ANDRE PRSONAL TRAINER

Just a quick heads-up for anyone headed to Gulf Photo Plus in Dubai that I'll be holding a drop-in studio session on the afternoon of Weds., Feb 15th. It's not an official class, just something cool happening on the side. You can learn more about it here , but basically it is free and we'll be experimenting/learning/failing/etc. Specifically, we'll be working with gels in the context of future posts in the just-started Lighting 103 module. So I thought it would be espcially cool to possibly incorporate photos of some of Strobist's international readers as we get further into the course. Which is why you are getting this invite!

Hey folks, just a quick heads up that I will be teaching at the Dynamic Images Photo Conference in Reading, PA, on Saturday, March 25th. The conference is put on by the Berks Photographic Society , a rather large camera club that has been doing these things for 58 years. Reading, PA is within easy reach of Baltimore, Philly, New York and Intercourse. And there is a whole three-day weekend planned with concurrent seminars, workshops, shooting sessions, etc. My afternoon talk will be an evolution of the Flash Bus presentation back in 2011. So if you missed that, now's your chance to get a few hour's worth of small flash lighting firehose. It's suitable for beginner through intermediate level lighting photographers. I am but a Saturday afternoon cog in the three-day weekend machine. There are over a dozen other presenters, with multiple instructional paths from which to choose, happening at once. Full info and registration is here . Hope to see you there. I'll be the one i...

Abstract: Heat buildup can melt your gel to your speedlight. Here is how to avoid it. Do you work mostly with speedlights? If so, congratulations. Gelling your lights is going to be quick, easy and cheap. The fresnel lens on your speedlight (where the light comes out) is only about 3-4 square inches. And that is all you are ever going to need to gel on a speedlight. As far as how to attach the gel, you have several choices and all are simple. But there are also a few things to watch out for, unless you want your gel to be permanently heat-welded to your flash. Read more »

Abstract: Our flashes are calibrated to produce white light. But in the real world, white light is a rarity. Sara Lando (your mollusk portraitist from Lighting 102) gives a thumbs up while spending a week assisting for photographer Gregory Heisler (seen squinting through camera). She was assisting Greg for a week of shooting and teaching at Gulf Photo Plus in Dubai. Sara learned a ton of stuff, duly reported on in a three-part series that to this day remains one of the most popular pieces ever written on this site. Many of the things she learned while following Greg around had little to do with photography: his work ethic, thought process, etc. (Seriously, read the series.) But the week also changed the way Sara thought about light, her most important takeaway being this: "White light is a lie." Read more »