Edinburgh: Heavy Metal and Haggis

Alex Ray and I are back in London, having just wrapped up a 1,000-mile UK road trip with The Flash Centre.

We got to see some cool things and meet lots of interesting people. None more so perhaps, than Elaine Davidson, seen at left.

After all, it's not every day that you run across a Guinness World Record holder...
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Almost Free DIY Paper Diffuser

You want cheap? I'll give you cheap.

As you probably know, California Sunbounce is a cool, high-end light mod manufacturer based in Germany. Not sure where the California part came from.

Probably weather envy. (UPDATE: Nope, but I was close!)

And I say cool not just because they like to tickle the NSFW line under the chin by running ads with nekkid mannequins in the sidebar, but because they also publish the Lighting Academy website.

[UPDATE: New mannequin -- but this time she's clothed.]

Lighting Academy is the uber-cheap cousin to CSB, where almost everything is DIY-free -- or darn near it.

This quickie DIY "Budget Flash Diffuser" is so easy to make you can whip one up on the spot as needed. It is also essentially free, if you can scrounge the hair band thingie on which the mount depends. (A ball bungee would work nicely, too.)

Efficient? Nope. But perfect to turn a bare flash into a sweet little close-up portrait light. And if you were stuck with an on-camera-only flash, it would make a pretty big difference in your tight portraits, too.

It'll hold you until you can swing a Lumiquest SB-III, but you will get some light spill out of the sides unless you get all budget crazy and spring for another sheet of dark paper to cut into gobo/wings.

If you have more time than money, take a moment to look at some of the nifty ideas on their DIY site.

:: Lighting Academy: Budget Flash Diffuser ::
:: Homepage: Lots of other DIY Goodness ::

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On Assignment: Tenor Nathan Carlisle

I recently photographed opera singer Nathan Carlisle as part of my long-term project for the Howard County Arts Council.

Nathan is an out-of-towner, and I caught him while he was on a quick swing through HoCo. Because of that, we had to improvise with a quickly selected location.

As I frequently do when in a pinch, I opted to roll the dice and see what the evening's sunset would give us by way of a backdrop. Read more »

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Dave Honl Goes Soft on Us

Long known for the hard, restricted light of his snoots and grids, Dave has just introduced an 8", circular soft box for speedlights.

It's small, collapsible and is best suited for close-in people shots. More details and an example of how to use it, inside. Read more »

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Carlos Serrao Checks In

The after-the-fact walkthru of the Wired Magazine behind-the-scenes pictures of Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg earlier this month prompted a slew of comments.

Guess who stopped by to answer questions, provide some color and parry the thrusts of a few armchair quarterbacks?

Info straight from the horse's mouth, inside. Read more »

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Brad Trent on the Fake Reality of Portraits

UPDATE: Brad has dropped by to answer several of your questions in the comments.
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Long-time editorial photographer Brad Trent (pictured) gets a steady stream of magazine assignments for his unique look and rock-solid dependability. And more to the point for this site, he also has a portfolio full of lighting setup shots on his website.

But they're not there for your reverse engineering jollies. They are more about his desire to add a layer of comment to the "fake reality" he is often called to produce.

Fair enough, Brad. But we really like seeing your lighting setups, too… Read more »

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UK GOOM* TRIP UPDATE

UPATED: Adds pubs (below) for meetups the evening before the seminars
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Quick updater for the UK seminar dates and pub meetups.

London and Birmingham are fully booked, but we still have a few seats left for Leeds on 5/26 and Edinburgh on 5/28. Details, and looking for good places to meet up for a pint (all invited) inside. Read more »

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A L'il TGIF Fun

This one is very hard to post with a straight face.

First off, please note that I am not exactly endorsing this. But I will give them credit for making the umbrella a shoot-thru rather than a reflective version.

Second, I would only say that any umbrella of this size should rightfully have a stiff, fruity drink under it -- with a tropical sunset as a backdrop.

And assuming you are that unafraid of embarrassing yourself in public, I like this version better. If you're gonna go for it, I say go all out.

:: Strobrella Product Page ::

(Thanks to Artur Gajewski for the tip!)

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Follow Up: Choosing Big Lights

Last winter, I blogged about the thinking behind choosing big lights.

There were a lot of loose ends, not the least of which was my purchasing AlienBees partly as a way of putting off making a final choice. How it all sorted out, after the jump. Read more »

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Against the Wind: Keep Your Light Upright

Umbrellas, light-weight stands and even a modest breeze can be a bad combo.

But just because it is windy out does not mean you have to stay in. Three tips to keep your light stands standing, inside. Read more »

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Lighting Bugs, With Layers of Genius

NOTE: If the video is not coming up in your RSS reader, click thru to the main site. Even then, you may have to refresh a few times. It's a little bit ... buggy.
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Issaquah, Washington-based photomicrographer Charles Krebs is getting some much-deserved attention, thanks to his amazing techniques for photographing bugs. The above video is from KING 5 TV in Seattle, and I am so glad they got techie enough to show how he solved his formidable depth-of-field problems.

As for lighting, he uses classic old flashes -- in one case diffused with a Christmas ornament. Check out more incredible photos (and generously detailed technical explanations) on his website. And if the video completely fails to load on you, you should be able to see it on the King 5 site.

Thanks to Strobist reader Eric Krebs for the tip on the video. And yes, that's his dad!

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On Assignment: Earth Treks, Pt. 3

Honestly, I never have really enjoyed shooting models.

I'd much rather shoot real people, for lack of a better term. They are way more interesting, and certainly more fun to work with. You just have to remember that they are not used to being in front of a camera and lighting gear all of the time.

After the pretty lengthy shot list during our shoots at Earth Treks climbing gyms, I suggested we get all of our volunteer climbers together and do some of what I like to think of as "speed portraits." Read more »

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