Free, Online Version of Photoshop?

Finally, something that is actually worth something being given away for free. This would be great news to the cardboard-and-duct-tape readers.
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Indie Band Double Dares Ya!

The New Pornographers are really getting into the spirit of their latest album, Challengers, by issuing four challenges to the YouTube community, starting with this week's call to do a funny dance to one of their songs:







After about a week, the band will choose their favorite video responses, which will be highlighted in our music category here as well as on their label's Web site


So good luck, and stay tuned for next week's challenge.



Cheers,



Michele K-tel

YouTube Music

The New Pornographers Double Dare Ya!

The Canadian indie rockers are really getting into the spirit of their latest album, Challengers, by issuing four challenges to the YouTube community, starting with this week's call to invent a funny dance to one of their songs:







The band will choose its favorite video responses as they roll in, and those videos will be featured in our music category as well as on the Matador Web site.



In addition, one grand prize winner will get an iPhone and the chance to turn the tables and challenge the Pornographers to a cockamamie idea of his or her own. The band might even say yes, um, if "it's reasonable."



So good luck, and stay tuned for next week's challenge – you can follow all the action here on the New Pornographers' channel.



Cheers,

Michele K-tel

YouTube Music

'One-Light Workshop' Site Relaunches with Forum, Pithy Slogan, Longer Beard

Like myself, Atlanta-based photographer Zack Arias (hipster, left) teaches minimalist lighting techniques to others, further increasing the talent pool and ruining the futures of professional photographers everywhere.

So naturally we are cutthroat competitors, locked in a bitter struggle for a finite pool of readers. And needless to say, Zack will never get any publicity around these parts.

Which is why I would never tell you about his all-new site and lighting forum.

Not to mention his new slogan, "People Are Happier When They're Lit," which was so much better than mine that it made me physically ill.

Because, as any traditional businessperson will tell you, information has great value, and must be hoarded to preserve the informational advantage over everyone else. Otherwise, they will more successfully compete with you. And you will die.

So I'll spend the rest of the day racking my brain to figure out how I can better compete against Zack, to bury him and rule the small-flash lighting world.

First order of business: Learn how to grow one of those ZZ Top beards.

In the meantime, don't go to his site. Nor should you read Ted Leung's review of Zack's One-Light Workshop.
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Lighting 102 Will Publish on Thursday This Week

We normally do Lighting 102 on Tuesdays. But I am schedule-crunched, running blog camps at The Sun Monday and Tuesday.

So, rather than just crank out a rush-job post for today I will be running this week's L102 on Thursday. We'll be on the second installment of Light Balancing, which deals with mixing flash and full daylight.

Thanks,
D

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Flash Your Friends

Tired of those 2 a.m. self-portraits?

Does the cat hide under the bed when it sees your camera?

You may be in need of some new subject material. And there is no better place to find it than a Strobist meetup. After the success of the Florida meetup last month, (nearly 50,000 views) lots of people are planning local events in cities and countries all around the world.

Now, you can easily search for a local meetup, or put the word out about one yearself.

(More, including video of the Seattle meetup, after the jump.)

There is now a drop-down menu on the sidebar to search upcoming seminars and meetups. The "Search Meetups" choice opens a new window and searches for the world "meetup," (which is not, in fact, an actual word) in the Strobist Flickr discussion threads. The results are returned as most recently updated first.

So if you are looking to meet some locals who do not think you are weird for scrounging black straws from restaurants, click here to search for a meetup in your area.

A quick check include meetups in the works for New York, North Carolina, Arizona, Georgia, London, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Baltimore/Washington, Chicago, California and Missouri.

And not to be outdone by the Florida folks, the Seattle contingent just had a meetup of their own, posting a video as little challenge for the next city:



I see several folks from the Seattle seminar -- Jeremy, Ted, Brittney in a bathtub -- looks like you guys had lotsa fun. (Why can't you do this stuff when I am in town??) The Flickr thread on it is here.

If you would like to make your event searchable from the main site, create a thread in the Strobist discussion groups (check for duplicates first) with the word "meetup" embedded in the copy. And please edit the thread headline to reflect the most up-to-date info -- confirmed date, location, etc.

(Nuked Assistant photo by Antti Lehtinen.)

Cool Idea for Lighting Car Interiors

From reader mini/eng, here is a cheapo, tight-space lighting technique so clever that it would make Strobist car-lighting guru Moosehd2 proud.

Mini/eng stuck a Canon 430ex speedlight (on manual at full power) on the roof of the car, and aimed it at a large, white card just outside the far window. Presto: clean, soft even light to throw nice smooth speculars off of that rich, Corinthian Vinyl dash.

He triggered it wirelessly with a Canon ST-E2 infra-red remote. I am thinking he nuked it on full manual to get the most depth of field possible, and adjusted the aperture to make Mr. Histogram happy. (Looks like he coaxed f/8 out of it.)

My one-sentence, pimp-my-light advice would have been to shoot it at night, with the dash lights on, and to leave the shutter open long enough for all of that speedo-tacho ambient goodness to burn in. Wouldn't that rock?

Don't think this bounce card technique is limited to the boot-strapping, starving-artist types who read this blog, either. The Big Dawg car photogs use this trick any time they need clean, soft light in a tight area.

Good to remember next time you are lighting the interior of your Cooper Mini. Or maybe a Manhattan apartment.

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