Dull and Lifeless: web aRGB vs sRGB

Ever wondered why you have dull and lifeless hair images on the web when they are clean and full of colour on your PC/camera? It's most likely that the colour space is wrong (ie not sRGB).

Metering: Don't Just Point and Shoot

Exposure with strobes in a totally controlled environment and also metering an ambient only scene.

The Machine Arrives: the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D

After reading and lusting after countless reviews I finally took the plunge and picked up the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D and it's everything that you'd expect, but there are certainly a couple of things you need to remind yourself when buying/using this.

Distance Matters, No Matter the Size

One thing that controls the amount of strobe light is the apertrure (the other is distance) so when someone posed the question, "My (AC powered) strobes, through my softbox, on the lowest power is still too much for my shooting aperture, what's my best options?", I was surprised to hear that people suggesting ND filters as supposed to moving the lights futher back.

Writing Like my Teachers Taught

As it's been said before, "it's not quite like the old days" and certainly as I get older I actually forget what started this rambling in the first place. But, I already digress - grammar and punctuation has never been my strong point, particularly since when I was taught it, I a) didn't understand it, b) pay attention, c) care. Nowadays, you wonder if all those points apply to schools - if not, perhaps not every idiot kid would be getting 15 top A grades. Nowadays, any idiot with a computer and a blogger account, ahem, can be a published author but it doesn't help standards.

DIY Justin Clamp

As part of my collecting/hoarding mentality I always thought the Manfrotto Justin Clamps (model# 175F) were a cool little tool but the 45GBP price always put me off.

I knew that Manfrotto made a spring clamp (model# 175) that didn't have the ballhead/hotshoe (which seems to be a Manfrotto 492 micro ballhead) so I wondered how easy it would be to be a Justin Stailey (without McNally).

Light meters: A Throw-Back or Is it Worth It?

In answering the Q myself: worth it!!

Recently got myself a(n old Minolta IVF) light meter after a friend at work brought his meter in. And, I've gotta admit, using a meter and hitting an exposure dead on (mostly) first time is kinda addictive.

But, how do we use a light meter exactly?

Strobe at f/what camera left...

"SB unit into softbox, camera left @ f/4" I read. The first time I saw something like that I went and looked at the back of my SB units to see how I could magically punch in f/4. And alas, I was mistaken, and misunderstood as are many newcomers to strobes.

Colour temperature and White Balance

Before I started this trip back into photography, I always wondered why some of my indoor shots would have a strange orange-red cast across the picture. Not knowing any better, I just lived with it.

However, after discovering artificial light the reasons for strange colour shifts is a little easier to digest. Previously, I had just thought that all light was just the same - whether it came from the sun, the lights indoors or the lights in an office building etc.

But this is not the case. All digital cameras tend to have a 'white balance' which tends to be left in auto mode. What this means is, the camera will assess the scene and then decide what type of light it sees and then adjust accordingly... ok, but adjusting to what?