Thursday, February 17, 2011
You probably already know this...
But just in case you don't, here it is.
David "The Strobist" Hobby and Joe "Numnuts" McNally are teaming up for the "FLASHBUS 2011 Tour".
It is a 29 city, 13,000 mile, all in 42 days tour that will provide you the opportunity to learn from the two people sitting at the very top of the small light pyramid.
And it's only $99 so follow this link and see if you can still snag a seat.
Sadly, it is already 3/4's sold out, so run, don't walk to the registration page.
Good luck.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Resources on photographing reflective surfaces...
One of the more challenging things to light is glass (and other highly reflective surfaces), because normally when we photograph a subject we are putting our light on that subject. But with glass we do the opposite, we are lighting around the subject.
I have put together some incredible examples of how to light reflective surfaces, so hang on, here goes:
The first resource (of course) is from David Hobby (aka Strobist), it was an assignment he shot of flavored vodkas, so follow this link to see all the shiny details.
Resource number two is from Strobist as well (seeing a theme here?), and it too involves alcohol (theme number two), this time it's beer, check it out.
This link is from DIY Photography (more beer).
These three links are from Pixiq (one, two, and three) and show dramatically different ways of shooting the same product (Vodka).
Here are the last two well done tutorials for lighting glass here and here (sorry, no alcohol in these).
We will close with a video tutorial on how to shoot glass.
Subscribers, you know the routine, you will need to return to the blog to watch the video (as it does not get pushed through with your subscription).
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Life from the lighter side...
2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize that you are so totally wrong.
3. All those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger was a big mistake.
4. There is much need for a "sarcasm" font.
5. I am 55 and still have not figured out how to fold a fitted sheet.
6. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least some kind of tired.
7. Bad decisions often make our best and funniest stories.
8. You never know when it'll strike, but there comes a moment at work when you come to the realization that you're just not going to do one more productive thing for the rest of the day.
9. Can we just ignore whatever comes after Blu-ray? I don't want to restart my video collection yet again..... Beta, VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, and...
10. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my thirty page chapter that I swear I did not make any changes to.
11. Am I the only person who keeps certain numbers in their cell phone just so I know who not to answer when they call?
12. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
13. I totally disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Alcohol than with "K".
14. I have a hard time determining where boredom ends and hunger begins.
15. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't understand a word being said?
16. Shirts get dirty. socks get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, you can wear pants forever.
17. There are times when I will look down at my watch 3 or 4 times and still not know what time it is.
18. Even under ideal conditions I have trouble locating my car keys in my pocket, finding my cell phone, or even something as big as my van - but I can hit the snooze button from 3 feet away, coming out of a dead sleep with eyes closed, doing it in about 2 seconds nailing it the first time, every time.
19. The first testicular guard, the "Cup", was used in Hockey in 1874. The first helmet was used in 1974. So this means it took men only 100 years to realize that their brain was important too. Who says we (men) are slow?
Saturday, February 12, 2011
I am far older than I realized...
1) When I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves.
2) There was no email, we had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen and paper! Then we had to walk walk to the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there. Stamps were 10 cents.
3) Child Protective Services didn't care if my mom beat me. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends and my teachers could "discipline" me too.
4) There were no such things as MP3's or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to go to the record store and steal the 45 yourself.
5) Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and totally screw it all up! There were no CD players! I had an FM converter in my first car, and after saving a few dollars moved up to an 8 track player.
6) We didn't have fancy shmancy things like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it! When I was REAL young we had a party line (which meant our neighbors and us shared the same line), two short rings and the call was for us, one long ring meant it was for our neighbor and at any time folks could pick up the phone and listen to your neighbors call.
7) There weren't any cell phones either (only on Star Trek). If you left the house, you were actually out of touch with your "friends". If you REALLY had to reach someone you could go to the nearest corner and slide in a dime inot the pay phone to make a call.
8) No Caller ID either/ When the phone rang it was a crap shoot, you had no idea who it was.
9) You weren't even allowed to own a phone, you had to rent them monthly for Ma Bell.
10) Our big technology break through was the Atari 2600 with a game called "Pong". Your screen avatar was a little green square!
11) You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! We had just three channels/stations. We actually had to walk over to the TV to change the channel or adjust the volume.
12) There was no Cartoon Network, you could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning and Davey and Goliath on Sunday morning.
13) Microwaves? If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove.
14) Seatbelts and car seats? I don't think so.
15) In grade school we would have "duck and cover" drills that included going to the fallout shelter (in case of nuclear attack)
Some interesting fact from the mid 1960's:
Cost of a new home: $16,500.00
Cost of a gallon of regular gas: 31 cents
Cost of a gallon of Milk: 49 cents
Americas Top TV Shows
1 ) Bonanza
2 ) Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
3 ) The Lucy Show
4 ) The Red Skelton Hour
5 ) Batman
6 ) The Andy Griffith Show
7 ) Bewitched
8 ) The Beverly Hillbillies
9 ) Hogan's Heroes
10 ) Green Acres
11 ) Get Smart
OMG! I am suddenly feeling old... really, really old.