"Bluffs Barn" by Doug Waggoner

Doug Waggoner is a photographer of the American Mid-West.  Many of his shots feature this characteristically flat and culture-rich land.  As you can tell from this photograph, Bluffs Barn, he is also quite skilled at shooting in Black & White.

The choice of Black & White, over color, is somewhat counter-intuitive for a photograph like this.  When we think of landscape photography, we think of lush green landscapes or photos filled with golden hues and blue skies.  It is a fairly common belief that landscape photography should therefore be created in color – not just from the audience, but from some photographers as well.

Yet for all that we think we’ve lost by using black & white, we’ve gained a great deal.  The warm feeling we get from a full-color photograph takes the form of a cold and desolate feeling in black & white.   Focusing on the sky, the purpose is less about the color contrast and more about the shape of the clouds, which now seem just as daunting as they are beautiful.  The holes and broken pieces of the barn itself are now much more apparent as black spots against the lighter backgrounds.  Elimination of color has allowed Waggoner to show us a different side of the scene – one that is both beautiful and intimidating.

Bluffs Barn embodies the classic photographic style that one might have seen from Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans or Arthur Rothstein during the Great Depression.  Great photographers were Lange, Evans and Rothstein, but their work was more about photojournalism than art.  That is the case here as well.  Waggoner is certainly trying to document and share a view of the barn more than create an image to be hung on a wall.  But as is the case with many of Rothstein’s photos, Waggoner’s photo is equally as comfortable on a wall as art.

There are a few things that I would like to have seen improved with Bluffs Barn.  The dynamic range in this photo is apparent – we have absolute black and absolute white portions within the shot.  But the mid-range is perhaps a little too dark.  I would like to have seen this shot brightened up a little, even if it were to sacrifice some of the detail of the clouds.  The subject after all is the barn, not the clouds.  This is where color filters – either physical filters or software filters in post – come in handy.  Boosting the greens and reds (using a green filter or a red filter) would lighten up the foreground to yield some separation from the barn.  Even a circular polarizing filter would help to get some separation between the clouds and the sky, possibly affording more flexibility in the exposure itself. But I must offer my kudos, as black & white photography is far more challenging than one might expect, and Doug got most of the way to a perfect shot.

Be sure to check out Doug Waggoner’s photostream on Flickr.  He is currently working on a Photo 365 project, and his daily photo posts have been top-notch.  We are of course happy to have him as a contributing member of our Shutter Photo @ Flickr Group.  Thanks again, Doug, for sharing.

All across the web, there are hundreds of debates about the capabilities of the human eye.  How many frames per second (fps) can the human eye see?  What’s the maximum resolution (a debate made no more clear by Apple’s so-called “Retina Display” on their latest iPhone)?  What’s the ISO equivalent of the human eye?  These things are much debated because we’re comparing apples to oranges, and that’s not quite fair.  But until there’s truly a way to measure the human eye’s capabilities in a way that is comparable to your camera sensor, the debates will continue.

What really matters is that no camera has yet exceeded the capabilities of the human eye with respect to focusing speed, color range, depth of field or it’s ability to see wide ranges of light levels.  In photography, this matters because your camera will not be able to see things the same way your eye does.  Your camera is always hiding something – just like a shifty con-artist.

In many regards, this is a restriction.  In a scene like the one above, the human eye would be able to see the details and colors of the shirts of the people in the photo.  It would see the leaves on the trees, and the light wouldn’t appear to taper off nearly as fast at the edges of the light throw.  But the camera cannot support such a wide dynamic range.  You need to expose for the light, or you need to expose for the darker areas.  You can’t have it both ways with a single image.  High Dynamic Range imaging is designed to augment the camera’s limitations in this regard, but that requires multiple exposures – so it’s not truly a fix, just an exploit.

On the other hand, such a restriction can also be a tool.  Take this shot – “Leaves Before Dark” (shot with ISO 200 film) – for example.  Had the film truly been capable of the eye’s dynamic range, this shot would not have been possible.  The contrast would not have been so great, and you might even be able to make out some of the details on the leaves themselves.  Had the lens been capable of the eye’s depth of field, the trees in the background would have been in tack-sharp focus, despite the fact that they are easily 200 yards off.  The clouds would not have been silky smooth and every single branch would have been tack sharp.  In short, if my camera were able to duplicate the human eye’s abilities, this would be a flat, boring photo without much artistic interest.  And this is just a simple photo.  What if we were striving to create some dramatic lighting?  It’s fairly simple to do with a single strobe, thanks to your camera’s limitations.  But many of the widely practiced lighting techniques would not be possible if the camera could see what the human eye could see.

Takeaway #1: The first thing I hoped you learned from this article is that you need to be fully aware of your camera’s limitations.  You need to be able to understand the differences between what you see and what your camera sees.  Adjusting for your camera’s limitations should become second nature.

Takeaway #2: This is most important:  I hope that you have developed an appreciation for your camera’s flaws.  Learn to love your camera for not being as great as your eyes.  It is these so-called flaws that allow you to perform your art in the first place.  Think about it: The artistic styling of your photographs are almost always exploitative of your camera’s design flaws.  Am I right?  Now what if you had to give up all these flaws?  The art would dissolve into a sea of sameness.

The truth is that the camera does lie.  Lying is what your camera does best.  As a photographer, your job is to exploit that fact to weave a story with your photographs.

Happy storytelling.

"There's a Rumbling In the Skies" by Ray Rhodes

Ray Rhodes and his work first came to our attention in February during our Ribbon Photo Contest.  Ray’s entry took the first-runner-up position in the midst of tight competition.  Since then, he has contributed dozens of photos to our flickr pool, and I have personally followed his work extensively.  If I had to describe Ray’s photography in one word:  Americana.  Ray shoots a number of great subjects, but the majority of his body of work features scenes from the American countryside.  In each and every photo, he truly captures a sense of place.

"The Time Ahead" by Ray Rhodes

But what I am personally drawn towards are his many photos of roadways.  Roads have worked  their way into our jargon ever since cars have become a prominent part of our well being.  Middle of the road.  The road less traveled.  Hit the road. We are romantically drawn to roadways as a symbol of travel, better places and the love for the journey.  And so Ray’s work is an embodiment of ideals in photographic form.

Like the many different perspectives of photographers all over the world, there are hundreds of ways to view the same stretch of a roadway.  In Ray’s portfolio, he features dozens, if not hundreds, of locations – yet each photo is incredibly unique.  Different lenses, different times of day, different treatments of color.  But they all sing the tune that is Ray’s own style. “Photographers see the world differently, from non photographers,” Ray starts as I inquire as to his fascination with roads.  “One morning, I noticed how wonderful the road looked in the early morning light. It gave me a feeling of Route 66.  Drive to the horizon….off to the next adventure….”  I can feel his perspective in each and every one of his photographs.  His photographs are a representation of the adventures that are behind him as well as in front of him.  His portfolio is not only about his travels across the countryside, but his journey through life.

"Toward the Light" by Ray Rhodes

In a past life, Ray used to race motorcycles, and so Ray has spent a great deal of time looking for roads that “made for a great ride.”  However, he admits that “[he] never thought of [roads] artistically.”  Personally, I disagree.  His intimate relationship with the road – his many travels on two wheels without a steel frame, exposed to the elements – have given Ray a unique perspective.  When traveling, one becomes focused on the road.  The scenery becomes an afterthought, secondary to safety.  But when you stop, everything comes rushing in.  There you are all alone with your thoughts.  The camera is your best companion.  Ray did not disclose any of these thoughts through our e-mail correspondence.  He didn’t have to.  It’s clearly portrayed in his portfolio.

"Long Night" by Ray Rhodes

Unfortunately, the many intersections in the roadways to our lives interrupt our back-country cruises.  On many occasions, these intersections represent choices that we have control over.  Other times, the route is chosen for us as we hit the inevitable detours in life.  These are not always happy times.  Sadly, Ray was thrown into a horrible detour in his life:  The loss of his son last April.  This is of course an incredibly sensitive issue, and so I don’t wish to dwell.  But Ray opened a view into his heart to help me understand how photography helped him through this horrible time.  “It still helps me cope,” Ray writes.  “It gave me focus…gave me something creative…”  And while the creative release that photography provides certainly cannot fill such a hole in one’s heart, it is inspiring to hear Ray write as such.  As for his work, he feels that his photography has progressed emotionally.  “I may not have progressed technically, but emotionally…that has been the biggest change.  I do hope it shows.”

Trust me, Ray – it shows.

I wish I could truly pinpoint exactly what it is about Ray’s works that are so inspiring.  Perhaps it’s a reminder of the road trips we took with our parents as kids in the back seat on long journeys – perhaps our view was better than our father behind the wheel.  Ray’s work perhaps reminds us of those journeys.  Or maybe his photography shares with us a very simple dream that we all long for ourselves:  Simple travels with minimal means.  A motorcycle (or a car), a bag of necessities and your camera.  Perhaps we all long to see the world through Ray’s eyes.  But alas, there is no single reason as to why his work is so appealing.  That would be unfair to Ray and his photography.  It is safe to say that Ray pulls from his life experiences in the same way a chef would pull from a well stocked pantry.  As an observer, it would be an unlikely feat to pick out every single ingredient from taste alone.  And even if that were possible, getting the portions right would be impossible.  But isn’t that what we love about art?

And with that, I’d like to leave you with a few more samples of Ray’s incredible road photography.  It is my hope that you are inspired by his photography….and his dreams.

"Grated" by Ray Rhodes

"Chasing Time" by Ray Rhodes

"Meet the Dawn" by Ray Rhodes

Note:  Ray has two photostreams.  His earlier photostream can be found here.  His most current works are found here.

Camera Strap Buddy

Get it at Amazon.com
($16.85)

In the past, we’ve reviewed a number of products that are designed to make carrying your camera easier and more convenient.  One could spend a good deal of money finding the right tool for the task.  But sometimes, the simplest of gadgets are all one needs.  The Camera Strap Buddy was brought to my attention as one of those gadgets.  Playing off of one key component of the many alternative camera straps that exist on the market today, the Camera Strap Buddy simply adds an extra strap fastening point – via your camera’s tripod mount.  With the Camera Strap Buddy, you are now able to use any traditional camera strap that you probably already own.  You hang the camera across your chest – just like the alternative camera straps – and the camera hangs at your side.  By repositioning the left strap point to the bottom of the camera, your camera now hangs with the lens pointed straight down.  This carrying position is much more comfortable with some of your larger lenses.

Photo courtesy of Camera Strap Buddy

In practice, it works quite well.  I traditionally carry my 18-135mm zoom lens mounted when traveling about and shooting street style photography.  The Camera Strap Buddy did all that was promised – the camera hung at my side, lens pointed downward, ready for a quick-draw.  The Buddy swivels so that your camera strap never gets tangled and it can be easily untwisted.  The swivel action also allows it to hang in the ideal position at your side. In general, I consider the Camera Strap Buddy to be a great value – such a simple gadget that does so very much.

Nothing is without it’s pitfalls, however.  I am always wary of camera carrying solutions that fasten to the tripod mount.  If you’re not carrying a tripod, this is not as much of a concern.  And I admit that this is a pet peeve of my own.  But there are quite a few occasions where one might want the option to use a tripod or monopod.  The Camera Strap Buddy is easy enough to unscrew – and you can quickly remove if as necessary.  One could argue that the device could easily be removed in a pinch when the use of a tripod was necessary.  However, the strap-fastening ring – the part that allows the camera strap to swivel around it’s bolt – is not directly fastened to the bolt.  In other words, if you remove the bolt, you risk the possibility of losing the bolt since it is not attached.  I’d pay an extra few bucks for a version of the Camera Strap Buddy that remained attached to its bolt.

The other potential flaw is not the flaw of the Camera Strap Buddy itself.  Therefore, I only mention this as a warning to potential consumers.  The Buddy works best if you have the right strap.  With a nice after-market camera strap made from a seat belt, the Buddy worked best.  The camera strap was a bit longer than normal, and the strap did not have any rubber or friction points that are designed to keep the strap in place.  The strap slid nicely as I lifted my camera to my eye.  However, when I used the gadget with the camera strap that came with my camera – albeit, something I often recommend against – the strap was too short and had a rubber anti-slip pad.  The shortness of the strap prevented the camera from hanging comfortably at my side.  And the anti-slip pad made it difficult to slide it into position.  Again, I must point out that this is not a flaw in the device itself – just a potential issue depending on what strap you might use this with.

Final Thoughts

Street Photographers who always like to have their camera at their side will appreciate the Camera Strap Buddy.  Street photographers rarely use tripods and the elimination of the tripod mount won’t be missed.  I am also a firm believer in having multiple options for different situations.  Sometimes, you may wish to have a traditional camera strap, other times you might want to have an alternative mounting – and the Camera Strap Buddy provides that.  So while this isn’t the tool for everyone, the Camera Strap Buddy certainly has a lot to offer.

Things We Liked

• Swivel action – prevents tangles and easily untwists straps.
• Holds camera in an ideal position – especially with larger lenses.
• Great value – Less than $20 and it provides a solution similar to camera straps nearly four-times the price.

Thinks We Didn’t Like

• The Camera Strap Buddy eliminates the use of the tripod mount.
• The swivel mounting ring is not mounted to the bolt.

Notice the images to the left.  The hammer is blurred, implying motion.  In addition, we know by the man’s stance that he is in motion.  He is off balance and could not stand in that position for more than an instant.  Finally, notice that everything around the subject is in perfect focus.  Motion blur is far less effective if it is accompanied by camera shake.

The third way to add motion to an image is through composition.  In this case, you are not adding actual motion as you are in the previous two examples.  What you are adding is more accurately described as flow.  If the lines (both actual and implied) are arranged properly within a photograph, the viewer’s eye will follow the path of these lines.

The lines created by the wall, the signpost, and the ladder prevent the viewer’s eye from leaving the frame.  Every time one of these boundaries is reached, the eye is redirected back toward the center of the image.

The most important thing to avoid is allowing the viewer to stray from the image.  It is all too easy for someone to walk right past an image without giving it the time your work deserves.  Don’t give your viewers an excuse to blow past your photographs by including lines that will lead them directly out of frame.

The lines in this example also restrict and direct the eye.  However, rather than redirecting the eye back into the center of the image, the lines pull the viewer’s eye through the image.  The eye is drawn down the stairs to the green pillar and redirected along the second set of stairs and then out of frame.  None of the lines draw the eye out of the frame without first directing attention through the image.
The actual and implied lines within a photograph draw the eye of the viewer.  Our eyes follow these lines subconsciously.  Some lines direct the eye, others restrict the eye.  Learn to use lines to your advantage to attract your viewer’s attention.

"Crooked Crow, 6/19/2010" by D. Travis North (click to learn about the band)

I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but your camera is not perfect when it comes to color sensitivity.  It doesn’t matter what brand or what model.  The amount of money you spent on your camera is not a factor.  Your camera will not detect colors the exact way the human eye does.  I wish I could tell you your monitor was perfect as well.  But this is not the case. Of course, that doesn’t mean your photos have to suffer.

The human eye and your camera’s sensor are both sensitive to red, green and blue light.  The other colors are developed by mixing different ratios of the three light colors together.  Your computer’s monitor renders your photographs the same way, by casting red, green and blue light.  But there are distinct differences between the receptors in your eye and the receptors in your camera’s receptors.  The camera is much more sensitive to the blue end of the spectrum – the shorter wavelengths.  Accordingly, many of the photos you take will result in a slightly bluish cast.  The first step to correcting the problem is being aware.  Any pro photographer will tell you not to trust your gear.

So how do we deal with our case of the blues?  The following practices are recommended at a minimum to make sure your photos look color perfect:

• Profile Your Monitor – Very first on this list – before any other method – is to profile your monitor.  Think your monitor renders color pretty well?  It’s a trick of the human eye, which adapts easily – too easily.  You shouldn’t trust them in this case, you cannot effectively color-correct your monitor without hardware.  There are a number of great products available – hardware – that is designed for this specific purpose.  For entry level, I’d suggest the Spyder 3 Express (less than $90) system from ColorVision – but there are tons of options available.  Regardless of the system you use, each system consists of some optic sensor that gets placed on your monitor to profile it and calibrate it to match very precise color spectrum.  It will be about as perfect as you can get.  You can fix your color balance in post-processing at the very least.  If you follow no other suggestion from this list – at least follow this one.  Daresay I feel this is more important than your next lens.
• White Balance Preset – We reviewed a product called ExpoDisc that serves as a tool that presets your white-balance before taking the shot.  There are many other products as well, from lens filters to gray cards to color profiling kits.  Having one of these tools in your kit while you’re shooting will save you a ton of headaches in post-processing, especially for those of you who shoot in JPEG.  But even for you RAW shooters, getting things right in camera will make your workflow and post-processing a lot easier and faster.  Besides, that’s not the fun part of photography – so why not eliminate it?
• Warming Filters – Software or hardware, it doesn’t matter…using a warming filter will certainly bring back the warm earth tones that get lost by the hyper-blue depths of your camera’s sensor.  This is not a perfect fix, but will certainly make fast time if necessary.  But again, don’t go about it blindly.  Profile your monitor.
• Flash Gels – When shooting flash, you will often be faced with different light sources rendering different kinds (colors) of light.  Using the right gels for your flash can help to balance different light sources.  There are two colors that you’ll want to have:  Color Temperature Orange and Window Green.  The green gel can be used to match your flash to fluorescent light; the orange is used to match tungsten light sources.  The trick is that you want all of your light in the same color range so that at post-processing, your photo has the same color of light throughout.  This makes for easier color balancing in the end.
• Profile Your Monitor – Yes, I’m being redundant – because this is THAT important.  As a photographer, there is no reason you should not have a color-corrected monitor.  It’s that simple.

Let me assure you that I learned about all of these things – especially the monitor profiling – from my own mistakes.  There’s nothing worse than taking what you feel is the perfect photo only to have to fix it in post processing.  It’s time consuming, and you may never get some of that data back.  Your camera is not evil, and it’s not likely to cut off its own ear, but it has a permanent case of the blues.  Only you can help.

"Eyes of Eastern State Penitentiary" by D. Travis North

This past weekend, I met up with fellow photographers for a photo walk at Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP for short), an abandoned prison in Philadelphia.  The event was organized and hosted by Scott Wyden Kivowitz (@scottwyden for you twitter users), a professional photographer from New Jersey.  Now I have a bit of a confession to make:  Despite growing up in the shadow of ESP – despite its widespread appeal to photographers – I had never been before this weekend.  Now I am kicking myself.

Lately, I’ve been in a bit of a funk with my photography.  My primary job has kept me at the office late hours as workloads are building and schedules are unpredictable.  What little spare time I’ve had hasn’t been spent with my camera in-hand.  Sure, I have a lot of ideas in my journal.  But sometimes, you just want to get away from it all to jump-start your creativity again.  What I should have done was make the time to get away – a day off to wander about the city, an afternoon to shoot at a nearby park.  But I dragged my feet on taking the time.  That is, until Scott came along and organized the trip to ESP.  Suddenly, getting away was an event with a set date and time.  I registered immediately and circled the date on my calendar.  I was getting away.

For those of you unaware, ESP is a stabilized ruin.  Some of the areas have been restored only to the point that they are safe to tourists.  But most of the areas suffer from severe decay and neglect.  Doors sag, roofs on the verge of caving in, peeling paint and rusty stairways.  The old prison has a lot of character.  The perfect playground for a photographer.  The photo walk itself took about three hours, then we all went to grab some lunch at a nearby pub.  I returned after lunch to shoot some more.  And despite all my time there, I’m convinced I could go back again and again and again.  I got lots of great shots, tried a few experiments and had a lot of fun.

A specific location can be all the inspiration and motivation you need.  Inspiration garnered from browsing the galleries of strangers or reading books cannot compare to the amount of inspiration you’ll find within yourself by visiting such a location.  The destination should be a place that you find interesting – even without the camera.  If you find a location that is appealing to you, then your creative juices will flow.

Untitled by Eva Schmidt

As a result of last week’s inspiration, an abstract photo from Jos, there has been a lot of buzz about abstract photography.  As such, we wanted to bring you more inspirational examples of some great abstract photography.  And thus, we bring you an untitled photograph by Eva Schmidt, which is shown above.

Now to be fair, the abstract purists (one of the lesser known photography cults) will be placing my name on their list for blurring the boundary defining the abstract photography universe.  I have been told that a true abstract photograph must not contain an identifiable subject.  In this photograph, the subject appears to be a simple lamp – or at least the shadow of one.  It is not my intent to annoy the purists.  But I do believe that the lines are blurry and less defined.  In the end, it matters naught because the result is an aesthetically pleasing photograph that borrows from the abstract universe as well as the traditional photography universe.  These things are not worth debating.

So what we have here is an interesting composition composed of shape, line and pattern (the repetition in the shapes).  Though we have enough information to define the source of the shadows, you’ll note that not one of them is complete.  This forces the viewer to make such observations based on the whole image, and not just a single aspect of the photograph.  It also forces our eyes to observe the entire photograph both independently and as a whole.  If I were to speak of nothing more, this would already be considered a great shot.  But there is more:  The beauty is in the details.

Light – a key aspect of what we do as photographers.  We use light, we expose for light.  But it’s much more fun to play with light.  At first glance the other day, I saw this as a simple pattern of three lamps in a line.  After observing in greater detail, I suspect that this is really a case of a single subject with three different light sources, each progressively softer than the other.  The difference in softness/hardness could be handled a number of ways.  Either by using modifiers, the distance of the light source relative to the subject, or simply the angle of the shadow relative to the surface it is being cast upon.  Alternatively, my original hunch could very well be correct.  The same effect could be achieved with three subjects and a single light source.  The difference in relative distance between the subject and the light source would also render one shadow softer than the other.  Whatever the method, the result is a variation that is aesthetically appealing and intriguing.  The variation in light establishes hierarchy and depth.

The texture across the photo was added in post processing.  Specifically, it was a texture called Candlelight by Kim Deslandes.  While trying to dissect how the shot was made, I must admit the texture was a source of a great deal of confusion (at least until I read the description – always read descriptions when analyzing works of others).  Texture aside, it appears that there are two surfaces – a table top and a wall (the dark diagonal line appears to be a shadow cast by the table).  What threw me off was the texture, which is fairly consistent across the image.  Ideas stirred in my head about the possibility of shooting through vellum or perhaps I was looking at shadows cast upon a projection screen.  But no, it was the texture.

I do not use textures much in my own works.  It’s not to say that I don’t like them, I feel that textures and other post-processing techniques add a great deal to a photograph.  This is one such example.  Without the texture, I feel the background would be too smooth and the impact would not have been nearly as great.  And so I feel that Eva’s use of the texture is commendable.  But I would like to raise a key observation:  Textures alter the perspective of a photograph, and thus they should be used with care.  In other words, there are some textures that will not work with all photos, and one should be cognizant of that.

All in all, Eva’s photograph is an inspirational work for a number of reasons.  First and foremost is the simplicity of the composition.  In abstract works, simplicity is often the key, and Eva does that quite well here.  Second is the fun play with light.  The way the light is used has dramatically changed the end result in this photograph.  There’s a lot to be learned from this photo in that regard.  And finally, texture adds interest – a nice finishing touch to a potentially bland backdrop.

Rogue FlashBenders
from ExpoImaging, Inc.

Get it at Amazon.com
($29.35-$39.95 or $99.95 for the set of three)

ExpoImaging, the makers of the ExpoDisc White Balance Filter we reviewed back in February, has a new line of products targeted at strobists:  The Rogue FlashBenders.  The line consists of three products:  A Large Positional Reflector, a Small Positional Reflector and a Bendable Bounce Card/Flag.  Each of these is designed to fasten to your external flash units (strobes) as a means to control the light.  We have seen many of these products in the past, but none are as versatile as the Rogue FlashBenders.  While each FlashBender serves a slightly different purpose, each product features one very unique concept:  they are bendable.  Each features one or more positionable rods (one for the card/flag, two in the small reflector and three in the large reflector) so that you can shape the Flashbender in any position that you want.  After reading about this on ExpoImaging’s site, we just had to try out the product line for ourselves.  ExpoImaging was kind enough to provide a sample of each product for the purpose of our review.

When I first started using the Rogue FlashBenders, my initial goal was to familiarize myself with the product so that I can get down to the serious testing.  But then I got carried away and next thing I knew, I had burned a whole evening, some of the morning and about 400 photos of myself (I am the most accommodating model I know – sorry if you were looking for pretty people).  Needless to say, these things are fun to play with.  But I knew I had to get down to business and set up some reasonable tests to really see what these things could do.  So I scheduled another session (with myself) so that I could focus on reviewing the product….and the same thing happened.  Several sessions later, I was finally able to start jotting things down about what I liked and what few things I didn’t like about each product.  I finally have a good grasp as to the power each one of these FlashBenders can provide.

In short – the system is incredibly powerful and very beneficial to anyone’s photography kit.  This is perhaps one of the most enjoyable light modification systems I’ve used to date.  And for the record – I was previously a fan of Honl’s product line.  In my opinion, the Rogue Flashbenders are better for two reasons:  The Strap and the versatility.  Now the purpose of this review is not to compare the two product lines – but there are a few areas where such discussions are unavoidable.  Otherwise, I am going to clearly outline the benefits of the system and all of the features that are beneficial to you.

System Design

Left to Right: Small Positionable Reflector, Large Positionable Reflector (back) and Bendable Bounce Card/Flag (photo courtesy of ExpoImaging)

As I mentioned, the system is currently divided into three specific products:

• Large Positionable Reflector – 10″ x 11″ (254mm x 280mm), three bendable rods, velcro fastener strap, velcro squares on edges of reflector (for snooting, more on that later)
• Small Positionable Reflector – 10″ x 7″ (254mm x 178mm), two bendable rods, velcro fastener strap, velcro squares on edges of reflector (for snooting)
• Bendable Bounce Card or Flag – 5″ x 9″ (127mm x 228mm), one bendable rod at the center line, velcro fastener strap, removable flag piece (black, non-reflective)

All of the FlashBenders feature a reflective surface that does not change the color temperature of the light.  These surfaces can be wiped with a damp cloth for easy cleaning without hindering the lifespan of the product.  The fastener straps are elastic with a small square of velcro which accommodates most (if not all) shoe-mounted strobes.  The fastener straps are also built-in, unlike Honl’s system, so that there are no straps to lose and so you don’t need extra straps to use each.  There’s also not too much velcro to get stuck on things in your bag.  Finally, each one of these is durable and built really well.  Trust me on this last part, the small positionable reflector has traveled a lot with me in my (over-filled) camera bag over the past month, and it shows no sign of wear.

Why Bend?

View directly into the FlashBender during flash fire. One corner is bent inward.

I will admit that my first time playing with the large reflector, the question that popped into my head – almost immediately – was:  “Why does it need to bend so much?”  My experience with light modifiers led me astray.  Light bounces all over the place, after all, and bending the reflector does not have as significant of an impact as you would expect.  But therein was the flaw in my reasoning:  I was focusing on a quantitative aesthetic.  The truth is that a non-bendable reflector will get you most of the way.  You’ll get the redirected light, you’ll soften the light and end up with a pretty good image.  But a bendable modifier allows you to feather out the light, or block a small portion of the light simply by bending the corners or even a whole edge how you’d like.  Bend the edge away from the subject, and the light softens – especially at the edge of the light.  Bend the edges towards the subject, and you can focus the light.

But aside from modifying the light that’s present, I also found a few outside-the-box scenarios just by playing around – and I’m sure there are more yet to be discovered.  For example, I discovered one way to mimic the effect of a small strip light by bending an upper corner of the large reflector so that it lies in front of the opposite lower corner – the reflector is now somewhat triangular shaped from the front.  But rotate the flash 90 degrees and tilt the unit away from the subject, and you are throwing light fairly narrow (comparatively speaking) and vertical.  The same effect can be done with the medium reflector by fastening it so that the middle of the reflector aligns with a short edge of the flash, then fold both wings over the long edges of the flash.  You can also angle the flash away from the subject and use one wing as a Gobo (“go between” – something between the flash and the subject) to prevent light from hitting one portion of the scene, or to achieve some indirect lighting effects.  The effect is not unlike a “barn door” on a studio frame light.

I’ve also found that you can use each modifier combined with another (or, I would assume, more than one of a specific type).  Because of the elastic and velcro fasteners, I experimented with a few shots to have the bounce flag on one side of the strobe, and used the large modifier on the other fastened around the card’s fastener.  Aimed properly, I was able to create a nice halo effect around the subject without getting too much light on the subject itself.

With the small and large reflectors, you also have the option to snoot the reflectors.  A snoot is basically a tunnel for the light to travel.  You would use a snoot to prevent the light from spreading too wide – to focus the light, if it were.  Now in my opinion, the large reflector works well as a snoot.  However, the small reflector is just a tiny bit too short to be useful as a snoot.  The problem is that with such a reflective surface inside, the light spreads more than you may like.  If it were longer, this might not be much of an issue.  But the small reflector just isn’t long enough to yield any serious control.  There is a simple solution to this issue, however.  Mount the reflector backwards so that the dark side is facing in and you eliminate a lot of the chaotic light.  I should note that the FlashBenders were not designed to be mounted backwards.  There is no rubbery surface on the back side to keep the reflectors in place – so you may have to adjust from time to time.  But this little hack helps you to get the most out of the snoot method of control.

Possibly one of my favorite undocumented uses for the FlashBenders is for macro  and close-up photography.  If you move the flash off-camera, you can set up a reflective dome.  I like to do this best with the large reflector as it is large enough to spread the light around small objects without noticeable shadows.  This method has proven to be quite effective.  It’s not perfect – but works well if you don’t have a ring flash, or if you don’t feel like carrying it around.  The shot shown here is illuminated in such a manner.  Had this been lighted with my on-camera flash, the lens could have cast a shadow on the subject (which happens to be the label on one of the FlashBenders).  A bare-bulb flash would have yielded harsh lighting, and that label would have had a nasty shadow around it.  A flash with a simple diffuser works well, but you lose a lot of the light.  Shooting with the FlashBender as a dome, I was able to pick up some shutter speed – even enough to allow a hand-held capture.

Final Thoughts

A self portrait using the large reflector.

The FashBenders have proven to be quite useful to me.  The durability, simplicity and versatility of their design has done well to fill several needs with my work.  I am always a fan of versatility – single-purpose tools are a waste of money.  As I’ve discussed above, the FlashBenders have yielded a great number of lighting scenarios.  I’m quite happy with that aspect.

I’m also happy with the overall design of the products.  The bending aspect is of course a beneficial element – one that I found much more useful than I would have thought – but the materials and quality that went into the FlashBenders cannot be overlooked.  I am quite appreciative of the simple – but incredibly effective – elastic and velcro fastening system.  I also need to mention again that these things are quite durable.

But as I indicated, not all things are perfect.  We do wish that there was a more effective way to mount the reflectors backwards so that we could snoot through the non-reflective surface.  And we also wish that the black surface on the bounce card were more like a flap so that it was never entirely detachable and easy to lose.  For that matter, if the card were reverse-mountable, that black surface might not even be necessary.  But in the big scheme of things, these are both very minor issues – certainly not design flaws.

Finally, I must once again praise the company behind these products:  ExpoImaging.  If you remember back when we reviewed their ExpoDisc, I initially had some troubles getting it to work under incandescent lighting.  The company’s first thought was to run an in-depth evaluation of the exact filter I used to see if perhaps something was missed in their quality control process.  In the end, the issue turned out to be user error (mine), but ExpoImaging and I went back and forth several times to pinpoint the problem.  One could say that there was biased as I was reviewing their product.  But in speaking with the individuals I worked with, I never got that idea.  In my dealings with the company, both with the ExpoDisc and with the Rouge FlashBenders, I always got a great feeling of pride.  They take a lot of pride in their products, and I really think it shows.

So bottom line question:  Would I recommend the Rogue FlashBenders?  Absolutely.  I would say that the most useful of the three was definitely the large reflector.  It is my favorite of the lot and has the most uses.  That third bar really makes a big difference with what can be done with it.  The bounce/flag would be my second favorite.  The small reflector serves its purpose for those of you who travel or carry your stuff with you always.  It folds up nicely to fit in most camera bags.  But if you’re not of the traveling mind, or if you don’t intend to carry your modifiers with you always, then you can probably bypass the small reflector.

So all in all, there’s very little that we could say bad about the Rogue FlashBenders.  Even the very few flaws that we did find are nominal at best.  So it’s safe to say that we love the FlashBenders.  You will see each of these and the kit in our Amazon storefront

Things We Liked

• One-piece design (for reflectors) – no parts to be lost.
• Multi-purpose design:
  • Bounce card doubles as a Flag (with detachable black surface) and is bendable to more light control.
  • Small reflector can be used as a bounce, a small gobo and is bendable with two positioning rods for more control.  Mount it backwards and it can be used as a flag.
  • Large reflector can be used as a bounce, a large gobo and is bendable using three positioning rods.  Mount it backwards, and it can be used as a flag.
• Limited use of velcro – will not stick to random things in your bag.
• Elastic fasteners – fits a number of flash shapes and sizes.  It even permits you to mount around other light modifiers, such as grids or small diffusers.

Things We Didn’t Like

• The bounce card’s detachable black surface can be completely removed – and lost.  For those who are careful with their gear, this is a minor concern.
• We wish we could mount the benders backwards more effectively (note, the benders are not designed to do this at all).

"P7032221" by Jos

There are a great number of people out there that abstract minimalist photography is easy.  To that, I simply shake my head at their ignorance.  If you’ve ever tried, you are well aware that it’s difficult to create a minimalist composition that looks appealing.  So today I would like to share with you an example of a great minimalist abstract photo, P7032221 (shown here), by a photographer I only know as Jos.

Observing a minimalist abstract photograph can be quite thought provoking and fun.  You can turn it into a game.  What exactly am I looking at?  How large or small is the subject?  Where was this taken?  So lets play – I’ll take a guess, and then you try (leave a comment below).  And no cheating!  That takes from the fun.  I think that we’re looking through a pane of glass, and the beams are crossing structural support.  I think the shadows cast are on the other side.  The texture is created by the dirt and condensation on the glass.  I think I’m in an atrium.

That was fun, wasn’t it?  But see, I tricked you.  That exercise we just went through made us really think about the photo.  Whether consciously or not, we were considering every aspect of the photo setup:  The orientation of the camera, the light sources, textures and so on.  We can of course do that with any photo, but when you are observing minimalist abstract – where you don’t really know what you’re looking at – it can be that much more interesting.

So let’s get down to why I’m sharing P703221 with you today (other than to trick you into analyzing photos).  As I mentioned earlier, minimalism isn’t as easy as it looks.  It is just a trick of the photographer, Jos in this case, to make it look easy.  Truth be told – be it from lots of experience or a large amount of thought – photographs like this don’t come naturally.  The subject matter is the entire photograph, so there’s no single element that can be overlooked.  Composition is key.  This is one of the very few times where I will say the rules matter greatly – because there isn’t much room for artistic license.  Jos’s job was to create a composition that is appealing to an observer – any observer, regardless of their art background.  Technical details of this shot matter very little compared to the composition.

The strongest element within the photograph are the cross-bars.  Where they fall matters greatly.  Jos did not place them centered on the shot.  That would be boring.  He also didn’t strictly follow the widely known rule of thirds.  The vertical and horizontal component actually fall roughly a quarter of the way from the edges.  On their own, the cross-bars would have been uninteresting in such a composition.  However, there are shadows at play as well.  The most prominent shadow is the thickest shadow horizontally oriented in the frame.  You will note that this falls right into the rule of thirds – a third of the way from the bottom.  Additionally, there is a prominent diagonal shadow that extends at about a 40° angle from the very bottom-left corner.  Finally, there is a quality of light and weight.  The brightest and largest square aligns to the bottom and left edges.  The remaining sections of the glass are cut-off and darker than the main square.  This establishes a heirarchy.  Your eyes do not wander to the other sections, they are naturally drawn to the cross of the horizontal shadow and the diagonal shadow.  The emphasis on that area is cemented by the bright halo (of sorts) around that intersection.   To re-frame this shot in any way would ultimately result in one of those pieces falling out of place.

So as you can, see, there is quite a lot to think about when shooting minimalist abstract photos.  The result is a soothing and comforting piece of minimalist art that blurs the lines between the photography world and the painting world.  Daresay the vision behind this photograph is not unlike the vision behind Piet Mondrian and the Neoplasticists (De Stijl).  Is it a coincidence that Jos resides in the Netherlands, where the De Stijl movement orginated in the early 1900’s?

I, for one, am happy to have stumbled upon Jos’s work, and we are happy to have him as part of the Shutter Photo @ Flickr Group.  Be sure to drop by the Flickr Page for P7032221 and leave a comment.  Also be sure to check out his photostream for more of his photographic works – you will find a great deal of evidence of Jos’s talents and vision.  .