3

6/8/2007 6:38:19 PM

the 1600 needs to be the background light, or whatever one will be one with gells in use. the 800s are more than enough for main and fill, except if your main light is a snoot, then you'll want the extra power.

A great light meter that's both an ambient and flash meter is the older Minolta flash meter 4. The autometer 3f is another pretty good ambient/flash meter. I've used both.

Flash brackets are a pain in the ass and I don't use one for portraits or weddings. They get in the way more than they help.

for syncing, you will quickly find that the easiest way to do it is taking a flash and putting in on the hot shoe (you can even use the built in one) in manual mode with the lowest flash power setting and use that to trigger the strobes. You can either have it point straight at the subject or straight up. even at 1/128 power on an SB800 we can trigger all of our lights and the output is so miniscule it doesn't even factor in.

6/8/2007 7:19:38 PM

they sell hot shoe to pc adapters for 15 bucks so I'd get that if I use the XTi at work. I won't be using gel's right away anyhow since I need to get the basics down before I start doing creative compositions.

6/8/2007 11:32:25 PM

the simplest use of gels is to change the background color to work with the client's color and layout choices for business cards and brochures. You don't necessarily have to be getting creative with them, but just throwing a blue light on a grey-ish backdrop can really change the look.

This is a plain white paper backdrop with a light red gel thrown on it.

6/9/2007 7:58:53 AM

yeah, but for work, it's going to be for a medical grade product. Corporate world doesn't like color. At least not the medical field. Every medical product I've seen all uses the same off white paint. I proposed the idea to do a brushed aluminum look and feel, but nope, idea shot down. I just got approval for a 1500-2000 budget for lights at work so that should get me started.

I also just found out I won the cyclegear photo contest with this picture:

6/9/2007 6:01:11 PM

ah, not people kinda studio stuff. then yeah, nevermind

6/9/2007 7:41:48 PM

What contest did that win? And why?

6/10/2007 6:32:07 PM

cyclegear they are a motorcycle retail store. They have monthly picture contests. The reason I won was because the bike is wrecked, it's night outside, and I have no head lights...

6/11/2007 11:26:11 AM

just took the plunge. Bought the 24-70mm f/2.8L, 50mm f/1.4 and a bunch of accessories for about 1800 today. Actually had to call my credit card to request for a credit increase to actually charge it. I plan on getting that 100-400 or 70-200 f/2.8 IS next month. Still can't decide.

6/11/2007 2:25:06 PM

Up on their website now.

http://cyclegear.com/motophoto.cfm

6/13/2007 6:34:55 PM

Some pictures as of late. Loving the f/2.8 24-70L and f/1.4 50. Also convinced my boss at work to get some AlienBee's studio equipment and finally got them in today. I've done nothing but take pictures since I've gotten them in today. Macro + studio lights = awesome.

6/21/2007 11:50:22 PM

playing with studio lights.






I'm gonna be buying my own studio lights soon, probably next month. My budget kinda shifted from 1000 for lights, 500 for accessories to about 2000-2500 in all since I want the flexibility to shot anything and everything. My main concern is to shoot cars and how much power I really need and if I go that bright, would it be too powerful for close-up macro shots in a studio? Also at the same time, gonna pick up a vagabond II when that ships next month for on scene shoots. Can't wait to use it for a beach scene or something.

6/24/2007 6:06:08 PM

^You might try pumping up the highlights in Levels in photoshop to make the backdrops less distinguishable. The idea of a product shot is to look at the product, not the backdrop.

I'll add another positive review for the Alien Bees. They've got a lot of power, I hardly ever use my 800s at full power. I picked up a couple Giottos light stands at Peace camera and like those a whole lot better than the AB/White Lighting stands. http://www.adorama.com/GT10.html If you still need backdrop stands and backdrops, check out http://www.amvona.com/ The AS-014 does it's job and has a very nice travel case. Amvona is also good for backdrops, but be warned, 10'x24' is simply HUGE. I don't know anything about how they are for lights/light modifiers. AB umbrellas are quality.

The 70-200 2.8 is a great lens, I'd definitely get it over the 100-400. AF is still somewhat quick with the 1.4x and usable for non-action on the 2x. Hell, AF even works on my 10D with the 2x and 1.4x stacked, but you probably wouldn't want to use that combo anyways.

6/25/2007 12:55:29 PM

Been a while since I last updated. I'm job shadowing a pro photographer in Apex and coordinating a few shoots with two other local photog's. I just talked with another pro photographer who happens to be a pretty big name in AMA and motoGP so I'm gonna meet him at VIR this weekend and learn a few tricks with him. I'll also work with him at Road Atlanta first weekend of Sept.

I also just bought tons of new equipment yesterday.
Beauty Dish
Foldable Medium softbox
Foldable Giant softbox
Backlight Stand
Vagabond II
ABR800 Ring flash
30" moon unit and masks
Boom arm
Reflector mounting bracket
set of Honeycomb grids

Bogen 3021P Pro tripod
Bogen 488RC2 ball head
5-in-1 reflector
Giottos 11' light stand (I already have two and I do say I like them too)
Stroboframe Pro-T flash bracket
A bunch of small accessories.

In all spent a good chunk of change. I'm setting up some fashion/glamor shoots in the near future with local models. I'm coordinating with a few other NCSU students in organizing a fashion show at the College of textiles so this will help me out with some practice and a good resume booster.

Oh, and if all goes well at the tracks, I should be shooting as a seasonal pro covering AMA Superbike motorcycle races. If that happens, I'll end up buying a real pro body and either a 300mm f/2.8 IS or invest the money in getting the 400 f/2.8 IS or 500 f/4 IS.

[Edited on August 15, 2007 at 2:32 AM. Reason : ]

8/15/2007 2:29:01 AM

600mm!!!!

8/15/2007 8:17:42 AM

I'd rather get the 400mm f/2.8 so its a good midrange super telephoto, then add the 1.4x or 2x TC. If I get a pro body, I won't loose AF with the 2x TC.

8/15/2007 10:05:10 AM

^yeah you're right. The 400 f/2.8 is a good choice, then you can add a TC later. I assume you'd get a canon EOS pro body?

8/15/2007 10:08:15 AM

I want to get the new mkIII, but with a lot of people complaining about AF problems, I'll wait a bit till Canon fixes the problem. A friend of mine just ordered his mkIII so I'll just play with his for a bit. Might be a bit out of my price range, so the next choice is to get the mkIIn and they are damn "cheap" now. I see them go for 2200-2500 range, but if I get more into studio work, a 5D might be better for me.

Oh fuck it, I'll get a 5D and a 1D... :p I'll end up getting a new body sometime in the winter.

It's kinda funny now how spending $1000 on just the body or $300 for a simple prime lens seems "cheap" to me. When I started out I thought it was unreasonable to spend $1k on just the body, but now my camera budget has grown quite a bit and what I couldn't afford earlier is now all of a sudden in my price range.

[Edited on August 15, 2007 at 10:39 AM. Reason : ]

8/15/2007 10:30:05 AM