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› archive for ‘Lighting’

The Power of Light – Make Use of Small Flashes

If you haven’t embraced the abilities of small flashes yet, then you might be missing out on some of the most enabling aspects of today’s photographic world.  I “chucked” (no correlation to the venerable Mr. Pace) my studio strobes several years ago in favor of a portable, light-weight lighting solution.  Anything from macro photography such as jewelry, flowers or bugs to location shooting like weddings or family portraits to shooting in the studio, small flashes have found a niche.

Today’s flashes are more powerful and faster recycling than ever before, and can be accessorized with secondary power packs like the new Quantum Blade to further increase performance.  RF transmitter/receiver systems like Pocketwizard’s Plus II’s have supplied reliable triggering devices for years, and most recently the TT1 Mini and TT5 Flex from Pocketwizard have TTL (auto flash) capabilities which further increase the level of quick, precise control.  Light modifiers (e.g. umbrellas, soft boxes, snoots, grids, beauty dishes) are now built specifically for small flash usage.  The bottom line: its never been easier to shoot high quality flash photography.

Im certainly not saying there is no reason to own studio equipment, and some of the newer strobes are almost as small as Nikon’s and Canon’s Speedlights.  For example Elinchrom’s Quadra RX are powerhouse units and weigh in at a measly .25Kg or about a half a pound.  More to come on the Quadra system.  Studio strobes will generally put out much more power than small flashes which will allow you greater control of ambient light.   However, a strobe will not travel as easily, always have its own portable power system or be able to sync at faster shutter speeds than today’s small flashes.

In the next post i will talk in depth about how to control small flashes in different situations.

Stay tuned…




The Online Lighting Diagram Creator Solves Problem Of Diagramming Lights Online

If you’ve spent any time in either the studio or the field fussing with lighting, you know how problematic finding good lighting set-ups can be. And how much harder remembering good solutions or explaining set-ups to assistants or even models can be. But, these days, thanks to a free online service, you can quickly and easily diagram out your lighting solutions. And soon, you’ll be able to create an account to save and share your set-ups, attach images of the results, add notes, and more.

As mentioned, it’s free for most circumstances. Per their site:

The Online Lighting Diagram Creator is free of charge for non-commercial projects and for professional photographer websites, photography blogs, photography forums as long as the OLDC services and products are accessible by all visitors at no charge. All free of charge use must include the footer with the credits.

For books and DVD illustration, a donation of at least USD 10 is required.

If you are giving [sic] paid for tuitions, then a donation of USD 50 should cover for a year.

So, if you need to diagram out some lighting set-ups, this is a handy and easy tool. It took me maybe a minute to make the diagram above (which I used once while, I kid you not, shooting zombie pin-ups). And, did we mention free?



PocketWizard Updates Firmware for MultiMaxes

Well, it’s not every day I get to announce a firmware update for things that aren’t cameras, so this is a bit exciting. But, there’s a pretty massive new firmware update for PocketWizard MultiMaxes (the ones with the USB sync port, anyway).

From the press release:

PocketWizard today launched a major firmware upgrade for USB-enabled MultiMAX Transceivers.  Firmware Version 7.5 for both FCC and CE MultiMAX radios is packed with new features and capabilities for serious pro shooters including Long Range Mode for remote camera triggering, Custom ID Move, Signal Strength Indicator and Radio Relay Mode.

Now, I don’t use PocketWizards, so I’m not going to insult you PW shooters by pretending to tell you what awesome things that all means for you, and will suggest you give the documentation about the changes a looking through over on PocketWizard’s site (link at the bottom, here). It’s available for download and install through the PocketWizard Utility, which you can also finda link for from the documentation if you need it. So, yeah. Happy updating, all you kooky PW shooters!



Pocketwizard AC5 RF Soft Shield Alleviates FlexTT5 for Canon Woes

pocketwizard sockSo, you might recall the excitement of Pocketwizard’s FlexTT5 and MiniTT1 and their magical TTL via RF goodness for Canon and Nikon systems being a little dampened by some apparent RF bleed from Canon flashes causing them to not quite work right. Pocketwizard has been hard at work on a solution for this (so much so that it seems to have delayed the release of the Nikon versions), and it looks like a solution has been reached.

That sock over there is the AC5 RF Soft Shield, and it should fix your woes. And, if you’ve already purchased a FlexTT5, then this is free through Pocketwizard (we hear it’ll start shipping with all new units, too).

Quoth Pocketwizard:

The AC5 RF Soft Shield provides RF shielding from certain Canon flashes emitting high levels of radio interference that impedes the AC5 from “hearing” the triggering information being sent from your transmitting PocketWizard and thus limits its operating range. The Canon flashes that need shielding are the 430EX, 580EX and the 580EX II. If you own the 430EX II or 550EX you do NOT need the AC5 as these flashes do not emit high levels of interference.

If you’re interested, visit PW here to get one. There’s also a hard case coming next month (the AC7), and you can request that at that time too.

And, if you’re a fan of “seeing is believing”, go over to SnapFactory and check out the vid.




Photowalk – Success!

Voice activated lightstands

Things went rather well. The weather cooperated, so I didn’t need to use my rainsleeve. And even though I managed to convince everyone to park something like, nine miles from the shooting sites, everyone seemed pretty pleased with the outcome. Above, you’ll see our volunteer model Erin, framed by two voice activated light stands with Tony’s elbow poking in from the side.

Later on we’ll have footage to put on the Roberts Imaging channel on youtube, and as Derek and I filter through and spruce up our shots we’ll get them added to the Flickr feed for y’all to ogle and mock. Dawn’s got some pretty neat shots (and some hilarity) from the fish-eye she borrowed off Jeff.

We’ll be having another informal walk on Tuesday, August 18th about 5:45pm at the corner of Illinois and Washington (kinda by Champp’s, under the Artsgarden) and if the weather get’s nasty we’ll head inside. We’re working to arrange another model to come out and hang with us as that seems pretty popular. I know I get tired of shooting Derek.



Roberts Imaging Adds Creative Light Affordable Lighting Products

Creative LightRoberts Imaging just today has added a selected line of Creative Light products. Creative Light, who’re more-or-less the Skooba of the lighting world, feature affordable light modifiers and accessories for all the major lighting companies (like Profoto, Photogenic, Elinchrom, Dynalite, and even hotshoe flashes for you Strobist-faithfuls).

I really don’t have a heck of a lot to say right now, we’re still waiting for the stock to hit shelves. That bright green logo is nice though, so for the fashion-conscious amongst you I say wait for these, they’re aesthetically pleasing.



Invisible Flash Best Plan EVER For Concert Shooters

So, here’s the ARTICLE OF THE WEEK, as far as I’m concerned. Looks like some guys out at NYU have found a very clever hack that lets them fire a flash in the spectrums that we humans can’t see, then image stack it with a high ISO shot of how we do see to re-add color accuracy, getting a final shot that has both the advantages of flash and natural lighting without annoying fellow concert goers or musicians.

Really, you just need to click the link below and check this out:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17468-invisible-flash-takes-photos-without-the-glare.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news



Micro Plus follow-up

I wanted to mention that the new Lite Panels MicroPro is now in stock.  I put it up against the standard Micro and there is a huge difference.  Anyone already familiar with the Micro will be impressed.  Of all digital camera accessories, having a lot of light is very important.  If you need a lot of light for your HD camcorder or for your digital SLR, I would strongly recommend this little powerhouse!