Lara Jade, Cheap Camera Challenge

Featuring Lara Jade - world-renown fashion photographer - takes on the cheap camera challenge...we have a professional mode, haute couture clothing and a makeup artist...but we've taken the camera cheapness to a whole new level! The An Pan Man camera (Bread Superman camera) has a stunning 0.3-megapixels and awful features. Add that to the fact that Lara is only in Hong Kong for a layover - she has 6-hours to get 6 different images from 3 different looks - and we have an epic-fashion-photoshoot-on-the-cheap challenge!

Lara Jade's website: http://larajade.co.uk

Lara Jade on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LaraJade_

Part of the "Pro Tog, Cheap Camera Challenge" series. Pro photographers from around the world take on the challenge to use one cheap camera to produce some creative stuff. But just what will happen?

Image Credits:
Image “Top of Rock Cropped” by Wikimedia user “Dschwen” (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Image “Hongkong Evening Skyline” by Wikimedia user "Roy Niekerk” (CC BY-SA 2.5)
Image “London Skyline” by Wikimedia user “Mewiki” (CC BY-SA 3.0)

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Phottix Updates

Hello Phottix Friends

The end of the year is drawing near and Phottix has some hot deals in the newly revamped Phottixstore.com. From now until December 31, 2014, receive 10% off everything atPhottixstore.com by using the code XMAS2014 at checkout.

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What New?  Phottix Mitros and Mitros+ Flashes for Sony (ISO Shoe)

After considerable development and testing Phottix is happy to announce the newest addition to the Phottix Mitros+ family: The Phottix Mitros TTL Flash for Sony (ISO Hot Shoe) and thePhottix Mitros+ TTL Transceiver Flash for Sony (ISO Hot Shoe).Use the Mitros+ on-camera as a key or fill light, as well as control and trigger other Mitros+ flashes or compatible flashes using Phottix Odin Receivers. The Mitros+ also offers a built-in Phottix Odin Receiver and Strato II Receiver.

Features

• GN: 58 Sony-Compatible TTL Flash
• Built-in: Phottix Odin Transmitter and Receiver, and Strato II Receiver
• Sony-compatible Master/Slave IR Triggering Modes
• High Speed Sync
• AF Assist Light
• External Battery Port, 3.5mm Sync Port
• Quick Flash Mode

Jump over to the Phottix Online Store for more details. Use codeXMAS2014 at checkout to save 10% on your holiday orders.



Speaking of the Photix Mitros and Phottix Odin - I spy my little eye celebrity photographer Matthew Jordan Smith shooting with both Phottix products in a video recently released by Gary Fong.

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Now in Silver - A New Phottix Luna Beauty Dish

The Phottix series of Luna Beauty Dishes and Softboxes have been very popular. We're adding a newsilver interior 85cm Phottix Luna Beauty Dish to the line-up. Silver beauty dishes add more contrast and "pop" to an image and are great for fashion photography.

With Luna interchangeable speed rings (Bowens mount included), the Luna series modifiers can be used on many different studio lights, or with the Phottix Mitros series flashes when combined with the Phottix HS Speed Mount II.

Jump over to the Phottix Online Store for more details. Use codeXMAS2014 at checkout to save 10% on your holiday orders.

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Phottix VLED Video Lights AvailableThe Phottix VLED Video Lightare available in three sizes, with 168, 198 or 260 LEDs these are the perfect continuous lighting solution for video cameras or DSLRs. With the included battery adapters, popular camera batteries from Canon, Nikon, Panasonic and Sony can be used to power the VLED. The VLEDs can be combined vertically or horizontally to create larger banks of light.

Output Specs
VLED 168, Output: 1050 Lumens
VLED 198, Output: 1250 Lumens
VLED 260, Output: 1600 Lumens

Jump over to the Phottix Online Store for more details. Use codeXMAS2014 at checkout to save 10% on your holiday orders.

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Phottix Varos H-Mount Plate and Strap

Mounting flashes by the hot shoe can cause some issues. When using umbrellas the light from a vertical flash does not hit the center of the umbrella as it is much taller. This cuts down on the effectiveness of the umbrellas as a lighting modifier.

Phottix comes to the rescue with the new Phottix Varos H-Mount Plate and Strap. Using this kit with a Phottix Varos Umbrella Adapter allows flashes to be mounted horizontally, more in line with the center of a reflective or shoot through umbrella. Included are the H-Mount Plate and Velcro Strap, a 3/4" lug threaded in 1/4x20 and 3/8" and a locking ring.

Jump over to the Phottix Online Store for more details. Use codeXMAS2014 at checkout to save 10% on your holiday orders.

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Phottix Hot Shoe Gel Set

Using gels with hot shoe flashes can be challenging. How can you attach them? With Velcro tabs or gaffer tape or some other inelegant contraption.

Enter the Phottix Hot Shoe Gel Set. This set includes a plastic gel mounting bracket that easily attached to most hot shoe flash heads using a Velcro strip. Easy use any of the 30 included gels with hot shoe flashes. The black/silver attachment can be used a barndoor/flag or a bounce card.

Jump over to the Phottix Online Store for more details. Use codeXMAS2014 at checkout to save 10% on your holiday orders.

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Connect with Phottix

Keep up with all the latest news from Phottix. Join our social networks and get the newest info as well as see the great work done with Phottix products.

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- Connect with us on flickr and join the Phottix Photos Group

Flash Facts – Controlling Flash Exposure.

When using flash your aperture is going to control how much light from the flash enters the camera. The shutter speed is going to control how much ambient light enters the camera.

Once you have a feel for how these two variables are going to affect your shot you will then be able to make adjustments from the camera to control your flash and ambient light exposure.

Making adjustments to the aperture to control how much of the flash light enters the camera is also going to affect your depth of field. If you are not too concerned with your depth of filed then you can make adjustments solely for your flash. However if you do care about your depth of field, as you really should, making adjustments via the aperture is not gong to be the best option for you.

When you have to keep a specific depth of field for your shot you will need to work more with the power level of the flash or the distance of flash to subject. Using these variables for adjustment will keep your depth of field wherever you had it set.

Try setting up a static shot of just about anything around the house and throw a flash on it. Walk your aperture up and down and see how you can control both your flash exposure and your depth of field.

Setting Up the Shot - Peekaboo

More on the set up after the page break.

One of my favorite way to photograph children is with bounced light from above.

When you bounce your flash off of a normal height ceiling you get a nice and big light source with great coverage.

With a large light source like this you can let the kids just do their thing and you have them covered.

Setting Up the Shot - Peekaboo

More on the set up after the page break.

One of my favorite way to photograph children is with bounced light from above.

When you bounce your flash off of a normal height ceiling you get a nice and big light source with great coverage.

With a large light source like this you can let the kids just do their thing and you have them covered.

DIY Westcott Apollo Offset Bracket (28" & 50")

I wanted to share this video from You Tube user snappuppy with a great option for your Westcott Apollo soft boxes. If you want to get some extra tilt from your Apollo then give this a try.

Take some time and also check out his You Tube channel here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/snappuppy

DIY Westcott Apollo Offset Bracket (28" & 50")

I wanted to share this video from You Tube user snappuppy with a great option for your Westcott Apollo soft boxes. If you want to get some extra tilt from your Apollo then give this a try.

Take some time and also check out his You Tube channel here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/snappuppy

Setting Up the Shot - Dominic

Camera - Nikon D300
Lens - Nikon 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5
Exposure - 1/320 @ f/14.2
Focal Length - 35mm

Lighting - Nikon SB900 and Nikon SB600.
Light Modifier(s) - 60" Westcott shoot through umbrella and a Sto-fen Omni-bounce.
Trigger - Nikon SU800


This shot was taken from a bunch of family shots that i took with my youngest daughters play group.

I set up a background in our dinning room, and then the parents and kids came in for photo's.

With this shot I used a Nikon sb900 and shot through a Westcott 60" shoot through umbrella as my key light. I then used a Nikon sb600 with an omni-bounce to blow out the background and to also give a bit of rim lighting to the side of his face. I need to try a few locations for the background light in order to get the right amount of rim lighting and background light.

This was the first time that I had met Dominic and his mother Aimee, and I think that he was not too sure what to make of me here.

Setting Up the Shot - Dominic

Camera - Nikon D300
Lens - Nikon 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5
Exposure - 1/320 @ f/14.2
Focal Length - 35mm

Lighting - Nikon SB900 and Nikon SB600.
Light Modifier(s) - 60" Westcott shoot through umbrella and a Sto-fen Omni-bounce.
Trigger - Nikon SU800


This shot was taken from a bunch of family shots that i took with my youngest daughters play group.

I set up a background in our dinning room, and then the parents and kids came in for photo's.

With this shot I used a Nikon sb900 and shot through a Westcott 60" shoot through umbrella as my key light. I then used a Nikon sb600 with an omni-bounce to blow out the background and to also give a bit of rim lighting to the side of his face. I need to try a few locations for the background light in order to get the right amount of rim lighting and background light.

This was the first time that I had met Dominic and his mother Aimee, and I think that he was not too sure what to make of me here.

Print of the week - Horns Across the Hawthorne

The selected print of the week is available for purchase in many different mediums over at www.redbubble.com. Click on the photo and check out your ordering options.

Print of the week - Horns Across the Hawthorne

The selected print of the week is available for purchase in many different mediums over at www.redbubble.com. Click on the photo and check out your ordering options.

Two points for Canon

There are a few things that I think Canon does better than Nikon, and they have nothing to do with image quality.

The first is that Canon uses a button combination to change focus modes where Nikon has this three way switch. I am constantly accidentally changing my focus mode with the Nikon switch. I think that Canon has the better idea on this one.

The second is their viewfinder extender, the: EP-EX15. Nikon has the DK-17M, but it is no where near the Canon equivalent. The canon extender sits about ½ an inch out from the camera body where the Nikon equivalent is about ¼ of an inch.

However I have a solution to this. I have modded the Canon EP-EX15 so that it fits onto my Nikon D300. The D300 comes with the DK-23 Rubber Eye cup. This eye cup is made up of three parts: There are two that make up the body of the eye cup and the third is the rubber around the body. You can separate the two parts of the body by removing a couple of small screws.

You then remove the camera side of the Canon EP-EX15 the same way by removing a couple of screws. Once you have the units pulled apart you can take the camera side of the DK-17M and it will fit into the eye side of the EP-EX15. These two parts fit into one another pretty well, but they will not screw together. So how would you fasten these two parts together? Simple: get the crazy glue.

As you place the pieces together you just glue them together from the bottom up and you should be fine.

Once everything is together and the glue has dried you can securely place your hybrid eye cup extender onto your Nikon body. With this easy little mod you can give yourself more room behind the camera and, for me at least, more comfort while shooting.

Just for the record I do prefer Nikon in just about every other instance.

Two points for Canon

There are a few things that I think Canon does better than Nikon, and they have nothing to do with image quality.

The first is that Canon uses a button combination to change focus modes where Nikon has this three way switch. I am constantly accidentally changing my focus mode with the Nikon switch. I think that Canon has the better idea on this one.

The second is their viewfinder extender, the: EP-EX15. Nikon has the DK-17M, but it is no where near the Canon equivalent. The canon extender sits about ½ an inch out from the camera body where the Nikon equivalent is about ¼ of an inch.

However I have a solution to this. I have modded the Canon EP-EX15 so that it fits onto my Nikon D300. The D300 comes with the DK-23 Rubber Eye cup. This eye cup is made up of three parts: There are two that make up the body of the eye cup and the third is the rubber around the body. You can separate the two parts of the body by removing a couple of small screws.

You then remove the camera side of the Canon EP-EX15 the same way by removing a couple of screws. Once you have the units pulled apart you can take the camera side of the DK-17M and it will fit into the eye side of the EP-EX15. These two parts fit into one another pretty well, but they will not screw together. So how would you fasten these two parts together? Simple: get the crazy glue.

As you place the pieces together you just glue them together from the bottom up and you should be fine.

Once everything is together and the glue has dried you can securely place your hybrid eye cup extender onto your Nikon body. With this easy little mod you can give yourself more room behind the camera and, for me at least, more comfort while shooting.

Just for the record I do prefer Nikon in just about every other instance.

Flash Facts - TTL & Manual Metering

For the most part there are two different main ways to meter your flash. TTL metering and manual metering.

TTL stands for 'through the lens'. This type of metering lets your camera make all of the decision for you. What happens is that your camera tells your flash to send out a burst of light. That light is then metered by the camera when it gets reflected back through the lens and into the camera. Once this happens the camera then decides how much power to set the flash to. Then the flash is fired again and the frame is exposed. All of this happens in a fraction of a second. With TTL you will be able to make your decisions about the shutter speed and aperture or you can set everything to auto.

With manual metering you make all of the choices. The easiest way to meter your flash power in manual mode is to use a flash meter. Walk up to your subject and place the meter where you want the brightest exposure at and test fire your flash. You then will get a aperture setting for that exposure. Dial in the settings and take a test shot. Once you have the correct settings dialed in you are good to go.

Both methods have their pluses and minuses. With manual metering you will get the most consistent results. At times the TTL method will vary from frame to frame. Both are good tools to have and I suggest that you become comfortable shooting either way.

If you are just getting your feet wet with off camera flash then I would suggest that you start out in manual metering. With manual metering there are very few surprises and exposure tends to stay put. You can then take what you have learned with manual metering and then give TTL a try and you should be able to predict what is going to happen. Sometime the misses can lead to some fun photography.

All in all don’t get bogged down with the technical side of metering. Give both a shot, make some mistakes and figure out what happened. Eventually you will figure out what works for you and when.

Flash Facts - TTL & Manual Metering

For the most part there are two different main ways to meter your flash. TTL metering and manual metering.

TTL stands for 'through the lens'. This type of metering lets your camera make all of the decision for you. What happens is that your camera tells your flash to send out a burst of light. That light is then metered by the camera when it gets reflected back through the lens and into the camera. Once this happens the camera then decides how much power to set the flash to. Then the flash is fired again and the frame is exposed. All of this happens in a fraction of a second. With TTL you will be able to make your decisions about the shutter speed and aperture or you can set everything to auto.

With manual metering you make all of the choices. The easiest way to meter your flash power in manual mode is to use a flash meter. Walk up to your subject and place the meter where you want the brightest exposure at and test fire your flash. You then will get a aperture setting for that exposure. Dial in the settings and take a test shot. Once you have the correct settings dialed in you are good to go.

Both methods have their pluses and minuses. With manual metering you will get the most consistent results. At times the TTL method will vary from frame to frame. Both are good tools to have and I suggest that you become comfortable shooting either way.

If you are just getting your feet wet with off camera flash then I would suggest that you start out in manual metering. With manual metering there are very few surprises and exposure tends to stay put. You can then take what you have learned with manual metering and then give TTL a try and you should be able to predict what is going to happen. Sometime the misses can lead to some fun photography.

All in all don’t get bogged down with the technical side of metering. Give both a shot, make some mistakes and figure out what happened. Eventually you will figure out what works for you and when.

Setting Up the Shot - Trailing Shadow

Camera - Nikon D300
Lens - Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8
Exposure - 1/200 @ f/13
Focal Length - 32mm

Lighting - Nikon SB900
Light Modifier(s) - 60" Westcott bounce umbrella closed over flash
Trigger - Cactus V4

This was shot in studio with the model just about leaning up against a grey wall. I took my 60" Westcott bounce umbrella and closed it around the strobe that was in it. When you do this the light becomes far more focused wile still retaining some softness.

By having the model so close to the wall I could get a nice and strong shadow from the light source. By moving the light from side to side I could elongate or shorten the shadow to my taste.

I was able to get the grey to go more toward blue by adjusting the white balance.

Setting Up the Shot - Trailing Shadow

Camera - Nikon D300
Lens - Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8
Exposure - 1/200 @ f/13
Focal Length - 32mm

Lighting - Nikon SB900
Light Modifier(s) - 60" Westcott bounce umbrella closed over flash
Trigger - Cactus V4

This was shot in studio with the model just about leaning up against a grey wall. I took my 60" Westcott bounce umbrella and closed it around the strobe that was in it. When you do this the light becomes far more focused wile still retaining some softness.

By having the model so close to the wall I could get a nice and strong shadow from the light source. By moving the light from side to side I could elongate or shorten the shadow to my taste.

I was able to get the grey to go more toward blue by adjusting the white balance.

Print of the week - Crater Lake

The selected print of the week is available for purchase in many different mediums over at www.redbubble.com. Click on the photo and check out your ordering options.

Print of the week - Crater Lake

The selected print of the week is available for purchase in many different mediums over at www.redbubble.com. Click on the photo and check out your ordering options.

Setting Up the Shot - See No Scarlett

Here is an example of what you can do with a very basic bounce flash. I placed a reflector over Scarlett's head and fired my SB900 at it.

I was able to let more shadows in around Scarlett by using a fast shutter speed of 1/3200.

In order to get that shutter speed I used a Nikon SU800 as the flash commander which allows you to get as fast as 1/8000 of a second with CLS capable flash units.

See no Scarlett


Camera - Nikon D300
Lens - Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8
Exposure - 1/3200 @ f/2.8
Focal Length - 70mm

Lighting - Nikon SB900
Light Modifier(s) - White reflector and bounce card
Trigger - Nikon Nikon SU800