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Monthly Archives: September 2012

NYC, Tomorrow’s Glamour Workshop, and Philly

28 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by Bob Harrington in Uncategorized

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Expoimaging, OCF, off camera flash, Off Camera flash workshops, Rogue Flashbenders

Hi and welcome back.

Last Saturday I ran a Rogue Flashbender workshop in NYC, shooting in Madison Square Park.

We met at Calumet Photo and then headed over to the park.

We worked one light with a grid:

Then we worked two lights:

One Large flashbender with diffusion panel as the main and one large flashbender bare for fill:

Then we moved across the street and used 3 lights.

Main is a large flashbender with diffusion panel, fill is a bare large flashbender, fill from left is a grid with a 1/2 CTO gel.

We had great fun and success in the city shooting guerilla style at Madison Square Park and in front of the Credit Suisse building.

Tomorrow is my 8 speedlight glamour workshop.  Interested?  Contact me at 203-641-2880 or rvh34@hotmail.com.

I’m using everything in my OCF kit with 8 lights, then four lights, ending with just one light.  There’s still a few spots left!

Calumet Philly is next week: Calumet OCF Workshop

If you are in Southern NJ or in Philly, check us out.  It is a shooting event, so bring your cameras!

That’s it for now.  I hope to see you soon!

 

 

 

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Totally Rad Radvocate!

25 Tuesday Sep 2012

Posted by Bob Harrington in Uncategorized

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Actor headshot, CT Headshots, NYC headshot, Retouching, Totally Rad, Totally Rad Actions, Totally Rad Actions Pro Retouch V.2

Hi and welcome back.

I’ve just become a Totally Rad Actions Radvocate.  If you are using Photoshop CS3 or above, you should be taking advantage of the Actions Palette for your post processing work.

Totally Rad offers some of the best Actions for your photos.

I just got Portrait Retouch V.2, and it is the best retouching software I’ve ever used.  It beats, hands down, Nik, Portrait Professional, and Perfect Portrait.

I can do a retouch in 1/10th the time it used to take.

Plus, by using this Discount Coupon Code, you get 15% off of your purchase at Totally Rad:

1434RHSTUDIOS

Here’s a sample form Emily’s Actor Headshot sitting.

Before:

After:

My recipe:

  • Foundation Lite
  • Deblotch Medium
  • Magic Eraser
  • Eye Makeover
  • Iris Lightener
  • Hair Shine
  • Lucious Lips

That’s it.  In about a minute I was done!!

Go to: Totally Rad and type in the Discount Code: 1434RHSTUDIOS for your 15% off now!

That’s it for now.  Till next time, happy retouching!

 

 

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Totally Rad Pro Retouch V.2

20 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by Bob Harrington in Uncategorized

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CT Headshot Photographer, Headshot, Nikon, off camera flash, Off Camera flash workshops, Rogue Gel kit, Rogue gels, SB800, Totally Rad Actions, Totally Rad Actions Pro Retouch V.2

Hi and welcome back.

I seem to be becoming a bit more of a gear blogger as of late.

Well, with that, if you haven’t checked out Totally Rad Actions Pro Retouch V.2: you should!

I absolutely abhor retouching, I mean I hate it!  Removing stray hair, sharpening eyes, softening skin: this is what I hire a retoucher for!

But, I recently discovered and bought Totally Rad Actions Pro Retouch V.2, and I have to say I have a new-found liking, not love, of retouching as it’s never been easier!

If you like actions, check out Totally Rad as they have my four favorite actions of all time: Bitchen B/W, Luxe Hard, Boutwell Magic Glasses, and Troy.

Actions are used in Photoshop.  In the actions palette you simply select what you want done and presto, chango it’s done.

Here’s a sample screenshot of the Pro Retouch action palette:

The actions are color coded so you can get to work quickly.

Here’s a hint: go to the Totally Rad website and watch a video to get started.  This is what I did.  I also took notes as to what was being used and now I have a quick-start list of what to do first, second, third, etc…

Here’s my initial image:

 

Here’s my process list:

  1. Foundation lite
  2. Deblotch medium
  3. Magic eraser
  4. Eye makeover
  5. Iris lightener
  6. Clean eye whites
  7. Hair shine
  8. Lucious Lips

Then I used Totally Rad’s Luxe Hard, ran the action, then dropped the opacity to 50%.

That’s it!  The great thing about the action set is that each action exists as a layer, so you can paint the effect in wherever you want it and then drop the opacity to increase or decrease it’s strength.

Here’s my finished image that took me about 2 minutes:

 

This shot was taken with:

Nikon D3, 70-200 vr, SB800 with a Rogue 1/2 CTO warming gel

Check out Totally Rad.

That’s it for now.  Till next time, happy retouching!

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BH Event and TF Camera this Saturday

13 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by Bob Harrington in Uncategorized

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BH Photo, BH Photo Event Space, Expoimaging, OCF, off camera flash, Off camera flash workshop, Rogue Flashbenders

Hi and welcome back.

On Monday I ran a sponsored shooting event with BH Photo Event Space on the High Line.

Never heard of or been to the High Line?  It’s the coolest walking park that sits above the streets.  It is the old abandoned rail line that serviced the Meat Packing District until the early 80’s.  A conservancy took it over and turned it into a park above the streets and it is way, way cool.

High Line

The event was sponsored by Expoimaging and their Rogue Flash benders.

We shot on the High Line using the small flashbender, large flashbender, and a grid.

Here’s a few proofs from the day.

Small Flashbender rolled into a snoot, SB800

Rogue Grid

Large Flashbender

And some fun!!

I’m shooting this weekend at TF Camera in Vineland, NJ.  There are a few spots left for this upcoming shooting workshop.

Join in the fun and register here: TF Camera

That’s it for now, I hope to see you soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sally’s Headshot

11 Tuesday Sep 2012

Posted by Bob Harrington in Uncategorized

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Tags

learning off camera flash, learning to light, off camera flash, Off camera flash workshop, portrait photography, portraits

Hi and welcome back.

One of the most often asked questions from beginning OCF photograhers is: how do I get someone to pose for me?

Answer: you don’t!

Why try and coax, cajole, or make false promises to someone who doesn’t want to be there in the first place?  Instead head to your local beauty supply and purchase a styrofoam head.  I named my foam head Sally because I purchased her from Sally’s Beauty Supply.

Take that foam head, which doesn’t talk back or give an attitude, set it on a table in your living room, dining room, or kitchen and set up your light and shoot.  You can see how light position affects exposure and how light actually interacts with your subject’s face all in a quiet and peaceful and stress-free environment.

Before we begin, here’s my equipment list:

  • Sally
  • Card table
  • Medium gray seamless paper backdrop
  • Manfrotto 1052 BAC Quickstacker Lightstands
  • Matthews 40″ Hollywood Grip Arm
  • Lumopro LP 633 Umbrella Bracket
  • Photoflex 43″ Convertible Umbrella
  • Nikon SB910
  • Nikon SD9 Battery Pack
  • Pocket Wizard Plus 3

Heres my first shot and behind-the-scenes.  Here I used the umbrella reflective style, but you can and should do both reflective and shoot through to see the differences.

The traditional 45 degree portrait setup, sidelight, toplight, and finally full frontal ligt:

For about $5.00 you can have a full-time posing tool that doesn’t talk back or give you a look or attitude!  Priceless!

That’s it for now.  Till next time, happy practicing!

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Khaleel’s Commercial Headshot

10 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by Bob Harrington in Uncategorized

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Commercial Headshot, CT, Headshot, Headshot Photographer, NYC Headshot Photographer, Theatrical Headshot

Hi and welcome back.

Khaleel came in for his Commercial headshot.

Here’s my total favorite of the day.

Nikon D3, 70-200vr

SB910, Photoflex reflective umbrella, California Sunbounce Micro Mini

Till next time, happy shooting!

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Radio Poppers on Sale

04 Tuesday Sep 2012

Posted by Bob Harrington in Uncategorized

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OCF, OCF Workshops, off camera flash, Radio Popper PX, Radio Popper PX Review, sale, Workshops

Hi and welcome back.

Right on the heels of my RP PX review, I got an email that said RP’s are now on sale from $249.00 to $189.00.

That’s a great price if you are in the market right now!

Link: Radio Popper

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Radio Popper PX Review

02 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by Bob Harrington in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

High Speed Sync, High Speed Sync with Off Camera Flash, Nikon, OCF, off camera flash, Radio Popper, Radio Popper PX, Rogue Flashbenders, SB800, SB910

Hi and welcome back.

At the beginning of Summer I made a decision to explore other radio triggering systems beyond the industry standard Pocket Wizard’s.

I wanted a to stick with TTL and chose Radio Popper’s.  I saw numerous videos and read tons of testimonials online before I decided to take the leap and add RP’s to my kit.

First the caveat: this is as unbiased a review as I can give, it is for most RP users or photographers thinking of buying RP’s, and it favors Nikon but there is information for you Canon shooters too.

The RP system is quite ingenious in that it takes Infrared from the master, turns it into radio frequency, sends it to the receiver, then the receiver translates radio to infrared to fire the flash.  This is quite a feat of electronics in a small package and you have the ability to use your camera’s TTL system.

However, there are a few things you should do and be aware of upon opening the boxes and getting started.

Go to a hardware store or home center and buy a small tube of Loctite and Industrial Strength Velcro.

Then purchase this adapter bracket for the bottom of the RP bracket.

Then, put a dollop of Loctite on the screw and install on the bottom of the bracket.  Do this so you can use existing OCF bracketry and don’t have to purchase anything specific to the bottom of the RP bracket.

Next, take a swatch of velcro and completely cover the bottom of the RP transmitter.  Do this because if you swap between flash units, like SB910 or 800 as master or slave, you can mount your transmitter anywhere on the unit easily.

Then, add big swatches of velcro to your flash to mate your transmitter in multiple locations as you may find it works better in one spot over another.

After you’ve gotten this far, purchase the replacement angled antenna to get rid of that bulky, hard-to-store vertical antenna that the transmitter comes with.  FCC rules in the U.S. state that all antenna’s need to be vertical, but after you purchase the unit, don’t let yourself be hemmed in by a poor choice made by others.

Now we are ready to shoot, or are we?

For Nikon shooters like me, you need to be aware of one thing on the receiver bracket.  My first impression about the receiver bracket was: REALLY?  These guys designed this way cool system and the best they could do was this bulky bracketry?

Once I set it up according to their specs, using the indicated SB900 slot for assembly, I found the units misfired a lot.  Reason: the SD9 battery pack.  I shoot with my SD9 on my 910 all the time.  If you shoot a lot of OCF, you’ll need the pack.  The battery pack plug interfered with the upper bracket and caused it to sit on an angle so the IR sender didn’t align with the IR receiver on the flash. Fix: assemble the RP bracket to the SB800 setting and the SD9 will work, the IR works, and misfires are kept to a minimum.  Also, if you find you need to, you can take a drill and open the hole up a little bigger on the bracket to get better signal transference.  I didn’t need to do this, but it is an option.

Now we assemble everything and go forth to make great images in TTL flash and especially using High Speed Sync.

I met one of my models before a workshop and took a few test shots using TTL and High Speed Sync.

1/8,000 @ 2.8, ISO 200

1/640 @ 4.5, ISO 200

1/3200 @ 3.5, ISO 200

All of these shots were take with High Speed Sync, bare head flash, SB800 as master, SB910 as slave.

The system worked as advertised but is not without flaws.

Pros:

  • Sleek design
  • Fairly easy to set up
  • Fairly easy to use once you figure out menus
  • Great range even under adverse conditions
  • Units can be swapped from Nikon to Canon in menus, so you don’t need to buy new triggers if perchance you switch systems, just new brackets

Cons:

  • AAA batteries: the first menu item is battery power.  Full batteries read as b9, once your batteries reach b4 or about 50% capacity, units misfire: keep a steady supply of AAA batteries handy.  I bought rechargeable AAA’s just for these units
  • Menus cryptic
  • No manual, online tutorial or PDF download only, would love to see a quick guide in box for us technologically challenged
  • Upright transmitter antenna was faulty on my unit, got the replacement in the angled version and it works fine, plus it’s easier to store in my rolling bag
  • Bulky receiver bracket
  • Customer Service

Misfires:

  • Contrary to what you read and see online, units misfire, not as frequently as PW Flexes, but they do misfire
  • Keep fresh batteries handy
  • Interference from electronics or cars causes misfires and reduced distance
  • 1500 ft range was achieved on a clear day with no line-of-sight issues, 565 ft was achieved on a cloudy day shooting across a parking lot filled with cars.  All the metal of the cars interfered with the radio frequency and range, this is what Brent, an owner of RP, told me via an email exchange
  • Main flash on Channel A fires ok, second flash on Channel B misfired frequently in TTL mode on a recent actor headshot sitting inside my studio
  • Watch the recycle light on the master flash, SU800, or STE2.  If this light  ISN’T ON when you shoot, the master doesn’t send the complete signal and units misfire
  • It is just as important to have good batteries in flashes as in RP’s
  • Forget about any kind of rapid fire shooting: under rapid fire conditions the signal from the master flash jams up the transmitter.  You need to remove batteries to reset the unit

Recommendation:

I like these units better than my PW Flexes.  The RP’s have fewer misfires and seem to handle all I can throw at them fairly well.  The batteries last longer and I can use my units successfully overhead.  One complaint on the PW Flex TT1 is that the button battery in the unit didn’t last very long.  I had the unit shut down at a wedding due to this: very frustrating.

One of my other main complaints about the PW Flex is that once the weight of the flash sits sideways, the contacts don’t meet and the units misfire.  I shoot with overhead flash a lot and this became an issue for me.

The RP’s are comparable in price to PW Flexes so the choice is up to you as to which one you’ll spend money on.

These shots were taken after my test shots above, and the BTS shot shows how I use my main light.  As this was a workshop, I used regular PW’s; if this was a pro shoot, I would have used RP’s.

Here’s another set of shots I did for portfolio.

1/400 @ 5.6 ISO 200 using a Large Rogue Flashbender, which ate up a lot of light.

Notice how the light is above and off to the side of the model and is bent to direct the light off the background and only onto the model.

Overall Impressions:

  • I really like these units despite their few flaws and shortcomings: bracketry is my biggest complaint here
  • If I was choosing systems to get into, I’d choose the RP’s as they work well and store easily in my bag.  I keep the transmitter on an SB800 ready to go at all times
  • If you are an event shooter, I’d get these for their low profile on camera and for their reliability

That’s it for now.  Till next time, happy spending!!

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