Flash and Lighting Reviews

Lumiquest Softbox III: Review

You know how this story goes: I’m working alone on an engagement shoot with a second speedlight on a tripod when suddenly a gust of wind catches the umbrella and everything comes crashing to the ground. This is how I found myself in need of a new umbrella.

One of the hardest things about working without an assistant is managing your off-camera lighting (plus, you have to get your own coffee, massage your own feet, change your own flat-tire, etc.). I go back-and-forth on it whenever I am about to do a shoot where I think I will be moving around a lot. Do I carry more equipment and sacrifice portability?

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Review: The Kacey Beauty Reflector

I was recently given the opportunity to experiment with a Kacey Beauty Dish, so I decided to put together a review/explanation/demonstration.

One of the blogs I read all the time is the Strobist blog (www.strobist.com). David Hobby has been writing this blog for a while now, and I have learned lots from him.

One of the great things he did when he got started was he realized that it was not going to be possible for him to answer every question, or respond to every comment. So, being the innovative person that he is, he started a flickr forum that allows various photographers from all over the world to learn, share and teach one another.

That forum is here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/

Recently on this flickr forum there was a review and discussion about the Kacey Beauty Dish. Musician/photographer Steve Korn apparently got one to play with, and offered his opinions in a well-written review here.

I was lucky enough to be able to play with one of these beauty dishes (Kacey calls them “Beauty Reflectors”) recently, and took it on several different shoots. (more…)

Stay away from the light!

In my last post I talked about David Zizer’s new seminar. This time around I’d like to talk a little bit about what I took away from the experience and how I plan to use it to make myself a better photographer. (more…)

Equipment Review – Gary Fong’s LightSphere Universal Round-Up

First let me preface this review by saying I’m not an event guy. I rarely shoot events, I don’t do weddings, and hardly any grip and grins anymore. One of the reasons I don’t do events is that I HATE the look of on camera flash. That harsh, in your face, flattened look drives me crazy. With that said, I recently agreed to shoot an event for a regular client of mine. This is a good client for me and she promised it would be a low key event, and she was in a jam so of course I’ll help her out. It goes without saying that I want to do the job right so I began looking into ways to soften and modify that flash. (FYI, the party was at night, on a dinner cruise. Think lots of glass and mood lighting.)

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