Coming Soon: New AlienBees Wireless Triggers

This snuck up on me from left field: Paul C. Buff is about to cut the cord.

He is redesigning his wireless remotes with some added features, including a receiver that is battery powered. The current version has a batt-powered xmitter and an AC receiver. He's calling it the CyberSync.

Lotsa cool features, for notta lotta dough. Specs, links and another photo, after the jump.
_________


Shown at top is the transmitter, with the receiver shown at left. At first glance, these look like a very good mid-range entry to sit between the Pocket Wizards and the Ebay remotes.

They do not have the range of the industry-standard Pocket Wizards, but they only cost about a third as much for the set. And yes, they are more expensive than the Ebay remotes. But you also have to take into account the cost of ammo in the event they fail you on an important shoot and make you want to eat a gun...



Highlights From the Specs Page

• 2.4 GHz band, with a "high degree of error security" for more reliable tripping.

• One year(!) battery life for the transmitter.

• Usable range of up to 400 feet, depending on terrain.

• Receiver operates on AA's, with 200-hour battery life, which is further extended by an "auto shutoff" function.

• Receivers ship with the following cords: 3.5mm-to-3.5mm, 3.5mm-to-1/4" adapter and 3.5MM to PC (which will connect it directly to an Nikon SB speedlight with a PC jack.)

• Best yet, the price: $59.95 for the transmitter and $69.95 for the receiver.

Paul Buff has a decades-long reputation for building quality gear at very good prices. I imagine the CyberSyncs will be no exception. Transmitters and AC receivers are shipping now, with battery-powered receivers anticipated later this month.

More info is available at the AlienBees website.

(Thanks to the anonymous tipster in the comments!)

A Father's Day Reminder: Shoot Your Kids

Long-time viewers of this site will likely be familiar with San Francisco-based reader Jason Lee's long-term project photographing his two daughters, Kristin and Kayla.

If you're not, you are in for a treat. Hit the jump for some of his work, links to more and some thoughts on his project.
________


One of the best things about running this site is seeing all of the wonderfully creative family photos that come upstream. But I'd be hard pressed to find an example better than Jason's. He is embracing the concept of fatherhood with his camera, and I admire him for it.

He has spent the last few years documenting his kids with photos that are beautiful, funny, whimsical and poignant. Dinnertime, sick days, water fights, Christmas -- anything is fair game for one of Jason's photos. Or a little after-the-fact fun with Photoshop to whip up an illustration.


He shoots them, throws them up onto Flickr, and frequently adds a pithy title. (At left: "Kay-Wi").

Having a long-term project is the best possible engine for an endless series of ideas and opportunities to make photos and grow as a photographer. And what better project than your kids?

Forgetting for a moment that they are always around and are supposed to do whatever you order them to do, how valuable would a shoe box full of these kinds of photos be to you in twenty years?

And a few years later, how cool for their kids to curl up on the couch and look at photos of mom we she was little?

But the benefits don't stop there. As a shooter, the experience you gain from shooting regularly just makes you that much better. Little secret: Much of what separates the pro photos from those of amateurs is simply the built-in advantage we have from getting to shoot nearly every day.

Not only does Jason get to play with his cameras and lights all the time, but he doesn't even catch (too much) flack from mom for it. How could she, with a family album like this?

Jason shoots for other people, too. The photos on his portfolio site are beautiful. But he also points people to his two blogs -- one devoted to his work and the other to photographs of his daughters.

My guess is, the personal blog gets him as many wedding gigs as the wedding shots do. I'd sure hire him.

I caught up with Jason via an email Q and A this week and he was good enough to share some thoughts on his photo project.

_____________


Have you always been a small-flash lighting photographer, or is this something you have moved into more recently?

I guess I've always been a small flash photographer. It started with seeing the amazing work coming from Dave Black and what he was able to achieve with his SB's. I picked up my first speedlite (Canon 550EX) and an off camera shoe cord in 2003 and I've never looked at flash the same way again. My bank account never looked the same again as well.

I've experimented with mono-lights in the past but I always found myself coming back to small and portable speedlites. I haven't had the requirement for the big lights yet, so I'm still sticking with the speedlites for now. OK, who am I kidding.........my wife won't let me spend money on profoto equipment and my kids need to eat so the big lights have been put on the back burner. 


When did you get the idea to make your daughters an ongoing, themed project, and what is your goal with the photos?

I started the project of documenting my children for a very special person in my life, my mother. She was diagnosed with non Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2006 and I wanted her to be able to 'see' the kids without the risk of the little germ buckets getting her sick. If I can get her to smile or laugh at one of my images, I've reached my goal. If I can get a smile or laugh from some random viewer, that's just icing on the cake. This project has also made me re-evaluate my photography goals, and I'm hoping in the near future I can bring a smile or some laughter to other peoples lives through photos of their children. 


How do they react to being photographed in such a sophisticated way?

Well, it really depends on the shoot. I try to set up everything beforehand so the actual shooting only takes a few minutes. At their ages, that's all you can really hold their attention for. Also, I try to incorporate something that they find fun or interesting, so they are always involved in the shoot. Cheerios and Goldfish crackers help too. 


You shoot weddings -- and very well, I might add. Has the experience of shooting your daughters on an ongoing basis changed the way you shoot your other assignments?

Most definitely. This project has really taught me to look at light, both natural and artificial in a whole new 'light'. Although my current wedding work is not exactly flash intensive, I am starting to incorporate more and more off camera lighting.

Also, seeing folks like Ed Pingol and Matt Adcock rocking the small lights at weddings has really changed my perspective.


How does their mom feel about the photos? What do their friends' parents think? Do you get requests to do those kinds of photos for other people?

My wife looks at some of my images and shakes her head and says, "Did you really do that? I hope that was Photoshop!" In all seriousness, she has been really supportive of my project and even helps out sometimes, but Cheerios and Goldfish don't work as well with her. So far, I've received very positive feedback on my work and I believe there is a definite market out there for this niche. 

I've had requests for these types of stylized shots in the past but turned them down for various reasons. In the recent months, more requests have been coming through and I've been revisiting this as something I'd like to offer, so we'll see. 


What advice would you offer photographers who want to start long-term projects of their kids?

Start shooting them as young as possible. Get them involved in the whole photography process. Make it fun for them as well as for you. Stay fresh, and have an open mind for ideas.

Oh, and stock up on Cheerios and Goldfish. 

__________

Related Links:

:: Jason's Website ::
:: Jason's Flick Stream ::
:: Photo Set: Kristin ::
:: Photo Set: Kayla ::
:: Photo Set: Sisters ::
:: Dave Black: Workshop at The Ranch ::

Golf Digest: Behind the Scenes Shoot

Thanks to a tip in the Flickr threads I was able to catch this behind-the-scenes video done by Golf Digest during a recent shoot of Annika Sorenstam. I love these kinds of things, as there are always tidbits to be learned from watching other photographers work.

A little Googling (with a helpful assist from Golf Digest DoP Christian Iooss) hooked me up with one of the shooters, who was kind enough to expand a little on the lighting techniques. Links (heh) and details after the jump.
____________


The movie is not coded for embedding, so click here (or on any thumbnail image) to pull it up in a separate window.

The shooters are Stephen Szurlej and J.D. Cuban, and they have their work cut out for them. Here's the deal: You only get access to people like Sorenstam for brief amounts of time. And the magazine runs tips from her on a regular basis, so they need photos for each of those installments.

"Quick and simple is what we're trying to achieve," Stephen told me in a recent email. "When you've got Tiger or Annika for a couple of hours and the goal is to shoot every instruction tip or story for a years worth of issues, you've got to be fast.  If you can get it done in a bit less than the allotted, time the players are pleased, and it goes that much easier the next time."

Eighteen shoots in 2 hours. Do the math: That's an average of six minutes and forty seconds per shoot, including lighting setup and moving to the next location. And you thought Annie and The Queen had it rough. (Annie got an average of 7.5 minutes...)


Looking at the tape, the second thing you might notice after the torrid pace is that they are using two battery powered studio-level strobes - one in a soft box and one with a large, gridded reflector. The soft box is feathered way up, which gets soft light to the subject without blowing out the grass in the foreground.

For most of the shoots, the soft box is at camera right, with the other light at back camera left as a separation light. And the sun is coming from directly behind the shooter, making it essentially and on-camera light. But that does not tell us what the photos will look like, merely because you can get drastically different looks from the same lighting setups by varying the ratios between the lights and the ambient.


One Setup, Several Looks

Take a moment to visualize a couple of different looks that would be possible from this lighting scheme. Say you are exposing for the ambient light. In that case you might drop the flashes down in intensity and use them as a crosslighting/fill setup. This would lessen your shadows and bring the tonal range of the scene into the range the camera's chip can easily handle.

Or, you might drop that ambient a stop or two to bring it down to the level of fill light. Then pump the scene back up with the feathered soft box and create a stark rim light with the gridded reflector. Two very different looks, just by altering power levels (and/or aperture and shutter speed.)

So, which did Stephen and J.D. do? Neither, as it turns out.

"We're using the main light as a fill to eliminate the shadows, trying for a pretty flat lighting," Stephen says. "If anything, we do underexpose the ambient -- just a bit, 1/3 to 1/2 of a stop. But the flash/daylight is pretty balanced."

What? All this setup just to make flat lighting? Why go to all of the trouble?

Simple. For a series like this, the most important thing is to make sure you get easily readable detail everywhere. This is not the cover, where you would want to create drama and a look to sell magazines on the racks. This is teaching. And more important than the feel of the photos is that they be extremely legible for those would actually like to learn what Ms. Sorenstam is trying to teach them.

Besides, when you are working so quickly, you are only gonna take a few frames of each setup. You need legibility on every frame, to further ensure that all 18 shoots will work.

"We have two lighting setups in the ready position," Stephen continues. "So as I finish, Annika walks over to JD's set up and the shooting is nearly continuous. Meanwhile, I relocate to the next location and set up while JD is shooting his tip or instruction story. I'm ready to go again when he finishes. Kind of aerobic leap frogging photography."

About a third of the way into the video, Stephen nails a bunker shot on the first attempt. He credits this kind of thing to a mixture of luck and experience. But then, he's been shooting golf since back when they made the balls out of wood.

So he's got that going for him, which is nice.

"Timing with digital cameras is still harder than film cameras," Stephen said. "I look back at images I shot on film, no chimping, and the ball is on the club more often with fewer takes. I definitely have a lower percentage on the club with digital. Of course, the fact that I'm shooting at 1/320th of a sec hurts maybe even more than the digital shutter lag. Back in the film days we most often used reflectors, not strobe."


Cover: Same Lights, Different Look

On less hectic days, they are able to work the light to get more of a look. "If we're doing just one location," Stephen says, "we have the luxury of using a 12X12 silk for a better look. But we just can't do that in this type of shoot. For a cover, yes."

Having enough watt seconds to own full daylight gives you options, no doubt about it.

This week, Stephen is busy humping long glass at Torrey Pines in San Diego, the site of this year's U.S. Open. So while you get to sit in the living room watching Tiger pick up his trophy on Sunday, you can feel sorry for Stephen -- all that walking around, inside the ropes...
___________

Further reading:

Golf Digest cover shoot: Slideshow

More Bounce to the Ounce

Pop Quiz: Where is lighting control gear manufacturer California Sunbounce located?

Germany, of course.

Geographic inconsistencies aside, please join me in welcoming them as a new sponsor. (NOTE: Some of the videos on their site might not be work safe for many.)

-30-

Speedlinks, June 11, 2008

It's been forever since we did one of these, and I had a bunch of cool stuff pop up this week. So here goes:


• What? You haven't pimped your McNally yet? Me, neither. But I think I'm gonna. (Note to Annie: Please actually read the post before jumping to any naughty conclusions...)

• Live near Denver? Now you can get your small-flash learn on in person with Dave Tejada.

• Scott Kelby takes you on a tour of photo permit purgatory.

• Lighten up, Frances: Check out Zack "OneLight" Arias' excellent series of white background tutorials. Dude gets the Apple reflection look with a $10.97 Home Depot panel -- gotta love that. Great series, Zack.

• Is your dad hideous? Give him a Father's Day makeover with lighting tricks...

-30-

DINFOS: Pt. 1

Last week I was helping out at DINFOS, (Defense Information School) where they were holding the Worldwide Military Photography Workshop. Joe McNally has been involved in it for quite a while. (I am a fnugy, with this being only my second year.)

I'll defer to his description of the event and it various characters. He also posted several shots from the week and a rogues' gallery of many of the teachers, so I won't dupe that.

What I'll be doing over the next coupla weeks is to throw up a few photos, with OA-style walk-throughs, lighting diagrams and/or setup shots. Mine are all pretty simple setups, using just one or two speedlights.

Joe, of course, did most of his with 472 Nikon SB-800s, running his SU-800 CLS controller through one of the signal amplifiers at the nearby NSA (also known as "No Such Agency") for a little boost. That guy has some serious contacts.

This week's picture and walk-through, after the jump.
__________


The first photo is from a day in which we went out into the woods with some of the folks from Combat Camera , who graciously agreed were ordered to show up in full gear.

Hanging out in the woods near the firing range and obstacle course were the members of this year's Advanced Lighting Team. Being on the ALT means you spend a week learning about small-flash, location lighting from industry leaders like Joe McNally, and posers like me. Week-long class size: Six people.

It's really a fantastic deal, all the more so when you realize there is no tuition involved. On behalf of Ray, Bobby, Matt, Larry, Trav and Luke, I would like to offer a hearty "thank you" to those readers who are also US taxpayers from the 2008 ALT. (That's them lighting themselves at the top of the post, in a hastily produced group shot in the hallway outside of our classroom.)

As everybody was unpacking gear and talking about how to best handle the ugly, splotchy, midday sun-through-woods light we had, I threw a couple of SB-800s onto stands. I set them on 1/4 power and turned on their built-in slaves, which is a pretty standard preset for me when working against bright sunlight.

Within a few minutes, the Combat Camera folks were getting their camo paint applied, and most of us were making photos of that. Basically, think Strobist meetup, with Joe and I joining in, and a bunch of cool subjects in the woods.

Most of the ALT members worked mobile, using a single, hand-held SB-800 in CLS wireless TTL mode. So I just stuck my stands behind them, and eyeballed the subjects from the flash positions. That shows me what the flashes will see -- and light. I wanted profile lighting from front and back, but a little behind the subjects to make interesting shadows. in the foreground.


So, here's a diagram of the setup. In direct mode at ASA 200, my SB's are gonna give me plenty of aperture to work with at a ~6-foot light-to-subject range. You can expect about f/16, depending on the zoom setting of the flash. If you are not familiar with what your flashes will do in a situation like this, you may want to look at the posts on guide number and/or making a cheat sheet.

So, the light coming through the trees is of the ugly, early afternoon variety. But that's good, as it will be at a high enough angle to not screw me up when I am lighting their faces. To help matters more, I shoot from the direction that will keep the sunlight in a high-backlight mode. If it pops out, it's just another rim light to me. If not, that's fine, too.

For sync, I am going straight optical and manual -- using the SB's built-in slaves. I point the receiver windows of the flashes toward each other, and point a show-mount flash (low, manual power) towards whichever flash is closest. The other flash will see it and fire every time, easy.

As far as camera settings, the actual aperture and shutter settings are variable in a situation like this, depending on the ambient and the flash distance. And to be honest, I neither remember them now, nor considered them very important then. More important is the thought process -- it is more repeatable for a wider variety of situations.

Let's say for the sake of argument that the flash is giving me f/16 at that distance. That's a constant at ISO 200. If I need more, I will need to power up the flash, or move it forward towards the subject. And vice versa if I need less. I like being at 1/4 power, as it give me nice, fast recycles and the ability to double-tap. (See? That military stuff is wearing off on me already.)

So, at f/16, I am going to have an easy time with my shutter in open shade. Good thing, because that is the next step. I plug f/16 into my camera and chimp a couple frames until I find a nice, slightly underexposed ambient level. Maybe a stop down, maybe a little more. The shadows are way below that, which gives me good dark areas to light against. For the sake of argument that we are now at 1/160th of a sec.

The shutter speed and aperture are not what is important. The amount that we are underexposing the ambient is what is important, as that is what will determine the depth of the shadows. I used the back, camera right strobe (not visible on my foreground subject) to make sure I could separate any subject from my ambient background on both sides. This allows me to drop those shadows further if I want.


In-Camera Tweaking

Now that we have the settings in the ballpark, start shooting. Take a frame or two and quickly chimp for any final adjustments.

• Flash too bright or dark? Vary the aperture to fix it. Then adjust the shutter in the opposite direction to bring the background back to where you were.

• Background too bright or dark? Adjust that with the shutter speed.

• Entire photo too bright or dark? Adjust it all at once with the aperture.

This might sound a little daunting if you have not tried it. But trust me, it is quick and easy once you have a little experience. And most of you can probably run through you aperture and shutter settings without taking your eye off the viewfinder. Not so, those CLS buttons. For me, at least.

BTW, for those of you who are into TTL/CLS, Joe just posted a new training video at Kelby Training. It is quite good (I actually watched it twice) and more on the advanced side than the first two classes he put up. And make sure you catch his post on the DINFOS stuff, to see what was done in the woods with five Combat Camera subjects, a mess of SB's and only ten minutes to do the photo.

Next up from DINFOS will l be going mobile -- shooting flash blur on the run (okay, fast walk) using a moving VAL.
________


Related Reading:

:: McNally's Post ::
:: SB-800 - Built-In Slave mode ::
:: 55th Combat Camera Company ::
:: Guide Number, Your Free Flashmeter ::
:: Make a Cheat Sheet for your Flash ::
:: Kelby Training: Joe McNally ::

Podcasting on Benadryl

Bill and Ed have just posted an interview we did last week for LightSource.

Bear in mind that this is allergy season for me. So no, that is not what I normally sound like. Also bear in mind that I had a pretty good shot of Benadryl in my system. So I'll be surprised if any of it is coherent. Props to both of them for putting up with me.

If you can get through that, you can listen to the interview here. And don't stop there -- they have a whole mess of lighting talk to fill up your iPod with over at LightSource.

I am listening to episode 64, with Tim Tadder, right now. Good stuff.

(NOTE TO SELF: Next time you do a podcast in May, just put a clothespin on your nose and be done with it.)

-30-