Michael Grecco for Psychology Today

Here's a cool, ~1-minute time-lapse that offers some neat ideas. Grecco uses an undersized set and some oversized creativity to create a conceptual cover photo for Phychology Today.

It's quick, and some details are easy to miss if you don't hit pause. (Watch it full-screen on 1080p for best effect.) But the lighting is one out-of-frame boomed box on the background, a top-of-frame box for key and a ring for fill.

Note that after the model is done, he shoots the grass and flowers separately for an easy strip-in with a locked-down camera position. (Final image is shown in close at the 0:38 second mark.)

Props to Grecco for his steady stream of BTS vids from many of his shoots. If you have not seen them, here are some others:

:: Grecco Shoots Will Ferrell ::
:: Grecco Shoots Martin Scorsese ::
:: Grecco: Guerilla Shooting in LA ::

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PocketWizard Plus III's: More Trigger, Less Cash

(Click pics for bigger versions.)

A couple of years back, as PocketWizard were rolling out increasingly complex remotes featuring wireless TTL and HyperSync and everything else, I sent an e-mail to one of their engineers.

Basically, it said that if you want photographers to love you long time, release a stripped-down "cadet" model that is as reliable as a Plus II, but at a lower price. Because in the end, what we want is rock-solid triggering and non-obsolescence -- at a lower entry point (amirite?)

Turns out they were listening, if only half-way. Because the PocketWizard Plus IIIs are coming, and they are $30 cheaper than the PW Plus IIs.

But stripped down, they ain't. Not by a long shot. Read more »

Richard Avedon: Darkness and Light

From the American Masters Series, this outstanding documentary on Richard Avedon was originally aired in 1995.

It's an intimate, hour-and-a-half long journey into the mind of one of the most important photographers of the 20th century, and it's brilliant. Read more »

B2B: One Big Top Light

We're back to basics today -- looking at working with a single, large source and how to tweak it.

Five years ago, I mostly thought of large sources in a "45-degrees-up-and-over" kind of way. Safe? Yes. But now, that kind of stuff all looks the same to me. So I almost never use them that way. Read more »

How the Other Half Lives: George Holz' Beyoncé for Spin

Photo © George Holz

You know how people on the Strobist Flickr group like to talk about how it is technically possible to shoot blow-away white with just one flash?

Yeah, this is not exactly that.

Hit the jump for a walk-thru vid for the (ahem, eight-light) shoot, including a key light combo that you're prolly gonna want to rent rather than buy next time you are assigned to shoot Beyoncé. Read more »

Lighting Inside the Box

After 15 years of long-term planning (and saving) Susan and I finally took the plunge with a full kitchen remodel. We were really pleased with the results, and at some point I had promised the contractor a nice photo of the final product.

In a room like this you are basically illuminating the inside of a box by using hidden lights, which turned out to be an interesting exercise. And it's something I would recommend for just about any photographer. Read more »

Core Knowledge: Working With Remotes

There are two things you should always remember about radio remotes:

One, radio can be fickle. This is true whether you are using your time-honored PocketWizards or a brand new Chinese offering.

Two, radio waves -- and success with your remotes -- are all about the physics. So a little knowledge can go a long way toward ensuring good range and reliability.

Some basics that every lighting photographer should know, inside. Read more »