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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Merry Christmas!

NASTY CLAMPS

A while ago, I got my hands on couple of Nasty Clamps for review, and I have not been able to put them down since. The Nasty Clamps are a very simple idea that is extremely well executed and also made right here in Oregon.

What they are is a very strong spring clamp mounted on the end of an articulation arm made up of medium sized segments. At the end of the assembly there is a standard ¼ 20 male mounting thread and locking ring to keep whatever you mount on it tight and stable.

I took the Clamps out for a spin with me on a location shoot at a local radio station where I was meeting my client to take some head shots. We set up in the conference room with a standard portable backdrop and started taking some shots. After getting the traditional staple shots we moved around the room working on some environmental portraits. I wanted to work with the large table in the center of the room but setting up my flashes on it with stands either brought the light way too high or without the stands way too low. That is when I busted out the Nasty Clamps to see what I could do with them in this situation.

I mounted one of my flashes on the ¼ 20 thread and then clamped it to the back of one of the rolling office chairs next to my subject. Then I placed a Rogue XL Pro Lighting Kit to the mounted flash. I have to admit that I did not think that the Clamp would hold the weight of the flash and the modifier, but it did and was rock solid through all of my position adjustments. Once I began shooting it was very easy to make adjustments to the Nasty Clamp and its’ long multi segmented arm gave me a fantastic range of movement to get my light in just the spot I wanted it to be in, and better yet, it kept it there!

The Nasty Clamp itself is made out of high quality metal with a black coating over it and the tips are coated in a thick rubber like material that gives it exceptional gripping power. The arm assembly is made up of numerous segmented joints that have a ball and socket like interface that has just the right amount of resistance to keep the arm from slipping when objects are mounted to it.

The more I take the Nasty Clamps out with me the more I find uses for them. They come in very handy for holding accent flashes that are tucked away in awkward places. They have totally earned a permanent spot in my bag every time I go out to shoot.  I cannot recommend the Nasty Clamp enough for an everyday item in your bag especially if you are a location shooter.

For more information on the Nasty Clamps and their other products check out their site at www.nastyclamps.com.

Setting Up the Shot - Red Sierra 2

Camera - Nikon D2X
Lens - Nikon 50mm f/1.8G AF-S
Exposure - 1/250 @ f/7.1
Focal Length - 50mm
Lighting - LumoPro LP180, and LP160
Light Modifier(s) - Rogue XL Pro Strip Box
Trigger - Pixel Opas

Two light set up. The key light is a LP180 with a Rogue XL Pro Strip Box as the modifier to camera right. I feather the edge of the light to create a deep shadow on the opposite side o he subjects face.

The second light was a LP160 and was set up off to camera left with the flash head zoomed to about 105mm to create a controlled and slightly vignetted spot on the background directly behind the subjects head and shoulders.This second light was needed in order to create some separation between the subject and the background and to provide some depth to the picture.

An Update on Flickr Wall Art

We’re sorry we let some of you down.

About a month ago, we introduced Flickr Wall Art to allow our members to order printed photos on wood or canvas. Over the past few weeks, we’ve received a lot of feedback from the community and beyond — while some expressed their excitement about the new photography marketplace and the value it would bring, many felt that including Creative Commons-licensed work in this service wasn’t within the spirit of the Commons and our sharing community.

We hear and understand your concerns, and we always want to ensure that we’re acting within the spirit with which the community has contributed. Given the varied reactions, as a first step, we’ve decided to remove the pool of Creative Commons-licensed images from Flickr Wall Art, effective immediately. We’ll also be refunding all sales of Creative Commons-licensed images made to date through this service.

Subsequently, we’ll work closely with Creative Commons to come back with programs that align better with our community values.

The Wall Art service will continue to be available, but will not tap into Creative Commons-licensed images. You’ll still be able to order Wall Art from your own photostream, as well as the work of Flickr’s licensed artists, who are part of the Flickr Marketplace. If you want your work to appear in the Flickr Marketplace, you can sign up here to be considered and a member of the Flickr curation team will reach out if your work is a good fit.

From the beginning, we’ve worked hard to foster a community of creators. It’s our deep commitment to the Flickr community that inspires us everyday. Please continue to share your ideas and feedback.

Bernardo Hernandez
VP of Flickr

Flash Facts – Bounce Flash

One flash rule to remember is that the larger the light source, the softer the light. The smaller the light source, the harder the light. This means that the larger soft light will have softer edges in the shadows and the smaller hard light will have a more defined edge at the shadows. This technique also works very well with ceilings.

One very easy way to turn the small light from your shoe mounted flash into a large soft light source is to bounce your flash light off of a nearby wall. You do this by having the person you are photographing move near a wall or large solid surface, then you rotate your shoe mounted flash so that it is facing the opposite wall and not directly at your subject.

When you fire the flash it is going to bounce off of the wall that it is aimed at and turn into a much larger light source, thus creating a softer edge for your shadows.

One thing to keep in mind when using this technique is the color of the wall. The color of the wall is going to influence the color of the light hitting the subject. By this I mean that if you have a white wall to bounce your flash off of it is not going to be that big of a deal, but if the wall is, let's say red, then that will tint your light with red.

There are a few different way to counteract this light tinting problem. The two easiest way is by either changing the white balance of the flash, or by changing the light from the flash with a colored gel. The exact color and white balance combinations will depend on the color of the area, the wall, and also by what color you want the light to be.

Depending of the color of the surface I will usually start with the white balance for color correction. When it is warm or cool colors changing the white balance is the easiest. I suggest you correct the white balance in camera during the shoot, but you can change it in post as well.