On Assignment: Monteverde Institute

One of my reasons for going to Costa Rica was to do some work for the Monteverde Institute. At MVI, visiting college students come to learn about the biodiversity and ecological sustainability for which Costa Rica is famous.Much of the day was spent shooting students in various environments at the school. But we also went up into the forest behind...

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Mount Quackatoa

Okay, so it is really the Arenal Volcano in La Fortuna, Costa Rica, not the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia. But who can pass up a pun that bad?Not me, that's who.I'm back from Costa Rica and digging through the mountain of email. But I could not resist sticking a photo our trip mascot up. For those of you who have been living under a rock, it's from...

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Is That a Soft Box in Your Pocket or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

The LED lights that come built-in to our cell phone cameras are generally useless. But not so the lights built into the cell phone screens themselves.I am pretty much married to my iPhone now. Well, maybe not technically, but we are sleeping together. I am a huge fan of the BBC podcasts: Global News, Business Daily, FOOC, etc., and listen as I fall...

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Speedlinks: 01/22/2009

Greetings from Monteverde, Costa Rica, where we have learned the difference between hotels which have wifi, and hotels which have working wifi. (All of our hotels have been among the former.)I am dropping this week's speedlinks in via the mooched wifi from the Pensione Santa Elena, which is a very cool hub for young travelers (I used to be one of those) in an amazing cloud forest community. So far, we have had extremely close contact with a five-foot iguana, toucans, white-faced monkeys and a scorpion (he was in our hotel room.) Among the topics...

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Annie and Sean Connery for Louis Vuitton: The Light Touch

Reading the section about lighting in Annie Leibovitz's At Work book, I was intrigued by the idea of running a big source off camera essentially as off-camera fill in a neutral ambient-based exposure. (This is compared to dropping the ambient a stop or two and overpowering it with a big light.)It looks like this is what she is doing for this fashion...

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Packing Light for Central America

I am headed to the Arenal volcano area of Costa Rica, for a shoot at an ecological institute and for some fun with the family. I have been before, and am looking forward to dodging sticks thrown at us by the howler monkeys.It is easy to pack when going on a trip just for fun -- a good point-and-shoot and maybe a slaved speedlight. Ditto packing for...

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I'm at Scott's House Today

You know how when you were a kid, sometimes you'd head over to a friend's house to play -- and their place would be way nicer than yours?You know, like maybe they had a pool and a trampoline and indoor plumbing and everything?Today, I got invited to do a guest post on Scott Kelby's blog. You know, that Scott Kelby. Mr. Entire Photoshop Industry. So,...

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Strobist Lighting DVDs Translated Into English

Okay, not exactly.They are still full of mispronunciations and numerous grammatical errors, so as to remain true to the website. But at least they are now available reasonably in the UK and EU. If you drive on the left side of the road and think football is played with your feet, keep reading.__________The Flash Centre, seen here propping up reader...

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Back to Basics: How to Choose an Umbrella

Umbrellas are cheap, portable little light softeners. But there are enough choices available to make picking the right one a little confusing. Or worse yet, to end up with something that is completely a wrong fit.Below are some of the pros and cons of each of the major types of umbrella. You'll find that choosing is easy, once you figure out how you...

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Take Nothing But Pictures, Leave Nothing But Footprints

If your spouse (okay, statistically speaking for this site, your wife) found out how much you truly spent on photo gear in 2008, what would she do?Why, she would grab one of your 5-section compact light stands and beat you to death with it, that's what she'd do. Fortunately, the light stand would still be usable for whoever bought it at your estate...

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From the Invisible Hand Department

Adam Smith would be so proud.Effective January 1st of this year, ExpoImaging has dropped the price on the Ray Flash ring flash adapter to $199.95. ExpoImaging notes that the price drop is a result of their now being able to purchase the Ray Flash direct from the manufacturer, which removes a layer of distribution costs. (Heck that's cool by us. We'll...

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On Assignment: Manil Suri

One of the joys of being a photographer is the opportunity to spend your life intersecting with a steady stream of very interesting people. One such recent encounter was with author Manil Suri (The Death of Vishnu and The Age of Shiva), who I photographed for a literary magazine.I never seem to have enough time these days to indulge in reading much...

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2008 Weblog Awards Finalists Announced

"We'd like to thank our parents, the Academy, the people who make black straws, Gary Fong and..." Oh, wait. We've only been nominated for the 2008 Weblog Awards. We haven't actually won anything yet. We're just a finalist. Hey, but being nominated is cool, too, right? Right? Hello?Kidding aside, I am quite stoked to announce that that not only was...

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The Profoto Pro-8 Knows You Like it Fast

You remember at the end of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, where Jeff "Surf's Up" Spicoli hires Van Halen to play his birthday party? Why on earth would someone do something like that?Because they can. Which is exactly why Profoto hired Annie Leibovitz to shoot a series of portraits of Conny Dufgran, (co-founder and chairman of Profoto) for their 40th...

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