Another Year Passes in a Flash

The last week of the year is special, and one to be taken advantage of. I spend it balancing time between family/friends and looking back at the past year while preparing for the next one.

There are some cool things lined up for 2012 already, but today's post is about looking back. Herewith, the favorite posts of 2011 -- mine, and yours... Read more »

Shooting Holiday Lights, Redux

A lot of you have been tweeting or otherwise sharing the 2006 post on How to Photograph Christmas Lights (thanks!) so I thought it merited a refresh. Included are updated photos, tips on dealing with LEDs and a video that should totally make sense to your your point-and-shoot friends.

We are hunkered down and in full-bore holiday mode -- including, as seen above, a trip to cut down our tree the other evening. Strobist will be back the day after Christmas with the traditional end-of-year B.O.S. post.

Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays to all.

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Making a Case for the Beauty Dish

When posting on my four favorite soft light mods, I included a beauty dish but lamented the necessity of a dedicated case to keep it from getting scuffed up. Dishes aren't cheap to begin with, and neither are decent cases.

Problem solved... Read more »

Five-Digit Studio Flash Catfight: Broncolor vs. Profoto

As Profoto and Broncolor battle for supremacy in the high-end studio flash world, things are getting all like, "Rawrrr, nice sweater. Does it come in your size?"

And just like Lexus and Infinity luxury car ads, they each want to point out their being better in some measurable way. Witness this Broncolor-produced "real-world shootout"… Read more »

Brad Trent's In-Camera Digital Man

I didn't see this on Damn Ugly Photography (sorry Brad) until it was picked up by the Profoto blog, in itself a Damn Good Blog. (Especially when you consider it is run by a buncha tie-wearin' corporate weenies…)

Brad Trent's "Digital Man" was created in-camera with a mix of surprisingly simple lighting, some crucial on-axis fill … and a $10,000 light mod. Definitely worth a few minutes of lost cubicle productivity on a Wednesday.

:: Brad Trent's $10K Digital Man ::
and...
:: How To Do This for Less Than $10k ::

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Rewind The Flash Bus: Now on Video

Above: Flash Bus Busted, Phoenix, AZ

This spring, for reasons still largely unknown to the logical side of my brain, I signed on to a 42-day, 12,531 mile road trip.

It was not a decision taken lightly. On the one hand, we'd be getting up at oh-dark-thirty every morning after sleeping in a coffin-sized bunk on a moving bus. On the other hand, I'd get to hang out up-close-and-personal with one of the true legends of the photographic community. I am speaking of course of McNally's first assistant, Drew Gurian.

On April 6th, we pulled into the Pennsylvania Convention center in Philadelphia. By then we pretty much had our stuff together, and the bad jokes weren't getting any better. So we figured we should film it. Read more »

Q&A: Controlling the Sun When Using Flash - A Comparative Guide

After Monday's post lighting a soccer player into the sun at a wide aperture, several questions came up via comments and Twitter about the relative benefits of doing this in different ways.

Yes, there are different ways to do it -- namely ND, high-speed sync and special-chip cameras. Each method has advantages and disadvantages. The full how-to and scorecard, inside. Read more »

Read Strobist on Google Currents

With a dozen SB's and a shoe box full of AA's, Strobist is all about being mobile. Google has just launched their answer to Flipboard, and for those of you mobile readers who choose to download the app, the site is available on that platform.

The app is free for iOS or Android users, and you can download it here.

Once installed, hit the magnifying glass search icon at the bottom right of the app and search "strobist". It is only US on launch, but that should change soon enough.

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Soccer Through Sunset

Any time I am shooting an outside portrait and the start time is up to me, I am for an hour before sunset. The reason is simple: You know the light is gonna just get better and better until it is time to wrap it up.

That's exactly how it was with a shoot last week of local soccer standout Zach Johnson. But this time we veered away from the normal afternoon/sunset game plan a little. Read more »

Speedlinks: 'The Office' Edition

I'm still an old-school guy when it comes to developing projects. I like to keep my ideas on physical surfaces. And without whiteboards in The Cave, we revert to stickies. Like, everywhere.

Today's speedlinks are office-themed; one an actual shoot-in-a-boring-office solution and another to show what can be done with … a lot of stickies. Read more »

Dean Bradshaw: Putting the Pieces Together

Photos © Dean Bradshaw

"Photography has taken me to some amazing places and allowed me to meet people I would never have had the opportunity to otherwise meet," says Aussie transplant Dean Bradshaw, who now works in Southern California. "For me it has been a lifestyle and a way of interacting with the world more than just something I do to pay the bills."

Bradshaw said that he likes to think of photography as the intersection between art and real life. But that intersection doesn't always happen spontaneously. Usually it takes perseverance, serendipity, bootstrapping and an ability to pre-visualize the pieces of a photo before they ever comes together.

Case in point, the process of creating the image of a San Diego breakdancer, above. Read more »

Giving Back With Your Camera

It's Thanksgiving, a day when many people in the US will eat way too much food and then collapse on the couch to watch the Baltimore Ravens beat the San Francisco 49ers on the teevee. (Heh.)

But thoughts of giving thanks often prompt thoughts of giving back. And there is a lot of collective talent among the readers of this site. So today, a bit of an open thread on ideas for giving back with your camera.

I'll start off with a few specific suggestions from my own experience, but I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Read more »

Parabolic Activity

Ever have a problem with onlookers nosey-ing around on a shoot?

Photographer Radu Dumitrescu (that's his voice on the tape) was shooting in an abandoned house in Bucharest, Romania when a couple of intrepid guys noticed flashing lights inside the house and decided to investigate. When they raised their cell phones to capture hard proof of the afterlife, Radu laid down on the remote trigger and gave them a show.

They only got one reaction on tape, but Radu said the guys repeatedly came back to the house only to be scared back off again by the flashes. Anyone who can have this much fun with a flash trigger is truly a man after my own heart.

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Learning to See Light

As photographers, we are pretty intuitive about recognizing interesting ambient light when we see it. But stick a flash and umbrella in our hands and we tend to default to much more standard styles of lighting -- especially at first.

In the real world, great light rarely comes from 45 degrees up and to the side. So if you want to be able to create more interesting light with your flashes, you should work to better recognize how ambient really works. This way, you can recreate those different looks when you are in control of the light. Read more »

Sony Users Finally Get Some Remote Trigger Love

I don't do a lot of reviews or gear announcements on this site, but I think the Sony version of the Strato II is notable just for the frustrating gap it fills for Sony users.

Sony's deciding to go with perpetuate Minolta's nonstandard hot shoe after purchasing the company has always left me scratching my head a little. As a result, there has been precious little third party gear support for plug-and-play off-camera lighting.

That just changed with the release of the Sony-specific version of the Phottix Strato II Multi remotes. By all accounts the standard hot shoe version of the remote is a decent performer, which bodes well for these units.

If you are a Sony user, hit the jump for specs and links. Read more »

Bucket List: A Visit to San Francisco and TWiT

This week I enjoyed my first-ever visit to the city of San Francisco, which is truly an amazing place. On the agenda was lots of hiking, plus trips to Google and Flickr. But I also traveled north to the picture-perfect small town of Petaluma, home of This Week in Tech.

I drove up there on Tuesday to appear on the TWiT Photo show. For those who missed it live (sadly, also missing the chance to heckle via the live chat room, heh) the archived video is after the jump. Read more »

Christian Colberg's Orchestrated Coworker Portraits

If you get the chance to visit Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore, take a moment to view the collection of portraits of BSO musicians on the wall. (Pictured above is violinist Yasouki Tanaka.)

The photos were done by one of their own, violist Christian Colberg. Shot with minimalist gear over the course of a summer, the project is a template for any amateur photographer with a day job doing something else. In other words, this is what can what can happen when you allow your vocation and your avocation to cross-pollinate. Read more »

Nick Fancher: Run-and-Gun with Hard Lights

Columbus, Ohio-based photographer Nick Fancher shoots for JackThreads, which means manic spurts of product, apparel and shoe photos. To that end he shoots guerilla-style, scrounging multiple locations and setups on the quick.

Which is no problem, as he travels light with RadioPoppers and speedlights, preferring to work without modifiers. This means he can light at modest ranges and easily match or overpower the sun as needed.

Check out the vid above, in which we follow Nick through a typical multi-product day of shooting. Neat stuff -- I like the multi hard-light look. He tends to crank the flashes to 105mm for extra punch, which also restricts the beam for a cool fall-off.

And if the name sounds familiar, Nick was featured a little ways back for his Mad Men-themed engagement shoot. If you haven't seen that, it's worth a look.

(Thanks, Mark!)

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A Flash of Inspiration: The Accidental Backlight

Strobist reader Philip Rasmusson, from Göteborg, Sweden sent me the above photo, along with a tweet asking:

"This totally happened by accident, with someone else's flash going off in the back. What do you think?"

Well, I can tell what you think, Philip. I think you like it, 'cause you were happy to claim it and stick a logo up on it. (Smart man.)

And any time a happy accident like this happens, bells should go off in your head. In particular, I can think of at least 5 bells going off right now… Read more »

Heinz Maier's Insanely Beautiful Water Droplets

For those of you who like to tinker around with the art of water droplet photography, the bar has just been raised. Significantly.

Using the hydraulic setup you see above, German photographer Heinz Maier captures the tiny slices of time in which multiple drops of falling water interact with each other.

The lighting tools, which are not shown here, are very simple: a small DIY cardboard softbox with two flashes (cutting the already fast t.1 times in half) some sample gels (complete with spindle holes, no less) and a lot of creative thinking.

The results look like complex glass sculptures… Read more »

Boot Camp III Assignment #4: Results

Results from Boot Camp III, Assignment #4, in which you were asked to create a "36 Hours In…" style travel package about a place near you.

This was a more demanding assignment than the first three (which is why it was saved for last) and that really showed in the number of entrants. To those who completed the shoot, congrats. And I hope that you learned more about your own turf by looking at it through the eyes of a potential visitor… Read more »

Imitate, then Innovate

Brownie points to whoever can name the (very famous) artist who created the painting above. Extra bonus points if you can say why it is relevant to how smart photographers can learn their craft. Read more »

My Favorite Portable Background Stand is On Sale

Just a quick heads-up to anyone looking for a portable-but-sturdy BG stand/crossbar setup on a budget: LumoPro is doing an instant rebate on their MF613 background kit. A good deal at $150, the rebate takes it to $125.

Mine sees near constant use (in several different ways) and has held up great. The rigid crossbar can be used in 2, 3 or 4 sections. Above, it is set up 3-wide to support a queen-sized diffusion sheet.

Almost all of LumoPro's grip gear is on instant rebate through October 31st. The background stand kit is about 2/3 of the way down on the list, here.

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Backsplash on a Budget: Jaroslav Wieczorkiewicz' Water Angel

The best compliment I can give to a photo is to think of it as a "stopper," meaning that it absolutely demands your full attention when you first see it.

A couple weeks ago I made a quick trip to London to serve as a lighting consultant on a very cool photo project (more on that later). While there, I worked alongside Polish photographer Jaroslav Wieczorkiewicz -- not even realizing at first that he had been the one who shot the last "stopper" I had seen.

And even better, he did it with a minimum of gear and buckets full of creativity. Read more »

What White Balance for Flash Photography?

Strobist reader Gabriel Bratescu, of Bucharest, Romania, asks:

"What white balance setting do you use when you shoot with 1/4 CTO filter, flash or sunny? I find that my indoor pictures that I shoot with Flash WB tend to be a little to warm so I shoot with flash but with Sunny WB."

Great question Gabriel, and the answer comes down to global color control vs. selective color control. Read more »

BrakhaX2: Sketchy Mondays X 52

So, remember the Sketchy Mondays project, by father/son team Moshe and Eddie Brakha?

A refresher: Totally self-generated, no-boundary work done every Monday by an A-List commercial studio. Just for the creative spark; just for the hell of it. All of this done with a DSLR and few complementary-gelled hot lights. (Yeah, I know it's not strobe. Just go with it.)

Check out what happens when you say, "What the hell, let's just shoot something cool on our own, every single week," by scrolling through a few pages on the Sketchy Mondays website. Awesome stuff.

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Emily Knudsen's Baby Veggies

©Emily Knudsen

By David Poller -- As a Boston-based commercial food photographer, Emily Knudsen likes to make sure the groceries are the star of the show. But for a class assignment while still a student at the Hallmark Institute of Photography, bright and silvery metal was on the menu. Her task was to shoot a shiny metal subject so the light would flatter and define, not distract and overwhelm. 

"No reflections," she was told. And while technically photography depends on light reflecting off something, the point was to shoot a highly reflective metal subject without having the light source show up on the subject as harsh highlights. In essence, the assignment was about controlling specular highlights. Read more »

On Assignment: Theresa Daytner, Pt. 2

Having shot the section front photo of Daytner out in the lobby, we quick-walked the lights into her office area. Working from the back and by swapping just one light mod, we were able to get something pretty different for the inside pages. Read more »

On Assignment: Theresa Daytner, Pt. 1

For a long time, business portraits have been my bread and butter. Specifically, run-and-gun, no-assistant, modest-amount-of-gear biz portraits.

The editorial clients I have do not have a ton of budget. Thus, my goal is to work efficiently and still produce something that works well for the publication.

A good recent example was an assignment to photograph Theresa Daytner, a local entrepreneur who is a national rising star in the field of construction. It's a typical enough job to where I thought it would make a good example for a 360-degree look at the process. Read more »

Q&A: Speedlight Color Shifts

In one of the geekier questions I have gotten in a while, reader Kevin House asked via Twitter how color temperature varies with power levels on speedlights.

The short answer is, it doesn't really vary significantly due to power level differences. But it does vary for other reasons. Read more »

Maki Kawakita's Theatrical Light

Photos ©Maki Kawakita

By Irwin Wong -- A largely self-taught photographer, Tokyo and New York-based commercial photographer Maki Kawakita now shoots ad campaigns for major Japanese and US brands as well as working on her own series of self-portraits.

Shown here are Kawakita's photos of Japanese rock icons Glay, which were done in 2009. As with many of her shoots, the location is as much the subject of her photos as are the people.

How to commandeer a glitzy hotel lobby so she can fill it with her heavily gelled flashes? Turns out that part is pretty easy. It is the lighting itself that's a bit more complex… Read more »

Introducing your North America Correspondent

Please join me in welcoming David Poller, your Strobist North America / at large correspondent.

I first met Dave 25 years ago at the University of Florida (go Gators) where we were both studying photojournalism. At UF, "studying photojournalism" meant tolerating classes (except for those taught by Fred Parrish, who really knew his shit) while you worked full-time shooting assignments for the local papers and stringing for AP/UPI.

Since then Dave has been a staffer at papers from Florida to Alaska, and a pic-ed at the San Diego Union-Tribune. He now is a photo editor at Zuma Press.

Check out his photography on his website or follow him via Twitter -- which is also the best place to tip him to cool story ideas for Strobist.

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Q&A: Avoiding Cross Shadows When Rim-Lighting

Strobist reader Ed Roper asks:

I've been using a three-light setup, but running into a pesky shadow problem. Below is an example setup shot with the shadows highlighted. As you can see, I'm already using grids to try to cut down on the spill.

Are these cross shadows just a fact of life when trying to wrap full body like this?

The good news, Ed, is that you have exactly the light mods you need to do this well. And the fix is easy… Read more »

Bjorn Stopped By the House on the Way Home…

I first met photographer / retoucher Bjorn Holland in London a few years ago, just before he was to head out on a little motorcycle ride. Eighty thousand miles later, he stopped by my house for a visit on the last leg of his round-the-world trip.

Given that he did not have an official portrait from the journey, we decided to fix that with a trio of speedlights -- and one very big light mod… Read more »

If You Build This Fulgurator-on-the-Cheap, Use it for Good

I totally missed this on DIYPhotography.net until Alim Kassim clued me via Twitter.

A little bit of quick and easy DIY (and ball bungees!) turns an old film camera into a focusing strobe projector. You can actually buy these things for some models of big lights, but they will cost you some serious coin.

I'd probably use one differently than did the photog on DIYP. Like maybe painting numbers or something three-dimensionally onto someone's face or something. Great idea to keep in the back pocket, tho.

If it looks familiar, it is a simplified version of the "Image Fulgurator" created by photographer Julius von Bismark. But he used his for public mischief...

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And Now, Your NSFW Underwear Shoot BTS Video of the Day

Okay folks, we try to keep it reasonably family friendly here at Strobist. But every now and then something comes along that pretty much says, "Run me."

The video beyond the jump is NSFW-ish. As in there are nekkid people involved. You don't wanna see? Then don't click. Read more »

Michael Kelley: Two-Speedlight Architectural Photography

Photos ©Michael Kelley

Two years ago, Los Angeles-based architectural photographer Mike Kelley was 21 years old and working retail for $8.25 an hour. Today, he shoots images like the one above -- using just two Canon speedlights.

Health Warning: If you were one of the "yeah, but is it photography?" purists who hated on the Lionel Messi post, this piece will probably give you an aneurysm… Read more »

Nikon Announces Nikon 1 Mirrorless Cameras

...with a proprietary hot shoe. Oh, and a teeny tiny chip, too. It'll take your DSLR lenses, with only a 2.7x crop factor.

Really, Nikon? Clearly this thing is not a replacement for a DSLR. But what does it compete with? I use an iPhone (and a Canon G-series) for everything else.

Really hard to understand what they were thinking on this. My thoughts pretty much echo those of Charlie Sorrel at Gadget Lab.

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BC3 Assignment #4: 36 Hours

Welcome to the final -- and most difficult -- assignment for Boot Camp 3.

This one will be more involved than the other three, but the prizes have been amped up to reflect that. And I can honestly say that I do not know a single editorial photographer who would not be happy to receive this exact assignment. Read more »

Choosing Extension Cords for Plug-In Strobes

Before considering an expensive battery pack or generator for your big lights, don't overlook the obvious. Extension cords are a cheap and reliable way to get power to your studio strobes.

A couple hundred feet of power cable and a little advance scouting will solve the vast majority of your location needs. But be careful not to skimp. Here's how to choose a good extension cord for your strobes. Read more »

On Assignment: Stephanie Barnes

Shooting against sunset usually looks pretty good, even with just one light. So much so, that can keep you from experimenting with that second or third light that can give your photos more texture and depth.

Most of my sunset photos lately seem to be done with two lights, one for shape and one for detail. But the third light added to the photo of soprano Stephanie Barnes above was a great help, and will definitely affect the way I shoot portraits at dusk from now on. Read more »

Andrew Pinkham's Renaissance Pet Portraits

Photos © Andrew Pinkham

It's not often one comes across someone doing interesting photography via the Lolcats website. But that is exactly where I found out about Andrew Pinkham.

Based in Philadelphia, his work occupies a space somewhere between digital portrait photographer and Old Master painter. He is just as comfortable with a Nikon speedlight as he is with turning a photograph into a painterly illustration in post.

An interesting destination, to be sure. But how does someone go about arriving at a style like this? Read more »

Boot Camp III Assignment #3: Results

Results from Assignment #3, in which you were asked to choose a relatively large object or scene to photograph, and enhance the ambient with one or two small flashes.

Inside, four finals -- two from the U.S., one from Scotland and another from Malaysia. Read more »

A Master Class in Messi Lighting

(Photo ©Gary Land)



At only 24 years old, Lionel Messi is the best soccer player in the world, period. Anyone who tells you different (save it for the comments, folks) is probably biased toward some Messi-less team.



Photographer Gary Land photographed him for an Adidas shoe campaign, using seemingly every light mod in the Profoto catalog. And as you can see in the BTS video below, pretty much every square inch of Mssr. Messi gets its own light -- with the shoes being just a little bit brighter than everything else, of course... Read more »

Chris Waind's Epic NZSO Compositions

Photos ©Chris Waind. Click on any pic to embiggen.



Wellington, New Zealand-based photographer/illustrator Chris Waind used a motley crew of inexpensive lights -- along with some Photoshop and a lot of creativity -- to create a visual campaign for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.



The goal: to lower the age demo of the audience and raise ticket sales. When the dust had settled, ticket sales were up 20% during a recession.



Keep reading for sketches, final images, a BTS vid and a full interview with Chris. Read more »

Ikeya Tomohide: Drawn to Water

Photos ©Ikeya Tomohide

By Irwin Wong -- Tokyo-based commercial/advertising photographer Ikeya Tomohide [池谷友秀] creates images that feature people in the context of water. He uses simple, dramatic lighting and execution -- combined with complex themes -- to create powerful photos.



A scuba diver before he was a photographer, Ikeya's series of Wave, Breath and Moon demonstrate the value of using personal experience to fuel own your creative process. Read more »

Introducing Your Asia Correspondent

Please join me in welcoming Irwin Wong to Strobist. He specializes in editorial, portrait and commercial photography. And as the new Asia correspondent, his job will be to search out photographers in that region doing kickass work for profiles and BTS's.



Bilingual in English and Japanese, Irwin's first task will be to dive into the rich and vibrant photo culture in Japan. Case in point: Did you know you can walk up to a newsstand in Japan and buy any one of a number of photo mags that specialize in feature after feature of behind-the-scenes lighting breakdowns?



I'm thinking there is a lot of cool stuff waiting to come out of Japan, and Irwin is our "in".



Please feel free to help him out with any tips (especially you Japanese readers) via Twitter @IrwinWong. You can check out some of Irwin's own work at IrwinWong.com.



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Tweaking Dusk: Howard County Fair

All throughout the '1990s if it was the second week in August I knew exactly where I would be -- at the Howard County Fair.



I was a staffer at Patuxent Publishing, a (then) photo-conscious chain of weekly papers. Issues were commonly over 200 pages. And since they ran the results of every 4H judging in the fair, I knew I would have 28(!) pages of listings to fill with photography.



They gave me most of the week to shoot, print and caption, and ran the photos huge in B&W. I was happy as a pig in mud.



So when choosing photos for the culture section of my Howard County Guide project, I knew I wanted to go back and include something from the fair. Read more »

BC3 Assignment #3: Think Big

The subject for assignment #2 was nice and small in size; very manageable. This will not be the case for assignment #3.



In fact, the subject for this assignment will almost certainly be too big to light completely with your small flashes. Read more »

This Is Your Brain, On Light

Lest anyone doubt the ability of lighting to manipulate our minds, here's a quick little illusion to scramble your brain. I read the full explanation on the YouTube page (you'll have to click 'show more' under the video there) and I think I understand it. Maybe.



But my brain is still a little scrambled by the fact that what looks like a shadow in the checkerboard isn't actually a shadow. It's a tone.



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[BrussPup via Giz]

Christoph Martin Schmid BTS: Scream

©Christoph Martin Schmid

By Sara Lando -- There is something about Berlin photographer Christoph Martin Schmid's work that makes the viewer uneasy. His images are suspended, eerie and polished to the point they seem to transcend reality. His ability to compress a whole story into one single frame has allowed him to land international advertising campaigns and become widely recognized.



Today we go behind the scenes with this image from his Scream!! series. Read more »