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 »