Top Our Group Shot: German Edition

UPDATE: See the very cool improvised camera boom they rigged for the shot.

Frequent contributor Bert Stephani, who blogs at Confessions of a Photographer recently popped over to Frankfurt to lead a little lighting meetup.

Bert, who is recovering from getting his camera bag stolen in Spain, decided to riff a little on the meetup group shot theme. For this shot, they used no fewer than twenty flashes, all synched by BioWizards.

BioWizards?

Hit Bert's post for more info.

And FWIW, I have been planning a little local group shot of my own. If you are local to DC, I'll be trolling for volunteers soon (not yet). Hey, somebody's gotta knock Bert off.

UPDATE: Here is a video from the meetup:


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Speaking of meetups, some pretty cool videos have been coming in lately from the various get-togethers. I have posted link to search for them on YouTube. Just make sure your title, tags or description contains the words "strobist" and "meetup" and you should show up in the results.

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LumiHarold? LumiBob?

Betcha didn't know that LumiQuest (makers the folding light modifiers since way back in the day) was named after its founder, Quest C. Couch. In fact, Quest has been answering lighting questions from readers for over a decade. My kinda guy.

I've mentioned their fold-flat UltraBounce before. And I am also a fan of their LQ-104 "Big Bounce," which can ape a small soft box in close and is a fave of run-and-gun event shooters.

Please join me in welcoming LumiQuest as a sponsor. Midwest Photo Exchange has even whipped up a sale (up to 25% off) to welcome them aboard.

:: LumiQuest Welcome Page ::
:: MPEX Sale Page ::
:: "Ask Quest" ::

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"Moment it Clicks" Back in Stock Again

For those of you who missed out on the first printing, Joe McNally's book, "The Moment it Clicks," is now back in stock at Amazon. (The first run was gone in just a few days.)

In the meantime, Joe has posted a video on YouTube from the making of a shot featured in the book: Changing the light bulb atop the Empire State Building.

FWIW, I can barely even watch this thing. I do not like heights. Dude is crazy, IMO.


:: Moment it Clicks: Full Review ::

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Who'da Thunkit Backdrop: Roofing Panels

Photographers Joe Daylor and Joe Stern can get that industrial look any time they want, after creating a sectional background from inexpensive plastic roofing panels and some spray paint.

Honestly, without good light, this stuff would probably look pretty goofy. But the 3-d quality of this stuff makes it fairly versatile as a backdrop, depending on how it is lit. And if you can control both your light and your background in any location, you are pretty much good to go.

Thanks for the idea, guys. When I think Home Depot backdrops, I almost never make it past the paint aisle. Learn something new every day.

:: Suntuf Panels ::

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Jamie Squire, on That Killer Daytona 500 Shot

Remember the amazing USA Today sports front from the the Daytona 500 we blogged last week? Hit the jump to read about exactly how Jamie Squire (along with Matthew Stockman) conceived and shot it.
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There was confusion in the comments on both the technical stuff, and on the seemingly similar photos made by fellow Getty shooter Matthew Stockman. This kind of thing happens way more than you'd imagine when teams of shooters cover big events.

But it is important to understand that what is important is producing the best overall coverage possible as a team, without hot-dogging and shot duplication.


Jamie Squire: How It Was Done

I was on the flagstand for the race and for the finish. Matthew Stockman and I set up the remote before the race. I chose the location. I climbed up the 20-ft ladder and positioned the camera. I came up with the exposure.

It was shot with at Shutter priority -1 stop. (1/30th to be exact.) The camera data shows the aperture at f9. The star effect was a happy accident.

It worked as planned: I deliberately set the slow shutter speed to catch the strobes and underexposed as I knew the flashes might make the subject too hot. The sheer number of strobes that were caught was luck.

There were several other frames that looked nice as well with various strobe patterns, but this was the best with the circular shape of the Gatorade.

The only part that didn't go as planned was that Newman was supposed to turn back toward his crew. I guess he forgot! And, a few of the guys ran off with all the Pocket Wizards I provided! Ha!

Matthew fired the camera from victory lane -- and it was his camera.

It was purely a collaborative effort. When this happens, there is always the controversy over whose shot it is.

One way to solve this is to list joint credit. The images from this camera could have been credited Jamie Squire/Matthew
Stockman. Matt and I have worked together for years. Every year we do the Kentucky Derby and set several cameras in the dirt. Then we divide up the cameras and whichever shots come out of those cameras is how we credit those photos, even though we did the work together for all the cameras.

In this case, there were several usable images. We each chose a couple we liked and put our names on those. So, the similar images on the Getty site did come from the same camera, but are credited differently.

My shot ran in USA Today. Matt's ran in NY Times. Either way, we were both pleased with the outcome.

Maybe that will satisfy everyone's curiosity. I don't think the debate over the credit should diminish the amount of foresight and chance that went into the result.

Also, I have another site aimed more at the professional market and less at the consumer side. Please check out www.jamiesquire.com. There is a Nascar gallery on there as well in case anyone was interested.

Thanks!
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(DH again)

The important thing to understand here is that both Jamie and Matt are professionals. Which mean that (A) they know enough to put themselves in position to catch a little luck and make a great shot. And (B) if collaboration is the best way to do it, that is how it is gonna happen.

Again, the overriding goal is to get the best coverage possible for their organization, which in this case happens to be Getty. Pictures come first, egos second. But that's not to say that they are not still peeing-in-their-pants happy when they first see a frame like this one pop up on the screen.

Best of luck with your new private equity bosses at Getty, guys. And thanks much to Jamie for the back story on an amazing shot.

Who Are Your Photos Really For?

(By Olaf Blecker, via The F STOP)

When you make a portrait of someone, who are you trying to please? The subject? Yourself? The editor of a publication?

All three? (Heaven forbid.)

As an editorial shooter, I was always trying to please me first and the publication second. And if I made the subject happy, too, that was fine. But I never expected to please all three.

More after the jump.
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Olaf Blecker, who is featured in the current edition of The F STOP (and who shot the above portrait of author Phillip Roth) is absolutely not trying to please his subjects. In fact, some people specifically request that they not be shot by him. Which, IMO, is one of the main reasons why his photos are so interesting.

Magazines (WIRED comes to mind) do not exist only to be filled with namby-pamby, flattering photos of people. (How boring would that be?) And yet, if your first goal is to please the person sitting for your photo, that is exactly where you might be headed.

Finding a unique (and perhaps less-than-flattering) lighting style can be the first step in defining a new look for yourself. In its current issue, the F STOP magazine interviews Blecker, who shares lighting info, post-processing techniques and weaves a very interesting discussion on the different forces at play in creating an interesting portrait.

For instance, in the photo above, he is working with two lights (one in an umbrella, one in a diffused reflector) with some very simple post processing. I wouldn't shoot my mother-in-law like that, but I find Blecker's approach very interesting. And it has me thinking about my own lighting.

See the full interview at the F STOP mag here, and see more of Blecker's work at his website.

Road Trip: Heading to Dubai for Gulf Photo Plus

If you are reading this from the Middle East, and/or looking for an excuse to get to one of the most exciting cities on the planet, I'll be teaching at the 2008 Gulf Photo Plus seminars in Dubai from April 29 - May 4. Classes will be at the Dubai Knowledge Village, seen above.

We'll doing it long-form this time, so no more squeezing stuff into a single day. Other teachers include Joe McNally, Chase Jarvis and many more.

More after the jump.
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First off, the one thing that pisses me off about the week of seminars is that I will be teaching full-time, and therefore unable to attend any of McNally's classes.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with McNally, he's been around the block a few times, having cut his teeth covering the U.S. Civil War for Life Magazine using off-camera magnesium powder.

Fortunately he wrote it all down in a book, the first printing of which unfortunately sold out faster than a Hannah Montana concert. But he also has been a very busy blogger of late, so you can always read his stuff there.

At least I get to hang out with him after hours and maybe learn something by osmosis at the bar.

Joe and I are kinda hoping that Chase will save us a seat on his private jet, so we do not have to fly over there via steerage class. Chase will be teaching a course dissecting a commercial shoot, start to finish.

As for me, I'll be teaching small flashes in a more expanded format than my usual fare. Their conference, their format. We'll be doing two, two-day seminars. One will be geared towards newbs, and the other towards more experienced flashers. This is a nice departure for me, as we always run out of time in the one-day format.

As an aside, I'm wondering how I will do, climate-wise, in a country where the summer daytime temperature is, like, 527 degrees Fahrenheit and the wearing of shorts is frowned upon.

(Air conditioning. Lots of air conditioning.)

Anyhoo, there's lots more course information here, and the main info page is here.

Hope to see you there. Please bring me some ice.