Category: Tips

What’s in the bag? Packing for a shoot is more than gear in a bag

 Gavin   Equipment, Studio, Techniques, Tips

Back in the studio tomorrow for an all day shoot. To be honest, I should really be prepping and packing rather than writing this but I thought it might be good to explain what I take and why.

I’m a great believer in packing for the occasion, in this case the studio, but it needs a little thought and planning. You need to take the right stuff and if you’re not careful you’ll end up taking far too much. Even worse, you may end up not taking something essential.

Here’s what I take Continue reading What’s in the bag? Packing for a shoot is more than gear in a bag »

Backups – The Persistence of media or How safe are your memories?

 Gavin   Journey, Musings, Techniques, Tips

I was prompted to write this post following a conversation I had with a colleague over lunch yesterday. We were discussing how to keep electronic images safe over time. In particular long periods of time such as years or even decades. It’s not just about taking regular bakups either. In the longer term and archive strategy that works and stands the test of time is imperative.

We are slowly evolving into a hardcopy-less society. Prints, as indeed film slides and negatives before them, are becoming increasingly rare. In their wake stand the ever popular “electronic” files, the JPGs, the MP3s, the AVIs and a whole host of others. Continue reading Backups – The Persistence of media or How safe are your memories? »

Technique: How it was done… Battery Shot

 Gavin   Behind the scenes, Equipment, Strobist, Techniques, Tips
Setup for the Battery Shot
Setup for the Battery Shot

I have a couple of questions about how I did the battey shot in this post so thought I’d post the lighting setup in the form of the sketch above. It’s a very simple technique and took about 5 minutes to do.

The foundation for the set was a sheet of black corrugated plastic upon which I sat my camera bag to act as a black background. I then roughly positioned two 580EX II speedlites, the one to camera left standing up on its penguin feet and the one to camera right laying down on its side. Both were fitted with Pocket Wizard triggers. I’d originally planned to use the window light to light the set with the speedlites just adding a cool effect to represent the concept of power. In the end I elected to use the ambient just as fill with the main illumination coming from the speedlites bouncing into a silver reflector.

I’ve repeated the final image after the jump for those that are interested. Continue reading Technique: How it was done… Battery Shot »

Quick Tip: Packing Some Power

 Gavin   Equipment, Strobist, Techniques, Tips
Packing Some Power - 24 AA Batteries
Packing Some Power - Spare AA Batteries

I do a lot of strobist work out on location and really enjoy it. One thing that is a real bind is battery management and how to pack them in your kit bag so you know which ones are which when it comes to using them. This quick tip explains how I go about it.

The image above is, for me, part of the solution. I simply use an old, plastic business card box with dividers made from some of the old cards. It’ll comfortably hold 24 AA batterie, enough for 2 spare sets with 3 speedlites  or 3 spare sets with 2 speedlites. This is more than enough for me as I’ve never depleted more than two sets per flash gun and only then because I was in a dark nighclub.

The dividers keep them together in their sets of 4 and depending on which way up I put them I can immediately tell if they’re charged (positive end up) or depleted (negative end up). They’re only used in my speedlites so its really easy to maintain the grouping – they’re either in the box, in the speedlite or in the charger but just in case I do also number them as I mentioned in this post on Battery Management I wrote a while back.

There are commercial solutions to keep batteries together but I like this quick tip. It’ a nil cost solution made from something I already had lying around the house.

How a Non-Destructive Workflow Can Lead to a Happy Client

 Gavin   Digital Darkroom, Lightroom, Photoshop, Techniques, Tips, Workflow

A long time ago I adopted the policy of making all my edits in Photoshop non-destructive fo rthe simple reason that I could easily go back and change something if I needed to. This slowed me down at first but as I became more adept at wielding a stylus and graphics tablet, and through the benefit of actions, experience and perseverance it is no longer true. Using the right tool for the job is also a huge help and my workflow consists of a mixture of Lightroom and Photoshop.

Earlier today I embarked on a retouch session. Nothing spectacular about that as it happens all the while. What mad this one all the more important though was that my client was off on holiday this afternoon and needed the images before she went. Continue reading How a Non-Destructive Workflow Can Lead to a Happy Client »