"Happy birthday to me"...

Yup today is my birthday, I won't say how old I am but they found my birth certificate with the dead sea scrolls.

Tonight I am having dinner at my favorite restaurant, Fore Street. If you ever have the chance to go please do and have the roast pork loin, if it's not the best meal you've ever had I will be more than just a little surprised.

For my gift my family is taking me to a Cirque du Soleil show on Wednesday night.

But the older I get the more I recognize my true gifts.

I give thanks every morning just for being alive, I am warm, dry, and well fed (maybe fed a little too well). I have family and friends that are far more valuable than any material thing I own (or could ever hope to own).

All these things (and more) make me feel like a very wealthy man.

Later tonight my mom will call exactly at my birth minute and the day will be complete.

After I apologize (yet again) for my teenage years I will have to give her a hard time though, when I scanned in this picture I realized (looking at the date) that it took her six months to develop the pictures from my first birthday.

Softbox & light tent for under $10!...

I was paroozing through IKEA and came across their white laundry bag ($9.99) and thought to myself "man, I can't believe it's 4 below zero, I wish I was somewhere warmer"... and then I thought "hey, this would make a cool light tent".


So off to Google to do a search and sure enough other people had the same idea.

Now if you really can't figure out how to actually use it as a light tent you can head over to instructables for the details.


But what I had not considered and Mikko Reinikainen did was using the IKEA hamper for a diffuser/soft box.

Below you will see his setup using a Nikon SB-24 to shoot through the hamper for soft portrait light and a sample of one of those portraits.

Click on any of the images to view larger and in a new window.

Unattainable beauty...

This video is both interesting and eerie, but mostly, it's sad.

Sad because the message is telling young women (my daughters) that this artificially created women is a standard to which they should aspire.

If this video does not appear in your email just follow this link.

THE BREAST DRESS PROJECT

While I have a few blog posts lined up to wow you with wonderful winter destination wedding locales, inspire you with breathtaking beach wedding ideas if you’re trying to escape from the cold, and even excite you with fun new accessories to funk up your shoes, I felt the need to put them all on hold as there was something much more important I wanted to blog about. A post that deserves much more attention. That post is THE BREAST DRESS PROJECT.

While October is known worldwide as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it’s unfortunately not the only month of the year that people are affected by it. Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among Canadian females, affecting many thousands of women and their families each year and causing concern for millions more. Jamie is one of those women.

Last March, at the young age of 33, Jamie Johnston was diagnosed with breast cancer. She found a lump in her breast two years prior but because of her age the doctors told her it was nothing to worry about. When she was finally diagnosed in March, Jamie was Stage 2 and had to undergo chemotherapy treatment. In early December she finished her treatment and TBDP was born.

For those of you that don’t know Jamie, she and her husband Paul are the owners of Groovy Linen - suppliers of chair covers and table linens in the Ottawa area. Also well known in the wedding industry is Jamie’s friend Stacey Price - wedding coordinator and owner of Marry Me Productions. Together they launched TBDP in hopes of finding a cure for breast cancer.

The idea is for past brides to donate their previously worn (gently used) wedding dresses, TBDP will have them cleaned, and in turn new brides-to-be can buy these dresses at a discounted price with all proceeds raised going to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Here are Jamie & Stacey to tell you more about it!

Some researchers are working to learn more about what causes breast cancer so that one day it might be preventable. Others are finding new and better ways to detect, diagnose and treat the disease. Donating your dress to TBDP will allow the research to continue so that one day we can beat this for good.

Review of the Infinity ProScrim...

Like many photographers I prefer to shoot outside, the backgrounds are far more interesting and people more natural.

But shooting outside (and controlling the light) becomes more of a challenge and that is where reflectors and diffusers come in handy.

The bigger the light modifier, the more difficult it is to control, and if you throw in a breeze it will flop in the wind like a sheet drying on a clothes line. At that point you are no longer modifying light but having a good laugh watching your assistant becoming airborne.

Even without any wind, if you try to hold a diffuser by the end, up and over your subject, chances are 100% that it will flop down. It's simply not rigid enough to maintain its shape.

These are just some of the reasons why I like the Infinity ProScrim from Savage. It has a sturdy, light weight aluminum frame that maintains its shape, is rigid, and far easier to control, which may be less entertaining, but way more useful in getting the shot.

Two things were important to me, the quality of the construction and it's affordability (available at Adorama for $142).

A comparable 5 in 1 portable reflector, one full foot shorter than the Infinity ProScrim, will cost you $110.

My suggestion is to spend your money once and get the right tool the first time.

Please take just two minutes to watch the video below and I think you will come to love the Infinity PoScrim as much as I do.

For our subscribers, you will need to return to the blog or head over to YouTube to view the video as it is not be pushed through with your subscription

WEDDING SHOW SURVIVAL GUIDE

With the Wedding Palace Bridal Show around the corner, we thought it was a good time to revisit a post we made last year - Wedding Show Survival Guide, full of tips on how to get the most out of your day.

The Wedding Palace Bridal Show is this weekend (January 9 & 10 2010) at the Westin Hotel from 11am-5pm. Viva la wedding won't be there this year, but we have a free pair of tickets for the first five grooms-to-be that contact us. That's right, grooms-to-be!

Have a great weekend at the wedding show and happy planning!

ETA - Congratulations grooms-to-be Kevin, Mark, Jake, Scott & Luc who are all going to the Wedding Palace Bridal Show this weekend on Viva la wedding (or at least giving the tickets to their lovely future wives). Enjoy!!

A readers question... and my answer...

I recently received a question from a reader and wanted to share it (and the answer) with you.

The question:

"Scott, have you always been so good looking?"... no wait, that wasn't it... this is...

"I actually own my own photography studio - YET - have never known how to set my D300 up to my computer so my clients can immediately see their pics (much as you did on your "Help Day"). Can you give me some tips? Or write about it?"

The Answer:

Nikon shooters can use Camera Control Pro, but it's not free (though you can download a fully functional free 30 day trial here). You can get Camera Control Pro 2 at Adorama for $145 (with free shipping) and in my humble opinion worth every single penny.

It was pretty cool the first time I used it and found out I had complete control of all of my camera settings while sitting in from of my laptop and now I can't imagine shooting products or food without Camera Control Pro.

There are other options.

StudioTether is a free application that (as the name implies) will allow you to tether your Nikon camera to your Mac (no Windows version is available)

Another free Windows option is from DiyPhotoBits.com, they offer a free tethered shooting script for Nikon Cameras (Windows only), you can get the latest version here.

Canon shooters have it MUCH easier, they can can use their FREE EOS utility for shooting tethered (Windows manual here, Mac manual here).

My friend Jason Anderson over at Canon Blogger has a well done tutorial on Shooting Tethered with Canon Gear that you should check out.

I really love shooting tethered and you can read why at a previous post "Why Shoot Tethered" and get more details and resources at "Shooting tethered with Nikon, Canon, Windows, & Mac".

In closing I want to say thank you for your comments and many emails of condolences, thank you.