Cowboy Studio Beauty Dish

For sometime now, I've been using a wonderful light modifier I picked up at Cowboy Studio.  I bought a 22" beauty dish which came with a diffusion sock and grid about a year ago.  The beauty dish has a wonderful look to it, sort of hard and soft at the same time.

The photograph above is of my friend Chris, he needed some corporate head shots and I wanted to do something for myself.  I used the beauty dish with the honeycomb grid, this is the only light used for this portrait.  The light on the background is the fall off of the main light.  I had Chris stand about two feet in front of a piece of fabric I bought at a local fabric store.

These Beauty Dishes are designed for Speedlight shooters.  I really only use it around town as traveling with it can be a problem because of it's size.  These are really inexpensive, under a $100 dollars!  DT

Relationships

I've been shooting for my friend Marti for quite sometime now. I met Marti about 13 years of so ago when she work at a local energy company. I shot there annual report and since that time have remained friends.

Marti has changed employers several times since our first meeting, because of your friendship I have been able to continue providing photography where ever she has moved. In any business, turning a customer into a client is key.

I have several clients that I've worked with over a period of years and years.  Many of those folks, I have never met personally. Face it, there are tons of photographers out there that know what their doing (photographically). I can tell you from personal experience, that if your a decent person and provide great service you'll have clients for years.

I have another friend (client), named Mark. I have worked with Mark for that many years. As a matter of fact, we have know each other of about 30 years. We've traveled on assignment together and have had tons of laughs together. I cherish my working relationships and you should too.  I know you most likely have heard this statement before, believe me it's true.  I so much easier to keep a client then to find a new one!

Take care and nurture the relationships you have, really. The photo of the bolt above illustrates something important to me regarding this subject of relationships.

Late last year I was shooting with Marti somewhere in West Virginia, I was working on her annual report shooting various Oil & Gas type stuff. We were on site at a well head shooting an employee with his truck checking on things. While walking back to the rental car, Marti spotted a bolt on the ground and asked if I would mind shooting that for her.  The first thing out of my mouth was, "You bet Martie, something for your wall?"  She stopped, looked at me and said, "You know what I love about you David? Most anyone else would have said your crazy Marti, but you just go with the flow and ... something like that"  I could have very easily said your nuts and walked on, it's all about the client. 

Here are a few more images shot for Marti on this particular assignment. Hope you enjoy. DT

 

 

Infrared Conversion

Several years ago I converted my old Nikon D70 camera into an Infrared Camera.  The convertion was pretty straight forward with the aid of LifePixel  I simiply followed their online instructions, it took about an hour of my time.

 

I was on assignment in Florida when I took this photo down at the beach in South Beach, Miami.  Here are a few more images from that same trip, these are from Key West area.

 

What's Up Adorama?

This is a screen shot of what I would call a cheap shot!  Adorama Camera store in NY is sponsoring a workshop with a very similar title to my series of workshops called Small Strobes, Big Results.

This was brought to my attention by a person named "A Concerned Citizen"  Thanks for bring this to my attention.

I started Small Strobes, Big Results back in 2008, I have worked hard to built my branding. I absolutely think Adorama is trying to benefit from this hard work.  Shame on you Adorama!  I have taught Small Strobes, Big Results all over the world.  I teach at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, Maine Media Workshops, GPP (Dubai), Private workshops in Saudi Arabia, Manila, and Austria.

I've sent an email to Adorama, I'm hoping they might reconsider the naming of there up coming workshop.  Your thoughts?  DT

Up Date:
I just received an email from Adorama apologising for the similarity in the title of Tyler Stableford's workshop. They've changed the title of his workshop to Shooting Action Sports and Portraits with Speedlites.  I want to thank Adorama for the fast resolution regarding my concerns about this issue, your a stand up group. Thanks.

Eavesdropping

I did a post about Shooting in Small Spaces a while back.  I thought I'd pass along another solution when confronted with such an issue.  In August this past year I shot an assignment for a local mining company. I spent the day in their Denver offices and a two day trip to Nevada for some site photography.

Another solution to shooting in a small office space is to shoot into it, as though your were eavesdropping on your subjects.  My client wanted a photograph of two geologist working together looking at maps.  I noticed when walking through their offices this one space where the drafting table was positioned near the door in this office.

The drafting table had lights inside of it which I used as my main or key light.  I added a small amount of light bounced off the ceiling in the back of the room.  I used an SB-800 fitted with a full CTB (Color Temperture Blue) gel over the flash tube. The power was set low enough as to not over power the light in the desk and just high enough to open the shadows in the back of the room.