC without a laptop this week at Photo Plus Expo for a full schedule of meetings, booth browsing and cocktail imbibing. Please say hi if you happen to see a dumpy, middle-aged photographer walking around the convention floor sporting a "Strobist" credential. (Yes, we're sending the entire editorial staff...)I'll be at hanging out the MPEX booth (they got DVD specials and "dozens" of vintage Nikon SB's) on Friday from 11:00 a.m. to lunch time. Also, Joe McNally will be demo'ing speedlights at the Nikon booth Thursday...

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On-Axis Fill: Experimenting with Ring as Fill

Having talked about the inspiration to learn more about on-axis fill, I'd like to work through the process of studying a lighting idea to the point where you become totally comfortable with it.For better or worse, my goal is for this experience to serve as a sort of template for how I approach a new lighting technique.This week deals with first attempts...

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And the September Pocketwizards go to...

Congrats to German photographer Puthan Valiyandi, who used a set of eBay remotes to win himself a set of Pocketwizard Plus II's in September's video contest. The coolest part of the video? Gotta be the "flashlight" mod. I want one.We still have two more sets to give away -- details here.-...

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Gels: New Developments

I am busy working on the next post for the on-axis light series for Monday. But I wanted to take a moment to bring you up to speed on some new gel-related stuff. After the jump, two new small-flash-related gel items, and an "I Know a Guy" gel source so cool I almost wished I lived in LA. Almost.Hold Everything: The LumiQuest FXtra Gel HolderLumiQuest's...

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Steve E. Miller Knocks 'em Dead

I worked at newspaper for twenty years, and to be honest I do not think I could have ever sold an idea to shoot dead artists for a fall arts preview package.My problem, of course, was that I shot for the mainstream media, and not the alternative media. In that world, they come up with the dead artists idea all by themselves and ask you to shoot it.Which...

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Platon Interview on Russia Today

Alert Reader Tom Hayton was searching for the photographer Platon on YouTube and found this 25-minute interview from Russia Today, a channel I can safely say I almost never get to watch.Two things: One, this is not about light but does give a very good look into Platon's approach and bedside manner. It's an interesting look into some of the thinking that goes into photographing famous (or infamous) people. Remember, Platon is Mr. Hotshot in Russia after the Putin Time MoY cover. He figured out his light a long time ago, and its the interpersonal...

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On-Axis Fill: Introduction

A few months ago I was talking about lighting stuff on the phone with Peter Yang and the subject got around to small flashes.We were talking about old Nikon speedlights (SB-24's, 26's, etc.) when he mentioned that he liked to work with an on-camera speedlight even while he was shooting with the big Profoto 7B lights off-camera."You know," he said,...

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Today, on the Strobist Surgery Channel...

Remember the chicken neck-breakin' version of making your SB-800 rotate around to 135 degrees in the other direction? Yeah, well, as of today that method has now been ruled Barbarian and out-of date. Watch as South Carolina shooter Lee Morris shows you how to do it the civilized way -- and it is pretty darn easy. Being a smart guy, Lee sticks his portfolio in at the end, too.Note that the video seems to load a little slowly, so you might want to let is play for 30 secs and then back it up to keep it going nonstop.Again, the reason you really want...

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Bert Stephani: Mo' Bounce to da Ounce

I am in the air all day today, flying back from Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Bert Stephani is across the pond, pretending he is in L.A. So I will leave you in his able hands, as he invades a public beach with a California Sunbounce Micro and a kickin' pair of ND-8 filters over his eyes.(Seriously, I love Bert's videos.)See stills from the shoot on Bert's blog. More info on the CSB here.-...

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Speedlinks, 10/3/2008

First things first: I really need to do a sig photo for the speedlinks. I'm thinkin' tastily lit macro shot of two sausage links sizzling on the griddle. Got any other ideas? Comment 'em to me below.Until then, your latest batch of artless speedlinks, after the jump:__________• Robert Benson blogs about an insane man named Mark J. Rebilas, who will PW-remote his cameras just about anywhere. Holy crap, would you strap your DSLR to one of those airborne BMX bikes? Company body -- yeah, maybe. Personal body -- uh, no.• Elinchrom has debuted a new...

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And Now, Your Moment (It Clicks) of Zen

Photo © 2008 Carlton SooHooEver wonder what it's like to go to a Joe McNally seminar? This is what it's like. But honestly, a small still photo doesn't really replicate the full Joe McNally geargasm experience. No, sir. For that you need to see the 360-VR stitched panorama.(Server crash in 3, 2, 1...)___________Thanks to Carlton SooHoo for the pic,...

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