Smoking Strobes

Calibrate your camera lens combination for free at photokina

michael — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:09:28 +0000

Calibrate your camera lens combination at photokina

Are you one of those photographers who want their focus right on the spot? Meaning, when you shoot a portrait you really care that the focus is on the eyeball of the front eye of your subject? And if the focus is on the lashes instead of the eyeball then you consider this one a miss?

Then chances are that you have to calibrate your camera lens combination every now and then. Our cousins from Datacolor are just about to premiere what they call the smarter focus tool:

The Spyder LensCal

To me this tool is looking much better than the DIY solutions for this task that I have seen online and used so far. Ok, ok, if you are into lomography or iphonography you might lol about us DSLR shooters who care about frontfocus and backfocus. Otherwise take the chance and visit Datacolor at photokina hall 4.1, booth E010-F019. If your camera supports calibration, then you can calibrate your camera lens combination with their technician and it will be a free of charge service. I mean, even if I would be into pin-hole-ography I would still go visit them because the cousins from Datacolor are really nice people to talk to - but that’s a different story.

If you would like to receive the photokina tips via email or textmessage, please jump onto the list here:

I wish you good light!
-- Michael

l don't need to tell you to watch your back...

michael — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:28:57 +0000

But I’m just about to do it - and I mean it literally. Let me tell you the story of cousin Wouter Brandsma, a talented and brave Dutch photographer and blogger. Recently he was out of luck. He actually broke his back.

What stunned me was, the very next day he was blogging again on his photography blog.

It reminded me that we photographers a lot of times actually do harm to our back. We are carrying heavy 5kg camera lens combinations. We are holding it for much to long time intervals in front of our heads. We are carrying 20kg camera bags on one shoulder, especially at the airport in the queue in front of the check in counter where we want give the impression that our bag is lightweights like a feather and that there is actually no need to check if it is heavier than the allowed 5kg for cabin luggage.

But we do things that are even much worse. Check the little video:

Download High Resolution, .mp4, 80MB
Download for iPhone and mobile, .m4v, 19MB

Please forgive me if I am a bit too much of a healthnut over here, but I really think many of us have the opportunity to decided to lead a much healthier life which usually is... a more happy life. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like this way of working also helps me to be more energetic, get more stuff done and add less weight in the process.

I wish you good light!
-- Michael

Related links:
Wouters Blog: http://wouter28mm.wordpress.com
This video on youtube: Avoid Photography Trade Diseases

Video Sitemap

Video_Content_Loc:

Standup_Avoid_Photography_Trade_Disease.m4v

Video_Thumbnail_Loc:

Standup_Avoid_Photography_Trade_Disease_thumbnail.jpg

Video_Title:

Standup to avoid a photography trade disease

Video_Description:

Avoid photographer’s trade diseases. Here’s a simple tip regarding how to care about your back when doing a lot of work in front of the computer.

Video_Duration:

166

The Pretty Flash Kit makes all the light you’ll ever need

michael — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:27:25 +0000

Hard light / soft light - the pretty flash kit will provide you with both.

When starting flash photography, should you buy a complete flash kit or should you rather buy one piece at a time, learn how to use it properly and then move on to the next one? My advise is: go full kit - right now!

Even though I’m telling you things like buy one lens at a time and learn how to use it (I’m currently learning how to use my 3rd lens), I feel like exactly the opposite is true when it comes to lighting gear. For me, shooting with half a flash kit is a bit like driving with half a car - let’s say driving with the front half of the car while the whole back is missing after the bad Terminator has cut it off with his giant axe: Maybe I can even drive with it for a few more meters, at least in Hollywood flicks, but it won’t take me very far, and for sure it’s not a nice experience.

So the question becomes: What is a complete flash kit that enables a beginner to master all sorts of lighting situations? I wrapped my head around this and finally I’d say: just use the stuff that I am using most of the time. I named this kit the “Pretty Flash Kit”. I detail it in this video:

Download High Resolution, .mp4, 89MB
Download for iPhone and mobile, .m4v, 22MB

Here’s a breakdown of the Pretty Flash Kit along with some affiliate links:

1 Master Flash (for instance SB900 / 580EX II)
3 Slave Flashes (SB600 / 430 EX II)
4 CTO Filters
3 Lightstands
3 Multiclamps
3 Large Shoot Through Umbrellas
1 Collapsible Reflector

While I am teaching a little bit of an extended flash kit in my advanced classes, I am very confident that the small kit listed above is absolutely complete from a beginners perspective. I mean, if you are just starting out you should anyway just accept with easily manageable assignments that require nothing more than headslapping simple lighting setups, right? Examples for that would be a magazine ad for skincare products that needs just the super soft “powder like” light that our Pretty Flash Kit was throwing onto cousin Ajiao in the example photo. Or a catalogue for the evening wear collection of a high class fashion label for which you might want to capture an intense mood by letting some hard lights hit your model from behind, like you see the Pretty Flash Kit doing in the example photo with cousin HeMin. Are those examples the type of situations that you want to master? Then the pretty flash kit is all you need.

It’s not even expensive. In my opinion for all of those items you can savely try to find the best bargain on ebay and then buy just that. Except for the flashes, quality is not really important with any of those things. This might be a little bit counter intuitive. When it comes to photography gear then a lot of times you’ll hear me say how important the quality is, for instance when it comes to lenses, batteries or radio remote triggers. In those cases the cheap stuff will just not work. But while I’d highly advice you to carefully choose your camera tripod and while I might suggest consider nothing less than expensive Manfrotto tripods for that purpose I don’t see much reason for having your speedlight residing on a luxurious Manfrotto lightstand instead of an affordable Cant-Spell-This-Name lightstand that you grab right from good old ebay. Instead of buying 3 luxurious lightstands better spend your hard-earned bucks on an economy class ticket to Asia, buy 3 super cheapo stands over there and find yourself a luxurious model instead.

I’ll now eat my own dogfood, take my advise myself and head over to expedia to check current the airfares.

I wish you “pretty” good light!

-- Michael

Example with hard kicker flash light onto cousin HeMin

Example with soft light onto cousin Ajiao

Related URLs:

This video on Youtube: Pretty Flash Kit - 7 items Speedlight lighting

Video Sitemap

Video_Content_Loc:

Pretty_Flash_Kit.m4v

Video_Thumbnail_Loc:

Pretty_Flash_Kit_thumbnail.jpg

Video_Title:

Professional Flash Photography with the Pretty Flash Kit

Video_Description:

This speedlight flash kit enables you to light professional photography sets like productions for beauty advertisements or fashion catalogues and much more.

Video_Duration:

261

Photokina 2010 Rumors, Facts and My Insider Tips

michael — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:31:01 +0000

If you are planning on visiting the photokina 2010 fair in Cologne then read this post first, please. Just tell me that you are going there and I will share my insider tips with you. As soon as I hear about the truly interesting things that are going to happen there, I will send you a message. And once I find out which companies are offering the best giveaway, I will let you know as well. The photokina show is really awesome.

But there’s so much more going on during the week of photokina. The whole city of Cologne will be full of photography events and workshops.

Have ever been flying in a gyrocopter above the city taking areal photos?

Did you do lightpainting?

How about underwater photography?

Ever build a pinhole camera?

All of this and much much more is going to happen in Cologne during photokina. Check out this little video that I just made for you:

Download High Resolution, .mp4, 249MB
Download for iPhone and mobile, .m4v, 25MB

I personally will be on the photokina every day. I hope to see you there, too. If you are planning on visiting photokina 2010, please opt in with your email here. If you want to hear from me exactly the minute I find out something good and you'd like it as a textmessage on your cellphone, then also type in your mobile number:

I wish you good light!
-- Michael

Related links:

Official Website of Photokina 2010

photo.COLOGNE Festival

This video on Youtube: photokina 2010 photography show

Video Sitemap

Video_Content_Loc:

Photokina_Insider_Tips.m4v

Video_Thumbnail_Loc:

Photokina_Insider_Tips_thumbnail.jpg

Video_Title:

Get Insider Tips for the Photokina 2010 Photography Show

Video_Description:

How to know in advance about the best booths, events and places to be during photokina? Michael provides photographers with tips for the photokina.

Video_Duration:

216

3 step strategy for digital camera batteries in your photo shoots

michael — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:11:11 +0000

You are in the middle of a photo shoot when … your batteries go down. Nightmare. But, well, at least on workshops I’ve seen cases like that. The next thing you see is a photographer who is desperately asking if somebody got a (insert camera brand) battery charger or a spare digital camera battery. Not good.

In a way yours truly is guilty for those situation as well. In a number of posts I preached tethered shooting. And no matter if you tether by radio or via USB cable – someone has to deliver the energy for high bandwidth signal transmission. It’s one more task that your good old batteries have to cater for.

That’s why I think I owe you a strategy for dealing with rechargeable batteries for photo shoots. A strategy, that ensures your batteries always hold a bit more power than you actually need, never letting you down.

It’s not so long ago that I felt the typical frustration that users often have when using rechargeable batteries: they are too expensive, too heavy, the battery charger is too bulky, they take too long to charge and once they are charged they loose their current in a matter of hours and much more. Nowadays I don’t feel this pain anymore. Partially because I decided to exchange my big pile of low quality batteries with a hand full of high quality batteries. Also because over time I developed a strategy for recharging batteries faster than I consume power.

If that sounds interesting for you, now check out the video.

Download High Resolution, .mp4, 233MB
Download for iPhone and mobile, .m4v, 56MB

I hope this provides you with the one or the other nugget of information that keeps you powered up like the Duracell rabbit – just rechargeable.

If you like to have a look at the batteries that I am really happy with, then please follow these affiliate links:

The battery, that makes your MacBook go all night

Hypermac External Battery for MacBook, iPhone, iPad

Rechargable AA Batteries with Eneloop Technology

USA: SANYO eneloop 4 Pack AA NiMH Pre-Charged Rechargeable Batteries

Europe: Panasonic Infinium AA Rechargeable Batteries X 4

Check this Battery Charger

GP Powerbank 15min AA Battery Charger

My Camera Batteries

Canon LP-E6 Battery Pack for Select Canon Digital SLR Cameras

Related links:

This video on Youtube: Digital Camera Batteries in your Photo Shoots

I wish your good light!
-- Michael

Video Sitemap

Video_Content_Loc:

Digital_Camera_Batteries_Charger_Strategy.m4v

Video_Thumbnail_Loc:

Digital_Camera_Batteries_Charger_Strategy_thumbnail.jpg

Video_Title:

3 step strategy for keeping camera batteries powered during your photo shoots

Video_Description:

Never run into power issues during an on location photo shoot: this video explains a simple yet effective strategy to keep your digital camera batteries powered.

Video_Duration:

478

DIY softbox lighting: Light enters the room... through the door

michael — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 15:27:20 +0000

minimalist lighting using a door as DIY softbox

Are you one of the photographers who love the soft and charming light that a large softbox throws onto a model? I absolutely am. And I forked out quite some money in order to get me some of these. But then again I found, that I hardly ever use them because most of my photo shoots happen on location. Call me lazy, but I shy away from the hassle to carry softboxes with me and set them up on location.

I rather use a couple of alternatives, one of which I show you in this video: It’s a an on-the-fly DIY softbox that is constructed using the a multi purpose reflector that doubles as a diffuser. For simplicity sake the diffuser is standing in a door, which provides for defined edges of my lightsource.

Have a look at the video:

Download High Resolution, .mp4, 119MB
Download for iPhone and mobile, .m4v, 29MB

I find it interesting that the speedlights behind this diffuser can be triggered from my on camera flash 100% reliable even though the flashes can’t see each other directly.

Lighting Diagram for DIY Softbox Lighting Trick

This DIY softbox is very easy to setup. Do you have some speedlights and a diffusor? If you don’t have such a multipurpose reflector like I show in the video, then make it a shower curtain DIY softbox, like I showed in a previous post. Or even a bedsheet DIY softbox? However, give it a quick test with an object, for instance a larger vase. If the light is interesting, then go ahead and shoot with a model and be happy about that fact that you did not have to go out and buy a pricy fulll lenght softbox.

I wish you good light!

-- Michael

Photo #0623

Photo #0625

Photo #0626

Photo #0627

DIY Laptop Holder for your Photography Tripod

michael — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:10:56 +0000

The DIY laptop holder for your photography tripod

Are you shooting photos with your digital camera tethered to your laptop? Then it’s time well spent to quickly assemble your DIY laptop holder in 3 minutes or less. Trust me, it’s literally on a shoestring budget. With your laptop hanging nice and close on your tripod you avoid accidents like people stumbling over the USB cable. And it’s handy to have your screen really close to your camera.

A couple of years back I assembled this thingy because I wanted to have something small, light weight and easy to use for my travels. And it served me well in all those years. I like it much better than all the solutions I could find in photography equipment shops.

Check out how to assemble the thing in just a few seconds:

Download High Resolution, .mp4, 250MB
Download for iPhone and mobile, .m4v, 73MB

So please tell me, are you tethering your laptop when shooting photos? Where do you usually place your laptop? Do you have any other ideas for laptop holders? Or you know shops that offer some? Please tell us in the comments.

I wish you good light!

-- Michael

Related links:

This video on Youtube: DIY photography equipment - Laptop holder

Video Sitemap

Video_Content_Loc:

DIY_Photo_Gear_Tripod_Laptop_Holder.m4v

Video_Thumbnail_Loc:

DIY_Photo_Gear_Tripod_Laptop_Holder_thumbnail.jpg

Video_Title:

How to Assemble Your DIY Photography Tripod Laptop Holder

Video_Description:

This video features instruction on how to assemble a holder for your laptop, that you can easily attache to your tripod. It takes just a few seconds.

Video_Duration:

514

Screen Calibration Kung-Fu: 3 steps to make your screen revealing every detail

michael — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:45:31 +0000

Use this screen calibration diagram to calibrate your screen in seconds

Want to see as much detail as possible on your computer screen when doing photo retouching? Use this little diagram to add a YinYang-like balance to your screen settings. The goal is that you can differentiate between subtle nuances of black and white – just like the Pro’s can do.

Prepress professionals might work with hyper expensive special monitors. And they use professional metering hardware in order to calibrate their screens to a white brightness of exactly 175 lumen/sqare meter, a gamma of 2.2 and a color temperature of 6500K – as an example. This is clearly useful for working with photos. However, I made the experience that I can accomplish 95% of the screen quality by simply adjusting whatever screen I have at hand with the help of a little diagram.

Check out the video and then do it yourself:

Download High Resolution, .mp4, 706MB
Download for iPhone and mobile, .m4v, 83MB

It just takes 2 minutes. Give it a try yourself:

Step #1

Make sure the room you are in is dimly lit. There should be enough light so that your eye can see every detail comfortably in your room. And it should be dimmed enough, so that your screen is the brightest thing in your room, at least when you have a lot of white on your screen.

So if behind your screen is this nice huge window which let’s you look into the bright sunny sky, then now is the time to let down the blinds. Really, whenever you work with photos on your screen, dim the lights in your room. Just don’t make it a real darkroom.

Step #2

Download the

==> YingYang Screen Calibration Diagram

Bring the YinYang symbol completely onto your screen. Can you see the 1 and the 10? I won’t give you a hint where they are, you have to find them. Found both? Congrats – you are already done. If not, adjust the brightness of your screen so that you can see both, the 1 and the 10. Done! If you can only either see the 1 or see the 10, depending on your setting, then choose a setting in the middle of the two extremes and go on with the next step.

Step #3

Dial back the contrast of your screen down to a point where you can see the 1 and the 10. Oh, and if you are on a Mac (like myself) and don’t find a contrast setting on your LCD, then press and hold ctrl+alt+cmd and press "," and "." to adjust contrast

Probably you still need to make little tweaks to the brightness in order to achieve as you gradually dial back the contrast. Choose a setting at which you are just about to see both, the 1 and the 10. If this is not possible even though you cared for the right room light in step1 and you adjusted the brightness in step2, well, then your screen is not really able to show you everything. In this case try this two steps focusing on the 2 and the 9. If that ain’t work, choose the 3 and the 8 and so on.

I wish you good light!

-- Michael

Related links:

This video on Youtube: 3 steps to make your screen revealing everything

PS.:
You really do not need the Photoshop version of the diagram. But just in case – there you have it:

YingYang Screen Calibration Diagram (Photoshop)

Video Sitemap

Video_Content_Loc:

Screen_Calibration_Kung-Fu.m4v

Video_Thumbnail_Loc:

Screen_Calibration_Kung-Fu_thumbnail.jpg

Video_Title:

How to calibrate your screen in seconds so that you see every detail of your photos

Video_Description:

A well calibrated screen that shows all details of your photo is vital when retouching. With this diagram you can easily adjust any screen. I made this video for you.

Video_Duration:

594

Speedlight Tricks and fun with the Phottix Atlas Wireless Flash Trigger

michael — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:13:00 +0000

Speedlight hidden in the fridge and triggered wirelessly

Once you take your speedlights out for a walk and shoot photos outside, even if you don’t go further than your own garden, then you will feel the need for wireless flash triggers such as radio remotes. Yes, they open up a whole new world of lighting. But these hot babies also might burn a hole into your wallet. Before you reach really deeeeeeep into your “Pocket“ and invest in “Wizards” of the well known brands you should have a look at the alternatives. You really should.

I learned this in an expensive way. Here’s what happened: One year ago I purchased a US$1600 set of cutting edge radio triggers with truly amazing features. It was a set of 5 [Insert a product that a bunch of “reputable” photographers endorsed in videos and blog posts]. I bought them only to find out that they are useless for my photography. They turned out to be horribly unreliable and thanks to their design (and the unadvertised fact that you have to put an extra 3cm radio noise cancelling foot underneath the speedlight) they can’t be used with lightformers. I contacted the manufacturer which is [insert company name, very reputable, at least in the past]. They refused to fix their design flaws. Having imported the product to Germany I could not even get back my money. Their local service here in Germany even refused to answer any questions. However, they did have the time to point out to me that importing such radios to Germany was not exactly legal. Thanks guys, why not suing me for buying your shit product?

I learned from that. Now I’m more critical and I buy only from dealers that are happy to take back their products if it turns out that these products fail in the field.

The field, yes, that’s also the stage for the little flick I have for you in this post. I filmed a couple of tricks that I do with my NEW wireless flash triggers, the Phottix Atlas. Most of it can be done with pretty much any radio remote trigger. That’s why I’m sure there will be some tips, takeaways and inspiration in there for you when you see me playing around with the new Atlas.

Since I did not use the Phottix Atlas before, this video also documents my first impression of this gadget. With that said, here’s how you use radio remote triggers to make the light of your speedlights rock. Let it roll:

Download High Resolution, .mp4, 760MB
Download for iPhone and mobile, .m4v, 85MB

Want to see the Atlas in the shop? Go check this out:

==> www.phottixatlas.com

How to setup your camera and speedlights? Have a look at some examples from today’s photo shoot. I did not photoshop the photos because I’d like to show you the light exactly how it turned out. So please don’t be surprised to find tons of flaws in the photos. I posted the lighting diagrams with the complete settings along.

Try it out yourself and post the links to your results over here in the comments section.

If you have aditional cool idea for using wireless flash triggers please post them in the comments. If possible, add a link to examples. Or if you saw some cool photos using remote flashes online, let all of us know, post it into a comment.

I wish you good light!
-- Michael

Related links:

Phottix Atlas Wireless Flash Trigger

This video on Youtube: Cool wireless flash shooting ideas and Phottix Atlas Trigger Review

Video Sitemap

Video_Content_Loc:

New_Flash_Triggers.m4v

Video_Thumbnail_Loc:

New_Flash_Triggers_thumbnail.jpg

Video_Title:

Speedlight Tricks with the Phottix Atlas Wireless Flash Trigger

Video_Description:

You can do a lot of cool photographic tricks with wireless radio flash triggers. I will show you some that I did with the new Phottix Atlas, an awesome gadget.

Video_Duration:

598

Make your Speedlights 100% Reliable for Flash Photography

michael — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:00:00 +0000

It’s Thursday again so I’d like to share with you a little treasure that I discovered this week. If you are using Speedlights then you wil want to know how to use them 100% reliable. And I found a little eBook that masterfully answeres exactly that need. As good as this is for you, for me that’s a tradgedy,

because the book covers a lot of the stuff that actually I wanted to cover in my next eBook. But my revenge knows no mercy: I spoil the authors secrets and go through his book in the video below. Make sure you watch it:

Download High Resolution, .mp4, 224MB
Download for iPhone and mobile, .m4v, 57MB

Click here and in order to get Ed's eBook

Get 100% Reliable Flash Photography for just $9.95

And here are my bonuses:
1.
If you tell me your biggest takeaway from 100% Reliable Flash Photography, then I will try to dive into the very same topic in my upcoming eBook on Speedlight Photography. I will send you a copy of my book as soon as I got the first really good draft.

2.
If you tell me what topic is missing in 100% Reliable Flash Photography or which topic you would like to see covered more in depth, then I will give you access to my eBook Beijing Blueprints and all it’s download material such as checklists, model contracts and the like.

To get one or both bonusses just buy 100% Reliable Flash Photography via my afilliate links above or here, forward me a copy of your email sales reciept and answer one or both questions above.

Good deal? Wonderful! I hope with your input I can draft an eBook that is at least as good as Ed Verosky's... tough time ahead of me.

See you next Thursday and until then
I wish you good light!
-- Michael

Related links:

This video on Youtube: Photography with Speedlights - 100% Reliable

Video Sitemap

Video_Content_Loc:

Reliable_Flash_Photography.m4v<

Video_Thumbnail_Loc:

Reliable_Flash_Photography_thumbnail.jpg

Video_Title:

How to make photography with Speedlights completely reliable

Video_Description:

You will get your Speedlights make exactly the light that you want if you follow a small set of rules. Get them right here.

Video_Duration:

599