On Assignment: Teeny Tiny Halophiles

I was shooting scientists at the Center of Marine Biology at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore recently. Typical in-lab stuff, as in this through-the-window shot of work being done in a refrigerated incubator.

But what really caught my eye was a collection of halophile living in pure salt crystals. They would indeed be pretty happy in such a crystal, as the very definition of a halophile is an organism that can thrive in a high-salinity environment. They can even withstand extreme radiation to survive in space. Very cool stuff.

But the crystals in which the salt-o-holics were living were barely a quarter inch across. Not even the size of a pencil eraser. So even with my D300 crop on a 55 micro, I was not going to get close enough.

That is one reason why I always carry my point-and-shoot with me when shooting a job. Not only can it gather audio and/or video in a pinch, but it gets insanely close in macro mode.

Inside, a walk-thru of my efforts at getting a decent shot of the little pink buggers with a consumer camera.
__________


My Ultra-Macro Kit

As I have said before, I am big on getting detail shots. And when those details are of something really small, here's my extreme macro setup:


A Canon G9, an SB-800 out of my speedlight bag and the ten-meter version of YongNuo's aftermarket TTL cord. (The link is to the 1m version.)

That cord, by the way, is also my fail-safe remote trigger for my DSLRs just in case I am working in an environment so cluttered with RF that the Pocket Wizards go crazy.

I saw the 10m cord at PMA this year, and wrangled a sample out of YongNuo with some sweet talkin' (and a little ~$50 PayPal chaser). They do not normally sell direct, and if I had a retail source for these or I would link it. If you know where to snag one, please hit us in the comments.

I love it because it gives me some wiggle room as to where I place my closest corded SB-800, then I can slave all of the other '800's off of that flash. Great to have in a pinch, and no batts required. And with the Nikon version cord on the Canon G9, it makes the camera think there is no flash on top. Still fires the corded flash, but the camera does not limit the shutter speed to 1/500th. Which of course, makes it great for hi-speed syncing up to 1/2500th of a sec.

But in this case, it would allow me to use that cord length to position my flash wherever I wanted in a macro environment. So it fits the bill nicely.


Right out of the gate I tried something to use the crystals as lenses of sorts. I figured they would bend the light and highlight the colonies of halophiles living inside.

My background is a sheet of printer paper, which is always easy to scrounge. I laid the crystals on the paper, and placed the flash a few inches away, lying on the same paper. This gave a hard angle to the light to get the cool transmissive qualities of the crystals. A second, folded sheet of paper on the other side for fill and you keep your contrast range manageable.



Here is the diagram. Nothing great, just a first look.

And here is a good example of what I was talking about earlier, as far as neutral density filters being very useful. My limits on the G9 were ISO 80, at f/8. Even at a 128th power on the SB-800, you can only bring that flash in to about 10 inches before you are too hot. A little ND on the flash would give me a lot more flexibility for light placement. Be nice to get in closer with the light on a subject this tiny.

As you can see in the highly technical scale drawing, the G9 gets me so close the front element is almost touching the crystals. You can only get this close on the wide setting of the lens, and with the camera set in macro mode.

Speaking of the G9, I skipped the G10 but am pining for the new Canon G11, as they finally went after the only thing that was wrong with these little gems -- chip noise at higher ISOs. They actually dropped the megapixels and went for better quality. Hallelujah. Plus, it has an articulating screen, which will be awesome for video.

So this is (maybe) okay for a first attempt. But the translucence of the crystals isn't really happening for me, and there is no relief showing the internal imperfections in which the halophiles are growing. Strike one.


For a second try, I backlight them. Same gear setup, but now I am shooting through the crystals and right into the light source. I used a piece of printer paper as a diffuser in between. This is starting to make the halophile colonies look better, but what I really need is a dark background -- with backlight -- to highlight the imperfections and colonies.



Here is the diagram for that one. The counter is actually a very dark gray, but I am picking up the reflections of the backlight paper because of my shooting angle. So it all looks white.

Again, close but no cigar -- strike two.

I can see the transparent qualities of the crystal, but the internal imperfections are washed over by the white backlight.


By raising my shooting angle up a little, I get the dark gray countertop as my background, and still get that backlight refracted by the imperfections in the crystals.

Ooooo, that's a BINGO.

Now, you get both the translucent and transparent qualities of both the crystals and halophiles from one light source. And a with a sheet of printer paper as your only light mod, no less.



Here is the angle. Same, exact lighting setup as above, but the elevated camera angle makes the difference. Swaps the white background for a dark one, and now the crystals pop.

Raiding the printer paper drawer is standard operating procedure when I am going to shoot anything small. I'll almost always be able to use paper as a background, a tiny light tent, a reflector -- something.


A Sucker for the Little Hacks

I spent all day shooting photos like the one at the top of the post -- three or four speedlights, gels, etc.

But the one I was most pleased with at the end of the day was the halophiles in crystal on the dark background. And the scientists were pretty psyched, too. As far as they know, no one had yet made a quality close-up of halophile colonies embedded in salt crystals.

So I got that going for me. Which is nice.

If you want to see more about what they are studying, start here. Suffice to say, those hardy little guys will dance on our graves. Amazing little creatures -- and even more of a salt-o-holic than I am.
__________


(For many more articles like this, see the On Assignment section.)

Read More

Rosco Thinks Big by Thinking Small

Okay, so maybe I am predisposed to like this new gel kit, what with that catchy name and all. But this was the result of a very organic collaboration between a web community and an existing business, in which we were both the problem and the solution.

Basically, too much of a good thing almost made the good thing go away. Then we saved it by making the good thing better.

More, inside.
__________



A Little Backstory

Rosco has long had a sample program, wherein they give away packs of gels that are sized to do a serviceable job as small flash gels.

As long as you extend them a little (and don't mind the spindle hole) you can surf the whole rainbow for free if you can get your mitts on a pack or two. This program chugged along just fine, with the sample packs serving as a nice gateway drug for the full-sized, $7 20x24-inch sheets.

After all, how useful is a sample gel for a ProPhoto shooter? Not very.

But people were always quietly using the sample packs for small flashes, holes or no holes. You'd use the "good" gels and chuck the rest. A little wasteful, but what the hell -- they're free, right?

And that works fine, as long as some bonehead doesn't come along and send a gazillion people emailing in for free sample packs. Which is exactly what happened.

They went from losing an acceptable amount of money to losing way, way too much money on the free samples. Just because the gels were free to us does not mean they were free for Rosco. Ditto the multiple, full-time positions they had dedicated to cutting and assembling them. (Heck, I thought they had, like, a replicator or something ... )

So, about a year ago the sample program was put on the chopping block. Which was, of course, the worst possible outcome. So I got in touch with a man named Joel Svendsen at Rosco, and we put our heads together to come up with a solution.


The Strobist Collection



So, there it is. There are 55 gels in all -- multiple copies of the really useful ones, with no holes. (Only single copies are shown here, for illustration of color selection.) The kit is $9.95, suggested retail price. And while $9.95 is not as good as free, free was not going to keep happening.

There have been several parties -- individuals like Mason Trullinger and stores like MPEX -- buying big gels and cutting them into kits for resale. But the scale was not sufficient to offset the problem of the demand for increasingly expensive free samples.

With this kit (not free but still chump change on the photo gear scale) we go from nearly exploiting a situation to death to sustaining it. I think this is a fantastic solution by Rosco, as they were full ready to kill the sample program before we got them to think about it differently.

Because of the multiple copies of the most-used gels, one kit should last several times longer than a typical sample pack. And this is an honest transactional model which is sustainable for Rosco, for photo retailers and for small-flash photographers.

Plus, I'm gonna make an absolute killing in licensing fees.

(Kidding.)

Actually I am not getting any money from Rosco, because licensing fees paid by them at the OEM level would be roughly tripled by the time they were passed through a distributor and on to retail. Futher, Strobist has committed to advertising support for the project in the form of 3,000,000 free pageviews for a banner ad for the packs. I want to see them succeed and I hope you'll support them, too.


Which Colors, and Why

A lot of thought went into the color and frequency selection, and I think we did a good job with it.


Five each:

• Full-cut, half and quarter CTO's and CTB's. In addition to their primary use as light balancing gels, this provides a calibrated warm-up/cool-down capability. Additionally, they offset each other (in identical strengths) for cool/warm dual lighting. Where both lights hit, the light is neutral, but shadows from each light are warm or cool. (Neat building blocks for cool portraiture or conceptual product/still life. CTO's and CTB's are among the most useful gels in the Rosco library.

• Rosco 08 - The classic gel for skin on a key light. Once you shoot skin with a slight warming gel, you will never go back. I go back and forth between this and a 1/8 CTO, but I think the #08 is better. Leave your camera WB on daylight and warm the key light. Why warm the whole frame, ambient and all, by WB'ing to flash setting? Warm just the subject and leave those background skies blue.

• Tough Plusgreen - For balancing with cool fluorescents. In a pinch, this can be combined with varying degrees of CTO warming gels (see above) to balance with warmer fluorescents.

[NOTE: In this setup, your photos would be warm, overall. But the flash and FL's would be consistent, which is the important thing. You then shift it all to neutral in post. And besides, I have a an idea for an all-in solution for flash and *any* color of light source coming shortly. Stay tuned.]


Two each:

• N9, N6 and N15 neutral density (ND) filters -- These will make any manual flash more useful. In 1/2-, 2- and 3-stop strengths, you can turn a full-power-only eBay special flash into a useful unit. Also, flashes with full-stop manual setting (Vivitar 285, LumoPro LP120, etc.) get partial-stop fine tuning. Most important, you can now take any variable-manual flash way down below 1/128th power, for killing unneeded power for close-up work.


One each:

Sometimes you gotta add a little more cowbell to kick it up a notch. While I had a strong hand in choosing the above gels, the folks at Rosco took the lead on selecting nine different colors for adding strong effects when you need them. These guys know color and lighting, and I happily deferred to their expertise here.


UPDATE: Even tho the Rosco site lists them as 1"x3", they are actually 1.5"x3.25". This is straight from the horse's mouth. FWIW, Rosco mistakenly forwarded the dimensions of an old sample pack when doing the page. Please use the bigger measurement when checking to see if the gels will cover your particular model of strobe.


Available Now

Rosco already has a network of U.S. dealers stocking the gels, and you can see where to get them (and the colors they chose for the effects gels) here. In the UK/EU, The Flash Centre will be carrying them too. I'll post a link when they are up and running.

Thanks for helping to spread the word. And if your local dealer carries Rosco gels, feel free to suggest that they consider us small-flash shooters and get onboard.

Read More

Savage Review: Pneumatic Posing Table

I try not to spend much space here on product reviews. And generally when I do review something, it is because I really like it.

Usually, my logic is, "Why waste both my time and yours if I am just going to dog something?"

Usually.
__________


What a Posing Table is Supposed to Do

The idea is simple. The combination of a stool and posing table allows for a comfortable support for arms, elbows, etc., so you can have lots of flexibility with body position when shooting relatively tight portraits.

And to be fair, I will give Savage props for hitting a very attractive price point -- $120. That's not only for the table, but a stool and two fill reflectors (silver and gold) to fit the table.

That would be a killer deal. If it worked.


That Sinking Feeling

The problem is that it simply will not support even modest pressure on the table. It purports to be adjustable, but as soon as you pose on it, it slooooowly heads south.

Clearly they were cutting some corners to hit the price. But jeez, this thing is about as stable as North Korea.

I took a chance on it even though one of the two reviews on Amazon mentioned the exact same problem. I figured maybe the guy got one that was a little out of whack and I'd be luckier.

With mine doing exactly the same thing, I have to think there might be a design problem at play. Sad, as I only planned to give it light duty and thought I could get away with going the bargain route.

As a stop gap, I have taken to wrapping a collar of gaffer's tape around the center column where I want the handy quicksand action to stop. (You can better see the tape collar if you click through on the pic above.) But I really should not have to do that.

If you are in the market for a posing table, I'd recommend skipping this one. And if you have one to recommend, please hit us with a comment and link below.

Read More

Boot Camp II, Assignment 3: Results

Greetings from The Cave, as my new (future) basement/office is known around the house. Today we are reporting back on BCII, #3, in which you were assigned to light and shoot a residential space of some kind.

Hit the jump for results, and one lucky winner . . .
__________


This Space Intentionally Left Blank

As you can tell, we're not real big on furniture yet in The Cave, but that'll change soon. I am roughing in what I want to do with it now, and will be hitting you guys up for creative ideas on how to handle the walls and other surfaces shortly.

I want to do something cool with it, and there are a lot of visual people who hang around the site. More on that in an upcoming post.

But I did want to shoot the empty end of the room (nary even a window) as an example that you can create shape and form with little more than some light and a big box. After all, this assignment was not so much about who could find the coolest room, but rather how you approached the space you chose.

Speaking of rooms, most everyone got the residential thing under control. Although some houses might have been best suited for The Addams Family. Others were damn close to a head shop feel.

Some people chose to go the detail shot route. And we even got the obligatory example of blatant pandering, natch.

Lots of kitchens were entered -- including some that were great examples of complex problem solving. But they were short on nuance, which admittedly is very difficult to pull out of a kitchen shot. But impressive balancing, nonetheless.

If the number of entries is any indicator, this third assignment in the progressively harder series kicked some of your butts. We had fewer than half the number of entries as compared to the other two assignments. (Wait'll you get to #4.)


On to the Short List

I liked the geometry of this frame, and the strobe through the door looked very much like natural light.

But I did want to crawl in there and turn the lamp on -- just burn it in with a little shutter for some glow and another layer ...


There was lots to love about this one, too: The intense color, the balanced light (ambient interior, strobe, sunset and fire) and the graphic lines in the composition.

On the downside, there was one thing I kept going back to. If you are going to go that geometrical, and have your lines that close to being straight, make an effort to square off the verticals and the horizontals. If you do not have a shift camera, you can always offset your shooting position to one side and crop to get the same effect.


Lotsa cool things going on in here, too, where Lucas uses light against a dark palette to create a moody still life out of a dim corner in a room.

Click through for setup pics, which he kindly included.

(Many thanks for that, Lucas!)


This picture was certainly harder than it looks, and was built on a bounced flash to create the floor to the exposure.

Again, if you are gonna be that close, try like heck to get those verticals vertical. Since it is built on flash, a stretch here might be to put something on the TV screen and burn it in with an ambient exposure.



This living room from Thailand also went for the graphic look, with the composition creating layers of nested squares and rectangles. They took great care to dress both the vertical and horizontal lines, which added to the impact of the design.

Also, in the less-is-more department, this room is largely an ambient light shot. The overheads were softened with tissue paper to smooth them out a little, tho.

The lone, snooted flash details the Buddha busts, which appear to be getting some top ambient, too. Food for thought: You can sometimes accomplish more by going with the ambient flow, and using your flash to tweak problem areas. This photo is a great example of that.


This photo could very well be ambient-only, as Kevin sells the balance between the fill and the defining shaft of light very well.

But in fact, it is completely lit by flash. The "ambient fill" is a second strobe bounced off of the ceiling, several stops down. (The shaft of light is courtesy a 6" DIY snoot.)


I like form revealed by the exterior flash shot through the blinds. And it is busy enough so where the keystoned vertical on the right is not very distracting, either. (You can get away with a lot when you have so many things going on in your photo.)

I also like the snooted spot, calling attention to the back of the frame, although I would have dropped it a stop or two. If that is taken down to where it is so subtle it is almost not there, it starts to look pretty slick.


Last but not least, a photo which engages in the sincerest form of flattery. What Daniel lacks in abject originality, he more than makes up for in execution -- the flowers in the monochrome setting make the photo.

Nicely done.

And much better than mine, to be honest.
__________


And the Winner Is . . .

This assignment probably surprised some of you by being deceptively difficult. It can be hard to balance windows, incandescents and flash. Let alone an CFLs thrown in there. But at least the subjects weren't moving, right? And your significant other probably got a clean room out of the deal.

Frankly, it's a pick 'em on any of these -- and several others, in the comments of which I left little notes. But who gets the multiple-flash (and boom) Strobist Kit, the lighting DVDs and the Trade Secret cards?

Click here to find out...

Read More

Please Remove Ski Mask Before Entering Bank

Q: What the best thing is about getting beaten up with a baseball bat?

A: How good it feels when it stops. And that is how I feel about the end of anonymous comments on Strobist. As of this past weekend, they are a thing of the past.


Fortunately, it is free and very easy to comment using any of a number of different kinds of accounts. Please click through to this or any other post's comment section to see how to do it.

While you're at it, please take a look at the commenting guidelines. And don't forget to grab a name tag.

-30-

Read More

RadioPopper JrX: Questions and Answers

About a gazillion RadioPopper JrX questions came in while Ben and I were enjoying our three-day mancation. I wanted to hit as many of them as practical before getting onto Boot Camp Assignment 3, which is in the on-deck circle.

Lotsa answers -- and some test results -- after the jump.
__________


RP JrX Q&A

Before the Q&A, just a note that continued shooting with the RadioPopper remotes has only increased my confidence in the units.

Their initial reliability is holding up in multiple environments, and I would feel very comfortable taking them out on assignment.
__________



Can the JrX's fire remote cameras?

Yes. You will need to purchase an adapter cord for your particular camera, which will need to have a remote jack on the body. Connection is the same as with PocketWizard remotes, so there are several types of cords available for most popular camera brands.


Are the JrX's compatible with my Cybersyncs/PocketWizards/Cactus/whatevers?

No. You cannot mix and match them (except with other RP units) because the operate on different frequencies and/or with different digital protocols.


In the Article, you say, "Nikon switched into a new system with the '900's, so they are out." Does that means they wont work under SB-900?

They will fire an SB-900 in dumb sync mode, but will not remotely control the power level using the (upcoming) RPCube module. This is true for all flashes which are exclusively iTTL. The restriction also apparently includes some Nissin model flashes, and/or any other model which does not support analog quenching of the flash pulse.


What kind of speedlights will be compatible with the remote power level adjustment?

In addition to immediately supporting the ABs and WLs (the ones with telephone jacks in the backs, at least) Kevin at RP says that most any TTL flash designed to work with Nikon or Canon should be remotely adjustable. Except the SB-900, of course, and any other off-brand flashes which do not support analog quenching. You will need the appropriate brand-fitting RPCube, of course.

There is talk of establishing a crowd-sourced compatibility table (or wiki) on the RP site. I think this is perfect, as RP could not possibly acquire and test every legacy flash -- especially the third-party flashes. I think this is a great idea.

Advice: If you are going this route and find a cheap model of flash that works in variable mode (i.e., some Acme Nikon/Canon equiv. TTL flash) snap up a few on eBay before including that model in the wiki. Just sayin'.


What about high speed sync?

I am reluctant to even bring this up, given the variable quality of info and claims floating around, but here goes.

First, the JrXs as a standalone system are max 1/250th on SLRs. And some SLRs cut it close enough to where you may have to lose the error correction to get your top sync speed. (This is mostly a Canon thing, as they tend to cut it very close on the second curtain at max sync speed.)

As for true, HSS -- no. The RP PX's will, by bridging the signal of the standard, time-pulsed Nikon and Canon protocols, but only for HSS-enabled flashes. The RadioPopper/AlienBee high-speed sync is not true HSS. Here's what is happening:

The flash pulse in some circumstances on an AB is long enough to exist for the entire time the "slit" is traveling across the frame during a high shutter speed exposure. So, yes, while you can technically sync a frame, there are two problems.

One, a tremendous amount of light is wasted, in that it falls on the blackened-out part of the frame while that slit is traveling. That is why your high-speed synced AB looks a lot more like an SB-800 in the power output department. But that is also true with pulsed HSS.

Two, the evenness of coverage is related to the shape of the flash pulse as distributed over time. Which is to say, it is not even at all. The flash pulse ramps up very quickly, and trails off more slowly as the capacitors in the flash discharge over time. (That's why Nikon and Canon pulse the flash signal -- for evenness.)

This will manifest itself as a light variance across the frame that would be brighter at the top or bottom -- depending on the direction the shutter travels in your model of camera.


What about point and shoots?

Ahh, different story there! Point and shoot cameras are more like leaf shutters than SLR shutter. And there is no "traveling slit," which means no worries about the evenness issues. But you have a separate set of concerns.

One, the speed of the remote electronics and trigger protocol. Here, the RP wins over the PocketWizard Plus II's for manual firing of flashes via remote. With my Canon G9 and an SB-800, I max out at just about 1/500th with the PWs but can go much higher with a PC cord (or off-camera TTL cord).

The RP JrXs split the difference -- faster that the PWs, but slower than a cord. All in all, very fast for wireless and with great range.

The other factors are shutter duration and flash pulse length. No matter what, you cannot cram a full-power flash pop (which lasts about 1/1000th of a second) into a 1/2500th of a second shutter exposure.

As you go up in shutter speed, you proportionately lose power settings on the flash. I was getting solid 1/8 and (almost) solid 1/4 power pops wirelessly at 1/1250th of a sec with the Canon G9 and JrX's. That's enough to do some cool things at midday.

FWIW, both equipment shots on this post were done with a Canon G9, at 1/1250th of a sec with flashes at 1/8 and 1/4 power. They were synced with an RP JrX.


Can it remotely adjust my LP120/Vivitar 285/Pile of Magnesium Powder?

Alas, no.

The variably timed "quench pin" approach basically hijacks the TTL protocol and gives you control of when the flash pop is quenched. Which varies the power of the pop. You need that underlying TTL system in the flash for it to work.


So, can my Canon remotely control Nikon flashes?

Triple aces here -- absolutely. ("Nick Turpin, white courtesy phone, please...)

The remotes are working with the TTL (and, in AB's case, variable power circuits) in the flashes themselves. It does not matter what kind of camera the transmitter is sitting on -- so long as you are operating within normal sync speed constraints.

You could set up an SB-800 on group "A", a Canon 580 on group "B" and an AlienBee on group "C" and control the power on each all independently with a Holga if you wanted to. Which is pretty damn cool.


How do the units connect to the hotshoe of your camera? Are they the same as Skyports or do they have a locking mechanism like the PW's?

No lock, but very solid. No exposed antenna to worry about, either. I have absolutely no concerns about the mount or stability. They are very small, and the mount is robust. Still would like to see some sort of lug on the recievers, to keep the sync cords from becoming the strap ...


Just Nikon & Canon? What about us Sony shooters?

Um, you can get a D3X chip on a Sony for under $3k USD. You knew you were going to have to give up something, right?


How do these compare with the new Control TL's from PocketWizard? If money was not an issue, what would the choice be? I want to make the right decision now instead of change my mind at a later date and make an additional purchase.

Lot of variables there. If you are Nikon and you need it now, for instance, it's a no brainer.

But rather than the JrX's, I would consider the RadioPopper PX to be in direct competition with the ControlTL-enabled PWs (TT1, TT5 models). The systems operate in different ways and I would decide based on which features are more valuable to you.

RP's PX system is getting very good user feedback. PW TTL range has been affected by Canon RF interference from some models of flashes, but PW have created workarounds. Upcoming Nikon versions are said to be unaffected by any flash RF issues. (Essentially, the Canon flashes emit far more RF interference than do the Nikon flashes.)

On the other hand, the PW system also nets you about a full stop faster sync. Which is the equivalent of doubling all of your flashes' power rating. Which is nice. And there are increased efficiencies in high speed sync with PW because of the "HyperSync" protocols. In short, faster recycle times and/or more power.

The JrX's fit into another niche -- dumb sync and remote manual control. A completely new branch on the flash remote tree. In present form, I would compare them more to the upcoming Paul Buff remotes which have similar capabilities. RPCubes will greatly increase the universe of remote controllable flashes. But, like the PW Nikon models, they are not available yet.


CR123a Battery Solutions

I figured this was important enough to where it deserved it's own section. So here goes.

CR123A batteries are pretty common, but not so much so that you can expect to pick them up anywhere you need them. And if you buy them at a 7-11, it will be a painful lesson. So, you are either going to have to hoard disposable batts or go with nickel-metal hydride rechargeables (NiMH) rechargeables.

I have tried the Tenergy NiMH's and charger pictured above and they work great. Unlike AA NiMH's, which run at 1.2v (vs. alkalines' 1.5v) these put out the full 3v of the CR123A's lithium version. Additionally, RP says that the JrXs run just fine down to 1.9v, with no real loss in range.


[NOTE: Do not get all fancy and hotwire a (cheaper) 9v battery in there. You will not triple your range -- you will fry your JrX.]


Capacity in the NiMHs is 750MaH, compared to 1300MaH in the lithium CR123A disposables. As a quick test, I left them on overnight (on the receiver -- the transmitter has 1 hr. auto-off) and they worked just fine the next day. This was about a 20-hour test, and RP says the receivers run down just about as fast, whether you are shooting or not.

From what I can tell, there is no reason to believe these are anything other than garden-variety NiMHs. Which means that they will self-drain over a few weeks. Think of a nice, big cup of water -- with a small hole in it.


[UPDATE: Robert, in the comments, says, "Just for clarity, the Tenergy rechargeable cells you show are actually LiFePO4 (lithium iron phosphate) not NiMH (nickel-metal hydride) which is why they are 3.0v (actually ~3.2v) compared to the 1.2-1.5v we are use to with NiMH. The good news is that LiFePO4 tend to have less self-discharge than NiMH."]



Logical solutions:

A) One set of NiMH's, and charge before assignments. (Tenergy supplies both AC and 12v cords for the charger so you can keep them tricking in the car if you want.)

B) Buy one NiMH for each unit and keep a (~92-cent) spare lithium as a backup in case you get caught with your pants down. Lithiums hold their power on the shelf (or in your bag) for a very, very long time.

C) Buy twice the batts you need in NiMH's, and just rotate them out of the chargers before shooting. That way you always have a set charged. I chose this method, as it also gives me double capacity in case of a very heavy shooting session -- and spares in case a battery heads south.


The site I recommended in the initial JrX post was just fine -- and very fast shipping. But I have since found that Amazon sells packages very appropriate to a typical shooter's needs for significantly less.

Example: You can get 6 7NiMH CR123A batts and a dual-source, two-cell smart charger (same Tenergy brand) for $26.99. That's the equivalent of a free charger, compared to the other site.

There are lots more choices on Amazon -- just search "Tenergy" and "CR123A".


For More Information

As of today, the full RadioPopper JrX manual is here.

Read More

Gone Fishin'

Lotsa Q's via the comments on the RP JrX's. Keep 'em coming and I will answer as many as is practical later this week in a QnA post.

But as of this morning, the girls are in NYC until Thursday. Which leaves Ben, 8, and yours truly home by ourselves.


IN: Go karts, laser tag, pizza, movies and the increased likelihood of a farting contest.

OUT: Bed making, writing posts, answering emails and putting the seat down.


See you later this week.

-30-

Read More

RadioPopper JrX Will Make You Fat and Happy [Full Review]

Do you shoot with flashes on manual? Do you burn needless calories walking over to your AlienBees, Nikon or Canon flashes merely to adjust power settings?

Fear not my lean friends. Soon, you too will be soft and rotund from a complete lack of exercise -- just like the portly people in Wall-E, the publicity photo for which I am both transforming and parodying above.

Now, onto the wireless goodness ...
__________



I have spent the weekend testing and shooting with the newest wireless trigger to come out of the Phoenix Skunkworks. The oft-delayed, er, much-anticipated RadioPopper JrX system.

Reader's Digest version: They are excellent remotes that offer significant range over 16 channels and have thus far been 100% reliable for me under normal shooting conditions. They also allow remote power level changes with White Lightning/AlienBees and/or legacy Nikon and Canon TTL flashes.

The remote power setting feature works simply and brilliantly. Three physical knobs, functioning just like volume controls, for each of three groups on any of the 16 channels.

These triggers make a strong, value-oriented case for any photographer looking to move into a quality set of remotes. And according to the website, RadioPopper expects availability within Europe and Australia shortly after the North American debut.


So, How Much?

The folks at RadioPopper originally wanted to make a bare-bones, reliable trigger at a rock-bottom price. But over the course of the design phase they decided to expand the feature set while working to keep the triggers accessible to budget-minded photographers.

In the end, they ended up with a very capable remote that still comes in at significantly less than than the gold standard PocketWizard transceivers. Transmitters will be $69.95, with the two flavors of receivers clocking in at $69.95 and $89.95, respectively.

The "Basic" model receiver ($69.95) is a "dumb" remote -- simply a substitute for a sync cord. Albeit a very long sync cord, as I find them to be very reliable out to distances of at least 100 yards. The "Studio" model receiver adds the remote power plus remote modeling light level control on WL/AB strobes and will go for $89.95.

Kits are priced at $119.95 and $139.95, respectively. You can upgrade a Basic to a Studio after the fact for $39.95.

Interestingly, there is no physical difference in the two receivers -- firmware alone differentiates the two. Props to RP for allowing us the choice. There clearly was more margin in the "Studio" receivers. But talking to RP Head Cheese Kevin King, he said the thinking was to let the more expensive models carry the freight to some extent and allow entry level photogs a solid Basic system for less money if they so chose.


I Know What You are Thinking

And the answer is, yes, it is technically possible to hack a Basic into a Studio. So, you DEFCON® types can go ahead and give it your best shot. They said if you can hack it, they might even want to hire you.

So in addition to untold riches (well, an extra $20) there might even be gainful employment on the line.


At the Firing Range

Right out of the blocks I took them out for a range test. The were solid at 100 yards, which is sufficient for all but the most extreme circumstances.


Above is three, separate WL's on ten-foot stands firing at 100 yards. The antennae appeared to be pretty omnidirectional, too, as this distance held up even when I was not aiming at the strobes.

In this wide open environment, they held up beyond a hundred yards (I even got a pop or two at 500 yards) but they were not rock-solid reliable beyond the length of the football field.

Radio is a fickle lady, and your mileage will certainly vary. In fact, given the particular physical environment and radio noise environment, you can expect significant differences in performance levels in any brand of radio remotes.

For the record, I think the PocketWizard Plus II's still are the standard bearers, but you can get a full set of JrX's for the price of one PW transceiver. Let your range needs and your wallet be your guide.


In the Studio

I shot indoors with them this weekend, too, using WLs to photograph Dasha, seen at left.

This is where the ironically named "Studio" receivers come into their own. I say ironically, because I would think the biggest advantage to being able to control power at a distance would be for location shooters who light over large areas.

But I successfully avoided burning any unnecessary calories in my makeshift home studio, too. (It is a work in progress at this point, more on that soon.)

In this environment, the JrX's really come into their own. First of all -- knobs. Not dials, not menus, but KNOBS. Thank you, thank you, thank you. The three knobs control flash groups A, B and C, with "A" being closest to your camera's eyepiece.

They are fast, intuitive and you can even disable them so you do not accidently change your flash levels after you get them set. Just dial them up or down. No f/stop calibrations, as that would be impossible given the large number of flashes they can work with. But it is easy to do it by feel -- and you can set the modeling lights to track as well. (Although, to be clear, I am really not a modeling light tracking kinda guy. I just need enough light for old eyes to focus in a dark studio.)

As a bonus menu option, you can even configure the dials to be able to turn off various flashes at the bottom setting on the dial. Nice touch.


I loved working this way -- with the combo of the digital back and the remote volume controls, zeroing in a three-light shot like the one at left was a breeze.

I started with the key, and used that to base my exposure. Then I dialed up the ring (coulda done that without the remote, obviously, but still...) And having volume control on the background light was especially nice. I would not have started out this dark back there, but in the end I took it down to almost nothing.

(Lighting particulars, for both photos: Gridded beauty dish key, high right. ABR800 with a small Moon Unit soft box as a ring fill, and a tiny bit of light on the grey background from the BG light.


Not Just for the Big Guns, Either

So, here's why you'll want the "Studio" models. That volume control works with many, many legacy speedlights via ingenius use of the "quench pin." This is something the open source trigger guys are doing, too, and RP has wired it through use of a stereo 1/8" jack for the sync port.

Adapters for Nikon and Canon are coming shortly. They have not announced pricing, so I will not scoop them here. But I was pleasantly surprised when they told me the planned amount, given that they will be multi-pinned hot shoe-to-1/8 jack cords.

No word on whether they can control an LP 120 yet, but I would guess not. The technique uses the quench pin in a TTL environment, so I would not hold out hope. But old Nikon flashes like SB-24s, '25's, 26's are said to work, along with '600's and '800's. Nikon switched into a new system with the '900's, so they are out.

Canon has a similarly long list of compatible volume control flashes. Check with the RP website for the latest info on that as it becomes available.


Nice Power Touches

Battery life is said to be at approximately 40 hours of usage, whether triggering or in standby. But the transmitters, at least, will turn themselves off after an hour of non-use.

And all units have a built-in battery meter using flashing patterns on the power light. This is especially important, given the choice of a CR123A battery for power.


Regrets, I Have a Few...

Let me preface this but saying they are great little remotes, and will be standard kit for me when shooting with WLs and ABs. I am a lazy somebody and these remotes have my name written all over them.

But no gear is perfect, and the JrX's are no exception. So, herewith, a pissy little list of nit picks.


1. The CR123A battery. It is three volts, so they could have gone AA or even AAA. I would have taken on some additional size to stay with my AA standard for flashes, but I understand that was a design choice.

CR123A's are not as widely available as AA's, so I would suggest going online for great pricing. www.CR123Batteries.com (see update, below) has alkaline CR123A's for under a buck, but they also have well-regarded NiMH CR123A's and chargers for very reasonable, too. And yes, I stocked up before I told you guys about it.

[UPDATE: Ni-MH's work fine, and Amazon has a much better deal on them than the above store.

While we are on the subject, the remotes do ship with batts and a good selection of sync cords (props for that). But they do not ship with the standard 1/8-to-PC cord needed for straight, dumb manual Nikon SB operation. Hopefully, RP will source that cord. Or maybe hook up with Lon at Flash Zebra or something.


2. DIP switches. Argh. I know, I know -- they had a lot of configurations to accommodate. But fat-fingered nail biters like myself will need to carry a ball point pen. There is a lot to remember, until you get acquainted with them, too. I will prolly work up a PDF cheat sheet and shrink it down to fit one of the blank areas on the units. Labels, gentlemen, labels. This should be an unnecessary hack.


3. Speaking of needed hacks: There are no strap lugs on the receivers. This means that a lot of receivers will be hanging by the sync cords or the (supplied) phone cords that interface with the WL/ABs. I am prolly gonna go the velcro route here. Which might be a good thing, as it will allow me to orient the antenna the way I want (perpendicular) rather than letting gravity set the angle.


4. Lastly, an easy fix I would like to see in a future firmware upgrade: Make the standard "on" indicator on the LED to be a slow flashing, like PW does. That is easier to confirm in bright daylight, which is especially important when you want to make sure they are off for packing. I had to cup my hands around them to be sure.
__________


But, like I said, these are small gripes. These are great little triggers.

Kudos to RP for re-setting the bar for quality and features in a small, modestly priced remote. With the JrX's, RadioPopper has established itself as a major player in the photo gear industry.


More info at RadioPopper.

Read More

There Goes My Weekend...

You are looking at what arrived at my house today, and the reason my previous weekend plans (i.e., judging the Boot Camp II/3 entries) will hence be cast aside:

These are the much-awaited RadioPopper JrX's.

I have already begun to test them, and will be posting a thorough review shortly. (Will update more on Twitter over the weekend.)

Don't wanna short-change the Boot Campers, so I will be judging entries within the next few days.

-30-

Read More

Behind the Scenes with Mad Men

I watch very little TV, but am a huge fan of Mad Men. For those of you from places where it does not yet air, it's a layered and sophisticated drama series about the advertising business, c.1962 in New York City. It's the best thing on TV since The Wire, (RIP) which has pretty much spoiled me for most everything else.

The new season of Mad Men starts this Sunday night, and rest assured that I will be camped on the couch with an appropriate beverage at 10:00. But in my fanboy impatience for season three, I came across a pretty cool 'making of' video for this year's promotional poster.
__________




The concept is brilliant. Don Draper, the duplicitous creative director for Sterling Cooper and the lead in the show, is always juggling several dark secrets in the air at any one time. The idea to show him sitting amidst rising water his own office (without losing his perfect veneer of control) was spot on.

I am a fan of the show's lighting just as much as of the show in general. It is sculpted -- very 1960s -- but with a modern twist. And the movie poster is no exception.

Photographer Frank Ockenfels lit most of the frame from the back/right and top, with the back/right light motivated by the lamp visible in the frame. The frontal fill (if it is there at all) is several stops down, keeping things dark and moody. And they finish it off with a super-tight grid, almost on-axis (just above the camera) right on actor Jon Hamm's face.

In essence, he is lit completely differently than is the rest of the frame. It's almost film noir everywhere but on his face, which gets the full glamor treatment. Which, of course, draws you right into his face while maintaining the mood in the rest of the photo.

If any of you LA types has an in with the Mad Men folks and can get us an interview with whoever is designing the light (would that be cinematographer Phil Abraham?) hit me with some contact info in a 'do not publish' comment.

If you are not in the US, you can see a list of international networks which air the show here. And click on the pic up top for a bigger, full version in another window.

Read More

Peter Belanger's Time-Lapse Macworld Cover

Photographer Peter Belanger did a soup-to-nuts video on the creation of a Macworld cover -- from studio shoot (including lighting) to post production to final layout. Fast, but way cool.

More info on it on his blog post, and you can see more of his work (mmm-mmm, humongous donuts ...) here.

Many thanks to all who sent this in!

-30-

Read More

Light Aircraft, By Andrew Zuckerman

By including the lights in the composition, Andrew Zuckerman's photo of this Icon A5 sport plane elevates the subject practically to an object of fetish.

To WIRED's credit, the magazine used this photo in the story -- much to the delight of the photographers who subscribe. But what about the lights that you can't see in the photo. Any guesses?

See inside for some Q&A with Zuckerman, plus a look at one of his other projects.
__________


Andrew Zuckerman: Q and A

Many photographers would have freaked a little when they first saw the Icon A5. It is a beautiful, but complex, shape that sees and reflects everything. Many people would have cursed under their breath and ordered a truckload of silks. How did you arrive at the idea to light the environment, so the reflections of the lit floors and room would define the shape of the plane?

When I looked at the space the morning of the shoot I was struck with the tone that the floor of the space and the plane shared - so I decided to use that as a formal device.  To me - form is the most important element in an image- I am always trying to identify a way to elevate and distinguish the form of the subject.


What kind of strobes did you use? You had enough aperture to go front-to-back sharp -- was that mostly about the efficiency of the reflective lighting or did you just slam a lot of watt-seconds?

I often travel with profoto acute 2400 ws packs.  They are super simple and portable and they give out a ton of light.  A lot of the light was simply coming in through the large garage door.  We were in the mojave desert at noon and the sun was cut beautifully by the roof and door opening.  The feathered natural light was the base ambient and the strobes helped to sharpen and define the shape- they were aimed directly at the plane- probably at full power to hold the stop.


Other than the three rim lights, is that another soft box or two giving frontal top light? And is that light also picking up the whole room, or did you do that with shutter speed? 

Those are not softboxes in the glass of the cockpit - it is a reflection of the skylight in the garage - the ambient is all coming from the sunlight from the outside.


Leaving the rim lights in the frame was either inspired or absolutely necessary. Or maybe both. There aren't too many mags that would have gone for such a self-aware look, which is one reason WIRED rocks. Did you give them safer photos of the plane? They appear to give photogs a lot of leeway to stretch the boundaries. Does that create more freedom for you, or more pressure?

Wired Magazine has always been a great publication to work with - they trust the people that they commission to do work for them and that trust inspires one to create the best work possible.  When I got back from shooting I did an edit and sent the editor the images that I thought worked best and that is what they ran in the magazine.  If they had thought the strobes in the shot didn't work they would have asked for them to be removed, but I think WIRED is about transparency and the mechanics of how things work- so the strobes were speaking to that message.
__________


Zuckerman's light was opportunistic and inspired, but it follows the classic technique of working against the ambient.

Normally, when we think of doing that we tend to light from the front and push it against a brighter ambient background. But in this case, all of the light was pre-set from the front and the background was just a whole lotta dark.

Question: Why use hard light?

Because you need a lot of power and soft modifiers are gonna steal at least a couple of stops. Besides, unless the mods are huge, it won't smooth the specular highlights much anyway. (You'd need a really big silk and many, many watt-seconds.)

Second question: Why aren't the hard lights' reflections showing up as bright spots on the plane?

Zuckerman has positioned the lights so the topography of the plane hides the specular reflections. (Those are small highlights, so they are gonna be pretty easy to hide.)

So, with a plane so complex and reflective he is not lighting it so much as lighting the floor all around it. Which, in turn, is reflected by the shiny, curved plane revealing beautifully controlled form. In a sense, the floor becomes the modifier. And because the reflective surface of the plane is so efficient, all of the tones are in the same neighborhood.

So, how would you expose for all of this?

Assuming I would have been bright/lucky enough to think of it (I'm not sayin', either way) I would crank the lights all of the way up and nail down the flash portion of the shot first. As mentioned above, the reason for this would be to maximize my depth of field. If I needed still more, I might cheat the ISO a tad. But that'd be a last resort.

I'd be shooting at the high sync speed and chimping the various aperture settings until the strobe-lit part looked best. It sounds inefficient, but you could zero it in really quickly.

Then I would open the shutter speed up in third stops until it balanced the way I wanted. You are going to get very close for the first shot just by metering the foreground. Your aperture already chosen by the flashes, just dial in your shutter speed to zero out the needle and start from there. One combined exposure would present itself as the best option, with a little wiggle room for different mixes right around it.

So remember, the idea is not always to light from the front and burn the ambient from the back. That's just the way it tends to work out because we generally like to have control over the quality of the frontal light on the the subject -- especially when we are shooting people.

The important thing when mixing flash and ambient is to try to line them up so they are working against each other, for maximum control.
__________


Andrew Zuckerman's 'Wisdom'

Also worth noting (if you have not yet see it) is Zuckerman's book, "Wisdom: 50 Unique and Original Portraits". In it, he photographs and interviews 50 significant people, all over age 65, to create a collection of their advice about life.

"I learned an enormous amount about love, work, the environment, and conflict resolution as those were the main themes the interviews touched on," Zuckerman said.  "In addition to the knowledge captured in the interviews I learned a lot about how to efficiently work through a project that contained so many uncontrollable challenges."


To that end, I would recommend a visit to the project website. There you can see not only excepts from the DVD that is included with the book, but a "making of" that includes glimpses into both the logistics and the lighting involved in creating the glowing, ethereal portraits. (Click on 'making of," and then, 'how it was made.')

I found the book inspirational both from a human and a photographic perspective. It was a meaningful and significant project, and one which would have intimidated many photographers -- especially younger ones. (Zuckerman is in his early 30's.)

As a photographer, my takeaway was that if you are waiting until you are "older" to take on a meaningful project, you are just fooling yourself.

His upcoming project, "Bird," is due in October of 2009.
__________


Read more at:

:: WIRED Article and Pix, and video: Icon A5 ::
:: Wisdom Project Site ::
:: Wisdom Book (Amazon) ::
:: Andrew Zuckerman: The F Stop Interview ::
:: Andrew Zuckerman: Main Site ::

Read More

What Crosses My Mind While Sampling the Spinach Ravioli with Pesto...

Which is literally what I was doing when I turned around and snapped this iPhone pic in my local Costco recently. (Making sure not to get busted as a terrorist for snapping a pic in a Costco, of course...)

It's 10'x10', and 10' high. It looks pretty color neutral and costs about $200. It sets up easily with an accordion-folding frame.

How would you use it?
__________


Why couldn't this be an inexpensive, easy-to-pack freestanding scrim to easily surround someone in shade for outdoor shooting?

Choose your background -- in any direction -- and erect the canopy over where the subject will be. Now they are in soft, white-light shade a coupla stops under the ambient background. Perfect for ambient-balanced fill. Add lights and stir, without worrying about what your ambient sun is doing.

Presto -- totally controllable foreground and background.

You could light your subject completely independent of the background. For instance, you could work some front flash against ambient back light. Or you could kill unflattering front/top sunlight and replace it with better quality flash.

Height is an issue if you are going to shoot standing and light from up top. Or heck, maybe just blast the AB1600 right through the canopy if you want.

It folds into a rolling duffle bag, is easy to transport and could double as a changing room (or a cookout-type canopy) when you are not using it to shoot.

Am I nuts? Has anyone tried this? If so, hit us in the comments and let us know how it worked out.

Read More

Improvisational Light

One of the biggest misconceptions about this site is that is is about a specific type of gear and/or lighting technique.

While I will admit to giving a lion's share of time to the use of speedlights, I am pretty much a big tent guy when it comes to lighting. The concentration on speedlights is mostly a reflection of the fact that speedlights are already likely to already be in the hands of most of the site's readers.

I am not averse to using whatever may be around when it comes time to lighting a photo. That could mean anything from a White Lightning in a 60" Softliter (a favorite combo) or, as in this case, a speedlight and a garbage bag.
__________


Thus it was on our annual trip to Florida to see the family. I am making a point of traveling very light when it comes to photo gear, as not doing so can quickly start me down the slippery slope of packing everything.

So this time I brought one body, a wide-to-portrait zoom and two speedlights. I knew I was going to have to shoot a thirteen-person group shot, which is standard fare for our summer get-togethers.

My plan was to position the camera on a table (no tripod to lug around) and shoot with on-camera SB-800 as fill and a second speedlight on it's little AS-19 stand bouncing off of the ceiling as key.

The setup works great, and minimizes the gear very nicely. In addition to the above I bring a second, charged battery for the camera and a small AA charger for he flash batts.


"Hey, While You're Down Here..."

With a couple days left in the trip, my dad asked me if I could do a nice photo of my mom for his computer wallpaper. I told him I would love to, but a guy named John Harrington told me I always have to charge people when I shoot or I am The Devil.

So we settled on a day rate of $1,000, with usage rights granted for one year's electronic display on his monitor. After that time period he would have to renew or I get the house if he kept using it.

Kidding of course. And anyone who can put up with me as a son for 44 years certainly deserves a freebie every now and then. Just please, don't tell John, okay?

My problem was that Mr. Travel Lightly didn't pack any modifiers appropriate for shooting anyone of "a certain age," if you know what I mean.


Scrounging for a Mod

I wanted to do something down at the lake (same as in this shoot) which meant that I would not have any walls or ceilings off of which to bounce my bare flash.

Then I remembered my friend Aaron's idea to use a trash bag as a modifier and figured I could alter that setup a little an do just fine.

Aaron wadded his up and shot through the blob-like result. I, of course, refused to be satisfied with anything a mere Google Engineer (Aaron's reeeaal smart) could dream. So I decided to use mine as a poor man's Last-o-lite panel.

[To Aaron: This improved design gives a much larger surface for the new, diffused light source. I would explain it to you, but there's math involved. I don't want to stress you out...]


Here is the grand result, possibly taking the prize as the World's Cheapest Modifier. I say that, because the clothes hanger is free and the bag is not one of those expensive Hefty Bags, but rather a cheap, Wal-Mart store brand. I think it cost, like, three one hundredths of a penny or something.

I even splurged with about six inches of tape down the open end of the hanging bag to keep it from slipping. ('Cause that's how I roll.)

To support the bag I snipped the hanger in the center of the bottom and just spread the wire out to hold up the top edge.


Here it is in action. It is being held by my very favorite VAL in the world, AKA Missus Strobist. I would have loved to get it up higher. But what the hey, we are improvising with the light stands.

I say this because the light source actually turns into both high key and low fill based on its location. Imagine looking at it from my mom's position -- the key light is up top, and the reflection of the key from your position in the water becomes a fill. It's almost like a one-light clamshell setup.

I triggered this flash (set in SU-4 mode) with an on-camera SB-800, dialed way down. This gave me a tiny amount of wrap, but that was not really something I was concerned with at the time. The point is that I could have cranked the O-A fill up if I wanted to.

If you notice, the trash bag is doing double-duty as a reflector, too. In fact, judging by the light falling on Susan it is more efficient as a reflector than as a diffuser.

Funny thing -- I was shooting mom and trying to distract her from the process and asked her to tell me about how she met dad.

"That's just one of those things photographers say," she correctly responded. It's pretty hard to fool someone who dealt with me as a teenager.
__________


The best camera gear to use is the gear you have with you, which was also the case during a really neat moment we experienced while in Florida.

A few weeks ago, an astronaut visited my kids' school in Ellicott City, MD, and spent the day with them. They all signed a poster that was to go up on the next space shuttle mission.

As luck would have it the mission was postponed five times, so it ended up launching about two hours after we got to my parents' house.

So, both my kids watch for the first time a space ship blast off -- and it is carrying their actual signatures on board. And Mr. Doofus leaves the house to watch it with them with his D3 still packed in his bags.

So I end up shooting it on my iPhone -- with the case covering part of the camera lens at that. I love how the existing clouds look like humongous shuttle exhaust plumes, rolling off of the ground.

It may only be an iPhone shot, but I am very glad I got it. It was a special moment to watch.

Read More