Shooting on White

I don't shoot much against a pure white background, but it's definitely something I should re-familiarise myself with as it gives another dimension for your subjects whether its for high key portraits where high key == happy and youthful so I understand, or for product lighting.



Someone commented that some of my stuff looked like it was lit inside a cave, so lets see how we can get outside.

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?

They Don't Make Them Like That Anymore..

For once, this is a different non-photo-lighting kind of rambling, but it is still rambling. As its the festive season, tv brings out all the delights that the post cinematic world has to offer and puts it to a largely drunk audience.. and for the ones that aren't drunk, we're probably wondering why the schedulers are showing us a load of crap.

And the answer to that is simple - the decade that give us some of the greatest films is long gone ... ah, the 1980s. I've probably had this conversation with everyone that has ever known me, but I can honestly say, that going into and out of the 1980s was Hollywood's golden year for me. During that decade, there were some of the greatest (western) films I've seen and continue to enjoy via DVDs, repeats etc.

D300 ICM camera profiles

There has been some discussion on the D300 flickr group about the camera ICM colour profile that is used for correct colour balance used in RAW editors such as Nikon's Capture NX or for use in ufraw.

Now, its probably only of interest for ufraw/gimp users that require the camera colour (ICM) profile. I was only able to find one reference on describing how to obtain the ICM profile.. and it involves using View NX (or Capture NX).

DIY PocketWizard Holder

After being inspired by Rui M Leal's PW holder I was always looking to replicate this for my own Manfrotto 026 umbrella adaptor.

[strobist] Balancing Twilight

This is the same setup as everything else particularly the balancing ambient setup. The only thing that we need to take care of is the rapidly dropping ambient.

[strobist] Balancing the Sun/Crosslighting

The sun during the day can be pretty hard to over power, but you dont need to be fighting this battle. In fact, you can use the sun to your advantage with cross lighting. And what is cross lighting? Its exactly what it sounds like.. you have 2 light sources pointing at each other.

[strobist] Balancing Ambient

Unless you are shooting at the golden hours (just after sunrise and just before sunset) then it will most likely be you will be turning to this technique -- your flash will become the main light for your subject and the ambient becomes fill.

[strobist] 101 in a Nutshell - The Starting Point

Whenever we are balancing for a scene the strobist site recommends the following the same basic strategy for all shots:

• get to max sync
• get correct exposure using aperture

[stobist] Learn it, Learn it now

There aren't many ways to control light using your camera.. you can change shutter, change the aperture and ermm, do both. But thats the great thing - thats it!! With one of these you have control of your lighting situation from camera.

Helping the Recession - PW PlusII

... and now i'm going to be broke for the next 3 months.

After spending a lot of time with my ebay/cactus v2 triggers, I finally decided that the misfires and unreliable nature of these very cheap triggers where enough to make me consider the PWs.

Yes it was painful, but I believe I read somewhere Michael J Fox saying (as he thuds his head off the road in Back to the Future) "pain is temporary, film is forever"

Now for the Science: The Very Basics - shutter speed/aperture/exposure/depth of field

Go back to basics: shutter speed, aperture and ISO