Life seen through the lens of photographer Phil Steele
I know many of you love photography e-books because they are:
(a) Inexpensive,
(b) Easy to refer back to any time,
(c) Portable on all your devices, and
(d) Did I mention inexpensive?
Well, while I was busy finishing my Event Photography course, two of my favorite photography teachers put out great new e-books that I am long overdue in bringing to your attention.
Let’s look at each separately. (more…)
As I wrote recently, I’m taking a video course by Mike Kelley called Where Art Meets Architecture.
You can see my first attempts at photographing an interior, and how it went right (and wrong) in the video above.
Click here for full details and to buy the course
This is possibly the best photography course I’ve ever seen. (more…)
The wizards at Phottix just keep cranking out awesome new products.
In the past I’ve raved about their excellent Odin and Strato flash triggers, and now I’m here to sing the praises of their latest innovation in third-party flashes for Canon and Nikon (with Sony coming soon).
It may seem a bit of a stretch to describe a new third-party flash as “important” but I’m going to tell you why I think the Phottix Mitros and Mitros+ flashes are groundbreaking and why they may help level the photography playing field. (more…)
When you shop from my Amazon links, you buy me a beer!
You can also watch this on YouTube: Yongnuo YN622C Flash Trigger Review
The winning outfit. Looks strange? Read the explanation below. Click to enlarge
I love shooting fashion shows. They combine several of my favorite aspects of event photography into one package: interesting lighting, beautiful people, music, and night-life. (more…)
We’ve talked in the past about how it harms the photography industry when amateur photographers give away photos that they should be charging clients for.
Afternoon sunlight with reflector. Lightroom post-production with filter from Pretty Presets. Canon 5D Mk II and Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS. Settings 90mm, ISO 200, f/4.5, 1/320 sec.
The flip side of this coin is that we all encounter many opportunities for trade, where it makes perfect economic sense to swap our photographic skills for something of value in return. (more…)
Phottix Odin Transmitter
My Phottix Odin flash triggers just arrived, and oh, man, it’s like Christmas came early at my house.
Finally a gear-maker has delivered all the features I’ve been wanting in a flash trigger for years!
Seriously, I can’t think of anything that is missing from these triggers. Technology has finally caught up to my fantasy wish list.
So, why is this trigger a big deal? (more…)
Phottix Strato II Multi
If you follow my product reviews at my photography training website, you probably know that the Phottix Strato has long been my favorite radio trigger for off-camera flash photography.
(If you want to learn why, you can watch my video review of the Strato.)
Well, the geniuses at Phottix have just improved on perfection by creating the new STRATO II MULTI flash trigger. (more…)
For the full gallery click here. (Requires Flash, sorry iPad users.)
This was supposed to be a sunset shoot on a gorgeous rooftop of a high-rise downtown. We had the perfect angle to place the setting sun behind the models for dazzling backlight effect.
Everybody ready? Lights, camera, action…
Clouds.
Oh well. I’m on a roof with several beautiful models, so we’re going to make the most of it. Switch to plan B.
Since we had a gray day I tried to create dramatic lighting and dramatic effects in post-processing to make the best of the situation. Underexpose the sky (oops, missed that in some shots when my camera got bumped into Av mode instead of Manual. How did that happen?). Add some vignette in processing and punch up the blacks, etc.
I’m not sure I really succeeded, in getting exactly what I wanted, but do I like some of the shots. And more importantly, I learned some things from my mistakes. Sometimes that is more useful than getting exactly what you planned for.
This was all lit with Speedlites. The techniques I’m experimenting with here are all part of the preparation for an upcoming course on “Advanced Off-Camera Flash.”
I’ll keep you posted on that.
