Category — Flash / Stobe Photography

^ RadioPoppers enable full TTL flash control for Canon and Nikon strobes. Unlike traditional wireless TTL, which relies upon a finicky line-of-sight connection between the Master and the Remote - RadioPoppers can transmit this TTL control through walls, in bright sunlight and over extended distances.

Off-Camera + TTL = Better Flash Photography

The number one opportunity to improve your flash photography is to unbolt your Speedlite from the top of your camera and move it… anywhere. If you rely on your camera to calculate the proper flash exposure or if you want to dial the flash exposure up/down independently of the ambient exposure from your camera, you have to shoot TTL (”Through-The-Lens”) flash. So, how to you combine getting your Speedlite off your camera and still maintain a communication link for TTL-flash? That’s the journey that led me to discover the incredible RadioPoppers.

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High-speed sync enables daylight flash at wide apertures by changing the way the flash fires.

According to the 1931 song, only “Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon day sun.” Thanks to high-speed sync, flash photographers can now be added to the list. High-speed sync enables shutter speeds way beyond the norm for flash photography. It also opens up a new realm of creative opportunity.  Many shooters are intimidated by high-speed sync. In reality, it’s really easy to use if you [Read more →]

I carry a bunch of seldom-used gadgets that rumble around the bottom of my gear bags. Some have been around for years. I can’t find the courage to remove them because they might come in handy one day. Last week, it was the Cardellini’s turn to come to the rescue.

I was shooting on location - 30 miles from my studio. [Read more →]

The Strobist - David Hobby

I had the great fortune to get a seat last Sunday for David Hobby’s Strobist lighting seminar in Los Angeles. [If you're a student of lighting and just said "Stro-who?", then let me be the first to welcome you to our planet. Check out the Strobist site and we'll see you back here in a couple days.]

To say that a ticket to the Stobist workshop is a hot item is an understatement. Two days x 50 seats = 100 happy photogs. 24 hours = more time than it took for both seminars to sell out. If you’re among the legions who wished they could attend a Strobist workshop, then let me ease your pain (or pour salt on your wounds) by sharing some of the highlights of the day. [Read on, I promise you'll also find links to sources of info on virtually every concept presented during the seminar.] [Read more →]

The PocketWizard blog has been up and running for six months. Funny. Somehow I missed it’s launch. [Yet another indication of how quickly the blogosphere is growing.]

If you’re a Wizard fan or just want to learn what other shooters are doing with wireless triggers (for strobes and cameras), the PW blog is worth checking out.

It’s no secret that getting your flash off the top of your camera is the quickest way to improve your photography. Flash Zebra is a great, little (as in one-man-band) company that sells a wide range of solutions for getting some distance between your camera and your flash.

I originally found Flash Zebra when I was looking for a way to tie a Elinchrom Skyport (which I love) to my legion of Canon 580Ex strobes. Fortunately for me the $19 wired hot shoe on Flash Zebra was a heck of a lot cheaper that upgrading to the Canon 580EX II. If you’re a fan of Pocket Wizards, you’ll find that Flash Zebra can tie your PW to virtually any device. They also sell the handy PW caddy and many other cool items.

Beyond a great range of solutions, you’ll find that Flash Zebra has great prices. At first, I was put off by the difference in prices between Flash Zebra and larger sites. My first order put my concerns at ease. My items were shipped immediately. Upon arrival I found their quality to be top notch. Through several orders, I’m now able to tie my Skyports to everything from speedlights to monolights to studio packs.

As flashmasters Joe McNally and David Hobby have proven again and again, the first step to getting an amazing photo with your strobe is to uncouple it from your camera and move it to the side/back/top/bottom of your subject. Combine a unique flash angle with TTL flash control and you have a dynamic duo.

TTL (Through-The-Lens) metering of flash is one of the amazing windfalls of digital photography. Not only can your DSLR figure out where to focus and what shutter/aperture combo to use, it can tell your flash when to fire and for how long. Wireless TTL works by sending a series of pre-flash light pulses from the controlling unit atop the camera to the remote unit(s). Both Nikon’s i-TTL and Canon’s E-TTL provide wireless solutions that enable the camera to maintain control of the strobe(s) if… if there’s nothing between the camera and the strobe, if the strobe is not too far from the camera, if there’s not too much sunlight, if it’s not raining, if… Enter RadioPopper, destroyer of the IFs.

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It’s great when a pro shooter will let you peak into his camera bag. It’s even better when he’ll unpack the dang thing and explain all the contents… on the web.

John Harrington is an energetic, editorial shooter based in Washington DC. I’ve read and highly recommend his book, Best Business Practices for Photographers. I heard him speak at Photoshop World in Vegas last fall and at ASMP Strictly Business 2 in Los Angeles this winter. If you get a chance to meet or listen to John, consider it a must-do.

To get a sense of the diverse environments in which John must shoot, spend some time on his portfolio site. Then think about all the gear you’d have to have to face so many different challenges.

Now click over to John’s Assignment Construct. Of particular interest are the 30+ short videos in which he unpacks and discusses the various gear kits that he takes on assignments. There’s so much to watch. Perhaps the best place to start is with John’s intro to the videos. [Read more →]

I met Atlanta-based / editorial / music / headshot photographer Zack Arias yesterday… not face-to-face, but through the digital matchmaker, David Hobby over at Strobist. David posted a handful of blurbs - one linked to my other blog, PixSylated, and one linked to Zack’s incredible 5-part white seamless tutorial.

I’ve now spent the better part of, well let’s say, way more time than I really have cruising Zack’s websites. I was totally sucked in and tangled up (is that why it’s called the “internet”?). My conclusion, Zack is a guy that up-and-coming photographers (and open-minded, old-dogs, like me) need to study.

Zack’s story is typical of many (”will probably be recognized as great someday”) photographers. He shoots not because there’s tons of money in it (which is a becoming a universal truth). Rather, he shoots because it’s who he is. You can tell by looking at his photographs. You can tell by reading his websites. [Read more →]