Family heirlooms provide insight into generations gone by.  This is Mary Jung’s vase given to my wife.  She loves this ceramic vase, especially the Lord’s Prayer written on it.

I took this shot with my homemade straw grid on a 285HV on a black acrylic sheet.  If you find this page and were lucky enough to know Mary, then you’ll know how much this heirloom means to my wife.

“For the Kingdom of Heaven” is my first hand picture.  With a single 285HV flash behind a small softbox 45 degrees to the left at 7ft high this shot has some great contrast.  Of course, I’m using the 50mm still.

I was busy playing with my garage sale gear from last weekend (wishing I had bought more) and took this self portrait.  There’s three 285HV flashes triggered by Cactus v4s in this shot plus an obnoxious hair light.  Even with a 9 foot ceiling that hair light is really overbearing.  I rarely call Chris in to view my photos, but I did on this one.  She like’s the wedding ring in this photo the best! 

Now debuting, our family pet, Sissy!  She’s a 7 year old 3 pound Yorkie.  Two Canon speedlights at 45 degree offsets behind umbrellas with a straw grid snoot doing the highlight (trusty 285HV).  All triggered with Cactus v4 wireless triggers.

The look is timeless.  This is one of those photos that you can hang up for the next twenty years and never quite know if it was taken yesterday or not.

Strobist Info:  550EX behind a shoot through umbrella at 1/2 power about 3 feet in front of the model.  Fired by Cactus v4 triggers

Flickr Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_reynolds/4111631008/

Normally, I put a bunch of detailed photo info here.  But this photo is so good I’m just getting it out here as quick as I can and dispensing with junk.

Incredibly great video shot with mostly natural light (if not all natural light).  There’s a lesson to be learned here about low budget/high caliber video too.  Thanks to Allyson Kalie for the music suggestion.

 
This is what she looked like today...nothing much else to it.  I was supposed to be taking Christmas photos and wouldn't you know it she took my hat and put it on herself.  Then the defiant look of you're so not going to take this from me.

Strobist:  1/4 power 550EX behind a shoot through umbrella to the models right.  Triggered by Cactus v4s.

Photo Info:

Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 32 mm
Exposure: +1.15
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Strobist

Flickr Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_reynolds/4104925098/

I've always liked the thumb assisted knives.  This one has managed to stick with me for the last year.  Leatherman makes a nice aggresive looking knife that's just as fun to carry as it is practical.

Strobist:  1/2 power 285HV above the knife.  I'm using my homemade straw grid snoot.  Cactus v4 triggers made this shot.

Photo Info:

Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/7.1
Focal Length: 39 mm
Exposure: 0.00
ISO Speed: 125
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Strobist

Flickr Link:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_reynolds/4088861532/

Pine Car Derby racing is one of the most exciting things a Cub Scout can do. The funny thing is the Dad's... they have just as many meltdowns as the kids.  This year I’m helping organize the event for our Pack.  As a fundraiser for the new track I’m setting up my mobile photography studio and snapping shots of the cars and the scouts.  I’ll be exploring several different setups for posting and feedback.

Strobist Info:  Single flash (285HV) with a homemade straw grid snoot place directly above the car.  Triggered by Cactus v4 triggers.

Flickr Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_reynolds/4084236923/

Photo Info:

Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 90 mm
Exposure: 0.00
ISO Speed: 125
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Strobist

You can’t  help but smile when you are playing in the pool.  Kinda’ like you can’t help but yell at your brother when he splashes you either.

Strobist Info:  30 degrees behind the model is a 550EX laying flat on the ground at full power.  45 degrees and to the left of the model is the 285HV at half power.  Both triggered by the Cactus v4 triggers. 

Flickr Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_reynolds/4054053429/

Photo Info:

Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 140 mm
Exposure: 0.00
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Strobist

I’ve never been a good swimmer.  I can float on my back all day and get a bright red sunburn.  The kid and I have very similar swimming styles…not pretty but it gets us to the other side.

Strobist info:  285HV and Canon 550EX bare bulb.  One to the left of the subject and one pretty straight on.  Triggered by Cactus v4 triggers.

Photo Info:

Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 125 mm
Exposure: 0.00
ISO Speed: 800
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Strobist

Flickr link:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_reynolds/4051385745/

Tonight, Dylan and I were talking about Art class while we were building in the basement.  I was thirteen at the time and in the eighth grade.  Many times I had seen my father use a chisel but I had yet to make my mark on the world with one.  Turns out that back when I was in school, knives didn’t get you 45 days in the kid slammer.  Instead our Art teacher, Mr. Wardlaw encouraged us to use knives and chisels to carve an owl out of a log.  That’s right we started out with a LOG!  Eight weeks later I was taking home an owl.  I doubt Dylan will carve an owl, but I’m glad he got to see me use a chisel instead of the typical power tools.

Strobist info:  Directly above the chisel and to the camera’s right was my trusty 285HV in a straw gridded snoot at 1/16 power.  At camera level and to the right was a bare Canon 550EX at 1/128 power all triggered by Cactus V4 triggers.

Photo info:

Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length:  125mm
Exposure: 0.00
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Strobist, two flashes

Flicker link: 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_reynolds/4009924955/

My blog is a way I collect links and where I publicly spend a minute or two reflecting on those links.  The last few days I’ve viewed a couple dozen “how to” photography videos and I came upon one I wanted to embed in this site.  However, this feature was disabled by the author on YouTube.  I’m sure he’s experienced a bit of frustration with people cross posting his content, but I view this a bit different…I actually like when people re-use my content on their web sites and attribute me as the author.  While I’ll post a link on this outdoor photographers video, I did hesitate in promoting the link on this web site.  I’m curious if there were other’s who wouldn’t post this video link on their own web sites, but not so much as to want to search them out and put their comments here!

Link in question: 

PhotoGavin created a great video on the basics of using a flash outdoors.  Incorporating the final photos while the video runs makes this an exceptional learning tool.  Loved the use of the wireless synchs and the 1/250th synch speed note.

This is a video that only a photographer will appreciate.  Seriously, a guy who uses his flying super power to save a photoshoot?

After spending many evenings and tens of hours matting my photos and putting them into frames there are two things that make the job easier.  First, is a rocket blower to remove any fine particles from the edges of the frame and the more important tool is your glass cleaner.  The glass cleaner of choice in my household is from Olathe Glass in Olathe, Kansas.

Before I go revealing the brand and all that I’ll tell you about the shot.  I set this up with one strobe, a 285HV set on 1/4th power.  I used a homemade, straw gridded snoot to make the spotlight.  I had a hard time deciding on what background to use.  After trying the fireplace and look around what props I had laying around I decided to make the shot simple by using my kitchen table with the simulated oak pattern.  I wanted to build the tension so I shot on the dark side of the product first to hide the brand, then I switched camera position and moved the label side.  To find out the brand you may have to enlarge the photo and you will certainly have to scroll past the rest of my photo information.  By the way Olathe Glass, thank you for distributing a fine product, in my humble opinion the best glass cleaner in all of Olathe!

Photo info:

Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 40 mm
Exposure: 0.00
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Strobist, single flash

Flickr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_reynolds/3876193933/

The new season of Mad Men is about to start and there is a lot of advertising cropping up.  Seeing the details of the photo shoot really gives some perspective of how much $$$ is being thrown into advertising.  I keep thinking it would be nice to have a budget like that!  In any event here’s a video of the poster creation for this season.

This photo was taken in my drive way as I was just flashin’ around.  I would have liked to reduced some shadows on the left side of his face but in the end I decided enough of his character shows through to make an interesting presentation.

Photo info:

Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 40 mm
Exposure: -1.91
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off Camera
Location:  Olathe, Kansas

Strobist info:
Canon 550EX on the right at 1/16 power behind an umbrella.  285HV on the left...it's bare because I haven't bought another shoot through umbrella.

This was the first time I'd had a chance to try two flashes, one was fired off with my Cactus v4 trigger and the other via a cord.  I got the second trigger ordered but it's not here yet!

Today, I was playing with my camera outside with my 285HV and the new Cactus v4 wireless triggers and took the flash off camera.  The flash is underneath his head and to the right about 3 feet, set on wide angle and dialed down to 1/8th power.  The pose is the model’s favorite, which tends to create a good natural looking pic. 

I’ve read numerous cases where the Cactus triggers are called “Poverty Wizards”, though I believe the true poverty wizards are those shipped directly from China and heavily modified by their owners.  The v4s are great and I haven’t experienced a misfire yet and all of my 100+ flashes have fired exactly as expected.  My next test will be to see how far I can go before the transmitter doesn’t send enough signal to the receiver. 

If you’d like to check out the whole off-camera flash, aka strobist, movement try David Hobby’s web site, the Strobist.

• The original Strobist Boot Camp
• Strobist Assignments
• Lighting 101

Questions and comments are welcome and I’ll attempt to point you into any tutorials I might deem helpful.

After reading Dustin Diaz’s day 162 post I’m in the middle of rethinking the way I set up a lights in an outdoor setting.  Dustin does a lot of self portraits and if I am to enter that space I need a wireless trigger soon, too <that’s a hint for my upcoming birthday, honey>.  I’m a relative newbie to photography and have primarily shot available light when outdoors, however; now that I have shot 23 elementary classes in a singe day and used a flash outdoors I’m going to need to take into account setting up my flashes so they don’t get destroyed. 

The first thing I’m changing is in the past I did not secure my stands… I need to get some sandbags and get serious about protecting my equipment.  While two flashes is not a lot, I really do *need* my Vivitar 285HV and my Canon 550EX to survive, so one day I can make enough cash to upgrade.

I’m curious though if Dustin really does adjust for exposure (his step 3) before he gets his lights and modifiers in place (step 4).  I would have shot a few test shots to see how close I was before making adjustments.  Maybe that’s why he’s the pro and I’m the rookie looking to crack into the ranks of the pros!

Thanks Dustin for all your tips and lighting diagrams!  U R da’ man.