My New Camera Strap
I don’t usually talk about photo products, because that’s not the point of my blog (and no one sends me stuff to review!). But I just got something cool for Christmas and I wanted to share it with other photographers out there. I have no affiliation with this company, and my mother-in-law paid full price for the strap.
Ok so first off: a camera strap? I’m excited about a camera strap? Yeah sounds a bit stupid. I needed a camera strap for a little-used camera, and decided to put it on my Christmas list. I’d heard about the “R-Strap” from Black Rapid, and figured hey since I’m not paying for it, might as well ask for something a little nicer than a basic strap.
I had a camera with me when I opened my gifts at the in-laws, and as soon as put it on, I knew. I knew this was The Strap For Me. It was a real “oh yeah!” moment.
The strap slings over one shoulder like you might carry a courier bag, and the camera hangs down at your side when not in use. This is much easier on your neck over long periods of time. Yes you can do that with a regular camera strap, but you don’t normally because it’s inconvenient to actually shoot that way.
But there are two main advantages compared to slinging a regular camera strap over your shoulder: one, the camera attaches to the strap via the tripod thread on the bottom of the camera, so it hangs upside down at your side, with your lens usually pointing backward. This keeps the camera out of the way. Also, since it connects to the tripod socket, you can swap cameras out relatively quickly, and might only need one strap in your camera bag.
And two, the camera attaches to the main strap by means of a loop that slides up and down the strap. So to bring the camera up to your face, you don’t have to slide the whole strap around your body. The strap stays in place, and the camera, tethered by a loop, slides freely up and down. There is a clasp at the bottom that acts as a “stop” for the camera, so it doesn’t swing too far backward. The action is almost like picking your camera off a table, it’s that frictionless. But when you set it down again, it’s still attached to your body.
I was really surprised at how much lighter my camera felt when using this strap, because the weight is distributed differently. This was really my ’surprise gift’ of the season, even though I had requested it!
Elinchrom Ranger Quadra: Solves All But ONE Problem
Yikes. Just saw this video on Scott Kelby’s site for the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra strobe system. It solves every single one of my location-lighting problems…except one.
The strobe heads are incredibly small and light. The battery pack is incredibly small and light. The power output is incredibly large (for the size) and puts out a lot of…light. This is the perfect walk-around-and-shoot set up.
With one exception: purchasing this system would make my wallet incredibly small and light. $2200 street price for two heads and the battery pack. Sheesh. Or 30 years of waiting to get these at a reasonable price on ebay.
But hey, there’s always the rental option.
Zoom and Shoot Through It
Today I finally got around to testing my strobes and the power they put out through various light modifiers. Yes, a slow day indeed! I was able to get a better sense of f-stops, distances and such, and learned some interesting (I’m using that word loosely) and surprising things. And to my non-photographically-minded readers (clients, etc), my apologies for such a dry post. 
So put on your nerd hat, and let’s dive in.
[click "continue reading" below for more…]
Hot White and Super Fast
One of the ways I market my photography is by using ‘photobooks’. I make arrangements with local coffee houses, doctor’s offices etc to host my book. It’s a very ‘ambient’ style of marketing (and not the only thing I use), but people stumble across it and it’s been a very effective way to show people my work. It’s time to do a new one, and I decided I would shoot something specifically for the cover this time, rather than use existing material. The contents of the book will be updated to reflect the last six months or so of new clients (which I still have to put that together!).
Read on for lighting diagrams and info on the shoot.
[click "continue reading" below for more…]
Quick Tip: People Deserve Tripods!
If you’re a ‘people’ photographer, your clients deserve tripods!
I used to shoot with a combination of digital and film (although it’s mostly just digital these days). I would typically mount the large, heavy medium-format camera on a tripod, and hold the digital SLR in my hands. But I began to notice that my film shots, which were usually a small percentage of the total shots taken, seemed to have a much higher ‘hit ratio’ in terms of the subjects’ expressions and emotions. More real smiles, etc. I’m pretty sure this was because the film camera was mounted on a tripod!
The reason is not because the tripod steadies the camera, which of course is its primary purpose. It’s because if the camera is on a tripod, it’s not in front of my face. If clients can see my face, they can interact with me better, I can make jokes and they take cues from my smiles, and the result is a better image. Even when I shoot hand-held, I tend to focus and compose, and then move my face around the side of my camera slightly so people can see me. But with a tripod, it’s even better! I’m not some scary camera-robot with a human torso and legs, which might put some people off.
As an added side benefit, I’m not always worrying about low shutter speeds as the sun sets. The tripod allows me to shoot much longer before having to bump up the ISO (which results in having to change the settings on the lights, etc).
Using a tripod is most beneficial when your subjects are stationary, and you are shooting a more formal, composed image. Tripods are not much use when you’re trying to shoot small children running around on the beach for example, or when models are doing model stuff.
So lately I’ve been making an effort to use the tripod for many group shots. I was missing out on an aspect of tripod usage that wasn’t so obvious: that it’s a great client relationship tool.
So even if you’ve got the latest anti-vibration camera and a lens that opens up to f/1.4, I still say give it a try. Your clients deserve tripods!
Christmas Tree Trimming (with Off-Camera Lighting)
Just a little family-fun posting here, along with some nerdy technical lighting. Yes, that’s right, I bring joy to Christmas by hiding small flash units around the living room. My wife barely gave me a look this time…she’s used to this sort of thing by now. But hey, a little lighting takes even snapshots to a new level. For this impromptu group shot above, I even got the dog to look at the camera. A first!
A high-tech lighting diagram, and more family fun follows. And by the way, this is all out of the strobist handbook. I didn’t invent this. I just have a cuter family.
[click "continue reading" below for more…]
Small-Strobe Lighting Seminar
Well I’m no David Hobby, but a couple of weekends ago I conducted a small-strobe off-camera lighting seminar for a professional organization I belong to, Channel Islands Professional Photographers Association (CIPPA). I had originally planned to conduct it in a city park, so that I could demonstrate the use of ambient sunlight and balancing flash. But it rained that weekend, so at the last minute we moved it to the Mystique Studio. Thanks Leanne and Brenda for letting us use your space! I don’t remember the exact number, but we had roughly 10–12 attendees.
We also had two models help us out for the seminar. Cassie and Laura were very gracious and professional, even though there was a fair amount of sitting around while I talked. Much thanks to them as well!
All of the shooting was done with one or two lights. I started out with a single hard light (below). Hard light like this gives a very 40’s movie-star portrait look.
[click "continue reading" below for more…]
Tutorial: ‘Degrunge’ Skin Retouching
While I’m sure all of you would prefer to look at a beautiful model for this tutorial, you’re going to have to put up with my ugly mug again. After all, none of my clients need skin retouching. 
But I certainly could use a little.
This is a skin retouching technique called “degrunge”. I think I first read about it on retouchpro.com, and am elaborating on that technique. I did not invent this, but this is how I use it.
[click "continue reading" below for more…]
Tutorial: “The Highpass/Hard Light Look”
Here’s a more in-depth tutorial on the “Highpass/Hard Light” look. By the way, this probably has a better name, but no one’s ever told me it if there is.
[click "continue reading" below for more…]
DIY Light Panel Diffuser
Nerd warning: technical photographic stuff.
I like to build my own photographic devices, whether it’s homemade lenses or lighting equipment. I recently built a large light diffuser panel based on the old ‘Tinker Tubes’ plans. It’s made out of PVC pipe, and cloth I bought from the fabric store. My first test shows that it works nicely! The diffuser drops the light about 2 stops from ‘hard light’, which is pretty good. My umbrellas have about the same performance. I don’t anticipate taking this to the beach, but it’ll be useful for studio or in-home work.
Oh and it cost me about $40 (as opposed to $300) and about three hours of work.
First the results. My youngest son, who is always up for a quick portrait shoot.
[click "continue reading" below for more…]
