Tag Archive for: lighting

Everything can be a light source Part I

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One of the most asked questions must be “what’s your favorite light”
One of the most heard excuses is always “I don’t have the gear to do this”

 

In reality the answer on both questions can’t be given 123.
Let me start with number 1.
My favorite light source is something I always have problems with explaining, somehow my mind never thinks about light sources, but in the total image, and I choose the light source that give me the look that I need…OR I use what I have with me. So saying I love light source XXX or YYY doesn’t really make sense because it could very well be that that light source doesn’t give me the end result I have in my mind. I strongly believe that is also one of the problems a lot of “starting” photographers struggle with, and also a part of my workshops where I always tell people to NOT think about lighting as a source but as a means to get the look you want for a certain shot.

 

Now let’s look at number 2.
Nobody will have all the gear in the world, so there’s always something you don’t own or can’t use, so if you REALLY want, there’s always an excuse to NOT be able to do something. However when (see number 1) if you don’t look at gear but only at a final result and work towards that you will very quickly find out that often the most simple light sources (and other gear) are more than enough to shoot your end result. You just have to flip that switch that tells you you need expensive gear.

 

So don’t I care about what I use?
Well yes of course, I love my Sony cameras or iPhone, but not because I can’t get my results with other gear, I can shoot the same images with Canon, Nikon, Medium Format, iPhone etc. It’s just that the quality of the end result will be different, and because I also love quality (and love gear) I’m actually always looking for that little bit of extra quality, which is why I ended up with Sony and still shoot Medium Format.

 

Lighting wise it’s the same story, during workshops I often have to shoot with different brands due to sponsors or organizers of an event, and I think I’m probably one of the easiest instructors out there because I don’t really care if I have to shoot another brand as long as they can do the things I need, and if they don’t I’ll just adjust my program to work with the limits (or extra possibilities) I have. Personally I absolutely love my Elinchrom gear, the modifiers are in my opinion the best out there for the look that I like, and the quality of the strobes is awesome, I’m always very careful with gear but they are in some harsh situations sometimes, especially during workshops where groups of 10-12 people have to shoot in warm or cold weather, and the Elinchroms actually never let me down, so indeed there is a preference.

 

A while ago I started a workshop called “Alternative light sources” in which I actually teach the points I made above.
By making the attendees understand that a photograph is in essence a story or a frozen moment in time and not a mix of gear you will quickly see that their mindsets also change and they start to take risks they normally never do. One of the things for example is shooting higher ISOs, many photographers are often afraid to shoot on that higher ISO mode because there is noise. And indeed there is noise in the shot, but you have to realize that this is something you often see on the screen but not in prints (not even larger prints). Looking at a picture on a monitor 1:1 is in essence something like looking at a HUGE print from a few inches, and let’s be honest… that’s not something you do, you move back. This is actually why I always tell people to just print an image you think has too much noise and I think you will be surprised how good the print looks.

 

As soon as you realize this you will often find out that there are a lot more light sources you can use instead of strobes. You can for example shoot amazing shots with just some Christmas lights and for example a smart phone. And this is exactly what we did as the first setup during the workshop.

 

Nadine is lit by two smartphones and the lights she used in her dress.
Of course it’s a higher ISO shot, but as mentioned before…. when you print it absolutely looks great 😀 (depending on your camera of course, some cameras are indeed very bad above ISO3200, but most will do just fine “enough” up to ISO6400.

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Z30 SP xDrive for the traveling photographer

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Some things look great on paper but are terrible in real life.
Some things can be solved.

According to some the iPad/iPhone etc. are closed of systems where you always need iTunes to sync or put stuff on your device, and although indeed this was always true in the past there are many solutions now a days that work like a charm, for example I use mostly “preview” to get images and videos off my iOS device, or (if there aren’t many) I use airdrop, and when I need them in the catalogue of Lightroom I will just connect my phone to Lightroom.

In fact I only use iTunes to get video material on my iPad before traveling and music on my iPhone. And even then I don’t convert the video via iTunes, I just drag and drop the files into the folder for my CBR reader or video for VLC. The times where you had to convert everything is long gone.

But still there sometimes is the need for more, especially when traveling.
We love to edit video on the big screen of the iPad pro, but I also love to watch some episodes of my favorite show while flying and preferably I want to carry everything with me so I have a lot to choose from, and although you can fit a lot of shows on the 128GB iPad pro…. well I still want more sometimes, and when you combine it with video editing even the 128GB can be filled up rather quickly.

But don’t worry… there are solutions for that too.
Enter the Z30 drive.

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I’ve tested the iShowfast a while ago and although I liked the idea of the drive, and in all honesty it did do its work almost flawless, the connection was very weak and within a few weeks of normal use I already wasn’t able to lock both the lighting and USB part of the stick, in the end they exchanged the stick but I’m now so used to the Z30 that I’ll keep it in it’s box and probably sell it. The main thing I like about the Z30 is that there is a 100% hidden position as you can see in the middle of the image above. With the iShowfast there wasn’t, so you always had the USB or lighting part exposed, and that means…. well change of damage or dirt getting in the contacts.

Now writing a review on a device like this is pretty… well let’s put it this way, it’s like writing a review on a USB stick, it works or it doesn’t  😀

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In essence the Z30 drive makes it possible to very quickly sync files like photos, videos and documents between your mac/pc and iOS device. To make it work the only thing you need is the free iOS app that you can download from the app store. Via this app you can do some pretty cool stuff like creating a backup from your camera roll, backing up your contacts (and restoring them), synchronize between devices, work with dropbox (upload and download) and of course it also supports encryption so your files are safe.

I’ve been working the Z30 for some time now and I must say that I’m really happy with it, it copies pretty snappy from my MacBook Pro and the “feeling” of always being able to copy material from my MBP to my iPad pro on the road is pretty handy, we film a lot of material on the road and it saves us a lot of time to being able to already do some editing on the plane and the iPad pro simply shines on video editing capabilities.

If you’re traveling a lot, OR if you just need some extra memory on your iOS device and you don’t want to always connect to a MBP/Pc or whatever the Z30 is something I HIGHLY recommend. Check them out on their site. it’s available in 32/64/128GB versions (I tested the 64GB version)

 

 

Interview with Joel Grimes

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We travel a lot to teach on trade shows and of course our own workshops and one of the most exciting things for me is meeting up with other photographers and pick their brains about what drives them, pushed them forwards in their careers and their visions on our trade.

After professional imaging (the largest Dutch tradeshow) we invited Joel Grimes over to our studio to show him our area and of course squeeze in an interview for our videowebpodcast “Quite Frankly”, today you can see the video via our blog. Joel and me talked about a lot of topics ranging from working with handicaps to inspiring other people and of course the “perfect” lightsetup.

Enjoy.
And please subscribe to our channel.

MIOPS camera triggering system

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Do we need remote triggers?
With modern day cameras there are so many options that one would think no… but do read on you might be surprised….

 

You guys know that my reviews are always a bit different, I don’t really like to just sum up some specs and add a link to them, to be honest you can find that on the manufacturers website :D, I always like to give you my personal opinion about a product, so read this review as my personal view on the MIOPS, your opinion may be different.

 

A while ago I got the MIOPS remote trigger and because I’m not really a landscape shooter it will always take some time to really dive into remotes. “so why get a remote in the first place?” Yeah I hear you, well it’s actually very simple. Although you might not use it all the time there are those moments where you go “OH MY I wish….” and those moments happend too often for me so I want a really good remote.

 

Now as you know I love the triggertrap device, it’s very handy, has a great app but… you have to be pretty close to your camera because the camera is connected to your iPhone, so the triggertrap is a different device (and a very good one), the thing I like about the MIOPS is that you don’t need to be connected to your iPhone, you just connect the MIOPS and from there it’s all up to the app inside the MIOPS or your iPhone.

 

Let’s first talk about the MIOPS itself
The case itself is very sturdy and just small/big enough to be fitted as “oh yeah I have to take one too” in almost any case. Meaning there is NO excuse not to bring it. Controls are very simple and feel a bit outdated with todays touch screens etc. BUT… this is actually a good thing because it also means the MIOPS is a very affordable device, now at $239.00 you might think it’s actually not that cheap but wait till you see what this baby can do….

 

Let’s look at the app and what it can do
The MIOPS can be controlled from the unit itself but via the app everything goes so much better and smoother, and I must admit it all looks very very complete.

 

There are several options which I will briefly discuss and give some examples of when to use them.

 

First up we look at scenariosIMG_8455

In scenarios you can “write” your own order of things, or in other words, what do you want to happen in which order. In total 5 “events” can happen and sensors can be used for this, sounds complicated? well it’s more a matter of just putting them in and you’re done. In total you can store 3 different scenarios. Now you just have to think of something creative to use them on….

 

Second up is timed release
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This one is pretty straight forward, just say WHEN you want to trigger the camera and it does it for you. You can use this for selfies (but there is a much better option for this), or just for any shot you want to take after a certain time.

 

Third option is press and lock
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This is a very handy for those ENORMOUS time-lapse recordings, no need to keep the finger on the shutter, just press the button, the camera starts recording and locks, and it will stop as soon as you press it again. Of course the benefit of using it on a remote is that there is absolutely no camera shake, especially when using mirror lockup.

 

Fourth option is Press and hold

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Pretty similar to the previous one but now you don’t need to lock you just keep your finger on the button and the camera will keep recording the image till you lift your finger.

 

Fifth option is “cable” release

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The old fashioned cable release, but now without a cable 😀
Just press the button and the camera will take the shot, very handy for when for example you have the camera behind a goal and want to take that killer shot just in time but you don’t want to be there in the goal with the camera, or if your camera is mounted higher up in a sports complex or other area, a very handy tool.

 

Sixth option is HDR

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With modern day sensors the need for HDR is often not as necessary as it was in the past, so IF we use it it should better well be very interesting, and the MIOPS does not disappoint, with a range of 7 shots it should be possible to make dynamic shots that even the Sony sensors can’t record (pun intended), but please…… don’t use HDR as Highly Destructive Retouching 😀

 

Seventh option (and we’re not done yet) is Time-lapse 

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Now this is one I still want to play with a bit more because some of the results can be INCREDIBLE. You set the camera for a certain time period and a certain amount of images and you just walk away (although I would advise to always stay with the camera), at the end of the period you end up with a certain amount of images which you put into your favorite video editing software and voila you have an amazing overview of what happened during the time…. well of course it highly depends on what you record, I tried one on our living area and to be honest I could have captured it also with one shot :D… so this is one I’m sure I’m gonna test out this summer more when we are traveling with our RV again. We were planning on using it in New York but it was so cold that I was glad to just take one shot, let alone stand somewhere for a longer time.

 

And we are already at number 8th which is LASER

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Now don’t misread this, the MIOPS does NOT have a laser inside, so what is the laser option?
You can use any simple laser pointer (for example for presentations) and aim it at the MIOPS, now as soon as something passes the laser beam the camera will be triggered. This is amazing for shots of something flying through the air, something like security, a balloon that is shot by an arrow, an animal that sits somewhere or arrives, etc. etc. there are many different options you could use for this.

 

Number 9 in the row is even more interesting because it’s sound

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The laser option is great but also takes some planning and you need something that hits the beam, with sound you just need the sound. Great for those moments where you throw something through glass, hit a board, drops something on the ground (or on your model and she screams, yeah have to work on that one) but also for the ultimate selfie…. just set up the camera and shout “HEY” make sure you don’t add Siri because…. well Siri will ask you what she should do which makes taking the shot a bit more difficult. For groups shots this option is awesome, everyone is standing nicely and now just let them all shout, great shots 😀

 

Now let’s look at number 10 already which is my personal favorite… lightning
IMG_8443We all have seen those amazing lightning shots and wondered “how did they do this” and we all tried it…. well I know I did, and in all these tries I might have captured maybe one or two that were decent, now I have to add that we hardly have any lighting here, but I know that as soon as we have I’m gonna set up the MIOPS and capture some of those bolts…. I think besides all the other options this is probably one of my favorite options because I’ve been wanting to take a shot with lightning for some time now…. now only hope it will happen soon 😀

 

Finally we have one more option and that’s called DIY
Now I have to be honest, I didn’t play with this one yet, but when I read the description it makes the MIOPS I think one of the most complete triggers on the market. “The DIY mode is the mode where you can hook up external sensors to your MIOPS. Your options are endless: Temperature, Pressure, Humidity etc. The advanced modes are Scenario and four different Cable Release modes. These features are only available if you control your MIOPS with the IOS application.”

 

Conclusion
For some people remote controls are vital, some people claim they will never use them….. I think that last group is actually wrong. Of course an “old fashioned” cable release is not needed anymore, we have so many options in our cameras… however that is also the reason why many remote controls just end up in the closet with the dust, I also have some radio remotes that I never use any more for the simple reason that my camera has more options than the remote and thanks to the timer option I can literally do it “any” way I want.
So if you are a manufacturer and you want to release a remote that is a worthwhile investment, because let’s be honest $239.00 is not exactly a no brainer, you better step up your game and release something that is rocking… and in my opinion this is exactly what the MIOPS is, it’s compatible with most cameras, including the Sony series, and it works just as advertised, it’s fast, stable and has a overload on options and features, including a “build your own solution” which is of course great for people that want even more, think for example about people that work in labs or other industries and need very specific options, and I think for that group the MIOPS is actually very cheap.

 

For us “hobbyists” it’s an investment, but I think it’s an investment that is worth every single cent, the MIOPS is designed to stand a beating, it’s small and it’s loaded, I say “HIGHLY RECOMMENDED”. Find out more at MIOPS