First Shoot with Strobist

There's a sharp learning curve when it comes to shooting with a Strobist kit.



1.) Make sure you have something heavy to weigh down the stand. Even the slightest fart can send the stand flying. Besides a broken umbrella, you can have a broken flash which is a no-no.

2.) Be clandestine... or ask for permission before setting up. Having an umbrella on a stand attracts unwanted attention. A Fire Fighter asked if I had a permit to shoot since we were on private property. Thankfully playing dumb prevailed.

3.) Know how your flash works. I was going for a darker ambient affect while having the flash light my subject. The ambient lighting was too bright after lowering the ISO and shutter, so I had to turn down the F-stop. Well, if I knew what I was doing then I would have known that the effectiveness of the flash decreases as the aperture gets smaller. If I have to crank down the F-stop that much, then it's probably too damn bright outside.

4.) Black colored material soaks the living crud out of a flash. It made such a difference when I asked Nick to turn his hat around.



I started the session trying to light my car with a single flash. That did not work at all and I gave up frustrated. Not wanting to waste the backdrop and time invested setting up, Nick obliged to be my model. It turned out pretty nice. With a little editing magic, the pictures turned out nicer than I expected.

I learned quite a bit during this brief photo shoot and I can't wait until my next venture. I'm so stoked that I can't stop thinking about what and where to shoot.



Props to Nick for being my model, Aaron for being an awesome assistant, and Vince for the recap info.

Learning to be Ambidextrous

Vince offered to sell me his 17" MacBook Pro at a stellar deal, so only a fool would pass up such a deal. It's like a car salesman offering you a Porsche GT3 at the price of a Civic or your drug dealer offering a pound of chronic at the price of a dime bag or, or, or...... you get the point.

The model may technically be used, but this puppy is in pristine condition thanks to the immaculate care Vince places in all of his toys. Knowing his almost OCD tendencies in how he handles his belongings (i.e., reading comics via thumb on the seam), I have to admit this blew the record. My laptop came in all OEM packaging with the laptop inserted in the original Styrofoam sheet adhered with the original WARNING TAG!!!!





BUT THAT'S ONLY THE ICING ON THE CAKE...... His meticulousness extended all the way down to the plastic tab cover for the power supply prongs.... ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!!!! All I can say is WOW



This machine is a beast, and I'm looking forward to tapping into it's potential. These pics were edited with Aperture, so I'm off to a good start. However, picking up a new operating system is like trying to learn how to write with your less dominant hand. You'll manage, but it sure looks ugly.

Thanks V!!!