As a lifelong Canon shooter, I’ve been witness again and again to the power of Nikon’s CLS Speedlight system. In fact, most of the inspiration I found to explore the potential of Canon’s Speedlites came to me while assisting on a variety of shoots for Nikon’s leading CLS demo-man, Joe McNally. [If you're thinking "Joe Who?", let me be the first to welcome you to the planet and suggest that you check out his books on small-flash here and his blog here.]

What types of small-flash inspiration? Let’s see. There was the elephant-with-the-slinky-model in the dry lake bed followed by the silk acrobat hanging from the crane at sunset. There was the ballerina hoisted above the field of sunflowers and the bride in the desert gale. There was the girl holding the pool cue in the smokey bar. There was the leathery guy with the full-sleeve tats. And, of course, the Shining-esque model in the bay windows. Most recently, I spent the better part of two weeks in McNallyland a guest instructor at Joe’s One-Day Lighting Workshops in NY (read my review here and check out Joe’s workshop pix here, here and here.) It’s impossible to be witness to the making of so many great photographs and not be inspired.

Now, don’t get me wrong. For the most-part, I’m a happy Canonista. My first Canon, an A-1 purchased nearly 30 years ago, sits in a place of prominence atop the bookcase next to my bed – meaning it’s one of the first and last things I see every day. I think that the 5D Mark II is an amazing value in the DSLR market and praise the brilliance of adding 1080P video to it. There are a lot of lenses for the Canon system that Nikon has yet to make or only recently introduced. So, as I said, I’m a relatively happy Canonista.

But, there is no doubt, after working on location and in the studio with Joe over several years, that Nikon’s CLS Speedlight system is much more intuitive to use. Why does this matter to me? Well, as a creative, I rely upon my intuition a lot. The more intuitive a process is, the more creative I become. The more creative I am, the more interesting my pictures become.

So here’s my wishlist of features that I hope Canon will incorporate into a new generation of Speedlites.

Syl Arena’s Wishlist For Canon Speedlites

1. Put the wireless switch back on the outside. 90% of my Speedlite photography is multi-unit wireless. I still use a 580EX (which was discontinued in 2007) as my master because it takes too long to switch in and out of wireless mode on Canon’s flagship model – the 580EXII. Virtually all of my event photography uses a Speedlite carried aloft on a stand or boom. This remote unit is controlled by the master parked on top of my camera. Of course, because I want to create interesting light, I program the master so that it talks to the remote but doesn’t actually flash during the exposure. When something interesting happens right in front of me that the remote can’t cover, I want to flick a switch and get the shot with the camera-mounted Speedlite before the opportunity disappears. With the 580EXII, to go from master to solo mode, I have to hold down a button, turn a dial and then press another button – meaning that I miss the spontaneous shot in front of me every time.

2. Design the external wireless switch with four options. Canon, when you re-engineer the wireless switch and put it back on the outside, give me four options – solo, master with flash, master without flash and slave. I’m fine with having to hunt for functions through menus as long as I don’t want to change them very often – like the disabling the sleep/power saving options in Custom Functions. But, I want options that I change frequently to be right at my fingertips. So, I want to choose whether the master contributes to the exposure or not via an external switch rather than an a menu item. Also, “Off” means off — as in the unit is powered down completely. Use “solo” or some other descriptive term to describe a unit that’s working by itself.

3. Come to understand that not everyone lights from the front. Canon’s E-TTL II assumes that Speedlite remote groups A and B are lighting the subject from the front. It’s built upon the classic (think “outdated”) notion that a portrait must be lit with a key and fill at 45º in front of the subject. What if I want to use window light as the key, the A-flash as fill at 90º and the B-flash on the background? I’m not following Canon’s rules when I shoot like this. Don’t worry, the system can actually handle my errant behavior. For the future of creative photography, it would be helpful if Canon would abandon the “must light from the front” attitude.

4. Adopt a better icon for wireless mode. Virtually every Canon shooter to whom I’ve taught wireless flash has had the same reaction I did when I figured out that Canon’s icon for the wireless menu is a lightening bolt / sync arrow tipped on its side (yes, the one to the right of “Zoom”). The reaction to this little insight is always amusement mixed equally with confusion. So, please Canon, find a better icon for wireless. How about an old-fashioned radio tower with those circle lines around the top?

5. Ditch the “Master / Slave” language. Maybe “Master” and “Slave” don’t have the same connotation in Canon’s native tongue as they do in English. But here in the U.S., it’s time to ditch “Master/Slave” for more acceptable terms. Blame it on the era of PC if you must. Nikon already uses “Commander/Remote” – which I think is great. If not that, how about calling it “Tx-mode” and “Rx-mode”?

6. Call groups what they are – “groups”. Canon uses the term “Slave ID” for groups. Yet the LCD on a 580 says just “Slave”. It also says “Slave” to mean a unit set in remote mode. Since we’re going to ditch the word “Slave” for “Remote” or “Rx-mode” anyway, let’s get a label on the screen that matches what we actually say anyway – “Group”.

7. Get rid of the ratios. You have to be really old-school to be comfortable with ratios (which I am, actually). Ratios are an archaic way of controlling light levels among different groups of Speedlites. Who wants to remember that 8:1 really means that there’s 3-stops more light on the A-side than the B-side?  Dump this approach and jump into the 21st-century. There’s a huge market of Canon shooters who want to be able to control multiple Speedlites without having to do the math of how the light level from one relates to another. Nikon shooters have the ability to control the EV level of each group independently. I want this same ease-of-use. Dumping the ratios in favor of an EV approach will also enable Canon shooters to turn individual groups on and off – which is a huge feature when checking the quality and quantity of light coming from a specific group.

8. Create a true 3- or (better yet) 4-group control system. Those of us who have taken the time to get our heads around ratios (which only work for two groups), still struggle with the logic of using flash-exposure-compensation to control a C-group. There is so much to remember these days, having to remember that C-group works differently just adds to my burden. Canon, if you offer a 4-group system, then you’ll sell more Speedlites because shooters like me will come up with crazy shots that absolutely need Speedlites in four different groups. Heaven forbid that the Canon engineers think of a Speedlite system that could handle five groups…

9. Offer a digital control unit. Our ST-E2 wireless controller is an anachronism when compared to the functionality of Nikon’s SU-800 commander unit. If all you want to do is control a key light and a fill light, then the ratio slider on the ST-E2 gets the job done. But, I want to have digital (not slider) control the output of all my groups and to handle each group independently and to be able to switch a single group or multiple groups from E-TTL to Manual and to turn specific groups on/off and to do all these things without having to dig down deep into a menu hierarchy on the back of my camera.

10. Add a built-in optical trigger. It won’t take up much room. It won’t require a lot of circuity. Heck, it would probably fit right in where the relatively-useless thyristor photo-eye sits right now. An optical trigger solves a load of problems when mixing Speedlites with studio strobes. Studio shooters often want to a just a splash of light on set or to conceal a light within the frame. (Canon, consider this to be a perfect opportunity to sell more Speedlites to guys who are used to using lots of lights.) An optical trigger would also make a Speedlite more friendly in the midst of lights from other companies. Again, ease-of-use will drive users to the Canon system. Making the whole system proprietary means that few outsiders will want to change jerseys.

11. License the RadioPopper technology. The gateway to selling more Speedlites is not to find more people to buy their first unit. Rather it’s to add functionality that makes it really easy for existing owners to want to add more lights to their shoots. Wireless E-TTL is good. Radio-controlled E-TTL is great. Free me of the need for line-of-sight communication and I’ll likely put 3 Speedlites in a softbox or stuff them in small spaces on a set where a studio heads won’t fit. Wedding and event shooters totally understand the limitations of line-of-sight. I want to be able to stop worrying abut the position of the remotes relative to my master unit. Over half the size of a RadioPopper is dedicated to the battery and getting the TTL code out of or into a Speedlite. There’s got to be a bit of space inside a Speedlite for the actual circuits that make a RadioPopper work. I’m convinced that the first company to add radio-transmitted TTL to their flash units will leave their competitor in the dust for a long while.

12. Add a couple more stops of Flash Exposure Compensation. There are many instances where I want just a breath of light from my Speedlite and bump up against the minus-3-stop FEC limit on the 580EXs. If a Speedlite has a 7-stop power range, how about giving me 7-stops of FEC so that I don’t have to jump over to manual in challenging situations? Jumping over to manual means that I have to keep more factoids in my head while I’m trying to concentrate of the light and subject in front of me.

13. Stretch out the Zoom. I’m hard-pressed to think of a situation where I was shooting long lens and wanted to zoom a single Speedlite to illuminate a distant subject. Yet, I routinely use the Zoom button to restrict the cone of light so that I can place a tighter pool of light right where I want it. Detach yourself from thinking that the Speedlite zoom was made to match the focal length of the shot and you’ll see the greater logic of using the zoom as a built-in light modifier. For me, “Snoot” would be more descriptive than “Zoom”. So, you could say that I want a longer snoot on the next generation of Speedlites.

14. Include a dome diffuser. I’m sure the guys at Stofen are really happy with the status quo. I’m not. In my world, a dome diffuser is a must-have for every Speedlite. Just as I use the Zoom button as a snoot, I use a dome diffuser to enhance the effectiveness of Speedlites when shooting through umbrellas or panel diffusers. So, every time I buy a Speedlite, I also buy another StoFen. It would cost just a few nickles if a dome diffuser were packaged with every Speedlite. If Canon did this, the quality of light for the average shooter would go way up (and they’d like their photos more and tell their friends about their great camera and…).

15. Include a gel holder. The use of gels for color-correction and color effects has become commonplace. I’m not asking for a computer-chip solution – largely because I’ll continue to cut my own gels from larger stock to save money. What I’d really like though, is a way to hold a gel in place without the use of gaffer’s tape or a LiveStrong braclet. As with the dome diffuser, if every Speedlite came with one, then they’d cost just a few pennies each.

16. Ditch the penguin. There has to be a better way to diagram the use of wireless flash in the manual. Seriously.

17. Give me a breath of hope that Canon actually cares about their Speedlite system. As I said at the top, I’ve been a Canon-shooter for nearly 30 years. I’ve also been pulled into the orbit of Joe McNally’s amazing lighting style – a style that pushes his Speedlights into situations never dreamed of by the guys who write the manuals. One only need to read Strobist for a while to understand that there’s a revolution underway in the world of small-flash. Canon dominated the DSLR market for so many years, I truly worry that they just don’t care about their Speedlites.

Speedlite Features That I Don’t Want To Lose

1. Keep the High-Speed Sync Button on the outside. I use high-speed sync frequently (which I wrote about here, here and here). Being able to jump in and out of HSS at the push of a button is very helpful.

2. Continue to have incremental control between full and half-power. Canon gives us 1/3-stop control all the way from full-power to 1/128. Nikon lacks this ability to fine tune until you’re under half-power.

3. Keep the wireless sensor on the front. It’s easy for me to figure out where the sensor is if it’s on the front. If it’s on the side (like a Nikon), then I have to remember which side.

4. Keep the new battery door. Heaven help us if the guy who designed the door on the 580EX gets his job back. I’m perfectly happy with the design of the door on the 580EXII.

5. Keep the lever-lock as it is on the 580EXII. Give me a round disk (as on the 580EX) and I’ll over-tighten it again and again. The lever-lock on the 580EXII was made for simpletons like me. It gets the job done and stops me from over-doing it.

Why I’m Sticking With Canon – For Now

Honest. I didn’t plan on this article growing to manifesto proportions. But it did. So, it’s fair to ask why I don’t just jump over to Nikon and get what I want right now. After all, most of the items listed above are already standard issue with Nikon Speedlights.

1. Nikon is no more perfect than Canon. It just happens that, when it comes to flash, Nikon has been the innovator. On the other hand, it’s only since the introduction of the D3 less than two years ago, that Nikon has had truly competitive DLSR technology. I’m quite happy that Nikon’s back in the pro-camera game again. Regardless of our brand-preference, all photographers benefit from vigorous competition among the manufacturers.

2. It’s not all about the flash. Bodies and flashes may come. Bodies and flashes may go. Good glass can hang around for a long time. I’ve a good selection of Canon lenses. I’m very happy with the quality. Every photograph I make requires a lens. Not every photograph I make requires a Speedlite. To jump over to Nikon for their Speedlight technology would mean a complete liquidation of my Canon lens inventory – at a hefty price to reacquire comparable Nikon glass.

3. Canon is likely to remain the leader in DSLR-based video. There’s no doubt that the convergence of still and motion is upon us. I’m convinced that still shooters will have to morph into the world of motion or watch their skills become technologically obsolete. Given that Canon has been in the business of making broadcast television equipment for some time, I’m willing to bet that it will remain on the leading edge of dual-purpose (still-motion) cameras.

Tell Canon What You Think – Add A Comment, Then Tweet!

I can’t guarantee that Canon will even read what I’ve written. Eyes at Canon are watching the comments. Nevertheless, So, if you are a Canon shooter, I encourage you to lend your thoughts, wishes and gripes about the Speedlite system via the comment section below. Hopefully, if enough of us share our experiences, Canon will hear about this and take a look incorporate our ideas into a new generation of Speedlites (someday). [ NOTE: Keep your comments constructive. All blatant Canon and Nikon bashing will be discarded by the grumpy moderator.]

]]> http://pixsylated.com/2009/07/syl-arena-canon-speedlite-wishlist/feed/ 115 http://pixsylated.com/2009/07/syl-arena-canon-speedlite-wishlist/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/pixsylated/~3/VaHN6c5hA-E/ http://pixsylated.com/2009/07/joe-mcnally-workshop-dobbs-ferry-new-york/#comments Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:07:22 +0000 Syl Arena http://pixsylated.com/?p=2348 The summer run of Joe McNally’s One-Day Lighting Workshops has just concluded in Dobbs Ferry, New York (about 15-minutes up the Hudson River from NYC). As a guest instructor, I had a front-row seat and ...

The summer run of Joe McNally’s One-Day Lighting Workshops has just concluded in Dobbs Ferry, New York (about 15-minutes up the Hudson River from NYC). As a guest instructor, I had a front-row seat and a backstage pass for the entire event. I have to say that when Joe puts on a workshop near his home turf, he pulls out all the gear and spares no expense.

I’ve never been to a workshop that had such a high ratio of staff to students. In addition to Joe, there was Lynn (his long-time studio manager and lightening rod), Drew (Joe’s first assistant), Lynda and Will (both NY pros brought in to assist), Trevi (Lynn’s mini-me) as well as Andrew, Holly, Mike and Lindsey (still more photo assistants). Jeff Snyder (Pro Markets rep from Adorama) and Mark Astmann (Product manager at Bogen for Elinchrom and Lastolight) each provided tech support for several days. My role, as a guest instructor, was to periodically translate Joe’s Nikonian into Canonese. About a third of each 15-student class was Canon shooters.

Spread across two weeks, the eight one-day sessions brought in nearly 120 students. While most were from the tri-state area around NYC, several students came from Canada, one from Mexico, one from California and a handful from the midwest. For the students, the day was 9.5 hours long. For Joe and the staff, the days were typically 11–12 hours in the studio.

The gear available for use rivaled the inventory of any photo superstore. Virtually all of Joe’s lighting, grip and camera gear was on hand. In case you’re wondering, it takes a good-sized U-Haul truck, a Suburban and several cars to move the McNally arsenal.

Joe brought in models along with stylists for hair and makeup from the Emmanuel model agency in Manhattan. Many students commented that they had never had the chance to photograph professional runway models before. I noted that even when standing around the hallways, they all seemed to strike statuesque poses.

Joe also asked several of his friends, including Joe Hodges, a 27-year veteran of NYFD, to come out and serve as models. Knowing how to light the “seasoned” face of a firefighter is as important as knowing how to light the pearlescent skin of a model. In a day, literally, a student could go home with a portfolio of shots ranging from NY high-fashion to gritty editorial.

Joe demonstrated the use of studio strobes and large modifiers – like Elinchrom’s gigantic 74″ OctaBank on the white set and the Elinchrom 39″ Deep Throat OctaBox on the black set (both were lit with the portable Elinchrom Ranger).

Joe also demonstrated the use of single and multiple speedlights along with a variety of small modifiers – like the Lastolight Triflash and the Lastolight EzyBox Hotshoe (being held aloft with the painter’s pole and adapter that I wrote about here).

The demos were tethered into an Apple Cinema display via Nikon Camera Control Pro so that the students could see what Joe was shooting. The monitor and laptop were wheeled throughout the building on a Metro kitchen cart.

We worked on sets large and small. The 8,000 square-foot daylight studio provided room for a number of sets to be in operation for student photography simultaneously. Joe also hauled the class down into the basement where the long, narrow hallways provided opportunities for completely different types of shooting.

In the afternoon, the students were set loose in small groups for an hour or so with a flash, a diffuser and a model. Their assignment was to put their newly discovered skills to work in the vast number of nooks and hideaways to be found throughout the 70-year old industrial building. These afternoon interludes also provided the opportunity for me to give Canon-specific training as needed.

The vast majority of sets were available for students to shoot after Joe finished a demo. For sets lit with Nikon Speedlights, the Canon shooters were encouraged to stuff their CFs into Joe’s D3 and shoot away. Likewise, the Nikon shooters triggered the Speedlights by putting Joe’s Nikon SU-800 Commander onto their cameras. For the sets lit with studio strobes, all the students slid Joe’s Elinchrom Skyport radio trigger into their hotshoe.

Of course, it’s no surprise that Joe’s photos from the workshops are amazing and inspirational. You can see many of his pix and read his posts about the workshops in these articles on his blog:  They’re Back, Vanessa Times Two, Rub A Dub Dub In Dobbs, Windows and Doors In Dobbs, My Friend Joe Came By, Workshops Wrap – Part One

Joe, thanks for the opportunity. It is always an honor and a pleasure.

This Week’s LIDLIPS

76. Ignoring the manual is no longer manly.

77. Play photography as a team sport.

78. Your ‘Decisive Moment’ is still out there.

79. Spend more time shooting that you do reading web forums and blogs.

80. Photography from Tarzan’s perspective.

Lessons I Didn’t Learn In Photo School 76–80

76. Ignoring the manual is no longer manly.
It used to be that an owner’s manual was discarded along with the box and styrofoam inserts that held a new camera. No longer. Today the manual should be read several times (as painful as that may be) and then put in your gear bag. Seriously. No matter how smart you are, no matter how much you use your gear, there will come a day when a mental hiccup blocks out that one technical step that gets you the shot you want. Today’s DSLRs and speedlights have so many features that it’s no longer manly (or smart) to ignore the manual.

77. Play photography as a team sport.
In many ways, photography is a team sport. Anytime you are shooting a subject that’s breathing, there’s an interplay through the lens. On more complicated shoots, there can be assistants, grips, gaffers, makeup artists, stylists for hair, wardrobe and props. You may have an art director and/or a client on set. It’s important to understand that even though you may be the one pushing the button, your photograph is the scorecard for how well any number of people are working together.

78. Your ‘Decisive Moment’ is still out there.
There’s a phenomenon that people who achieve intense fame or success go through when they realize that their career may have just crossed over its zenith. The thought that their best work has already come and gone pulls many creatives down quickly. No matter how successful or renowned or infamous you become, continue to remind yourself that your best photo has yet to be made. Doing so assures that it’s true.

79. Spend more time shooting than you do reading web forums and blogs.
It’s too easy to be in the world of photography without being a photographer these days. While the web has quickly made huge amounts of information and insight available, it’s important that you spend more time shooting than you do reading forums and blogs. When it comes to honing your craft and developing your vision, there is no substitute for a long trail of decisions and mistakes that you make on your own.

80. Photography from Tarzan’s perspective.
Many people romanticize the life of a photographer as if it was Tarzan swinging through the jungle from vine to vine. They see it as a glamorous and exciting life – full of momentum and confidence. Sure there may be moments when you want to agree. But then there’s a vine that’s just a bit too short or a tree that’s in the wrong place – and suddenly the momentum of your career or your enthusiasm for your hobby comes to a sudden halt. Every photographer goes through periods when he or she can’t make a decent photo. Every photographer has periods that seem to move backwards rather than forwards. I’m sure that when Tarzan loses his momentum, he just climbs back to the top of a tall tree and grabs a new vine. No matter how dismal your photography may seem at the moment, don’t give up on yourself. Jump off that safe limb and grab a vine. Sometimes saying “I can do this” is all it takes to get started again.

Previous Lessons I Didn’t Learn In Photo School

The entire LIDLIPS Series

This Week’s LIDLIPS

71. When you’ve got nothing to lose, don’t be afraid to lose.

72. Choose your friends wisely.

73. Listen for answers to questions you didn’t ask.

74. “Thank” and “you” are two of the most powerful words in the universe.

75. If Columbus had been a photographer.

Lessons I Didn’t Learn In Photo School 71–75

71. When you’ve got nothing to lose, don’t be afraid to lose.
It’s not failure that holds us back. It’s the fear of failing. More often than not, when we’re afraid of failing, we won’t even try. Or, if we try, we’ll try timidly rather than boldly. The ironic part about this is that when we’re starting out as photographers and have virtually nothing to lose is when we’re the most fearful. If you have nothing to lose, put your fear in a box and shoot like you’ve never shot before.

72. Choose your friends wisely.
In a world full of Flickr groups and Twitter, it’s too easy to make “friends” today. If you surround yourself with people who always praise your images (as is often the case on Flickr), then you’ll rise to a solid level of mediocrity. What a photographer really needs are friends who will give honest, qualified opinions about your work. So, if all the feedback you’re getting about your work is positive, find a different set of friends.

73. Listen for answers to questions you didn’t ask.
Recently I was interviewed by a college student majoring in photography. Her assignment for “Photo Business Practices” was to talk with a professional shooter about the development of his or her career. When asked “Which of your shoots was most instrumental in changing your career?”, I replied “There’s never been a shoot that changed my career as much as the relationships that I’ve developed along the way. This is a business of relationships, not shoots.”  I’d given her the most valuable bit of insight I have about the world of professional photography. She totally missed it because it was an answer to a question she didn’t ask.

74. “Thank” and “you” are two of the most powerful words in the universe.
Never underestimate the value of being respectful. When my boys were young, I convinced them that “Please is the magic word that gets grown-ups to do what you want them to do.” Likewise, a sincerely delivered “Thank you” can turn a disinterested laborer into a strategic partner. The return on just a bit of respect can be huge. As strange as it sounds (at least to me) being courteous these days can be a way to distinguish yourself in the market – with clients and vendors alike.

75.  If Columbus had been a photographer.
Photography is a process of visual exploration. Start with a concept or a bit of inspiration. Then make a photo based on your assumptions about what you see and how the camera will respond to it. Take what you learn from that photo and make another. And another. Continue to explore, evaluate and fine tune your efforts. The journey of a photographer often heads across distant horizons into uncharted territory. Don’t fret if your shoot veers off in a completely new direction and ends up someplace completely different than where you originally intended. I bet that Columbus would have made a fine photographer.

Previous Lessons I Didn’t Learn In Photo School

The entire LIDLIPS Series

As a commercial photographer who lives on a hilltop surrounded by neighbors who grow syrah and zinfandel, I have the good fortune to photograph the wine world frequently – the growing of wine, the making of wine, the promotion of wine, the consumption of wine… Like any type pf photography, it’s hard work when I’m in the midst of a shoot. Afterwards, of course, there are special benefits.

I wasn’t always a wine photographer. For years, I shot color-critical work for horticulture catalogs (yes, much less fun than shooting wine). I’d probably still be shooting hort if the baby boomers had not given up gardening for other pursuits – like drinking wine and traveling. When the horticulture industry began to fall on hard times several years ago, I began to diversify my shooting. Eventually, my wine photography grew to a point where I now market myself as a specialist in the field. (Click here to check out my work as a wine photographer.)

The lesson learned – if you are a commercial shooter who has been displaced by the economy, take a serious look at your neighborhood for opportunities. You may find that there are specialties there that are waiting to be developed and marketed.

This Week’s LIDLIPS

66. If you follow someone else’s path too long, you’ll lose track of where you left yours.

67. Sometimes “good enough” is better than “the best”.

68. Making yourself vulnerable is a sign of strength.

69. Never hesitate to share your guacamole.

70. Starting is the hardest part. Knowing when you are done is the second hardest part.

Lessons I Didn’t Learn In Photo School 66–70

66. If you follow someone else’s path too long, you’ll lose track of where you left yours.
One of the hardest parts of living as a photographer is to stay true to yourself. In a world that is awash in images, it’s all too easy to want to do what more successful photographers have done. Every photographer veers off into the territory of his peers, mentors and champions from time to time. Yet, each one of us has our own path – our own vision – that’s waiting to be explored. When you are starting out, it’s natural to make photographs that others have made. Eventually though, you’ll need to find your path and have the courage to stay on it. As you venture on, when you’re tempted to chase someone else’s success, remind yourself that if you follow their path too long, you’ll lose track of where you left yours.

67. Sometimes “good enough” is better than “the best”.
Having the best (aka: most expensive) gear or producing the best (aka: most technically complex) photo is not always the best (aka: most beneficial) way to go. Having or doing the best often means spending twice as much money or time just to get a little bit more. Sure, in the Olympics being .07% faster than your competitor can be the difference between gold and silver. In photography, avoiding that obsession can be the difference between becoming an expert shooter or an expert on gear specifications. It can be the difference between making money on a shoot or having to reach into your pocket to subsidize the job. “Good enough” does not always come in second behind “the best”.

68. Making yourself vulnerable is a sign of strength.
It takes guts to open yourself to the criticism of others. “I may be good, but I’m not as good as I can be” is a hard thing to say with confidence and enthusiasm. The more you are able to open yourself to commentary, the better you’ll become. Actors have directors. Writers have editors. Athletes have coaches. Pro and amateur alike – we all need to make ourselves vulnerable to the criticism of qualified observers. Doing so is a sign of strength. Not doing so allows fear to win.

69. Never hesitate to share your guacamole.
I was having dinner with a large group of photographers after a workshop when I noticed that the fellow next to me was eyeing the huge mound of guacamole that had arrived on my plate. “Do you like guacamole” I asked. The enthusiasm in his reply left no doubt. So, despite my lifelong love of southwestern cuisine, I gave him the whole pile. A few years later, I was attempting to contact an internationally-known photographer in Manhattan. Turns out that the fellow to whom I’d given my guacamole had moved to New York and become his studio manager. Rather than being tossed out, my letter was put before the photographer and I received a personal reply. Never hesitate to share your bounty with another photographer. A couple of smashed avocados might just be the ticket that gets you to the next level.

70. Starting is the hardest part. Knowing when you are done is the second hardest part.
Sir Isaac Newton, the 17th-century physicist, could have been a career counselor for creatives. He demonstrated that something at rest tends to stay at rest and that something in motion tends to stay in motion – until acted upon by an outside force.  For the creative, getting a project started is the hardest part. Coming up with the initial bit of inspiration seems easy. Taking the first few steps at converting the inspiration into action is the real challenge. Then, once you’re in the groove and the creative stream is turning into a river, you’ll hit the creative’s second-hardest challenge – figuring out when you should stop.

Previous Lessons I Didn’t Learn In Photo School

The entire LIDLIPS Series

This Week’s LIDLIPS

61. Humor contributes to global warming.

62. Creativity and curiosity are fraternal twins.

63. The more I look at my work, the less I like it.

64. It used to be that photography was just another way to make a mark on a piece of paper.

65. Photography is proof that Darwin was right.

Lessons I Didn’t Learn In Photo School 61–65

61. Humor contributes to global warming.
While we come in many shapes, sizes and colors, it’s evident that the smile is universal. As a photographer, use this knowledge with impunity. Pointing a lens at someone can be intimidating – on both ends. If you find a way to connect, the intimidation will evaporate. Crack a joke. Make fun of yourself. Do it knowing that we can’t laugh without smiling.

62. Creativity and curiosity are fraternal twins.
Creativity and curiosity were born of the same mother. They may look different – but at their core they are the same. You cannot be creative without having a strong curiosity. “If I do this, what will happen?” is at the core of the creative’s journey.  Add spontaneity as a playmate to the pair of twins and you have an explosive mix.

63. The more I look at my work, the less I like it.
When I’m shooting, the photos that I get most excited about are the ones that show me something new or take me to a level I’ve not climbed to before. Yet, the more I look at these images, the less new they become. The more I make these types of images, the less challenging they become. When the images become commonplace, I lose interest and my enthusiasm for them slides. It’s not the photo that’s changed. It’s me. Like a high school crush, when the infatuation is over, my interest moves on. I’ve stopped worrying about this. Time can be a great filter. I’ve come back to my images, sometimes days later and sometimes years later, and found a newly-kindled enthusiasm for what I see. Now, when I look at my work and don’t like what I see, I ask if I’m looking at it too much rather than too little.

64. It used to be that photography was just another way to make a mark on a piece of paper.
For the first 150 or so years of its history, photography was just another way to make a mark on a piece of paper. (Yes, yes – some of the early processes marked up plates of metal or put an image on a piece of glass – but the main medium of delivery was paper.) As novel as it was, for the first many decades of photography’s existence, it wasn’t even a “good” way to mark up a piece of paper. For accuracy, a piece of charcoal or a tray of water colors could deliver more tonal and color fidelity than early photographs. Of course, all that was sorted out. Photography has long been able to deliver images that vividly portray the world around us – still mainly on paper.

65. Photography is proof that Darwin was right.
Today, we are some 30 years short of the bicentennial of photography’s invention. The reign of paper as the delivery medium for photography is collapsing. The Internet has morphed from being the secret realm of academics and soldiers into being the world’s largest public library. Devices like the iPhone and Kindle are replacing books of all types. Now more images are delivered as photons than as droplets of ink. Today’s babies will grow up to remember paper as something they enthusiastically smeared paint on with their fingers in pre-school and little else. Photography is managing to keep pace. Many photographers aren’t.

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This Week’s LIDLIPS

56. Hollywood is waiting to teach you how to light.

57. Sometimes it is more important to look like you know what you’re doing than to actually know what you’re doing.

58. Sincerity, humility and gentle persistence can open closed doors.

59. The future is moving.

60. Analysis Paralysis and the Right Pursuit

Lessons I Didn’t Learn In Photo School 56–60

56. Hollywood is waiting to teach you how to light.
If you really want to learn how to light, go to the movies and think about the light you see. As still shooters, we think in terms of lighting one spot for a fraction of a second. On the set of a motion picture, they have to light a broad area such that the actors can move through it without casting unwanted shadows or walking out of the light. Put another way, grips and gaffers do their jobs with intention – there is a look the director wants and their task is to deliver that vision through lighting. Virtually every lighting tool we still shooters think of as new or unique has been used in Hollywood for decades. Gels, scrims, shiny boards, flags, gobos – they all came to us from the movies. Even the newest lighting tools – like LED panels and banks of CFLs – were adopted by the movie guys first. Hollywood understands that film (or tape) records light and shadow differently than we see it. They don’t fight physics. Rather they’ve invented tools and techniques that change one reality into another. Learn what they do and how they do it. Your vision as a photographer will expand accordingly.

57. Sometimes it is more important to look like you know what you’re doing than to actually know what you’re doing.
Maintaining the confidence of your client is key – even when your shoot is crashing. Once I was on a wedding shoot with the bride and three attendants staring right into my lens when my camera mysteriously locked up. Rather than change the mood and say I had a problem, I went through the motions of taking a few more frames – even though nothing was happening. As the group moved to the next spot, I went to my gear bag and changed camera bodies. Stopping to figure out the problem (a bad CF card) would have appeared as if I didn’t know what was going on (which I didn’t at the time). Problems happen during shoots. How you respond is a measure of your professionalism. Maintaining an air of confidence and control in front of your clients is key. Have an SOS phrase in the back of your head. Something like “I see an new opportunity here. Let’s break for a few minutes so that we can set up for it.”

58. Sincerity, humility and gentle persistence can open closed doors.
Across the decades of my professional life, I have had a number of mentors. Not surprisingly, none walked up to me and said “I want to give you my time and my expertise and I don’t want to charge you anything for it.” I’ve long wanted to believe the old saying “when the student is ready the teacher will appear.” Sure, he may appear. But getting his attention is a completely different matter. My experience is that the three keys to opening up a relationship with a mentor are sincerity, humility and gentle persistence. If you are not sincere in your desire to be the best photographer you can be (if you still think it’s the gear that makes the photograph), then there’s no point in having a mentor. Being humble means you respect yourself and your mentor. It means being honest about what you don’t know and haven’t done. It means understanding the definition of “sycophant” and not going there. Even when your head and your heart are in the right place, you’ll still need to convert your hero into your mentor. Typically, this happens slowly over time. It comes through persistence – gentle persistence. Remember that you are not and never will be critical to the success of your mentor’s career. That he has taken you on is more a testament to the gifts he received from his mentors than it is of you. Still, if you are worthy, do not hesitate to knock and to come back and knock again. Eventually your persistence will open the right door.

59. The future is moving.
While I’m not ready to say that the death of still photography is at hand, it is apparent that the future of photography is in motion. Observe how the rapid growth of the Internet as an advertising channel has caused widespread devastation in the newspaper and magazine industries. As access to broadband continues to spread and as mobile tools like Apple’s iPhone and Amazon’s Kindle continue to evolve, there’s an ever-increasing opportunity to use motion over still photography. No too many years ago, the moving photographs on the walls, desks and newspapers of Harry Potter’s world seemed quaint. Now, I see them as an insightful glimpse into our future. If you are young, photographs that move and speak and sing are your future. If you are an old-school shooter, like me, now is not the time to put your head in the sand about how the world has once again changed it’s expectations of what photographers do.

60. Analysis Paralysis and the Right Pursuit.
An earnest dad came up to me a while back and asked my thoughts on which DSLR was best suited for photographing his children playing soccer. He had boiled his options down to one that shoots 3.6 frames-per-second and another that could shoot 6.2 FPS. Oh, and there was the possibility that one was coming out “soon” that would shoot close to 10 FPS. He’d been looking into cameras for the entirety of his kids’ soccer season. I offered two suggestions. The first was to get over his Analysis Paralysis. The second was to buy the best camera he could afford at the moment – regardless of specs like frames-per-second. I came away from the conversation wondering how many great shots he’d missed because the pursuit of the camera had overtaken the pursuit of the photo.

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How do you convert a painter’s pole into a professional lighting tool that can carry your Speedlite to various heights above your subjects and then collapse it down so that you can maneuver through a crowd? I want you to meet the LongArm and the MetalHead. When used together, this $50 dynamic duo has quickly become a favorite tool in my gear bag for location lighting.

The LongArm – Extendable Painter Pole

My 11-year old son Tony discovered the LongArm on a recent expedition to Home Depot. I was checking out the sandpaper and he walks over with this painter’s pole zipping in and out several feet. “Put that thing away” I barked. Then “Hey, wait a minute, bring it here.” Tony was playing with a Shur-Line Easy Reach extendable paint pole. The cool thing about the Easy Reach (aka: the LongArm) is that it’s a 3-section pole that collapses into itself with the push of a button. It has detents every six inches so that you can extend it out to the length you need in a second and then lock it in place. You (and your assistant) will absolutely love how quickly the LongArm stretches out to just the length you need and how quickly it retracts. Zip. Snap. Zip.

Shur-Line Extendable Paint Pole (aka: the LongArm) - Push the black button, slide to the length you want, release the button, and it's locked.

Unlike other painter’s poles that look like a broomstick or something used by the pool guy, you won’t be embarrassed to carry the LongArm right into the country club for the big wedding. It’s a sleek-looking combination of black foam, red plastic and aluminum.

The Shur-Line Easy Reach comes in two lengths. Model 06570, the short version, extends from 30″ to 60″.  Model 06572, the real LongArm, extends from 45″ to 108″ – think “just under four-feet to nine-feet”. I have both models and have found the long version to be indispensable. The short version is an easy carry but… just a bit too short most times. You can find them at Home Depot, Lowe’s and the like. You can also buy them through Amazon. [At Amazon: long version and short version.]

The MetalHead – Kacey Pole Adapter™

The MetalHead is the magic wand that converts the LongArm into a professional tool. If you’ve ever tried to bolt a piece of lighting gear onto a painter’s pole, you know that the threads are too fat and too short to fit into an industry standard fixture. Thanks to a tip from Gregg Zivney, who makes the great Wizard Brackets and a cool Dual Flash Bracket, I found the Kacey Pole Adapter. After showing it to David Hobby during his Strobist workshop in Paso Robles, it was dubbed “The MetalHead”.

The MetalHead (aka: Kacey Pole Adapter) converts a painter pole into a useful lighting tool.

The MetalHead provides a standard-sized pin onto which you can securely bolt a variety of lighting fixtures. It is robustly machined from solid aluminum and provides a solid base for your gear. Order the MetalHead for $19 from MPEX – MidWest Photo Exchange or $22 from the manufacturer.

The LongArm and MetalHead In Action

The LongArm-MetalHead combo can carry your Speedlite to the top of a party tent for a nice bit of bounce light. It can also carry your Speedlite over the top of table for a bit of fill light. If you need to move through a crowd, just zip it down and slide through. It used to be that we’d carry a mini-lightstand for this job. Our new rig is much better looking, easier to use, and a good bit longer.

The LongArm extends from just under 4' to 9' – enough to carry a Speedlite up to the top of this party tent.

The LongArm-MetalHead combo carries a Speedlite over the top of a table.

The MetalHead is where you start building your lighting rig. You’ll need an Umbrella Swivel Adapter so that you can control the angle of your light. (Don’t skimp here – buy a strong one.) A Speedlite with a Stofen Diffuser or Honl Grid is an easy carry. An umbrella – either shoot-through or silver – is also an easy carry (unless it’s windy). The Lastolight EzyBox (one of my favorite Speedlite modifiers) definitely pushes the boundary – of my assistant’s willingness to hoist the rig overhead for minutes on end. The good news is that the LongArm, as shown in the pic at the opening of this article, is long enough so that you can extend it to full length and set the end on the ground. Then, the EzyBox is relatively easy to loft up to six feet or so.

Thanks again to my son Tony for being the curious rascal that he is, to Gregg Zivey for pointing me to the Kacey Pole Adapter, to David Hobby for giving it a cool name and to my son Tom (in the pix above) for fully endorsing the LongArm-MetalHead as the assistant on a number of recent shoots.

[About the photo at the top: You're looking at a Canon 580EX in a cabled hotshoe attached to the hotshoe bracket on the Lastolite EzyBox (the 24" model) that's bolted into an umbrella swivel adapter clamped onto the MetalHead at the end of the LongArm. Wow, that's a mouthful. The little box hanging  from the EzyBox bracket is an Elincrom Skyport receiver. The cable runs from the Skyport into the hotshoe that holds the flash. I'm a big fan of the Skyports as they are smaller and more affordable than Pocket Wizards. Click on the photo below to see a larger photo of the rig.]

This Week’s LIDLIPS

51. If your camera was a pencil or a crayon it would be easy to understand its limitations..

52. There are times when you have to hang it all out there – without any understanding of where you are headed or whether it will work..

53. Sometimes going to sleep is the most creative thing you can do.

54. If you want something way more than the person on the other side of the deal – be wary.

55. No matter how much you know, you’ll never know it all. So don’t let not knowing hold you back.

Lessons I Didn’t Learn In Photo School 51–55

51. If your camera was a pencil or a crayon it would be easy to understand its limitations.
No one expects a pencil or a crayon or a box of watercolors to produce photo-realistic images (yet in the hands of a truly skilled artist they can). On the other hand, we often look at our photos and think “that doesn’t look like what I saw”. You have to embrace the fact that cameras, even the most modern cameras, still can only record a fraction of the colors and tonal range that we can see. Once you come to that understanding, you’ll also quickly understand why you have to learn to light – even if it’s just with a sheet of watercolor paper that you’re using as a fill card. Embrace the limitations of technology and you’ll soon find ways to fly over those boundaries.

52. There are times when you have to hang it all out there – without any understanding of where you are headed or whether it will work.
Being a creative means that you’ll often find yourself racing down paths that you’ve never ventured onto before. Without knowing why, you’ll respond to the breath of inspiration by doubling your efforts. As you race forward without any understanding of what lies ahead, a touch of panic will try to sneak in. You’ll think “where am I going”. You’ll briefly worry “what if this doesn’t work”. Push those questions aside and continue charging ahead blindly – continue charging ahead creatively. The moment you start to deal with these fears is the moment that your creativity evaporates.

53. Sometimes going to sleep is the most creative thing you can do.
On any number of occasions, I’ve reached the end of a creative session absolutely exhausted. Thinking, feeling, believing that I had nothing more to give, I figured the job complete, finished, done. Time and time again, I’ve woken up in the morning with a deep pool of energy and enough new ideas to fill a warehouse.

54. If you want something way more than the person on the other side of the deal – be wary.
I once met a fellow who I thought could make a huge difference to the arc of my career. Call him a “rainmaker” or a “center of influence” or a “master networker”. This guy had experiences and contacts that I could only dream of. Turns out that I wanted a friend with these contacts so much that I ignored the warning signs: the never-ending stream of stories, the nonstop talk about himself, the inconsistencies between the first and second time that I’d hear a story. It unraveled when I came upon someone else’s byline on a famous photo that I thought my friend had made. We had discussed his being at the event and the capture of the iconic image.  The moment I realized that he had let me believe he had made another shooter’s photo was the moment that I also realized I wanted to be his friend way more than he wanted to be mine.

55. No matter how much you know, you’ll never know it all. So don’t let not knowing hold you back.
Don’t let thoughts like “I have so much more to learn” or “I’m not ready yet” hold you back. The truth is that if you wait until  you’re ready, you’ll never start. The digital evolution in photography has been a great leveler. No one understands every detail of Photoshop – not even the guys who invented it. No one understands every control option of the latest DSLR – not even the guy who sell them. Get used to the idea that you’ll have to ask others for help. Get used to the idea that you should offer help freely. When it comes to technology, every one of us is ignorant to some degree or anothery. Accept your weaknesses and keep shooting.

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