Monthly Archives: February 2012

Light camera action!

Pocket Wizard recently announced their newest trigger system – Pocket Wizard III. Pocket Wizard has long been the photography industry standard when it comes to radio triggers. There are a lot of triggers out there nowadays but when it comes to availability to rent, warranty, durability, and range, no other triggers out there can really beat Pocket Wizard. Pocket Wizards are expensive so there may be better options out there depending on what you are using the triggers for. Personally I use Paul Buff’s Cybersync trigger system. If I decide to upgrade my light setup one of these days, I might change the radio trigger system to either Pocket Wizard or Elinchrom Skyport, simply because they offer more features such as remote power adjustment and ETTL. Speaking of radio triggers I wouldn’t recommend buying those cheap Chinese triggers. Chances are the cheap triggers will misfire when you’re on a job, causing extra headaches. You’re better off buying reliable triggers.

Going back to the topic, David Hobby at Strobist recently wrote an excellent review on Pocket Wizard III. If you’re on the market for a new radio trigger system you might want to read the review.

Let the speculations begin

There have been lots rumors on the next Canon full frame camera. Would it be called the 5DIII? Or would it be called the 5DX? Lots questions and lots speculations. It’s interesting to see Nikon D800′s spec and noticing that Nikon went with the megapixel route. Don’t get me wrong, D800 looks like an awesome camera with a lot of features. But at 36 MP it’s almost a guarantee that you’ll need to upgrade your computer as well… unless you already have a top of the line computer. Can you image working on a 36 MP TIFF file? Or trying to stitch multiple 36 MP files in Photoshop? That is going to take A LOT of computing power!

Looking at the 5DIII/5DX rumors I really hope the next Canon camera would have the following features:

-Better latitude performance. If they can get anywhere close to medium format cameras that’d be awesome. Zack Arias wrote a blog post about why he moved to medium format and it literally blew my mind off!

-Film like quality.

-Better focus system. The 5D/5DII focus system only has cross type focus at center point. This is a bit of pain when you’re using a fast lens. If Canon decides to keep the 9 point focus system on the new camera, at least give all 9 points cross type focusing.

-Around 25 MP. No more, no less. I don’t want to have to force to upgrade my computer.

I think the above is my wish list for the new Canon full frame camera. Yes not a lot of items but any more features are simply gimmicks.

Cinematography

I did a studio photoshoot the other day. The set up was an elaborate 3 light setup and the picture turned out as if it was from a movie. Cecilia was awesome as a model. The main light used was so bright I seriously don’t know how she could keep her eyes open the whole time!…

I didn’t do a whole lot in post, mainly just adjusted the WB and desaturated the picture a little bit. It’s amazing how little you need to do in post when you have desired lighting setup and an amazing makeup artist.

Chicago Chicago!

I have a case of the Monday blue

Did a shoot yesterday which turned out very well. I’m very pleased. :) In this shoot I utilized 2 Kino Flos and a strobe. The strobe was shot through a white seamless toward the model. This created a nice halo glow in the background. The blue eye shadow showed up really well in this pose. I shot in tungsten WB which further enhanced the overall blue tone.

The Monday Blue