Ok so Cathay Photo had this incredible deal for their BX500Ri Elinchrom lights, a deal I was unable to resist. I had plans for other gadgets that’ll keep me busy this Christmas but instead, what do I get? A set of lights. But man, what an awesome set. So maybe I’m trying to console myself but the packaging reminds of any Apple product which would’ve been in my hands. I raved and ranted about the size and weight in my previous post and here’s a picture to compare. Mind you my Bowens set is more than 5 years old so this is more like a comparison between technology of old and current.

I think the greatest difference besides the size and weight is the EL-Skyport transmitter’s remote function. This is one function I’ll enjoy using the most, although a learning curve is required. It’s kind of like the Canon’s ST-E2 transmitter which can control 2 groups of lights but way more advanced because you have a lot more control, hence the learning curve. You can even determine the increments for the light output so you can have a refined adjustment for products and a faster adjustment for portraits. Very useful if the lights are inaccessible or you just don’t want to keep walking to manually adjust them. And you can have your assistant concentrate on other things. Or better still, work alone.

Continue reading 'BOWENS VS ELINCHROM: BATTLE OF THE LIGHTS II'»

What do I think of Joe McNally’s new book? Well, best $40 I’ve spent in recent months! You know once awhile, I’ll dream about lighting a subject with flashes and shaping the light with modifiers, throwing some light here and there. But it just remains there, just some thought in space. A thought experiment. But Joe’s done all those things! And he’s got the pics to prove it. So I got off my lazy bum, put some of my ideas in place and took my portrait. Inspired by Joe.

Took this portrait on a timer with two 580EX flashes, both at 105mm. One on camera left was gelled yellow to give the warm light, shooting through an umbrella with the reflective layer half opened, and with EV pushed down to -2EV. The other one, shooting at 2 studio lights, creating that shadow, with EV pushed down to -3EV and set at a distance to give a sharper shadow of the lights. You see many portraits of photographers with their cameras but I wanted to do something different. Here’s what the layout looks like.

QED. Continue reading 'HOT SHOE DIARIES'»

Once awhile I’ll come across a unique book, one that is frank, open, balancing techie stuff with creative approach and importantly a no-holds barred sharing of information. The Hot Shoe Diaries is Joe McNally’s latest book and I’m already loving it after just reading the first few pages. Joe’s one of my favourite bloggers and in the preface he credits David Hobby of Strobist, Chase Jarvis and a few more who are so confident and intent on sharing their knowledge on the net. These are the guys who are gracious and confident enough to share their hard-earned knowledge.

Joe McNally is so good at lighting. But he uses mainly flash units, the speedlights, and modifiers. Not many big lights, but just something portable. The modifiers he uses promises to challenge your perception of what you can do with those flash units. Those small fellas can give awesome lighting! That’s what photography is about!
Continue reading 'COOL BOOK: HOT SHOE DIARIES'»

After the first shoot of the cups, an additional shoot was required for both the cups and the coffee sachet to be more in focus. Sometimes shooting the same thing twice gives an opportunity to try and explore a new approach. The layout of props was similar to the previous one so changes were made to the lighting setup. I still used the ST-E2, Speedlite 580EX and an umbrella. This time I used a styrofoam board as a reflector. Continue reading 'Shooting products with a lifestyle twist: Reloaded'»

Ever since my last post on light modifiers [here], I’ve been asked about the beauty dish. I’ve a few pictures to demonstrate the use of this when my friend Kevin popped by my studio to have a few headshots taken today. Here’s what the beauty dish looks like and one of the pictures from the shoot. It’s fashioned after a parabolic reflector to distribute light and it gives a unique characteristic. Notice the shadows or light fall-off on the face….it wraps the face, Continue reading 'Light Modifiers: Beauty Dish'»

Light modifiers

They do exactly what they are called, modify or change characteristic of light. You’ll see some of these terms used frequently in this blog since photographers use these a lot to get the effect they want, kind of sculpting light. They can be used for both strobe-based (flash) or continuous light. I’ll explain the ones I use a lot in studio and on location, and in my opinion the most basic if you want to start getting into studio lighting. Continue reading 'Light Modifiers'»