enough with the strobe and....

enough with the strobist, and step aside your pocket wizard.

David Hill layers. Mind blowing skills

Adventure Series - Exposed from Dave Hill

the behind the scene 3d from his 2d images

it was created for the launch of his redesign website.

finally, the moment i've been waiting for!

Hothouse New York:

August 13, 2011

Meat Packing District, New York City

$250 per slot

Please e-mail workshop organizer Sachi Villareal at sachiweddings@gmail.com to book a slot.

mymetrophoto

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Hothouse is the workshop series of Metrophoto on wedding photography. It is especially crafted to bring interested photographers all the learning, techniques, and knowledge that have made the Metrophoto brand succeed in the short time since its inception.

Hothouse, as the dictionary defines it, is an environment that encourages rapid growth or development of someone in a stifling or intense way. That is exactly what aim for but in a sure fun and inspiring way. It is a comprehensive download of everything that we know to help your photography and business get to the next level.

Part of the workshop activities and discussions are shooting concepts, equipment line-up and set-up, actual shoot, post production, up to branding and marketing and dealing with clients. We’ll simulate how to extract unique and stylish images out of a location that seemed to have nothing, we’ll share and show all the gears we use and WHEN and WHERE we use them and what could be your cheaper alternative, we’ll explain how to get that Metrophoto look right from the shooting up to final processing, and most importantly, how to create your own brand and business.

vivitar 85mm f/1.4 aspherical lens

it's about week now since i got my vivitar 85mm f/1.4, and im starting to like this lens. not only its 1.4 but it is also aspherical.. since this lens is manual focus, it's kinda tricky to focus,but i manage to use the live view for accurate focusing.

but for the rest, quality and build its amazing how this 329$ perform..

the metal and plastic built was beter than other third party lens.

the hood is plastic but it doesn't matter as long as it work..

katzeye offer focusing screen for diffrent camera models. but this is not only simple focusing screen, it has a split prism circle and microprism colar. it's like the focusing screen on those old camera's were autofocus are not inveted yet. and it really work's

here is a review of katzeye for 50D

Reverse Engineer This Light :by DIYP

original post from: DIYP

I did mention that all the lighting on the set was DIY and made by yours truly.

Before I go ahead and do the lighting breakdown (I don't actually have to reverse engineer it, I was there and took pictures :)), I am placing the portrait on the big again below. Look at it (or super size it) and then skip to the actual break down (which is also a sneak peek into my living room)

The key (1), as many of you guessed was a snooted strobe on camera right, high above the model at f/10. This can be deducted from the hard nose shadow and the higher catch light on the eyes. The actual snoot is a beer cozy with the bottom cut. There were some guesses about a beauty dish, I think a BD would give a softer falloff on the nose.

The fill (2), as again many of you indicated, is a 40cm DIY softbox camera left about 2 stops down from main. You can see the square on the second catch light on the left. Actually, If you went super close on the portrait you could see the hotspot in the middle of the square which is common to DIY softboxes which don't have an internal diffusion screen. The tutorial for building this softbox will go up tomorrow.

The third (3) light which provided separation is a flash with 1/2 CTO gel and a coroplast gridspot positioned a bit lower than the model's head and pointing upwards. it is very close to the backdrop and creates a small circle. Many guessed that one as well, but for some reason the gel was hard to pick up.

A little bit more fill (5) coming from below is a foamboard reflector covered with aluminum foil. It was placed a little higher on the tripod which is not in the picture.

The backdrop (4) is a stretch of black fabric. It is held with a hangman stick-in-a-can and a few A clamps.

Lastly, the chair (6) is an $8 stool from IKEA.

It is great to see how well a DIY studio can light a portrait, and if you find this to be as much fun as I do, you'd be happy to hear that this image is going to feature is a DIYP studio book coming soon. The book features many lighting and studio projects that you can build at home.

rim light diy by: Kevin Thai

See the full tutorial and motivation over at Kevin's blog (which is also a great learning resource and a burl of clever pictures).

Reverse Engineering Other Shooters' Light

a helpfull Q,A by david hobby

Q: Where did the light come from?
A: The shadows will tell you.

Q: Were there multiple sources?
A: If the light appears to be coming from multiple directions (assuming no mirrors) probably. Also check for inconsistent shadows.

Q: Was the strobe light balanced?
A: Well, do the florescents look, say, white? There you go. Ditto tungsten, etc.

Q: Is the light falling over a small, restricted area?
A: Snoot or grid.

Q: What is the easiest way to check the style of the front light in a portrait?
A: Eyes make good mirrors to see the light sources. If they are wearing sunglasses, you are golden. Unless they Photoshopped it. And no, you cannot do that if you are a journalist. And if you are a Strobist, you shouldn't have to.

Q: Was the light nearby?
A: Check how fast it falls off as it travels across the subject. Fast? Yes. Slow or none? No.

Q: Was the light source large?
A: Depends on how close it is. A small, shoe-mount flash head looks like a softbox from 2" away on a macro shot. The sun, which is the largest light source you'll likely be using, is pretty hard because of the 93,000,000 mile thing. It is all about how big the light appears to the subject.

Q: Is that light strobe or continuous?
A: That can be a toughie. You can use available light effectively enough to fool people.

Q: How did they get that overcast sky so neon blue?
A: Set the camera balance to tungsten, which renders the formerly neutral clouds blue. Underexpose the sky (to, say, a stop below medium grey) for more of an effect. Then, CTO-gel the flash lighting your subject to render the light hitting it as white and you have the effect.

Q: This is starting to sound random and incoherent. Are you OK?
A: Yes, it is. And no, I am not. I am home sick from work today, feeling like I got runover by a train. I will add more to it later when I am more lucid.

But I hope you are starting to get the idea that there are no secrets when it comes to light.

Only physics.

you can see the full post here