Hunkered Down, and 2010-Bound

The twenty three inches of snow we got last week is melting fast after hanging around for a week. But I have figured out how to put the remaining mounds to good use: We now have a rather large-ish, walk-out Diet Mtn. Dew refrigerator.The caffeine will be timely and appreciated, as I am spending the week in The Cave trying to knock off my first of three,...

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Christmas Lights and Lighting Christmas

So, we're definitely gonna have a white Christmas here in Maryland. We are buried in snow, with the high between now and Christmas only hitting the mid 30's. That stuff ain't goin' nowhere.I took advantage of the first pristine evening to do a twilight photo of our house with the Christmas lights, right out of the tutorial that was referenced last...

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On Assignment: Photography for Social Media

I have been getting a new type of assignment over the last few months that I would have never anticipated even a year ago: Shooting corporate headshots and portraits specifically designed to be used in social media.If you are a photographer who is savvy with Facebook and Twitter, you might do well to hook up with forward-thinking people who are heavy...

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DIY Awesomeness: Level-Headed Light Stand Mod

We love Reuben Krabbe's lazy-leg light stand mod so much we will be more than happy to help pimp his blatant appeal for new followers on Twitter and Facebook.This mod is designed for a standard light stand. But for those of you who use compact, 5-section light stands, remember that they work differently because of the 180-degree leg-fold design. Just eyeballing it, my thinking is that the extra holes on the leg -- going further down the leg -- would have to be spaced much tighter than two inches. (Half an inch, maybe?) I'd line it up and check...

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"Donner, Party of Four, Please…"

We are snowbound here at Strobist World Headquarters, 14 inches into a forecast two feet of snow. The whole Mideast Atlantic is getting pummeled. I'm an indoor cat today, not at all missing the mandatory snow art assignment at The Sun. We are (I hope) sufficiently stocked up on food, and cracking the occasional "Modest Proposal" sub-reference around...

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Nikon Shotguns the Web With Goodness

Hey, you. If you are a Nikon shooter and use CLS, you definitely want to head over to Nikon's site for three new free lighting vids. Heck, even if you aren't a Nikon type, it's worth the watch for the McNally lighting theory tidbits.There are three vids so far: here, here and here.Big props to Nikon USA for moving into high-quality, free instructional...

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10m Nikon/Canon TTL Cords Now on Ebay

After several months of use, I am a pretty big fan of my YongNuo 10-meter TTL cord.Most of the time I do not use it for TTL. But I frequently use it as a rock-solid, quick PC cord that can also handle FP sync when I want to do an f/2.8 portrait, lit in full sun. And if you are using CLS, it is also great for getting the master flash to a place where...

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On Assignment: What, Me Worry?

When on an assignment, my goal is for the actual shoot to be as worry-free as possible. That's why I try to get all of my worrying done beforehand.Some people call this as "pre-production" work, but I tend to think of it as worrying in advance. A worrisome, pre-planning walk-thru, inside__________I did an assignment a couple weeks ago for a magazine...

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Canon G11 Review, One Month In

The Canon Powershot G11, the latest evolution of the G-cam line, represents a marked improvement over its predecessors -- which is really saying something. It is a point-and-shoot that can take real photos, and quickly has become my near-constant companion. With its hot shoe and easily fudge-able sync speed, it is a great second body for those lighting...

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Dan Winters on The Candid Frame

Something to make your 8-hour sentence in the soulless cubicle a little more palatable today: An outstanding, long-form audio interview with photographer Dan Winters, by Ibarionex R. Perello.You can stream the audio here (right click to D/L) or listen in iTunes here. Lots of other cool interviews on The Candid Frame, too. And you can subscribe through...

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As if Merely Drawing Lighting Diagrams Weren't Geek Enough …

Janis Lanka and Isa Goksu have released Strobox, a (free) app for the iPhone. With it, you can create lighting diagrams directly on your Precious.No connection to this site other than the similarity in the name, which is apparently a combination of the words "Strobe" and "Botox" or something. Direct link to app in the iTunes Store, here. Five-star...

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Five-Minute Portrait, Dean Collins Style

Software Cinema has released another of the 27 shoots on the 'best of' Dean Collins DVD set into the wilds of YouTube, following up on the hot lights motorcycle shoot. And this time it is a 14-min video of an annual report cover Collins did of two airline bigwigs back in the '80s.Hit the jump for parts one and two, and links to the full DVD set.__________(If...

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Multumesc, and Spasiba

Thanks to the concerted efforts of several multi-lingual readers, Lighting 101 has been released in two more languages: Romanian and Russian.The Romanian team included Christian Vladoaica, Anica Pandrea and Andrei Botesteanu. The Romanian translation can be retrieved as a pdf here, via Mediafire.The Russian team included Dmitry Mayorov, Irene Ponomarova, Kosmynin Ivan and Max Polivanov. The Russian translation can be retrieved here. Many thanks, in many languages. (And cool design, on both!) More L101 translations are in the pipeline.-...

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On Assignment: Prep Quarterback

I love football.My first 50 or so assignments as a stringer for the Leesburg Commercial in central Florida in the early '80's were high school football games. We were shooting in towns like Eustis, Umatilla, Tavares and Groveland, who at that time could claim exactly one McDonald's restaurant between them. It was small-town (but not small-time) high...

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An Exercise in Seeing Light

This time of year, I usually take a moment to point to an archive post from 2006 on how to photograph holiday lights.It is a fun (and festive) exercise in getting a feel for how your camera sees relative light levels differently than you do. In addition to being a good excuse to spend a little quality time with your family, the improved understanding...

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First Look: Pixel TR-331 TTL Remote Nikon Triggers

UPDATE #1: Full manual has been uploaded (as a .jpg) here. Off-camera TTL flash is easy to figure out and works pretty well. But iTTL (i.e., master/slave TTL multiflash) continues to elude me.UPDATE #2: We have our beta tester. Please, no more volunteers...Just got in an early set of Pixel TR-331 (Nikon compatible) TTL remote triggers. First look,...

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Choosing Big Lights: AlienBees

The last installment of the Big Lights series is a look at AlienBees, a very popular line of studio strobes available in the US -- and recently, in Australia/NZ. But before I get into them, I will preface the post with this: Early this fall when it came time for me to pull the trigger, I was having a very difficult time deciding between the Elinchrom...

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On Assignment: Planes and Arrows

As part of a long-term project I am working on with a local school, I popped into the gym after school recently to shoot archery practice. And it brought to mind a quickie tip for lighting big spaces.A gym is a big-volume place, full of ugly light. You can't hope to light the whole thing very effectively with a few speedlights. But you can light selective...

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