Great Used Nikon Flash Source: K.E.H.

Way back when I was a photography-bitten college puke, I used to love to go up to Atlanta to visit my Aunt June and Uncle Percy, who still live in nearby Douglasville.

Uncle Percy, in particular, was The Man, as far as I was concerned.

Why? Because back when I was 7, he let me borrow his real, 35mm camera to take an actual picture. And I was hooked for life.

And the icing on the cake to visiting Atlanta was that Atlanta was where K.E.H. was located.

K.E.H. was a HUGE used photo gear retailer. And I was a salivating kid in a candy store. I simply could not leave the place without buying something.

Fast forward 20+ years. Sadly, they no longer have a retail storefront. But now, they are even bigger. They have grown into a web-based operation as the world's largest used photo gear outlet.

You see them all over the web with the "We Buy Used" banners. But whaddya think they do with all that stuff?

They sell it, is what they do.

The place is Used Nikon Flash Nirvana, for one thing. They don't have an SB-24. They probably have ten of them. In all different conditions and prices. They are a machine.

One thing to consider when viewing their prices: They grade very conservatively. I have always been happily surprised in that regard when buying from them.

So if you are looking to score a Nikon SB-24,25,26,28, etc., check them out.

They are a smorgasboard.

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Nifty Little Flash/Umbrella Mount

This small little shoe-mount flash bracket is getting some notice in the Flickr Strobist discussion group, and I thought it merited a bump up to the main site.

Under $20, seemingly well-built and very compact.

Source: Alzo Digital.

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Boot Camp Assignment #5: View with a Room

As summer (or winter, for you southern hemisphere folks) draws to a close, we find ourselves at the next-to-last Boot Camp assignment.

And you'll be pleased to know that this one will not require you to scrounge another model.

You'll be shooting a room.

First reaction: Why?

Second reaction: How in the Sam Hill do I shoot a room with one or two small flashes?

Well, I'll tell you why and how.

Lighting a room is an exercise in working with flash vs. the ambient. Since you cannot overpower the ambient on a scale like this with one small light, you'll need to work with it.

Not only that, but you'll need to work close to the ambient, if you want your photo to have any subtlety or elegance.

Photographers generally have specialties, if they reach any level of success. They can specialize in a genre (portraits, sports, etc.) or a style (slick light, artsy B&W, mangled Polaroids) or in any number of different ways.

So far, Phil Phlashen has been a People Person, who also grabbed a quick $10k by parlaying his flavor-of-the-day into a snazzy water shot.

But being a People Person also means having to know how to create an environmental portrait.

And to create a good environmental portrait, you have to be able to come up with a good environment. Which is why this assignment will veer into somewhat of an architectural photography direction.

Here are some guidelines to consider when shooting a room.

First, you'll want to keep your vertical lines vertical. Sure, there are exceptions. But for the most part, architectural guys (and gals) like to keep their lines correct.

How to do this? Well, you could use a view camera. But I suspect that is out of the question for most of you.

You could correct the lines in Photoshop. (Strictly for weenies in this case.)

Or you could make sure that your camera is pointed very, very close to horizontal when you shoot the photo. This will be your most likely solution.

As you might guess, this horizontal shooting requirement will affect camera placement in a very big way. You are used to walking around to find the best angle. Just be sure to consider the "Z" axis (the camera height) when you compose for this assignment.

Shooting a room is all about lines and light. Take shooting position into account (and use a tripod to nail down that variable) and you are halfway home.

Which leaves the light.

"All I have is an SB-24! I only have one light source!" You might whine.

Bullsh.. Poppycock. You have tons of light sources. You just have to balance them to make them sing together.

Tungsten (or, if you are evolved, CFL) lamps will be your most obvious contributor. You might want to re-read the Lighting 101 posts on balancing strobe and ambient. Ditto the piece on gels. But you do not necessarily have to color correct to get a cool-looking mix-light shot. And since you are shooting a whole room, you'll most likely consider the ambient as your main source and either fill or accent something with strobe(s).

But what about the light streaming in through the windows? I can't overpower (or even balance) that with my dinky flash!

Well, Hoss, I have made specific arrangements to ensure that the world will continue to rotate on its axis for at least the duration of this assignment. (After that, you are on your own.) So you will be provided with drastically varying exterior light levels coming through the windows at various times of the day/twilight/night.

If the room has a neat exterior environment, I would strongly suggest taking advantage of this in your photo.

Again, balance is the key.

So, you have three variables to control: Continuous room lighting, exterior light levels and strobe.

You know how to control them all using aperture, shutter speed, patience for the right time of day, etc.

If not, better get reading in Lighting 101.

Here's the assignment, followed by tags and a couple of hints:

To: Phil Phlashen

Assignment: Need interior of someplace in your town to illustrate a story on local area. Can be public or private. Completely your choice. Can be vertical or horizontal. Please shoot in color.

Photo could run full-page or double truck, so make sure it'll hold up.

Deadline: 11:59pm local time, Sept 5th, 2006.

Tags:

• strobistbootcamp
• room
• [pro or amateur]
• [your country]

Hints:

1. Time of day will be critical to the success or failure of the shot. Make sure you can contain the exterior light level and put it where you want it.

2. A strobe can sometimes make a nice accent light by firing through a door from an adjoining room.

3. You do not have to be inside a room to photograph it well. You do not even have to be inside the building. Using windows as frames works on both directions.

4. Work close to the ambient with your strobe. I cannot stress this enough. The elegance (or lack thereof) of your photo will be determined by how well you balance the light sources.

And just to be clear: Please use at least one strobe in lighting your photo. If the flash's effect is not obvious, please explain how and where it is being used in your Flickr description.

Rants? Raves? Whines? Complaints? Demands of refunds?

Talk about it here.

Lighting Boot Camp is sponsored by Midwest Photo Exchange.

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Westcott Double-Fold Heaven

Well, what do you know.

At least someone knows how to get these things in stock.

Moishe at Midwest Photo Exchange just e-mailed me to say that he got in two hundred Westcott Double-fold umbrellas. They are not up on the website yet, but you can e-mail him at moishe@mpex.com or call at (614) 261-1264, and he will hook you up.

This is pretty much like parking right outside the gate of the fat farm with a couple of cases of Snickers bars.

He has 100 each of the white and silver. The last time he got a batch of 40 in, he sold out pretty quick. They are $19 for us - just tell him you are from Strobist. That's even cheaper than you can get them at Out-of-Stock-O-Rama. If you could get them there. At any time in the last few months. I'm just saying.

If you detect a hint of change in the air from the tone of that last paragraph, you'd be right. Actually, there are changes coming in several areas, and I will be announcing them soon.

Don't worry. They're good changes.

And speaking of soon, Boot Camp Assignment Number Five will be posted later today.

You may want to gather the supplies you'll need while you are waiting:

• A bicycle tire innertube, or 5 feet of Bungee cord
• A glue gun
• An old tennis racquet or a spaghetti strainer
• Some beige nylon stockings - not ripped



(Kidding.)

But I had you for a second, didn't I...

Speaking of kidding, kudos to Chris R., who e-mailed me after realizing that the apparent gibberish under the Strobist title wasn't gibberish after all. And please, if you have since figured it out, don't all go e-mailing me now.

Chris already won the new Nikon D200.

Kidding again.

I always wonder if you guys read that stuff.

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Killer Pod People Band Together to Conquer Earth!

Okay, so maybe the headline is a tad alarmist.

But hey, we gotta sell papers, right?

The more pedestrian take on this breaking news is that Chris Marquardt, of the wonderfully effervescent "Tips from the Top Floor," and John Arnold, of "PhotoWalkthrough" have launched an association of photo podcasters, called Photocast Network. This means one-stop shopping to learn about a group of pretty cool photo audio sites. They officially launched today.

Chris's blog, and Lightsource, (both of whom had me on as their guests earlier) are two of the charter members. There are about a half dozen others, so far. If/when I get into the podcast thing, maybe they will let me sit at the Big Kids table, too. Who knows.

If you are into the audio learning thing, bookmark this site, and start the process of making more morning commute more photographic!

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Another Kind of Flash

There is nothing more dangerous than a photographer with a new sandbox to play in creative outlet.

Witness you guys and off-camera flash.

Well, I have been bitten by a bit of a bug, too. And I though I would take a moment to share some info.

We are being encouraged to produce Flash gallery slideshows to go with our stories. It gives us a wonderful amount of space in which to work. We can also add music, natural sound, or both.

My first effort was on the Morgan State University band camp. In retrospect, I was so worried about getting sound that I ended up with way too much to use. Fear of something new will do that to you.

In the future, I will balance my efforts more between sound and pictures.

If you want to wander around on the page, I recommend John Makely's "Ravens Training Camp," Algerina Perna's "Smith Island," and Doug Kapustin's "Trophy Babies."

All are better examples than my first effort. But I am really getting into this and hope to catch up fast.

If you work for a paper (or just want to play around with it) this is far easier and cheaper than you might expect. In fact, you can try it out for free.

The Flash gallery generator is called Soundslides. You can demo it for free, but it sticks the word "demo" on your projects. The full version is only $39.95 US. Demo or not, be sure to download the latest version, as earlier ones are a little buggy.

For sound editing, you'll want Audacity. It is totally free in all versions, and is a fantastic little sound editing program.

For sound content, you can just record into your computer mic, or use pre-existing .mp3's. The latter would be just for playing around and learning, not broadcasting or web publishing. Please respect the copyright holders.

Since we are grabbing natural sound and interviews, most of the Sun photographers are now carrying around $88.00 Olympus DS-2 flash recorders. They are just a little bigger than a pack of gum and do just great for web audio.

You can increase the sound quality and reduce noise greatly with an external mic. Good ones are out there for ~$50 US.

It also helps to monitor the sound as you record. I use normal earbud headphones.

In short, you can try it out for free. Or be as equipped as you need to be for less than $200 US.

I know that we happen to have some sound professionals among the site's readers, so you might want to post an (OT) question on the Flickr discussion board, and I am sure they could point you to some neat resources.

In addition to web galleries, it seems to me that this would also be a great portfolio generator program for people wanting to add sound and or music to their presentations.

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Liquid Gold

I am going to take a small departure from the usual after-assignment discussion for the water shot.

What follows is a group of ten photos from the assignments. Your job is to decide whether the photo was taken by a pro or an amateur.

And this is not a knock on the professionals' pictures, either. All of these photos could easily have graced the pages of a magazine. My point is to show you all how you have progressed as a group.

To learn which is which, click on the photo to get to its Flickr page.










































































































































































Okay. You get my point?

Now, here's what some of the other guys did:












































































































































































I specifically let the photos do the talking here. And the point I am trying to make is that, with some training and a modicum of lighting gear, you can get professional results. Especially when you are lighting something on a containable scale, such as a bottle of water.

There is some amazing progress being made within the group, and I hope you are as impressed with yourselves as I am with you.

If you would, please take a moment to click on your favorite photo and leave a comment on the Flickr page.

And to you wallflowers out there:

You can either be a watcher of a participant. But life is not a dress rehearsal. You only go around once. There are still two more assignments to go.

The next assignment will be a little more challenging - and on a larger scale. But you still won't have to scrounge a model for this one.

And the final assignment brings together many of the concepts we have been learning throughout this process.

With a little twist or two.

Strobist Lighting Boot Camp is sponsored by Midwest Photo Exchange, a photo gear retailer who actually makes an effort to keep the cool little stands and umbrellas in stock.

Give them a visit or an email. If you can't find what you need, give Moishe Appelbaum a call. He'll do whatever he can to feed your lighting gear habit.

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