Trendspotting Tuesday: Rube Goldberg Contraptions

Here on YouTube, there's no shortage of odes to 20th century cartoonist Rube Goldberg. If you're not familiar, Goldberg penned a comic series starring the eccentric Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts -- who created elaborate contraptions to perform simple tasks in roundabout ways.




Well, the Goldberg followers on YouTube have that concept down to a T -- and, better yet, they offer complete explanations of how they built their devices and what to expect once things get set in motion. This week's Trendspotting Tuesday showcases those budding inventors whose complicated "machines" do everything from putting dog food in a bowl to pouring a glass of beer to constructing a hamburger. There's also the Rube classics, like the Star Wars edition from RebrnEmpwrd and an office supply version from morebeefplease. Check out the full playlist here and on our home page:









Come back next Tuesday for another edition of Trendspotting Tuesday, where we highlight the amazing things people are doing on the site.




Cheers,


The YouTube Team

New SB-900 Has All the Angles

UPDATE: SB-900 full review now posted.

Nikon has just announced a new flash: The Nikon SB-900 speedlight. From what I can see, it is quite a departure from the Nikon SB-800, and the feature list is as long as the price tag is big. Much more, after the jump.


Highlights:

• Rotates 180 degrees right or left. Sweet.
• Flash tube overheat protection, great for hi-power battery users
• More power More GN, but this appears to be only because of the 200mm tele setting: Up to GN 48/157 max
• Faster recycling - 4 secs w/Alkaline, 2.3 secs w/NiMH batts
• Tighter beam spread - up to 200mm throw
• Beam shaping - custom light patterns within the beam
• Faster CLS adjustments - physical dials.
• Upgradable firmware - sweet.
• One-second recycle w/new SD-9 Battery pack.
• Flash duration times: 1/880 (@full power) to 1/38,500 (@ 1/128 power)
• Has SU-4 setting, which presumably still means a great manual slave.
• It's a real honker. Ryan Brenizer has an animated .gif swapping out with the SB-800 here.

and...

It's five hundred smackers.

______________

I will probably get one, but I will definitely still be based on SB-800's for a while.

In fact, this may well drive down the price of SB-800s. Not so much at retail -- Nikon has their price points distributed pretty well for the '600, '800 and '900. But there will be a lot of people who will unload '800's into the market when they get their new '900. (I mean, who needs more than one flash, right?)

And yes, this is probably the only photo site that cares more about the new strobe than the new D-700. If anyone gets hands-on time, please report in via the comments. Thanks!

More info at Nikon site.

_______________


Full Press Release Text


NEW NIKON SB-900 SPEEDLIGHT ADVANCES FLASH TECHNOLOGY AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT WITH EXPANSIVE ZOOM AND INTELLIGENT FEATURES

Nikon’s Newest Flagship Speedlight Offers a Powerful Addition to the Versatile 
Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS)


MELVILLE, N.Y. (July 1, 2008) – Nikon, Inc. today introduced the SB-900 Speedlight to provide Nikon digital SLR photographers with a flash capable of a wide zoom range, increased versatility, faster recycling time, and a wealth of intelligent features to enhance the already vast functionality of the Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS). Building on the success of the popular SB-800 Speedlight, the SB-900 provides users with extensive creative lighting possibilities with a simplified interface and the ability to stay up to date with future technologies through user-applied firmware updates.*

The SB-900 offers unprecedented zoom range coverage from 17 to 200mm, to increase flexibility in a variety of shooting conditions, while automatically adapting itself to Nikon’s FX or DX-format cameras. Additionally, light output has been increased to a maximum guide number of 48/157.5 (ISO 200, meters/feet at 35mm FX-format and Standard). Photographers can now also select from three light patterns; “Center-weighted” provides the highest guide number and is suitable for images such as portraits, where light falloff at the image edges is of less importance. “Standard” provides a familiar pattern, similar to the SB-800, and is ideal for general photography and “Even” which delivers the most consistent edge-to-edge coverage, making it ideal for situations such as group photography. Additionally, Nikon’s newest flagship Speedlight provides photographers with advanced wireless i-TTL capabilities allowing the utilization of multiple Speedlights with ease and confidence on location or in the studio.

“Nikon is proud that its innovative leadership in flash technologies has been praised by photographers who have realized the versatility and power that the Nikon Creative Lighting System contributes to their photography,” said Edward Fasano, general manager for marketing, SLR System Products at Nikon, Inc. “The SB-900 Speedlight now provides photographers with a new level of portable lighting functionality, with performance and intelligent features that adapt to an even wider scope of lighting challenges.”

The SB-900 Speedlight is engineered to address the creative lighting challenges faced by today’s photographers including a need for fast, on-demand performance, and the ability to adapt seamlessly to nearly any lighting scenario. The SB-900’s innovative design has the 
Xenon flash tube and reflector system moving independently – allowing for a wider zoom range from an extreme wide angle of 17mm (FX) to the telephoto setting which reaches 200mm without the aid of accessories or as wide as 12mm in DX mode with the built-in wide-angle panel engaged.

The SB-900 offers a quick recycle time of 4.0 seconds (at full power) with four Alkaline AA batteries which drops to a mere 2.3 seconds (at full power) while using four rechargeable NiMH batteries—about 25 percent faster than the SB-800 with its fifth battery attachment.



While ease of use has always been a defining hallmark of the Nikon CLS System, the user interface has been even further refined to simplify control and offer faster operation. Controls for setting the wireless Master and Remote have been relocated to the outside of the unit for easier access and frequently used functions are easily adjusted with a new Rotary Select Dial. A larger LCD screen is easy to read, even in direct sunlight, and photographers can assign “My Menu” hotkeys for quicker access to commonly used functions. A new thermal cut-out protection system monitors conditions when the flash might overheat due to excessive rapid bursts. Helpful operating temperature information is provided to the photographer with an innovative temperature gauge displayed on the LCD screen.

For the first time, Nikon SB-900 Speedlight users will have the ability to take advantage of future performance advancements, by way of user-uploadable firmware. The user will be able to download the firmware onto a flash media card and upload it to the flash through select digital SLR cameras.*

The SB-900 Speedlight is Nikon’s most intelligent Speedlight ever, created in response to the needs of today’s digital photographic professionals. When using the included fluorescent or incandescent filters and adaptor, the flash automatically recognizes what filter is being used and automatically adjusts white balance accordingly on the latest Nikon D-SLRs.* Additionally, the SB-900 aids auto focus with a broader AF assist beam that covers a wide 20-105mm that is matched to all of the D3, D700 and D300’s 51 focus points. The bounce and swivel capability of the SB-900 has been expanded to include: tilt up to 90 degrees, down minus 11 degrees, and a full 180-degree swivel left or right, allowing more creativity for on or off camera use, or as a remote Speedlight.

The SB-900 serves as the new core for the Nikon Creative Lighting System when used in combination with Nikon SLRs, and supports Advanced Wireless Lighting as a master or a remote Speedlight, inviting photographers to discover endless creative possibilities. While using one or more Nikon Speedlights wirelessly, photographers can artistically use shadows, highlight details, and light complicated angles with ease. Along with the SB-900, the Nikon Creative Lighting System features a comprehensive assortment of personal lighting tools that include the agile SB-600 and SB-400, and the remarkable R1 and R1C1 Wireless Close-up Speedlight systems.


Available accessories




The SD9 Battery Pack boosts flash recycle time to a mere one second (at full power). For faster recycling or all-day shooting it accepts up to eight AA batteries. To enhance the weatherproof ability of Nikon D-SLRs, optional Water Guards will be available for select cameras to protect the connection between the flash and camera, allowing users to utilize the flash when weather conditions are less than ideal.

Price and availability

The new Nikon SB-900 Speedlight is scheduled to be available in August 2008, and will have an estimated selling price of $499.95.** The SB-900 will come packaged with the Speedlight Stand, Bounce Adapter, Color Filter Holder, Intelligent Color Filter Kit, Diffuser Dome and the Soft Case. The SD9 Battery Pack is also scheduled to be available in August 2008 with an estimated selling price of $230.00.

About Nikon

Nikon, At the Heart of the Image™. Nikon Inc. is the world leader in digital imaging, precision optics and photo imaging technology and is globally recognized for setting new standards in product design and performance for its award-winning consumer and professional photographic equipment. Nikon Inc. distributes consumer and professional digital SLR cameras, NIKKOR optics, Speedlights and system accessories; Nikon COOLPIX® compact digital cameras; COOLSCAN® digital film scanners; 35mm film SLR cameras; Nikon software products and Nikon sports and recreational optics. Nikon D Series digital SLR cameras are recognized as “Highest in Customer Satisfaction with digital SLR cameras,” according to the latest J.D. Power and Associates 2007 digital Camera Satisfaction Study. Nikon Corporation, the parent company of Nikon Inc., recently celebrated its 90th anniversary and announced the production of over 40 million NIKKOR SLR interchangeable lenses. For more information, dial (800) NIKON-UX or visit http://www.nikonusa.com, which links all levels of photographers to the Web's most comprehensive photo learning and sharing communities. 

# # #

For J.D. Power and Associates award information go to jdpower.com
* With D3 and D700 Cameras only
** Estimated selling price listed is only an estimate. Actual prices are set by dealers and are subject to change at any time.

#20: Student interviews

As mentioned before, there are two kinds of individualized interviews: faculty interviews and student interviews. While faculty interviews are clearly the more important of the two, student interviews should not be completely overlooked. They will not make or break you, but they may help to give you a little push over other, more socially inept applicants. While both types of interviews will basically be run in the same manner, there are a few important differences to be aware of.

First of all, unlike faculty interviewers, student interviewers actually want to be at the interview, and probably won't do things like looking at their watch while conducting the interview. They actually believe they are making a difference, so they enjoy the opportunity to be there. Use this to your advantage. Know that they tend to recommend accepting those interviewees with whom they connect with most, rather than those who are most qualified. Your goal should be to move past the "acquaintance" stage and directly into the "close friend" stage with your student interviewer. Feel out your interviewer's personality, and pander to it copiously. Med schools generally pick the same types of people for their student interviewers, so you should have no problem with this after the first few rounds.

Student interviewers are also much more idealistic than their faculty counterparts. This means that you need to act as if becoming a doctor is the greatest profession on God's green earth, rather than just one of many equally good options. A good way to handle this situation is to specifically mention a few of the negative aspects of the medical profession that you have heard about, and then immediately proceed to downplay and poo-poo them. This will prove to your interviewers that you are just as idealistic as they are and are therefore worthy to enter their medical school. Nothing will boost your value in their eyes more than having unrealistic expectations about what your life as a doctor will be like.

Student interviews are also your opportunity to find out about the more "fun" aspects of medical school, which is really just another opportunity to make student interviewers feel that you will fit in well in their school. Make sure to ask a lot of questions that center around student happiness and well-being, such as:

• What kinds of things do you do students here do for fun?
• What is the hardest aspect of this school?
• What made you decide to come to this school?
• How does this school compare to others, in terms of curriculum structure, administrative involvement, and overall student happiness?
• What are a few things that you would change about your school, if you could?

Remember that asking questions is nothing more than another way to impress your interviewers! Not having questions to ask is not a sign of strength; it is a sign of unpreparedness. Do not make the mistake of thinking that the answers to your questions are relevant in any sense of the word.

On Assignment: Night Chopper, Pt. 1

In this two-part On Assignment, we'll be walking through a night shoot of a Bell 407 helicopter, photographed for the Howard County Police Department earlier this month.

Just like the CFL On Assignments, we'll break this one up into two parts: Planning and problem solving first, then the shoot itself. Keep reading to learn more about the prep, to be followed next week by a walk-through of the night shoot.
___________


Visualizing the Photos

Normally, when I shot aerials for The Sun, we would fly in a dinky little Toys R Us Robinson R-22 helicopter with the door removed. You say a little prayer, try not to put your full weight down and knock off your shot list with an 80-200mm. If you keep your camera on a shutter speed higher than a 1/500th of a sec everything is usually hunky dory.

What I wanted for this shot was ground-to-air shooting, at dusk, with the chopper's interior lit by a group of SB-800s. I explained the idea to pilot (and, fortunately, former Sun shooter) Perry Thorsvik, and he was up for it.

If it worked, it would be pretty cool, and would hopefully produce some neat photos. But there were several problems that would have to be solved first.


First Problem: Flash Sync

Apologies in advance for the Pocket Wizard geek-out session here, but I was going for as much range as possible.

I knew I would be using PWs, but it would be a stretch even for them. To complicate matters, mine were the old "Plus" models which were only rated to 800 feet.

The new Plus II's are rated to 1600 feet. But even if I dug into the wallet for a set, that 1600 feet does not account for things like the metal fuselage of the helicopter and RF interference from the avionics. So the first order of business would be figuring out a way to improve the reliability and range of what were already the best remotes going.

So I sprung for two new Plus II's. Not cheap, but fortunately they are compatible with with my Plusses -- and every previous model PW has produced. So I could be assured of at least one 1600-foot capable signal between the camera and one of the flashes in the helicopter.

I decided to try to improve my odds by putting one of my older Wizards on every flash in the aircraft, and to set the SB-800's into slave mode.

A quick test showed the flashes would sync in both modes simultaneously -- way cool. This meant that if even a single PW'd flash picked up a radio signal to fire, all of my flashes would go off. This worked brilliantly, and gave me both more range and more reliability than a single PW.

Again, those SB-800s aren't cheap. But having both a PC jack and a super slave built in makes them fantastic little speedlights.

I also considered using a second PW Plus II transmitter, in relay mode, (explained here) to broadcast a simultaneous second sync signal on a different channel. The I could put at least one PW receiver on that second channel to get another layer of signal diversity.

But that would have involved buying a third Plus II to daisy chain the relaying PWs together, so the kids would have had to eat cat food for an extra week. Ummm, no.


Second Problem: Light Design


I did some research on the Bell 407. This gave me an idea of what to expect when I went to the airport to scout the actual helicopter I would be shooting in the air later.

Next step was to pop over to the airport to see if I could light it realistically with a few flashes.

Think of the chopper's interior as a tiny, two-room suite with big windows, small pass-throughs around the headrests and transparent floors in the front. Not an easy place to hide lights -- especially when you also are trying to mimic the ambient that would exist in the cabin.

BTW, that last idea is also known as "motivated" lighting. It is old-school, classic MoLaD stuff. There should be a logic to the light, or it just looks unreal.

You wanna stick an up-lighting SB in a toilet, knock yourself out. But just because it looks cool, doesn't mean it is going to register as logical to the viewer's brain. So the idea is to imitate -- but shape and amplify -- the light that might normally be there.

So I decided to go with gelled, diffused SB's in the front and back. I wanted the light to be omnidirectional, like the cabin's ambient light fixtures. Same principal as with the motorhome in Lighting 101.

A 1/2 CTO on the back cabin lights and a 1/2 CTB on the front would give me two options: First would be cool, instrument panel pilot lights and warm cabin lights. Or, I could lasso and easily color shift the whole cabin warmer in Photoshop, to give me daylight pilot lights and full CTO back cabin lights. I liked the idea of having that choice after the fact.

No real good place to mount motivated lights, either. Especially the one(s) that will ape the lights coming from the instrument panels. All of the glass will mean I can see the cabin. But I will also be able to see many places I would like to stick a flash.

Ugh. Not good.

I need at least one bare-bulb light coming from relatively high in the back, and a light coming from low front. I considered a Lumiquest Soft Box II, on top of the instrument panel but even that was too big -- and not omnidirectional enough. Not to mention too high.

Besides, there was no good real estate on the panel in which to mount the flash. I decided to file that little problem away for later. (Procrastinators: The leaders of tomorrow...)


I always like to test as much as possible, and this shoot was certainly not gonna be an exception to that rule. So, my stand-in chopper a few evenings before the shoot was our Toyota Highlander, parked in an empty lot at dusk. Not exactly an Apache Longbow, but it'll do for testing purposes.

This gave me a little more confidence in both the lighting design and the sync range. Although the former would have to be adjusted when we saw the results in the helicopter later. And the lights would be subject to additional problems with the high visibility and RF noise in the cabin while flying. Still, this kind of exercise helps me to not worry as much before the shoot.


Third Problem: Flash / Ambient Balance

This was the one I was saving until last. (Well, before I put off figuring out the front light position, anyway.)

I have pretty much figured out how to do the ambient/flash balance thing by now. It's all about shutter speed manipulation. But what if your ambient will be quickly dropping, and the rotors only look right on the fast-moving chopper at speeds of 1/100th or below.

I could decide to shoot through my ambient light window, and then try to get someone to quickly adjust all of the lights down two stops when it got too dark. Then I open my aperture (or bump the ISO) to get some ambient shutter speed back.

But since I could not count on an SB-savvy passenger in the chopper, I would have to live with the window and try to stretch it as much as possible. I would start shooting at 1/125 -- but do so when the sky was one stop too hot at my shooting aperture. Then I would let the sky settle into the right exposure. That would buy me a little time.

As the sky further dropped, I would open my shutter until I got to my bottom limit (say, 1/50th). As it dropped still more, I would keep my shutter speed constant and underexpose the sky as the ambient fell more. That would stretch my window even more, and I could fix it some in Adobe Camera Raw if need be.

So, there was everything that I could control before the shoot. The biggest wild card turned out to be the weather, which rained us out at least three times. But we finally got out to the fairgrounds on a nice night.

In Part 2, we'll look at the shoot, and those last couple of pesky problems.

__________

NEXT: Night Chopper, Pt. 2

WIRED Interviews the Flash Gun Guy

UPDATE: WIRED blogger (and Strobist reader) Charlie Sorrel tracked down and interviewed Julius von Bismarck, the guy who uses a slaved flash projector to superimpose words into other people's photos.

-30-

#19: Rankings

Medical schools have a love-hate relationship with the U.S. News & World Report rankings. On the one hand, they will tell applying students that rankings don't matter, in order to get the applicants to consider the school over more highly ranked schools. On the other hand, if any department of the medical institution gets ranked well in that magazine, you can be sure that they will shove it in your face and never let you forget it. Going to one of U.S. News's Top Hospitals is like walking into an advertisement for the hospital itself; you will see posters up everywhere telling you how awesome they are, as if that knowledge is somehow going to improve the quality of care that you receive.

Medical school rankings are important to some people (like Asian parents), but it is true that they don't really matter in the grand scheme of things. For example, the reason that U.S. News & World Report always ranks Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine so highly is because people are always going to be impressed if you attend medical school there. The people at U.S. News & World Report like to state different factors that they "took into consideration" when ranking schools, but overall the statement of these factors is just their attempt at justifying their own bias in school placement. The placement of any school after Harvard and Johns Hopkins is irrelevant, because in the eyes of residency directors, all these other "good" schools are completely equal to each other.

If you are ever told by a school official how well their school placed on the latest rankings, be sure to ask a lot of questions about how the rankings were derived. Ask for a lot of specifics, such as how much improvement there was in the factor of alumni donations from the previous year. Asking for this kind of detailed information allows you to seem like you possess a wealth of knowledge about the process, which will easily fool most administration officials.

#18: Small groups

As previously mentioned, small group is a problem-based learning environment within the larger framework of the school curriculum. The entire med class will be broken up into these different small groups, so you'll only be working with about ten other classmates of yours. Small group is generally agreed upon to be worthless, for a number of reasons. For one thing, the issues dealt with in small groups are rarely if ever related to the material in lecture. They deal more with the touchy-feely aspects of medical care, like people's opinions on stuff. Since other people's opinions are just as ill-informed and self-serving as your own, there is no way that being forced to hear these opinions will ever benefit you in any way.

However, this in itself would not be a bad thing; in fact, if done properly, it would be a welcome break from the rigors of medical school. The real problem with small group is that the questions you are given to deal with are just plain irrelevant. They are not related to the material you cover in lecture, and they will not improve your abilities as a physician. For example, many of the questions will ask you to look up statistics for prevalences of different diseases, which are completely unrelated to the presentation and treatment of the disease. You will also be asked to look up random health code policies, which won't have any significance to you until you finally get your medical degree and start practicing medicine.

For these reasons, remember not to waste too much time preparing for these sessions; there is always an easy way to fulfill your obligations for any given session. For example, if you are asked to design an interactive project to present information about Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy to the other group members, all you have to do is find a clip of the funeral scene from The Sixth Sense on YouTube, and then have your classmates discuss afterwards. Spending any more than 10 minutes preparing for a given small group session is a complete waste of energy, and a sign that you should work on your time management.

As with anatomy lab, it is quite likely that you will find yourself in a small group with an overly ambitious classmate. Identify who these people are early, then make sure to be the one to delegate tasks whenever you are assigned to work with them. This will require some cognizance on your part, but it will be well worth it if you can keep interactions with them to a minimum. Be sure to be as agreeable as possible in your messages! Nothing gets small group instructors involved more quickly than a few of their students in a heated email exchange.

One More CTO Assignment Pic

For some reason this photo did not show up in my CTO assignment results search. But thankfully, a reader pointed it out in the comments.

Big hat tip to The Light Whisperer for this neat cross-gelling, light-bouncing image.

Says TLW:

"F8 - ½ second. Camera white balance set to tungsten. Two flashes, one outside window (left) without any gel for a (daylight environment to simulate moonlight) , a second in a hall outside the room (right) with strong orange gel. Additional light from a oil lamp allowed to burn in for ½ second. "

Wow, cool. And warm, too...

Click the pic to see it bigger. He also posted a setup diagram and more notes here.

Green Guru Challenge with Michelle Kaufmann

The time has arrived for our next Guru Challenge, the ongoing programming initiative in which we ask a prominent or up-and-coming expert in their field to challenge you, the YouTube community, to use your creativity to new ends.




This month, it's all about using your talents in an eco-conscious way. Michelle Kaufmann, a YouTube architect with a passion for green design, wants to see what you can create with items you would normally throw away:









So come on, gurus and non-gurus alike! Show Michelle (and us) your innovative ideas and we'll feature some of the best ones in our HowTo & Style section and possibly also on the home page.
Put your creative self out there and you just might inspire the YouTube community to do the same.




Our last Guru Challenge featured the ZooYork crew asking about your viral marketing ideas – in light of their own stickers-on-cockroaches-campaign - and you responded with videos that showed you finding interesting places to place your art, fun ways you incorporated your friends and family in your videos, and poking a little fun at the concept itself.









Long live DIY,


Sadia H.


YouTube HowTo & Style

#17: Taking time off after college

As mentioned previously, there are a few things you should try to put into your application to get med schools to take you seriously, all of which require an obscene amount of work through the first three years of college. If you're close to the end of college and you don't have anything to show for yourself (or if you're close to the beginning of college and don't plan on having anything to show for yourself), you will need to take time off after you graduate and do something drastic to improve your chances of getting accepted. There are a few prescribed things you should stick to when taking time off, because even though there are a lot of ways to spend time off between college and medical school, there are very few that selection committees consider to be "acceptable."

Medical schools will definitely respect time used to do research in a lab, especially if you get published. This is basically the same as doing research during the school year, except that it's more like a nine-to-five job and a lot more is expected of you. Because of both of these reasons, it makes it a lot more difficult to dick around while doing research for a full year. You'll also want to find some kind of grant to fund your time off, like a Fulbright scholarship: don't count on your parents wasting any more money on you just because you couldn't keep up with the rest of your classmates. Finally, make sure to make sure to get a good supply of crystal meth or some other strong stimulants, since research is boring as all hell and it's going to take something stronger than your typical cup of coffee to keep you awake.

Doing volunteer work is another option. There are lots of opportunities in this area, many of which are well advertised. For example, Teach for America enjoys sending out spam emails to college campuses in the hopes of reaching that one person on the planet who hasn't heard of them yet. They'll even go ahead and set up an appointment for you to meet with their recruiters without your consent, so you literally just have to show up in order to get a spot with them. There are also volunteer opportunities that allow people to practice bare-bones medicine in very rural parts of the world, especially in Latin America. It is pretty unethical for people without any medical training whatsoever to perform medical procedures on people from other parts of the world who are too destitute to care, but it still makes selection committees go absolutely cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs when they see an applicant who has these experiences.

Other year-long activities that medical schools consider "worthwhile" include getting other graduate degrees, starting your own business, or being someone famous (e.g., the child of a senator). Note that there are certain things that are absent from this list, like improving yourself as a person, or starting a family. Medical schools consider things like these to be a gigantic waste of everybody's time, especially theirs.

Of course, if no medical school accepts you even after you've taken some time off, you may have to consider alternatives such as a Caribbean medical school or even a D.O. program. Both of these types of schools are known for having lower standards than allopathic medical schools in the United States, so they are a viable possibilities for those of you who are desperate to get into a medical school and won't take no for an answer.

Lighting 102: CTO Assignment | Discussion

Report from June 3rd, in which you were asked to use a CTO filter to do something other than correct for incandescent light. The CTO is maybe the most useful CC filter in the whole pack, as several readers demonstrate in their photos, after the jump.
___________


Leading off, _JRP_ used a CTO to create a nighttime look.

If my spanish (and reverse engineering) is working today, he used a Canon 420EZ flash high and left, in a snoot, ungelled. Then he gelled a snooted Vivitar 285 with a full CTO filter and lit the munchkin's face.

By setting his camera on the incandescent WB setting, the front flash went to normal and the rear flash shifted to blue. Taken all together, the look evokes a night look rather well, I think.


Greg Cee used a similar balance shifting setup, but went with an additional 1/2 CTO (full CTO plus a 1/2 CTO) gel on the thin sliver of light coming from camera right.

This is important, as it puts the light past normal and into a warm color, which is nice when you are making it try to stand out against teh blue you have gotten by shooting on incandescent WB.

Fill was from an umbrella, no gel, and pointing up to feather the light off of the bottom of the frame.

Takeaway: If you are trying to do that cool-light shift thing, with a CTO on your light, go past full CTO to either (2) CTO or (1.5) CTO to get that warm-on-cool light that usually looks better than white on cool.


What's the one day a year when you can cover your kid in spaghetti and not catch trouble?

Father's Day, of course. Especially your very first Father's Day, which is when Brad Herman chose to reproduce a photo he had seen done long ago, this time using his kid as the model.

Brad used a palette of warm-to-neutral light: Full CTO on the spaghetti monster, half CTO shooting through the tree in the background, and a no-CTO rim.

That last one is assuming he was on incandescent WB, but looking at it now I am not totally sure. Reason is, the full CTO front flash looks pretty warm for a straight CTO in tungsten WB mode. And the rim light does not look quite full CTB.

I am guessing he either walked the WB around a little in between, or shifted the color a little bit in post. Maybe Brad will clue us in via the photo's caption.

Either way, this is the kind of photo that will make someone pick up the phone and call someone at a kid's modeling agency. Or social services. We trust the bath followed shortly thereafter.



Also going for the 1+1/2 CTO thing on tungsten WB was jgentsch, which allowed him not only to deepen the sky's blue tone, but to contrast it nicely with warm light (even after the WB conversion) on the flowers and window.

Thanks much for the setup shot, too. Those are always helpful for people to see. Although there is a bit of a setup shot in the original photo, in the camera left window...


Shutter-Think skipped the incandescent WB shift and decided to go warm and warmer in his photograph of a woman practicing yoga.

He went the other way, balancing to shade. The half blue gel on the main light brought it back closer to daylight.

But it caught a lot of warm bounce fill and warmed up from a backlight gelled full CTO, made even warmer by the camera's shade WB setting.

Remember, with the combination of full and partial CTOs and CTBs, you have quite a range of options to dial your photo warmer or cooler. And you can do it for the whole photo, or vary the shift with each light.



And finally, this self portrait by nikonbhoy works all around the warm/cool scale, using a full CTO front light, a blue backlight, and daylight ambient fill.

It was shot on tungsten WB, which shifted everything toward blue.
__________


As a group, these photos do a great job of showing some of the different looks that are possible using a couple of sheets of orange-ish acetate, once you realize that stuff is far more useful than just correcting for tungsten light.

Really nice work, guys. You can see the original assignment here, and all of the entries here.
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UPDATE: From the comments, a little confusion as to which Rosco filters are what, WRT CTO's, CTB's, etc. Also from the comments, a heads-up about an excellent Rosco publication containing such info. (Check out page nine.)


NEXT: Lighting 102: 7.0 -- Time-Based Variables

#16: Lecture videos

The lecture video is definitely the greatest thing to happen to lectures in the last 1,000 years. Before, medical students would need to be physically present at lectures in order to get the information needed for any given class. Lectures would commonly start at the ungodly hour of 10 a.m., but more immoral lecturers would start class even earlier than that. Tens to twenties of med students suffered under this system, but thankfully, lecture videos have changed this entire dynamic. Now, having lectures recorded allows the students to decide exactly how late in the day they want to start watching lectures, to rewind the lecture and review pertinent information immediately, and to turn off the lecture as soon as they get sick of listening to lecturers babble on about nothingness. Basically, it takes control away from the lecturers and puts it into the hands of the medical students, and lets them schedule their lecture-watching around more important things like eating and watching baseball.

One of the best things about lecture videos is that you can skip right past any nonsense that might happen in class, something that the poor suckers who actually attend won't be able to do. For example, if a fire alarm goes off (surprisingly common) or if a lecturer goes into a story that has nothing to do with the subject at hand (unsurprisingly common), you can fast-forward right past it. It's really too bad that life doesn't come with this kind of functionality, because your time is too precious for that kind of garbage.

However, the greatest benefit by far that lecture videos have over actually attending lecture is the ability to use add-ons like 2xAV to watch the videos at faster than normal speeds without chipmunk voices, as if all the benefits noted above already weren't enough. 2xAV allows users to watch RealPlayer videos at up to 2.5 times normal speed, which means that a 50 minute lecture can be watched in 20 minutes. While you might be afraid that you won't be retaining all the information when you watch it this quickly, just know that everyone else in your class is watching it at this speed. Remember that it's more important to fit in with your peers than to learn things properly.

Really the only improvement that needs to be made is to expand lecture videos to all parts of the medical school curriculum. Anatomy, for example, would be a much more pleasant experience if you didn't have to actually ever be in a dank, malodorous anatomy lab. Even events like Orientation or Commencement could benefit from being fast-forwarded through - or skipped altogether! Unfortunately, medical school administrations will never let this happen, but it's nice to dream of what could have been.

France and Germany: Next Stops For The YouTube Partner Program

We're excited to once again announce the expansion of the YouTube Partner Program. By joining the program, popular users in France and Germany -- like new partners AericWinter and FabTheGap -- will now be able to generate revenue from ads that run next to their videos, and receive the same promotional benefits afforded to YouTube's other professional content partners.



Now in eight countries, the Partner Program showcases the global diversity of the YouTube community, reflecting our commitment to helping users around the world find an outlet for their creativity and pursue opportunities online no matter where they live.



So, if you've built a significant audience on YouTube -- whether running a cooking series in Bordeaux or talking football in Hamburg -- we encourage you to apply now.



The YouTube Team

And Now, a Few Words From the Tourist Standing Next to You

Off-camera flash as High Art: Julius von Bismark, an artist in Berlin, is playing with snap-happy tourists by injecting words into their photos.

He cut a hole in the back of an old film camera and stuck a slaved flash into it. By writing words onto transparent plastic and sliding the sheet into a slot near the film plane, the whole rig now works backwards and becomes a projector. By leaving the shutter open and slaving the rear flash, he can now project those words onto the subject of someone else's photo when their flash trips his flash.

His slave setup is a little clunky (kinda Steam Punk-ish, actually). But a standalone SB-800 also would work great -- without the camera-topping project box slave.

He's in it for the social commentary, but I can't help thinking how much fun this would be for sophomoric jokes, too. You know, if you were that kind of person...



(Thanks to everyone who sent this in -- www.JuliusvonBismark.com, via Gizmodo.)

-30-

#15: Recommendations

A recommendation letter can make or break your med school application. A sparkling letter is equivalent to applying as a fifth generation legacy, so you should make sure to get as many as possible (stealing them from other students if necessary). Obviously the easiest way to secure these is to sleep with your professors, but generally speaking, the more mature or more female a professor is, the less likely they are to entertain this possibility. (Note that this is not true if you are in middle school.)

A more realistic way to get a good recommendation letter from a professor is to take a lot of classes with them, like more than five. Make sure to be that annoying kid who asks lots of questions during lecture and needlessly prolongs class for everyone else. It's a surefire way to guarantee that your professor - and everyone else - will never be able to forget you. If you can manage to do this for more than one professor, you should have no problem getting the recommendations you require. You will also be universally loathed by your classmates, which is a small price to pay for something so important.

If you have trouble burying your self-consciousness long enough to enact the previously mentioned tactic, you will need to take more subtle routes to remind your professor of how awesome of a student you were. One thing to do is to make a packet for your professors that has all the information they need in order to write the recommendation. Make sure to include a cover letter, a transcript with your best classes prominently highlighted, and a gift card to their favorite restaurant or department store. Feel free to blatantly lie about your accomplishments in your cover letter; as professors have to deal with upwards of 100 students per semester, it is highly unlikely that they will know anything about you. Finally, people often say to write professors a thank you letter once you've been accepted to a school, but this is entirely unnecessary; since you'll never see these professors again, you are under no obligation to pretend to care about what they think of you any longer.

If you can help it, try to get actual copies of the recommendation letters to see what they say about you. This can be easily accomplished by renting a P.O. Box from the post office for a fake program (e.g., "Tidewater University Summer Scholars Program"), and having your professor send in a recommendation to that P.O. Box for you. This course of action has many benefits, the most obvious of which is that you will be able to find out exactly what your professors will write about you. With this knowledge, you will now have the power to prevent them from backstabbing you in the future.

Remotely On Topic: How to PW a Second Camera

Sports photographer Max Simbron has posted a nice little video tutorial on how to use Pocket Wizards to remote a second camera at, say, a basketball game. Being able to shoot with remote cameras is a nice perk of owning PWs.

(Heck, if you are gonna spring for them, you may as well put them to work for you as much as possible.)



If you want to learn more about getting double duty out of your wireless remotes, check out his original post for other cool tips and tidbits.

-30-

#14: Medical television shows

Medical students love shows that are set in a medical environment. Grey's Anatomy, House M.D., Scrubs, Nip/Tuck, Doctor Who - the list goes on. Med students swallow them up like Skittles. In fact, it has been documented that fully 75% of the increase in medical school applications over the past three years is directly attributable to the surge in popularity of these shows. If you're new in the television business and you're desperate to create a hit show, all you need to do is take a bunch of old jokes from other hit television shows, and recycle them into the setting of a medical environment. You don't even need to worry about medical accuracy, since the majority of your intended audience will never even know if you make a mistake.

One reason that med students like these shows so much is that they get to live vicariously through them. Real doctors do silly things like take care of patients and fill out paperwork, but doctors on television shows spend most of their time making snarky comments at each other and having lots and lots of sex. Doctors on television also never have to face the consequences of their actions (unless their real-life actor does something stupid). Watching these shows gives medical students a socially acceptable way to fantasize of doing nothing all day except acting as cool as Fonzie and having unnatural amounts of sex with marginally attractive individuals.

Medical students also like these shows because they give the students a chance to show off how much they're learning in school. This does let them impress people occasionally, but mostly it lets them feel good about themselves. For example, if one of the actors mispronounces a phrase like "bilateral hyperplasia of the adrenal zona fasciculata" incorrectly, they will be mocked for no less than fifteen minutes. A really serious instance of medical incorrectness can be milked for conversation fodder for weeks at a time.

Non-med students also watch these shows, but mostly because of the hot actors and actresses (Katherine Heigl, I'm looking at you) and the ridiculous situations the actors are put into. Overall, these shows have better plot elements and character development than other typical shows like Spongebob Squarepants or Friends, so it makes sense that they've attained mainstream popularity.

Trendspotting Tuesday: Outside-the-Box Activism

What do you get when you mix a ditty about testicular cancer with a group of citizens foraging for fruit on the streets of Los Angeles? A pretty sweet trend on YouTube. You're probably well acquainted with the average activist -- the demonstrator, the lobbyist, the boycotter, the PSA-junkie...In this week's Trendspotting Tuesday, we're pleased to introduce you to a whole different kind of activist animal -- the unconventional activist -- whose creativity knows no limits when it comes to raising awareness about their pet issue.







You may have already encountered a few unconventional activists on YouTube, like the Swiss contingent who froze their butts off (literally) while taking an environmental stand or this fella whose penchant for recycling outweighs his need for mobility:







In today's feature, you'll witness a colorful display of outrage as an Italian man sends thousands of plastic balls down the Spanish Steps to protest lack of garbage collection and discover a man who chose to live like a chicken to show how cruel humans can be. And you might just learn how to do the "Gas Can Shuffle," the latest dance craze that's sweeping the nation in an attempt to make gas more affordable:







If this brief paddle in the civic participation pool isn't enough for you, keep checking the Nonprofits & Activism category for more examples of inspiring social change, of both the wacky and traditional variety.



Cheers,

The YouTube Team

#13: Problem-based learning

As previously mentioned, some schools try to buck the mold by using a teaching method called "problem-based learning." This entails having students do lots and lots of problems instead of emphasizing lectures. It was developed at a university in Canada, which explains why it sucks so hard.

Problem-based learning is touted by its proponents as being a non-traditional way of teaching, which is a surefire way of knowing that it's not quite as good as the usual method. One big drawback to problem-based learning is that doing problems over and over again becomes really tedious after about 13 seconds. However, the bigger drawback to problem-based learning is that students never actually learn the principles behind the problems that they solve. They become like little monkeys who can apply the right equation to a given problem, but have no deeper understanding than that. When it comes time to study for a national exam such as the USMLE Step 1, which asks questions requiring integration of fundamental concepts in medicine, these students are basically screwed.

Most lecture-based schools include a little bit of problem-based learning in something called "small group." Small group sucks really hard too, but it is only a taste of what problem-based schoolers go through. Every night before they sleep, lecture-based schoolers offer this prayer: "Dear God, please keep me and my family safe. And thank you for not sending me to a problem-based learning school. Amen."

New Personalized Homepage and Improved Email Notifications

The new features included in our most recent site update are geared toward a more personalized experience for you. Check out the details...



NEW PERSONALIZED HOMEPAGE



Our goal is to give a simple answer to the question, "What should I watch today?" with a personalized, customizable homepage that makes it easy to find the videos and people that you care about. After reviewing results from our beta test and feedback from the community, we're happy to now release the new personalized homepage to all logged-in users. Since launching the beta version in February, data has shown an increase in the number of users visiting the homepage, the frequency of visits, and the number of subscriptions users make over time. So, this optimized version of the homepage not only means a customizable experience for you, but more exposure for your cool videos and channels on YouTube (Note: if you are logged out or do not have an account you won't be able see the personalized homepage).



IMPROVED EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS



The email messages you receive from YouTube have been updated with a new layout. In addition to a streamlined design and many wording changes, any comments or messages are now included directly within the body of the email, saving you time.



We're eager to hear your feedback, so please let us know what you think of this latest round of improvements.



The YouTube Team

DINFOS Pt. 3 - Thinking Inside the Box

For the final DINFOS post we have flexibility artist Shelly Guy, who was brave enough to venture down into the bowels of the DINFOS photo studio for a series of photos shot by Joe McNally, the 2008 Advanced Lighting Team and myself.

As you probably know by now, I generally don't care much for shooting in a studio. Which is why we decided to do a quick change-up on our environment and stuff Shelly in a nearby locker.

But that's no problem -- Shelly can get in there easily. It's getting the light way back in there that can be a bit of a challenge...
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So, here's the deal. We do not have a lot of time to shoot in the studio, as the building closes at 9:00 p.m. So Joe and I decided to bounce Shelly back and forth between photographers, with one person setting up with the other one shot.

Shelly was a total trouper, and put up with this sort of thing way better than she should have. (Hey, she has to be flexible. She's a contortionist.)

While Joe was shooting down at the other end of the studio, I was looking for a neat place in which to pose Shelly. How can you turn down a half-sized locker?

Next step is how to light it. I need to get the light all the way to the back. But the last thing I want to do is just blast a bunch of light right in from straight on -- there would be no depth or shape to the photo. You need to light from of axis for shape.

But I have to get in there some way, so I tried to have it both ways on my lighting direction. I decided to light it with an umbrella from camera left, and fill with a ring flash.

By varying my lighting ratio between the two SB-800's (we were totally nuking the ambient away) I could decide exactly how bright the back of the locker (and the parts of Shelly that were in shadow) would be.

My other problem would be that the umbrella needed to be close to provide a nice wrap light. But that would mean that it would reflect off of the locker door on the left and create a big, distracting, umbrella-shaped hot spot.

Problem two was easy to solve. We stuck the black cover on the camera left half of the umbrella. This gobo'd the umbrella from reflecting in the door (save a nice, thin sliver) and still let it light Shelly nice and close.

With the gobo, there is a nice, vertical highlight that defines the texture of the locker door. If the gobo was gone, there would be a big, honker of a circular highlight there.


So, specular reflection solved, we now needed to push some light into the locker.

The Ray Flash ring flash adapter fit the bill perfectly, allowing light that was exactly on axis. This meant that we could not only push as much (or little) light as we wanted back there, but also create a specular highlight in the back of the locker to further brighten that area.

The only thing left to decide is the ratio, really. And this is easy enough, in manual power, without needing a $300 flashmeter.

But first, we needed a stand-in. Fortunately the room contained a mannequin. (Mascot? Late-night companion? Honestly, I don't wanna know...) So naturally, we tried to shove him in there. But the dummy wouldn't fit, so we were S.O.L.

Then I hear, "I can get in there," coming from A.L.T. member Luke Pinneo. (Yeah, right, dude, I thought.) But sure enough, he crammed himself in. No, it was not as elegant as later when Shelly did it, but still...


So Luke wedges himself into the locker. (All the while, McNally is shooting glamour photos of Shelly, who has no idea what we have in mind for her...)

I start without the Ray Flash -- just a shoe-mount flash set at 1/64th and aimed up at the ceiling to trip the other flash optically. I bring the umbrella'd SB-800 in from camera left, set on 1/8 power. It's set on slave mode, so the shoe flash will fire it.

A couple of quick pop-n-chimps and we have dialed in the aperture that looks best for the main light. Just doing it by eyeball and histogram on the back screen. Nothing fancy.

Now it is time for the fill light. I slip on the Ray Flash adapter and start out with the flash dialed down to 1/32 power. It's real close to where we want to be, and a couple of quick power adjustments has us ready to go. Again, just turning the volume up or down until it looks best.

Normally, you could also use a flash in an umbrella right behind your camera as on-axis fill. But a light that big would have given you reflection problems on the other door.

I am finding I am going to the ring as fill pretty often these days, and I really like the result. I have a shot like Peter Yang's "Fallon" portrait, with some ring in there, and it looks sweet.

To be honest, I am not a very big fan of ring list as a main light. I think the photos all look the same. But as fill, it can add a neat layer to many different kinds of key lighting.

So we got Shelly through our portion of the shoot quickly, and back to Joe well before we were to be kicked out. Which left a couple of us a few minutes with nothing to do in the DINFOS studio.

If anyone happens to ask you how this DINFOS studio mascot ended up naked from the waist down and left in a very compromising position at a computer work station, we don't know anything about that.

___________

Related:

:: Shelly Guy, Flexibility Artist ::
:: Ray Flash ring flash adapter ::
:: SB-800 Slave Mode How-To ::
:: McNally's Pix ::

#12: Pre-meds

As soon as you get into a medical school, you can expect every pre-med you have ever known to descend upon you like a hobo on a ham sandwich. They will want to know things like what your MCAT score was, what leadership experiences you have, and how many people you had to sleep with. It is flattering at first, but it quickly becomes irritating because all these people are just using you. If a long lost friend who you haven't thought about in years suddenly contacts you, make sure they are not looking for a copy of your AMCAS application before you let yourself get too excited.

Your pre-med friends will send you long emails with all sorts of information about themselves and ask you what you think their chances of getting into med school are. The best way to approach this situation is always to tell them the same thing: with a little more hard work, they would pretty much be the perfect candidate. Be wary of going into any details in your reply, because the more details you go into, the more likely they are to email you for more information. Also be sure to wait a few hours or even days before you reply so they think you actually read what they wrote. If they do email you again, just tell them that you're a little too busy right now, and ask them to email you again in a few weeks. Pre-meds have a very short attention span, and so they will likely forget that the encounter ever happened.

While it would be easy to get angry at those who contact you, remember that there was once a time when you used to do these same annoying things. Suck it up and at least give them the courtesy of a response before you go back to doing something more important.

SOLD OUT: July 19 NYC Lighting Seminar

UPDATE: The July 19th NYC lighting seminar is sold out. If you are attending, hit the jump for more details, and a link to the discussion thread.
__________________________

Seminar Info and Registration Details


LOCATION:

The class is to be held at the ShootDigital Studios. The address is 23 East 4th Street, in New York City. You can find a Google map here if the one just below is not working in your browser.


View Larger Map


WHAT WE'RE ABOUT:

With the lighting seminars, my goal is threefold: To present an organic approach to creating light, to fill you with as many ideas as possible in a day's time and to have fun doing it. We'll start with a roadmap for the day, which I will do my best to keep us on. But each session will take on somewhat of a life of its own, which is a good thing.


Our Anticipated Schedule

NOTE: Due to time limitations at ShootDigital Studio, the Seminar will run from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Morning check-in/setup: 9:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

Please plan to arrive between these times, as we will still be setting up before then and still waiting for the morning caffeine to kick in.


Morning session: 10:00 a.m. until approximately 12:30 p.m.

We'll talk about gear (I'll have a selection of gear there for a petting zoo) and take an extended look at lighting, from a more integrated approach than a blog allows. The focus will be on taking all of the things we talk about on the site in a day-to-day sense and combining them to gain more of a holistic approach to lighting. Everything really is interrelated.


Lunch Break

On your own, approximately 45 minutes, and we'll be looking for your suggestions for nearby good eats in the Flickr discussion thread related to this seminar. Link to a discussion thread will be posted shortly.


Afternoon Session:

~1:15 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Assuming we have finished the theory stuff, we'll move into the practical/demo session. (Sometimes we go into a little overtime on the theory.) We'll get into some real-world lighting exercises photographing some models I will have cleverly hidden around the room disguised as ordinary attendees. No one is safe.

This is basically a lighting version of "Whose Line is it, Anyway?" with a focus on improvisational lighting based on available gear, the room, found objects, lighting mods, etc. We will be in an actual studio, which for me will be a little strange. Normally, I am used to hotel conference rooms with built-in bad lighting and a half-dead ficus plant.

I never know what ideas we will come up with, which is what keeps me equal parts interested in (and petrified of) the afternoon session. It's a good thing.

Shortly after each shoot, we will view each setup and discuss the results onscreen. This instant feedback in a group environment is a wonderfully efficient way to drive home the thought and technique process. We can read and write all we want. But for photographers there is nothing better than "monkey see, money do."

The goal will be to incorporate lighting theory, room environment, assignment constraints and our available gear to create a photo that seeks to produce an photograph that is an appropriate response to our situation.

Working within that framework will allow us to concentrate on better freeing ourselves in the other areas: Creativity and subject/photographer interaction.

The entire day will be a non-stop flow of ideas and techniques, punctuated by spur-of-the-moment Q-and-A. I want you to bring lots of questions, and to feel free to voice the ones that pop into your head throughout the day. In fact, if you do not ask me enough questions, I will start throwing some questions at you.

You might want to bring a notebook and pen. (I will have a URL to download the presentation, so you can skip the copy-everything-on-the-screen thing.) And bring a camera if you want to shoot the setups as a visual reference. And dress is optional extremely casual, so you won't feel out of place if I show up in shorts. Hey, it has happened before.

As with my philosophy for the website there will be no secrets and no posturing. This stuff is not rocket science. It's light. And the first step in learning to light is to realize that anyone can get very good at it.

We will plan to wrap up at about 4:00. I have to tear down and be out of there by 5:00, or they will shoot me, stuff me and use me as a prop for future shoots. But there is no reason we could not head someplace nearby and keep the conversation going. I have heard they have beer in NYC, too. We could find out.

If, for some reason, you require a cancellation after booking, refunds will be granted up until July 9th. After that time, you would be responsible for transferring your seat to another attendee.

Very Important: If, through events beyond my control, I am unable to present this seminar, refunds will be limited to the ticket price. I have already booked the hotel room in advance, so I do not anticipate this happening. But I just wanted to cover all of the bases, in case I get run over by a bus tomorrow, one of those Big Macs finally catches up to me or Missus Strobist finds out about the new D3 and kills me.

Bases covered, I have to say that I am very much looking forward to this trip and especially to meeting many of you. As I do more of these seminars, I find that each session develops a vibe of its own. You put a few dozen photographers who are all eager to learn in a room, and what starts out as a simple stack of talking points turns into a rich, organic discussion that ends with everyone - including me - having a head swimming with new ideas.


How to Go for FREE:

Wanna go for free, and go out shooting the day before? One seat has already been reserved.

All you need is access to something that might make a good shoot in NYC on July 18th. I am in town and looking for something fun to light and shoot. Whoever ends up coming up with the best shoot idea for Friday will also attend on Saturday for free.

NOTE: You must have both access and permission for us to shoot.

Scroll down in this post for details on how to suggest a Stone Soup shoot and a link to the Flickr thread for the suggestions.

NOTE: If you successfully register for Saturday and you come up with the top suggestion for Friday, your payment for Saturday will be refunded.


Feedback from Previous Seminars

London:
Post-seminar thread | Extended report

Seattle:
Post-seminar thread | Extended report

Paris:
Post-seminar thread | Extended report

Silicon Valley:

Extended report I | Extended report II

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Registration Details

The cost for the seminar is $159.00. To register (with any major credit card) please click on the link at the bottom of the post, which will take you to PayPal. A PayPal account is not required to register.

IMPORTANT: If you are in the process of registering and the seminar sells out, your fee will be refunded by the end of the day -- usually within the hour.

Please leave your name and phone number (and a working email if different from the PayPal address) in the info box on the PayPal page, in case I should need to contact you.

I look forward to seeing you there. The discussion thread for this seminar is here.


(The 7/19/08 NYC Lighting Seminar is sold out.)

#11: Faculty interviews

Interviews are a way for medical schools to separate the normal people from the weirdos. Of course, they have a quota for weirdos that they need to accept, but overall they try to keep this number to a reasonable minimum. The reason they do this is that if anyone asks, they want to be able to talk a lot about diversity and then point to a few key statistics. This is what they like to do with minority applicants as well.

Med school interviews are different at different places. Traditionally, they are conducted by faculty members, although some schools are moving to interviews by medical students as well. If you interview at a school that has both faculty interviews and student interviews, remember that the faculty interviews carry about forty times more weight. Med students are only allowed to interview you so they can say they contributed to the school and feel good about themselves.

Before conducting the interview, faculty members will have read over your application very superficially for things that stand out at them. They will then ask you about these things in the interview. Don't mind that if they had just read the application more carefully, they would already have all the answers to their questions. They are just trying to classify you as either normal or weird based on the way you answer the questions.

Faculty members will also ask you if you have any questions for them, and it is important to prepare with a few:

• What kind of student would do well at this school?
• What has been your best experience here?
• What are the biggest hurdles that most students face?
• What are some mistakes you've seen students make?
• What are some recent changes the school has undergone?

The answers to these questions probably don't matter to you. The goal is to make yourself look good so that the school will accept you.

Remember that it never hurts to be a sycophant. Ask them about all the degrees they have cluttering their walls or about the important and cutting-edge work they do. While these topics have nothing to do with you as an applicant, it will make the faculty members feel good about themselves and report positively about you.

Spore is Spreading All Over YouTube

YouTube is in the middle of a creature invasion, courtesy of our creative community of video gamers and "Spore", the much-anticipated new game from Will Wright , the creator of The Sims. Countless new species of lovable aliens have popped up all over the site, and you don't have to be an expert gamer to get in on the action. You can download the Spore Creature Creator for free, create your own alien, make in-game movies and upload them to your YouTube account directly from the Creature Creator. Then you're ready to share your unique vision with your friends and fellow "Spore" enthusiasts. Once you've got the hang of things, you can even enter the Ultimate Spore Creature Creator Dance Off for the chance to have your creature's dance moves voted on by the community as well as a trip to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC.



Whether you're an outspoken vlogger or a camera-shy YouTube user who prefers to leave comments, uploading your own unique life-form is an exciting new way to express your creative vision and get more out of your YouTube experience. Since EA launched the Creature Creator on June 17, we've seen literally thousands of eye-popping uploaded life-forms, including oddball creations from Tay Zonday and the legendary Stan Lee, a man who knows a thing or two about dreaming up new characters. And as you check out this video player packed with "Spore" goodness, don't forget that your own contribution to the great "Spore" invasion is only a download -- and upload -- away.







Happy creating,

Felicia W.

YouTube Entertainment