Sunset at the Beach

Went to the beach yesterday with my girlfriend April to take some pictures.  I think this is some of my better work thus far!  Had so much fun taking these pics and was so excited every time I looked at the LCD preview after hearing the shutter snap.  Seems as if my adjustments to my cameras LCD are getting closer, these pictures where no more than a 1/3rd stop off.

If anyone out there knows why Lightroom 2 seems to darken the image when exporting RAW to JPG leave a comment below, this is killing me.

The below images were all taken with 1 SB-28 speed light inside my new 28" Westcott  Apollo Softbox.  This is an awesome light modifier and I strongly recommend it.

Birthday Crashing

Last Saturday (May 15th).  I was staying at a hotel.  There was a large birthday party being setup for a 6 year old.  I though my son who is 7 would see this going on and want to participate, so I made a deal with the birthday girls parents that he could participate in exchange for some portraits of the birthday girls.  They were eager to accept.  It was a ball and a great learning experience to just run out grab the gear and setup a shoot right there in the middle of a hotel.

All these were taken with:
   1 - key light Camera left with a shoot thru umbrella.
   1 - background light with green gel, make shift snoot against black background.

Senior Shoot Saturday

Well its been a while since I have had the time or inclination to post to this blog.  About a month ago (April 17th) I had the opportunity to take some senior pictures of my brother and a friend's son.  2 shoots on the same day!  One in the morning the other in the afternoon.  Here are a few of my favorites from those shoots.

1 - Key Light, with Shoot thru umbrella

1- background light, gelled blue with omni-bouce

1 - Backlight, with grid spot for hair light.

1 - Key light camera left, with shoot thru umbrella

1 - key light camera right with snoot.

And the after noon shoot:

1 - Key with snoot

1 - Key bare

1 - Key bare.

This was a lot of fun and I think I learned alot.  We will see if my work later down the line reflects what I think I learned.

Photo Editing/Organizing (The Cheap Route)

Today I want to rant a bit about some of the options the "poor boy" has after the picture is taken.  Now the big professionals and big spenders usually use a combination of Adobe LightRoom and Adobe Photoshop to organize and edit their photos to perfection.  But what is the hobbyist/Poor Boy to do?   To solve this mystery I asked myself a simple question: "If your supposed to concentrate on perfecting your photos in camera, why spend the money on post camera processing power?"  In other words I opted to spend the money I could have used to purchase the wonderful Adobe tools on actual photo equipment that will aid me in getting the results I wanted when the shutter trips.  Being a Computer Technician by trade this seems a bit back words but there you have it.  That same trade also exposes me to many free tools available to the average person.  Below I will list my tools of choice that have the power needed and best of all everything is free!  It does bear mention that this is only 1 solution not the end all solution.

Photo organization

• Picasa (ver 3.6 at the time of this writing)

I really can't say enough about this handy little program.  Google puts it out there for the world to use free of charge.  It will import, organize, and even do a bit of non-destructive editing/effects.  It easy enough to understand that I have grandma's and Sales Reps (thats right Sales Reps) using it.  You get facial recognition, tags, uploading to web albums, automatic resizing of images for emailing, and more.  Its defiantly worth a look.

Photo Editing

• Gimp (Ver 2.6 at the time of this writing)

This is likely setting the stage for comments, for there are many graphics programs out there that people really love and usually for good reasons.  However this is my blog and I'm telling you what I use.

The Gimp is my number 1 goto graphic and photo editing software.  If your used to Photoshop you will notice some missing features (or features that seem to be missing).  But overall you would be hard pressed to find a more capable PhotoShop alternative.  Once you learn the basic operation of the software there is little or nothing you can do in PhotoShop that you cannot accomplish in the Gimp.  Its cross platform meaning that you can use it on Mac, Windows, or Linux which covers at least 99 percent of the operating systems in use.  You can install it on a flash drive and take it with you where ever you go.  A simple google search will reveal thousands of tutorials, plugins, add-ons, etc.  In fact once you figure out the basic use of the program most of the Photoshop tutorials can easily be applied to the Gimp.  Many love this program and many hate it, but I truly believe that if you can get past the initial learning curve those same haters would at least become liker's if not lovers.  There are some very exciting features on the gimp horizon for version 2.8, keep a lookout for them.

RAW Processing

• UFRaw

Hook this up to the Gimp and you will be able to import and process your raw files.  It works with most raw formats out there including Nikon, Cannon, and Olympus.

Once again these are just the tools I use.  They are capable, fairly easy to learn if one has some patience and best of all they are completely, absolutely, 100% free.  The free price tag of post processing opens the doors to getting closer to that coveted prime lens, or new flash, stand, Alien Bee, whatever I just prefer to put my money where it should count the most which is getting the picture right the first time. In Camera.

Venturing Outside

It was windy today so I couldn't use my umbrella's but still wanted to get outside and take a few shots.  I had fun but am only mildly please with the results.  I had a hard time balancing the ambient light and conditions were changing quickly which made it hard to keep a consitent feel to the self shots.  Below are the one I was most happy with.  There are so many things I learned today.  I will be getting  back out soon and we will see if I can apply what I think I have learned.

The Starters Kit

The Flash Stands


Use the search term "CowboyStudio Strobist Kit" at Amazon.com.  There will be several options for Light Stand Kits.  These kits includes the stand, umbrella, and everything you need to mount your hotshoe flash.  They cost around $30.99 ea.  I bought 2.  As you will see below I wanted 3 flashes but I only ordered 2 stands.  That because I planned to use the 3rd flash with an old tripod I have.

The Flashes

Ok on to flashes.  But first a story and some lessons learned.  When I bought my flashes I was unsure of exactly what I needed at first.  At the time my only requirements included:  Variable Flash Power (Manual), Zoom, PC Cord connection and I new I wanted 3 of them.  3 Lights would give me the most versatile lighting setup (Key, Background or effect, and Hair).  Based off of these requirements I ended up with a bowen flash specifically for my camera which had a built in slave function.  This flash works well in TTL mode on my camera, however I'm not using TTL so the extra cost ($129.00) is a bit wasted.  It did  have zoom, and adjustable power levels though and the slave was a bonus, so this flash is still quite usable off camera.

The next flash I ordered was a Vivitar 285HV ($89.95).  I am perfectly happy with this flash, Manual power adjustment, PC cord adapter, etc.  However there are a couple of downfalls with this flash.  It will only adjust to a minimum of 1/16 power (same as my bowen)  and I'm finding that I really need to go less than that.  The head does elevate from 0 to 90 deg but does not rotate left and right.  Also the size of the flash head itself finds me shopping for gels, omni-bounce, etc... Specifically for that flash.

Determined to find the right combination I started my search with a few new requirements.  Manual Power Adjustment to a min of 1/64th power, PC jack, zoom, fully adjustable rotating head, a somewhat normal head size, and now an even lower price since my budget was starting to thin quickly.  This search brought me to a "Yong Nuo YN460".  This flash seemed to have it all for a very cheap price.  So cheap in fact $39.99 on Ebay that I was skeptical but tried it anyhow.  What a surprise it works great!  Manual power adjustment to a minimum of 1/64th power, PC Sync, rotating head, and affordable.  Downfalls?  Well the biggest downfalls that I found were only in other user testimonies not one I experienced.  It seems as if the Quality Control for the YN460 is not really up to snuff so you could get a flash that works perfect or you could get one that is not consistent at lower power levels (below 1/16th).  Upon further review the YN460 MK II "seems" to have added a few features (most notably 1/2 stop adjustments) as well as fixed some of the QA issues.  The YN460 MK II is going for $59.99 at the time of this writing.

It would be amiss of me to not mention the LumoPro 120.  This flash was built specifically for the strobist. It has it all and is currently selling for $129.00.  This is likely the route I would have gone if my starting budget was a bit bigger.

The Transmitters

No strobist kit would be complete without some sort of way to trigger the flashes.  There are several ways to do this.  Slave Flashes, PC Cords, and Radio Transmitters which is the way I chose to go.  There are several different brands with the Pocket Wizard topping the list.  However as you guessed the Pocket Wizards are out of the normal persons price range.  So I sat down and thought a bit about my requirements for a flash triggering system.  I knew I wanted wireless, and a range of at least 30-40 feet.  I ended up with the "PT-04 CN III" from Ebay and they are selling for $49.95 at the time of this writing.  This triggering kit included the transmitter, and 3 receivers (for all 3 of my flashes), 4 channels, PC jacks, hotshoe,  screw holes for tripod mount, and an added bonus of 3 flash stands for the floor or table, etc...  The units say they will work up to 30 meters (98 feet) but I have the most consistent results up to 70 feet.  Overall they meet my requirements and I have been happy with them.  I have heard that there is a Version 3 of these transmitters with an antennae built in now but have not had any experience with them.

The Hindsight Tally

Now comes my list of how I would have done things if I knew then what I know now.

Cowboy Studio Light Stand Kit:  $30.99
Rosco Stobist Flash Gels (These do not correctly fit the Vivitar 285):  $9.95.
YN460 MK II Flash:  $59.99

Ebay Radio Triggers: $49.95

Grand Total:  $150.88

What!! I thought you said budget studio?  Actually I am talking just that.  Remember you don't have to buy everything at once.  There are alot of things you can do with just 1 flash and you can just piece the other stuff together along the way.  Its also notable that many of the Nikon, Olympus, Canon flashes sell for more than $300+ by themselves.  Thats an entire studio for less than 1 flash.  The 1 thing I would recommend is that you figure out how many flashes you want in the end (3 for me) and just order the wireless transmitter with enough receivers to accommodate.  You can always order additional receivers but once you tack on the shipping for each receiver you end up spending more in the long run.

The MeanTime

The stuff listed above does take anywhere from 1-3 weeks to receive.  So while the impatience is setting in you can can always pop over to diyphotography.com and check out some of the flash adapters, backgrounds, etc... You will absolutely want to make yourself a couple of snoots, grid spots, etc... to use when your stuff arrives.  This is the time to start gathering the materials you will need to make this type of stuff.  An absolute must is to run thru the Strobits 101/102 for a bit of foundation.   This should keep you busy until your stuff arrives.  

Portrait Shoot #2

My second attempt at portraits resulted in the complete opposite of my first.  I keep the background dark.  I provided a hair light to bring the subject out of the darkness a bit.  But not quite enough light.  Likely needed to bring my key light in a couple of feet and I may have been ok.  Over all a much closer attempt than my first.  Adjustments to my on camera LCD continue.

My wonderful girl friend April

Yep thats me.

In the next couple of days I hope to share some of the equipment lessons learned for all the other shallow pocket hobbyist's out there.  Specifically dealing with Flashes, Stands, GOBO's, etc...  The complete setup on the cheap.