Photo Shoot with singer Peter Marin

Yesterday I had the pleasure of shooting with Jazz singer Peter Marin at Balboa Park here in San Diego. We had a great morning and got some really great shots. I thought I would post a couple of shots here on the blog for you to check out. I am still editing them down, but I found a couple of instant selects in the process.

I shot these photos with my trusty Nikon D90, Nikon 85mm f 1.8 lens, and an SB800 at 1/8 power through a 24 x 24 Lastolite Ezybox. That thing gives me the most beautiful, soft light I could ever hope for from a hot shoe flash. It just plain rocks! I just needed one light to pull off these shots. Remember, you don’t always have to have the big studio strobes to get high-quality light. And with small flashes, I can move and work quickly which is a HUGE advantage when shooting on location.

I hope you enjoyed the photos and I’ll see you back here later this week for more about what I’ve been up to! Come back and see me and until then, I hope you have a great week!

Photo Shoot with Classical Guitarist Paul Bowman

This past Saturday I was privileged to shoot Paul Bowman, a classical guitarist here in San Diego. The shoot was the first of several shoots with musicians, bands, or singers as I build my portfolio. I would like to shoot portraits, headshots, promo and art work for people in the music industry. And as fellow photographer Chase Jarvis says, “Show what you want to shoot.”

Paul and I had a lot of fun working together and I got to listen to him play while we shot which was a treat for me, being a guitar player as well. (For the record I’m nowhere close to the level of musician as Paul is.) I’ll share with you a couple of immediate selects that I got to during my initial editing. All of my post production was performed in Lightroom on these images. No need for Photoshop. Just good lighting and proper technique.

You gotta love black and white photos.

A detail shot while Paul was playing.

Classic portrait, but I used another Speedlight and my surroundings to add some texture and depth to the background.

Great juxtaposition in a location that Paul showed me.

I’ve got a lot more editing to do, but I wanted to share these shots with you. I had a lot of fun on this shoot and Paul is going to get some great images to use for promotion. I’m definitely looking forward to doing more shoots like this and of course I’ll share the images with you guys.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the images and I’ll see you back here again soon. I had to write this post ahead of time since I’m on the ship, out to sea. Let me know what you think of the shots in the comments and of course if you have questions, ask away! I’ll get to them as soon as I can. Have a great day!

Lastolite Ezybox Review

Alright, it’s time for the long-awaited (for some of you) Lastolite Ezybox review! I’ve been playing with this amazing softbox for a couple of weeks now and I have to say that I am VERY impressed. There are lots of things I like, and really nothing that I don’t like. Without further ado, onto the review! (Lame, I know.)

Portability
I have the 24″x24″ Lastolite Ezybox, which one would think would take up a lot of space. Lastolite fooled us though because it doesn’t take up hardly any space at all! It comes in a little zipper bag that measures 10″ in diameter, which easily fits into most medium-to-large camera bags. The Ezybox is much like Lastolite’s Tri-Grip diffusers and reflectors in that it folds up nice and neat. Think “Magic Shade” for your car and you’ll know what I mean. If you buy the kit with the speed ring and hot shoe bracket, they’ll both fit in the zipper bag with the Ezybox for an ultra-portable softbox solution.

Setup and Breakdown
Once again, the Ezybox really shines here. The first setup takes a couple minutes because you have to open all the plastic bags and whatnot. After you’re first go around, you can set it up in less than a minute. It quickly unfolds into it’s softbox form and all you have to do is slip the speedring into place on the back of the softbox. It attaches in a somewhat unusual manner, but don’t confuse that with dysfunctional because that’s certainly not the case. The speedring is held into place by the outer support pieces of each side of the softbox, at the back of the softbox, and basically held into place by friction. Don’t worry, it won’t go anywhere. It’s pretty sung. I leave the hot shoe bracket attached to the speedring all the time to maintain an ultra-short setup time.

The diffusion panels velcro into place and they stay put. You won’t have to worry about them falling off thanks to the super industrial-type velcro used by Lastolite. Very well done here. Also, when it’s time to break the Ezybox down, you can simply un-velcro and fold one corner of the diffusion panels to the other corner and fold up the Ezybox with the diffusion panels in place. Again, this will make your setup more efficient.

Speaking of breaking down the Ezybox, once the diffusion panels are folded then you can slip the Ezybox off of the speedring and fold it in until it’s flat. Then fold it in half (like a book) and then with the longer side facing you, fold it again just like a Tri-Grip and it’s ready to go into it’s zipper bag. Simple and efficient… which I really dig!

Quality of Light
All I can say is WOW! The light quality from the Ezybox is amazing. It’s soft, beautiful, and flattering! Add the fact that you get more control over your light because it’s a softbox and now we’re really lighting! I’m sorry that I waited so long to get one! Check out the shot below:

I love the big, square catchlights in the eyes! Much better than an umbrella as far as I’m concerned.

Accessories
Lastolite offers an array of accessories for their Ezybox line including a telescoping handle. It is a great thing to have when working alone or with a VAL (Voice Activated Lightstand). The hot shoe bracket that comes with the kit is sturdy and you won’t have to worry about your flash going anywhere, but make sure you have an umbrella swivel bracket if you want to be able to tilt the Ezybox. The way that the bracket is designed is great because you can tilt the box to point straight down on a regular lightstand, which is handy.

Overall, I’m really in love with the Ezybox. It’s amazing, simple to use, quick to set up and break down, and you get the best possible light you can out of your hot shoe flash. Price wise, they list for $217.00 at B&H Photo and they are even less when you add it to your shopping cart. I won’t publish that price as I don’t want to get B&H in trouble. Bogen Imaging, who distributes Lastolite products in the U.S., is offering a $35.00 mail in rebate on the 24″x24″ Lastolite Ezybox Hot Shoe Kit too! I plan on adding a least one more of these to my lighting arsenal.

For more information and videos be sure to check them out on Lastolite’s website.

If you want to get one, here’s where I got mine and so can you!

That’s a wrap for today, I hope you enjoy your Memorial Day weekend and I’ll see you back here next week!

Weekend Updates

Well, the weekend’s here again and I wanted to let you know what’s going on and what’s coming up next week on the blog.

• I’m planning on posting my review of “The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light From Small Flashes” by Joe McNally. The review will be a little lengthy but I’m going to break down each section for you. If you haven’t read this book yet, you’ll want to after you read my review.
• In these times of economic uncertainty, it’s hard for us to part with our hard earned cash for new gear. Wanna know my solution? Buy used gear! Check out websites like Craigslist and eBay for awesome deals on glass, flashes, and the like. I recently picked up a Nikon 85mm f1.8 lens for less than half of what it costs new! You can’t go wrong with that and I’ll be buying a couple more lenses the exact same way. Of course, I’ll have a full review up after I’ve put it through it’s paces.
• My Lastolite Ezybox came in on Thursday… I’ll be engrossed this weekend shooting with it. So far I’m really jazzed about this thing… the quality of light is amazing!
• I’ve been shooting a lot more photos with my iPhone than usual. (See photo above.) I was inspired by Chase Jarvis and his collection of iPhone photos. I process them with native iPhone apps like CameraBag and Cool FX by Tiffen. This further proves that the best camera is the one that’s with you.
• I’ll be out and about this morning in Carlsbad for a Mentoring Session. You can read more about this right here.
• Last but not least, I hope to have photos and gel kits up and available in my “store” on Monday. I’ll post a little more about them and how you can make them yourself. But if you’re not much of the DIY’er you can buy them in my store for cheap.

That’s it for me, so I hope you all have a great weekend and I’ll see you back here on Monday! Keep clickin’ the shutter release!

Tuesday Updates

Here’s a little news and what I’m up to this week:

• My Zenfolio Review has attracted quite a few readers, and so I thought I would put up a link (image above) for you to save $5.00 of a new Zenfolio account. Just click the link above to check it out!
• Last night I ordered a Lastolite Ezybox 24″x24″ softbox from B&H Photo to use with my Nikon Speedlights. I should have it in a couple of days and after I put some time in shooting with it, I’ll post up a full review!
• I’ll soon be offering a cool little gel kit for sale. I’ll give you the ins and outs soon, but you’ll be able to pick these things up for $15.00 and it will contain a quick strap and 10 gels. This system will work with any flash, so no need to worry there. More details to come!
• I’m now offering individual Mentoring Sessions for photographers and anyone who wants to get into photography here in San Diego. All the details are right here.

That’s it for me today. I hope you guys have a great day and I’ll see you back here soon!