Canon has been at this for a long, long time and they realize what it is their customers want, need and expect from them as one of the most well known camera purveyors in existence today.
Click to continue reading “Flash Above The Rest – Canon Speedlite 430EX”
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SB900 using the sun as a hairlight.
I have heard and get asked a lot of questions about Nikon’s CLS’ ability or inability to function in bright daytime conditions. In my experience it really have not been an issue. I pay attention to the speedlight’s position and its sensor location relative to my camera and SU800.
Today’s metering technology is a great asset so I normally let it take the first ‘shot’ at what it sees in a scene. While I have studio lights and a Vagabond II, there is little I haven’t been able to do with my SBs. The above shot was taken with a single SB900.
SB900 powered by SD8A on 36 inch JTL stand with 24 inch Westscott umbrella. I use this rig when I travel because it fits in my suitcase.
It was very sunny in California the day I shot Candice – notice the shadow on the lower left of the umbrella even though the speedlight fired for this behind the scene picture.
In the photograph of Candice above I metered for the shaded portion of her face and let Nikon TTL do the rest.
In the event it does not produce the result I want I adjust the stop (by 1/3 steps) on the speedlight.
Controlled on camera with the SU-800. Both speedlights were set to TTL remote.
Distance is another concern CLS nay-sayers bring up.
In this photograph Jason is holding a 42 inch Wescott umbrella with a SB-800 tucked up in the open ribs point towarded the camera to get the light reflected back to his face.
Behind him is a SB-900 shooting into another 42 inch Wescott umbrella. That c-stand is a good 50 feet away and up the hill about 10-12 feet above Jason’s head.
Line of sight is important – so just pay attention. But I have used the SB8 & 900s behind glass, reflected the signal off of windows, mirrors, cars just about any reflective surface. I have also ‘staged’ the lights to ‘see’ another but not the SU800.
Think of the IR signal like a billiard ball.
I also use the Nikon CLS to fill on cloudy daylight sessions.
While in Phoenix last week I did the entire shoot with these tools:
Stand, Speedlight, umbrella and a model: the only tools you need.
The result:
Single SB900 camera left - TTL triggered with SU800.
The only time I have trouble with the system is when I position myself on the wrong side of the speedlight’s optical sensor or move in front of the flash. I use a ballhead so I can quickly rotate the speedlight into the correct position.
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I finally get a chance to do a shoot in Phoenix. Phoenix = sunshine and moderate winter daytime temperatures right? Not for me – three straight days of rain and 20-45 mph wind.
I had two TF models lined up – one canceled – good call – it was nasty out.
The second day Lindsey and I manged to get some shooting done between rain showers on South mountain. What a sport she was. we worked inside a covered gazebo then walked up the backside of the mountain to get to the ‘hole in the rock’.
Lindsey is a beautiful young truck driving Army reservist who goes on active duty next month with hopes of becoming a helicopter pilot flying Blackhawks.
See more of Lindsey (LC Pace)
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I have tripped and bumped my way through a lot of shooting locations; the act of repositioning the speedlights on stands with modifiers, while not the biggest challenge of any photo session, was an annoyance I didn’t like. Between the umbrella, open or not, and the open legs of an 8ft light stand I have said ‘Excuse me’; Pardon me’ a hundred times.
Indoors; the knocking around furniture, people and doorways is a headache. Outdoors; moving through people, parked cars, shrubs, trees and rocks presents its own challenges. The act of closing the umbrellas and legs every time I want to reposition the lights is both time consuming and then reversing the process at the new position can a bit unprofessional looking. Sometimes while balancing my camera gear too. I’m not as graceful as I used to be.
I’ve been doing the strobist thing for a couple of years and am always looking for a better more efficient way to get the job done. I was shown a Kwik Stand about a year ago by a studio photographer and liked the idea, but soon found out the Kwik Stand Company had gone out of business. Over the past year two companies have come to market with their versions of the folding leg light stand: Denny EZ Stand and Cheetah Stand. I have tried both and chose the Cheetah Stand for several reasons:
There is no real comparison if you take the time to see the differences. The all metal construction of the Cheetah with its slim solid metal legs and rubber rib-footed feet beats out the thin walled tubular legs of the EZ Stand with its flat smooth plastic ones. The EZ Stand feet appear larger but only one edge actually contacts the floor and it slides easily on smooth shiny floors. Maybe it’s a feature and not a flaw; in any case I didn’t care for it.
The legs of both extend on contact with the ground but the EZ Stand does not compress back to its body as closely the Cheetah. Not a huge deal but depending on the space, think church pews, you’re navigating – it just might. The all metal locking clamps and thumb wings of the Cheetah appear to be better suited to hold up over time with field use.
My copy of the EZ Stand did not smoothly extend or compress, the bottom (largest) pole section was very stiff in fact. It’s supposed to be an air cushion stand, why I’m not sure for such a small stand, which may be the reason for the gummed up feel. Fully extended, the EZ Stand is about an inch taller. The tubes are not internally secured (more on this in a minute). The Cheetah on the other hand is quick and smooth without being a hazard to your equipment with common sense and normal equipment care.
In field use neither stand met all my needs. Because of the inherent design required for this type of stand, the center post must extend down to within an inch or so of the surface. This is only a problem, for me anyway, when shooting on very rough uneven terrain like a rocky ledge 
near Lake Grapevine.(Let me add that neither stand was designed nor intended, as far as I know, to be use exactly the way I describe here.) But this is how I found out that the EZ Stand’s main extension tubes are not internally secured.
During a two speedlight shoot, one Cheetah and one EZ stand, I was unable place the opened legs of either stand on the uneven rocky ground. So, in my get the job done mode, I placed (gently wedged/balanced) the stands in-between some rocks. Worked like a charm; got the pictures; time to move on. When I reached out to grab the EZ Stand by the middle tube, balanced upon another rock, to lift it out of the crevice I had half a light stand in my hand. I did not jerk or twist it; it just ‘plop’ came apart. Ten minutes later I moved on with two complete stands. Good news, the tube went back in as easily as it came out.
Now here is a completely mox nix point I noticed, the EZ Stand could be used as a wind chime with all the hollow metal racket it makes when you walk around with it.
So the Cheetah Stand works for me, I now have four of them and they go where I go. Quite, reliable and built to last.
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In Joe McNally‘s CLS video it showed him using a ballhead to align the flashhead along the umbrella stem axis. Made sense that it would distribute the light more evenly; so I bought the rig. Here’s the test results – you decide.
As pointed out in the note above, I forgot the diffuser.
Single SB800 set to TTL into Wescott 42″ shoot through umbrella.
The ballhead is the Manfrotto Lite Tite Swivel+Umbrella Adapter 26
The coldshoe is the Stroboframe Shoe-type Flash Mount Cat. No 300-SHO
I consider this as a ‘nice to know’ experiment only. With the inherent spill associated with shoot through umbrellas and with the difusser on the speedlight the coverage appears to be good. One additional advantage I found with the ballhead set is the ability to quickly rotate the flash body to align the IR sensor to face the camera.
I’ll know better after I field test it.
Sideview
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I shot a corporate annual conference dinner the other evening, then posted the images on-line for the attendees to download. We used flash at the start of the event. In an attempt to capture the feel of the evening I switched to my Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 IF-D and shot wide open at f/1.4 in the dimly lit rooms.
I love the lens for it’s sharpness and speed. It works amazingly well with the high ISO capabilities of the D700 which I had set to ISO 1000.
Nearly all of the feedback I have received were on the photographs with the heaviest bohek.
“Bokeh (derived from Japanese, a noun boke 暈け, meaning “blurred or fuzzy”) is a photographic term referring to the appearance of out-of-focus areas in an image produced by a camera lens using a shallow depth of field.”
I like the bokeh too but the comments got me to thinking about why. I will hazard a guess that it most closely mimics the human eye’s ability to sharply focus and isolate upon a single subject within a busy field of view.
Pay attention to your vision the next time your gaze is fixed on just about anything. Notice the ‘bokeh’ effect of the background when concentrating on your morning coffee cup; the sharpness of the person across the room while all else seems to disappear.
Let me know.
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ACR 4.5 Screen Capture
I stumbled upon an update to the Photoshop CS3 plug-in Adobe Camera Raw 4.5 yesterday. The camera profile function is very cool and recognized my Nikon D-300 NEF raw files on its own.
Not only does this update support Nikon’s Picture Control Files supplied by Nikon with the D300 ( Standard, Neutral, Vivid and Monochrome) but also the 3 D2X PCFs (D2XMODE1, D2XMODE2, D2XMODE3). It does not however come with Ken Rockwell PCF support. See my ducky Picture Control file test here.
On the few images I’ve had time to play with, the application of the Control File settings in the NEF file appears to be a close match to Nikon’s own Capture NX and NX2.
On a recent trip to Washington, DC, see Hassled by the Washington, DC Park Rangers for taking photos, I did the tourist thing early Saturday morning before heading back to Texas. I went out at 7am to avoid the heat and the crowds.
I walked from the Washington Monument, past the World War II Memorial headed for the Lincoln Memorial along the Reflecting Pool. There were a few joggers, a few Ron Paul supporters (interesting group of characters) and city workers. As I approached the Lincoln Memorial a small group of tourists were already starting to mill around. I noticed this black city worker mopping the steps, back and forth, back and forth and I knew right away I wanted to include him in the photograph.
When I got to the bottom of the steps the group of visitors were all over the steps and inside the memorial. The worker patiently continued his work, waiting when the people blocked his path.
Standing there with my Nikon D300, waiting for the moment I wanted to capture I was approached by, wait for it — a Canon shooter. He was carrying two cameras (a Rebel XT and a 5D). We had a brief discussion about the light and our shared hobby. Nice fella; other than the Canon part.
Just as we were parting ways I got this photograph. It’s the best of the three I took of this man maintaining the monument’s appearance. The fact that it is a black man working for the Federal Government at the Lincoln Memorial somehow struck a cord with me. I mean no offense to the man doing an honest job, the fact Lincoln’s eyes appear to be watching him, makes, to me anyway, this photograph sort of special.
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From my Flickr photostream of this image:
Mark Chamberlin says:
“This is a really strong effect. Would you mind divulging what you did to the original image to get it to this point? “
Well Mark, I start with a nice looking model.
Seriously, this photograph was taken almost as framed here. Sometimes when I really like the expression on a wider framed picture I will crop down to the face. this photo of Mona Marie was one in a series of tight shots I took over several minutes, I coached her to look here, there, up and down. I feel this image has the ‘strong effect’ you mention because she is looking pencefully away from the camera.
Orginal photograph
The original image is show here. The first step I took was to spot heal any blemishes (of which there were very few, Mona Marie has very smooth skin), then I did a general smoothing to accommodate the high-key effect. I try to leave enough detail to the face so the larger delicate features are not destroyed.
With this photograph I did add back a bit of color to her lips, but just color, I liked the formation and shape/size as it was. After several bleaching passes to reach the desired effect, I sharpened the image.
Normally I have to resist the urge to tweak more; here I did not.
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Nikon D700 vertical banding issue: It happen to me.
Response (Kevin J.)
11/15/2008 06:26 PM
Dear Ray,
This does in fact look like a banding issue and unfortunately there is nothing I can do over the phone.
I am sorry to say you will in fact have to send your D700 into our facility for evaluation:
Again, Thank you
The Nikon Team
I FedExed my D700 to California today ($87 overnight); Kevin, the Nikon rep I spoke to, tells me it’ll be 3-4 weeks to get it back. I purchased the camera in Albany, GA on September 26, 2008 while visiting my folks, so the camera is, what, 2 months old.
I first saw some vertical banding a couple of photographs I took at a local airport. The red (pink) vertical lines were in the gray overcast sky of two pictures. The sky was a bit overexposed and I ignored it, thinking it was something I did wrong.
Last Saturday I was asked to take a team photograph of my daughter’s (See “My Daughter the Ax Murder” article) high school girls LaCrosse team for their website. The coach was there with her young daughter and I took the opportunity to grab a couple of pictures of her with her little girl. (See attached photo – full sized). The banding was intense, bright and undeniable.
I checked the Nikon website, saw the support office was open and called. I spoke to Kevin who actually told me ‘he’ had not seen any red banding from a D700. I pushed and asked was there a known issue with banding; he again said he had not seen any banding or heard of many at all. We discussed the problem, he opened a trouble ticket, I uploaded the Jpeg to him. Well, I wish I had recorded him when he opened my file; “Wow, I’ve never seen red banding before; it’s usually gray.” No, I didn’t go there.
I have got to tell you: my camera bag full of lenses sure looks empty.
Only 3-4 weeks to go.
UPDATE: November 27: After speaking to a Nikon manager on Tuesday about the problem and possible solutions I arrived home yesterday to find a brand new D700. They replaced the camera.
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