Sylights

Sylights http://blog.sylights.com Most recent posts at Sylights posterous.com Wed, 16 Nov 2011 08:19:00 -0800 Those lucky guys just won the contest! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sylights/~3/BQkK95T9pdE/those-lucky-guys-just-won-the-contest http://blog.sylights.com/those-lucky-guys-just-won-the-contest <p> <p>Hey, sorry we're late!</p> <p>Last weeks have been kind of crazy here, including a trip from France to the USA for an unexpected visit to NYC to attend the PDN PhotoPlus Expo!<br />... which was awesome, by the way!</p> <p>During this time, photos were sent on Sylights from photographers who wanted to bring back those DIY Ring Flash babies home.</p> <p>Well, two of them did!</p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://getfile7.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2011-11-16/dCumosiGxlroxatwHzIaEjbFHtqjDuDFfdFveuFfyEgybAnJCGpkyFIFdwIk/FlavoredGins.jpg.scaled1000.jpg"><img alt="Flavoredgins" height="319" src="http://getfile1.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2011-11-16/dCumosiGxlroxatwHzIaEjbFHtqjDuDFfdFveuFfyEgybAnJCGpkyFIFdwIk/FlavoredGins.jpg.scaled500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> <a href="http://www.sylights.com/Vicco/3745-flavored-gins" title="Flavored Gins on Sylights" target="_blank" style="font-size: small;">Flavored Gins</a><span style="font-size: small;"> by Tilo Gockel</span></p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> </div> <a href="http://www.sylights.com/NERVEUX/3867-julie-diy-ring-flash-contest" title="Julie on Sylights" target="_blank">Julie</a> by Romain Lechevalier</p> <p></p> <p><a href="http://www.sylights.com/Vicco" target="_blank">Tilo Gockel</a> from Germany and <a href="http://www.sylights.com/NERVEUX" target="_blank">Romain Lechevalier</a> from France will soon receive a wonderful package containing:</p> <ul> <li>A <a href="http://www.diy-lighting-kits.com/ring-flash/" title="DIY Ring Flash from DIY Lighting Kits" target="_blank">DIY Ring Flash</a> </li> <li>It's <a href="http://www.diy-lighting-kits.com/ring-flash/" title="Ring Flash Bracket from DIY Lighting Kits" target="_blank">Ring Flash Bracket</a>, which is the best solution to attach your flash to the ring flash</li> <li>A <a href="http://www.diy-lighting-kits.com/double-flash-bracket/" title="Double Ring Flash Bracket from DIY Lighting Kits" target="_blank">Double Flash Bracket</a>, which we add as an apology gift for being late on announcing the results. This bracket will allow Tilo and Romain to shoot with more power when using their cobra flashes!</li> </ul> <p>All these items are from <a href="http://www.diy-lighting-kits.com/" title="DIY Lighting Kits" target="_blank">DIY Lighting Kits</a>, who we thank a lot for partnering up with us for this contest! You should have a look at their products, they're a great way for anyone to get affordable modifiers and gear without sacrificing the quality of light!</p> <p>And of course, thanks a lot to everybody who participated for our very first contest!<br />It was a modest beginning, but we're very happy we've done it, and you should stay tuned 'cause we are going to launch others :)</p> <p>As a last word, you can check out participations to this contest by using <a href="http://www.sylights.com/lighting-diagrams?page=1&keywords=%22DIY+Ring+Flash%22&diagram-texts=1&filters=true&no-photos=1&no-desc=1&no-guest=1">this search request</a>.</p> </p> <p><a href="http://blog.sylights.com/those-lucky-guys-just-won-the-contest">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://blog.sylights.com/those-lucky-guys-just-won-the-contest#comment">Leave a comment  »</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Sylights/~4/BQkK95T9pdE" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1538640/logo-twitter.png http://posterous.com/users/5AGp0XOOlko9 Sylights Team Sylights Team http://blog.sylights.com/those-lucky-guys-just-won-the-contest Tue, 11 Oct 2011 05:35:00 -0700 Win a DIY Ring Flash with Sylights and DIY Lighting Kits! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sylights/~3/et95FN0_82A/win-a-diy-ring-flash-with-sylights-and-diy-li http://blog.sylights.com/win-a-diy-ring-flash-with-sylights-and-diy-li <p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2011-10-11/zsbvDtGnuiAeeHCeffDGppEfBBqeDmlpnzgvsnGhbnwutGxGvfyFqwyJlvhf/blog-banner.jpg.scaled1000.jpg"><img alt="Blog-banner" height="189" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2011-10-11/zsbvDtGnuiAeeHCeffDGppEfBBqeDmlpnzgvsnGhbnwutGxGvfyFqwyJlvhf/blog-banner.jpg.scaled500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> </p> <p>Today, we are launching our very <a href="http://www.sylights.com/contest/diy-lighting-kit">first photography contest</a> on Sylights!</p> <p>This launch comes with the release of a new feature allowing you to accurately find what you want in the <a href="http://www.sylights.com/lighting-diagrams" target="_blank">lighting diagrams gallery</a>, but we'll detail this soon in another post :)</p> <p>The contest will be running for two weeks, from today (Tuesday 11th October) up to Tuesday 25th. At the end of those two weeks, thanks to <a href="http://www.diyphotography.net" title="DIY Photography" target="_blank">DIY Photography</a> and their <a href="http://www.diy-lighting-kits.com" target="_blank">DIY Lighting Kits</a>, we are going to choose <strong>two winners</strong> who will each receive a <a href="http://www.diy-lighting-kits.com/ring-flash/" target="_blank">DIY Ring Flash</a> and its bracket.</p> <p>This DIY Ring Flash is compatible with most speedlights and will provide you with a beautiful light for your next portraits. That's not just me saying, check out what David Hobby <a href="http://strobist.blogspot.com/2011/05/if-ikea-made-ring-flash.html" target="_blank">thought about it</a> too!</p> <p>So if you want to win one of the two kits, go ahead and post your best shots on Sylights! There is no limits to the number of photos/diagrams you can post, but you'll have to take care of a thing or two:</p> <ul> <li>Include this text in your diagrams' description or title: <strong>[DIY Ring Flash Contest]</strong></li> <li>Of course, we are looking for beautiful photos, so show us the work you're proud of :)</li> <li>Make sure your diagrams are clear and complete, easy to understand</li> <li>Sylights is about sharing and learning, so be sure to include a description with shooting details and such. The more educational your description is, the better!</li> <li>Setup photos are more than welcome in addition to your shots</li> </ul> <p>Also, you obviously need an account to post your photos, as we won't be able to identify owners of "guest diagrams". Check that you're logged in before posting!</p> <p>We will announce the winners <strong>during the first week of November</strong> here on the blog and we'll contact them personnally to get the information we need to send the price over.</p> <p>So that's it! We're now waiting for your lighting diagrams and photos!</p> <p>Best of luck to all of you,<br />Sylights Team </p> <p> </p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Diy_ring_flash" height="714" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2011-10-11/CDyjpGxbvDetfnBfzJyEHfofpdJelJFbvCAxioCHkjxqDmodlqInDyGkycgl/DIY_Ring_Flash.jpg.scaled500.jpg" width="370" /> </div> </p> </p> <p><a href="http://blog.sylights.com/win-a-diy-ring-flash-with-sylights-and-diy-li">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://blog.sylights.com/win-a-diy-ring-flash-with-sylights-and-diy-li#comment">Leave a comment  »</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Sylights/~4/et95FN0_82A" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1538640/logo-twitter.png http://posterous.com/users/5AGp0XOOlko9 Sylights Team Sylights Team http://blog.sylights.com/win-a-diy-ring-flash-with-sylights-and-diy-li Sat, 02 Jul 2011 09:25:00 -0700 Sylights for iPad is here! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sylights/~3/UnESMPIzfIo/sylights-for-ipad-is-here http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-for-ipad-is-here <p> <div style="text-align: center;"><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2011-07-02/bBFGDIxhiBJoqbqasDlDItJAerGweFaEiceCzyakGsDnmdFDesvivnwozcao/279795_239076062786634_118332638194311_946735_4501124_o.jpg.scaled1000.jpg"><img alt="279795_239076062786634_118332638194311_946735_4501124_o" height="318" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2011-07-02/bBFGDIxhiBJoqbqasDlDItJAerGweFaEiceCzyakGsDnmdFDesvivnwozcao/279795_239076062786634_118332638194311_946735_4501124_o.jpg.scaled500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> </div> <p>It's finally here!</p> <p><a href="http://www.sylights.com/ipad" title="Sylights for iPad - official page" target="_blank">Sylights for iPad</a> has been officially released yesterday, and is available on the AppStore for free!<br /><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/app/sylights-for-ipad/id445217552?mt=8" title="Sylights for iPad on the AppStore" target="_blank">Download it</a> right now if you own an iPad and were using a scaled Sylights for iPhone (or patiently waiting ^^).</p> <p>If you want to learn more, see the feature list after the jump.</p> <p></p> <p>Whether you are shooting in a studio, covering a wedding or doing any other on-location photography work, here's what Sylights for iPad has to offer you:</p> <ul> <li>A full screen lighting diagram editor, featuring an unprecedented user interface to quickly place any gear you're using on the screen:  <ul> <li>Resize and rotate items with intuitive two-finger gestures.</li> <li>With our unique gear wheel, only a few taps are required to access any of the 60 items of our growing gear library.</li> <li>Double-tap on any item to open its contextual menu, offering z-ordering and customizable properties.</li> <li>Save your diagram at any time and come back later to edit it again and complete it.</li> </ul> </li> <li>A collection of your diagrams giving you access to a wide range of features: <ul> <li>Diagram edition – just in case you had forgotten something, no need to do it all over again!</li> <li>Attach photos to your diagrams: choose them from your photo library, or use your device's built-in camera to take an instant shot of your setup before it's taken apart.</li> <li>Send by email: an easy and quick way to share diagrams. If it's for your friends, send the diagram and its associated photos. If it's for your assistant, include all the settings information as well!</li> <li>Save the diagram to your photo library.</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <p>We took advantage of the iPad's large screen to move buttons around and make them more easily accessible. Of course, the editor is larger as well and makes the app much more pleasant to use :)</p> <p>We have more features in our roadmap and we'd like to precise we've taken many of your suggestions into account in this roadmap. Just give us some time to do everything right, we're a small team working on Sylights ^^<br />Of course Sylights is far from perfect, and we want it to be the best lighting diagrams app for <em>you</em>, so please continue posting your suggestions on <a href="http://feedback.sylights.com" title="Where Sylights gets enlightenment" target="_blank">feedback.sylights.com</a>, you all have grand ideas that are helping us make Sylights better :)</p> <p>Also, you might have seen we're calling Sylights the "most advanced lighting diagram tool" available as of today. If you share this feeling with us, please spread the word! We'll need more and more people on Sylights as the sharing features will be released on both the website and the mobile apps!<br />You've got many ways to tell your fellow photographers about Sylights:</p> <ul> <li><span style="font-family: Lucida Grande, Lucida Sans Unicode, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Speak to them! (it's not really a web 2.0 thing but we like talking =) )</span></li> <li><span style="font-family: Lucida Grande, Lucida Sans Unicode, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Become a fan <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sylights" title="Sylights' Facebook page" target="_blank">on facebook</a> and share the link to your contacts</span></li> <li><span style="font-family: Lucida Grande, Lucida Sans Unicode, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Follow us <a href="http://www.twitter.com/sylights" title="@Sylights on Twitter">on Twitter</a> and retweet one of our announcementts about the iPad app</span></li> <li><span style="font-family: Lucida Grande, Lucida Sans Unicode, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Use the widgets at the bottom of this article</span></li> <li><span style="font-family: Lucida Grande, Lucida Sans Unicode, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Talk about us on your blog.... and so on!</span></span></li> </ul> <p>Thanks a lot for your support so far, you've been amazing and we'll never be thankful enough!</p> <p>Olivier, Pierre-Jean & Mathieu.<br />aka "The Sylights Team" :) </p> </p> <p><a href="http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-for-ipad-is-here">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-for-ipad-is-here#comment">Leave a comment  »</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Sylights/~4/UnESMPIzfIo" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1538640/logo-twitter.png http://posterous.com/users/5AGp0XOOlko9 Sylights Team Sylights Team http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-for-ipad-is-here Thu, 24 Mar 2011 04:02:00 -0700 The All-in-one post: newcomer, affiliation and iPhone update! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sylights/~3/hp36Y_KUYGA/the-all-in-one-post-newcomer-affiliation-and http://blog.sylights.com/the-all-in-one-post-newcomer-affiliation-and <p> <p>Dear photographers,</p> <p>we hope you're enjoying our new version of Sylights.com. If you haven't seen it yet, it's time!<br />Wonderful photos and their diagrams are posted every day by talented photographers who are waiting for more interaction with you! :)</p> <p>There are three announcements inside this post, three exciting news that you'll discover after the jump!</p> <p></p> <p><span style="font-size: medium;">Welcome to Mathieu!</span></p> <p>First of all, we are glad to officially welcome Mathieu in our team!<br />He has been with us for a long time already, as he is the one behind the gear you're using in our <a href="http://www.sylights.com/lighting-diagrams/editor" title="Lighting Diagram Creator" target="_blank">lighting diagram creator</a>. He has decided to fully and officially join us in our adventures, to relieve us from all the graphics-related work.<br />Thanks Mathieu, and welcome again!</p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size: medium;">Affiliate program with PhotoDeck.com</span></p> <p>The second news is a way for you to help us on Sylights. Lastly, we've been approached by PhotoDeck, and have started an affiliate program with them. <a href="http://www.photodeck.com/?saf=eb720686-219e-11e0-bfe4-ab06b96a8f42" title="PhotoDeck" target="_blank">PhotoDeck</a> is a powerful platform that provides professional websites to photographers, making it easy for any photographer to design his own website and distribute/sell photos online.</p> <p>It is extremely simple and requires no knowledge in web development, but offers extensive design customization; it features exhaustive e-commerce capabilities as well as proofing & delivery facilities, including a messaging system to interact with your customers; it is suitable for stock photography to automate license sales, as well as for print sales.<br />Best of all: there's no commission taken! Set your pricing model, and earn 100% of your sales.</p> <p>All those features make PhotoDeck the "swiss-army knife" of photographers' platforms, making us very proud to offer you a rebate on your first purchase with the following coupon code: </p> <p style="text-align: center;"><strong>K9PEJ5SL </strong>(10% off, valid until April 15 - don't wait!)</p> <p>If you need a website to show or sell your work online, head onto <a href="http://www.photodeck.com/?saf=eb720686-219e-11e0-bfe4-ab06b96a8f42">photodeck.com</a> now and have a look at their example websites! You can try their service for free for 14 days, and then use our coupon to get 10% off your first subscription.</p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size: medium;">Sylights for iPhone update</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Last but not least, our iPhone app <a href="http://www.sylights.com/iphone" title="Sylights for iPhone">Sylights for iPhone</a> has just been updated on the AppStore!<br />So if you haven't done it already, go grab this 1.2 version and enjoy some exciting new features:</span></span></p> <ul> <li>Attach images to your diagrams. Use images from your iPhone library or directly take a shot with your phone camera.</li> <li>You can now flip the items on your diagram, as  you can on sylights.com. This is particularly handy for the hair lights orientation.</li> <li>The double-tap menu on items has been updated, you can now access the locks more quickly.</li> <li>When you open a diagram, the editor zooms in or out automatically to show you the largest area of your diagram.</li> </ul> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Photo" height="336" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2011-03-24/unADuaFbjkCnzBjtaJrFImJCeaymsHhcdeEhHAhyfBpDIacianayGxCJtsjt/photo.PNG.scaled500.png" width="224" /> </div> </p> <p>We are waiting for your <a href="http://feedback.sylights.com" target="_blank">feedback</a>! :) </p> </p> <p><a href="http://blog.sylights.com/the-all-in-one-post-newcomer-affiliation-and">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://blog.sylights.com/the-all-in-one-post-newcomer-affiliation-and#comment">Leave a comment  »</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Sylights/~4/hp36Y_KUYGA" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/583490/IMG_5474.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5AfJ1SQnit5n Olivier Lance olance Olivier Lance http://blog.sylights.com/the-all-in-one-post-newcomer-affiliation-and Wed, 16 Feb 2011 14:25:00 -0800 Sylights - Lighting diagrams made easy! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sylights/~3/S9qHZE-ovME/sylights-lighting-diagrams-made-easy http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-lighting-diagrams-made-easy <p> <p><em>"Lighting diagrams made easy"</em>.<br />This is what you can now read on the home page of Sylights. Just above a thumbnails list of recent and popular lighting diagrams.</p> <p>Yes, we've put an update online. Yes, you <strong>have</strong> to check it out!<br />This is not just about the home page: we've packed a lot of new features and improvement in this one.<br />Learn more after the jump!</p> <p></p> <p>Sylights has been running for exactly 8 months today, and we are proud to take a new step toward a more complete sharing platform, dedicated to studio photography and lighting!<br />This update is not so much about diagrams, as others used to be. This is about starting the discussion and sharing knowledge. We've put up different features for this purpose:</p> <p><strong>A favoriting system</strong> that will let you show your interest in someone's work. This is also the best way to build up a collection of the diagrams you like most, to be able to refer to them later.<br />Add a diagram to your favorites by clicking the "I light" button at the top of its page. The more a diagram is "lit", the more popular it gets!<br />This is what the button looks like:<br /><img src="http://www.sylights.com/images/newsletters/1/i-light.png" alt="" style="" />  </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>C</strong><strong>ommenting</strong> on a diagram is a bit smoother now, as the page won't reload when you post your comment. Also, we have come up with a nicer design for comments, which includes favorites information.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Notifications</strong> are sent to you by email, when a lighting diagram you've commented on or favorited receives a new comment. It makes following a discussion way easier. You will also receive notifications when someones comments on one of your diagrams, or adds it to his favorites.<br />You can of course choose not to receive those emails, and that should be done in your user profile, under the "Notifications & Emails" tab.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>The dashboard</strong> has been enhanced too. It still shows the list of your own diagrams but also your favorite ones, and an activity log so you can see what happened on your lighting diagrams of interest even if you opted out of email notifications.</p> <p><br />So those are the means of communication you now get on Sylights to exchange with your fellow photographers.<br />But we did change some other things to, which are:</p> <p><strong>A new design</strong> that we hope you'll like, because we love it! <br />The most annoying thing about the former one, was that you could just see a list of colorless diagrams. Well we fixed that and made the lists colorful by showing your photos whenever it is possible (ie. whenever you've added one!). In your dashboard and on the main <a href="http://www.sylights.com/lighting-diagrams">lighting diagrams gallery</a>, hovering over the thumbnails with your mouse will show you different information and actions you can take on each diagram.</p> <p>Note that if you are in a hurry, you can switch from photo to diagram on the main gallery by clicking the switch icon on the right of the popup bubble!</p> <div style=""> <div style="float: left; margin: 10px;"><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Capture_decran_2011-02-16_a_23" height="279" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2011-02-16/drDvjzfevAJAldqagBozdDDJuCAczhfqwcphpgxpjzkpIpgEbgqtqnhbbFox/Capture_decran_2011-02-16_a_23.54.17.png.scaled500.png" width="215" /> </div> </div> <div style="float: left; margin: 10px;"><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Capture_decran_2011-02-16_a_23" height="277" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2011-02-16/yCbxphcFFrJozExqndrvnfukwqffwnmioGgnpmszjabBFyrdvprJpiBpxkqo/Capture_decran_2011-02-16_a_23.54.29.png.scaled500.png" width="207" /> </div> <span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></div> </div> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p style="clear: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(This is a photo and diagram by <a href="http://www.sylights.com/Napolitano">Napolitano</a>)</span></p> <p><strong>Upload!</strong> Talking about your photos. We know not every photographer has a Flickr account, or maybe do not use it to put all their work online. So Flickr import was definitely not the only option we wanted to give you to show off your art. That's why, from now on, you can also upload your photos directly to Sylights on your lighting diagrams. Of course you keep all ownership on your work, and all files are deleted when you remove a photo or the diagram it was attached to.</p> <p> </p> <p>OK, now that should be it for surprise number 2!<br />We have also worked on the internals of Sylights; it probably won't be obvious for you, but it should have improved the overall stability of the website and we do hope you'll find Sylights even more pleasant to use with all those new features in those conditions!</p> <p>Last but not least, I'll remind you of the multiple options you've got to contact us:</p> <ul> <li>Become a fan <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sylights">on Facebook</a> and drop a message/comment </li> <li><a href="http://www.twitter.com/Sylights">Send us a tweet</a></li> <li>Leave a message on our <a href="http://feedback.sylights.com">feedback forum</a></li> <li>Go to <a href="http://www.sylights.com">www.sylights.com</a> and use the feedback tab on the left to contact us via email</li> </ul> <p>We are really craving your feedback and impressions on this update, so don't hesitate to choose whatever option you prefer and get in touch with us, we'll be happy to talk!</p> <p> </p> </p> <p><a href="http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-lighting-diagrams-made-easy">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-lighting-diagrams-made-easy#comment">Leave a comment  »</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Sylights/~4/S9qHZE-ovME" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1538640/logo-twitter.png http://posterous.com/users/5AGp0XOOlko9 Sylights Team Sylights Team http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-lighting-diagrams-made-easy Tue, 04 Jan 2011 14:55:00 -0800 Happy New Year 2011 & First Surprise! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sylights/~3/qL-90J5j7FU/happy-new-year-2011 http://blog.sylights.com/happy-new-year-2011 <p> <p>So, that's it. 2010 is gone!</p> <p>Yeah we know it's no big news and we're actually a few days late. But still, we'd like to wish you a very joyful year 2011!<br />And we would also like to thank you for following us during those months since June 2010, when Sylights was officially born! This year has been great for us, thanks to your support, your feedback and of course your enthusiasm!</p> <p>Although we try to stay active and keep in touch as much as possible, we know we've been quite silent recently, in terms of speech and updates. We are sorry for this. However, as an "apology" and to show you we haven't stopped working, we have prepared some surprises that will come, one by one, during this promising year 2011!</p> <p>The first one has been announced yesterday on <a href="http://www.diyphotography.net" title="DIY Photography">diyphotography.net</a>: a <a href="http://www.diyphotography.net/from-paper-to-ringflash-in-few-easy-steps" title="Ring Flash creator on DIY Photography">ring flash creator</a>!<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/udijw/5321248492/"><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="5321248492_a507f593dc" height="333" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2011-01-04/mdwrofjkyInmHmxaqyCBoyFAIDsyIHbmpinqllfddpznocHehydxqdrlqEnA/5321248492_a507f593dc.jpg.scaled500.jpg" width="500" /> </div> </a>On an idea from DIY Photography, we've teamed up to develop this <a href="http://www.diyphotography.net/ringflash-creator" title="RingFlash Creator">PDF generator</a>. With a tiny measuring effort, you can have it draw a ring flash blueprint for you, which will perfectly fit your gear! Print it, cut everything out, assemble (<a href="http://www.diyphotography.net/from-paper-to-ringflash-in-few-easy-steps">instructions here</a>), and you have it :)<br />The original drawings are from <a href="http://diegobilli.it/">Diego Billi</a>, who really made an excellent job and generously made them public!</p> <p>We hope you'll like this project and use it to craft your own ring flash!<br />And if you do, don't forget to show us the result and <a href="http://www.sylights.com">share some diagrams</a> :)</p> <p>Happy New Year again, and stay tuned for the upcoming news.</p> </p> <p><a href="http://blog.sylights.com/happy-new-year-2011">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://blog.sylights.com/happy-new-year-2011#comment">Leave a comment  »</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Sylights/~4/qL-90J5j7FU" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1538640/logo-twitter.png http://posterous.com/users/5AGp0XOOlko9 Sylights Team Sylights Team http://blog.sylights.com/happy-new-year-2011 Mon, 15 Nov 2010 06:43:00 -0800 Learn photography post-processing on post-traitement.com http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sylights/~3/tSRHNoI9gVs/learn-photography-oriented-processing-on-post-0 http://blog.sylights.com/learn-photography-oriented-processing-on-post-0 <p> <p class="p1" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><img src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-11-15/CpoivFDxskcixzCwytzxHdIpaviknnghjvdbGFzwsjrEyqBCHcJCoutdGuEl/Untitled.png.scaled500.png" height="16" alt="" width="500" /></p> <p class="p1" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Yesterday, a new website has come to the world of photography resources: <a href="http://www.post-traitement.com" target="_blank">post-traitement.com</a>. It is a French site whose headline would translate to "Post-traitement.com - The place to learn photography post-processing". English-speaking people, don't turn away now, you might find something useful there too, or perhaps help with translation :)<br />Created by French student and photographer <a href="http://nicolas-constant.com/" target="_blank">Nicolas Constant</a> (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicolas_constant/" target="_blank">Flickr</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/nc_photo" target="_blank">Twitter</a>), <a href="http://www.post-traitement.com" target="_blank">post-traitement.com</a> features many tutorials written by Nicolas around photography post-processing with the objective to teach from the basics to the more advanced topics in photography processing, using Photoshop (and other tools later on).</p> <p class="p1" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">You'll find after the jump a small interview we had with Nicolas to introduce his website:</p> <p class="p1" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"></p> <p class="p1" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;"><strong>Sylights – Can you tell us more about you. What are you doing, when was your passion for photography born, …?<br /></strong><span class="s1"><strong>Nicolas –</strong> </span></span>I'm 23, French, and still a student. I'm actually preparing a double-degree in Mechanical Design (CAD, etc) and Computer Aided Engineering, quite far from photography as you can see. <br />But I've discovered Photography in high school, using silver films and dark room, so even if I've only been practicing photography seriously for three years, I've been sensitized for more than 8 years now to post-prod and other techniques. And when I was studying in my French university (I now attend to a MSc program in UK) I did lead a photographic association, that was very interesting and I learned a lot when I was showing others how to do photographs and post-processing. <br /><span style="color: #333333;"><strong> </strong></span></p> <p class="p1" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;"><strong>Sylights – How did you get the idea of post-traitement.com?<br /></strong></span><span style="color: #333333;"><span class="s1"><strong>Nicolas –</strong> </span></span>In fact, it was a personal observation: if you want to learn post-prod on the internet, you just get some tutorials here and there, but nothing really linear starting from "no knowledge" and going to "good knowledge". And I've also seen on many forums that many people didn't understand the basics of some softwares, so couldn't even try your little tips you were explaining.<br /><span class="s2"><a href="http://www.post-traitement.com/">Post-traitement.com</a></span> is a response to this lack. <br /><span style="color: #333333;"><strong> </strong></span></p> <p class="p1" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;"><strong>Sylights – Who is your main target? What is the main goal of your website?<br /></strong></span><span style="color: #333333;"><strong>Nicolas –</strong></span> As explained, at first I'm talking to real beginners (because others could find how to do post-prod on tutorials that exist everywhere else). But, it's still interesting for me to bring those beginners as high as I can do. So, I'm pretty sure that everyone will find something to learn on this website, and I hope to receive some proposals and feedback to improve myself too!<br /><span style="color: #333333;"><strong> </strong></span></p> <p class="p1" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;"><strong>Sylights – As of today, the entire content is in French. Do you plan to translate your tutorials?<br /></strong></span><span style="color: #333333;"><span class="s1"><strong>Nicolas –</strong></span></span> Of course. In fact, it was difficult for me to choose which language to use first. I have chosen my native one in order to go faster in the redaction of the tutorials. But it's pretty sure that an English version will come one day. As soon as possible, in fact.<br /><span style="color: #333333;"><strong> </strong></span></p> <p class="p1" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;"><strong>Sylights – If things go as you want them to, what kind of evolution can we expect on </strong><a href="http://www.post-traitement.com/"><span class="s2"><strong>post-traitement.com</strong></span></a><strong>?<br /></strong></span><span style="color: #333333;"><span class="s1"><strong>Nicolas –</strong></span> </span>First finishing the Photoshop tutorial! Then maybe opening a forum, if visitors want this kind of evolution: I don't want to create yet another forum (there are already too much of them on the web) if people don't think it will be useful. And maybe giving people some more tools to participate (submitting tutorials, tips, ...). <br /><span style="color: #333333;"><strong> </strong></span></p> <p class="p1" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;"><strong>Sylights – Do you intend to include video tutorials?<br /></strong></span><span style="color: #333333;"><strong>Nicolas –</strong></span> No. IMHO video tutorials are less understandable than written one. But maybe <span class="s3">it's a feeling that differs a lot between people.<br /></span><span style="color: #333333;"><strong> </strong></span></p> <p class="p1" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;"><strong>Sylights – Will you offer tutorials for other, more accessible softwares than Photoshop? (like The Gimp, Paint.net, Pixelmator, ...)<br /></strong></span><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="s1" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: #333333;"><strong>Nicolas –</strong></span><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="border-collapse: collapse;"> I will for The Gimp when version 3.0 is released. Before that, I don't consider it as a real valuable post-prod software: because it still doesn't deal with 16bit </span></span><span style="border-collapse: collapse;">color </span><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="border-collapse: collapse;">depth (it's planned for the 3.0 version). For others, it's quite the same observation.</span></span></span>But for any other post-prod software that deals with 16bit color depth, they will be welcome to get their own tutorials.<br /><span style="color: #333333;"><strong> </strong></span></p> <p class="p1" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;"><strong>Sylights – And what about photography-oriented softwares: Lightroom, Aperture, DxO Optics Pro, ...?<br /></strong></span><span style="color: #333333;"><span class="s1"><strong>Nicolas –</strong></span></span> Yes, mostly for Lightroom that I personally use along with Photoshop. So it's the second tutorial you'll see on the website. Then of course Aperture, DxO, Photomatix and others are welcome, and might be written by other people than me then.<br /><span style="color: #333333;"><strong> </strong></span></p> <p class="p1" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;"><strong>Sylights – A last word?<br /></strong></span><span style="color: #333333;"><span class="s1"><strong>Nicolas –</strong></span></span> Many thanks for this interview and for supporting this project, of course. <br />Also, if one of your English-speaking visitor is fluent in French and wants to help translating, he is very welcome: it will allow everyone to get access to this more quickly. ;)</p> <p class="p4" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"> </p> <p class="p4" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Thanks to you Nicolas for bringing this website to life and sharing your knowledge with the vast community of photographers that can benefit from it!</p> <p class="p4" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">If you want to leave a comment to Nicolas, feel free to leave it here! </p> </p> <p><a href="http://blog.sylights.com/learn-photography-oriented-processing-on-post-0">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://blog.sylights.com/learn-photography-oriented-processing-on-post-0#comment">Leave a comment  »</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Sylights/~4/tSRHNoI9gVs" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/583490/IMG_5474.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5AfJ1SQnit5n Olivier Lance olance Olivier Lance http://blog.sylights.com/learn-photography-oriented-processing-on-post-0 Tue, 19 Oct 2010 02:23:00 -0700 Sylights for iPhone 1.1 is coming http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sylights/~3/ufRocTPYMVY/sylights-for-iphone-11-is-coming http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-for-iphone-11-is-coming <p> <p><strong>[update] </strong>The update is now available <a href="http://bit.ly/c9GjaM">on iTunes</a>. Check the App Store :)</p> <p>Dear iPhone users,</p> <p>our next update to Sylights for iPhone is currently being reviewed by Apple!<br />This one catches up with some of the last updates to sylights.com. Here is the change log posted on iTunes:</p> <ul> <li>20 new items to create your diagrams</li> <li>18 redesigned items</li> <li>Added an outline around the selected item</li> <li>Fixed a bug causing a crash on devices with iOS 3.2 or earlier</li> <li>Fixed various minor bugs</li> </ul> <p>For the last ones of you still experiencing crashes on iOS 3.2 and earlier, this update should make it work fine. If you still have problems with this version, let us know <a href="http://feedback.sylights.com/forums/50955-sylights-for-iphone" target="_blank">here</a>! See Pierre-Jean's comment <a href="http://feedback.sylights.com/forums/50955-sylights-for-iphone/suggestions/1022147-sylight-crashes?ref=comments" target="_blank">here</a> for instructions to send us an iPhone crash report.</p> <p>You'll notice there is one tiny new feature, that was missing to a lot of you out there: a selection outline, showing more clearly which item is selected, and its bounds.</p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-10-19/fgiispwjAufcGaGpvrxvziecxFxhHGvAIqmneCvCjwkBIbjlIIDDBoBsEIco/selection_outline.PNG.scaled1000.png"><img alt="Selection_outline" height="750" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-10-19/fgiispwjAufcGaGpvrxvziecxFxhHGvAIqmneCvCjwkBIbjlIIDDBoBsEIco/selection_outline.PNG.scaled500.png" width="500" /></a> </div>  We hope it will make things easier when editing a diagram with many items. Thanks to <span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; border-collapse: collapse;"><a href="http://twitter.com/#!/RedDoorphoto" target="_blank">Jason Lykins</a> for reminding us this was missing!</span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>The update has been in review for a few hours now, so you should expect it quite soon. Another update should follow quickly, and also a small surprise... so stay tuned! :)</p> </p> <p><a href="http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-for-iphone-11-is-coming">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-for-iphone-11-is-coming#comment">Leave a comment  »</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Sylights/~4/ufRocTPYMVY" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/583490/IMG_5474.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5AfJ1SQnit5n Olivier Lance olance Olivier Lance http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-for-iphone-11-is-coming Tue, 28 Sep 2010 16:31:00 -0700 New gear added to Sylights http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sylights/~3/gX_UgTZyaK0/new-gear-added-to-sylights http://blog.sylights.com/new-gear-added-to-sylights <p> <p>As we told you in <a href="http://blog.sylights.com/new-update-to-sylightscom" title="New Update on Sylights.com" target="_blank">our last post</a>, some new objects were being designed... they are now here!</p> <p>We've added two subjects and five gears:</p> <ul> <li>A <strong>dog</strong> and a <strong>cat</strong> in a new "Animals" category, with all other "Subjects"</li> <li>A <strong>softbox on a boom</strong> and two <strong>octoboxes on booms</strong> (a small and a large one), in the "Hair Lights" category</li> <li>A <strong>medium format</strong> and a <strong>large format camera</strong></li> </ul> <p>You can check out these new items <a href="http://www.sylights.com/diagrams/editor" title="Sylights Lighting Diagram Editor" target="_blank">on the editor</a> or have a quick look on the "diagram" below!</p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-09-28/eAaEzzBlarblDCrFoFjjtxHgzamrHaxclwgHlvbsJtvailindICIlpAElmol/Capture_decran_2010-09-29_a_01.14.39.png.scaled1000.png"><img alt="Capture_decran_2010-09-29_a_01" height="279" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-09-28/eAaEzzBlarblDCrFoFjjtxHgzamrHaxclwgHlvbsJtvailindICIlpAElmol/Capture_decran_2010-09-29_a_01.14.39.png.scaled500.png" width="500" /></a> </div> So, our gear "database" has grown up a bit now, but we're still missing important objects... what are the most important to you? Tell us in the comments!</p> </p> <p><a href="http://blog.sylights.com/new-gear-added-to-sylights">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://blog.sylights.com/new-gear-added-to-sylights#comment">Leave a comment  »</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Sylights/~4/gX_UgTZyaK0" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/583490/IMG_5474.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5AfJ1SQnit5n Olivier Lance olance Olivier Lance http://blog.sylights.com/new-gear-added-to-sylights Mon, 20 Sep 2010 16:04:00 -0700 New update to Sylights.com http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sylights/~3/RFKG0nFt3vQ/new-update-to-sylightscom http://blog.sylights.com/new-update-to-sylightscom <p> <p class="p1">Yet another update to Sylights.com!<span class="s1"><br /> </span>We have received a lot of requests and suggestions since the launch of Sylights. We are trying our best to include them in our own roadmap, and major updates should come soon with many of them!</p> <p class="p1">Today, we are pushing some new features and new diagram objects. It's not a huge update, but it should help taking things to another level. I'll let you judge after the jump :)</p> <p class="p2"></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s2" style="font-size: medium;"><strong>New diagram objects</strong></span><span class="s3"><strong><br /> </strong></span>Our gear and props base needs to grow, you've been numerous to ask for different additions. Here is what we are adding today:</p> <ul class="ul1"> <li class="li3"><strong>Color gels:</strong>  orange, green, blue, red and gray</li> <li class="li3"><strong>Monobloc variations:</strong> with grid, snoot, barn doors and bare bulb</li> <li class="li3"><strong>Speedlights:</strong> with grid and with snoot</li> <li class="li3"><strong>Subjects:</strong> added an "Objects" category with a sphere and a cube, for a kind of generic objects representation.</li> </ul> <p class="p1">We have also updated some of the existing objects to change their look a bit.<span class="s1"><br /> </span>Other objects are being designed and we hope to add them quickly, especially different cameras, softbox on boom, new subjects and props. </p> <p class="p4"> </p> <p> </p> <p class="p1"><span class="s2" style="font-size: medium;"><strong>"Mirror" function on the diagram editor</strong></span><span class="s3"><strong><br /> </strong></span>This is especially useful for booms: you can now mirror items in the diagram editor, to adjust for the real orientation you have used in your lighting setup. A new action icon has been added to the objects, close to the rotation one, to use this function:<span class="s1"><br /> </span> </p> <p class="p1"><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-09-20/ubpvICffjqqEmnlaBFgrtfsuJHrrktGiHuEhCbsfbDdnvlogJgeHdrvetsmw/Mirror_icon.png.scaled1000.png"><img alt="Mirror_icon" height="291" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-09-20/ubpvICffjqqEmnlaBFgrtfsuJHrrktGiHuEhCbsfbDdnvlogJgeHdrvetsmw/Mirror_icon.png.scaled500.png" width="500" /></a> </div> </p> <p class="p1"> </p> <p class="p1"><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Twitter and Facebook buttons<br /></strong><span style="font-size: small;">Share your diagrams or those you like on Twitter or on Facebook! We have added two buttons in the discussion part of each diagram, so you can easily share them to your friends and followers:<br /> <div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Twitterfb" height="155" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-09-20/DDtjocIzJongknBBiAgGzxpBrebmGkEjsculAGjxbEakugtDscprBHgjaCJJ/TwitterFB.png.scaled500.png" width="427" /> </div> </span></span></p> <p class="p1"> </p> <p class="p1"><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Edit your diagrams' name and description "in place"<br /></strong><span style="font-size: small;">You've just created a diagram, and forgot to include a description of the setup? Is there a typo in your diagram name?<br />No problem! You can now edit your diagram's title and description from its page. Just click the text you wan to modify, and there you go. Hit save to make the changes permanent:<br /><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-09-20/wktoksAvrEvGGyzbEFtuoyzFGlcBmkDewfrlpngAuievpnfJcvoucvBvzurx/inplace_editing.png.scaled1000.png"><img alt="Inplace_editing" height="200" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-09-20/wktoksAvrEvGGyzbEFtuoyzFGlcBmkDewfrlpngAuievpnfJcvoucvBvzurx/inplace_editing.png.scaled500.png" width="500" /></a> </div> In this screenshot, the description is being edited, while the title shows a pencil icon on the right, telling you edition is available. Text formatting is enabled while editing the description; refer to our <a href="http://www.sylights.com/help#formatting-tips" title="How can I format texts (comments, description, ...) on Sylights?">help page</a> for more information.</span></span></p> <p class="p1"> </p> <p class="p1"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Edit your diagrams<br /></strong><span style="font-size: small;">Last but not least, you can now edit your diagrams! It's as easy as creating one: you just have to go to one of your diagrams and click that new "Edit this diagram" link that appeared in the sidebar:<br /><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Capture_decran_2010-09-20_a_15" height="56" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-09-20/GovtuhCdhEHBjFHDGvhFIpGsxCHtvhcIExiedaHwmIBeetvpenGqFxczFqsH/Capture_decran_2010-09-20_a_15.52.16.png.scaled500.png" width="185" /> </div> It will bring you to the diagram editor, in the state you left it when you last hit "save". So if you want those new objects looks, if you need to add a missing light to your setup, that's the way to go!<br />We are going to improve your dashboard in a future update to facilitate editing capabilities.</span></span></span></p> <p class="p1"> </p> <p class="p1"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: small;">So, this is it. We hope you're going to like these new features and we'd like to thank you for your feedback, which help us a lot in going forward!</span></span></span></p> </p> <p><a href="http://blog.sylights.com/new-update-to-sylightscom">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://blog.sylights.com/new-update-to-sylightscom#comment">Leave a comment  »</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Sylights/~4/RFKG0nFt3vQ" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/583490/IMG_5474.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5AfJ1SQnit5n Olivier Lance olance Olivier Lance http://blog.sylights.com/new-update-to-sylightscom Fri, 10 Sep 2010 01:27:00 -0700 Sylights for iPhone update http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sylights/~3/I-1ny4Ggl8s/sylights-for-iphone-update http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-for-iphone-update <p> <p><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; border-collapse: collapse;">Hello, world!<p />Some of you have been experiencing crashes on our app Sylights for iPhone while editing diagrams...<br />Although we've had a great team of testers, there was indeed that bug left out that made it all happen. It's now gone!<p />I'm sorry, we can't promise it won't happen again. But we'd like to thank you for bringing up this problem and, in general, for your support and enthusiasm concerning Sylights for iPhone!<br />What we do promise though, is to continue improving the app and killing each and every bug when they come out. And if you want to, don't hesitate to <a href="http://feedback.sylights.com/forums/50955-sylights-for-iphone" title="Feedback forum">participate</a> in those improvements! You can join us here in the comments, on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/Sylights" title="@Sylights on twitter">Twitter</a> and on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sylights" title="Sylights on Facebook">Facebook</a>.<p />The AppStore update is on it's way.<p />Thanks again to all, we will be back soon with news and updates to both iPhone app and website!</span></p> </p> <p><a href="http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-for-iphone-update">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-for-iphone-update#comment">Leave a comment  »</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Sylights/~4/I-1ny4Ggl8s" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/583490/IMG_5474.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5AfJ1SQnit5n Olivier Lance olance Olivier Lance http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-for-iphone-update Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:02:00 -0700 Lighting diagrams. There's an app for that! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sylights/~3/-eWHR60eYDU/lighting-diagrams-theres-an-app-for-that http://blog.sylights.com/lighting-diagrams-theres-an-app-for-that <p> <p><strong>[update] </strong>If you own an iPad, then you'll probably be interested in <a href="http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-for-ipad-is-here" title="Sylights for iPad is here!" target="_self">this post</a> instead!</p> <p>Do you have an iPhone, an iPod Touch or an iPad?<br />Are you always joking on your drawing skills when showing your lighting diagrams to someone?<br />Well then, we've got what you need!</p> <p><a href="http://www.sylights.com/iphone">Sylights for iPhone</a> is now available on the App Store! It's got everything you need to design, document and share your diagrams.<br />We've made a small demo video to illustrate the main features:</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/14354199?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" frameborder="0" height="253" width="450"></iframe></p> <p>Do you know what's best about all this? It's free! So go <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/app/sylights/id386964672?mt=8" rel="nofollow">get your Sylights for iPhone</a> copy on iTunes and give it a try!</p> <p>We've put our efforts on designing an intuitive, easy to use interface so that you can draw diagrams on the go when preparing a session, edit it back if needed and share it by email. If you have some ideas to share to make it better, let us know on <a href="http://feedback.sylights.com/forums/50955-sylights-for-iphone">our feedback page</a>!<br />If you do like the app, please help us spread the word about it! There are twitter and facebook buttons on our <a href="http://www.sylights.com/iphone">dedicated page</a> that you can use for that purpose.</p> <p>With the release of this first version of the iPhone app we are making a step forward towards our goal to provide photographers with handy tools to document their art, and we hope you are going to enjoy and use it!<br />We'd like to warmly thank you all for the support you showed us so far, it is really a great pleasure for us to get in touch and discover the work of so many talented photographers! <br />Special thanks to our beta team too!</p> <p>Olivier & Pierre-Jean</p> <p><span style="font-size: x-small;">PS. Please note that there's no native iPad version of the app for the moment. Give us time (or an iPad!) and it'll come :)</span></p> </p> <p><a href="http://blog.sylights.com/lighting-diagrams-theres-an-app-for-that">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://blog.sylights.com/lighting-diagrams-theres-an-app-for-that#comment">Leave a comment  »</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Sylights/~4/-eWHR60eYDU" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1538640/logo-twitter.png http://posterous.com/users/5AGp0XOOlko9 Sylights Team Sylights Team http://blog.sylights.com/lighting-diagrams-theres-an-app-for-that Sun, 08 Aug 2010 18:30:00 -0700 Quick update to diagrams listing http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sylights/~3/MGG0Azqpnn0/quick-update-to-diagrams-listing http://blog.sylights.com/quick-update-to-diagrams-listing <p> <p>We have pushed a quick update tonight, to the "browse diagrams" and dashboard pages:</p> <p>As the list of diagrams grows bigger and bigger (thanks to you!), having everything shown on a single page was beginning to feel overloaded... so we've added some pagination links to navigate more easily through the diagrams. Thirteen pages of diagrams are waiting for your comments! :)</p> <p>The other update that's been made is about comments and photos: it's nice to know how many photos are attached to a diagram and how many comments have been posted, without having to load the page and check there. So, diagrams' thumbnails now show those counters right from the browse/dashboard pages!<br />Quite basic, but pretty handy!</p> <p>So now if you've already created some diagrams, you can go and check from your dashboard if they have received any comments... if they don't, maybe you should <a href="http://blog.sylights.com/show-your-photos-share-your-comments">add some pictures</a> to them.<br />If you haven't created any diagram yet, well, <a href="http://www.sylights.com/diagrams/editor" title="Sylights diagram editor">you know what to do</a>!</p> <p> </p> </p> <p><a href="http://blog.sylights.com/quick-update-to-diagrams-listing">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://blog.sylights.com/quick-update-to-diagrams-listing#comment">Leave a comment  »</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Sylights/~4/MGG0Azqpnn0" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1538640/logo-twitter.png http://posterous.com/users/5AGp0XOOlko9 Sylights Team Sylights Team http://blog.sylights.com/quick-update-to-diagrams-listing Tue, 03 Aug 2010 19:34:00 -0700 Show your photos, share your comments! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sylights/~3/QL87QppBS5I/show-your-photos-share-your-comments http://blog.sylights.com/show-your-photos-share-your-comments <p> <p>It's been some weeks since the last update on sylights.com!</p> <p>What kept us busy for that time? First, our Sylights for iPhone application. The beta is currently running and we've had some really helpful comments and reports. Thanks to all the testers who are participating!<br />You should expect some news in a near future about this, so if you own an iPod Touch, an iPhone or an iPad, stay tuned!</p> <p>A lot of work has also been done on sylights.com, and this is what we are going to address here. The short version is: Flickr photo import, comments, design improvements. The long version comes after the jump.</p> <p></p> <p>Until today, you and other photographers were using Sylights as an external tool to create diagrams, and then mainly publish them on blogs (as<a href="http://fjwestcott.com/blog/"> Westcott's </a><em><a href="http://fjwestcott.com/blog/">#Tog Tuesday</a></em> or <a href="http://www.capture-the-light.de">Capture-the-light</a>). This is great, but our intent is to provide a platform where photogs can actually share about their lighting setups. Today's update addresses this goal by adding some new features to sylights.com:</p> <p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Import your photos from Flickr<br /></strong></span><span style="font-size: small;">One of the most important feature is to be able to share the results of your lighting setups along with your diagrams. But why upload your photos twice? If you have a Flickr account, you'll now be able to connect to it and import any public photo from your photostream to Sylights.<br />Just go to your diagram page and click the "add photo" link next to the diagram's thumbnail. You will first have to authorize us to connect to your Flickr account. This is a mandatory step to allow us to find your photos.<br />Back to Sylights, you'll be presented with a list of your photo sets. Browse to the photo you'd like to add, click it and that's it!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">You can attach up to five photos to each of your diagrams. This should be enough for some setup shots and "actual" photos at the same time. When you've made them available on Flickr, we will display some EXIF data along with your photos. And of course, any photo you import to Sylights remains in your possession: we display the license you chose on Flickr for each photo to reflect your rights on the image.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">If you don't have a Flickr account, don't worry: we are going to add support for other means of photo attachment. If you'd like us to interface with a specific service, don't hesitate to mention it in the comments or on our <a href="http://feedback.sylights.com">feeback page</a>.</span></p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-08-03/xvyjHulvgqAHCkICyHhxqrkHGJJhupByHzhkfDqhehvkdqhlmEwmibvjxpfq/Capture_decran_2010-08-04_a_04.08.24.png.scaled1000.png"><img alt="Capture_decran_2010-08-04_a_04" height="266" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-08-03/xvyjHulvgqAHCkICyHhxqrkHGJJhupByHzhkfDqhehvkdqhlmEwmibvjxpfq/Capture_decran_2010-08-04_a_04.08.24.png.scaled500.png" width="500" /></a> </div> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><strong><span style="font-size: medium;">Comment on other's diagrams<br /></span></strong>You can now receive advice or answer questions on your diagrams! A comment thread is available for each diagram to enable communication between photographers. You have to be logged in to comment on a diagram.<br /></span><span style="font-size: small;">And I guess that's all there is to say! The comment system is a bit rudimentary for the moment, but we believe that enabling discussion is a major step to allow you to share knowledge and techniques about lighting.<br />Should you have suggestions to improve this comment system, please <a href="http://feedback.sylights.com">let us know</a>!</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><strong><span style="font-size: medium;">Enhanced diagram page<br /></span></strong>We have dramatically changed the page presenting your diagrams. Our first version showed minimalistic information and a small diagram image that could be enlarged... as we were not happy with it, we made it all over again!<br />Diagrams are now displayed bigger and a sidebar provides additional information and actions:<br /> </span></p> <div class="float-right"><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Sidebar" height="481" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-08-03/cJjzFgezwmIJcvdruGeAoGbabcnaAcyjdrjwevowFGfuGsiageghdmllhGAb/sidebar.png.scaled500.png" width="238" /> </div> </div> <ul> <li>Basic author information</li> <li>A permalink field which can be copied to your clipboard with a dedicated button</li> <li>A download link to the higher resolution image of the diagram</li> <li>A deletion link if you're the owner of the diagram</li> <li>EXIF and license information about the photo, if a photo is displayed</li> </ul> <p>The sidebar also shows a toggle button that's here to help you in your study of a diagram: when you are watching a photo, you may at some point wonder how a specific shadow, highlight or other effect is achieved. The big "Show Lighting Diagram" right above the EXIF frame toggles the view from the photo you're watching to the lighting diagram. Have a quick look at it, and then click again to come back to the photo and continue studying it.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong><span style="font-size: medium;">Format your texts<br /></span></strong><span style="font-size: small;">This is a small feature, but it can help being a bit more legible: you can now format your diagram descriptions and your comments with some patterns, which will transform to bold text, italic, superscript, hyperlink, and so on.<br />A "formatting tips" link is available close to the text boxes where formatting is enabled.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">This is it! You can now begin to add photos to your diagrams and leave comments to your favorite ones.<br />We hope you are going to enjoy sharing your work on Sylights! We are eager to see the first photos coming in :)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">As usual, don't hesitate to react in the comments!<br /></span><span style="font-size: small;">Are you planning to share more diagrams in the future? What's still missing on Sylights for you to do so?</span></p> <p> </p> </p> <p><a href="http://blog.sylights.com/show-your-photos-share-your-comments">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://blog.sylights.com/show-your-photos-share-your-comments#comment">Leave a comment  »</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Sylights/~4/QL87QppBS5I" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1538640/logo-twitter.png http://posterous.com/users/5AGp0XOOlko9 Sylights Team Sylights Team http://blog.sylights.com/show-your-photos-share-your-comments Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:38:00 -0700 Sylights in your pocket! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sylights/~3/E2U6pkUtFWM/sylights-in-your-pocket http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-in-your-pocket <p> <div><span>Sylights has been launched a bit more than one month ago, with the intent to provide some powerful tools to strobists/studio photographers regarding lighting diagrams. After this first month, we'd like to thank everybody for showing support and interest in our project!</span></div> <div> <div>We've seen many articles and blog posts flourish all over the world and feedbacks on our <a href="http://feedback.sylights.com">feedback page</a>, which really encourage us to continue working on Sylights to bring up all the features we've thought about!<br /> <div> <div> </div> <div>So work is still going on on the website and we will have some news soon, but today's announcement is not about the website. Today's news is about bringing Sylights to your pocket. Or wherever you put your phone into, as a matter of fact!</div> </div> </div> <div>We are indeed really glad to announce you our <em><strong>Sylights for iPhone</strong></em> application, which will be available to a panel of users as a beta version in the coming days! </div> <div></div> <div>As of today, it provides the main functions you could expect from a lighting diagram editor application:</div> <div> <ul> <li>Diagram creation with an intuitive editor, including all the gear you can find on <a href="http://sylights.com"></a><a href="http://sylights.com">sylights.com</a> </li> <li>Diagram edition once saved</li> <li>Gear information, diagram description, ...</li> <li>Send diagram by email, with full or restricted information</li> </ul> </div> <div>This beta test phase will ensure us the stability of the work done so far, and allow us to fix bugs related to the different platforms we haven't been able to test the application on. Sylights for iPhone will then be submitted to the AppStore as soon as possible, and will be available for free.</div> <div> </div> <div>To register for this beta program, please go to our <a href="http://www.sylights.com/iphone">iPhone app page</a> and fill in the form there. We will then come back to you with more information. If you've got several devices, don't hesitate to register twice (or more)!</div> <div>Please consider that we will not be able to accept each and every candidate to this beta program. We wish we could, but we're unfortunately limited by the number of devices we can send the application to. We are then going to select testers based on their device model and OS version.</div> <div> </div> <div>When we started Sylights, our idea was to give photographers an access to efficient tools wherever they would be shooting. We believe our iPhone application is an answer to this goal, and we hope it is going to suit your needs! We also do know that iPhones aren't the only smartphones out there in the real world but well... that's just a starting point :)</div> <div> </div> </div> </p> <p><a href="http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-in-your-pocket">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-in-your-pocket#comment">Leave a comment  »</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Sylights/~4/E2U6pkUtFWM" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/583490/IMG_5474.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5AfJ1SQnit5n Olivier Lance olance Olivier Lance http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-in-your-pocket Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:53:00 -0700 Small update on diagrams pages http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sylights/~3/hVUUA_gm_T0/small-update-on-diagrams-pages http://blog.sylights.com/small-update-on-diagrams-pages <p> <p>We have just updated Sylights with some convenient links on the diagram detail pages.<br />Three links have been added:</p> <ul> <li>A "permalink" link, to have a quick access to the diagram's page URL</li> <li>A "download" link that will start downloading the full size diagram image to your local disk</li> <li>A "delete" link if you'd like to delete a diagram you no longer need. This one will of course be displayed on your own diagrams only, and guest diagrams won't show it.</li> </ul> <p>About guest diagrams, some feedbacks showed us it was not obvious for everybody that they would be destroyed after 24 hours of online presence. Guest diagrams are temporary diagrams, intended to let you try Sylights Diagram Editor without creating an account. Their lifetime is short because they won't benefit from features built around diagram edition on Sylights, as they don't really belong to anybody and those features generally need an identified owner to be effective (just like the delete "feature").<br />To clarify this temporary nature of guest diagrams, we have added a specific message on their pages, indicating how much time is left before they are destroyed.</p> <p>Below are two screenshots: the first one shows a guest diagrams that will be delete in 19 hours. The permalink and download link are located below the diagram image; the second screenshot shows one of my diagrams, which then have a "delete" link.</p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-06-22/zlhIxjnCHpoapyAodtIFmDcvdpFIbxbsrwIdyzaDstntswfwxACoopJoIjet/Capture_decran_2010-06-23_a_03.09.14.png.scaled1000.png"><img alt="Capture_decran_2010-06-23_a_03" height="464" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-06-22/zlhIxjnCHpoapyAodtIFmDcvdpFIbxbsrwIdyzaDstntswfwxACoopJoIjet/Capture_decran_2010-06-23_a_03.09.14.png.scaled500.png" width="500" /></a> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-06-22/xDxsarpCcEhyiggtngocqoidqFykvzBCqCBuJpzpAeBAGfckulrknEfFfnCA/Capture_decran_2010-06-23_a_03.09.30.png.scaled1000.png"><img alt="Capture_decran_2010-06-23_a_03" height="445" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-06-22/xDxsarpCcEhyiggtngocqoidqFykvzBCqCBuJpzpAeBAGfckulrknEfFfnCA/Capture_decran_2010-06-23_a_03.09.30.png.scaled500.png" width="500" /></a> <div class='p_see_full_gallery'><a href="http://blog.sylights.com/small-update-on-diagrams-pages">See the full gallery on Posterous</a></div> </div> </p> </p> <p><a href="http://blog.sylights.com/small-update-on-diagrams-pages">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://blog.sylights.com/small-update-on-diagrams-pages#comment">Leave a comment  »</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Sylights/~4/hVUUA_gm_T0" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1538640/logo-twitter.png http://posterous.com/users/5AGp0XOOlko9 Sylights Team Sylights Team http://blog.sylights.com/small-update-on-diagrams-pages Mon, 21 Jun 2010 08:44:00 -0700 Sylights: a release and 5 days later http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sylights/~3/zwcBWFCsN3w/sylights-a-release-and-5-days-later http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-a-release-and-5-days-later <p> We are really happy to have finally made Sylights available to the community!<br /> Released as a preview version last Wednesday, the reception it has encountered really encourages us to move forward on the project and continue on our plans to provide you with a great platform to share your photos and lighting diagrams. This post will present you the next features we are going to implement on <a href="http://sylights.com" target="_blank">sylights.com</a>.<br /> <p /> <div class="gmail_quote">But first things first, we'd like to thank you all for your feedback, comments and articles about Sylights. We've spotted some from many countries around the world (USA, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Argentina, and more!), and we are truly thankful and amazed by how quickly the word has spread over the internet!</div> <div class="gmail_quote">Special thanks to <a href="http://www.diyphotography.net" target="_blank">DIY Photography</a> for helping us spreading the word with a <a href="http://diyphotography.net/sylight-allows-you-to-create-online-lighting-diagrams" target="_blank">first blog post</a>, and to <a href="http://www.petapixel.com/2010/06/16/sylights-launches-nifty-new-lighting-diagram-web-app/" target="_blank">PetaPixel</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/WestcottCo" target="_blank">Westcott</a> as well!</div> <p /> <div class="gmail_quote">Now with the features. We have received many requests for a mean to <strong>associate photos</strong> to a diagram. We of course intend to implement such a feature, and it will come really quickly now. We'd like to know what would be the best solution for you though: importing photos from your Flickr account, or directly uploading them to Sylights?<br /> Both solutions will be implemented eventually, but you should <a href="http://strob.it/d3L5NV" target="_blank">vote here</a> to tell us the first one you'd like to use!<p /> </div> Then, in priority order, the next features we plan to add are:<br /> <strong> </strong><ul> <li><span style="font-weight: normal;"><strong>Diagram edition</strong>. Once saved, a diagram shouldn't be set into stone! You'll be able to edit them for improvements (including when new features come) or if you've forgotten something on them.</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: normal;"><strong>Labels and annotations</strong>. As of now, you can use the "description" text field to add textual information to your diagrams. This feature should free this description from gear-specific notes, allowing you to put them directly on the concerned objects.</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: normal;"><strong>Votes and comments</strong>. We want diagrams to bring up discussions about lighting techniques, to add some teaching value to those schemes. We also think Sylights would really miss a feature if you wouldn't be able to interact on your diagrams pages!</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: normal;"><strong>Objects duplication</strong>. Some of you asked for it and we think this is a great, user-friendly feature to add to our diagram editor.</span></li> </ul> This list should make it for a few weeks!<br /> Of course, photo attachment and the following features will become available to all the diagrams you've already created. So if you don't have an account yet, there is no need to wait :)<p /> We also are considering the inclusion of other features requested through feedback as well as our own list of planned features. I guess some minor changes will be made independently during the coming weeks to improve usability.<br /> We will keep you informed about them as soon as they are made available, so keep an eye on this blog or follow us on twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/Sylights" target="_blank">here</a>!<p /> Comments are opened below to receive your reactions. Thanks again for your support!<br /> <div> </div> </p> <p><a href="http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-a-release-and-5-days-later">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-a-release-and-5-days-later#comment">Leave a comment  »</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Sylights/~4/zwcBWFCsN3w" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/583490/IMG_5474.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5AfJ1SQnit5n Olivier Lance olance Olivier Lance http://blog.sylights.com/sylights-a-release-and-5-days-later Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:15:00 -0700 Lighting diagrams: a powerful tool for studio photographers http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Sylights/~3/so7K8M2WK7E/lighting-diagrams-a-powerful-tool-for-studio http://blog.sylights.com/lighting-diagrams-a-powerful-tool-for-studio <p> <strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">In the different off-camera communities I know, a real effort is put in accompanying each photo with information about its lighting. On the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/" target="_blank">Strobist Flickr Group</a> for instance, it is mandatory to describe the setup that was used in the photo caption.</span></strong><p /> This is truly a nice commitment in order to help others learning about lighting and I am the first to enjoy this, but I don't find text descriptions appropriate for that kind of documentation. While this is probably the best and most direct way to comply to this rule on Flickr, I am surely not the only one to prefer something a bit more visual, as I have seen setup shots and lighting diagrams flourish along with those text descriptions. Not that much though...<p /> <div style="float: left; margin: 10px;"><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Diagram_small" height="152" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-06-15/dHFiAAncAyjGJFsdfuJIIntcbEeleIxHysovijhdHpDCfChACJAvBnlxFurc/diagram_small.png.scaled500.png" width="230" /> </div> </div> <div class="gmail_quote">A lighting diagram is a great tool to document a photo and–more specifically–the lights and modifiers used to create it. I am surprised it is not more widely used by strobists and/or studio photographers... in fact, I've found through my readings of forums and blogs, that not everybody seems to understand the benefits of lighting diagrams and how to use them properly.<br /> This post will give you my understanding of this tool and some tips on how to get and communicate useful information through a diagram. Of course, I don't mean to have absolute knowledge on the subject, but I do hope to bring some insights on lighting diagrams to those who are still wondering about their usefulness. </div> <p /> <div class="gmail_quote">The first, obvious statement about lighting diagrams is that they document your photos. They will give you the position of the camera, the subject and the type of lights used to produce your photography. It's interesting in order to understand lighting in a photo you didn't make, but also to keep track of your own lighting setups. Do keep a file of your lighting diagrams as a personal reference to what you found works great with your own gear. It might especially help you to reproduce your setups if you're learning lighting. Don't forget to be creative and to try new things though! I'm not sure drawing diagrams and using the same setup over and over again will help you after some point :)<br /> The second benefit I see to lighting diagrams is how they can help you settling things down before a complex shoot. We photographers are usually visual people, so drawing can be definitely helpful to fix ideas. And if you are working with an assistant, a diagram can sometimes be worth a thousand words to get things started. We've all seen how napkins can be used to that purpose!<br /> Last but not least, one highly valuable outcome of drawing lighting diagrams is to be able to teach others how you built up the lighting that led to that special look in your photos. In doing so, you might surprise by the simplicity of a setup you used to achieve a complex-looking lighting. Or the other way round. But that's no problem, as long as it starts a discussion, you are in a win-win situation: some people will learn from your technique and others may give you advice as well.<p /> In order to have such discussions engaged, your diagrams have to carry a minimum set of information.<br /> Of course the first piece of information you want to provide is the position of your gear, your subject and yourself. This, sometimes, can be enough. It mainly depends on how precise you want your diagram to be. Then come distances. Surely enough, distances are just an extension to how you positioned your gear on the diagram. Being precise is what changes the deal... At this point, if you are not familiar with the inverse square law, you might want to read <a href="http://www.slrgeek.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=692:flash-photography-and-pwning-the-inverse-square-law&catid=141:geek-speak-photography-blog&Itemid=463" target="_blank">Flash photography, and pwning the inverse square law</a> by Dustin Diaz. Simply put, this law tells you that when you double the distance between your light and your subject, you loose two stops of light on your subject. This is a first hint at why distances are important on your diagram. However, as you can guess, one could possibly achieve the same results as yours without conforming to the distances you used, by decreasing or increasing light power to keep the same exposure. What inverse square law doesn't influence though, is how soft your light is and how wide is the angle it covers. As you know, the bigger the apparent light source is, the softer it looks. Your diagram will show this crucial information by providing relative distances between your light sources and subjects that are accurate enough.<p /> Notice that I am talking about <em>relative</em> distances here: how far is your key from your subject, or how farther is your rim or fill from the subject, and so on. I think "being relative" is the key when working with lights: almost everything as to be thought in relation to your subject, to the ambient light, to other lights... So, the same principle of relative distances applies to light powers you used in your photo.<br /> We are not naturally used to describe light as an absolute value. You'd rather say "this room is dark"–by reference to daylight or to what we usually consider a properly lit room–than "wow, it's barely 150 lux in there!". It works exactly the same with light levels from your light sources, and David Hobby explained it better than I could do in his article <a href="http://strobist.blogspot.com/2008/10/strobeambient-balance-shorthand-way-of.html" target="_blank">Strobe/Ambient Balance: A Shorthand Way of Thinking</a>.<br /> He says:</div> <blockquote class="posterous_short_quote">"It's the <em>relationship between the different light levels</em> that is important"</blockquote> You shouldn't need more to accompany your diagrams than explaining those relationships between your lights, using the key light as a reference exposure for instance. Giving absolute information like "Flash #1 at 1/8 power" could in fact be error prone, as this setting was valid for your own gear and maybe only in the context of the ambient light you were shooting with. This statement is certainly a bit extreme, as absolute values do give an indication on how much light you used in your setup, but it will stay relative to your own flash full power, which will vary from gear to gear.<p /> <br />So now you have it, this is how I see lighting diagrams: as a great tool to document your photos in order to keep a record of your lightings or to teach them, by providing useful information that remain adaptable by any photographer in most situations.<br /><img src="http://www.sylights.com/images/logo_preview.png" alt="" style="float: right;" />In the idea to help photographers (including me) using lighting diagrams a bit more, I've founded Sylights with a friend of mine, Pierre-Jean. Our goal is to provide you with means to facilitate diagram creation and sharing, and you'll find this in the form of an online diagram editor at <a href="http://www.sylights.com" target="_blank">www.sylights.com</a>.As of today, we are releasing Sylights as a preview version: it still needs improvements and all the features are not ready yet, but we do want your <a href="http://feedback.sylights.com" target="_blank">feedback</a> while we continue developing the website.<p /> We will keep you informed of the evolutions here, but also on twitter and on our Facebook page. Please feel free to use those to communicate with us as well!<p /> Comments are opened below if you feel like giving us your first impressions :)<br /> Thank you!<br /> <div> </div> </p> <p><a href="http://blog.sylights.com/lighting-diagrams-a-powerful-tool-for-studio">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://blog.sylights.com/lighting-diagrams-a-powerful-tool-for-studio#comment">Leave a comment  »</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Sylights/~4/so7K8M2WK7E" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/583490/IMG_5474.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5AfJ1SQnit5n Olivier Lance olance Olivier Lance http://blog.sylights.com/lighting-diagrams-a-powerful-tool-for-studio