Ooh - Look At All The Coloured Lights!

1960's and 1970's - heyday of the coloured gel in the studio. With the new flash systems you could put a piece of extremely expensive cellophane in front of the and fire them off and get funky effects. We knew they were funky because we saw them in advertisements in German magazines. A lot of us weren't exactly sure what funky meant, but...

Reel forward ( Reel? I will explain reels to you later children, once the arthritis medicine kicks in.) to now and the necessity of applying delicate touches of colour to studio work. See the heading illustration. All major flash makers produce some form of gel holder for their light shapers - generally it will clip onto the front of a standard reflector:

You can enclose the gel in a cardboard frame or you can slip it in there palin. What you cannot do is slip in a piece of cheap newsagency cellophane over a modelling light (I'll explain cellophane children, as soon as the gout medicine ramps up.) as it will melt, catch fire, or start twerking. You have to use real gels designed to withstand heat.

Enter the Rosco Gels. Here are a variety of them in convenient packets. You can get colour correction, violent tints, diffusion sheets, or theatre colours. Better still, I see the Rosco people can also supply the stuff in rolls - 48 inches wide and 100 square feet on he roll. This means you could gel a soft box as easily as you could do it on a standard reflector. The big rolls are a special order through us but the small packets are in-store now.

One thing to remember with gels. Too much is rarely enough.

Care For A Snoot, Honey?

In the spirit of science here are three studio shots of a bedside lamp modified by Profoto light shaping tools - specifically the honeycomb grids that clip onto standard reflectors and the snoot which does he same.

The 5º grid throws a much smaller circle of light than the 10º grid. They are both somewhat of a soft edge to the light - perfect for highlighting faces in portraits or products on a table.

The snoot also restricts the blast of light but does so with a sharper edge and more artifacts in the light pool.

Note that all of these devices absorb light and radiate it back as heat but the grids are generally buried in the front of the reflectors while the snoot is right out there ready to get you on the forehead as you move through the darkened studio...

If you are a speedlight shooter have a look on the HONL rack in the shop - they also do small versions of the grids that you can velcro on to portable flashes and they have a very neat foldable snoot that does not become hot.

Learn To Light With Shoot Workshops

Studio lighting - there's more to it than sawing the roof of the house off, or setting fire to the sitter. As fun as these ideas may be, new studio shooters need to know other forms of illuminating their subjects. Here is where Shoot Photography Workshops and Anthony Wilson come in.

Anthony will be conducting a three-week introduction to studio lighting in May. Hell be lecturing and demonstrating the ins and outs of flashes, light modifiers, exposure rations, posing , shooting, and equipment for a host of studio situations.

If you have just bought a two-flash kit and want to know how to get the best out of it - or if you want to expand your range of illuminations and wish to find out exactly what light shapers do - Anthony is the man to listen to.

The course will be on the 6th of May - the 13th of May - and the 20th of May. It won't be a crowded pie fight either - there will be time and space for individual help  and creativity.

The basic cost for the three-wek course is $ 325 - but if you give the nice person at Shoot a ring in the next little bit, you can claim a 10% discount. Money well spent as you find out how to light your professional jobs.

Please ring the Shoot person at 9228-8232 or go over to their email at:

enquiries@shootworkshops.com.au

Speaking from experience, there is nothing as freeing as having your own shooting studio and the ability to create drama and beauty with light is fabulous. Get that experience now - ring Shoot.

Ready For Your Close-up, Mr. De Mille?

In the world of studio flash and portable speed light, we often forget the photographers who want or need to work with constant light. of course if they are prepared to go outside and put up 12 square metres of reflectors and swat mosquitos and all, they can use the natural daylight. Good until you go inside...

For the rest, and we are particularly thinking of videographers who need to get a great deal of light in a small space, there are hot lights. Here's an economical one - the red headed studio light with he 800 watt output.

Nothing could be simpler - set it up on a standard light stand, open the barn doors, and turn it on. Yo can focus the tube in and out with the control wheel for a greater or lesser spread of light. Set your white balance and away you go.

This is available as a single head or in a pack of three with stands and reflector - and the three-pack comes in a professional travel case.

All you need to add is Scarlet O'Hara and a burning Atlanta and your career is made. Well, it worked once, why not again?

Please note the sticky suction cup Manfrotto mount is not part of the light kit - it is just a very convenient way of sticking things onto a smooth surface.

Brilliant Ideas For Brilliant Minds - Shoot Photography Corses

We are very fortunate here at the shop  - we have good neighbours. In particular to the North - Shoot Photography Workshops. They can also be good to you, if you will go see them.

The best way to do this is to look at your own experience and see if there is some part of photography you wan to improve. Are you confident with your new digital camera...or do you want o learn the professional way to operate it? Are you puzzled by the studio light systems that are seen in all the best shots? Have you ever hankered after the excitement of photojournalism...or wedding photography work? Well, SHoot have the answer in the next few months.

There are five good courses on offer right now. You are far better reading about their details on the Shoot Photography website, or through the on-line shop section of our own Camera Electronic website.    

Here are a few tasters:

1. If you'd like to start out well in your digital photography, there is no better person to put you right than Simon Cowling. He is the principal at Shoot and has aided countless photographers to understand what is happening with their new cameras. A course with him means that you start getting results straight away.

2. Happy with the way it is going? Like to learn more? Like to find out some of the operational and aesthetic tricks that turn ordinary situations and sights into award-winning images? Dale Neill is the chap for you, and the Shoot course on Advanced DSLR Photography is just perfect. Expect to enjoy yourself greatly.

3. Studio lighting. Wow. Total control of your own images. Anthony Wilson will take you through the basic ideas of lighting and show you how the equipment does it - and how you can see what you want to acheive. Don't be afraid of the dark - you can do something about it. Introduction To Studio Lighting.

4. Want to get shot at? And shoot back? In the safest way? Ask Mohammed Morsi when you attend his course on Photojournalism. It is not all bullets and bayonet mounts, though - Mohammed will be helping you to understand journalist's ethics, human management, and marketing. You'll be shown how to make images that reproduce and sell.

5. Weddings are a vast professional topic and the Ultimate Wedding Photography Course reflects this - it takes 4 days to get all the information and try out the ideas. Bila Bakony will be explaining the aesthetics and mechanics and showing you how to manage time and people for this most challenging career. Look closer at his prospectus on the Shoot website. PS: Don't worry about managing the flower girls - no-one ever has...

The Shoot experience is a good one - I've attended several of the events run under their aegis and have profited by it. Actual money profit, as their instruction in one computer program cut my post-process time by 3/4 and that means more money in hand. These courses don't cost - they pay!

Uncle Dick