In yesterday’s post, I showed how light can spill over an improperly mounted umbrella. I got a few emails noting that light does seem to still spill over the top of even a properly mounted one.  While that’s right, there’s a couple things to keep in mind.  First off, the flash is mounted to a trigger, not to the light stand directly.  This does raise the flash a tad (about an inch), and while that may not sound like much, it can increase the spill.  Now there are some triggers that are extremely low profile or that can rotate to lower the height of the flash by angling it forward, but there are downsides here too.  If you think about the idea of moving the head of the flash closer to the umbrella, you are essentially decreasing the amount of fill that your shoot thru will get.  The light will be more concentrated, (a.k.a. hotter) the closer it gets to the umbrella.  Conversely, the further away from the umbrella, the more diffused it will be.  Take a look:

Now, again, the terms “wrong” and “right” are subjective, because you may want a hotter light from your shoot thru.  The only thing I would say to that though, is that if you want a hotter light – why use the umbrella in the first place?  A shoot thru is designed to reduce the “hot” factor of the light and make it more even and diffused.  You can best accomplish this by positioning the light as far back on the umbrella as possible.  How far?  I usually leave about a quarter of an inch to an inch just so I can grab the umbrella if needed from the back side.  You can position yours where ever you like – just remember the “hot factor”!

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for Part 3!  I bet this is one a lot of you will likely say “Now, that is cool!”  In the meantime, keep sharing your own ideas, tips and tricks for getting the most out of your lighting gear!

*****

P.S.  A couple admin notes – the monthly giveaway is almost done (with a 16×20″ print from the folks at ImageWizards at stake), so get your shots in on the Flickr thread before Friday!  Next week is review week on the blog too, with books, gadgets, lenses, even a camera, and of course, the annual Holiday Gift Guide!

Tip #1.  Positioning the Umbrella

You’ll notice on a standard light stand that the umbrella will have to be inserted at an angle…you can either angle it upward or downward.  I see so many folks that are totally confused by this and I’ve got a great mnemonic to help you remember the right way:  I call it “Up For Luck!”  Take a look at the following side-by-side shots:

See how there is so much more light missing the umbrella from my strobe in the first shot? It’s falling out of the top and not really being controlled all that much.   Compare that to the second shot, where the umbrella is nicely filled out with light…a great softening effect for sure!  This is just one of five tips I am going to share with you this week on lighting your shoots from an off-camera flash with nothing more than a single light stand and shoot through umbrella!  Ready for more?  Got your own ideas and tips/tricks to share?  Sound off in the comments, or tune back in tomorrow for another tip to help soften and diffuse things even more!

The Vari-Angle Clear View LCD Screen

Just the other day over on Camera Dojo, I was lamenting with Kerry Garrison about how the LCD’s in Canon EOS bodies didn’t have the resolution.  In addition to having the tilting LCD for a variable angle of view (great for low angle shots when you just can’t get down that low), the LCD is a whopping 1,040,000 dot/VGA resolution!  To me that’s huge, and a long time overdue!

Video Improvements:

This is just insane.  Video HD used to be defined by the 1280×760 standard.  No Longer.  The 60D has a whopping 1920 x 1080 resolution for its video, as well as the ability to adjust it from frame rates of 24p, 25p or 30p!  the fact that the camera retains EF-S compatibility for lenses tells me it’s still  a crop sensor format, so to capture that kind of HD video is just plain HUGE!  For those that want to go after high speed footage, a downgrade to Standard Definition will result in frame rates upwards of 50p or 60p.  Not to the 1000′s yet, but this is an SLR after all, so significant nonetheless!

Bye Bye Compact Flash

With the 60D, Canon seems to be embracing the SD format media cards, because CF is no longer an option.  SD, SDHC and SDXC are all natively compatible to capture the 18 MP images.  It makes sense because the SD format is producing higher memory cards than their CF counterparts, and the extra capacity is really going to be needed for all this HD video!

Canon Commander Mode

To quote the Press Release: “The EOS 60D’s pop-up flash features a built-in Integrated Speedlite Transmitter for control of up to two groups of off-camera EOS Speedlites without the need for an external transmitter, providing an economical solution for multi-flash shoots.”  If you listened to the podcast two days ago, this was my only other lament.  Built in flash control similar to Nikon’s “Commander Mode”.   Finally!

Price

Yeah, it’s only $1099 – basically, making it affordable for most folks, myself included!

*****

Upshot – yeah, I need to get one (but not until the end of Sept it seems).  And of course, here’s the requisite images:

Whaddya think?  Do you want the 60D?  Is it worth it?  My say is YAY, but let’s hear from the reading audience.  What say y’all?

*****

Oh yeah, and here’s the full press release…

One last thing before you go though, I know you want to subscribe to the newsletter, so hit the sidebar and let me know you want a monthly dosage of free premium content including early bird announcements, discounts on workshops, webinars, and ebooks, with user featured photos and much more!  (It’s only available via subscription to sign up today before the Sept one goes out!)

What was most glaring though was that the radio trigger didn’t report itself to the EXIF data.  I’d noticed this in the past from the Cactus triggers when I first purchased them.  It could be due to the economical nature of the cirtuitry (i.e. they weren’t very expensive).  Or it could be due to the very nature of the devices themselves.  I’m not sure as I’ve not had a chance yet to test the heftier devices like Radio Poppers, Cybersyncs, and of course, the mecca Pocketwizards!

Here’s the part where the reading audience is more than welcome to chime in!  Do you own any of the above devices?  If so, which ones?  And of course, do they report to the EXIF data in your photos?  Last, but not least – how regularly do they report?  Because one of the things that is very useful in reproducing images (the very mark of a professional) is looking at flash data from one shot so you can repeat those settings again if needed.  So, in this vein, I am not happy with the Cactus Infinity triggers.  Yes, I got what I paid for, and they work well enough for their purpose…but I feel I am starting to outgrow them even more.  Guess it’s time to pony up, eh?  Only question is – to what?

Already, some questions are coming in about what kind of lighting was used, what the lighting EXIF was, and several have also asked about the background – some things I had a feeling would come up, so thanks to all sending in email asking for more details…much more is coming!  I promise!

In the meantime, take a break (or a photo) and enjoy the weekend.  For those of us in the U.S., remember, Memorial Day isn’t just a day of baseball, hot dogs and beer – it’s also a day to remember the fallen heroes that died defending our country…

In honor of Memorial Day

EXIF data refers to the data the camera records about the scene you are capturing, including things like shutter speed, aperture, camera body, date, time, and all that sundry stuff.  While this may seem like useful information to have (and it is at times), it can often be misleading.  To prove this point I did a little test shot with the trusty rusty 40D in hopes that it would help illustrate the perils of relying on the EXIF data…(yeah, I knew the outcome ahead of time, but humor me here!)

For this exercise, because no models were handy around midnight, you’re gonna have to deal with yours truly here.  I captured an image and recorded several settings, and want to show you which ones were correct and incorrect in camera.  So, here’s the image I captured.:

While the camera reliably recorded things like shutter, aperture, ISO and all that jazz, take a look at the native EXIF data here, and tell me what you think is missing from the shot (I’ll share the answer tomorrow).   To leave you with a hint, it’s something pretty obvious that is missing from the EXIF, so don’t try to read between the lines too much.  If you look at the shot, and the EXIF that was reported, it hopefully will jump right out at you.

Fair warning too, because I will be using this shot to talk about a few aspects of portrait photography coming up next week…but the biggie is coming tomorrow, so tell me what you think is missing and we’ll see who gets it right.  In the meantime, go read another blog so you can stop looking at the smirky face above!  Happy shooting!

Pros

• Many of my friends in both IT and the creative fields own iPhones…and not being able to do some things with my phone that they could do was aggravating.
• I also did not enjoy having to walk around with two devices – my 1990′s flip phone and my iTouch.  I wanted to unify everything under one umbrella

Cons

• However, getting the iPhone meant going to AT&T.  I’ve had Verizon service for many years now, and while talking to any support staff anywhere is not my cup of tea, Verizon has rarely given me any reason to call.  From what I understand of previous experience with AT&T, there are often reasons to call…
• I know this was covered just yesterday on the blog, but the lack of Flash support on Apple products is troublesome.  While I understand that things change – I need a new phone now.  Given Apple’s “heel digging” on this subject, and the impending release of Flash support in conjunction with Google (Adobe and Google working together..wow!) made the Android OS a palatable option.  Plus, HTML5 is readily going to be accessible under both if it ever becomes finalized (you know it’s just a specification right now…right?)

I was also a little less than enamored with the public image Apple has had recently what with the whole fiasco of the thundering police in the case of the iPhone 4 beta product that they wanted back (see video here about it).  That compiled with the fact that Apple has admitted that they changed their SDK to specifically exclude developers from using Adobe products when working on iPhone development.  This is like telling a photographer to only use a Canon or one particular set of cameras to take pictures.  That was the icing on the cake for me.  The end result?  I got a Droid!

I’ve already set up a website where I am sharing my experiences with the Droid so far – mostly it’s been pics (kind of an abbreviated 365 project).  Feel free to stop by the site where I am trying to post a photo a day from the Droid.  It’s at www.mydroidpics.com.  I’ll also probably start throwing in a few commentary type posts periodically about new apps and features as I discover them…

So, I’ve made the switch.  From flip phone to smart phone!  And the solution for me was:

THE MOTOROLA DROID!

What kind of phone are you using?  Is it a smart phone?  Is it a Droid or an iPhone?  What things do you like/dislike about it?  Sound off in the comments – I’d love to hear what others are thinking about the smart phone fad!  Have a great weekend and keep on shooting!

For photographers, the Flash versus HTML5 debate that has been raging between Adobe and Apple for several weeks now really doesn’t matter a lot.  Have you noticed that?  Photographers really don’t care.  By and large photographers are mostly interested in seeing where things go because it will define how they push their content (photos , audio, and now video) to their desired audience.  For a photographer it’s all about how to get their content to their destination audience.

You know who else doesn’t care?  The intended audience doesn’t really care either.  I am talking here about the typical average consumer.: John and Jane Doe.   The average consumer is really only interested in getting whatever content they need from a website before moving on.  People will take the content from websites and move on to any one of a number of actions, ranging from purchasing a product, to visiting another website, or where ever else their interests take them.

So then what is all this fuss and hubbub about Flash and HTML5, Adobe, Apple, and Google (where’s Microsoft in all this by the way)?  What this is really about is that Apple and Adobe both want to be the delivery mechanism for our content.  While we don’t necessarily care about how our content gets out there, we creators of content just want to get it out there.  Consumers of content only really care about receipt of said content.

While the delivery mechanism is relevant to the discussion because as a creator I want to be able to deliver content to my audience easily and conveniently, and the delivery mechanism should be (in my opinion) easy to use,  without a high learning curve, and efficient with my time.  It shouldn’t take me 3 hours to write text into a blog post (nor does it).  Equally, it shouldn’t take me 3 hours to run images through my favorite photo editor and publish to the web (and it doesn’t there either).  The same holds true for audio and video – there is always a way.  So if you take a larger scale view of the entire scene,  the delivery mechanism is very relevant, but we’ve still not hit the true  source of the problem now , have we?

Taking it a step further, an argument could be made that it really depends on where my destination audience is reading or consuming that content:  is it their laptop, their desktop, their smart phone, or some other device?  The destination of content is really where the delivery factor comes into play.  With all these outlets available, is there really one tool that can deliver to all of them?  Let’s be realistic – no, there isn’t!

If I am delivering a blog post to a computer for someone to read, there’s lots of additional content I can supplement that with.  You can see that from the Audioboo content, affiliate referrals, archived posts, podcasts, and much more.  You see, I don’t need the entire screen to get textual content delivered to you, so with the extra real estate, I can provide other supporting content.  However, the primary purpose here is to deliver that text content…so when the screen drops in size exponentially, I have to reconsider how much content is pushed out.  Since the types are now reduced, it only makes sense that the vehicle for delivery should adjust somewhat.  In WordPress, a plugin called WPTouch does the job nicely.

So, for me it’s not about the delivery mechanism as much as it is about the content…I see the delivery mechanism as a secondary player in the larger arena.  Primarily there are creators and consumers, with the output in between.  The output can vary widely from the internet to brick and mortar vendors like bookstores, movie theaters, and the like.  Online options are also widely extensive ranging from computers to laptops, netbooks, smart phones, and other devices.  Each device will have it’s own mechanism by which it receives output.  Here’s how the process really lays out from my perspective (click the image to get a larger version via PDF):

The stakes for these companies is why it’s in such a fervor.  Because whoever “wins” here will have a dominant position in the marketplace to promote their vehicle over the other ones.  But if you look at their role in the entire life-cycle of content creation through delivery, it’s a secondary role at best.  However for the companies involved, it’s all about the business model.  Do you honestly think for one minute that Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, and other capitalist entities care about open-sourced communities?  No – their bottom line is profit-margins, and each has different views of the future of the web, where either one or the other has a larger capital stake in the delivery of content.  Sure, they may dance around the ideas of HTML5 (hey look over there, we support that), or DNG (hey look over there, we developed that and gave it to the world for free), the larger purpose is to get consumers with disposable income to travel through their conduits to the web where commerce is at play.

Disposable income in the commercial ventures of the internet – hmmm…sounds like there’s money to be made!

Oh yeah, and the Conan versus Leno thing…what’s up with all that?

I know there’s other opinions and thoughts out there, so feel free to sound off in the comments or via email – I’d love to hear what others are thinking on the Flash/HTML5/Conan/Leno debates (well, more the former than the latter).  Have a great day everyone and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

For those that need a refresher, here’s what’s included so far (click the title to go the blog post where each item is explained in detail):

• Part 1
  1. Full Frame Sensor
  2. EF-S support
  3. Low Light Performance
  4. ISO handling
  5. Multi-card compatibility
• Part 2
  1. Megapixels
  2. Video
  3. Frame Rate
  4. HDMI support
  5. Internal wireless/Bluetooth
• Part 3
  1. Bracketing
  2. Shutter rating
  3. Re-designed pop-up
  4. Flash Focus points
  5. In-camera IS

Here you go, the grand finale…rounding out my top twenty requests for features to include in a dream camera are:

1.  Inter-vendor lens compatibility

So many times I’ve seen a Nikon lens or a Pentax lens where I’ve thought it would be so cool to use that on a Canon body (imagine the Nikon 8-400f4.5 on a 1Ds Mark III!), and with the Red Camera and its interoperability (you basically built it to spec) the idea is not too far-fetched.

2.  Firmware Add-ons

Just like with Photoshop and Lightroom, when you open up the firmware for your cameras to 3rd parties for additional feature development – the long run result is that cameras just become more adept.  Using the Chkdk “hack” on Canon is ok, but imagine if Canon (and others) just opened it up and said – “Buy it from us if you want support but here’s the firmware if you want to develop your own apps and features”  How awesome would that be?

3.  An upgrade Program

Some vendors have it, others don’t, and others do, but don’t tell you about it.  Imagine you are starting out and you pick up an economical 70-300 f4 lens.  It’s nice, but it doesn’t have IS, nor fast optics, and after a while, you notice that the optics aren’t as sharp as the 70-300L lens (or whatever).  Wouldn’t it be cool if the vendor then had a trade-up program for you where you send in your lens in exchange for a lower price on the new lens?  Then the vendor could refurbish the lens, and let the next newcomer in at a lower price?  There’s money to be made there and I don’t think vendors have really seized the day on this one yet.  And it’s a shame because with the economy grade glass, I fear too much is just getting thrown out and is not recycled.  The same goes for flashes, bodies, etc.! (Think the 430EX to the 550, to the 580…)  Computer vendors have upgrade cycles, why not camera vendors?

4.  Universal plugs for accessories

Proprietary adaptors for things like flashes, batteries, and other peripherals are right now the bread and butter of camera vendors in my estimation, because many people believe that only the camera vendor parts are able to perform adequately.  This is no longer true, and vendors perpetuating this myth only is a disservice to the advancement of photography as a field.  Third party vendors have figured it out, so surely getting Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Olympus and the others to agree on a format is worthwhile isn’t it?  We’re halfway there, just look at media compatibility (CF and SD are pretty much the industry standards, and it’s rapidly moving to only SD…)!

5.  Keep prices reasonable

Now I realize that I’ve just run off a list of 19 features that are pretty pricey – but odds are, if I want all these, I am willing to pay a price for it.  If you look at the math, the average price for a decent SLR these days is in the $1200-$1500 range.  When you figure that the average enthusiast will upgrade every 18-24 months – I’d rather spent $5000 once rather than $1500 three times in that same cycle.  Fewer upgrade hassles, more focus on the work less on the gear – and the vendor could make more!

Customer retention should be coming from your service and support, not from leap-frogging others in the industry every 18 months.  It distracts from the larger purpose of actually taking great photos.  The gear is only a tool…and forcing these upgrades every 18 months is just silly.

There you have it – 20 features of a dream camera!  That’s not too much to ask, is it?  What about everyone else?  Any must have features you’d rather see?  Anything I missed?  Sound off in the comments, I’d love to hear others thoughts!  I’ll be back tomorrow with more from the White Pocket trip!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you then!

But, this does not mean you have to spend money unnecessarily.  When there are savings out there to be had, I am all for taking advantage of such opportunities.  Many savings can come from DIY projects.  Here on the blog I’ve done a few DIY projects, not only to save money, but also to experiment.  This kind of experimentation and money saving is almost always a source of creative inspiration, and usually some decent images come out of them!

Then, there are other more obvious ways to save money.  Here I am talking about coupons and rebates.  Most vendors will offer savings periodically in the form of instant rebates, two-fers (buy one get one half off) and other gimmicks to try and get consumers to let go of a little money.  Here is where you can actually get some really good deals if you plan accordingly.  If you know that you will be upgrading your camera body every 18-24 months – then buy during rebate cycles.  The same goes for lenses, accessories, and computer equipment – although with the computer items, there are sales and rebates going on pretty much all the time, so it’s to a lesser extent there.

So, if you are planning on upgrading any photo gear in the near future – take advantage of the Canon rebates.  They are going on now and you can save a few bucks (nothing stellar, $25 on flashes, $100 on the 7D, and some savings on the 5D Mark II) on your purchases.  You might want to move soon because the deals end in early April (the 3rd I think).  After all, saving money is always a good thing!

• Need the links for the rebates?  Go here to get all the details.
• Got your own money savings ideas?  Share them in the comments!
• Or tell me on Twitter!
• Finally, today is the final day for the March Giveaway so be sure you get your images in before midnight!

Have a great weekend all, happy shooting, and we’ll see you back here on Monday!

Well, when I recently twittered with excitement over the newly released calendar of some of my favorite images for 2010, someone asked me about the template I used to create those images.  I honestly answered that I didn’t really use a template as the website www.lulu.com just let me upload the images and they handled the rest.  On realizing that they were talking about the images on my Photography Website, I recalled that a template was used for those images.  I could have done a written post about this, but those take a lot of time to put together (lots of screen grabs, lots of writing, and lots of uploading), so I instead decided to put together a new video on how to create a template for your photos inside of Photoshop.  The video may take some time to load, so please be patient as this is a self-hosted video production!

Keep in mind – this is just one way – in Photoshop there are always many ways to reach similar results, and as the old adage says, there’s more than one way to skin a cat!  Anyway, this is for you @mitz!  Enjoy, happy shooting, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!  Oh, and lest we forget, there are very few days left in the January giveaway!  For your chance to win a free copy of Photomatix Pro from the folks at HDR Soft, get your Circle-themed photos in the Flickr Contest Thread by midnight on Friday (Mountain Time – GMT-7).

P.S.  For those that like my videos and want to see the archives, check out the Learning Resource Page from the sidebar for more materials.  And as an additional side note, this is post #600.  No fuss, no muss, no fanfare, but yet somehow I landed back on video tutorials – which is kind of how it all started!  Somehow, ,ind of poetic, eh?

YouTube:

Thoughts

Price: It’s free! Nothing beats free in my book, and with the competitive landscape of technology, this is pretty hard to beat.

Quality: The thumbnail does not look right, but that’s a minor nit…on playback it seems pretty good.

Ease of use: Another pro here as well…it was easy (and quick) to upload. It took less than a minute to upload, and adding the video details was also easy. You do need a Google account to do this though, but since that is also free, the downside here is hard to find.

Accessibility: It was VERY easy to find the embed code to copy/paste into the blog. And YouTube/Google is pretty recognizable as far as things go, so it’s going to be hard to compete here. But, let’s look at the other services…

Limitations: The only one I can find is that you are limited to videos under 10 minutes. You can do HD quality, up to 2GB per video (so no data size limit), with no waiting in line for video conversion or anything like that. At first I thought 10 minute limit was, well…limiting, but after looking at the other two services, not as much.

Vimeo:

Review of Video Hosting from Jason Anderson on Vimeo.

Price: It’s free…kind of. You can go the free route, but there are downsides which I will go into shortly.

Quality: It seems on par with YouTube in terms of video quality,

Ease of use: Also on par with YouTube, and the dialogs are very similar, so kind of a 6 of one, half dozen of the other sort of comparison here.

Accessibility: Vimeo videos are just as accessible as YouTube ones are, anyone can see them if you set them up the same, so kind of an interesting dichotomy here…

Limitations: Your limitations with Vimeo are that you can only upload 500MB of data per week.  This may sound like a lot, but when it comes to video, that could get eaten up pretty quick. I didn’t see a length limit on Vimeo, but could be wrong here. Another limitation on the free account is that you have to wait in line for your videos to get uploaded. I uploaded the video 20 minutes ago, and still have another 40 minutes to wait before it will start the conversion for me. If you upgrade your free account to the Vimeo Plus one, you can get 5 GB of content, HD quality, no ads, and for $60/year or $10/month. Not too pricey, but again, in a competitive economy, it’s something to consider…

Animoto:

Not reviewable – as it turns out, Animoto only allows 30 second videos for free – everything else is a paid service. The price is cheaper than Vimeo for the service at $30 per year, and it does seem to have no limitations on video length or things of that nature, but the fact that you can only do a 30 second video on their free service seems rather lame. I realize that we need to be quick and to the point with our content, but 30 seconds? Really? This one gets a major thumbs down from me for this and on that basis would not recommend it.

Self-Hosting

In the interests of being as broad in the review process as possible, I thought it would help to also include the self-hosted option as one worth considering. There are some caveats to this though, as services and limitations would vary from one hosting service to another. I use Dreamhost, and I like their hosting, so figured it would be worth showing that here.(You can sign up from the link or from using the promo code CBPROMO to save 50% on sign-up!)

[podcast format="video"]http://www.canonblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/vids/VidReview.mov[/podcast]

Price: Free…kind of. You do have to pay the hosting company for hosting your website, but as far as I know ISP’s typically do not charge additional fees for specific types of content.

Quality: Perfect! Since you are uploading the original video, there is no degradation in video quality – but that being the case, you are solely responsible for quality control…fair warning.

Ease of Use: Again, it depends on your host. For me and the blog, it’s pretty straightforward as I am using a self-installed version of WordPress and I am familiar enough with the functions and formats to handle it, but if you don’t want to be bothered with uploading a video via FTP, then referencing that source URL in your WordPress or website with HTML and all that, it could be challenging.

Accessibility: I hate to beat a dead horse, but it also will be a function of your host, and what format you choose to upload your videos. I uploaded the raw Quicktime video, so it will be dependent on people having Quicktime on their computer. There should be a conversion utility (I think it’s called jwplayer) that converts the .mov format to flash for easier viewing on the web, but this may need to be installed in your version. It is free, but could be a limitation as Flash viewers are more common.

Limitations: You are only limited by your own comfort level here – if you don’t want to deal with all the nitty gritty details, then this could be problematic. For those that enjoy managing all their own content, this could be ideal though, it really just depends where on the spectrum you are. For me, I am okay dealing with it, but if I had my choice between fussing over the details and using a service like YouTube to host it for me so I can go back out and shoot more, record more, and research more content, I’d choose the latter.

*****

So, that’s the top three reviewed for your consideration. If I had to vote on one, I would say YouTube gets the nod. Ease of use, lack of expense, and visibility is just unbeatable. But, keep in mind, that’s just my thoughts. What are yours? Anyone have any particular favorites or preferences for video hosting? Any I missed? Benefits and downsides? Sound off in the comments!

In other blog news, don’t forget, the post from Saturday (yes, I made a Saturday post!) allows you to embed your own photos to the comments! Share your own thoughts on the best photos of 2009 – they do have to be online (embedded via URL) but it’s a great way to share your favorites with the community at large.

Finally, time is ticking away on the December Giveaway. Over $400 in prizes including books, prints, paper, and software are up for grabs so make sure you get your “Giving” themed photo to the Flickr thread before the end of the year!

I was going to make this a combo post for both hardware and software, but given the length of the former, decided to hold off on the latter for another week…so, let’s just take a look at the Rayflash today. First off,  you may ask how this is at all different from David’s write-up, and you would do well to ask.  The answer lies in the nature of the comparison.  You see, David is looking at different types of ring flashes, while I am considering adding a ringflsh to my gear bag.  So, rather than look at different ring flashes, I am looking at a ringflash as opposed to not shooting with one.  What are the differences in the nature of light?  Or better yet – are there differences in the nature of light?  Thanks to the folks over at ExpoImaging, I got a chance to take a firsthand look at the Rayflash.  Here are my thoughts…

For starters, I decided to consider the nature of the gear itself, since it is specific to camera body and flash type.  So, this means if you are shooting with a Canon 40D and a 580 EXII, it takes a different model from, say the Nikon D300x and the SB900.  In a way this is a good thing, but there’s also a downside.  The downside is the lack of cross-camera support.  If you ever change gear out for any reason, the Rayflash as an accessory won’t migrate with you.  That being said, it’s a good thing because that means the product is custom made for your specific setup, whatever that may be.   In the end, it depends on your perspective, but I would consider this a pro for the Rayflash as I know it’s going to fit – no questions asked!

The other big thing to consider is weight.  Having not gone through any capture with my light on-camera lately, it was an adjustment going back to shooting with the 580 on the hotshoe.  In taking the 40D, a 580 EXII, and a Sigma 70mm, then adding the Rayflash to it – my arms got a workout!  It was heavy!  I can’t even imagine how heavy the setup would have been with one of the other styles of ring flashes, as the Rayflash on its own added very little weight.  Score another one for the Rayflash.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, is the output – what kind of light does it produce?  Well, there’s no better way to answer this than to take some actual pictures.   So, let’s take a quick look at the purpose behind ring flashes as a general tool in your bag – what do they do?

Ring flashes are good at providing even light, to kill shadows.  They also make for great catch lights in portraiture.  There’s something quite compelling about seeing a portrait with a nice little ring of light to add some dimension to an image and make it more compelling.  However, due to lack of available models in my time frame, I decided to take advantage of the shadow killing aspect of ring flashes.

This meant going for macro work.  With macro photography, often it is challenging to get nice even lighting throughout an image primarily because you are working in such close proximity to your work.  Ring flashes can help eliminate that problem.   Let’s take a look at how the Rayflash performed here.

To test the quality of light, I set my 580 on manual exposure rather than ETTL because with the Rayflash on, it could effect the light output, and I wanted to be in complete control over this element of the photo.  So, I set it to 1/32nd power, with the camera set to a shallow DOF (f2.8) and a shutter of 1/500th.  The following images show the resulting image, first with the Rayflash, second without the Rayflash and finally, with the built-in camera (except here I couldn’t control the flash output – but I wanted to include it for comparison purposes..you’ll see in a second here, take a look):

Taken with the Rayflash

Taken without the Rayflash

Taken with on-camera flash

As you can see, the Rayflash gave a nice, even distribution of light around the subject of focus – the flower.  It softened things much like a diffuser would and prevented excessive shadows from forming arond the edges of the petals.  Compared to the flash without any adapter, the result is much more harsh, with more blown out highlights, and in general, a less compelling image on the basis of the quality of light.  You can see now why ring flashes are used in macro work.

Finally, the on-board or built-in flash.  Ugh!  Almost unusable from the quality of light perspective.  Unless your purpose is to capture a subject in the most unflattering light possible, I can’t imagine enjoying the third image.  This is why we add flashes, then learn to accessorize them, and finally to move them off-camera.

So, there you have it – I would say that if you are serious about macro work, then a ring flash should definitely be in your camera bag.  Apologies for not getting to the portrait side, but that would have made things SUPER long.  (Aren’t ya glad I didn’t add the software review too?)  Feel free to chime in via the comments or email if you have additional thoughts or feedback on the gear, and many thanks to the folks at ExpoImaging for their support in providing the review unit – couldn’t have done this without you!

Until tomorrow, Happy Shooting (and let’s be careful out there)!

Ah, how I loved thee, the Canon 550 EX, with your 3 flash modes, ETTL, Manual and Multi mode.  You were especially wonderful because of how well the ETTL worked in conjunction with the Canon bodies.  Your typical standard hotshoe fit every Canon SLR from the first days of DSLR’s (I think)), and you worked beautifully both as a slave and as a master via the toggle just below the button panel.

Another especially nice feature you had was the variable power settings when in manual, where I was able to adjust you from full power down to 1/128th power.  YOu also were very kind in allowing me to adjust your zoom range from 24mm to 105mm for the range of output too.   Compatability with the ST-E2 and the infra-red line of sight was another added benefit, although the infra-red technology has dated you beyond use in the current spectrum of choices.

When it comes to working in master-slave modes, you were pretty rockin’ though.  The ability to adjust ratios from 1:1 all the way to +/- 1:8 was pretty sweet, as was the ability to  assign you to one of three different groups, A, B, or C.  Although I’ve never used you in the multi-mode, the options there seem quite nice as well.

The Flash exposure bracketing, and High Speed sync with later EOS models has been a nice feature for me too, which is why I’ve hung on to you as long as I have – provided I’ve got the batteries and power to support it!

However, it was your time to go as you did not have a full-360 degree rotation on the head (without a hack), and your vertical tilt only had 3 adjustments at 60, 75, and 90 degrees. You also went through your 4 AA batteries like a hot knife through butter without the accessory battery pack (pricey in its own right).

Additionally, at a smidge over 14 ounces without batteries, and your large size (3.1 x 5.4 x 4.4) you’ve taken up a lot of space in the gear bag.  YOur remote limitations also had their downside since I could only fire you with the ST-E2 or Canon proprietary cable.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Canon gear, but sometimes others had flashes that I would like to have been able to use or borrow and could have if only you had a PC-sync plug.  Sure, workarounds and jerry-rigged devices are out there (which I have ended up using), but the endless testing, mis-fires, and other tangential effects of a home-made brew had some less than desirable outputs.

Ahhh…550EX, I loved thee well – you shall work well as a secondary with your newer cousin, the 580 EX II when she arrives in another month or so!  But when she arrives, I shall bid thee farewell, relegating you to the dust mites of my camera bag.  Good thing your owner kept your vitals intact here

Until that day, I’ll shoot again tomorrow!  (Happy shooting everyone!)

Grab the Feed

One of my favorites though, is how Adobe integrated a certain type of web gallery – those from Airtight Interactive.  Not sure what the deal was, but the delivery of images via these methods is just amazing!  So amazing, that I had to visit the website of the developer a while back just to see for myself.  The best part is that this guy developed even more than what’s in Lightroom.  I literally could get lost in these viewers, and as a fan of imagery – cannot imagine anyone similarly inclined that would not just love these displays.  Easy to install, a snap to finish, and Adobe Lightroom integration – what’s not to love.  Rather than go into the nitty gritty details, I’d rather just let the products speak for themselves in a few web galleries I put together.  There are four main ones, with three having Lightroom integration:  Simple Viewer, Tilt Viewer, Auto Viewer, and Postcard Viewer.  Each holds appeal for me, and depending on the imagery I am delivering, I can see where each may be the one of choice.

Airtight Simple Viewer

For me, the go-to one is the Simple Viewer though.  Clean, simple, easy lines, and somewhat traditionalist, the simple viewer allows for intuitive and easy navigation while delivering your images with precision and clarity.  This type of display option is great for people who enjoy looking at images, but also don’t want to have to think about how to do anything.  Just click and serve up the next image.  Clean, simple,and to the point.  Artistic types and non-artistic types alike will enjoy this for the ability to rapidly peruse many images fluidly and easily.  No muss, no fuss, just photos!

Here’s a sample gallery from a little photo project I did over the weekend.

Airtight Tilt Viewer

A little tricker to manipulate for the one viewing the show, I can see why Adobe didn’t want to incorporate this one into their web presentation.  Where the Simple Viewer is easy to manipulate for even the most simple-minded, you   actually have to have a little acuity and dexterity to maneuver your mouse to control this slideshow.  I think portfolios that would work well with the Tilt Viewer are ones that are are more edgy and off the beaten path.  The grunge type look is pretty popular right now and these galleries work well in this kind of display because the viewer that comes here is more artistically inclined to begin with, so they probably enjoy the “tilted view”.

Here’s another sample gallery from that photo project I did over the weekend, as well as the preview of it in a browser:

Airtight Auto Viewer

By its own definition, the auto viewer is  “designed to display a linear sequence of images and captions”.  Photo journalists may find the chronological characteristics of their work to fit well in this viewer, as would sequential types of shots.  Event photographers would find some appeal in this also because it delivers up a single image at a time, which gest every image some “face time”, whereas the Simple Viewer is more of a mass display where the viewer can just pick out their favorites to view closer.

Here’s that same gallery viewed in this style.  Because of the nature of this project, it actually may look a little disjointed, but only because I purged out some less than desirable shots before creating each gallery, so there could appear to be gaps.  When approached from a more journalistic approach, that element could easily be managed with more inclusion.  For RSS readers, here’s a snapshot of the gallery in a web browser:

Airtight Postcard Viewer

Here, the gallery has a great blend of classic photo gallery look and feel, while also incorporating a more “regular” sense to it.  The very name “postcard” suggests that anyone could look through this album and feel like they were a part of it.  Journalistic styles and event work would find appeal here again, but this style also lends itself toward the enthusiast or “prosumer” who wants to share their works with family and friends, but wants to do it with panache or style.  My only nit is that you only get one page of photos in either the LR or PS versions so images will extend above or below your page limit.  So, with this in mind, keep your galleries under the 20 count or keep the images smaller.

And finally, the photo gallery from this perspective, and a quick view:

*****

Having seen and read about each flavor, it’s your turn now.  What do you think of this approach toward web galleries?  Any particular favorites out there?  What about other web gallery options?  Any alternative approaches that people find unique or that offer an interesting way to display images?  Sound off in the comments, and let me know what you think – one may just end up getting reviewed!

In the meantime, happy shooting, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

Grab the Feed

Lest you do a double take, that’s right, I used it along with a makeshift boom (arm that extends out to the side) to hold a water bag for a photo project.  The point is, light stands, like tripods, can function in a wide variety of capacities.   While I tend to shy away from making generalizations because I know my own gear experiences are unique, for me the biggest difference between a light stand and a tripod is weight and stability – light stands seem much lighter and aren’t as stable.  I am sure there are some high end light stands that provide excellent stability and can weigh a decent amount, but this one that I use is pretty light:

I’ve linked the photo to the item at B&H (Item #IMLS8AQ  ) for those that want all the detailed specs, but here’s my two cents.

Pros:

• Weight – these things are super light, and very easy to move around.  I could literally pick one of these up with one finger.
• Extension – this basic model extends up to eight feet tall and compresses down into a shade under 3 feet.
• Cost – very inexpensive, running a mere $35 from B&H Photo – small price to pay for an assistant
• Size – this collapses down so small, I can fit my tripod, my monopod, umbrella, and this all in an over-the-shoulder bag!  Compactness is a plus, especially when travelling!
• Functionality – aside from the obvious funtion of holding lights of various sizes, with a small clamp, you could hold pretty much anything from lights to grey cards to reflectors, to booms with water bags.  Heck, you can even jury-rig something from your garage or storage shed to make this guy hold pretty much anything for you.  So much for the photo assistant, eh?

Cons

• Weight – yep, while a pro, it’s also a con – because they are so light, the can get easily bumped out of position or knocked over.  While using it with the boom/water bag for a weekend project, I bumped it ever so slightly with my foot and everything got knocked out of position.  Not by much, but when your DOF is a mere quarter of an inch and you are zoomed in tight on a water drop, one little bump requires re-setting everything from scratch again!
• Workmanship – I was rather disappointed when I was going to pull out one of the extensions one day when the whole top pulled off the bottom legs.  It seems the nuts that are used to anchor legs and extensions into position weren’t tightened down all the way and as a result, a firm yank can pull it off the assembly.  Then, when I went to tighten it back down – the plastic collar that the screw/net combo fits through cracked on me.  *Sigh* Ah well – it still works, and I just have to make a mental note not to pull on the extension too roughly as the top will pop off.  But, what do you expect for $35?

Bottom line – I’d recommend this for people needed an extra set of hands from time to time.  If you are into off camera lighting (and after Wednesday, you should be!), then a light stand is a must – and this is a great entry level one that will fit your needs indefinitely, because even if you upgrade, an extra set of hands is just a few seconds away.

That’s it for today – make sure you stop in tomorrow for the next installment of software reviews!  Happy shooting and see you then!

Volumes exist on what lenses to use, how to light, depth of fieldand much much more, but perhaps the most valuable information on how to take great portraits comes not just from technical awareness, but from personal interactions, and how to get people to act natural yet emotive and to let that come through in your work.  While no blog post could entirely exhaust the subject, here are ten quick tips on taking better portraits:

1. Establish a connection – portraiture is about connecting with someone through the image.  If you don’t connect with them through the camera, then there will be no connection in the print.  Make sure you connect with your subjects in some way.  Get to know about them, because that knowledge can transform your vision into really beautiful works of art.
2. Relax the subject – Connecting with your subject means they feel comfortable around you – now the key is to get them to feel comfortable in front of the camera.  Many times this is much easier said than done, but when you do get them to relax, the poses will come more fluidly, and you’ll get better results.  One way I do this is to just start taking pictures of things around us as we talk and connect.  The whole idea of hearing the shutter can be scary to some people, so by hearing it almost to excess and know it’s not on them can mitigate the “scary” factor.
3. Choose a background – if you are in a studio environment, this is fairly easy, but if you are on location, keep your eyes out for backgrounds that provide contrast to the subject.  Are they wearing light clothes?  Look for a dark background.  What about props to give a little more meaning.  Are they sports fans?  Have them hold a football, or stand by a basketball hoop.  Backgrounds can help give more definition to your subject.
4. Have a purpose – try to think of reasons why you are taking the picture.  Is it to record an event, or is it for a model?  What about a head shot for a business executive?  If you think of why you are taking the picture in the first place, that can help give you ideas for how to compose it.  For the event, it’s about the moment, while the portrait it’s about just the person, so give some thought to how to enhance their best qualities and minimize flaws.
5. Create separation – this is crucial to giving definition to your subject while minimizing distractions.  In the on-location areas, look out for things like power lines, nearby light sources and other objects that may detract from the subject.  Here it also helps to keep a wider aperture so that any distractions can be effectively blurred out of focus to minimize their impact.
6. All about the angles – Some people have great profiles.  Striking features can be accented from certain angles and can give greater impact and meaning.  Shooting from below can suggest power and strength (for the business executive), while shooting from above can minimize a body style that is more robust.  Even profile shots can be stunning if done right (hint:  try shadows there).
7. Lights, lights, lights – photography is all about painting with light, so portraiture is no exception.  Whether it be modifying existing light with reflectors, diffusers and shoot throughs, or creating your own light with strobes and flashes positioned off to the side or from above, lighting can create a wide variety of moods and bring images to life, especially in portraiture!
8. Watch the eyes – for any subject, whether human or animals, we like to have the eyes in focus.  It’s just the nature of people to look at the eyes in a subject, so make sure the eyes of yours are tack sharp.  Seeing a persons eyes have often been said to be a mirror to their soul.  You can get playful eyes, soulful eyes, sad eyes, sparkling eyes, weepy eyes, tear-stained eyes, angry eyes, hungry eyes, passionate eyes… (you get the eye-dea!)
9. Clean that skin tone – this means make sure that you are keeping the tones in check.  If the skin is too orange or too blue, add or remove some flash or ambient light.  Here the key is in white balancing your images.  Take along a grey card (even something as small as a 3×5 card can work) and you can set your white balance off that – your skin tones will be spot on if you do – and save you tons of post processing time.
10. Less is not always more – let’s all just admit it, it’s a digital world.  Those pictures are really just data packets and with data being as cheap as it is, we can afford to take more shots.  This can help with blinkers, and if you want to try several poses or wardrobe changes, or lighting changes, or location changes, or group changes (think weddings). or weather changes (think sunlight versus rain, versus cloudy), or….I think the gist is clear again here.

So, there’s ten nuggets.  I tried to be brief yet have some detail, but you can never have enough time or space to really cover something with so much to talk about in a short blog post.  With that in mind, what about your thoughts on portraiture?  Add to the pool!  Got any ideas, DIY tricks or nuggets that work for you?  Share them in the comments or via email.

Before signing out for the day, I’d like to give some special thanks to a few people.  First to Derrick Story for the helpful link from his blog post today about the tethered shooting write-up.  It’s always nice to get what I like to call “a nod from the Gods”, but not only did he write a post about my write-up, he also submitted it to the Imaging Insider, who subsequently included the write up on their site.    Second up, I’d also like to throw some NAPP-Love back to Karen from “Pursuing Photoshop” (a.k.a. Mitzs in the blogosphere, also a member of NAPP) for her link back to the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom contest currently running here on the blog – thanks Mitzs!

Oh yeah, and finally, don’t forget the Photoshop Lightroom contest I announced in last week’s podcast – it’s running over in a thread on Flickr, and the images are starting to come in.  Some really nice ones so far, but there’s plenty of time left in May to enter!  Good luck to everyone!  Well, enough content for one day, so happy shooting and we’ll see you back here tomorrow.

A while back I decided to ditch the Canon ST-E2 wireless trigger for a number of reasons – those being:

1. It relied on line-of-sight
2. It didn’t have a very good range
3. It wouldn’t work with non-Canon gear

I, like many others, have been salivating over the new developments in radio trigger technology.  And, at my last job, I had access to multiple lights, strobes, and such for experimentation.  So, in order to do said experimentation, I decided to invest in some Cactus Triggers that I purchased off an online web vendor (I forget the vendor off the top of my head – search the archives and I am sure it’s there…).  Much to my chagrin though, it would not work with my Canon 550EX flash.  So, when I left my previous job, it was back to the ST-E2.  In order to spur some motivation to invest in some more serious lighting gear on my own, I decided to sell the ST-E2 to fund the purchase of some Cyber Syncs.

Long story short, I ended up with no off-camera method to trigger my one flash unit.  So, I was back on-camera.  Needless to say, ambient light photography was a large focus for that time period.  Well, after the economy stabilized a little for the household with my state job, I decided to invest in the Cyber Syncs – but as a measure of insurance, wanted to make sure the devices would work in my 550EX (the 550EX does not have a sync port).  So, a quick email to them revealed that a neat little device from the folks over at Flash Zebra would make the Cyber Syncs compatible.  A mere $14 later and the device arrived late last week (while I was in SC).  So, next month the Cyber Syncs will be making their way to my doorstep.

In the meantime, I have these Cactus triggers, and I thought with the inclusion of a sync port, perhaps I could jerry-rig something together.  With the sync port going out to what looks to be an RC-mini, and the receiver also going out to an RC-mini, I needed a way to join two RC-mini’s together.  A quick dig through my various buckets of cables and connectors revealed a dual mini that is normally used to connect to headphones to a single audio.  Worth a shot, since it’s only about $50 total invested.  I connected everything together to get this:

On your left is the trigger that came from Cactus, to the RC male.  A reducer on that took it to an RC-mini male.  In the center is the well-hidden PC-sync device that came from Flash Zebra.  (For a better picture, see below…)  A female sync port on that was able to connect to the male sync port that was included with my Cactus gear.  That also went to an RC-mini male.  These are both connected on the right to the y-connector that you would typically see two headsets connect to the same audio source.  The technology is the same, so it’s worth a shot right?  (No pun intended…)

I fired off a test shot from the 40D and it worked!  So, how well would it work?  What kind of reliability would there be?  I took the flash into the next room and fired the trigger from a further distance away…about 20 feet.  Flash!  Then I took the trigger around the corner and fired it.  Flash!  How cool is that?  Another set of tests was needed.  One where radio waves wouldn’t bounce all over the place – outside!  If you recall, I interviewed Scott Eccleston from Weekly Photo Tips a while back, and a recent post of his armed me with a good testing method of the Cactus triggers.  Armed with the inspiration of this video, I enlisted the aid of my wife and took to the great outdoors.

I began with a fresh set of batteries in both the trigger and receiver, as well as the flash.  Starting from ten steps away from the flash, I tripped the shutter – flash!  Twenty paces – flash!  Thirty paces – flash!  Fourty paces – nada.  Hmmm…tried again – nada.  So, I moved back to 35 paces – still nada.  A couple steps closer and it flashed again.  About four more tests at this distance and I had 100% flash rate.  Starting back to my wife, I counted the paces, 1-2-3… all the way to 33 paces.  At an average gait of 3 feet per pace, that’s an outside range of 99 feet!  Considerably better than the ST-E2 and at a third of the price!

For posterity’ sake, and since I am in a very casual way reviewing the PC-sync adaptor from Flash Zebra, here’s a better shot of just that device.

Also for posterity sake, here’s a view of the trigger that attached to the hot shoe of the 550EX:

Here’s a few sample shots.  For all the tech-types, these are pretty much straight out of camera (or sooc) – all I did was adjust the WB for Flash and adjust the ACR sharpening from 25 to 75.  All are resized to 650px wide for the blog.  Here’s the setup:  I took the Canon kit lens (18-55) on my 40D, threw on the 550EX, and set everything to default values.  Shutter at standard sync speed of 250, aperture at f8 and ISO at 100.  I powered the 550EX at it’s standard setting, on camera (relax strobists – I can hear you shuddering from here),  and started firing a few shots.  I pointed the flash to camera right and got this:

Yup, that’s a God-awful shot, with a nasty shadow.  Perhaps I could ditch the shadow.  Since we’re not exactly using conventional wisdom here, let’s try it with the flash pointed straight at the subject:

Hey!  That’s actually not too bad.  It’s not that great, and still definitely a “Meh” kind of shot as it’s still got something of a shadow.  So, I spun the flash to fire above me and bounce off the ceiling:

Voila!  You know what?  For being a spur of the moment thing, and without a lot of pre-planning or preparation, that’s not bad at all.  And, it was shot in a bathtub!  Anyone else out there have a bathtub?  Try some shots in it for different items.  I used a tape measure, but what about a pen, or a microphone, or a printer, or even a lens?  I bet you could get some pretty cool results with very little setup!  Anyone else have some odd or unusual ways to get clean backgrounds and even lighting on the cheap?  Feel free to share your thoughts, ideas, and feedback in the comments.  Feel free to link your own efforts there too!  Happy shooting all and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

1. Christmas Wrap-up:  A few last minute gift ideas for the photog-type in your circle
2. The New Product Line Review Announcement (you gotta listen to find out! )
3. The Value of Starting Over
4. Listener Questions and Answers

• Dave from PA – Hot shoe flashes:  tungsten or flourescent?
• Lynn from WI – Are 3rd party batteries safe?
• Kevin from CO – Best way to learn photography

Tomorrow, the last What’s This of the Year, and then lights out…nothing again until next week. The next edition of Thursday Thoughts will come back the second week of January (I couldn’t find it in myself to ask someone to put something together for New Years Day any more than Christmas Day!) That means you’re actually gonna have to spend time with family, friends, and loved ones for a few days. Oh darn!  Hope that shopping is almost done!  If not, be sure you tune in for those last minute gift ideas!  Thanks for tuning in and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

P.S.  What made this week’s podcast different from any other podcast I’ve done this year?  (Other than the fact that it’s the last one of the year…)

So, what can I afford?  Well, believe it or not, the significant other has asked for a camera for Christmas!  That’s right – I am winning her over, she’ll become a member of the dark side soon.  So, in the spirit of the Christmas lists that I started last week with cards, this week, I am suggesting one of three different price buster point and shoots.  One actually is not a Canon camera!  My picks for consumer P&S cameras this year are:

• The Canon G10
• The Lumix LX3
• and the Canon A590

Okay, so the G10 isn’t exactly entry level, but it’s super sweet!  The blogo-sphere seems to have settled down about the in-camera processing that the Lumix does to correct for barrel distortion and chromatic abberation, so the LX3 is back in people’s good graces.  The A590 also made my list primarily because of the feature set it has relative to it’s price (it comes in at just a hair over $100!)

So, when combined with the list from last week, there are now six items on my Holiday Guide!  I’ll get another four added here soon to give you a full top ten, but for those keeping score, here’s what I have thus far:

1. Personalized Gift Cards
2. Memory Cards
3. Christmas Cards (share the holiday cheer on a budget)
4. Canon G10
5. Lumix LX3
6. Canon A590

In other photography news, I am working on the photography site some more to really get a new look in place and I’ve got a new header to set the tone.  Feel free to stop over and take a gander.  Then, come back and tell me what you think!  I am listening in the comments, on the Twitter, and via email.  Don’t forget to vote in the poll – we’re on pace to shatter the previous record!

That’s it for today – I’ll be back tomorrow with the weekly audio podcast series, so be sure to stop in for that.  Until then, happy shooting!

I happened across a Vivitar Auto Thrystor 550 FD and for the bargain basement price of $3, decided to give it a go.  Well, now that I have abandoned the Canon ST-E2 system, and moving toward radio transmitters, I got a couple recommendations to look at the Vivitar flashes.  Based off the B&H page for Vivitar flash features, it should work, albeit at full power only.  But still, a second flash means more light control.  So, tomorrow I will likely be stopping by a local photo store to get some radio transmitters for about $15.  After a little jury-rigging, the wires should connect up just fine, and I’ll have a two light setup.  Grand total in costs: $32

• Vivitar Auto Thrystor 550 FD:  $3
• Radio Transmitters: $24
• Radio Shack plug:  $5

One note on the video content: I said in the video that the ST-E2 supports the entire Speedlight flash family.While that is true, I did get the nomenclature wrong.As it turns out, the 400 series Speedlights are the 420 EX and the 430 EX, with the 500 series ones numbering at 550 EX and 580 EX.The ST-E2 will work with them all, albeit with some limitations on the earlier versions.For detailed specs, there is good information at Canon and the product sheet maintained by BH Photo.Those direct links are provided here for anyone who is interested.

So, that is the tip for this Tuesday: an ST-E2 Tech Talk.If anyone would like to see more gear in action, or has a question about how to use gear, feel free to email me or post in the comments section.Happy shooting, watch those apertures, and we will see you tomorrow!

Canon Product Sheet for the ST-E2

B and H Photo Product Sheet for the ST-E2

We all know that tungsten light is a warmer light (think regular light bulbs) and fluorescents and flash produce cooler lighting. While it makes sense, until I read an article by Peter Kolonia in Popular Photography, I have never thought of combining warm and cool light to produce different effects in a photograph. Since I’ve not tried this yet, I don’t have any sample pictures, but they should be viewable over at www.popphoto.com so stop over there to see samples in action.

Basically, the article says that by lighting your subject with one tone and the background with another, you can produce some really interesting results. For simplicity purposes, here’s a chart of what combinations produce what types of results:

¹For a high key (all white) effect on the background, throw more light on the background. The more light you direct to the background, the brighter the resulting background will be for your photos. Conversely, as background lights get dimmer, the background itself will be more of a gray.

Just a few reminders Peter gives us:

Use a large space so foreground light won’t spoil the background light

• Experiment with exposure to get the right glow from the background (typically longer speeds thus necessitating a tripod)
• Using an old-fashioned fluorescent light can result in the “grunge” look of cross-processed photos

I did take some time to do some cleanup work of the weekend on the photo gallery side of things for my website and the project side of things for the blog too though. The lucky readers (lucky possibly being a subjective term in this case) will get a sneak preview of my latest gallery addition as I ran out of time and do not have a link on the site to this yet (or the thumbnail for that matter).

On the blog maintenance, I’ve changed the notice for comments – apparently the spam flag was set a little too severely as people were making comments and it was taking up to a month in some cases before those got discovered and re-tagged. So, your comments should become visible much more quickly now. With that in mind, I thought I’d also share the latest photo gallery that I am putting up on my website with those of you who are tuning in, so now you can comment more easily! Last but not least, I had mentioned an article that was forthcoming both in the video tutorial last week, and in another one of the posts. Well, after going through several re-writes and different takes on it, I’ve decided not to publish that, as it’s just to dense of a topic for a short listen or read. If anyone is interested in it though, the subject is creative development.

I looked at an essay that came out in the most recent issue of Shutterbug Magazine, where Jack Hollingsworth looks at how photographers develop their in the essay The Ladder: In Defense of Imitation . He defines 3 stages or phases of development: imaginative, adaptive, and innovative. While both interesting and logical, it raises more questions than it answers. I found myself in similar shoes when trying to address just a few of those questions ir raised in my mind – more questions, practically all of which were subjective in nature. So, the article will likely not see the light of day here at CB. If anyone is interested in a heavy read, let me know via email and I’ll be happy to forward a copy of that article to whomever requests it directly.

That said, the blog was not a good place for it, so I discarded the idea for CB and went with the photo montage. A sneak peak was done a few weeks ago, and it’s now complete. Visit my photo site for the full gallery here

Hope everyone’s weekends were good ones. Here’s to a new week – happy shooting, and watch that ISO!