Ringlight in a Pinch

Reader Andrew Smith has posted a self portrait and a lighting diagram that show you how to set up an umbrella so that it acts like a ring light.

I have used this technique before to varying success. But then I probably block a little more of an umbrella than does Andrew. Still worth a try if you have nice background to work with, as in his example.

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Speedlinks, 9/29/2007

• Fish has advice on getting your photo gear past the highly trained TSA professionals.

• Jason shows you where to score some cheap black straws.

• Okay, after reading the T-O-P review, I am definitely getting a G-9 now.

• Here's how to tie-dye your own muslin background if you are gonna, like, shoot some hippies, man.

• If you are shooting for this outdoor advertising company, you'd better be shooting RAW.

• With a bag full of company-supplied, high-end Nikon digital gear at his disposal, fellow Sun shooter Chris Assaf prefers to work with cheap, plastic, film-suckin' Holgas.

• Need money? Here's a fine selection of photographic career opportunities, courtesy blogger Alec Soth. (First order of bidness: Dress the part.)

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Site Update 9/26

Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to present to you the latest site updates.
Check out this edition of YouTube News, presented by your local funny news guy pzottolo.



Hot off the press, here is a breakdown of these exciting new changes.

NEW NONPROFIT GRANTS PROGRAM

With this new premium channel-type, nonprofit organizations will have the ability to embed a Google Checkout donation button on their channel and video watch pages that allows people to make a contribution directly from YouTube (no transaction fees included). To apply for this program, nonprofit organizations should go to www.youtube.com/nonprofits.

WATCH 3.0 NOW LIVE!

Since launching the beta version of the new video watch page back in June, we've received lots of helpful suggestions from all of you.
The new watch page is now live for all videos on YouTube. Here are some of the changes we made to the beta version that were based directly on your feedback.

- The video description will stay located on the upper right hand side, where it had been previous to the beta version.
- You now have the option of viewing "Related Videos" in both grid and list style.
- The new "More Videos From This Channel" section shows you a list of up to 30 other videos hosted on the same channel.
- We condensed the video actions to the four that you care about the most: 'Share', 'Favorite', 'Add to Playlists' and 'Flag'.

These are some items we didn't change on the original beta version, since most people were happy with the result:

- Ads no longer appear above the video on the watch page.
- "Promoted Videos" have been moved to the bottom of the page.
- The video size is now larger!
- We now have progressive downloading, so you no longer have to wait for the video to buffer in order to jump ahead.
- When you switch to full screen mode, the video will continue from the point where you left off (the video will not start from the beginning).

We encourage you to send us an email, make a video response or post a comment here to let us know what you think of these new features.

Carry on YouTubians, and don't forget to tune in again next time,
The YouTube Team

The Unrest in Myanmar

As the biggest protests in 20 years rage against the government in Myanmar, YouTube has become a window into the violence occurring there. Large crowds, punctuated by hundreds of monks wearing saffron robes, are protesting the army's relocation of citizens and use of forced labor. Press reports claim 10 civilian casualties so far, though reports on the ground suggest that number could be much higher.



Some of those reports are coming from citizens who are uploading videos of these protests in the face of an intense governmental crackdown on the media. This video is one of nine clips uploaded by a user who joined YouTube just four days ago and has gained so much attention that it made the front page of the Wall Street Journal today.







Others have used YouTube to advocate for Myanmar's civilians as well. Witness, a human rights group that uses video as an advocacy tool, has this documentary about the conflict in Myanmar. And a few weeks ago, actor Jim Carrey posted this video call to action on behalf of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's democratically-elected leader who has been held in prison by the military since the late 1980s.







The Myanmar government has closed Internet cafes in Rangoon and disconnected most of the country's cell phone lines, but videos like these are already up, raising awareness of the situation unfolding now.



Best,

Steve G. aka Citizentube

YouTube News & Politics

Watch Chase Jarvis' NYC Photoshelter Talk

Web 2.0 types that they are, the folks at PhotoShelter have uploaded Chase's entire, 55-minute presentation to the web. Usually, you only get about 3.5 minutes of Chase on the YouTube vids. But he is really worth watching long-form.

Don't get so caught up in all of the trappings (dude travels with a DJ) that you miss all of the valuable experience he is throwing at you. Good stuff.

Better yet: Grover and Allen put the entire panel discussion and the presentation of photo buyer Catherine Talese up on their blog, too. You're gonna need a large popcorn for all of this.

(We had miniburgers, coconut shrimpy things and beer...)

Thanks to PhotoShelter for the extra effort for those who could not be there.

____________________________________

Oh, and since you know you are reading this Chase, I did go out and buy me an hour-long "Ibiza After Hours" iTunes mix ($9.95) for my presentations. I think ya hear me knockin'...

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Paris Seminar Registration Opens

UPDATE: The October 27 Paris seminar is sold out. Full details for the event are after the jump.


Venue and Schedule

We will be meeting at the Hotel Sofitel Baltimore - Paris (hotel info | map).

We'll check in at 0900, and get started at 0930. The morning will be for lighting theory, then we'll break for lunch. During the afternoon we'll be in demonstration mode, playing with lighting setups and discussing the results.

We'll go until approximately 1700 hours (5:00 p.m.) at which point they'll kick us out. So we'll move to a nearby watering hole and keep a less formal (and more liquid) discussion going for those who are interested.


Logistics and Details

The price is €159, payable via PayPal at the link below. If you experience an unavoidable change in plans, full refunds will be issued until October 18th, after which 50% refunds will be available until October 24th. After that time, you will be responsible for transferring your seat to another attendee.

For my part, I have every expectation of being there. The airline tickets are purchased, the meeting room is booked and paid for, as is my apartment in Paris. If something happens that is beyond my control (plane crash, heart attack, abducted by aliens, etc.) full refunds will be issued, and limited to the actual ticket price.

There will be a Flickr thread posted shortly for questions and/or discussion. (UPDATE: It is here.) Of particular interest are the local lunch choices. So if you are based in the City of Light, (gotta love that nickname in this context) we'd love to have your input on local food. I'll be checking out the immediate area during the week before, and will post what I find out.

We are right next to a Metro station (Boissière) which should make transportation relatively easy.

Very important: The seminar will be in English. I will make every effort to be as understandable as possible, but trust me when I say that you do not want me trying my French out on you. (It's pretty bad.)

Also, there will be no waiting list on this one, as managing it would be very difficult from the road during the week before the seminar.

And finally, I am very much looking forward to being in Paris next month. And especially to getting to hang out with you guys and talk about some cool light. We're gonna have fun.

Important: Please save your emailed receipt from PayPal as that will help us more quickly check you in on the morning of the seminar.
__________________________

(The Paris Seminar is sold out.)
:: QnA/Planning/Discussion Thread ::

Ubercharger Lacks Only Diamond-Encrustedness

Full disclosure: We are practically battery fetishists here at Strobist.

And the La Crosse Technology BC-900 Alpha Battery Charger makes our Wally-Mart Ni-MH chargers look like pieces of crap. This thing will charge your flash batts at user-selectable rates, condition them, measure their voltages and capacity.

You want to be nice to your batts and slow-charge them all night long. No prob.

Need them charged fast and rough for a job this afternoon? Okeydokey.

Wanna know if your batts are up to spec, maH-wise? Your BC-900 will tell you.

(More info and links after the jump.)

It comes in full kit mode for $79.95. (UPDATE FROM THE COMMENTS: Only $53.94 $39.99 at Amazon, w/free shipping.) But that includes 8 AA's, 4 AAA's and adapters to convert the AA's to C's or D's. Nice touch. But frankly, it's the charger I am interested in. I could use this baby in rotation with my El Cheapo-Martos and have a decent idea of my batteries' general health as I rotate various sets through the Ubercharger.

See what all of the fancy displays tell you here. And for $79.95, the Ubercharger comes with it's own demo video. (But of course.)

______________________________________

• Product page, w/full info: BC-900 Alpha Battery Charger
• Cheaper, on Amazon (with very informative review)

(UPDATE #2: Amazon set comes with 4 AA's, instead of 8, but includes 4 each of the "D" and "C" adapters.)

(Thanks to Tony for the initial heads-up, and commenters for better pricing info.)
______________________________________


Meanwhile, Up in the Cheap Seats

Costco apparent has a similar package with the slow-discharge Eneloops, sans the Ubercharger part. They call it the "Power Pack," and you can find them on the end-caps (which, granted, in a Costco can mean a 1/4-mile walk.)

Here's what you get according to Curtis, who tipped me off:

1 battery charger
8 AA batteries (2000 mAh)
4 AAA batteries
2 C adapters
2 D adapters
1 Nifty Blue Carry Case for it all

Total price: $26.

Sweet. These things are getting cheaperer and betterer.

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JWLPhoto Strikes Again

Man, I am digging Jason Lee's photos of his kids so much I should be paying his Flickr stream rent.

What a great idea: Using a flash set on stroboscopic mode to give your angel wings. This is absolute genius.

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Broadcast Your Cause: The YouTube Nonprofit Program

Does your nonprofit organization have a great story to tell? Do you want to connect with supporters online but don't have the money for expensive outreach campaigns? Or are you just looking for ways to do a bit of good in the world?



YouTube has been used by many nonprofits in their online advocacy campaigns, and today we make that process even easier with the launch of the YouTube Nonprofit Program.



If you're a nonprofit (in the U.S., that means you have 501(c)(3) tax filing status), you can apply for a designated "nonprofit" channel, which will include increased branding capabilities and video uploading capacity, rotation in the "promoted videos" areas on YouTube, and the option to embed a Google Checkout gadget on your channel to drive your online fundraising efforts – we'll even waive the transaction fees. Here's a quick video containing tips we've learned from nonprofits that might help your organization:







Several nonprofits are already using YouTube in their outreach; in fact, 13 of them helped us launch the program today and we're featuring videos from each of them right now on our home page. Nonprofit organizations have also used YouTube to run video contests, broadcast celebrity endorsements and launch innovative video campaigns inspiring people to produce videos on the issues they care about.



As more and more nonprofits sign up for the program , we'll build a special category on the site for videos from these groups, making it easier for you to discover and share their videos, and to engage with them right here on YouTube.



Best,

The YouTube Team

Lighting 102: 3.3 - Balancing Flash/Ambient Indoors

UPDATE: [ Completed exercises | Discussion ]

When last we met, we talked about moving from the idea of balancing a nice, even, back-curtain of sunset light to dealing with a highly directional light source (and learning to use it rather than just fill it.) This week, we are taking it indoors to apply the same principles to light that is less directional, less intense and more diffuse.

The common thread you should be starting to see is that there are two simultaneous exposures going on every time you use flash. This is true whether you make use of the second exposure or not. In fact, even if you are shooting with a disposable point-and-shoot and nuking your drunken frat brother with the flash at about, say, twelve beers into the party, you still have two exposures happening every time you push the button.

The difference between neanderthal and nuanced is learning how to finesse the ambient portion of your exposure. I mean, it's always there anyway, so why not use it?

In fact, the more you understand it, the more you realize that it is at least as useful as another flash. And sometimes even more so.

(More after the jump.)

Typical indoor ambient light, for instance, might be about 1/60th at 4/f at ISO 400. So If I shoot you in that light, available only, you are going to be properly exposed. You'll still probably look pretty bad -- we nailed the quantity, but the quality of the light is likely ugly as it comes from overhead fixtures.

So, I decide to stick an umbrella'd flash up near you and light you that way. After all, I think we have established that you need all of the lighting help you can get, right?

I put my camera at the max synch speed (1/250th) and put my flash on 1/4 power and light you up to f/8. As my umbrella is very close to you (yeesh - look at those wrinkles - I can fix that with soft light) we remember that the light is going to fall off very quickly and go pretty dark by the time it gets back to the wall, right?

So now you look great (all things considered) but the wall on the other side of the room is way too dark. The problem is, the only thing that is lighting the wall is my flash. That's because my ambient exposure is set to 1/250th at f/8, which is underexposing the non-flash-lit portion of the room by four stops.

So let's move from the hypothetical to the practical and do a little exercise in walking the ambient exposure up a little bit to see the effect of various shutter speed on the flash/ambient combo. Rather than use photos of you, dear reader, (we don't want to scare the small children, now do we) I'll use a camera as a stand-in.

In this room (my living room) the daytime ambient exposure is about 1/4th of a sec at f/4 at ISO 200 with the lights out. I have the blinds open so the back part of the room is receiving some light. The camera, in the foreground on a coffee table, is receiving much less.

The first thing I want to do is to establish that, at our starting exposure with no flash, the room would be black:

Here we are, at 1/250th at f/4 with no flash. This stunning exercise in minimalism is, in fact for sale. But only a true art lover would appreciate the beauty and meaning of a photograph like this, so please do not be offended if it appears overpriced.

At a 250th at f/4, the ambient light in the room is 5 stops underexposed. Darn near black, I'd say.

Next we'll add a little flash, in the form of an SB-26 in a shoot-through umbrella. Please forgive the umbrella ribs reflection in the front filter. I was working fast today. Besides, I had already made my artistic statement for the day and I was too bushed to be creative again.

But wait, what's that light on the back wall? Well, we already know that it isn't ambient, so it must be flash. Which is exactly what it is -- spill light from the umbrella.

So, let's open the shutter speed up two thirds of a stop to a 1/160th of a second.

Hmm. The background doesn't get any brighter.

Same thing for 1/100th and 1/60th. (Okay, maybe a tiny bit at 1/60th.)

This is simply because we are working so far from the ambient exposure of the room. If the flash is much more powerful than a given, combined ambient setting, I call that "working above the ambient," as in, "I was shooting flash at f/4, working 4 stops above the ambient."

That tells you that at f/4, my chosen shutter speed was four stops too high for the ambient exposure.

It's not until we get to 1/40th of a second that the ambient starts to creep in, albeit barely.

This is the threshold of the shutter settings at f/4 (and ISO 200) that will allow the ambient to burn into the flash's shadow areas in the photo. So here is where you'd start paying close attention to the TFT screen and adjusting your shutter to get the best effect.

At a shutter speed of 1/25th of a second, things are starting to happen.

Clearly the ambient is starting to make a more pronounced appearance here. Mind you, the camera is staying consistent because it is lit solely by the flash at this point.

The background isn't really usable at this point, exposure-wise. But the light is coming up and I am confident that I can fine-tune it to whatever tone I want.

At a 15th of a second, the background is getting usable.

From here on out (or up, actually) the tone of the background becomes a personal choice. There is no "wrong," as it is now a matter of how much separation I want between the subject and the background.

Remember when we told you to throw the concept of "proper exposure" out of the window? This is what I am talking about: The the exposure reference point is set by how you choose to expose the light falling on the camera. The background can be anywhere in a wide range of tones, with the choice being yours.

At a tenth of a second, my off-white wall is a rich tone, influenced as much by the color of the green-filtered shady light coming through the north-facing window as it is by the ambient portion of the exposure.

Doing an exercise like this (hint, hint) will show you just how much control you have over a situation once you start to understand the concept of balancing strobe and ambient.

At a 6th of a second, we are still below medium grey on the tonal level of the background. But now we are starting to get into a background range that, say, a newspaper might be able to reproduce.

The ultimate medium in which the photo is going to be reproduced will be your guide as to the limits of your chosen ambient fill level. But again, the choice within that range is yours.

One quarter of a sec.

This is my personal choice, as I like the "invisible" quality of the light and ambient combo for this picture. It's a subjective call, but for something like this the light can be made to disappear (not too obvious) and the photo just has a quality edge to it that does not look lit, but just looks nice.

At 0.4 secs (1/2.5) the room starts getting airy.

Remember, the walls are well above medium grey, so the camera considers this an overexposure of the ambient. Again, that "proper exposure" thing is a very fudgeable concept. You might like this frame better. There really is no right or wrong here.

At 0.6 secs, the background looks airier still.

I could go up more on he ambient, but the highlights in the center right portion of the background would start to blow out, which would be distracting (but still not "wrong," IMO.) There is more leeway here than in a Composition 101 paper in 9th grade.

The first concept that you have to learn is that there is a base exposure that will render any scene as black. Indoors, this is frequently an easy exposure to achieve while still being at or below your synch speed. From there, merely opening up the shutter will allow progressively more ambient light into your photo until you get exactly the balance that you want.

Here's something else to think about: Your tripod is another flash unit, but with near-infinite power. Say you are shooting in a huge, cavernous, dimly lit, windowless room. You could umbrella-light someone with a flash in the foreground, and just hold that shutter open until the room was raised exactly to the supporting exposure that you wished. Just lock your camera down on a tripod and leave the shutter open until the whole, "unlit" portion of the room burns in.

I have done it (on a tripod) for 30 seconds at f/2.8. The person swayed just a tad during the exposure. But honestly, that made it look even better. And speaking of movement, one last shot:

Given a quarter second of shutter with which to play, of course I am gonna try a little flash-blur.

But that's not until Part 7, so let's save that for later.


____________________________________

We still haven't finished the balance unit. So this week's exercise is just that, rather than an assignment.

I did these demo shots in ten minutes, literally, from light setup to final frame. It's really no big deal to try something like this in your living room.

The important thing to remember (as it always is when "burning in" ambient against flash) is to have your flash-lit subject in a part of the scene that is receiving less ambient light than the ambient-lit part of the scene. In practice, this usually means shooting into a brighter background and lighting your subject with flash in the foreground.

Remember, the whole distance thing still applies. So keep that flash in close, lest it contaminate your background.

FYI, here is a shot which shows the incredibly difficult and complex setup that was used to make this series of shots.

(That's "Ginger" sniffing the umbrella, by the way. She's not the brightest bulb in a three-pack, but she's very sweet.)

One final note on the umbrella: I "choked up" on the shaft a little but, which means that I did not make full use of the full umbrella as a light source. Reason is (other than that I did not need the full light source at this small distance for the light to be soft) is that I did not want any raw light to spill past the edges of my umbrella and further light the background.

If you are doing the exercises, please tag your photo(s) thusly:

Strobist
Lighting102
exercise
balance
indoors

You can view the completed exercises of others, here. There is a discussion thread set up for this post here.

Finally, given the range of background tones that would have been displayed on the back of your camera, which shutter speed would you have chosen, and why?

Hit us in the comments.


NEXT: Assignment: Balance

L102 Coming Later Today; Paris Signup Opens Thursday

Today has been a continuous series of curveballs thrown at my already-packed schedule. (Latest one: Roots encroach on neighbors' sewer line, making a lovely situation in their basement, so everyone is pitching in.)

And as the L102 section on balancing strobe indoors is pretty involved (with a series of demo pix) it will go up later this evening.


View Larger Map
I did want to take ten minutes to pop up a notice that we now have our venue for the October 27th Paris seminar. We'll be at the Hotel Sofitel Baltimore - Paris, an ironically named and atypically classy joint for the likes of us. The location rocks, too. It is located about half a mile from the Arc de Triomphe on Avenue Kléber.

(Thanks to read John M. for the awesome venue scouting.)

Registration will begin at 7:00 p.m. (1900 hours) local Paris time on Thursday, Sept. 27th. As we are only doing a single, Saturday seminar (as opposed to the normal Sat-Sun weekend schedule) it will probably fill very quickly. So be ready to go at 7:00 p.m. if you are really interested.

The price will be €159, and will be in English. (Trust me, you would not want me to try my French on you...)

The format will be similar to the London seminar with theory in the morning and in-room shooting demonstrations in the afternoon. It has evolved a little since London, but the idea is the same.

Plus, we'll have drinks and cookies. (Thanks again, John...)

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SouthTube: Where Everybody Was Somebody

Last weekend's SouthTube was more than just a user gathering; the Marietta, Georgia, event felt like a family reunion. YouTubers from all over the U.S. showed up to meet each other in the flesh and, of course, to make some videos. Hats off to organizers hmarty, tubegranny, and lemonette who went above and beyond to create a memorable experience for everyone: 'Tubers sang, danced, laughed, and enjoyed great food (can anyone say BBQ up at Red Top Mountain?!). There was even an awards show that gave attendees the opportunity to win prizes in such categories as the most creative channel name, least likely to be featured, and the obligatory King and Queen of SouthTube (see below for video). Two users, paul1967uk and positivesue, came from as far as the UK, and TheBennyZone went through 23 hours of bus rides, including six transfers, to get there. Plus, I got lots of great feedback from y'all, which I'll be bringing back to California this week to share with the whole YouTube team. Until then, let's reflect fondly on those sweet Georgia days:







Peace,


Big Joe aka BigJoeSmith


The YouTube Team

You Love Flickr, But Does Flickr Love You?

Flickr has a very interesting stream called "Explore," in which they give a shout out to what they think are really cool photos.

Needless to say that you guys rock some seriously and consistently cool photos. Which means that some of you get Explored more often than Paris Hilton.

But how do you know when you have been featured in Explore? Simple: You just go to this site and enter your Flickr screen name and it will tell you how many times you have been chosen by the editors.

I scored a 25 (including a lighting diagram -- wtf?) and I am sure many of you are more Exploratory than that.

UPDATE: Be sure to click through to "include dropped" to see your full number. My number jumped up to 44 that way.)

The photo up top, BTW, is reader Jason Lee's most recent of 15 Explorations. Click on the pic for more info.

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Small-Flash Tip for Landscape Shooters

So, you have a jones for those sweeping, wide-angle vistas but can't use small flashes in close because of how much real estate the photo shows? No problem, as long as you are not bound by the ethics of editorial photojounalism. Maybe, say, shooting an illustration, or landscape photography as art.

Just take a cue from Strobist reader "footcandle," who places his strobes where he needs them to be (i.e., close in to the subject to get enough power) and takes them out in Photoshop after the fact. It is an easy thing to do in post. But when you are shooting, just be sure to feather your light upwards so you do not leave obvious light splashes on the ground if you do not want said splashes to be visible.

Lots of portrait possibilities here, too. Photographer Dave Hill sometimes uses a similar technique, for those of you who have made an quest out of trying to get that Dave Hill look. (337 posts and counting!)

Click on the pic and "footcandle" will show you where he hid the flashes. And by the way, am I the only one who thinks "footcandle" is a great Flickr name for a low-power lighting guy?

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Open Source Wireless Trigger Moves to Dedicated Forum

For those of you interested in contributing to (or following the progress of) the open-source wireless trigger design project, they have moved off of the Flickr thread to a more suitable venue. We'll update you with major milestones as they occur.

Good luck and Godspeed, guys. The wallets of photographers everywhere are pulling for you.

:: Background Info ::
:: Original Flickr Thread Discussion ::

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Speedlinks, 9/22/2007

Ah, I love fall. The time of year when fourteen* teams line up to knock heads with the University of Florida Gators on the football field. And something or other about leaves and pretty colors.

While I am trying to find video (or audio) of this week's game on the 'net, hit the jump for a fresh batch of speedlinks on which to waste your precious time:
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• PopPhoto intrepid gearhound Jack Howard has reviewed the crap out of the new, Strobisty Canon G-9. Two-word summary of his findings: "Get one." I'm gonna.

Nathan Welton has chimed in over at Dream Time Images, too.

• Is your country shaped like a boot? If so, you're in luck: The Lampista group has finished translating Lighting 101 into Italian. (There are a couple of other language translation sites in the works, too.)

• Reader Duncan Kinney is blogging about his experiences working at a pro photog's studio.

• Reader Kirk Tuck is getting more web exposure than O.J. in a hotel room these days. Here he is, reviewing the Fuji S5, and talking at length about the small-flash lifestyle. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

• Flying with your gear? You'll get a lot of good info from Fish. (Thanks for the tip, Bill.)
____________________________

(* Hopefully -- Counting the SEC Championship and National Championship games.)

Updates: DVDs; Paris

Been getting lots of questions on the status of the DVDs and of the upcoming Paris seminar.

Details after the jump for those who are interested.

We just did our last shoot for the DVDs, getting a little help from long-time reader Patrick Smith, with whom we did a series of bike-related shots. We still have lots of editing/etc work to do, but the target is for a November release. When we send them to be printed and have a tighter idea of the actual release date, I'll post a heads-up.

As for the Oct. 27 Paris seminar, we now have a (way cool) venue. They should receive a signed contract on Monday. Provided that happens, I will post a sign-up date, which should be sometime this week.

It's been nine years since last I was in Paris. I am chomping at the bit to get back. Looking forward to hanging with some of the locals, too.

Hot Rides in Frankfurt

The eyes of the automotive industry and those of car aficionados everywhere have been on Frankfurt for the last week for the Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung (IAA), otherwise known as the Frankfurt Motor Show. When they weren't gorging themselves on Frankfurt's signature sausages and beers, attendees were treated to the most highly-anticipated new model unveilings of the year, from sexy, high-end exotics like the Lamborghini Reventon and the Porsche 911 GT2, to somewhat more practical rides for city-dwellers like the Dodge Journey or the MINI Clubman. If you couldn't make it to there yourself, we've got the video!




As expected given the Teutonic setting, German auto uber-giants Volkswagen, Audi, Mercedes Benz, Porsche and Bayerische Motoren Werke (aka BMW) took center stage. Each of their major 2009 unveilings are neatly captured in this recap video from InsideLineVideo:






Fuel-efficient vehicles have also drawn a great deal of attention, especially those with new technologies like BMW's Concept X6 with an "Active Hybrid" system:






The IAA wraps up in a few days, but for more unveilings and recap footage, WebRidesTV and FastLaneDaily are both posting exclusive coverage.




Auf Wiedersehen


Andrew B.

The YouTube Team

Yet Another Ring Light Hack

Jason Lee (AKA jwlphotography on Flickr) just ball-bungeed two flashes to his lens (top and bottom) and got about 85% of the way to "ring light."

Kind of a neat idea, actually. Helps to have an adorable daughter, of course.

Wonder what the "two-flash bungee" would look like with a circular diffuser positioned in front of the flashes...

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Wizwow's Online Lighting Tutorials

If you get a chance, check out the Lighting Essentials site, where Don Giannatti (AKA Wizwow on Flickr) has posted a series of lighting tutorials.

Don teaches lighting out in Arizona, where the light is apparently much better than it is here in Maryland. He's a pretty fun guy, too, as evidenced by his large volume of Flickr postings.

(If you don't believe me, check out his method for dealing with annoying bystanders while he is shooting a job.)

Wizwow is also organizing an October 20th Strobist meetup in Jerome, AZ. He's even designed a T-Shirt, for Pete's sake.

Holy smokes, is that guy efficient...

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Easy, One-Flash Glamour Light

Bert Stephani, a long-time Strobist reader based in Belgium, has made a quick video on adding a single flash to noonish ambient to get a high-glam look.

Reader's Digest version: Just find some shade, and use your flash as a separation light. (This actually works well on cloudy days with dark backgrounds, too.)

You can see the photos created in the video at decent res by clicking through to Bert's Flickr Stream.

Major props to Bert for doing the video. And especially for the English-dubbed version.
______________________

And thanks to the dozen or so tipsters who told me about it. If you have shot (or found) a cool, lighting-related video, feel free to tip your faithful blogger in the comments.

:: More on Strobist by Bert ::
:: Bert's Website :: (Dutch; pix in your language.)
:: Flickr Stream::
:: Bert's longtime Dutch Blog ::
:: Bert's Brand new English Blog ::

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Calling All Geeks:

There is early -- early, mind you -- discussion in the Strobist Flickr threads about an open source wireless remote project. They are looking at the possibility of a group design, with printed circuit boards and component kits for solder monkeys.

Would that just be the coolest thing, or what?

If Strobist were a movie, this would be the moment when it becomes obvious that the geek was gonna end up with the girl.

I'm just saying.
________________________

:: Join the Discussion ::

(Photo of highly intelligent-looking man by Random Factor)

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Nifty Lighting Trick: Invisible Light Stand

Strobist reader Patrick Smith, a college student who shoots for The Towerlight at Towson University, had a devil of a time hiding all of his light stand in the background while shooting a football feature for the paper.

His solution was just the kind of trick we like: Cheap, something you could not do with big strobes, and cheap.

And no, it wasn't Photoshop, ya lighting wuss. Take a guess, then read about how he did it after the jump.

Says Patrick, on his photo shoot of four Towson linemen and their "hitsticks":

"... Who ever thought lighting four football players dramatically would be hard? Getting them all evenly lit is tough, and all I have to say is gaffers tape is smarter than a 22-year-old.

I struggled to hide light stands in the background before I just taped an SB to the wall to get a desired effect. I also must thank my buddy, assistant and the one who will replace my shoes, Kris. I think I showed him how bossy I can be when low on sleep and stressed out. Hopefully he learned a think or two from my mistakes. ..."

Yeah, like how to spell "thing," for instance.

And while we're at it, "the one who will replace my shoes?" What's up with that? Are they messed up? You made a nice photo. Now get some sleep, bud.

(You'd never catch me making typos and brain farts like that when working on no sleep.)

What? What?

Okay, maybe once or twice.
________________________

More, at Patrick's Blog
See Patrick's precarious tape job here. (Thanks, Kris!)
And, most important: "Arrrrrrrr!"

Any other Strobist readers rocking their college papers like this? Hit us with some URL's in the comments.

New Duracell Ni-MH's Have Longer Shelf Life Than Hostess Twinkies

Things are looking up for us rechargeable AA-powered flashers. First the high-capacity Ni-MH's, which totally rock but lose a charge when stored for too long. Then the slow-discharge Eneloops, which rock a little softer but keep their charge longer on the shelf. And now this:

Duracell has announced a new, ultra-slow-drain, Ni-MH AA battery that holds its charge for an entire year. Which, coincidentally, is the average length of time between paying freelance gigs for Patrick Smith.

At least his flashes will be ready.

Downside: $12.99 a four-pack. For now, at least.
_____________________

:: Read the press release ::

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Fear Not, Earthlings: The 'radiopopper' Comes to Your Primitive Planet In Peace

Arizona wedding shooter Kevin King just may have invented the Strobist equivalent of the flux capacitor. The radiopopper wireless synch is said to bridge your Nikon CLS or Canon E-TTL and extends the range to up to 500 feet.

(More after the jump.)

Specs say it works in dumb mode, too, just like a Pocket Wizard or Poverty Wizard, even using the same, 1/8" miniplug. And you can always use the whole setup to go long-range manual, of course.

King said he expects the price to be in the Pocket Wizardish neighborhood. They are talking about it as if it is not just vaporware, either. Until I actually see it work, I am from Missouri on this one.

They say they are currently testing and awating FCC approval. Hoping to ship (from warehouses near Roswell, New Mexico, no doubt) in quantity in January of '08.

Kevin, if you are looking for Beta testers...
________________________

:: Spec Sheet :: (So good it borders on being synch porn. Right click to download.)
:: radiopopper Website ::

(Thanks for the tip, Andrew.)

Lighting 102 - 3.2: More On the Crosslight Thing

Judging from the questions a few of you are having trouble with the cross-lit sun technique we discussed last Thursday.

I want to revisit a few key things that you have to know to pull the technique off, and then Andrew is going to come to the front of the class to demonstrate. And besides, given that this went up on Thursday instead of Tuesday I am not going to be one of those hard-ass teachers and make you pull a quick turn to the next exercise.

(More after the jump.)

First, understand that with the ambient portion of your exposure your camera defines your upper limit -- i.e., how dark you can make the ambient. Set to the lowest ISO, the best you can do for darkening your ambient environment is to shoot at your max sync speed at the lowest aperture on your lens (i.e., likely f/16, /22, or /32).

You can get around this in a very clunky way with a neutral density filter, but it knocks down the flash, too. So your maximum lighting distance will stay the same.

Remember that this is built on a chosen ambient exposure that lets the shadows fall where they may, so you can light them back up with your flash. So you are limited to your sync speed for the ambient portion of the exposure, too.

Your working aperture, which will now be what determines your ambient exposure level, will also determine how far away you can stick your flash and still effectively light your subject.

In effect, the higher your max synch speed the farther away you can stick your flash and still pull the effect off. The lower your max synch speed, the closer your flash needs to be (not good for big group shots, obviously.)

If you have two flashes, you can gang them up with a Brewer Bracket or some ball bungees. That will give you double the light, which will amount to one more stop. This buys you more working distance on the flash and/or a darker ambient environment.

Step-by-Step

Strobist reader Andrew, who publishes www.meejahor.com, was nice enough to stick his process photos up as a series in this comment in the discussion thread.

Definitely check it out of you are having any trouble. He ran into a flash power issue and had to do a workaround in the form of opening up the sky one stop. Not his preference for the photo, but it makes it a much more illustrative example.

He has the process pix embedded in the comment, but the URLs are locked. (We were just going to borrow them, Andrew.) So you will have to click over to read about it.

Thanks for the helpful series and notes, Andrew.

Reader Hot Shots

Dude. Sitting down at the computer at the end of the week and tagging faves in the Strobist Flickr pool is like getting a free photo magazine. Click on the pic to see the latest upstream inspiration. (Or here for a slideshow.)

Interesting fact: Ninety percent of this site's readers do not participate in the Flickr group. Can you imagine what that stream would look like with, say, 50% participation?

If you're a newb, no worries. You are in exactly the same position as every photographer represented in that gallery at some point in their lives. Jump right in, the water's fine.

And there are 14,000+ people waiting to answer your questions.

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Kick Off

Fall is almost here in the U.S., and as baseball season segues into the playoffs, football, basketball and lots of other sports are just grinding into gear all over the country. Here's a shortlist of things to look for in YouTube Sports:




* Football season kicked off with a bang (hello, Appalachian State!), and the sports blogosphere is burning up with predictions, fantasy advice, fan rants, highlights, low lights, etc. Sport video bloggers of interest include The Blog Show (from The Washington Post), CowboyTD (with an admittedly pro-Cowboy, pro-Texas slant) and the irrepressible Bleacher Bloggers, who scour sports blogs netwide for the best posts so you don't have to.




* Skateboarding is alive and kick-flipping all over YouTube, from the hundreds of "Sponsor Me" videos to pro profiles to contest recaps and more. If you ride a mini-ramp or mini-pipe, take a look at MiniRampChamp for a plethora of trick and ramp-building tips. Another one of the most prolific video-making skaters on our site (with a grab bag full of tricks) is MisterCK. Click through some of his highlights, including this nice switch 360 flip revert.




* Basketball season is still several weeks away from tipping off, but there's plenty of summertime hoops on YouTube including loads of footage of wunderkind point guard Brandon Jennings. Nicknamed Doobie Doo, Jennings is widely regarded as one of the best high school players around (and has hoop heads catching visions of Kenny Anderson, circa 1990). You'll find some highlight clips here and here, and a short interview here.




* DC United fans: how passionate are you about your team? Prove your fanaticism in a 90-second response video and win prizes... Here's the invite video and contest info.




* Finally, there's loads of interesting, some would say oddball, sports all over our site. Check out the finger-jousters , the noodlers, the zorbers, the curlers, the hurlers and, of course, the bog-snorkelers.




Last but not least, athletes and fans: I have questions! For example, what exactly qualifies a sport as a "sport"? What's the best sport and why? What's the weirdest sport out there? Let me know what you think here.




Go play,


Andrew B. aka playactionpass

Free Lighting Mods in the Produce Aisle

What a great idea. How many times have I walked right past these squishy fruit protectors on my way to the Doritos aisle and not given them a second thought?

I am resolving right here and now to eat just a little healthier this week. Maybe three or four, I dunno, squishy fruits of some sort.

Let's list the bennies:


1. Free.
2. Lightweight.
3. Free.
4. Collapsible.
5. Free.
6. Is a soft-edged, funky snoot.
7. Free.
8. Simulates a bare bulb.
9. Free.
10. Protects your flash while in your bag.
11. Free.

Props to Joseph Hoetzl for an idea that could only be better if I had thought of it myself.

-30-

New in NYC: Free Lighting Critiques

Whoa -- tough crowd.

If you are shooting an ad that will appear in the NYC subway system, you'd better nail the light. Because the techniques of the pros are quickly spreading to the Average Joes.

Last Wednesday Justin Ouellette, who publishes the very neat Chromogenic.net, shot this "annotated" ad in an NYC subway with a cell phone cam. He then put it on Flickr, where it promptly migrated to Digg, where it quickly rose to the front page.

The view count on Flickr is now nearing six digits. Including, eventually, the perfeshunal who originally shot the photo. I love the web.

:: Entire Ad, for Context ::

(Thanks to Berk for the heads-up.)

-30-

24 Hours for Darfur

Today, a non-profit called "24 Hours for Darfur" is using the power of video to call attention to the genocide in Sudan. They've mobilized hundreds of citizens to submit video messages via YouTube and their website, which they'll be screening today outside of the United Nations in New York City. (We’re also featuring a subset of these videos in our News & Politics section.)







Their timing couldn't be better -- today is the Global Day for Darfur. Thirty different events are taking place in 28 countries, all demanding a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Sudan.



Several other groups on YouTube are also working to draw attention to the conflict there, including Amnesty International, Stop Genocide Now, and the Enough Project. And last Friday, we premiered "Emergency in Darfur", Dr. Bob Arnot’s powerful documentary about the crisis. Be sure to check it out.



Yours,

Steve G.

YouTube News & Politics

Speedlinks, 9-15-07

Whew. Long day.

Those one-day NYC round trips always wipe me out, but it was definitely worth the ride up to go to the PhotoShelter shindig and meet so many readers. If you are considering going to one in your area, check in on the NYC Town Hall thread on Flickr for more info or to ask questions.

Now, the only thing standing between me (at 2:18 a.m.) and 8 hours of sleep are this week's speedlinks. So you jump to the links, and I'm jumping in bed.
___________________________

• George Aye, the Strobist reader who blew the curve for wedding proposals everywhere, shows you how to make a shoot-yourself-at-my-wedding photo booth. Creative to the core, George actually did it for a friend's wedding as his wedding gift. Eat your heart out, Martha.

• This is technologically out of my league, but if you are nerd enough you can now apparently get Strobist on your phone.

• Strobist reader Melissa Macatee, who has grown to be a regular contributor on PopPhoto Flash, writes about cleaning her sensor for the first time.

• Wanna buy some great Karma, cheap? Moishe at MPEX is looking for your old digital cameras/etc to help local high school kids. I love seeing this kind of stuff coming together.

• And, as some of you already know, last week's "mystery event" was in fact a lighting seminar in Columbia, MD. (We were filming for the DVDs.) As attendee Dave Hoffmann's photo's clearly show, we like to push the envelope on the attitudey model thing, too.

Inside David X. Tejada's Lighting Bags

It's double-feature Friday here on Strobist, where hotshot corporate shooter David X. Tejada has posted two new videos of his go-to lighting gear for shooting on location. Dave's kickin' some good light, as we've seen before, and I always appreciate a peek inside the cases of a talented location photographer.


In the second video, he gets into some of the less common gear he uses, including ready-made, store-bought(!) grid spots for his tricked-out Vivitar 283's. He also uses an an old favorite of mine, the Morris Mini flash.

(Hit the fridge for a li'l beverage, then settle in for part two and some links after the jump.)


Cool beans, Dave. Thanks for sharing.

If you have a killer small-flash location lighting bag, film your beautiful self showing it off and shoot us a link in the comments. We are such geeks for this stuff...
__________________________

Related:

:: On Assignment: David X. Tejada ::
:: David's Crib ::
:: David's Website ::
:: David's Blog ::
:: Morris Mini Flash ::

Blogging the NYC PhotoShelter Town Meeting

First off, if you are anywhere near Atlanta, Chicago, Portland, San Francisco or Los Angeles, you might want to grab a seat while they are still available. If the program in NYC is any indication of what to expect, it's worth playing hookie for a day to attend one near you. Everything is free, too.

Also, PhotoShelter chose today to announce a new stock photography business model that flies in the face of all of the recent, photographer-predatory stock photography trends (cough *Getty* cough):

Real selling prices, set by photographers, and photogs keep seventy percent of the revenues. Way to go, guys. 'Bout time we see someone sticking up for shooters for a change.

I would think this would be of particular interest to many people here who might currently be dabbling with microstock.

(Updates and more info after the jump.)
_____________________________

(UPDATE #1)

Wow. This is about way more than decent pricing and 70% to the shooter. They are talking real-time info for photographers on who is buying what for how much, a community of photographers educating each other as to what photos are really worth -- in short, doing a 180-degree turn on much that is wrong with the stock photography industry.

This is going to raise a lot of eyebrows. Not a lot of love for Getty in this room, BTW...
______________________________

(UPDATE #2)

In other news, there's food and drink, too. Because I knew you'd ask...
______________________________

(UPDATE #3) Looking at the notes to photo buyers on the PS Collections poop sheet, they stress that they are specifically looking to offer the work of advanced amateurs and hobbyists, along with the pros. Combined with the community of photographers comparingsales and pricing information, it is possible that this could be a turning point in the previous model in which the big agencies hoard information and had the upper hand throughout the process.

Sure beats the heck out of microstock, IMO. You get the feel that they are looking to use the internet not to take advantage of photographers, but to enable them. It is exciting at first blush, and I am looking forward to seeing how it pans out.

Discussion is ongoing in the Flickr threads, here.
_______________________________

More Info:

1. PhotoShelter Collection Site, which goes live tomorrow.
2. More details, courtesy PopPhoto.

Notice something different? I'M GREEN

We all know the Green Movement has become as trendy to the '00s as
flannels were to the '90s, but that doesn't mean it doesn't need our
support – especially when we all know how influential your videos can be
(YouChoose '08 anyone?).



So it is with much pleasure and belief in the power of online video that
we present you with the first ever Green YouTube home page, expertly curated by your friends at GOOD, "the magazine for people who give a damn."



We think their choices of videos will both entertain and inspire you,
and we hope that at least one of them will motivate you to do something
- we're hitting the next naked protest on a glacier. But in all seriousness, sometimes trendy movements are the ones that need
our focused attention the most, so please...



Watch and act,



The YouTube Team

Small-Town, But Not Small-Time

You may remember this strobed, low-angle photo of two golfers from when it ran on this site last year. It was shot by Strobist reader Gary Cosby, Jr., who is a photojournalist for the Decatur (Georgia Alabama) Daily.

Gary is now blogging about his daily life as a small-market newspaper shooter. It's less about lighting and more about finding a good internal compass point as a photojournalist. I highly recommend taking a look if you are in the biz, or would like to be.

:: A Little News ::
-30-

Lighting 102: 3.2 - Balance | Flash/Sun Crosslighting

UPDATE: Some of you guys are already all over this one. There's a good discussion thread forming already, so there should be plenty of help for the newbs. Please ask technique questions in the Flickr threads rather than the comments.

Last week we talked about creating great light with just one flash and a sunset. (Results here.) But what about those photos which can't be scheduled for the evening?

This week I want to get into the idea of balancing and crosslighting sunlight, and take a look at a Strobist reader who is using this one technique as a calling card. (More after the jump.)

Before we learn how to tame the harsh sunlight, let's take a look at what TTL, on-camera fill flash does so we can have a basic understanding of the concept to better understand how we can expand it. I have nothing against TTL, mind you. There are situations for which it is clearly the best solution. But I cringe at the thought of all of that technology being brought to bear on what turns out to be a boring photo because the light was coming from on-axis.

You have seen the photo before, in the back of your camera or flash manual. It's usually a very nonthreateningly beautiful female Japanese model, posing by a railing with a background of, say a nice lake or harbor scene and perhaps a sailboat or two. The before-and-after photos show the ugly, raccoon-eyes look of the model in harsh sunlight and the improved-but-still-sterile TTL-Matrix-Balanced-Computer-Assisted-Patented-Photographer-Brain-Softening fill light.

Raccoon eyes are the problem, and the pat solution is to pop just enough light in there to fill them. The camera calculates the basic, ambient exposure and pops in a little fill at, say, 1.7 stops down. It fills the harsh shadows and leaves that little "fill flash twinkle" in the eyes.

But geez Louise, with harsh sun and one flash you can do so much better. I mean, even keeping the flash hard (no umbrella) you can get some very cool looks by going off camera. And you only have three decisions to make:



1. At what angle do you want your strobe light and sunlight to hit your subject?

2. How bright to you want to set your ambient?

3. How bright do you want to set your flash?


Boy, that there's some real rocket science right? No, it's not. It a simple series of choices that can leave you with some super cool-looking mid-day photos. Let's run through the thought process and take a look at some of the results you can get.


Taming the Sun

Here's the basic setup. (Like those new, high-impact, 3-D graphics? Yeah, baby...) Click the pic for a bigger view.

It's good to start with the sun coming from behind your subject, out of the frame, on the back/right or back/left side. You'll be throwing hard sunlight against hard strobe light, so lighting-wise you do not care which is coming from where. But your subject would probably rather not look right into the sun.

(The choice to go back right or back left is going to be made by which background you prefer, given the differing sun positions.)

Immediately, you will want to go to your max synch speed, giving you the most open aperture possible and allowing your flash to do the most work with the least output. (This is where having a 500th of a sec synch -- or higher -- at your disposal pays real dividends.) But 1/250th will work fine, too. Below that, it starts getting tougher.

We'll be playing with the ambient in a bit, but for right now let's just grab a decent background exposure and go with it. Remember, you're at your synch speed, so you will do this with the aperture on manual.

This is not some compromise, namby-pamby, mama's boy, try-to-keep-everything-in-range exposure, either. Expose for the sky and environment and let your subject's foreground exposure fall where it may. Make the environment look good. You'll be fixing the foreground in a minute.

This is also the background/separation light for your subject. So do pay a little attention to how that light looks skimming off of your subject, too. You'll be surprised at how good that back/rim looks coming of of the sun side of your subject when you do not have to worry about the shadows in the foreground.

Now, bring your flash in from the opposite side (a little high and at about a 45-degree angle to start) and set it on, say, 1/2 power, with no light mods attached. (You do not have enough power for an umbrella unless you are in very close or you are rocking some serious watt-seconds.) You can warm it with a gel a little if you want. Maybe a 1/4 CTO.

I would start with my flash at about six feet away, on 1/2 power. Pop a frame and chimp. Too dark on the flash-lit side? Move your light in. Too light? Drop it to 1/4 power to get some faster recycle time for a better shooting rhythm. When you balance it right, it'll look like this:

Now, seriously, does this not look better than anything an on-camera fill flash could accomplish? This is by New Zealand shooter Brent Williamson, who uses this light all of the time and does not even appear to own a proper light stand.

It's not an equipment thing. It's a brain thing.

Of course, synch-wise, Nikon and Canon do the wireless thing very well at close range. And this is a situation where your synch connection is gonna be pretty much bullet proof. So definitely use this as a way to amp those family pix if you are so-equipped. You do not even need a stand, either -- just a bystander to hold the flash and point at your subjects.

Here's a setup shot of a different lighting angle situation, also by Brent, which shows the flash acting as more of a backlight. He is crosslighting almost on the 90's (flash a little behind) but the idea is the same. Looks so obvious when the light is in the photo, but click through on the photo and cover the flash/tripod with your hand and see the lighting look without the setup context. Cool huh?

Exposure-wise, your flash has to be pretty close to correct. But you have a half-stop range either way, so don't get too anal retentive about it. Also, after you nail the exposure, move the strobe around a little to find the best lighting angle/height to make your subject look the way you want.

But the exposure on the ambient/background -- that's another story.

Take a look at this third shot by Brent, which is clearly underexposing the background a little. Totally different feel. To get this, you are going to underexpose the background by staying a the synch speed and closing down the aperture -- and cranking up and/or moving in the flash to compensate or the tighter aperture.

It looks so 3-D because the sun and the flash are painting the subject from opposite sides, and you can play with the ambient exposure to let your subject pop as much as you want.

The flash exposure still needs to be on target, but play a little with the ambient portion. It's the concept of straight crosslighting (instead of straight, on-camera fill) that gives you the look. As long as you shoot on the 3/4 (or 1/4) angles to the lights, you are gonna get a really nice, 3-D effect with this light. The ambient light level, which defines the feel of the photo, is up to you.

No assignment this week as we still have several different light balancing approaches to discuss. But as an exercise, you should get out and try this. It's a way-cool look that anyone with a single, off-camera light can get.

Tag your assignments as:

Strobist
Lighting102
exercise
balance
crosslight

You can view the completed exercises of others, here. There is a discussion thread set up for this post here.

_____________________

Related posts:

:: OA: Archeologists ::
:: OA: Taming Harsh Sunlight ::

See also:

: Brent Williamson's Website ::


NEXT: Balancing Flash and Ambient

Heading to NYC for PhotoShelter Meet on Friday

View Larger Map
If you want to attend the New York City PhotoShelter Town Hall Meeting on Friday, better hurry up and register. There are only 50 39 seats left.

I'll be there. Look for someone who looks like a cross between Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, only shorter, heavier and far less attractive. I'll be wearing a What The Duck T-shirt and nothing else.

Please say 'hi' if you run into me. I would say 'hi' first, but I do not know what you look like. Remember, Chase Jarvis will be speaking there, so we can make faces from the back of the room.

Lookin' like some fun.
-30-

Joe McNally Needs Just One SB-800 to Own You

The Photoshop TV guys (who have a wonderful archive of online tutorial videos) featured Joe McNally back on episode 70. The whole sequence is on stuff he did with just one speedlight. Cool beans.

If, like moi, your photos are absolutely perfect right out of the camera and you do not need PS, you can catch Joe's segment beginning at the 12:30 mark.
__________________

Related:
:: Joe's Site ::
:: Simply Well Lit with Joe McNally ::
-30-

Lustworthy Gear: The Brewer Bracket

Strobist reader Todd Brewer sent me one of his double flash umbrella brackets to test drive a while back, and I have only recently gotten a chance to play around with it. The "El Doble" dual flash bracket is designed to allow you to easily use two flashes in one umbrella, and it works great. It's built like a tank and reasonably priced, currently at $59.95.

(More after the jump.)

What I especially like about it is that it gets the flash heads right next to the umbrella shaft, for much better on-axis coverage. Actually, you may wish to use this bracket with only one flash for just that reason. (I'd swivel the head just a tad toward the umbrella shaft to better align a single flash.)

But why would you want to stick two flashes in one umbrella to begin with?

More power is the obvious reason. The second flash adds one full f/stop of light (all settings being equal) that can put you over the hump when you are trying to balance flash with daylight, for instance.

But you can also gain shooting speed. By doubling up with an extra flash you might have lying around, you can cut each flash's output by half. This halves your recycle time, which doubles the speed at which you can shoot.

The bracket can mount onto a typical umbrella bracket, as shown, but it can also hook up to a Super clamp, for applications such as speedlighting a gym. Again, you can go for more power or faster recycle.

But you do not need to have the flashes firing in the same direction, either. You can angle them away from each other to create a huge angle of illumination for your light. This would be especially handy for wedding shooters who might like to backlight a large reception area from one clamped position.

The flashes mount using (your) typical umbrella shoe mounts, with a 1/4x20 screw. Todd makes low-profile screws available (separately) or you can hit the hardware aisle at Home Depot and fashion your own. Put a wing nut on a bolt that is a little long, stick it through the hole in the bracket and into the flash shoe and tighten the wing nut underneath to secure it.

Any way you use it or mount it, this bracket is pretty sharp -- and built to last forever.


:: BrewerBracket.com ::