Annual Report Photographer David Tejada "The f-Stops Here"

Gulf Photo Plus 2012

2012-01-17T11:24:00.007-07:00

March 5-10th, 2012 in Dubai! The schedule is out and it is going to be a great one! I'm very excited to be teaching once again at Gulf Photo Plus. This will be my 3rd year teaching and I'm looking forward to visiting with friends and teaching a few new courses.

I'll be teaching 2 of my Small Strobe Big Results workshops and two new course. One called "Corporate Photography & How to Build a Successful Business" and the other SSBR "The Next Step"

The instructors this year include David Hobby, Steve Simon, Bobbi Lane, Chris Hurtt, Joe McNally, David Nightingale, Martin Prihoda, Claire Rosen, Zack Arias, David Burnett, Greg Heisler and me.

For a complete run down of the workshops offered this year Click HERE

Preparing For An Up Coming Assignment

2012-01-13T11:20:00.006-07:00

I have an interesting assignment coming up which has taken quite a bit of preparation. I'm headed to Ghana to shoot some mining for a long time client of mine. I have photographer throughout South America, Southeast Asia and the United State for more than 13 years for them.

This will be the first time shooting in the country of Ghana, I'm looking forward to the experience. My Visa has been finalized and I've had all my immunizations. Yellow fever shots, Tetanus, Diphtheria, Polio, Meningococcal and I've started my 4 doses for the prevention of Typhoid fever.

I have a large list of photos to take, it will take at least a full week to complete the assignment. I have to pack my gear carefully, I'll need some lighting and a few modifiers, stands and various grip equipment. I'll be traveling with my camera roller (Think Tank International), a personal bag and another roller carrying stands, modifiers and grip gear.

I'll give you the full details on the gear and the trip a bit later. I did a recent shot in the studio and I thought I's share that with you here. Normally, I shoot studio still life using my old studio strobes. The provide a modeling light and it is much easier to see your lighting position at any given time. I wanted a bit of a challenge and decided to use my SB-800's with just LumiQuest modifiers. Here is what I did.

Let me tell you about the photo above. As many of you might remember, my father passed away about 3 years ago. I was left with his childhood stamp collection, stamps from around the world dating back to the 1850's. In going through his collection I found the follow item.

One of the albums was actually my Grandfather's, he was the president of Bolivia 1934-36. The album contained a letter that traveled on the Graf Zeppelin from South America to Los Angeles. I thought it would make for a wonderful photo.

Here is the set-up. I used a total of 3 Speedlights, 2 with LumiQuest Snoots and 1 fitted with the Softbox LTP. The Softbox over the set was used for a fill light and the Snooted Speedlights as the main and detail light. Here's a photo of the set.

You can certainly do a lot with a small amount of lights! By the way, I'll be teaching at Gulf Photo Plus in Dubai again this year. The GPP will be held March 5 - 10, 2012. I'll be teaching (2) SSBR lighting workshops and a new 3 day workshop called Corporate Photography and How to Build a Successful Business. I'd be re-missed if I did not mention that I still have space in my Feb. 25, 2012 SSBR workshop here in Denver. If you would like more information about that workshop you can learn more HERE

Guitars at Long Island Photo Workshops

2011-12-31T15:29:00.009-07:00

Back in August of 2011, I was teaching at the Long Island Photo Workshops. This is one of the many photos I took as demonstrations during the week. This was a three light setup with an additional bounce.

Let's take a look at the setup below to see how this shot was created.

As I mentioned, I used a total of 3 Speedlights for this photograph. The main or key was placed on a boom and the modifier is a Lumiquest Softbox LTp. I had my assistant Benny hold a 42" reflector to bounce additional light under the brim of the musicians hat. The other two Speedlights were wrapped with cinefoil or black wrap. The rear light was fitted with a full CTO and directed on the garage door just above the shoulder. This light not only adds some color to the image, but also acts as a separation light. The other Speedlight was directed to the tattoo on the arm.

Here is another photo from that same session.

Two Speedlights used here for this shot. On the left (Key Light) a straight hard light with no gel on the flash. I get a blue cast from this light because my white balance is set to Tungsten or Incandescent. On the right, another Speedlight place on the ground with a double CTO on the flash. A very cool shot with such little gear. Here is the setup shot for you to review.

By the way, if you would like to see a complete list of light gear it use you can see my public wish list at B&H HERE.

New SSBR Web Site

2011-12-07T08:55:00.011-07:00

I'm excited to announce that I have redesigned my Small Strobes, Big Results web site. Actually, my wife Debbie is the one who did this for me.

You will also see that I am now selling my popular SSBR Umbrella Adapter Flash Mount on the site. For those of you that already own softboxes and are looking for a convenient way of mounting your flash, this will help.

Like a lot of you, I own several soft boxes and speed rings which fit my larger studio lights. I wanted to be able to use my existing boxes and speed rings with my small flashes without buying a new dedicated speedlight softbox. I use to use a Justin Clamp to mount my flash on my speed ring, this method added weight and was a bit clumsy.

The SSBR Umbrella Adapter Flash Mount is constructed of high grade extruded aluminum that has been anodized flat black and fitted with a high quality cold shoe. Mounting my speed ring on the top of my umbrella adapter allows me the ability to pitch my soft box for more controlled lighting. I find that this product works for about 99% of all flash and speedlight combinations. If you find your flash is too tall to fit into the center of the speed ring, you may need to pick up a taller stud to accommodate a proper alignment for your flash. Shown below are both the extended reversible stud height and the standard stud height. Like I said, I find the standard stud height that comes most umbrella adapters work 99% of the time.

I have also added 4 SSBR workshops on the calendar for 2012 here in Denver, If you would like to have a workshop in your area, feel free to contact me for more details.

Which Direction Should I Light?

2011-12-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

Ever ask yourself, "Which direction should I light from?" Paying attention to the existing light will give you your first clue. Lets take a look at the following photograph and I'll explain my process and choices for doing what I did. I have photographed in this same location several times, this time I remembered to shoot a set up to share with you.

When I look at the scene before me, I see a long bank of window which I can use as a out of focus as a design element as my backdrop. With the windows on the right side of the frame, it makes sense to me that I should light from the same direction. Doing so allows for a more natural looking light, basically duplicating the lighting pattern that exists.

Lighting choice are many here, I could place my subject in the hard light of an open window if that were the type of light I wanted. I could perhaps place a silk over the window and use the sun as my light source, the silk would act as a large softbox producing a soft quality light.

Space permitting, I could assemble a large softbox or just bounce my light. The day I was photographing, this company was having their board of directors meeting. There was a lot of traffic around the executive floor and the choice of a softbox would just impede movement through this narrow hallway. Bounce was the right choice, and as you can see, look quite natural.

In the photo below you can see the actual setup, I aimed the flash high on the wall about the same height I would have placed another modifier. Special notice should be taken when looking at this photograph. I have a flag or gobo on the far side of the flash, this prevents the light from the flash directly hitting the subject. I want all the light reaching my subject from the bounced subject. I bounced my light on a section of wall between two windows.

On this particular day, I had 3 additional lighting setups on the executive floor. You can see a small card taped to my flash reminding of the setting for this particular shot. I can walk over to the set, look at my note and set my camera to the proper setting.

The card actually serves two purposes, a note to keep me straight and it serves as a small flag preventing flare in my lens.

If you are interested in learning more about the world of corporate and annual report photography I have some great news. This summer, August 5-10th, 2012 I'll be teaching a workshop at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops titled "Corporate Photography & The Annual Report". If you think you might be interested, contact the workshops at Santa Fe to secure a spot.

Nikon Video Shoot (Part 1)

2011-11-13T17:15:00.001-07:00

I've got to be one of the luckiest persons on earth! Way back in June, I received a wonderful email from Nikon asking me if I would be interested in being involved with a project. I had was thrilled to have received that email, the project entailed me being video taped shooting 3 different scenarios for the Learn & Explore online training at Nikon USA website.

My first contact with Nikon came back about 14 years ago. I was in NY visiting clients and decided to make an appointment to show my work to Nikon. From that meeting 14 years ago, I've had minimal contact with Nikon. I was once featured on their website with a article about my work. Two years ago, I took part in a video interview with fellow photographer Steve Vaccariello while visiting Photo Plus in NY.

This project involved 3 separate photographic techniques; bounce, day for night and artificial sunlight.

The first photograph I'll discuss here will be the Saxophone player. This photo was taken on a street corner in NY in the middle of the afternoon in open shade. I was given several choices of doorways to select from, the production team of John Sepe was absolutely super. I selected these doors because of the color and the fact that they would be in open shade at 1:30 PM. I knew this because I use a software program (TPE) which tracks the sun movement.

In this first photo you can see the ambient exposure, this was what the camera metering thought was a correct exposure. As I tell my student when I teach, your camera is only a light meter, the exposure meter is between your ears. When I look at the indicated "correct" exposure the camera gives, I think to myself... this doesn't look like night.

I than drive down the exposure using both shutter speed and aperture to what I would consider an under exposed image looking more like night. I'm not moving my shutter speed above my native sync speed of 1/250 of a second, because I want full efficiency from my speedlights. If I move into high speed sync, I loose a tremendous amount of power from the speedlights.

Needless to say, I'm delighted to appear on Nikon's radar screen once again. This was a substantial project for me, one with high visibility for me and I hope it leads to more projects with them down the road.

It's a Matter of Security

2011-11-02T13:31:00.000-06:00

Back in the summer while teaching at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, I was contacted by the President of Securitas Energy Service to shoot some new photography for them. After several weeks of moving dates around the calendar we shot the project.

Securitas is a huge security company, one of the largest in the world. I was shooting for only one of several divisions they have, I was shooting for the energy division. Securitas provides security for highly sensitive facilities like Nuclear Power Plants.

My assignment took me to Pittsburgh, PA and Sacramento, CA to photograph to nuclear plants. The Pittsburgh facility was an active plant and the Sacramento facility was a commissioned plant where fuel rods are still stored. It was my first time shooting at such a facility, it was fascinating to see let alone photograph.

The photo at the top of the blog was taken at the Sacramento facility, I noticed the strong graphic shape of the structure suports of the old cooling towers. I placed an employee in the triangle shape and had him walk, stand and various other things that I thought might work.

The photo just above was taken at the Pittsburgh facility. I positioned an employee alone the fence line on patrol. I also made several shots with him looking through a pair of binoculars and talking on the radio.

The photo below was taken at the commissioned plant in Sacramento. I liked the diamond shaped opening in the second story floor. I had John, my assistant hold an SB-800 directed at the security guard. You can see a very slight shadow of the employee against the wall from the flash.

I have several other photos from this assignment I'll be sharing in the weeks to come, many of which show some behind the scenes lighting done on location. I hope you'll come back for those. DT

The Executive Portrait

2011-10-27T10:10:00.002-06:00

I've been a corporate annual report photographer for a long time now. When you shoot corporate assignments, you need to feel comfortable shooting a variety of subject matter, you need to be versatile.

The photograph above was shot for a new client of mine. They had seen some portraits I did for another client of mine which appeared in an annual report.

When it comes to the executive portrait, I'm looking for a location that denotes a sense of power and confidence. Some of the corporate offices I visit are really nice and finding a location to photograph is not difficult. There are also times where the locations are a bit harder to find, as was the case with the photo above.

The location for this photo was in a realistically small conference room, there was bank of windows on the right side of the room. The conference table was a simple glass table with chrome and leather chairs spaced around the table.

I positioned myself at eye level with the table and arranged the chairs height and position in such a way as to guide the views eye to the subject. The light coming in through the banks of window on the right looked great and I felt that no other lighting would be needed for this portrait.

I've been on the road for about 4 weeks, shooting assignments as well as teaching. Over the next several posts I share some of those assignments with you. I will tell you that on of those assignments was shooting for Nikon. I spent 2 days shooting in NY for Nikon's Learn & Explore web site. I was video taped shooting 3 different photos, I'm looking forward to showing those to you soon.

I leave for Hawaii next Thursday for Popular Photography's Mentor Series. With the recent snow here in Denver, I can tell you that I'm looking forward to some nice warm weather. DT

LED Camcorder Light

2011-10-08T09:23:00.000-06:00

For the past several years, I've been carrying around an LED light in my photo bag. I actually own several, the lest expensive I've found has come from Gadget Brando. These are wonderful little lights that have a good amount of power to them. One nice feature is that these lights have an adjustable knob on them which allows you to dim light without shifting the White Balance.

I used one of these lights in the photo above. My assistant John was in the back seat in this mining tug next to my subject. John simply held the light as we were driving through the dark mine. I thought it to be a very useful light source as it provide a means for me to focus as well as enough power to shoot with. DT

Looking Into The Sun

2011-09-26T08:34:00.006-06:00

Shooting into the sun can produce some very dramatic effects and present some difficult exposures for you. I use the sun as a design element, which plays an important part in the overall composition of the image.

An exposure from an image like the one shown above would most likely be something like, 1/250th @ f/22.0 at ISO 100. I really like getting that star effect off the sun, the only way to get this effect is to use a steep or deep aperture like f/22.0, f/16.0, or f/11.0. The steep or deeper the f-stop, the more the star effect.

The EXIF data on this image says that I shot this photo at 1/160th @ f/22.0. I used an SB-800 to lite my subject, and the flash way just outside of the frame of the image. If I am not mistaken, I think the flash was set to about 1/2 or 1/4 + 2/3. The flash had no modifier on it so it was a direct flash.

In the image above, my assistant John was on an adjacent tank on top with an SB-800. I used a Radio Popper to trigger the flash as I was not in line of sight of the flash. Often when shooting is strong sunlight, the CLS system falls short and a third party system is called for.

In the above photo, I had John stand next to me with a monopod extended in the air above the bent pipe with an SB-800 on it. From this position, I was able to use the Nikon CLS system to trigger my strobes.

I'm leaving for Europe today, I'll be giving 4 workshops in Austria and I also have a speaking engagement in Vienna for Nikon. I'm looking forward to this trip and I will try to post while on the road. Good shooting. DT

A Busy Few Weeks Ahead

2011-09-19T11:41:00.006-06:00

I've been on the road quite a bit these past few weeks, and I have more travel ahead of me. I've been in East shooting stills and video for a new Oil & Gas client. This past week I was shooting in Pennsylvania, West Virgina, and Kentucky.

I was photographing various gas processing plants for my client, I visited 5 different plants on this trip. Shooting video is new to me, I was shooting mostly B-roll material with out sound. I actually had fun doing it, however I have no plans on developing it any further then the basics.

Here are a few images from this recent trip.

I'll be leaving for Austria next Monday, I have 4 workshops and a speaking engagement in Vienna for Nikon. I am very excited to be speaking to a large group of photography enthusiasts, let alone in Vienna. As I mentioned, I'll be holding 4 Small Strobes, Big Results workshops in Austria. You can find out more information about these workshop HERE.

Bay Area Nikon CLS Lighting Workshop Oct. 22&23

2011-08-31T12:23:00.006-06:00

For those of you Nikon shooter, I'll be teaching a two day CLS lighting workshop in the Oakland bay area. I only teach a few of these workshops annually, and this one will be held on October 22 & 23rd, 2011.

I taught this workshop at the same location last year, we'll be shooting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Union City/Oakland, CA. This is a great location to hold a workshop, we had a wonderful group of students and a super model for the two day workshop. Here are some of those images from our workshop last year.

We have a few spaces available at this workshop. For more information regarding this workshop and booking a spot for yourself, visit the Nikonian web site.

Cleaning Out The Cabinet

2011-08-30T07:59:00.004-06:00

I'm cleaning out my lens cabinet and selling the lens that I no longer use. I have several well used lenses to select from, two of which are prime manual focus lens. I also have two AF lenses worth considering.

Here is a list of the lenses I'm selling, if your interested in any of these, send me a message. I'll be happy to forward a price and photo of said lenses.

Nikon 180mm f/2.8 ED manual focus lens

Nikon 85mm f/2.0 manual focus lens

Nikon 35-70mm f/2.8 AF lens

Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 G ED AF-S lens

SpyderCube-Not just your normal gray card

2011-08-28T11:50:00.009-06:00

In my earlier post regarding DataColor Calibration, I discussed their product The Spyder LenCal™ Today I'd like to show you their SpyderCube™. The SpyderCube™ accelerates RAW processing in providing references to set the white balance, exposure, black level and brightness right from the start.

As the name suggests, it is indeed a cube. At the base of the cube there is a 1/4-20 thread or tripod mount and on the top, is a chrome ball with an elastic string for hanging it. With these to mounting options you should have no trouble placing it within your photo for a reference shot. I usually just have my subject hold it when shooting a portrait or I place it on an available level surface. The cube is made of a resin that is very durable, it's fade resist and the colors are not painted on but rather the actual color of the plastic itself all the way through. On each of the sides of the cube, you have all the relevant light information for the RAW adjustments. White Faces to define the highlights, Chrome Ball to measure catch light to analyse overexposed areas, Spectrally neutral 18% Grey Faces to measure color temperature and mid-tones in all lighting conditions. Black Face to define the shadows and the Black Trap to define absolute black. This is a wonderful reference tool to achieve accurate colors without trail and error in RAW processing.

I use Lightroom for all my RAW processing. I open my image in Lightroom and activate my warning buttons for under and over exposure, shown here in the red circles.

I first set my white balance by clicking my white balance eye dropper on the gray section of the cube, I choose the brighter one as represents my primary light source. I next adjust my exposure slider so that none of the high values are clipped on the cube. I then use the brightness to recover any changes to the mid-tones during the exposure adjustment. Finally, I use the black slider to show the black trap as a solid black. I have a screen capture showing this below.

Video on how to use the SpyderCube™ can be found HERE

When shooting portraits using a bounce technique, this SpyderCube™ is worth it's weight in gold. I the photo below, you see the bounce off the wall as well as perhaps some of the green carpeting off the floor. Using a tool like the SpyderCube™ will help you with obtain actuate color.

There are similar products on the market which I have used and own. Many of those products are linear in nature, the SpyderCube is a 3D object that reflects the main light at an angle and I really like the Black Trap at the base for absolute black measurement.

I believe it costs about $49 dollars, it's small, lightweight and easy to use.

Light it!

2011-08-24T09:14:00.005-06:00

Light It: Is the How-To Magazine for Studio Lighting and Off-Camera Flash is the first digital photography lighting magazine from Scott Kelby and KelbyTraining.com made exclusively for the Apple iPad. It features the industry’s top experts on photography lighting, studio lighting, small camera flash, portrait lighting, location lighting and more.

Scott Kelby has done it again, "Light it" is a beautiful magazine and I'm delighted to have been featured in this premiere issue. Thanks Scott for the opportunity and I hope I can take part in future issues.

You can download this App from iTunes. The Light It app is free of charge and so is the premiere issue, which boasts more than 50 pages of articles - featuring stunning "pinch and zoom" photographs, videos, and web links for a whole new reader experience. Light It is published 8 times a year and future issues will be available via the Light It app for $2.99 each. No subscription is required. Users can choose the issues they wish to download and back issues can be obtained instantaneously.

Datacolor Calibration

2011-08-14T11:54:00.005-06:00

I recently got my hands on several Datacolor products and I wanted to share my thoughts about them with you. Datacolor is the global leader in complete calibration systems for printers, monitors and lenses. One of the most exciting calibration tools to hit the market in recent years is the Spyder LensCal™.

Until I actually measured the focus performance of my camera and lens combinations, I excepted my images as being sharp. The Spyder LenCal™ provides a fast and reliable method of measuring the focus performance of your specific camera and lens combinations. It allows you to obtain razor-sharp focusing or just check to see that your lenses are working at their peak performance.

You'll need to be shooting with a camera that supports and stores autofocus adjustments. Here are a few common cameras with such support.

Canon (50D, 7D, 5DMkII, 1DMkIII, 1DMkIV, 1DsMkIII, 1DIV
Nikon (D7000, D300, D300s, D700, D3, D3s, D3x)
Sony (A850, A900)
Olympus (E-30, E-620)
Pentax (K20D, K7D)

This clever devise folds flat for easy storage and has a 1/4 20 thread for stand or tripod mounting. I have calibrated each of my lenses & cameras combinations and I now have confidence that I have the sharpest images possible. For the small cost of $59.00, you can't go wrong. A few of my lenses required no adjustment at all. Here is a link to a video on how it works.

Once you know you have sharp images, the next logical step is to insure proper color calibration of your camera sensor, your monitor and then printer. Datacolor has you covered on this front as well. I have the Spyder Checkr™ to calibrate my camera and the Spyder3Studio SR kit for calibrating my monitor and printer. More about these tools in my next post. DT

I'll Try To Catch Up

2011-08-10T10:03:00.007-06:00

This summer is passing by fast, I've been extremely busy shooting assignments as well as teaching at various workshops. The corporate assignments are coming in faster then ever.

One of those assignments put me underground in a gold mine in Nevada. I was shooting for a South African based mining concern. There operation is entirely underground, not the most pleasant places to create photos. One of the photos my client wanted me to shoot was an image of miners walking out of the mine shaft and walking through the mine.

This first set up shot was a test to see how much light could be produced from one SB-800 behind the miners before they came to the surface. I could not decide if I wanted to light the wall behind the miners or shoot the strobe straight at their backs.

In the first example you see my assistant John holding the flash pointed straight at the camera.

In the next picture, I had John point the flash at the back wall.

Between the two, I preferred having the flash pointing at the miners back. The final image is shown here.

I also photographed miners walking through the mine. The best way to shoot this sort of thing is to back light them. I used a mine vehicle with it's headlights on for this purpose. I'm showing both variations, I can't make up my mind if I like it cool or warm, your thoughts?

I'll show you more from this assignment in the days ahead. I did want you to know that there are still spaces available at my Maine Media Workshop in Rockport. I'll be teaching a location lighting class Sept. 11-16th. For more information regarding that workshop check out the Maine Media Workshops Web Site.

A few more things to tell you about. I'm headed to Austria to visit a good friend as well as teach a series of SSBR workshops. If your interested in attending one of my Austrian workshops, please contact my friend Eric HERE

I want to hear from you

2011-07-30T15:09:00.003-06:00

For those of you who did not receive refunds from PhotoPress Production, I want to hear from you. As I mentioned in my last blog post, I cancelled my tour before I ever received a contract for the workshops from PhotoPress Productions. I feel absolutely terrible about this situation, even though I had no responsibility regarding bookings and refunds... I want to make this right.

If you were directly affected and did not received your refund from PhotoPress Production, I want you to be my guest to attend a free Small Strobes, Big Results workshop. I'll be teaching a series of SSBR workshops this Autumn in Austria. I know I'll be there because I have already purchased my tickets and I have a private workshop booked. I'll be conducting these workshops with my friend Eric Krügl. We are in the process of setting actual dates for the other workshops will be holding. Eric has been a friend of mine for about 3 years now, I met Eric at the Santa Fe Workshops where I teach a week long workshop. Eric is a brilliant photographer and an excellent organizer and we together are making plans for a 2012 workshop tour. If you would like a workshop in your home country you should get in contact with Eric. Let him know where you are located and if there is enough interest, we will put a workshop together. Eric can be reached at office@kruegl.at

If you did not receive your refund from PhotoPress Productions, I want to hear from you. I will be happy to include you on the list of attendees to admit for free. I'll let you know the actual dates and locations if you chose to attend.

I thought an offer of a free workshop was the least I could do to help those caught up in this mess. Unlike PhotoPress Production, I keep my promises and that you can count on. DT

PhotoPress Productions - Where's The Money?

2011-07-27T12:00:00.001-06:00

It was brought to my intention sometime ago that refunds from my cancelled workshops in Europe have not been refunded as promised. I've been trying to get this issue resolved from here in the States. A friend of mine who was effected by this situation has now released his blog regarding this. Rui Leal of Lighting Mods has written about this and it is worth reading, please take a few minutes to read it. I would caution you from having any dealing with PhotoPress Productions or it's founder Daniel Lugosi.

Earlier this year I was asked by PhotoPress Productions to do a series of workshops in Europe, I agreed to do the workshops. The workshops were cancelled before I ever received a contract for my services. Workshops were planned for Lisbon, Porto, Milan, and various other cities. PhotoPress Productions handled all the bookings, scheduling, and other details for this tour.

The workshops were cancelled for personal and economic reasons many months ago. PhotoPress's policy states that all refunds would be paid within 30 days from cancellation.

I've been contacted by several students who paid for the workshops and have not received their refunds. I have been in contact with Daniel Lugosi, the owner and operator of PhotoPress Productions regarding this issue. After repeated promises from Daniel that money would be refunded, I here otherwise. I have received emails from 2 or 3 students regarding is issue, each time forwarding those emails to PhotoPress asking about the refunds. I was told several times by Daniel that refunds are being processed and only a few students still have not received them. Daniel told me that refunds have been delayed due to banking problem, frozen fund and some sort of other issue. I'm beginning believe this is a bunch of B.S.

Since I wasn't involved with bookings, I have no idea how many students are effected. If you have not received your refund, I'd like to from you. Please leave a comment and let me know who you are and where you planned on attending. I'd like to know how many are involved.

Because of the circumstances described above, I will never do business with PhotoPress Productions again. (up date) PhotoPress Production website is now down. I would personally stay away from any workshop or other business ventures that Daniel Lugosi is associated with. David Hobby and I have exchanged emails regarding the situation, David H. mentioned on the flickr Strobist group that he has emailed Daniel trying to put a bit of pressure on him to make the refunds. I appreciate David's effort in contacting PPP, since their website no longer online, I'm afraid the prospects of refunds are slim to none. This just makes me sick.

One participant you may know is my friend Rui Leal, he runs the popluar blog Lighting Mods He has been waiting for his refund for quite sometime now. He has made a blog post about this issue and I would recommend taking the time to read it.

For those of you that are mixed up in this mess, I'm very very sorry. I NEED TO HERE FROM YOU IF YOU ARE STILL WAITING FOR A REFUND. Daniel some what answers my emails, so there is a line of communications. I hope this means that he plans to come clean with those refunds. I encourage Daniel Lugosi to comment on this blog, let us know where the money is!

Maine Media Workshops

2011-07-20T15:38:00.004-06:00

There are a few more spaces available for my up coming workshop at the Maine Media Workshops in Rockport, Maine. If your interested in learning how to get studio quality light from your speedlights, this workshop is for you. The workshop starts on September 11th and ends on the 17th. This will be my 3rd season teaching at this wonderful location, I hope you can join me. For more information and registration click HERE.

Returning to Austria

2011-06-16T11:34:00.000-06:00

It was brought to my attention by my good friend Eric that I never blogged about my workshops in Austria this past July. I guess I've been so busy I forgot to do so and now that I have some breathing space, I thought I would do so now.

HOLD THE PRESSES: I just purchased my tickets to Austria! I'm going to be doing more workshops in Austria and perhaps a special presentation for Nikon in Vienna. I'll be conducting a private workshop for my friend Heinz Grunwald, owner of Photo Grunwald which happens to be the finest camera store in Upper Austria. I'll be in Austria for two weeks and we are in the midst of putting together additional workshop during my visit. More about that later.

This past July, I was in Europe teaching several workshop. I had 3 workshops in Austria and one in London, England. In Austria, I held workshops in Steyr, Linz and Vienna. My good friend Eric arranged the workshops in Steyr and Linz. I met Eric at the first SSBR workshops I taught at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops. Eric and I have been close friends ever since meeting in Santa Fe.

In Steyr, we held the workshop at Photo Grunwald, a camera store owned and operated by Heinz Grunwald and his son Martin. Photo Grunwald is one of the best equipped stores in upper Austria. Steyr is a beautiful town, but it's the Photo Grunwald store that bring in all the visitors. I want to thank both Heinz and Martin for making me feel so welcomed during my visit.

Let's have a look at a few images from these workshops. These first two images show a difference in lighting direction, the first is from camera left and the second from over head on a boom. Which looks best to you?

One point I would like to make regarding using a light overhead on a boom. Be mindful not to let the shadow of the noise intersect with the subjects upper lip. It's just an aesthetic thing. The next photo was a lot of fun to shoot. There was this green wall that I just had to shoot. One of my students Hannes Lubinger was wearing a red tee shirt, this was his time to shine. Hannes is ice sculptor and a confectioner, truly some of the best chocolates I've ever eaten.

The lighting on this was fun. I used 4 SB-800's in total. The heat registers on either side of the sofa where lit using barndoors with warming gels on them. I had a boom overhead with a grid to light Hannes and one additional flash bounced into the ground just under the camera for fill.

In the photo above, I placed a single SB-800 outside on a 14 foot stand in order to reach the window. The flash was gelled with a full CTO to simulate late afternoon light. By dragging the shutter or slowing down the shutter, you can soften the shadows. Your basically adding fill by doing so.

Here are a few other images from last years workshops.

More about my up coming visit to Austria: I'll be there for two weeks starting Sept. 27th. We are looking to put together a couple of additional workshop while I'm there. If you are interested in attending a Small Strobes, Big Results workshop during that time period, please let me know.

I am so excited to be visiting my friend Eric and teaching a few workshops while there.

Surf Time Exposure

2011-05-31T14:02:00.000-06:00

Recently, I lead a Mentor Series Trek to Monterey, California for Popular Photography Magazine. Despite several days of rain, we managed to get some fun images. Before the trek, I bought a -10 stop B&W Neutral Density Filter so I could shoot some long exposures of the ocean in the daylight.

In the first image, my exposure was ISO 200 f/14 @125th of a second.

With the neutral density filter in place, my exposure went from 1/125th of a second to 15 seconds. With a super long exposure, objects that move such as water take on a surreal look.

I actually prefer converting long exposures into black and white for a more dramatic effect. Here is another long exposure at Garrapata Beach. The exposure was 20 seconds on this particular image.

Long Island Photo Workshop

2011-05-26T09:34:00.000-06:00

I'm delighted to be involved with this years Long Island Photo Workshops! I'll be teaching a course about location lighting "Lite and Compact". The workshop take place in Smithtown, Long Island, NY. This will be the workshops 33rd successful years in providing the finest leaning experience for professional photographers. If your in the area and would like to spend 4 days with me learning the in's and out's of lighting on location with speedlights, this workshop is for you! I expect the workshop to fill fast, so don't wait to sign up for this workshop. For more information and registration visit the Long Island Photo Workshops. I might also mention, if you are a PPA member, you will receive 2 merits for your attendance.

Nikonians Academy "Lighting on Location"

2011-05-25T15:41:00.002-06:00

Just for you Nikon shooters! I'll be teaching some new workshops for the Nikonians Organization. This coming Fall I'll be teaching in Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco
The actual dates are here:

Boston, MA on October 9 & 10, 2011
Los Angeles, CA on Oct 8 & 9, 2011
San Francisco, CA on October 22 & 23, 2011.

I'll be teaching a two day, hands on workshop called "Professional Lighting on Location with Nikon CLS. This workshop is similar to my Small Strobes, Big Results workshop except that we use the Nikon CLS system, hence the name Nikonians.

If your a Nikon shooter and you've never heard of the Nikonian Org., I recommend checking them out. They have a great web site with lots of information. I hope you'll check out the workshops, I'd love to help you with your lighting education.
DT

SaberStrip Wow!

2011-05-23T08:42:00.000-06:00

While in Dubai this past March, my friend Zack Arias told me about the SaberStrip light modifier. I had an opportunity at my recent SSBR workshop to try one of them out. This is a very clever modifier, with a tremendous amount of versatility. The SaberStrip is extremely lightweight, easily mounted and can be hidden easily due to it's small foot print.

The set up shot below shows the placement of the SaberStrip. I have a FourSquare™ on a boom and the SaberStrip on a stand below. In this sort of glamor lighting situation, a reflector is often used to return the overhead light to fill the shadows and provide a catch light in the subjects eye.

I've found that using a light, (SaberStrip) rather than a reflector provides a simple and effective lighting solution.

By using an actual light, (the SaberStrip will hold most popular speedlight) you can adjust the intensity of the light to your taste. Just as a production note, you'll notice out of focus lights in the background of the final image below. I hung white Christmas lights behind the subject just for effect.

I Love My iPhone

2011-05-19T00:18:00.000-06:00

What I really love about this phone is the camera and all the photo Apps that are available today. While teaching in Dubai this past March, Zack Arias introduce me to "Instagram".

Instagram is sort of a photo twitter where you can share your photos... photos that you take with your cell phone. The App has various filters you can use to enhance your photo before posting to Instagram or other sites. You can up load your images at the same time to sites like Facebook and Twitter. I really think you need to check this out, I follow several shooter and I encourage you to follow my work as well. Follow davidtejada.

There are other Apps I'm have fun with as well Hipstamatic, Cameramatic, Camera+, and Pinhole. Here are a few images using some of those Apps mentioned here.

I must say, my iPhone is quickly replacing my snap and shoot camera. DT

Joe

2011-05-09T10:15:00.002-06:00

I was out visiting my wife's horse over the weekend. Joe is his name, he has got to be the nicest horse I've ever had the pleasure to know. I tell my friends that I think my old dog Sophie is in Joe. I don't know if you have ever had that sort of experience with a pet before? I don't know, I just feel it.

I try to take my camera with me where ever I go, you just might get lucky some day. I've really started to get into shooting with my iPhone. I'll make a post about that later. I did want to share photo of Joe from this weekends visit. I decided to switch my display to Mono or B/W as I intended to convert the Raw images to B/W.

Now Offering Fine Art Prints

2011-04-29T20:47:00.003-06:00

I am now offering Fine Art Prints for purchase on my web site. I was encouraged to offer prints from many reader of my blog and I am delighted to do so. I use Mpix for my fulfillment, photos are printed on E-Surface Premium Matte Finish paper with over 100 years of archival life.

I have several galleries of images to select from, new images added monthly. I hope you take the time to look at my images for sale and perhaps include some of my work in your art collection.

The Shores Camera Club

2011-04-28T12:38:00.000-06:00

I'll be speaking at the Shores Camera Club on June 9, 2011. I'm delighted to be speaking to such a dedicated group of photo enthusiasts . The Shores Camera Club holds it's meeting at the Daytona Beach Shores Community Center, located at 3048 South Atlantic Ave. (A1A), Daytona Beach Shores, Florida.

The program starts at 7:30 PM is open to the public. If your in the Daytona area I hope I have the opportunity to meet you there. DT

LumiQuest & Small Strobes, Big Results

2011-04-27T08:38:00.003-06:00

I want to thank LumiQuest for their continued support of my Small Strobes, Big Results workshops. They have provide products for my use as well for students attending my workshops and I am very grateful for that support. Not only are their product well made, properly used, they can produce some outstanding light.

One of my favorite new products is the SoftBox LTp. I made this portrait of my son Chris on the front porch several months ago.

The SoftBox LTp is design to fit any computer laptop pocket in your camera case. I know I can produce quality light like that shown above in an instant.

Thanks again to LumiQuest for there support. DT

London Bedroom Shot

2011-04-26T13:36:00.000-06:00

My London workshop last year was held at the Park Plaza Hotel, just over the Westminster Bridge across from Big Ben. We rented a penthouse suite on the 15th floor to photography in, it was furnished in a clean contemporary style.

When I create photos, I try very hard to tell some sort of story. Doing so, helps define your choice of lighting and the overall mood of the image. The image above was shot in the master bedroom of the suite. I wanted to create a photo of this young lady getting ready for an evening out on the town. Directly in front of the model seated on the bed is a frosted glass door which leads into the bathroom. When I see frosted glass, I think super soft light. I placed an SB-800 behind the door for the key light. This light was gelled with a full CTO, which means that my white balance on my camera was set to...... you guessed it. Tungsten.

I decided to shoot with this white balance because I had a small amount of daylight coming in through a window camera right of the model. I wanted to invoke a evening feeling to the scene. I also placed an SB-800 on a Justin Clamp on the headboard of the bed, this strobe was fitted with a barndoor. That light was not gelled so it was daylight balanced and therefore, cool in color temp. because of my white balance on my camera. Here is a diagram to help show you how it was set up.

My camera position was outside of the bedroom down the hallway. Using a longer lens, I was able to include the bedroom door which added an interesting reflection on the left side of the image.

I have a few more spaces available at my May 14th Small Strobes, Big Results workshop here in Denver. You can click HERE for more information. DT

Nikon Learn & Explore

2011-04-21T08:42:00.002-06:00

This morning, Nikon has posted an interview that I participated in which is about The Teachable Moment. Jennifer Spelman, and Arthur Meyerson were also interviewed for the article.

Jennifer speaks to the Creative Choices we make as photographers, I discuss the Potential of the image and Arthur address Solutions to the image process. Have yourself a look, you may enjoy reading the article. As you may know, I teach my Small Strobes, Big Results workshop a couple of workshops a year at The Santa Fe Photographic Workshops. I'll be teaching my workshop this coming June 19th - 25th. There are a few spaces remaining, if your interested in learning how to achieve studio quality light on location using speedlights, this workshop is for you. For more information about the workshop and registration click HERE.

Putting The CEO In His Place

2011-04-18T10:54:00.007-06:00

I've been busy shooting a lot of corporate portraits recently. A few weeks back I was shooting for a high tech company in Boulder, Colorado. I shot several head shots in a small conference room, similar to the video I have posted at YouTube.

Aside from the head shots, I was ask to create a special portrait of the CEO. The company I was shooting for is in the business of developing innovative microRNA to treat cardiovascular and muscle diseases. I felt a portrait of the CEO in one of their high tech labs was fitting for the boss.

I scouted several labs on their premises and selected one which gave me a good depth to work with. I wanted the background to go soft, so I needed a bit more length in the room to do so. The lighting was quite simple, I had windows in the back of the room which I was able to turn cool by using a white balance of tungsten on my camera. Doing so, meant that I had to turn my key light into a tungsten flash.

My main light was a 30" X 30" FourSquare with a single SB-800 gelled with a full cut CTO. Here is a set up shot for your reference.
You will also notice that I placed a reflector on a stand to bounce some additional light on the shadow side of my subjects face.

Doing The Dubai Bounce

2011-03-29T12:21:00.005-06:00

One of my favorite light modifiers is a simple bounce. If you have ever attended a SSBR workshop you know this about me. I look for surfaces that available near a setting that will serve my purpose. During my 2 day Corporate/Industrial workshop, I used a nearby wall to light my subject. Here is the final image showing the results of my bounce.

The ambient light in the office was tungsten, I set my camera white balance to that and also gelled my strobe to balance with that setting. By placing a full cut CTO on my flash, I am able to produce a natural skin tone on my subject.

I placed my flash just to the left of my subject or camera right. I had a flag on the flash, preventing any raw light from striking my subject. When I bounce, I want to make certain that my subject receives only light produced from the bounce and not from the hard raw light from the flash. Here is the bounce as a reference.

At each of my workshops, I make it a point to demonstrate as many setups and modifier uses as possible. If your interested in learning how to produce studio quality light from your speedlights, join me at a Small Strobes, Big Results workshop. My next workshop will be held May 14th in Denver, for more information click HERE.

Gulf Photo Plus Workshops

2011-03-28T15:22:00.003-06:00

It has been one hell of a month! I've spend the better part of the March on the road. I was teaching at the GPP in Dubai from the 5th of March - 15th and then at the Santa Fe Workshops 20th - 26th. I'm pooped.

The image at the top of this post was one taken during my two day Corporate & Industrial workshop. On the first day, we had access to a nice small internet company in Dubai. We arrived on location at about 4 PM and shot until 8 or 8:30 PM. This was one of the first shots we did when we arrived.

The lighting could not have been more simple. The ambient light was tungsten so the color temp. on the camera was set to that. I needed only a small kiss of light on the subjects faces, I simply placed an SB-800 with a full CTO on the keyboard of the laptop. I placed a white piece of paper to the screen of the computer and I also used the plastic Dome on the flash, the one which comes with the flash.

My workshop had both Nikon and Canon shooters, so I used a Pocket Wizard to fire the flash. I love the corporate shooting done during this workshop, I'll be showing more images in the next several posts.

I might mention that I have an up coming Small Strobes, Big Results workshop here in Denver on the 14th of May. I limit my workshops to only 12 participants allowing more one on one and hands on experience.

Driving Through Wink, TX and Blinking

2011-02-07T22:11:00.002-07:00

I'm on assignment in western Texas today, I had an opportunity to drive through Wink, TX. Ever been there? I not really certain I have or was, I might of actually blinked. Wink is a really small town, but one of many I had to pass through to get to locations that needed shooting.

I've been sick for the past few days, I was in Canada for 4 days and home sick two before heading down here to Texas. I'm shooting oil rigs and pipelines. Here is an example of a rig shot done late this evening. I'm tried and going to sleep. :)

On the Road Again

2011-02-01T20:29:00.002-07:00

I've had a busy day of travel and I'm tired. I'm in Prince George, BC. Canada on assignment. I'm shooting an annual report for a mining company based in Denver. It seem strange to me that it is warmer here than in Denver, when I left this morning it was -9 degrees F.

Tomorrow morning, I'll be driving for about 2 1/2 hours to reach my first location. I'll be shooting aerials from a helicopter and some ground images as well. I'll try to post some images tomorrow if I can. Until than, good night. DT

Nikon Learn And Explore Interview

2011-01-23T16:03:00.003-07:00

Last year while attending Photo Plus East in New York, I participated in an interview for Nikon's Learn and Explore Educational Division. I was teamed up with another photographer by the name of Steve Vaccariello. Steve is a fantastic fashion shooter and I was thrilled to share an interview with him. You can watch the interview HERE.

Santa Fe Workshops - March Small Strobes, Big Results

2011-01-20T13:48:00.005-07:00

I just wanted to make a quick note regarding my up coming Santa Fe Workshop this March 20 - 26th. I'll be teaching my popular Small Strobes, Big Results workshop, there are a few more spaces available, so if your interested in learn how to effectively use your small speedlights, this workshop is for you.

Following a Layout

2011-01-14T15:11:00.001-07:00

Quite often, photographers are asked to duplicate an established lighting pattern set forth by previous work. Such was the case with my recent assignment for Market Sense.

I was contacted by a photo agency in New York to shoot this assignment. I was provide the following pdf showing me an earlier Ad shot by another photographer. Apparently, several of these Ad's are being shot around the county, I just filling the need here in the Denver area.

When I spoke with the client about the assignment, I asked if they wanted the same lighting pattern as the comp. I was told they wanted it lit in the same manner, perhaps another variation where the subject is lit from the other side. With that in mind, I ran a few tests over the weekend.

My thought was to place two Octa's on either side of the subject, one serving as a key and the other as fill if needed. I have two large Octa's, one is 5 foot and the other is a 7 foot Octa. I'll be placing the larger octa (the 7 foot one) furthest away from the subject. Because I need to allow for space for copy on the right side, I will need a larger light source coming from the right side to maintain the quality of light. Remember, the small the light source the harder the quality of light. In the diagram below you can see the planned set up, I say planned because I haven't yet shot this assignment. This is the sort of planning I go through before arriving on location, you need a plan of attack.

You can see in the diagram above that I plan on bring panels with me to use as gobo's, I want to be able to control the density of the gray background.

To be honest, I thought about bring my dynalite power pack and heads for this assignment. After my first test at home, I realized that I just had to much power. It may sound strange, but I use my 7 foot Octa with only one SB-800. You may think to yourself that a single SB-800 would not cover a 7 foot Octa. Just photograph the surface of your modifier to find out, you will find that the complete surface of the box is evenly illuminated.

OK, back from my shoot. The location they had us scheduled for was way to small for our set-up, so I got permission to set-up in a small lobby area near the service department. Here is the location and a few set-up shots.

As it turned out, I only used a gobo on the smaller Octa to prevent flare on the lens. I also added two smaller softboxes at the rear of the set. I used them as kickers or rim lights. I first shot using the larger Octa on the right first along with the smaller box on the left. I then turned those lights off and activated the others for the variation my client wanted. We had our subject for a total of 10 minutes. Here is a sample of the photos took, I have placed my subject in the comp that I was provided.

One Large Octa

2011-01-10T08:25:00.000-07:00

For the past 8 years at this time of year, I shoot about 50 headshots and 2 executive portraits for a client of mine. This year like every year, I receive a layout to follow for the executive photos. This year, the photos were to be used as double page spreads with a huge text box on one of the pages. For this particular photo, the text box was on the right page.

When we scouted locations a week prior to the shoot, we of course had no idea what sort of weather we were going to have. The truck was much to large to place inside the garage in case the weather went south. I also did not have any control over the timing of the photo, availability of our subject was based on meeting taking place during the annual meeting being held.

I chose to bring my Lumedyne pack just in case I had to over power the sun. This would assure fast recycle times and allow me the DOF needed. Here is the set up shot, photos provided by my assistant for the day Brian Hatch. As a note of interest, I met Brian on Facebook while he was working as a medic in Afghanistan.

I can't stress this enough, you need to test your lighting prior to the subject arriving on set. I used one of my friend Jonathan who works in the communications department with my client. This is Jonathan standing in before the boss shows up.

As it turned out, it began snowing just as I took the last photo of the session. I could have easily made this photo using my SB-800's.

I have an up coming Small Strobes, Big Results workshop here in Denver on Feb 12th. If your interested in attending or to find out more information click HERE.

Mild December In Denver

2010-12-27T15:41:00.002-07:00

The weather here is Denver has been fantastic! I feel sorry for the folks on the east coast with the recent bad weather. I just can't remember a December as mild as this has been. My wife and I have been taking walks along the Platte River close to our home. Here a are a few images from today's walk.

Merry Christmas To All

2010-12-24T05:44:00.006-07:00

I wanted to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas (Happy Holidays) and a Happy New Year. This VR pano is of our local recreation center, decorated for the holiday season. I've started shooting VR pano recently, and I truly love making them. Just click on the image below. I'll tell you more about them later. Enjoy!

Lunar Eclipse

2010-12-21T15:01:00.002-07:00

My son woke me early this morning to look at the Lunar Eclipse. I shot this using my D700 and 24-70mm lens. ISO 1000 @ f/6.3 for 2.5 seconds. Really cool looking!

Turn on the Light

2010-12-15T15:48:00.000-07:00

During my week of teaching at the Maine Media Workshops, I did a quick demonstration outside of the studio in downtown Rockport. On the shadow side of the building, I positioned a workshop participant outside of one of the doorway. I wanted to create a feeling of a late evening with someone standing under a street light or some other sort of light source.

The photo below shows you what the scene looked like according to my cameras metering system. You can see the painters pole and strobe set-up leaning against the wall. I use a Shur-Line expandable paint pole with a Kacey Pole Adapter.
After looking at my LCD screen and determining that the photo above did not look like night time, I then under-exposed the scene by about 2 stops perhaps 2 1/2 stops. I had a fellow student hold the light over head and I adjusted the power for the aperture I was shooting at. Here is another view with the light moved with a different composition. You can actually see the paint pole in the shot.

Let Your Bounce Be Your Softbox

2010-12-06T00:54:00.000-07:00

While teaching up in Maine this past September, I demonstrated a proper bounce technique for a few of the students. We came downstairs from the studio to the new Maine Media Gallery on the main floor of the Shepherd Building in Rockport.

I think of a bounce as a flat screen softbox, place your bounce where you might have placed a softbox had it been on a stand. When you bounce, it is imperative that you prevent any RAW light from your flash from reaching your subject. The only light that should be lighting your subject should come from the bounce surface itself.

In the photo above, on the right side you can see the strobe. I have placed a flag or gobo on the side of the flash closest to the subject. The strobe is lighting the adjacent wall on the left of the frame. The wall which is lit, now becomes my flat screen softbox.

Here is how the subject looked before using the bounce. In the final image shown at the top of this post, the fill on the subjects face was provide by the light bouncing off another white wall on the subjects left side.

California Coast Mentor Series Trek

2010-12-01T12:50:00.006-07:00

I'm headed to one of my favorite places on earth, the Monterey Peninsula. I'll be leading a Mentor Series Trek to this beautiful location on February 17-20, 2011. We have a busy itinerary, we'll be shooting at such locations as: Hurricane Point, Point Lobos State Park, Big Sur, Garrapata State Park, Carmel Mission, Pebble Beach and other wonderful locations. Here are just a few images from my last visit to this wonder place.

We still have space for a few more folks, I hope you'll join me on this wonderful Trek. For more information and booking a place on the trek click HERE

Hope You Had A Wonderful Thanksgiving

2010-11-29T09:34:00.004-07:00

Every year, my son Chris starts decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. There is one thing I always look forward to pulling out is this photo of Chris. When we first moved into our home some 10 years ago, we photographed Chris dressed as Santa for our Christmas Card.

Anyway, hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and yourself a super Christmas, Hanukkah or what ever this Holiday Season. DT

LumiQuest SoftBox LTp

2010-11-20T17:30:00.006-07:00

Lumiquest has recently added a new "larger" portable softbox to their lineup. The SoftBox LTp is roughly twice the size of their SoftBox III. The surface area is over 40 times that of the flash itself, producing the softest shadows of any of LumiQuest SoftBoxes.

The LTp was designed to fit into a laptop pocket of your camera bag or backpack which makes it that much more convenient to carry a larger SoftBox.

I photographed my son on the front porch of our home using the new LTp SoftBox. In a matter of moments I was able fasten the SoftBox on a boom and start shooting. You can see the SoftBox in the top of the frame in the following image.

This new SoftBox has over 120 sq. inches of surface area, a vast improvement over the smaller SoftBox III. I'll be carrying one of these in may bag for those quick and easy portraits we sometime have to make. Here are a couple of more images, the second one is when I moved the flash to camera left and moved into high speed sync in order to get that beautiful shallow depth of field.

Atlanta Nikonians Workshop

2010-11-15T08:04:00.008-07:00

Very sorry for not blogging recently, I've been working very hard these past 3 weeks. I've been shooting several corporate assignments as well as teaching for Nikonian's, Santa Fe Workshops and the Popular Photography Mentor Series.

Today's post is about a recent Nikonian's lighting workshop in Atlanta, GA. The workshop was held at the Embassy Suites Hotel in the trendy area of Atlanta known as Buckhead. Our model for the workshop was a charming young lady by the name of Tatianna. She's a makeup artist as well as an aspiring model working in Atlanta.

One of the many lighting techniques I enjoy sharing with students is the simulation of sunlight. When I'm scouting a new location, I am making notice of any available window that I might be able to push light through. My hotel room was on the 14th or 15th floor, not the sort of room that you might normally think about being able to get your light up to. In this case, I had a corner suite and a view of the elevators across a portion of the atrium.

In the above photo you can see the room where Tatiana was seated in the top photo. I used a ball bungee to hold two SB-800 strobes together. I placed a full CTO gel on each of the strobes to provide additional warms to the image.

My base exposure was based on the lamp in the room, as I wanted the lamp to appear on in the photo. My setting were ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/80th sec. Once I reached this determination, I than turned on my flashes and set the power which allowed for an exposure of f/2.8.

Here is one of the workshop participants sharing images with Tatianna on the sofa.

When ever I walk into a new location, I am always looking for all the possible options available to me to make light. Just think, it could have been raining outside and your still able to bring a bit of sunshine into the photos.

I just got back from my Mentor Series Trek to Egypt, over the next several months I share some of my experiences and images with you. My next Mentor Series Trek is to the California Coast, the central coast that is. Carmel, Big Sur, Point Lobos, Garrapata State Park and the famed Pebble Beach. For more information regarding this trek and many others, click HERE.

Shooting Into Glass

2010-10-26T10:00:00.000-06:00

I found this older image in my files recently and thought it would be a good topic of discussion. I can't tell you how many times clients ask me if we can use the view out the window in a photograph. They are not my favorite sort of image to shoot for some of the most obvious reasons, reflections.

If reflections aren't enough of a problem, try shooting 8 individuals in a setting like this. With two walls of glass reflecting the opposite walls in the room, your in a world of hurt. The only solution to this particular problem is to shoot two exposures, one of the view and the other of the group. And that is exactly what I did here.

Using a tripod is imperative in getting this shot, you need both exposures to be in perfect registration. I first made my exposure of the group and then the outside view. Which one you shoot first is up to you, just know that when you set your position for your first shot, you don't change it for the second.

Here is the lighting set up I used for the group exposure. Hey, want a second, are those Dyna-lites I see? Yes they are, I was not fully into my speedlight mode at that time and I felt I needed more power than what speedlight would provide.... In hindsight, I could have used speedlights for this. Anyway, you can see one head bounced into the ceiling for fill and one head bounced into the wall at the left of the group.

Shooting groups are hard enough as it is, throw in some glass and a small space, it's never any fun. With a room this size, bounce was really the only method of lighting I could come up with that would provide even light for a group this size. I personally like directional light rather than just putting a large umbrella on a boom overhead. By bouncing light off the wall, I have a sense of direction and the bounce of the ceiling provide the fill I needed.

A Simple Portrait

2010-10-18T03:44:00.000-06:00

Being a corporate photographer, portraits of guys in ties are a big part of my business. Being able to pull off a simple portrait in a short amount of time is very important. Executives have only have a short amount of time to give you and the faster you can get their portrait the happier they are.

You can see here my set up. I'm using a 43 inch folding convertible umbrella in the shoot through position. I'm using a single Nikon SB-800 with a Quantum Turbo SC battery. You will notice a second strobe in the background which I ended up turning off. My color balance was set to tungsten and the flash was fitted with a Full cut CTO to balance with that.

When I shoot portraits like this, I like to anchor my subject. What do I mean by anchor, well, most people feel very uncomfortable just standing for a photo. So I have them lean against a wall, place a hand on a chair or simply hold onto a pair of glasses or a pen. Have something to do seems to put them more at ease... or anchored. You can see the wall in the photo above. Wall work particularly well as they can also provide a bit of bounce. DT

Small Strobes, Big Results 2011 European Tour

2010-10-11T14:58:00.002-06:00

I am very pleased to announce the 2011 European Tour of Small Strobes Big Results Lighting Workshops. We are planning 12 European stops during the tour: Lisbon, Portugal, Porto, Portugal, Madrid, Spain, Barcelona, Spain, Aix en Provence, France, Milan, Italy, Zurich, Switzerland, Munich, Germany, Berlin, Germany, Dusseldorf, Germany, Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Paris, France.

I am being hosted by PhotoPress Production and I am very much looking forward to this tour. If you are in any of those cities, I hope you will join me for one of these workshops. I had a wonderful time this past July teaching in Vienna and London.

Update: I have cancel this tour for the time being. My apologies to those that have pre-registered for this series. You can contact PhotoPress with your concerns... I hope to reschedule at sometime in the future.

Sailing in Newport Rhode Island

2010-10-06T15:10:00.000-06:00

I my last post, I mentioned that we had a bit of rain during our Mentor Series Trek to Newport Rhode Island. We managed to dodge the rain for a short time in the Lobster Company where I took the photo of the guy holding two lobsters.

One of the weekends activities that the Mentor Series planners had arranged, was a harbor cruise aboard a beautiful sailboat. After holding up at the lobster shop, the rain did lighten up enough to venture out on the water for an hour. You can see here that we are all bundled up with ponchos and other rain gear.

After motoring out to open water the sails were raised, and we managed to catch a light breeze to propel us through the water. I must say, when the sails were raised, all the water that had collected in them dumped out on all of us! Good thing we had our ponchos.

The photo at the top of this post was made using a single SB-800 held by one of our trekkers. The flash was just outside of the image area, and the trekkers used her left hand to flag the flash from the camera lens. I first metered for the ambient light, under exposing it by about 1 1/2 stops in order to make the sky more dramatic. Once the ambient was set, I adjusted the flash power using the built in commander on my D700. The flash was set to channel 1 Group A.

A Useful Tool Worth Considering

2010-09-29T10:30:00.004-06:00

I've been a location photographer for more than 25 years, knowing where and when the sun rises and sets is very important to my business. With the advent of the Internet as well as some fantastic web sites, this task could never be more simply.

Like a lot of photographers, before I head out to a new location I"ll first visit Google Maps/Google Earth to become familiar with my location. The next thing I'll do is open a program called "The Photographer's Ephemeris". This program is a free download for the desktop version, and the mobile version for your iPod Touch or iPhone is about 9 bucks.

What I like most of all about the program is, I can use a slider to advance the suns position throughout the day. With the satellite view, it allows me to see from what angle the suns position will be in at any given time and therefore allow me to plan my photographic day. The program uses different colored lines showing you the exact line at which the sun will track. As you move the time slider, the line indicating the suns position will move across the map.

Do check out this great program, if you have seen another one you like better, I'd like to hear about it. DT

Lobster Galore!

2010-09-27T12:16:00.003-06:00

Back in July of this year, I had the opportunity to guide a Mentor Series Trek to Newport, Rhode Island. We had a wonderful trip despite an occasional light rain.

We were walking around downtown Newport shooting the sights when one of those light showers began. Wanting to get out group out of the rain, I noticed a Lobster Company down at the water front and asked if I could bring the group inside to photograph. The folks at Aquidneck Lobster Company could have not been kinder.

We spent about 30 minutes in their facility photographing all the lobsters and the various other details associated with the profession. I took the opportunity to photograph one of their employees holding a pair of lobsters. The lighting was the same as the previous post regarding a simple set-up.

I had one of the Trekkers hold the Lastolite Tri-Grip with a single SB-800 shooting through it. I set the strobe to Remote, placed it on Channel 1, Group A and manually set the power via my built in flash. I placed the ambient first and than lit up the flash.

By the way, I'm head back down to the Santa Fe Workshops for another week of teaching. There are still a couple of spaces available if you have the time or interest. October 12th- 16th. Give the workshops a call if you can make it.

The Simple Set-up

2010-09-25T10:13:00.004-06:00

Several weeks ago I was teaching at the Maine Media Workshops. I love teaching there, what a great place to visit and a wonderful staff at the school. I would like to thank my TA "Justin Clamp" Jason Esposito for working so hard during the week. I look forward to teaching in Maine next year!

The photo shown at the top of this post is that of Margaret H., she was a signing interpreter provided by the workshops for one of my students. Rocky, lost his hearing at the age of 9 months of age. He has taken close to 20 workshops thought the years, studying with Ansel Adams, and Minor White. It was a real pleasure to have Rocky in my class, I was able to pick up some signing by the end of the week.

The lighting for the photo above was handled in the following manner. I first placed the background ambient light to the density of my choosing. You can see here that that test shot shows the set-up.

On the left side of the frame, you can see the Lastolite Tri-Grip being held in one hand and a Nikon SB-800 in the other. The exposure was 1/250th @ f3.2. This has got to be the fastest way to shoot a quick portrait. All you need is a voice activated lightstand (VAL). Here is the second of the two I took of Margaret.

FourSquare™ Double Umbrella Softness

2010-09-02T10:15:00.000-06:00

Once again, I'd have to say "I love my FourSquare™". Sometime ago I made mention about this particular technique, using two umbrellas on the FourSquare™.
During my March SSBR workshop in Denver, I photographed Andrea using this technique. The take the FourSquare™ block and I slide a 60" umbrella and a 43" umbrella into the umbrella shaft holder, there are two. As you can see from the image above, the 60" umbrella is used as a shoot through and the 43" as the bounce. The 43" has the black cover over it and as mentioned, the 60" is close to the subject in the shoot through position.

This is an incredible light, large, soft and just plan beautiful. In the image below you can see the quality of light produced from this set up. My WB in the camera was set to Daylight for the image below.

I later placed a full cut CTO over the flash head and shifted my WB to 3030*K. The resulting blue shift in the background is from the daylight coming through the window in the back of the scene. Those results can be seen in the image below.
You can view more workshop images created during various SSBR workshops HERE This link will take you to a new web site I created at SquarSpace, I hope you like it.

Thank You Seattle and Urban Light Studios

2010-08-27T11:41:00.009-06:00

It has been a busy few weeks around here. As you know, I was in Seattle recently for two functions. One was a SSBR lighting workshop as well as my nephews wedding not far from the Seattle area. For those of you living in the Seattle area or those of you traveling to the area, you need to check out Urban Light Studios! This was the location where I held my workshop, what a great place.

The studio is more like a really cool house in a sense. Kevin Law, the owner of this place actually has two studios on site. The main floor has all sorts of neat places to photograph, room decorated in various themes as well as a full kitchen. The studio downstairs is more of your typical type of shooting space. By the way, they not only rent the place out to photographers, they rent there space out for all sorts of functions. Check out there space HERE.

On Wednesday evening, the 18th, we had a social meeting and slide presentation at Kevin's studio. Thanks Kevin for all the snacks and wine your provide for the evening, your very kind. We had about 45 folks there for my presentation, it was nice meeting so many wonderful people.

The next we had a nice group of participants at the workshop and a very nice young lady to model for us. Simone, you were charming and thanks for participating in the workshop.

Here is the set up for the following photo. I used a single SB-800 in my FourSquare and a reflector place just below the frame. I shifted my color balance to tungsten and than placed a full CTO on the flash for a normal skin tone. I might add, I always have an 1/8 CTO on each of my strobes. That 1/8 CTO is placed on everyone of my flashes, I feel that this 1/8th CTO brings my flash to a normal looking light. So, with that said, I actually have 1 and 1/8 CTO on the flash in this picture.

Here is another image of Simone using this same shift in white balance to tungsten and CTO combination. I used a sliding plastic door as my light source. The SB-800 was place behind the door and was fired using a Pocket Wizard.

In this next photo, I placed a single SB-800 outside with a full CTO and aimed it through the window. Once again, it is actually 1 1/8 CTO on the flash. My white balance was daylight.

In a later post, I'll show you some of the images I took at my nephews wedding. DT

Seattle Workshop and Speaking Engagement

2010-08-03T08:16:00.000-06:00

I'm very excited to be coming to Seattle! I'll be conducting my Small Strobes, Big Results workshop on Aug. 19th and a speaking engagement on the 18th.

I'll be speaking and showing some work at the in Seattle on the evening of the 18th. This event is open to the public, however you need to RSVP if you plan on attending. You can RSVP at info@urbanlightstudios.com We only have space for about 125 people so please RSVP early.

First Day in Newport Rhode Island "Mentor Series"

2010-07-23T20:04:00.003-06:00

Having a wonderful time in Newport Rhode Island on my my 5th Mentor Series. The weather was a bit wet today but we still managed to squeeze out a few shots.

This photo of skipper John was lit using a single SB-800 held by a Mentor Series participant. The flash only had the diffusion dome on it, it was held as close to our subject without showing in the frame. When I'm doing shots similar to these, I always meter for the background or ambient and then lit up the strobe.

The frame below, shows the ambient portion of the exposure prior to adding the strobe. Your shutter speed controls the ambient and your aperture controls your flash exposure.

Just a quick mention, we still have a few spaces available for the Egypt Mentor Series Trek. If you would like to join us, please contact them HERE. DT

Driving Down the Ambiet

2010-07-20T09:29:00.000-06:00

This past April I held one of my Small Strobes, Big Results workshops here in Denver. We had the opportunity to photograph outside in open shade with our model Gwen. I found a section of wall that had a corrugated metal siding next to a bright yellowish wall and thought it would make for a nice background surface.
For this particular photo, I used only one SB-800 strobe fitted with a set of barndoors. Let me go through my process here on how I shot this image.

My first step was to shot the scene as my camera would have indicated. That result is seen below.

The top photo is exactly as I had envisioned the final photo. From the point where the camera indicated a correct exposure, I then shifted my WB on my camera to 3030*K and under exposed the image to my personal taste. That exposure is shown below. Shifting my WB caused any daylight to shift to the cool tones in the image. The corrugated metal siding was reflecting open sky or "daylight", which results in the blue you seen in the image.

I than had my nephew Ian, hand hold an SB-800 with a full cut CTO on the flash and the barndoors shaped in such a way to produce the angle of light I wanted.

You can view more workshop images created during various SSBR workshops HERE This link will take you to a new web site I created at SquarSpace, I hope you like it. As a reminder, I have space still available at the Denver July 31st workshop as well as the August 19th workshop in Seattle DT

Shoot Out In Michigan

2010-07-03T08:30:00.000-06:00

During my visit to the UPAA symposium, held in Michigan the participants of the symposium held there annual shoot out. The winner of this years shoot out would win a Nikon D90 kit. The subject for this years shoot out was "patterns".

The day of the shoot out, we started our morning at the Traverse City State Hospital, asylum for the insane. The Traverse City State Hospital was built in 1885 and closed in 1989. The hospital is currently under restoration, but they still have several old abandoned building on the hospital grounds. We were allowed to photograph is one of those abandoned buildings that was deemed safe.

There were plenty of patterns for to be found at this location, I of course was not part of the shoot out so I just shot things various things I found interesting. Here are a few images from the my stay at the hospital that day.

I found this wonderful chalk board in one of the empty rooms and decided to throw a little light on it. I used a single SB-800 with a Lumiquest snoot on it. I just love empty spaces, this was a wonderful location to shoot at. I could spend a whole day there, or even hold a workshop there.

I decided to shoot this doorway on the 3rd floor, I shifted my WB to 3030* kelvin and placed an SB-800 with two CTO gels on it. The first CTO gel was to bring the color of the strobe to a normal color and the second to add the warmth I wanted.

2 More Spaces Available For London Workshop

2010-06-28T16:41:00.003-06:00

I want to reach out to my friends in the U.K. There are 2 spaces remaining for the London "Small Strobes, Big Results" workshop. Learn how to get Studio Quality Light on Location from Small Strobes! The workshop well be held downtown London at the Plaza Hotel Westminster Bridge.

The London workshop will be held on July 14th, if you would like to join us click HERE for more information, I look forward to seeing you there. DT

Chris

2010-06-18T20:45:00.005-06:00

I had an opportunity to photograph my son Chris this evening. We stepped out into the field just outside the back gate of our backyard. I wanted to test out the new diffusion sock for my DIY beauty dish that my wife made for me. Chris wasn't particularly excited about modeling for me, I use him a lot and I'm sure he's bored with it.

The sun had not yet set but was behind large clouds to the west. I metered for the clouds behind Chris and underexposed them by perhaps 1 stop. I then turned on the strobe. I was using a single Nikon SB-800 at 1/2 power, 1/1600 @ f/2.8 for the photo at the top of the post.

Here are a few other images from this 10 minute shoot, when your only getting one look from your subject... There was a light breeze this evening, beauty dishes are idea if you have any sort of wind. An umbrella would have taken off across the field had I used it.

I really like the quality of light from this beauty dish, unfortunately it is so hard to travel with. I really only use the beauty dish when I'm in town shooting. When I'm on the road, I use a small softbox that produces a similar look.I have several up coming workshops, for a list of those click HERE.

Sujan With Chairs

2010-06-08T11:07:00.000-06:00

During a recent Nikonian Lighting workshop in the Oakland/San Francisco Bay area I photographed Sujan in a variety of locations around the hotel. After photographing her standing inside this conference room, I wanted to use the repetitive pattern of the chairs as a design element for the above photo.

I moved the boom with the 43" umbrella over to area where I had Sujan seated for the photograph. I moved the row of chairs directly in front of her in order to place a bounce surface in front and below her. I then took the background light I was using in the previous shot and turned it around and used it as a rim light on our subject.

Just as a reminder, I'll be leading the Mentor Series Trek to Newport Rhode Island in July. If you would like to join me, check out there web site for more information.

The Joy of High Speed Sync

2010-06-02T07:10:00.001-06:00

Earlier this year, back in February, I was teaching at the Santa Fe Workshops. My class wanted me to demonstrate high speed sync for them. We stepped outside in the snow and I photographed a student with the chapel on campus in the background.

Nikon has this wonderful function called high speed sync (FP) that allow us to use our Nikon flashes above our native sync speed of 1/250th of a second. This first photograph show our subject photographed using our normal sync speed of 1/250th at f/7.1

Shooting with an aperture of f/7.1 provide too much DOF for my taste. Using high speed sync allows me the choice to shoot this photograph using a much shallower DOF.

By opening my lens to f/1.4 and raising my shutter speed to 1/5000th of a second, I was able to produce a much different looking image.

One of the downfalls of using high speed sync is that your flash looses a tremendous amount of power. I believe the power setting on the flash for the photo above was set to about 1/4 power. I was using a Nikon SB-800 shot through a Lastolite Tri-Grip just outside of the right frame of this photo. When I moved to high speed sync, With the flash at the same position, the power needed to be increased to full power. Here is the resulting photo showing a much shallower DOF.
Check out my new web site I built at Squarespace.

SSBR Workshops- Denver & Seattle

2010-05-28T15:56:00.002-06:00

Just announced! Small Strobes, Big Results DENVER: July 31, 2010 & SEATTLE: Aug 19, 2010

My Chives Are Open

2010-05-26T08:02:00.005-06:00

About this time every year, I look forward to the chives in my garden opening. This morning, as I walked around my pond with my morning coffee, I noticed that a beautiful clump of chives had opened. For the first time in several days, the wind has stopped and the morning light was perfect for some photography.

When I shoot flowers and the sun is perhaps a bit harsher than I'd like, I pull out a 5 in 1 diffusion panel. I place the panel as close to my subject as possible, too far away provides only shade. I want the panel to be the light source, the closer you move the panel to your subject the more of a light source the panel becomes.

Here is a quick set up photo of the diffusion panel in place. When I travel on business or vacation, I will always include a diffusion panel in my bag.

I have a Mentor Series Trek coming up this July. I'll be leading a trek to Newport Rhode Island, July 23-25th. I understand their are a few more space available, if your interested in joining me you can find more information HERE. I will also be in Maine at the Maine Media Workshops teaching a lighting workshop called "Lite & Compact Small Strobes on Location" Sept. 12-18th. More information regarding this workshop can be found at their web site.

Don't forget to check out my new web site, let me know what you think. DT

New Web Site

2010-05-19T23:37:00.006-06:00

A couple of week ago, I signed up for a trial account at a web site company called Squarespace. If you've ever listened to the Podcast "LightSource Photography" hosted by Bill Crawford and Ed Hidden, you'll be familiar with this company. Squarespace is a regular sponsors of the Podcast.

I haven't up dated my web site in years, mostly because it required having my web master (my wife, Debbie) to handle those changes. She has her own clients and I always felt as though I was taking her time away from her clients. I was looking for a web hosting and web development company that I could easily manage myself and one that wasn't going to break the bank.

I really like the all the options available at Squarespace, I'm able to incorporate my web site, photo galleriers and blog all at one site. They have seamless blog importing from Blogger, WordPress and other blog platforms. For those of you that have an iPhone, they now have an iPhone application allowing you to check your site, post to your blog, and see your traffic while your on the road! Another pretty nice feature are the Social Intergration widgets they have, allowing you to aggregate data from across your various social networks completely within the Squarespace invironment.

It's nice to have a web site that I can update as often as I wish without feeling that I'm imposing on my wife's time. Squarespace has several price packages that fits every pocket book. I chose the Pro lever for about $200 per year, it allows several up grades that a basic package does not. I've looked around a bit at different services and I felt that Squarespace offered the most for the price. Check them out.

I also like the fact that I have a blog incorporated right into my new site, I'll continue using Blogger for the time being as it seamlessly imports directly into my Squarespace site. I hope you'll take a few moments to visit my new site, look at some new images and perhaps also check out Squarespace for yourself. DT

Nikonian Lighting Workshop

2010-05-19T23:06:00.008-06:00

I always love visiting San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area. I was actually born and raised in California, Southern CA to be exact. I've spent a lot of time in the Bay Area, it is always a treat to visit.

I conducted a Nikonian Lighting Workshop there recently, a Nikonian workshop is very similar to a SSBR workshop. The workshop is designed for just Nikon users, hence the name Nikonians. In these workshops we use the Nikon CLS method to fire our strobes remotely, rather than Pocket Wizards. On the second day of the workshop, we had a wonderful model to photography by the name Sujan. She came to us via Model Mayhem.

The workshop was held at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Union City, just south of Oakland. This photograph of Sujan was made in one of the large conference rooms located on the hotel property. I used two Nikon SB-800's for this shot. The key light was a 43" Westcott umbrella used in the shoot through position. The second light was placed in the rear of the room and shot through a decorative wood lattice which created a nice pattern on the back wall of the room.

I photographed Sujan using my 80-200 f/2.8, lens was set to about 140mm and the aperture was f/2.8. I set my ISO to 800 and my shutter speed was 1/100. I was collecting a bit of ambient coming through a set of windows at the right side of the room. In the photo below you can see the set up.

You can see that a reflector was used in front and below the model just below the frame, in order to bounce light back into Sujan to open the shadows as well as provide an extra catch light in her eyes. I the photo below you can see the background light, which I might add, had a full CTO over the flash head to add warmth.

If your interested in learning more about using your shoe mounted strobes off camera, and creating studio quality light on location, join me at a workshop. I have several venues coming up you might be interested in. I'll be in Maine at the Maine Media Workshops teaching a week long location lighting workshop in September. Maine is a wonderful location and there still are a few spaces available. For more information about that workshop, visit the Maine Media Workshops website.

Dallas PPA - Thanks

2010-05-16T09:35:00.007-06:00

This past Tuesday I was the guest speaker at the May meeting of the Dallas chapter of the PPA (Professional Photographers Association) I wanted to extend a special thanks Elena Hernandez for the invitation to Dallas.

What a treat it is to meet the many friends I've made via this blog face to face. We had a packed house, I'd say about 100 or so crammed into the hotel conference room. Thanks so much for making me feel so welcomed. I look forward to my next visit to the Dallas area. DT

I have several up coming workshops I thought I'd mention to you. I'll be teaching in Vienna and London for PhotoPress Productions, for more information regarding these workshops click HERE.

I'll also be in the North East teaching at the Maine Media Workshops in Sept. A full week of loction lighting Lite & Compact using small strobes. More info HERE.

I also have two Mentor Series Treks later this year. Newport Rhode Island & Egypt

Meter Your Ambient First

2010-04-29T13:53:00.005-06:00

When I use artificial lighting in my photos, the photo falls into one of two types of scenario's. Either a studio type scenario or an environmental scenario.

A studio scenario is when the photographer contributes "All" the light in the scene and if ambient light is present, it play not part in the exposure what so ever. If I'm on location and I want to negate any ambient light, I will set my ISO to my lowest setting, set my shutter speed to it's highest sync speed and than drop my aperture.

When shooting an environmental scenario, one where we use the existing ambient light as a part of the overall exposure, I meter the ambient light first. I place my ambient exposure and than turn on the flash or flashes.

Let's take a look at the following example: During a recent SSBR workshop in Denver, I photographed Andrea in a narrow hallway. Reflected behind her is the existing ambient daylight of an adjacent hallway.

I first select my lens and f/stop (depth of field) and than meter the ambient light using the built in meter on my Nikon D300. I use my shutter speed to control my ambient light as I have already made a creative choice for my DOF. I place the ambient where I think I like it, I say "Where I think I like it" because once I turn on my flash, I often change my mind.

Andrea was lit using one SB-800 in a FourSquare from overhead and a Tri-Grip reflector just out of frame from below. Once the proper power setting is set on the flash for my chosen f/stop, I run my shutter speed up and down to finalize my ambient exposure.

I want to see choices in my ambient exposure, there is nothing worse than only having one choice. Your there, she's there, why not give yourself and your client a choice in the ambient density, it just takes a few seconds. DT

SSBR Vienna & London Workshops

2010-04-26T10:34:00.004-06:00

Photopress-productions will be hosting a series of SSBR workshops this summer in Europe! I'll be conducting workshops in Vienna, Austria and London, England. I'll be in Vienna teaching July 9th, 10th, & 11th and in London July 13th, 14th, & 15th.

I'm excited to share my lighting workshop Small Strobes, Big Results with the European Continent. From looking at my Google Analytics stats, I have quite the following across the pond. Here in the States, the majority of my workshop sell out quickly. I hope you will join me and I look forward to meeting you there. For more information regarding my up coming visit and booking a spot in one of these workshops contact Photopress Productions.

Dallas PPA Speaking Engagement & Workshop

2010-04-22T12:48:00.002-06:00

I'll be in Dallas May 11th speaking to the Dallas chapter of the PPA and holding a special SSBR seminar & workshop on May 12th. If your in the Dallas area I would love to meet you and hope that you will have the opportunity to come to both events. For more information regarding my speaking engagement visit the PPA web site. To register for either the 1/2 day seminar or for the full day workshop click HERE.

Doorway Softbox

2010-04-21T09:40:00.006-06:00

If you've attended a Small Strobes, Big Results workshop, you know that I carry a light modifier which is "light weight" and "inexpensive"and one that I feel is indispensable. It is a simple piece of ripstop nylon material that I can use in all sorts of cleaver ways.

I can tape this material on to a wall to achieve a more color neutral bounce, or I can place this nylon material over a window where RAW sunlight is pouring through a window, turning it into a soft light source. Another way I use this material is to tape it to a doorway and shoot a light through it.

I like using long hallway settings for shooting portraits, it allow me to throw the background out of focus which give a nice sense of depth to the photograph. A lot of times however, the hallways are to narrow to place a light modifier on a stand or perhaps placing an effective bounce for the lighting your subject. By taping my nylon sheet into the doorway and placing a strobe be hind it, I effectively have made a Doorway Softbox measuring 3 foot by 7 foot.

I bought my ripstop nylon at a local fabric store for less than $12 dollars, pretty cheap modifier if you ask me. Here is the final image shot for my client.

I wanted to draw you attention to a few up coming events I'll be attending. On May 11th, I'll be speaking to the Dallas Chapter of the Profession Photographers Association, and than follow up with a one day Small Strobes, Big Results Workshop on May 12th in Dallas, TX.

On May 14th & 15th, I'll be in the Bay Area, Oakland to be exact, teach a two day lighting workshop for the Nikonian's Organization. This workshop is for all those Nikon users that want to get the most of their CLS system. We'll be shooting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Union City, CA.

Saudi Portrait

2010-04-07T14:28:00.008-06:00

Over the past several days, I've been editing down all my images shot over the past few months. I started with my Costa Rica trip I did for the Mentor Series, and I've just about completed my images from Saudi Arabia.

The portrait shown above was shot on the first day of my SSBR workshop. This portrait ended up requiring 3 lights to complete. I used 3 SB-800 strobes, the key light was an Octabox (about 57") places close to the subject, camera left, a rim light (SB with a CTO gel, fitted with a set of barndoors) placed to the right rear of the set. The final strobe was laying on the ground aimed at the folding screen which we used as a background. Here is a setup diagram for you.

My EXIF data tells me that I shot this with my 85mm f/1.4 on my Nikon D300, 1/250th of a second at f/2.8. The photo below show a bit of a change, instead of using a soft light source, we used a wide grid as our key light. You can see the quality of the light is harder, and that the key light is coming from the front right side.

In a matter of moments, you can offer your client two different looks. This is one of the many benefits I like about using small strobes, the ease of changing things up on the fly! DT

Nice To Be Home

2010-04-02T13:20:00.006-06:00

To sleep in your own bed and to take a shower in your own shower is heavenly! I've had several days to relax and re-introduce myself to my family. I'm also very happy to be blogging once again, kinda missed it. Since January 27th, I've slept in my own bed 13 days. I have a lot of catching up to do, one thing is to clean my basement/studio. It seems every time I get home, I drop things on the floor, re-pack and head out again.

I want to revisit my Saudi Arabian workshop experience in this post. I going to discuss the set up and the execution of the following photo.

This photograph was taken in the late afternoon, but by no means was it even the slightest bit dark. This photograph was taken at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon in open shade. My intent was to create a "day of night" type feel to the photography.

At the Safwa sports facility where my workshops were held, there is a large soccer field with stadium seating. I used the stadium seats which were in the shade, to demonstrate this technique. Let's take a look at the progression of photographs below.

The first image on the left was my base exposure, basically doing exactly what my camera told me to do. My exposure was 1/250th @ f/4.5. and my color temperature was set to daylight. In the second image, I set my color temperature to a custom kelvin temperature of 3030*k. with the same exposure settings. The third and final image above is a deliberate under exposure
in order to place my shadow value. 1/250th @ f/9.0. Remember, any daylight contained in the photo will turn cool when the WB on the camera is set to a lower kelvin temperature than the actual source.

Next, I bring in my voice activated light stand (VALS). I used a single SB-800 with a full cut CTO (color temperature orange) gel on the flash. This CTO gel will render a neutral "normal" color light. I simply set the flash power to give me the f/9.0 that I had set on my camera.

I teach this and many other techniques at my workshops, whether it's a Small Strobes, Big Results workshop or teaching for other organizations.

I'll be teaching a two day workshop in the Bay Area for the Nikonian's Organization on May 14th & 15th. This workshop is designed for the Nikon user, I'll be teaching advanced lighting techniques using the Nikon CLS system. The workshop is being held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Union City/Oakland, CA. More more information about the workshop and reserving your spot to attend, contact Nikonian's.

I think I'm going to take another well deserved nap! DT

Let The Sun Shine

2010-03-15T19:34:00.005-06:00

I'm currently in Bridgeport, WV shooting a corporate assignment. It has been overcast and raining for the past several days here, I'm hoping the sun will shine tomorrow. I'll be shooting a drilling rig for most of the day tomorrow and I don't want to shoot in the rain.

Earlier today, my client wanted to shoot in the lobby of their offices. The lobby has beautiful windows on it's west side that normally would allow late afternoon sunlight to shine through. Due to the current weather conditions, I needed to pull out my own light source to improve the non-existing light.

By placing a single SB-800 outside of the building, fitted with a full cut CTO gel, I had my sunlight. I used a RadioPopper to fire the strobe which was out of my line of sight. I just love these Poppers! Here is a set-up shot showing the strobe placement on the outside of the building.

My white balance was set to daylight, and with the use of a full cut CTO I got the warm from the strobe I was looking for. This was a very quick and easy shot to set up, no more than 5 minutes to put together. When I see windows, I just want to push light through them... give it a try. DT

Nikon CoolPix P90

2010-03-09T10:32:00.000-07:00

Nikon provide me the opportunity to try out their new CoolPix P90. I received the camera shortly before I went to Costa Rica and Saudi Arabia. This is a fun camera and I thought you might enjoy seeing a few images I've created using this camera. The camera has a few feature I really like, one thing I don't like is it does not have the option to shoot in RAW. The feature I used most was changing the image size. I found myself using the 9:16 and the 1:1 ratios the most.

Another fun feature is the ability to add a black stroke around your image for play back on the camera. It give the image a finished professional look to it, sort of a fine art matting. The images are sharp and rich in detail, not a bad little camera.

This was a photo I took just outside my hotel in San Jose, Costa Rica prior to the Mentor Series Trek start. I just love the colors here.

This photo was taken during a short bus stop near a fruit stand and restaurant on the side of the road.

During our trip we stopped by a butterfly center, I found this the perfect time to try out the macro capabilities of the P90. The center photo above is a detail of a butterfly's wing tip. It is designed to mimic a snake... pretty cool.

The photos above are details of the corrugated plastic doors separating each of the butterfly rooms from one another. The plastic was a light blue and back lit with natural light.

I made this photo while walking around the hotel that I was staying at on my last night in San Jose, Costa Rica. The late afternoon light coming through the windows was gorgeous.

The next series of images were produced while I was in Saudi Arabia several weeks ago.

When changing planes in Amsterdam, I had the opportunity to shoot a few images in the terminal, without airport security noticing.

I had a short amount of time site seeing while in Saudi Arabia, having the P90 allowed for those quick travel type snaps.

Here are a few detail shots I did at the hotel that I was staying at while teaching my workshops.

I like shooting with this camera, just wish I had the ability to shoot RAW. DT

Wishing I had GPS Technology On My Camera

2010-03-03T09:25:00.012-07:00

During my visit to Saudi Arabia, the majority of my time was involved with teaching my workshops. My host Abdullah Al-Saeed made sure that any free time I had, was spent sight seeing and enjoying the hospitality of his country. I was overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity extended by Abdullah, his friends and the Saudi people I met during my visit. This was truly a once in a life time experience, one I would like to have again!

GPS technology on my camera would certainly help me identify where this photo was taken. The gentleman shown in the photo at the top of this post is Mohammed Al-Musalli, he is a local artist from the town of Qatif.

If memory serves me, this is a very old fort build in the 16th century, it is the oldest castle in the Persian Gulf and was built by the Portuguese. It is located in the center of Tarut Island. Anyway, while being shown this wonderful location I asked to photography our host over looking a Mosque in this beautiful town.

In terms of lighting, this was a very quick set up. I first metered the background, underexposed it by a stop and a half and than turned on the strobe. Adam, one of my students at the workshop was with us this day and he hand held the SB-600 off camera and to the left. The photo really took only a few moments to achieve, having a VAL available doesn't hurt.

Prior to visiting this historic site, I had the opportunity to visit Mohammed in his home/studio. Mohammed is an accomplished and well know artist in his part of the world. His a photographer, painter and 3D artist.

After visiting the castle at Tarout we went to a beach where there was a traditional fishing boat beached on the sand. I had a few moments to photograph this ship before we lost the sun for the day.

I managed to add a quick fill flash using an SB-800 with the help of my friend Adam. He held the strobe at camera left and he used a hand to flag the flash off the sand in the foreground. DT

I'm Back, Sort Of

2010-03-01T13:41:00.006-07:00

I can't tell you how happy I am to be sleeping in my own bed once again. The lack of recent posts here at my blog should be a good indication how busy I've been. I've been on the road for about a month now, first Costa Rica than Saudi Arabia and finally, The Santa Fe Workshops.

Over the next several weeks I will be posting images from my adventures as well as lighting demonstrations and thoughts on my approach to making several of these up coming images.

Let's start with an image made during one of my workshop earlier this month. While conducting my Saudi Arabian workshop I produced the following image. I selected the location for two reasons. First, I liked the repeated pattern of the metal fence as well as the receding lines it offered. The second reason was to illustrate location assessment and the choice of lighting this scene.

When we look at the photo below, you will notice that sunlight is coming from the right side of the frame, you can see the shadow of the fence projected on the ground. In my mind, it would make sense to light our subject from the same direction where the sun is coming from.

I first made an exposure to place the background value where I wanted it, this in turn puts my subject in silhouette. We than added a single SB-800 shot through a Lastolite Tri-Grip diffusion panel.

It's very important that you think about your location and from where the existing light is coming from. I chose to light from the right side to duplicate the direction of the existing light. I think it would be unnatural to have my light coming from the opposite direction.

I'm headed out to Columbus, Ohio for The Arnold Sports Festival this weekend where I'll be conducting a shorten SSBR lighting workshop. If your in the area, I hope you can attend.

I'll try not to take so long in posting, sorry about that..... DT

My First Saudi Arabian SSBR Coming To A Close

2010-02-15T11:59:00.002-07:00

It is with great sadness that my first Saudi Arabian Small Strobes, Big Results Workshops are coming to an end. I have been here for the past 6 days teaching two SSBR workshops and one Industrial workshop.

I have made so many wonderful friends here in Saudi Arabia. I want to thank each and everyone who attended my workshop here and for making me feel so welcomed to your camera club and country, thank you so very much.

I'll be returning to the states on the 18th and then back out on the 21st down to The Santa Fe Workshops for my week long SSBR workshop. I look forward to returning down to SF for these workshops. I have a sold out class next week, and a few spaces left for my March 21 workshop in SF. Contact the school if you would like to grab the last few space available for that week. DT

Nikonian's Workshop San Antonio, TX

2010-02-11T12:50:00.000-07:00

Attention Nikon shooters! I'll be teaching a two day lighting workshop in San Antonio, TX for the Nikonian's group April 2 & 3, 2010. You'll learn how to achieve studio quality lighting on location using Nikon's CLS system.

I taught several of these workshops for the Nikonian's Organization in 2009 and this will be the first for 2010. Other location later in the year will include: Atlanta, GA, Portland, OR, San Francisco, CA, Detroit, MI, and Boston, MA. For more information and registration contact the Nikonian's Organization.

Costa Rica Trek. Pura Vida!

2010-02-07T06:39:00.007-07:00

What a terrific trip to Costa Rica! The Mentor Series folks really know how to put together trip! I want to send out a special thanks to Michelle and Erica for all their hard work in putting together this Trek. I had the pleasure to work with super photographer Bill Durrence once again. Bill and I had the opportunity to work together on my first Mentor Series Trek to Death Valley.

We had wonderful tour guides from Swiss Travel Costa Rica, thanks German and Melody for making our trip so memorable. You took care of us like we were family. Service, service, service.

We saw all sorts of wildlife while traveling around the countryside. We visited the cloud forest, rain forest and the coastal waterways on the north end of the Caribbean near Tortuguero. Here are a few images from the trip, this will have to be a short post today as I leave for my next adventure on Tuesday.

If you have not been on a Mentor Series Trek before, your missing out. They're a lot of fun, you meet some really nice folks and you get to learn all sorts of new techniques working with the Mentors. My next Mentor Series Trek is to Newport Rhode Island in July. If your interested in joining me there, contact the Mentor Series. DT

Hackintosh.... I did it!

2010-02-01T13:36:00.000-07:00

I am always looking to reduce the amount of stuff I have to carry on assignment and personal trips. I recently bought a Dell Inspiron mini 10V netbook, in order to reduce the size of my travel computer. I'm a MAC guy and it hurt me to buy a Dell for sure, however, my Dell is now a MAC!

All I really need from my travel computer is the ability to check email, surf the web, store images, and video conference with my wife and son via Skype. I typically don't process my images on the road, I really just need a way to view them and store them until I get home.

I ran across a wonderful web site that showed in detail, how to convert a Dell 10V into a MAC. The web site is called Gizmodo.com and the actual post which gives you the details to do this is here. I am so excited to have done this, I've been a MAC guy forever and just did not understand how the Windows system worked. I guess you just get use to what your use to? Anyway, I now have a min netbook MAC with OSX Snow Leopard running and I couldn't be happier.

Costa Rica - How I'm Packing My Gear

2010-01-25T19:05:00.000-07:00

At the end of this month, I head to Costa Rica on my 4th Mentor Series Trek. I'm really looking forward to visiting Costa Rica, this will be my first time there. I thought I'd give you an idea how I'm packing for this trip.

Like a lot of you, I've owned a lot of different camera bags over the years. I own rollers, backpacks and belt systems to carry my gear. I choose the carrying method based upon the assignment at hand. On this particular trip, I'll be taking my new Lowepro Vertex 200 AW. I'd have to say it is one of the finest constructed backpack style camera bags I've had the pleasure of using.

As usual I'll be taking two camera bodies, my primary, a Nikon D700 and my Nikon D300 as backup. I'll also be taking along a new snap and shoot from Nikon, the CoolPix P90. I'm looking forward to play with that.

The lenses I'll be taking with me will include the following: My Nikon 14-24 f/2.8, Nikon 24-70 f/2.8, Nikon 80-400 f/4.5/5.6, Just to keep the weight down, I've opted for the 80-400 instead of the 80-200 f/2.8. I'll be also bring a cleaning kit, loupe, neutral density filters and a polarizer filter and my tripod. I'll be taking plenty of CF cards, a laptop to download images to as well as an external HD for backup.

Here is what the inside of the Vertex 200 AW looks like packed.

What I like in particular are these clever outside zipper pockets that allow me to arrange my various filters and CF cards. You'll also notice a nice tripod holder on in the center of the pack. I might also add that the pack is very comfortable to wear, it's harness system allows for a variety of adjustment to fit your particular body type.

I'm just amazed how much camera stuff we take as photographers when we travel and how important it is to protect it. Not only the protection offered by well made camera bags but also when your gear is in your hotel room. I've used a clever device called PacSafe for years. My PacSafe 85 is large enough to secure my Lowepro backpack safely in my hotel room. Basically, it is a high-tensile stainless steel locking mesh device that allows me to lock my bags to a secure fixture in the room ie. toilet.

During the Mentor Series Treks I'll be giving lighting demonstrations using speedlights. With that in mind, I'll be bring 2 SB-800's, a small Bogen light stand and Justin clamp. The modifiers I'll take with me will be the double folding 43" inch Wescott umbrella as well as my 33" folding Lastolite Tri-Grip.

Click Camera Club

2010-01-22T01:16:00.000-07:00

This coming Thursday January 21, I'll be the guest speaker at the Working with Artists Camera Club "Click!", in Lakewood, CO. Social begins at 6 PM and my presentation starts at 6:30 PM. If your in the area, I'd love to meet you. They are located in the Belmar Arts District at 445 South Saulsbury Street, Lakewood, CO 80226. 303.837.1341 See you there.

Up date: Had a wonder time last night, thanks for making me feel so welcomed. As promised, here is a link to my SSBR B&H wish list of equipment.

Santa Fe Workshop - March 21 - 27th, 2010

2010-01-21T12:07:00.002-07:00

For those of you that were unable to sign up for the sold out SSBR February 21, 2010 workshop, I have good news for you. We have just added an additional SSBR workshop!

The workshop will be held on March 21 - 27th in Santa Fe. I just love these workshops and I know you will too. Please contact the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops at (505) 983-1400 before they sell out again.

My VISA Has Arrived!

2010-01-20T11:16:00.004-07:00

After several delays and a very frustrating process, I now have my VISA for Saudi Arabia. I'm headed out early next month shortly after returning from the Mentor Series Trek to Costa Rica.

I'll be teaching a series of private workshops for the Shadow & Light Photography Group. This will be my first time to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and I'm really looking forward to this experience.

I'll post more about this later. DT

A Portrait's Progression

2010-01-14T08:09:00.000-07:00

Please excuse the subject in the above photo, you shoot what's available and that's usually me. I wanted to illustrate a one light portrait and it's progression. In this one light portrait, I progressively subtracted light within the scene to create a more dramatic image. Let me start out by showing the setup for the final and 4th photo shown above.

I used a FourSquare™ for the light source of these portraits. The stool in the room is about 6 feet in front of the background. The first photo of the 4 shown above was shot just using the FourSquare™. Light traveled to the background and bounced off the shooting space wall on camera right.

In the second photo, I added a black panel behind the FourSquare™ in order to block some of the light off the background. In the setup photo above you can see the shadow being created by the panel behind the FourSquare™

In the third photo, I added a black cloth to kill the bounce off of the wall on the right. And in the final image, I added a flag to block light off of my right shoulder and across my lower neck.

Next time your using a single light for a portrait, try flagging some of the light off of your subject in order to create a more dramatic portrait.

Santa Fe Workshop - Sold Out sort of.

2010-01-06T15:46:00.003-07:00

The Santa Fe Workshop I'm teaching on Feb 21, 2010 is sold out. I understand that their are at least 5 or 6 on a standby list and if we can get a few more interested folks, we will add an additional workshop. I have set aside the week of March 21st for this additional workshop should it happen. If your interested in a week long SSBR workshop in Santa Fe, please contact the workshop and get yourself on the list.

The Arnold Sports Festival

2010-01-01T09:33:00.000-07:00

On March 6th, 2010, I'll be conducting a lighting workshop at the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, OH. This is one of the largest Sports Festivals in the country, it starts March 4th and runs through the 7th. If your in the area, I hope you'll join us!

Let The Sun Shine

2009-12-28T02:22:00.000-07:00

Here's another example of artificial sunlight demonstrated during the San Diego, Nikonian's lighting workshop. In an outside patio near the hotel pool, we had our model Amira stand near a wall where I was able to project interesting shadows on.

Here's a photo of the set up for this shot. I placed a Nikon SB-800 fitted with a full cut CTO gel in the pool area for this shot. The fence around the pool provided a nice pattern on the wall as well as the flooring.

The Grand Mosque Abu Dhabi

2009-12-23T09:29:00.000-07:00

At the end of my 4 days of teaching at the GPP in Dubai, I had the opportunity to visit the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. What a fantastic structure to photograph!

As a westerner who had never been to the middle east, I thought Dubai was going to have all those cultural things one thinks of when thinking of the "Middle East". Dubai is as modern or more so than New York or Chicago. Dubai has fancy buildings, large highways, and modern transit. Certainly not what I had envisioned prior to my arrival, I was hoping for more of a cultural experience.

After the 4 days of teaching at the GPP, I had the opportunity to visit the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi is a nearby emirate close to Dubai, it took about an hour and a half to drive there. Abu Dhabi is home to the third larges mosque in the world, the actual name of the mosque is the Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Mosque.

I had the opportunity to photograph the mosque in late afternoon light all the way to sundown. I also had the opportunity to photograph inside mosque after sundown. Here are some images taken on the outside of the Mosque.

Before entering the Grand Mosque we entered a sort of foyer which was grand in it's own right. This foyer had a beautiful chandelier hanging in the center of the room and marble flowers and vines on the walls. Just as I entered the foyer, a loud speaker crackled to life with the chanting of prayer. I'm including a short video here which shows that foyer and also captures the prayer being broadcast over the PA system. When I heard the prayer being broadcast, I knew I was in the middle east, I just love this.

Below are a few view of the interior of the Mosque, absolutely stunning!

Here are a few facts about this wonderful place. The mosque has 4 minarets, 7 chandeliers (cost 30 million AED), 1048 columns in the courtyard, The main dome is the largest in the world, 82 domes in the mosque, The Iranian carpet in the main hall was woven by about 1200 Iranian women, is 5000 sq meters and is the largest hand woven carpet in the world, made out of 35 tons of wool and cotton! Total cost about 2.1 billion AED.

If imitation is the highest form of flattery, I'm not interested.

2009-12-21T09:48:00.001-07:00

Tradename infringement: Use of an identical or confusingly similar version of a tradename for identical or related goods or services.

This weekend it was brought to my attention that there's a photographer out there who is trying to capitalize on my Small Strobes/Big Results popularity and success.

My first reaction was anger. I've spent better than two years developing and presenting my Small Strobes lighting workshops to share what I've worked hard to perfect. I had a unique idea that I pursued and have used it to help other photographers improve the quality of their work. To think that another photographer would try to capitalize on my hard work by presenting his workshops with a name extremely similar to my workshops-- well, it was just beyond comprehension.

I visited his blog. Hmmm. Interestingly enough he chose the same template as mine. I'm seeing a pattern here.

Once the anger wore off, I started to question what kind of person would copy another's unique idea and present it as his own. Two answers came quickly to mind. One, the person could just be a common thief, stealing intellectual property for his own gain. The other, the person could lack the self confidence or motivation to develop his own unique idea.

Whatever the reason, I just want you all to know that I am NOT affiliated with any other small strobe workshops other than my own and the ones I present for legitimate teaching institutions such as Santa Fe Workshops, Nikonians, Maine Media Workshops, The Mentor Series, Light & Shadow, and others.

Enough said. You know who you are. Comments would be appreciated.

I Just Love Bounce

2009-12-19T08:02:00.000-07:00

Like many photographers, I carry a variety of light modifiers in my lighting kit. I carry everything from umbrellas, softboxes, grids and snoots. The largest modifier I carry is a 60" umbrella, when I need something larger I resort to a bounce.

Learning how to create an effective bounce is key when working on location. One of the most important aspect to a good bounce is flagging your strobe and preventing any direct light from reaching your subject. The only light reaching your subject should be from the bounced surface.

The photo above illustrate that point clearly. I used a foam flag attached to the strobe on the subject side of the flash. You can see the shadow on the carpet in the hallway, indicating that the strobe flag is preventing light from reaching our subject directly. The size of the bounce determines the quality of the light on our subject. The size of the bounce is certainly larger than the 60" umbrella I carry. I can light a wall to what ever size I choose. It's just not practical to carry a 12' X 12' modifier in my small lighting kit.

To round out the rest of the lighting, I added a slight hair light and a background blue gelled light down the hall.

FourSquare™ Double Bounce Softness

2009-12-15T16:43:00.000-07:00

During the recent San Diego, Nikonian's workshop, I demonstrated a wonderful feature of the popular FourSquare™. The hub of the system is the Square block that the 4 flashes attach to. One of the features of this block is that it has two umbrella shift holes to hold two umbrellas. Why two? Super Soft Light!

In the set-up shown above, I have one strobe on the FourSquare™ pointed into the 43" convertible umbrella that bounces the light back into a 60" shoot through umbrella. This is a very soft and wrapping light that I just love.

Here is a sample image of our model Amira from MM.

Brando Accessories Kit

2009-12-11T09:12:00.001-07:00

For sometime now, I've been using an accessory kit for my speedlights made by Brando.com. This kit comes with a variety of modifiers to help you shape your light. The kit comes with a snoot, grids for snoots, large grid, 360* globe, barndoors, softbox and a reflector.

There are several pieces of this kit I like and other I could do without. I've been using the large grid quite-a-bit as well as the snoot with it's grids. You may remember the photo below from an earlier post, this photo was created using the larger grid from the Brando kit.
In this photo, you can see the flash and grid fastened to the ceiling.

Here is another photo taken last week in San Diego where students used the grid to light their subject.

I've used the 360* globe successfully to light a background that I wanted to knock out pure white.

The system is build around a fitted device which holds all of the modifiers in the kit. This collar fits snugly on the flash head, collars are made for all sorts of flash manufactures and you need to specify which flash you own when ordering.

Here is a photo showing all the modifiers shipped in the kit. I've found the softbox a bit hard to assemble with the small wands provide. The softbox also comes with several color front panels, blue, orange, red, green, and of course white.

The barndoors are a bit small and lame, I just use the one I have listed on my wish list at B&H. As a matter of fact, I have a complete list of items I like using listed HERE.

I haven't worked with the reflector yet, I'll let you know my thoughts about that later. Update: I went to JoAnn's and bought some fabric to put over the reflector and it seems to improve the quality of light. This complete kit costs about $85 bucks. If your looking for some cleaver light modifiers, you just might want to check this out. DT

Returning to Indianapolis, IN

2009-12-04T12:18:00.004-07:00

Small Strobes, Big Results will be returning to Indianapolis, IN in 2010! Back in November of 2008 we had a fantastic workshop there, hosted by Paulina Osherov at the beautiful Stutz building in downtown Indy. This is a fantastic location, one of my favorites location to shoot at. Endless hallways, antique cars, dining and other unusual areas to photograph throughout the building. Here are a few images from our past workshop in Indy.

We've scheduled the workshop for March 11th & 12th. This will be a special 2 day Small Strobes, Big Results workshop. Besides the usual shooting with small strobes, I'll also be discussing solid business practices marketing and work flow methods that will keep you organized.

The last time we were in Indianapolis we sold out, leaving several people on a waiting list. Please don't let that happen to you, reserve your spot early. This two day workshop is priced at $625, put a 50% deposit down before Dec. 31st and your price will drop to $600. The balance is due by Feb 15th, 2010. If you're interested in attending, please contact me directly.

I am also setting aside up to 5 one-on-one portfolio reviews for an additional cost of $50 each. These will be a assigned on a first come first serve.