Dan in Real Life

One of the great and terrible things about being a newspaper photographer is the idea that you never know what your day is going to bring. Sometimes it brings access to cool and interesting people. Sometimes a call from an editor can send you straight into f/64 mode, as far as the pucker factor is concerned. Sometimes it is both.That's exactly what happened to Austin American-Statesman photographer Jay Janner last year while out on an assignment. He got a call that another shoot had been added to his day -- to go photograph a local photographer...

Read More

Bert Goes All Hollywood on Us

Regular readers of this site are long familiar with Belgian photographer Bert Stephani. His easy-going manner and slightly warped sense of humor always make for fun learning in his behind-the-scenes shoot videos.For the last several months, Bert (along with partner Peter Van Impe) have been working pretty much nonstop to produce a new lighting tutorial,...

Read More

Got a New Compact or Hybrid-Size Camera? Check That Sync Speed.

Adolfo tweeted to me that he found that his Panasonic LX3 syncs at up to 1/2000th of a second, and it reminded me to remind you that you should always check for this sort of thing. Frequently, the capability is undocumented.This is a similar deal to the way high sync works on the Canon compact cameras, and the same rules apply for sync speed vs. actual...

Read More

A Great Face for Radio

Mohamed Somji and the folks at Gulf Photo Plus have made good on their threat and posted their video of the live shootout between Zack Arias, JoeyL and yours truly.Two things learned. First: "Never get involved in a land war in Asia." (But only slightly less well- known is this: "Never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line!")And second, "Never...

Read More

And, They're Surprisingly Affordable

Kidding! You could not even afford the mortgage for one of these Briese parabolic light focusing reflectors!But they are fun to look at, and you can get most a small amount of the way there for under $100 with a Paul Buff PLM! If they ever get back in stock!Gratuitous use of one more exclamation mark!-3...

Read More

The Most Powerful Light In Your Bag

Last year I photographed Michael Stebbins for Rep Stage, which is how I got to know him for the Glass Menagerie photos.The Smith Theater, where I shot him, is big and dark. In fact, I had shot someone else there about twenty years earlier for a magazine assignment -- and the Smith Theater had kicked my butt. I brought every light I had (many, many...

Read More

Light Fare: The "Jarvie Window"

Here's a new use for your ring flash. Salt Lake City-based photographer Scott Jarvie made a unique set of portraits using a Ray Flash ring flash adapter and an 8mm fisheye lens.Gimmicky? Perhaps. Fun and creative? Yup. Cue the flood of imitators on Flickr in 3, 2, 1…(Thanks much to Ben for the tip via the comments section.)-...

Read More

Something Fun While You Do Your Brackets

For those of you not in the US, please excuse us while our collective attention turns toward "March Madness," AKA the always exciting, single-elimination NCAA college basketball championship tournament. Our productivity plummets to zero as we spend our workday filling out our brackets and trying to pick the winner in the office pool.What does this have to do with lighting, you ask? Nothing, except for this: I think it is safe to say that, with the airing of the above commercial, Buffalo Wild Wings has just become the Official Chicken Wing of Strobist.com....

Read More

Worth a Sub: Michael Grecco's New YouTube Channel

Celebrity / Nekkid People photographer Michael Grecco has created a YouTube page to display his many excellent behind-the-scenes videos.Some of you may not know that he started out as a photojournalist, and began pushing the lighting envelope way back in the very beginning of his career.The Will Farrell shoot (c. Blades of Glory) embedded above is a great example of why I always enjoy Grecco's time-lapse BTS vids. There's a lot to learn in a minute and change. Not only is he showing you the whole set build, shoot and tear, but there are several...

Read More

Q&A: How to Use Your Nikon SB-900 in Optical Slave Mode

As most of you know, the discontinued Nikon SB-800 speedlight has an awesome -- yet, oddly undocumented -- built-in slave. But given the questions I have gotten recently, many people who own the newer SB-900s are not aware that their flash has the same capability.A walk-thru on how to access and use the built-in slave in your Nikon SB-900 speedlight,...

Read More

Speedlights at Twenty Paces

UPDATE: We got video now, at the bottom of the post.__________DUBAI, UAE, MARCH 08, 2010 -- Wrapping up in Dubai and getting ready to head over to Muscat in Oman for some much-anticipated R&R.Those of you who follow Strobist on Twitter knew that Saturday was a big day for me. After teaching at Gulf Photo Plus all week, Saturday night was the big...

Read More

QOTD: Do You Co-op Gear?

I am gonna turn it around to you guys with a question today: Is anyone participating in a formal (or informal) gear co-op program?It seems like a logical choice as a compromise for gear you cannot rationalize owning. Obviously, renting is an option for those who live in NYC or LA (and, increasingly, secondary markets). But it seems to me that the idea...

Read More