Dan in Real Life

One of the great and terrible things about being a newspaper photographer is the idea that you never know what your day is going to bring.

Sometimes it brings access to cool and interesting people. Sometimes a call from an editor can send you straight into f/64 mode, as far as the pucker factor is concerned. Sometimes it is both.

That's exactly what happened to Austin American-Statesman photographer Jay Janner last year while out on an assignment. He got a call that another shoot had been added to his day -- to go photograph a local photographer named Dan Winters.

Yeah, that Dan Winters... Read more »

Bert Goes All Hollywood on Us

Regular readers of this site are long familiar with Belgian photographer Bert Stephani. His easy-going manner and slightly warped sense of humor always make for fun learning in his behind-the-scenes shoot videos.

For the last several months, Bert (along with partner Peter Van Impe) have been working pretty much nonstop to produce a new lighting tutorial, "Motivational Light."

Hit the jump for a trailer, links and impressions after 3.5 hours of non-stop Bert. Read more »

Got a New Compact or Hybrid-Size Camera? Check That Sync Speed.

Adolfo tweeted to me that he found that his Panasonic LX3 syncs at up to 1/2000th of a second, and it reminded me to remind you that you should always check for this sort of thing. Frequently, the capability is undocumented.

This is a similar deal to the way high sync works on the Canon compact cameras, and the same rules apply for sync speed vs. actual flash pulse duration.

I got to play around with this camera's newer big brother, a 4/3 Lumix GF1, in Dubai, and was very impressed with both the handling and the image quality. I wasn't able to check, but would be curious to know if the 4/3 bodies hi-sync, too. Nope. Shame, too.

If you have found that your new compact (or micro 4/3, etc.) camera can sync up high with external flashes, please hit us in the comments. Always good to know which models do that kind of thing.

UPDATE: Edit fixes incorrect label of LX3 as a micro 4/3. Thanks!

UPDATE2: So far, nothing but bad news in the comments on the 4/3 bodies...

-30-

A Great Face for Radio

Mohamed Somji and the folks at Gulf Photo Plus have made good on their threat and posted their video of the live shootout between Zack Arias, JoeyL and yours truly.

Two things learned.

First: "Never get involved in a land war in Asia." (But only slightly less well- known is this: "Never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line!")

And second, "Never wear a black shirt into a dark auditorium when you are being interviewed with just one hard light."

The video, and links, inside. Read more »

And, They're Surprisingly Affordable

Kidding!

You could not even afford the mortgage for one of these Briese parabolic light focusing reflectors!

But they are fun to look at, and you can get most a small amount of the way there for under $100 with a Paul Buff PLM! If they ever get back in stock!

Gratuitous use of one more exclamation mark!

-30!-

The Most Powerful Light In Your Bag

Last year I photographed Michael Stebbins for Rep Stage, which is how I got to know him for the Glass Menagerie photos.

The Smith Theater, where I shot him, is big and dark. In fact, I had shot someone else there about twenty years earlier for a magazine assignment -- and the Smith Theater had kicked my butt.

I brought every light I had (many, many watt-seconds worth) but I still did not have what I really needed -- the understanding required to work in a big, dark setting.

I even had with me the exact of piece of gear I needed. It was just that I just didn't know how to use it. Read more »

Light Fare: The "Jarvie Window"

Here's a new use for your ring flash.

Salt Lake City-based photographer Scott Jarvie made a unique set of portraits using a Ray Flash ring flash adapter and an 8mm fisheye lens.

Gimmicky? Perhaps. Fun and creative? Yup.

Cue the flood of imitators on Flickr in 3, 2, 1…

(Thanks much to Ben for the tip via the comments section.)

-30-

Something Fun While You Do Your Brackets

For those of you not in the US, please excuse us while our collective attention turns toward "March Madness," AKA the always exciting, single-elimination NCAA college basketball championship tournament. Our productivity plummets to zero as we spend our workday filling out our brackets and trying to pick the winner in the office pool.

What does this have to do with lighting, you ask? Nothing, except for this:

I think it is safe to say that, with the airing of the above commercial, Buffalo Wild Wings has just become the Official Chicken Wing of Strobist.com. You gotta love the Frankenflash thing they made as a prop, too.

Good luck to everyone with their tourney picks. My Florida Gators drew BYU for their first game, which does not look promising. But then, we're just happy to be here this year.

And make my Buffalo Wild WIngs extra hot, please.

(Thanks to Steve for the tip.)

-30-

Worth a Sub: Michael Grecco's New YouTube Channel

Celebrity / Nekkid People photographer Michael Grecco has created a YouTube page to display his many excellent behind-the-scenes videos.

Some of you may not know that he started out as a photojournalist, and began pushing the lighting envelope way back in the very beginning of his career.

The Will Farrell shoot (c. Blades of Glory) embedded above is a great example of why I always enjoy Grecco's time-lapse BTS vids. There's a lot to learn in a minute and change. Not only is he showing you the whole set build, shoot and tear, but there are several cool lighting info nuggets to be had.

Hit the jump for a some of the things you can learn from this video, a second vid and links to more.
__________ Read more »

Q&A: How to Use Your Nikon SB-900 in Optical Slave Mode

As most of you know, the discontinued Nikon SB-800 speedlight has an awesome -- yet, oddly undocumented -- built-in slave. But given the questions I have gotten recently, many people who own the newer SB-900s are not aware that their flash has the same capability.

A walk-thru on how to access and use the built-in slave in your Nikon SB-900 speedlight, and how to get better results from any slave outdoors, inside. Read more »

Speedlights at Twenty Paces

UPDATE: We got video now, at the bottom of the post.
__________


DUBAI, UAE, MARCH 08, 2010 -- Wrapping up in Dubai and getting ready to head over to Muscat in Oman for some much-anticipated R&R.

Those of you who follow Strobist on Twitter knew that Saturday was a big day for me. After teaching at Gulf Photo Plus all week, Saturday night was the big shootout against Zack "OneLight" Arias and Joey "Not That Guy from Blossom" Lawrence.

My shootout results, and what it's like to walk into the belly of hell, inside. Read more »

QOTD: Do You Co-op Gear?

I am gonna turn it around to you guys with a question today: Is anyone participating in a formal (or informal) gear co-op program?

It seems like a logical choice as a compromise for gear you cannot rationalize owning.

Obviously, renting is an option for those who live in NYC or LA (and, increasingly, secondary markets). But it seems to me that the idea could easily be applicable to lighting gear. For instance, a group of weekend enthusiasts or a camera club could pool money for a monobloc kit.

There have always been informal arrangements between photogs in a given local area for spotting each other little-used gear. It's a lifesaver -- especially on assignments that require extra equipment. And some photographers even rent the stuff to other shooters, the cost of which is usually passed onto the client.

Personally, I have been jonesing for a Phase One back on a medium format body. But I cannot rationalize the cost.

Okay, let me rephrase that. I cannot rationalize the cost to my wife. I can rationalize anything to myself.

At The Sun, we had a pool of gear that was available to be used when needed by the staffers. Just seems to me that there must be civilian versions of this. And I'll bet someone reading this site has done it.

Hit us in the comments.

-30-

Five Things Music Can Teach Us About Lighting

In 1986 I walked into the photo department at The Gainesville (FL) Sun for the first time. I was 21, and it was like walking into heaven.

Several well-respected photogs worked there. There was pool glass available for borrowing. There were huge photos on the wall. And there was a nice stereo with a pair of high-end (to me) speakers on top of the bookshelf.

Looking back, I think they were Bose 301's. But I was impressed back then.

They said that they paid for the stereo by pooling the money they received for transmitting AP specials and enterprise art over the wire. It was the first time the connection between music and photography ever hit me.

Ever since, I have made an effort to install some sort of music into the photo departments where I worked -- stereo in the darkroom at Patuxent, amplified speakers in the studio at The Sun and now, multi-source music on demand in The Cave.

Music and photography share a lot of concepts. And even more specific, there is actually a lot of crossover between music and light. Read more »