Getting Nasty

I was introduced to a new piece of grip equipment this week, it's called the Nasty Clamp. It's a clever clamp that's perfect for positioning a small strobe where a stand just won't do.

The Nasty Clamp is a super strong "A clamp" with a flex-arm attached. The flex-arm is modular and can hold a maximum weight of about 1 pound. When the clamp is used in a under-slung position it will actually hold quite a bit more.

I have a pond in my backyard and I have used the Nasty Clamp to provide additional lighting when photographing frogs. As a matter of fact, I have 2 frogs that attack birds when they stop by to take a bird bath.

Nasty Clamps are made and build by some very Nasty people in Portland, Oregon. For more information about these cool clamps head over to their web site www.nastyclamps.com

OK. You wanted to see the Frog, actually there are two of them. Here is where the frog sits waiting for the next bird to land. I've been unable to photograph a successful attack only misses.

Below you can see that the frog has just made it's move, missing the bird by inches! Look closely, the frog is just behind the cattail and the bird is in flight. I'm going to photograph an actually catch one of these days. It's going to require the patients of a frog to get it.

A Walk Through The Garden

I was up early this morning having my cup of coffee out by the pond. I noticed that the flowers in my garden were "looking good". I decided to put down my coffee and pick up my camera. I just love this time of year.

I might as well mention that I have 2 spots remaining for the Buffalo, NY Small Strobes, Big Results workshop June 28th. Please let me know if you would like to attend.

Cat's Out Of The Bag

For those of you that are not Nikonians members you probably have not heard the news. I have been asked to teach a series of lighting workshops for Nikonians.org. I'll be conducting my first workshop in Boston on September 21 & 22. I have a list of other cities but not dates, I'll keep you posted as to where and when.

The workshops are 2 days long and are designed for strickly Nikon shooters. You will learn how to create studio quality lighting using your SB-600, SB-800 & SB-900 strobes off camera.

Nikonians is the Worldwide home for Nikon Photographers around the world, there are about 150,000 passionate registered Nikonians. If you are a Nikon shooter, I would recommend joining this great group. They have wonderful forums, latest new regarding Nikon gear, workshops, and great discounts to boot.

Studio & Lightroom Tether

I received an email from a former student of mine who hosted our Orange County, CA, Small Strobes, Big Results Workshop. Jon sent me a link to a software developer "MountainStorm" who has produced a wonderful application that allows you to shoot tethered. You need to be a Mac user and shooting with Nikon, Canon or Fuji.

You can remote control your camera & onscreen display of camera settings, Nikon LiveView (recording coming soon), and Instant import of images into Adobe Lightroom; no waiting for Lightroom to detect the images. This is some really nice software!

This is a free plugin for Lightroom v2. Make sure you make a donation if you like this tool and find it useful. Please give it a try.

Denver Event

On June 6th I'll be speaking at Denver Pro Photo camera store. I'll be presenting a mini version of my popular Small Strobes, Big Results workshop. I'll be showing examples of my work, discussing my use of shoe mounted strobes for my commercial work and providing a few lighting demonstrations as well.

Denver Pro Photo is Denver's largest supplier of photographic equipment and supplies, and I am delighted to partner with them for this event. My presentation will be held at their store in their adjacent studio, I'll be speaking from 11 AM until 3 PM. Denver Pro Photo is located near the I-25 and Alameda. There exact address is 235 S. Cherokee Street. Here is a link for directions.

FourSquare™… and I'm Not Talking About The Game

I had lunch today with a long time friend and product developer Paul Peregrine. Paul is the developer and brains behind those fine photographic bags know as Lightware. After lunch, we headed over to his office and studio to have a look at a new product he has developed for small strobe users like myself. It's know as The FourSquare™.

This is a very clever small strobe mount and softbox combo. The key to the system is the Four Square mount which allows up to 4 speedlights to be mounted into a 30" X 30" softbox. The real big plus to this system is the size of the complete kit. The softbox and FourSquare mount fit into a stuff sack measuring only 18".

I've only had a short time to play with it, I think Paul has a winner here. What's really cool about the system is that you don't need a speedring and then something else to mount your strobes. Everything you need fits into the small bag shown above. I use my usual umbrella adapter to mount the FourSquare™ to a light stand.

You don't have to use the softbox if you don't want to.
How about just straight or perhaps a double soft bounce into and through an umbrella.
I've only had a few minutes to play with the new FourSquare™, but from what I've experienced so far, I like it!

Here are some of the first shots using this system. I shot these photos of Ian using high speed sync. I had 2 SB-800 mounted inside the FourSquare™ fired via CLS. The image below was shot at 1/4000 @ f/3.5

The image below was shot at 1/1600 @ f/3.5

I've got a few assignments in the next couple of weeks. I hope to put the FourSquare™ through it's paces. To learn more about this clever and compact lighting tool, check out their web site. The FourSquare™ is scheduled for release in the next few weeks. It is only available directly through their website Lightware Direct.

I still have a few spaces left for the June 28th Small Strobes, Big Results workshop in Buffalo. We have been granted access to the historic Central Terminal Train Station. If your interested in attending please contact me.