Profoto Sun And Moon Lighting Special Offer

Don't say we aren't poetic around here. The sun and moon referred to in the title describes the special offer we have on right now of four single light plus reflector kits. The wonderful news is that they are Profoto kits.

If you are just starting out in studio photography but wish to commence with the best - to start building up a professional lighting outfit that will not be outpaced later in your career - this is your chance. We have for Profoto D1 heads on big sturdy LS-2 light stands for your main light, and a Profoto white/gold 32" reflector for the fill. This is the reflector so inexpertly handled in yesterday's post by the old guy. It is a very good reflector...

The D1 is the basis for all of Profoto's light shaping system - the attachments do not vary. It s triggered by standard synch cord, though later on you may wish to get one of their radio synch sets if you add more lights to the studio. The output is consistent, controllable, and convenient. The mounting structure of Profoto heads is superb - professional all the way and built for decades of daily use.

The Promaster LS-2 stand is large and tough and can go up to 2.8 metres. Plenty of height for a down light. Like the sun.

Four photographers will benefit from this offer, as there are four sets on offer. They normally have a price of $ 1342.........this is reduced to $ 1099 for these four sets.

Hop in for your chop pretty quick. The sun and moon will only be here a short time...

Hands Up With Profoto Reflectors

The heading picture has been provided by the Apalling Image Institute of Aberfan. It shows a balding man boiling his brain on a city street while trying to provide fill with a reflector. He has managed to achieve lack of focus, underexposure, and a telephone pole growing out of his head. All on self timer. It is a classic of its type.

You may wish to try this and to do it better. It would not be hard...the Profoto reflectors are particularly well-built and have been provided with double hand grips for control. Those of you who have tried to be lighting assistants out on Scarborough Beach when the sea breeze comes in with standard round reflectors will appreciate the difference. Like using a spinnaker...

You can get various combinations of these reflectors - silver, gold, and white - and they come in sturdy carry bags. No photo shoot should be without one. Just don't hire the balding old guy to operate it.

Sand Bags, Shot Bags, And Tea Bags

I bags being in the next photo shoot!

This whole Friday morning footle came about when one of our good clients called a moment ago to pick up some rental lighting gear for a shoot in the city. I must record my admiration for his packing ability - he got more in the boot of a Holden than I could fit into a moving van. I think he will be getting some of it out with a crowbar, but that is his problem...

He hired some sand bags to help stabilise light stands. A good idea if you are working in a wind or in the midst of a crowd of tourists. There is a lot of weight on the top of a light stand and if it overbalances... it comes down like a comet. If you stack the sandbags on the  legs you prevent this.

He also mentioned that he had a bunch of sandbags that used to be standard equipment in ambulances. After speculating that these would have been used to cosh the noisier patients...an unworthy thought...I realised that they were the same as the lead shot bag I used to encounter in operating theatres. It was basically a dead pad into which the head and neck could be pressed to prevent movements while the patient was unconscious. As I was sometimes applying pretty heavy force to those unconscious heads, it needed to be solid to resist. I'm happy to say that ALL of those heads eventually became conscious again. Sore, but conscious.

I note that there are also commercially-made bags for lighting situations that are empty with quick-seal flaps. You can carry them empty to a shoot and then fill them with sand, rocks, or whatever heavy at the site. A very good idea.

I have often wondered if there would be a good point in providing a head attachment that would go on the top of a standard 1/2" light stand spigot with three additional rings - you could guy the the thing to the ground if you were sending the flash head up really high. Nowadays the Suberp Profoto Air flashes have wireless adjustment as well as triggering so once it is up you could vary it to suit yourself without having to demount the guys.

Oh, and the tea bags are or after the shoot. White and one for me, thanks.

Barn Doors

The iconic picture that says Hollywood - Marilyn Monroe standing on an air vent...No, no, no - enough of that. Expunge that thought*. I mean the iconic picture of a Klieg light on a stand with barn doors open on the front of it.

Those elephant-ear flaps at the side of the light are duplicated in nearly every lighting manufacturer's catalog, whether it is studio flash like Elinchrom or Profoto or strobist  gear from the little Chinese shops. The method of attachment is different in every case but the basic form is the same - four plates that fold into themselves set round about the light. They are different sizes and materials but they all have one thing in common - they are too small.

Shock. Horror. Manufacturer's representatives reel back aghast. Someone has discovered the truth. Dive for the foxholes...

I use Elinchrom lights in my studio and have a set of barn doors for the 21 cm reflectors. They are well-built and double as gel holders, but they do not restrict the light enough to make themselves useful. The flash tube ring is big enough that it always looks past the door flaps as soon as they are opened even a peep.

Don't accuse Elinchrom - the other people's offerings are no better. There is always some place that the light leaks out on all the barn doors.

You see, what we didn't really see when we looked at the classic Hollywood doors is the fact that they are sitting on big - focussed - lights and the doors are really massive. And the film crews supplement them with flag flats and drapes and all sorts of other light restrictions. In the end I decided to follow them.

I went to a firm that makes display banners. They sold big sheets of Foam-Core board in flat black, about 3.5 feet by 5.5 feet. I used gaffer tape to join three of these together on the long edges and the whole flat can then stand by its own effort like a dressing screen.

When I need to restrict light, once the barn doors are in place, I prop the flag flat up around the light stand and I can direct a blast of light very accurately. Actually, I have two of these flag flats and they are essential to dramatic lighting. Like most of the best studio gear, they are home-made.

And there is no sense locking the barn doors when the light has flown...

* Haven't expunged it, have you...?

The Inundation

There are few books available in the photographic press that actually prepare you for doing studio photography the way it is really done. Oh, there are Amphoto books and Petersen books that show lighting setups and tit shows and how to write up a contract to a New York advertising agency, but none of them ever cover the actual business of going into your studio on Christmas morning and discovering it to be an inch deep in water.

The studio windows streaming condensation from the inside were the first clue. Opening the door to the vista of Lake Huron was the second.

I dived for the property line in an effort to locate the main water supply tap. Once that was off, the electric mains was off. and then i donned my Lloyd Bridges' gear and stepped inside. A hot water hose to the studio washing machine had burst in the night.

At this point of time I must record my relief that I had purchased Manfrotto Autopoles to hold up my Superior paper rolls, Manfrotto light stands to hold up my Elinchrom mono-block flashes, and cheap IKEA cabinets on little legs. Most of the expensive stuff was well above the water line. I lost about a metre of paper that was touching the ground and that was about it.

Further knowledge gained: Christmas day is lonely - everyone is elsewhere, so if you are in trouble, it is YOUR trouble. Grain shovels make an admirable way to throw water out a door. Hard tile floors in studios are wonderful. You can get a floor really, really clean if you need to. Summer is the best time to have a flood as the warm days aid evaporation.

As you can see, one of the scheduled shoots went ahead - others have been re-booked.

It has been an exciting holiday.

Not Too Proud To Learn

Sometimes it pays to pay attention. I found this out this last weekend.

I was asked to take series of family group pictures and as there were to be 10 people involved, I knew that my little studio would be strained to do it. Not that the little studio is a bad place - I have Elinchrom lights and shapers to deal with lots of different situations.  I use a Nikon digital system now and am very pleased with the resolution and colour rendition it provides ( particularly since I coordinated the in-camera white balance with the actual output of the lights and the Adobe Camera Raw section of the computer - I now get what I expect...).

But it is a little studio. I can do fighter jets and motor cars and ships at sea, but the Superior paper roll is still just 2750 mm wide. Some of the groups I take are 6 or more people and they tend to flow over the edges. I can composite and retouch but once they go past the edge of he paper it all gets time consuming.

So - I purchased a book by Matt Koskowski on photo compositing. One chapter was devoted to precisely the situation I was facing yesterday. And Koskowski was very specific on how he solved it - fixed positions for the subjects, light, and camera. Fortunately I practised the technique the night before using myself as  model and on the day it all worked like clockwork. The selections and final assembly were a breeze and as soon as I figure out exactly how I want the shadow to fall I can complete it. I hope the family won't mind if I give a preview.

Note as well: Big-name exclusive fashionable studios and the international award-winning legend mentors may wish to turn away and sip their hemlock cocktails now. I am going to suggest that small-name photographers with little studios that aren't exclusive at all might benefit by taking a leaf out of North American books. ( For the chronically anti-American amongst you, pretend that this is all Canadian...). Small studios there make a good ( Canadian) dollar out of high school graduation photos, Christmas card photos, and Halloween photos. Call it corny, call it trite, call it what you will - I call it money.

It might be difficult to get a chance at school pictures here in Western Australia - big firms have this sewn up and they do a good job of it. And it is a tough business - dealing with battle-hardened primary school teachers and their ravening hordes of children. I should not take it on with a Gatling, myself. But there may be high school yearbooks and senior classes who would welcome off-site studio shots of their graduating classes. If you are prepared to apply a little taste and a lot of patience, they can be the highlight of the school year.

Likewise Halloween. Throw yourself around like a pig in a fit if you will about the North American tradition of trick-or-treat, but if you advertise Halloween photo sets and then stock up with skulls and spiders and bats from Toys R Us, you can do a lot of good in October. Heavily gelled lights and photoshopped moons and graveyards are the go so don't hold back on the schlock - your customers will love it.

Christmas images for cards are a good idea, but don't get stuck with dong the cards yourself - provide good templated images on disc to the customers and get them to have the printing done by a commercial firm.

You'll end up with a lots of props to store, but take heart - the seasonal holidays come back each year and the corny props never date. And you can make pie out of the Jack-o-Lantern on the 1st of November...

Beauty Is As Beauty Does

I thought I was committing the height of folly a decade ago when I bought a 44 cm Softlight Beauty dish for my Elinchrom studio flash heads. After all, I had three lights with 18 cm reflectors and umbrellas and a soft box and a snoot. I mean how many more looks could there possibly be in the studio...?

So when was I going to use this thing?

Luck would have it that I had a job at a costume society dinner that week. I was given a small stage area to put up a backdrop ( faithful old three-part framework and mottled muslin...the muslin gets more mottled every year. At the end of the decade I am going to boil it for soup...) and one power point. As I was to be within a metre and a half of the subjects i decided on one 250 w/s head and the beauty dish. Best decision I ever made.

The curve of the dish that close to the subjects allowed for a slightly specular light that dropped down from the crown of the head but still curved into the eye socket and under the nose. It was almost like having a main and fill in one piece. With only a very small amount of light shifting I was able to light all the different people in their different costumes and it was one of the most successful sessions for that club.

Last night I decided to put into operation a lighting scheme that Matt Koskowski recommends in one of his Photoshop books; two medium strip lights at the 10:00 and 2:00 position in relation to the subject  and a beauty dish at 6:00. He shows in his book that it will facilitate easy selection of the subject for subsequent compositing. It seemed to be contrary to what I had done before but what the heck...

The heck. It works. The heading image is one of he first off the screen, and as it was done on a double martini and late at night, it could stand a bit more care, but it is a lot easier than any thing else. Of course it helps when the subject has definite curves and a glorious costume and is heavily armed, but then doesn't that describe a lot of dates...

SALES POINT. Beauty dishes work - they make people look like cover girls - even when they are little wizened gnomes or large hairy madmen. I mention these because I shall be showing some of the other images from the shoot in future posts. In the meantime consider one for your Elinchrom or Profoto lights as the ideal solution for a one-light setup.

Tuesday Night Fever - With Nikon and Kristian Dowling

For those Perth professional and advanced amateur photographers who missed the Nikon Night 2013 with Kristian Dowling and are curious as to what went on, here is the report:

1. It rained persistently.
2. We met at the Subiaco Arts Center at 6:30.
3. We ate, and drank. Yes. Good bar, good kitchen.
4. Kristian Dowling took pictures of the guests arriving in Hollywood style - then we printed them out on Epson paper with two Epson printers.
5. Julie and Sarah from Nikon introduced Kristian and he told us of his work in Hollywood.
6. Then he showed us how to get his distinctive style of photo using LED, Profoto studio flash, and Nikon speed lights. Sarah was the model.
7. Saul and Howard entertained the crowd with sales talk and giveaways.
8. We packed up and came home.
9. It rained persistently.

Now it appeared to me that Kristian knows what he is about, and was able to explain it pretty well in a small space of time. I think he is a man well able to think on his feet - as the job of a Hollywood shooter would require. I enjoyed his lighting talk greatly. I am biased towards the use of the Nikon system because I use the Nikon system so it is good to see how well it can operate in pro hands.

It was a fun evening. Roll on the next Nikon day - or evening. Thanks to Julie and Sarah and Kristian. And Saul and Howard. And the staff who served us the food and drink.

To give you a visual idea of the evening....

"Stayin' alive..."

"We must be there..."

" Grip and grin! "

" Mama Mia atsa spicy meatball..."

" Beauty and...and...and..."

" Behind you! Look behind you! "

" I just had to wait until he did..."

" Him, Officer. That's the one..."

" Hello My Baby, Hello My Honey.."

Glamour!

Capture One Flash Control

Saul has asked me to let you all know that Capture One - the professional image control system from Phase One - has added a new studio plug in that enables it to work with the Profoto lighting system.

It provides wireless light control from your Mac computer up to 300 metres away. The system can offer 8 channels and 6 groups for multiple light setups. You'll need certain things to make it work:

Intel-based Mac computer with 2GB of RAM and 10 GB of free hard drive space.

Mac OSX system 10.5.8, 10.6.4, 10.7.1 or later.

Capture One Pro 6 software.

Profoto Air USB transceiver.

It seems to be a free item that you upload from the company once you have all the necessary parts. Please go to the Profoto website on your computer for further details.

The Themed Studio - Narrowing Your Focus

So you've got your set of studio flash lights - you chose Elinchrom or Profoto? Good for you - they will work for decades and they will make your images look good. You've invested in manfrotto studio accessories like Expan roll holders and Autopoles and light stands? Great - Manfrotto make some of the sturdiest gear around and there are so many ways you can clamp and combine that you'll never be stuck for ideas. You've got your first roll of Superior paper? White, black, or Mardi Gras Pink? I've got TWO rolls of Mardi Gras at my place and they are wonderful!

So, What are you gong to do? What clientele do you want at your studio? What will make your studio....a studio?

If you are lost for an answer, now is the time to think of a theme or a niche - to make a business plan - or to resign yourself to artistry and Easy Mac for dinner...

There are studios that sell themselves upon their photography of...families, school groups, sports clubs, weddings, food, fashion, architecture, jewellery, catalog products, nudies and boudies, cats and dogs, and a whole host of others.

If you have a bent for something - I have my own specialties - this can tell you what to concentrate on. If your field of endeavour becomes a field of expertise, well and good. You might not be able to ensure that you make a living from this excellence, but it is a better bet than trying to trade upon ignorance and inability.

If you find that your first target choice is over-catered or is so swamped with over-promotion as to exclude a new studio, step a little aside and look for another approach to it - or approach a different clientele. If the town is flooded with baby studios taking the same picture of sleeping infants propped on their forearms, either figure out a new way to suspend the child or find another subject that could be stuffed into an oversize teacup.

If you find your pictorial approach is too far in advance of fickle public taste - or too far anchored in the past - change your approach to provide the current sort of fickle.  You might be one month behind the cutting edge of fashion, but Perth operates about 6 months slower than the rest of the world anyway.

When all else fails, brand yourself, market yourself, tweet, blog, and twit until everyone blocks you with their spam filter, and never, ever let an opportunity to attend an opening of ANYTHING pass you by. Whatever they are exhibiting, selling, or promoting, attend - there are usually drinks and bits of cheese on a stick. If you cannot get eating money out of your studio, at least you can survive, albeit slightly drunk and constipated...

Uncle Dick

Whaddoo I Spend My Mine Money On Now?

If you are currently sitting on an iron ore wallet - and have exhausted all the other possibilities of Western Australian photography; HDR sunsets, trying to make Lesmurdie Falls look like Niagara, Barbagallo Raceway, Thailand, Africa, British Columbia, or Notherdam Gorge, may I suggest you come into Camera Electronic and get something new?

See the attached images - they are of unnatural lights taken in natural light from artificial light sources. Sort of like an Escher etching, but with a camera.

Studio lighting is wonderful. It gives you controllable illumination, multiple artistic effects, and a good reason to spend more of your mining money. You can set up a home studio and capture whatever your heart desires - no trekking, traipsing, or travel. You no longer are restricted to the "magic minute" at sunrise or sunset that the travel writers blurt on about - you can create magic minutes all day long if you like. You can make pictures as saturated or as neutral as you wish. You can MAKE your subjects look good, rather than sitting there waiting an hour in the flies and heat hoping that it will happen.

Hard to do? No. Hard to learn? No. Books are all over out there to help you do whatever lighting you want to do - some of them are just pictures of nudes with a line drawing to show where the lights were supposed to be - some of them are technically-specific lighting recipe books. Suit yourself which ones you take into the loo with you.

You can also get good lighting training next door at Shoot Photography - they run periodic courses in the subject. We have promotional nights every now and then when a good studio photographer shows you what can be done with specific equipment. You can buy a set of lights and the associated studio backdrop stand and just set out on your own journey of discovery - I did and now where the hell am I? No, no - it's all good - I DO know what I am doing, Officer...

With a bit of luck, when the mine shuts down, you can retire to your studio in Perth and make a modest fortune. I did. I made it from a large fortune.

PS: It is also possible to spend mine money on mines, but you'll have to lay the field yourself...

Uncle Dick

Good News - The End Of Professional Photography

Whew, what a relief!. I thought that would never end. At last someone has freed us from the shackles of the past.

The CEO of Yahoo has stated that there are no more professional photographers. I can't tell you what a weight this has lifted off my shoulders. I'll bet there will be celebrating in studios and editorial offices all over Perth - not to mention in the Uni's and TAFE's. I feel like declaring a national holiday. They've flooded the Shoot Photography Workshops main studio with beer and we're all going to get our swimming suits.

No more having to ask for money from people, no more ABN numbers or keeping accounts. No more paying off leases on equipment or premises, and no more advertising in expensive wedding journals for jobs. The former fashion and food photographers no longer have to put up with the precious antics of their clients - they can kick the anorexic tarts out and throw the Tuscan casserole pots in the bin.

Most of all I hear a cheer from the former wedding workers - now they can turn up at the church dressed in tracky daks and thongs - or not turn up at all if there is something on tellie at the time. And aren't we all going to enjoy the first time we get to slap a flower girl with a wet fish...Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. "Whack".

I suppose it will be a little bit of wrench for the animal and baby photographers as they generally seemed to like their models, but I suppose there is nothing to stop them from opening their own kennel  and keeping a pack of babies.

As for me, I am going to go off and photograph hot rods and pretty girls just because I can. Won't be showing them on Flickr pro, but then, I never did. I preferred to have my images stolen from other websites...

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.

Two Heads Are Better Than One - Profoto

Now we're not talking Tasmania or Newfoundland here - this is about the business of getting two portable studio flashes out and about. Specifically the Profoto variety.

The Acute B2 from Profoto is the sort of portable flash generator that you can take out into the filed to provide the power land controllability that pure speedlights cannot do. It is fully integrated with the vast range of Profoto light shapers and has the sort of stopping power for action that sports or advertising people need.

Now it is possible to increase the pattern of lighting with two of the portable heads connected to the generator - Profoto have introduced a split cable for the system. Main and fill. Hatchet lighting. hair and front. Possibilities increase...

Big Soft Sale For Big Hard Photographers

Go on. Harden up. Time to soften your photos.

We've just put out a sales stack of CL-brand soft boxes and suitable speed rings on our bargain floor near the front of the store.

The CL boxes come in all sorts of sizes - from little 40 x 40 squares up to massive strip and bed boxes. There are octas as well. Also deep and shallow types and some with recessed fronts so that you can fit egg crate grilles.

The speed rings are available for Elinchrom, Profoto, and Bowens - though there are a limited number of Bowens ones. As you'll see from the illustration, the rings are multiple-use types - they are colour-coded for where the rods are to be inserted.

These are well-built items and would serve a good long time in professional use.

The sale prices are 30% off marked retail for individual items - and if you buy the softboxes with a lighting kit we'll go to 40% off the softbox prices. It is a good opportunity to expand the light-shaping capabilities of your studio.

Pssst - We Got The Stuff...

Psssst. Hey. Hey, you...c'mere. We got ya stuff...we got ya stuff right here...

You wanted binocular straps? We got'em. Light weight. Let the binoculars slide up to your eyes and down to rest. Op/Tech - ask for 'em.

Sick of hanging the camera around your neck? Try one of the straps that go on the right side of he camera and curve round the back of your hand. The camera can dangle there safely and you can shoot freely. Lots of manufacturers for this and they are all different styles -there's even one made of rubber for those times when you need rubber...

Want to light a macro subject without frizzling it up? Two clock batteries and a Macro light from Promaster are all you need. Ask me later about how good this is for the headlights of model car shots...Also good for nasal or ear surgery, I shouldn't wonder...

Uncle Dick