Christmas Portrait On-Location

We're sending our Christmas cards pretty late this year (it's now more like a Happy New Year card).  At least I'm pleased with the portrait that we finally got to do.  Rather than discuss the lighting itself, I want to talk about the shooting process.  (If you want to know about the lighting per se check out this post)  Here's how we put together this shot.Scope out the site beforehand.  I thought of a location for our family...

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Lumix LX5 for Lighting Lunatics

You probably know that the aspect of my photos that I'm most passionate about is the lighting.  My passion for lighting carries over even when I'm shooting with a point and shoot camera.  Of course, looking for good ambient lighting is an option with any camera, but as much as possible I want to have maximum control over lighting by using a flash.  This obsession with lighting is why I love the Lumix LX5.  This hands-on review...

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Lighting A Geomag, The Lazy Way

So how do you light a Geomag in an interesting way while keeping all these lightstands and modifiers tucked away in their bags? Click through to know how.P.S. If you don't know what's a Geomag, check their product page or have a look at some insane contraptions over google images.I have a few lightstands and modifiers that I use every now and then, but I hate taking them out of their bags and setting them up unless I specifically need them in...

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Holiday party photos

I took photos at a holiday party, which happened to be at the same location where we celebrated our daughter's first birthday.I shot with my usual cameras: a Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50 VC and a Nikon D70 with a Sigma 50-150. I used a combination of lighting techniques.  For the shorter shots, I used bounce flash with an SB-800 in TTL mode, which performed flawlessly.  For longer shots where the subject(s) would be farther, I used...

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Lastolite Trifold Umbrella - World's Most Compact Umbrella

I almost always shoot on-location, which makes portability is a significant issue.  Gear that is portable saves time, effort and money to bring gear to the shoot.  Perhaps more importantly, with compact gear I can bring more equipment with me and have more options when I shoot.When Lastolite released the Trifold Umbrella, I was intrigued.  It was advertised as 36 inches, large enough to qualify as a versatile medium-sized umbrella,...

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