dSLR Dad

Zack Arias, a full time editorial photographer, has published an excellent tutorial on how to set up and photograph a seamless white background.  This five part tutorial is one of the best I have seen:

Part 1: Gear & Space

Part 2: Setting Lights And Exposure

Part 2b: Full Length with OneLight (more…)

Tim Solley over at Sublime Light has written a series of excellent articles for you dSLR Dads on Portrait Lighting. The series is meant to help you go from a beginning photographer to making beautiful portraits.  I personally like his explanation of Mid Key Lighting, as it works well with a one-light setup.

The entire series is located here.

Thanks to David Ziser for pointing me in this direction.

Wedding Photographer David Ziser gave a few excellent tips on Window Light Portraiture in the latest Layers TV, Episode 18. You can download his discussion on lighting patterns to use in your portrait photography here.

Episode Summary:

• Compare lighting patterns from studio light, outdoor light, and window light
• Remember David’s loop lighting pattern when you are deciding on where to place your subject and camera
• Decide how you want to position your subject, then work on the light direction
• Maintaining shadow on the camera-side of the portrait adds detail, depth, and dimension
• David discusses a contrast lighting ratio
• Use these techniques with any kind of portrait photography

You can see more of David’s Tutorials on his own blog, Digital Pro Talk.

I have been tracking the progress of RadioPopper since I first heard about them six months ago. Unfortunately, I have not felt like they deserved a mention on dSLR Dad, until now.

RadioPopper is a new stratup company that is on a mission to provide a range of radio flash triggering solutions for dSLR Dads. What you see to the left is a preproduction prototype of the P1 system. The RadioPoppper P1 is a long range, remote trigger radio solution that also transmits the infrared signal.

• Attaches externally to your existing flash units
• No drilling, modifications, electrical contacts, or cords required
• RadioPopper Transmitter “sees” the infrared light signal and relays it by radio signal
• RadioPopper Receiver “repeats” the infrared signal for each slave flash
• Your flashes no longer require a “line of sight” for proper operation
• Put slave flashes anywhere within 500 ft and shoot – they’ll fire every time.

That sounds like a really great product, but it’s way more than what a dSLR Dad needs. What is even more exciting is the RadioPopper Jr. Expected in Mid-2008, the RadioPopper Jr. is their simple, low cost radio triggering solution for standard photo lights. And by low cost, they really mean low cost — just $25 per receiver/transceiver. (more…)

The following is part nine of a much larger dSLR Dad Holiday Gift Guide:

I have tried a lot of different sensor cleaning products over the last year (never change your lenses at the beach, change them in your car). Visible Dust is the company that makes absolutely superior products. They are so good, whenever I went to my local camera shops, they all told me that while they could sell me some pad or swab, but they all used something from Visible Dust.

There are three steps to dust free images 1) Check 2) Dry Clean 3) Wet Clean. The Visible Dust 3 Step Dust Free 724 DSLR Sensor Cleaning Kit has (more…)

The following is part seven of a much larger dSLR Dad Holiday Gift Guide:

If you’re not looking for a new bag, how about a great accessory that anyone can use, the Pee Wee Pixel Pocket Rocket from Think Tank Photo. It stores four Compact Flash cards and three Secure Digital cards in an even smaller, more compact package. Can be attached inside of Think Tank Photo products or to your clothing.  That way, it just doesn’t fall out of your pocket, lost forever.  It can also hold business cards in the front face.  Available for just $13.50. Note, the slightly larger Pixel Pocket Rocket comes standard with quite a few bags (including the one I bought).

The following is part Six of a much larger dSLR Dad Holiday Gift Guide:

Think Tank Photo is a company that has burst onto the scene and come out with products that meet the needs of both professional and serious dSLR Dad’s alike. They carry any number of shoulder or belt bags, rugged airport carry-on, or their fantastic modular system. You can download a copy of their catalog (more…)

The following is part five of a much larger dSLR Dad Holiday Gift Guide:

Honestly, you can’t go wrong with anything from Really Right Stuff. But their new BH-40 Ballhead is that piece of equipment that makes you question why you struggled for so long with that other inferior tripod head you had. It is their mid-sized ballhead and is perfect for popular light to mid-sized gear such as 70-200mm/f2.8 and 300mm/f4 lenses. This ballhead is load-rated at 18-pounds but weighs only 13-ounces.

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The following is part four of a much larger dSLR Dad Holiday Gift Guide:

The Hoodman Professional LCD Screen Loupe is something that every dSLR Dad would love to have and would use every time they were outdoors. But since it’s $70, it also is something they would never buy for themselves. I know it seems a tad pricey, but that’s what makes it a great gift. Go ahead, see how much they smile when they open this box.

The following is part three of a much larger dSLR Dad Holiday Gift Guide:

Give them the Gift of More Pictures

A gift that all dSLR Dad’s could use, more memory cards. But the key to this gift is it can’t just be any old memory card. The key for a dSLR Dad is speed and reliability. The quicker the card, the quicker the camera can write to the card. This means you will actually be able to use the high frame rate (fps) more often, with less delay in between bursts. You will also be able to download to the computer 2 to 3 times faster. Which is a big deal when a fast 4GB flash card can still take 3-5 minutes to download.

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