Archive for the ‘Lighting’ Category

One Light Promo Shot

Posted on: October 3rd, 2014 0
one light

Click for larger image

I had to make a quick promo shot in which I was one of the subjects, and also shoot simultaneously! Oh, and it had to be done right quick. See the video below for more:

I used one light at first, but then added a second light as rim to separate us from the very dark, as black, background. In order to actually be in the shot and also actually TAKE the shot, I used the Yongnuo 603 radio trigger system for Canon, which comes with a short cable that allowed me to trigger the shutter wirelessly. Pretty nifty!

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Lighting a Large Family with One Speedlight

Posted on: January 2nd, 2014 0

Talk About Pressure!

This post is aimed at those of us who are tasked with getting a family photo in crappy light, while being asked to “hurry up we want to eat”, while trying to get a large group to semi-cooperate! In this scenario I had my camera, a Fuji X100S, and one speedlight triggered via wireless transmitter…..and the most important factor…..a white ceiling. It was the ceiling that allowed me to pull this off.

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Using Flash To Get Stop Action

Posted on: October 25th, 2013 0

Stopping Birds

I made this video to demonstrate the stopping power of speedlights. I used 3 speedlights so I wouldn’t need to use any one at full power. The flash duration is slowest at full power. I used speedlights by 3 different companies; Canon, LumoPro, and Yongnuo. There fall-off times varied slightly, but at 1/4 power on each, the duration for all 3 was slightly faster than 1/2000th. That’s fast enough to stop most movement, but the tiny birds visiting my bird feeder were unbelievably quick. I can’t say I got super-sharp freeze-frame, but I did get pretty darn close. Watch the video to see how I did it.

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Shooting An Object Agianst a Pure White Background

Posted on: August 6th, 2013 1

Several people have asked me how to get a pure white background when shooting a product, say, for Etsy, or eBay, or any scenario where the product needs to be displayed against a pure white background. Right off the bat, there are MANY ways to do that, and to a large degree it depends on what gear you have at your disposal. I used 2 studio strobes in the movie below, but I’m pretty sure you can pull this off with a couple of speedlights as well.

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Layers and Layers Masks in Photoshop

Posted on: February 5th, 2013 0

3 of Me

I created this image in Photoshop Elements for a class I teach:

Layers and Layer Masks in Photoshop

click for larger version

The thing is, this technique is really easy to do. I didn’t make it up, it’s widely known and used by many Photoshop users, both pro and amateur. It’s just fun to both shoot and then assemble in Photoshop (or Elements 9 and above). (more…)