around the net: volume 12, diy photo studio helpers
July 4, 2008 – 2:30 amDiy lighting helpers
Readers have asked if there’s a resource showing how different reflectors work on a controlled portrait setup, showing the difference between white, silver, gold and black fill cards. Well, that resource now exists, thanks to DIYPhotography.net. Udi has done all of the hard work for us with this reflector card cheat sheet. The downloadable sheet contains a series of images that tell the whole story of how different reflectors influence a portrait. It’s a companion piece to the portrait lighting cheat sheet card that shows how lighting placement affects a portrait. If you’re new to portrait lighting I highly recommend studying them both.
Faithful reader Craig Lee has come up with a great piece of DIY lighting equipment, his Target store ready-made $20 softbox. There’s beauty in simplicity and Craig has found something very, very cool here. You can get all the details and setup photos for this fun piece of equipment on his website, 4P Photoblog. Thanks for sharing this one, Craig!
The mother of all photo linkfests
Would you like to discover some new photo websites? Have you ever heard of alltop.com? If you haven’t, then this collection of photo website feeds just might “blow your mind” (as we used to say in the 60’s).
Falling prices on the camera carousel
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I’m looking to buy a new DSLR, just for fun, not for the business. At the studio we’re pretty locked in to Canon and I have a personal fondness for Nikon. So, just to make things interesting, I’m leaning towards an Olympus E520 as my next purchase, just to try something different and to totally shake things up. This week, to make things even more interesting, I saw on Calumet’s site that they’re closing out the Olympus EVOLT E-410 DSLR with 14-42mm Lens for just $369.99 (and shipping is free). Just $370 for a quality digital SLR camera with zoom lens! At that price I should probably get one, even if it only serves as a backup, eventually.
And remember the Nikon D200? It was the “it” camera body of two years ago, before the D300 and this week’s announcement of the full-frame D700. Well, a few of the D200s are remaining in dealer inventories and the price has fallen to below $1000 for a D200 Digital SLR Camera Body. Yes, it’s not the latest and greatest any more but it’s a camera capable of handling professional abuse and it’s selling for under a grand. Amazing.
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Coming up next week
There’s been good response this week to the posts on sparking creativity so there will definitely be more along those lines coming up. Thanks for your suggestions and for sharing your own personal experiences in the post comments.
Speaking of coming up, in Monday’s video we’ll be taking a week off from discussing lighting. It’s certainly one of my passions but it’s good to mix things up once in awhile because there are so many aspects of photography to explore. So what will the topic be on Monday? Well, it’s something digital photographers may have never experienced and it was once a rite of passage for all photographers. So it may be totally new to you or it may bring back many fond memories. And it uses the items pictured in the photo at left…
Have a great weekend and I’ll see you on Monday!
- Jim T.
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10 Responses to “around the net: volume 12, diy photo studio helpers”
I’ve read good things about the E-410, Jim. Using a 4/3rds camera would be different than the standard APS-C models. I can’t wait to see some of your shots from it.
It looks like you’re going to develop film for Monday’s video?
Have a good 4th of July weekend, and thanks for site link.
By Craig Lee on Jul 4, 2008
Cocktail shakers, sweet! Just in time for the 4th. One more hidden talent of yours. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
By Jason Phillips on Jul 4, 2008
Yikes!! Are those Jobo Tanks? I just cleaned out my tanks, thermometers, funnels, film clips, etc., from under my bathroom sink and have them in a box ready to be lost among all the other boxes in my basement. Pleeeease don’t tell me these things are making a comeback!
By Delos on Jul 4, 2008
Happy 4th, Jim!I’ll be heading to our wedding shoot today with some fresh ideas and motivation courtesy of your “shoot like you’re shooting film” post….
good call on the “top commenter” box…now I’m feeling competitive…
By Buffalo Rich on Jul 4, 2008
Thanks for the great info Jim. It’s great that you share links to your reader’s blogs in your ‘Around The Net’ posts. I appreciated the 100+ hits to my blog a few weeks ago. I’m sure Craig will feel the same way.
By John Brainard on Jul 4, 2008
I need a hit counter or something. Hmmm.
By Craig Lee on Jul 4, 2008
Craig… Check out Site Meter. It’s what I use. You get decent, live statistics about who’s visiting your site.
http://www.sitemeter.com/
By John Brainard on Jul 4, 2008
Sorry, Delos, they’re making a comeback, at least for one or two posts! Look at the bright side, you can always use them as fancy cocktail shakers (thanks for the great tip, Jason).
As for providing links, prophotolife is nothing without you guys, support goes two ways (the Sigma 10-20 looks like a ton of fun, btw). And sitemeter rocks…Happy 4th!
By Jim Talkington on Jul 4, 2008
If the Sigma 10-20mm lens isn’t fun, I’m in serious trouble. I thought I was having fun all this week!
By John Brainard on Jul 6, 2008
Was considering to sell my D200 after D700 arrives, but at below $1000 for a new one I doubt I’ll get much for mine. Second body it is then.
By Mike C on Jul 7, 2008