More testing!

shutter speed 1/640 aperture f 4.0


shutter speed 1/1250 aperture f 2.8


shutter speed 1/640 aperture f-4


shutter speed 1/8000 aperture f 2.0


shutter speed 1/5000 aperture f 2.0


shutter speed 1/2500 aperture f 5.6


shutter speed 1/8000 aperture f 5.6


The photo's above are examples using the new Pocket Wizard TT1 and TT5 off camera flashes. The photo's of Dave are jpgs right out of the camera. No work was done to them at all. Zhenni (Jen) on the other hand are RAW files and have been retouched since this was a real shoot.

Have you noticed when you buy a new electronic device the instruction come in different languages. I think they do that so if you don't understand it in English maybe it will make better sense in Portuguese.

The new Pocket Wizard TT1 and TT5 transmitter and transceiver unites have been challenging me for some time. Much has been written about them but I think they are being returned as fast as they are being purchased. The common thread I hear is they're to complicated. When things don't work the way you expect them to you naturally turn to the DIRECTIONS. As I went through the 45 pages of techno jumbled word game. I'm still somewhat lost. The first page should say massive brain power is required and then in little print it should say once you understand the direction results may vary. But I'm always up for a challenge and I really want to understand these things and use them to their fullest capabilities.

I won't get into the flash RF (radio frequency) interference or the proposed anti-magnetic cloth shield you might want to buy to extend its range. Or tuning the head in the opposite direction so to reduce RF noise or using the off camera cord to separate the flash from the TT5 transmitter. These are all work around proposals by photographers trying to get them to work as they claim. Which in my opinion is absolute FBS! You shouldn't have to purchase anything! It's already supposed to do what it claims without buying a freaking Kryptonite shield. What happen to plug and play! OK enough of that!

As far its operation. Unpredictable and inconsistent results. It could be operator error and this is why I'm working this thing hard. When it works its wonderful and I really want it to work.

For those that don't know what I'm talking about. The premise is to be able to shoot multiple off camera speedlite flashes / radio controlled / E-TTL and have independent flash head ratio controls with use of a controller. Sounds great and it is.

This allows all kinds of creative tools which we didn't have before. For example; I made a portrait in the middle of the day not a cloud in the ski at ISO 100 the shutter speed was 1/8000 of a seconds and the aperture was f- 2.0 and the strobe light was perfect on the subjects face. The shallow depth of field was beautiful. In this shot the ski and background were underexposed slightly. Think about that f- 1.4 off camera E-TTL strobe capability. WOW! The same shot @ f-5.6 the sky was almost jet black and he subject was perfect again!

My problems come when I try to use ratio's and a softbox. As I would expect output through a softbox is difficult since I'm using limited flash. Therefore the box has to be close. But the ratio thing has got me scratching my head. The "instructions" recommend using an addition EXII flash on top of the TT1 transmitter as a master controller for the other flashes. I don't have three EXII flashes and I would hate to have put a $450.00 flash on the camera and use it as a controller. So I'm using the ST-E2 speedlight Transmitter as the controller. As per the "instruction" it is supposed to work but I haven't quite figured it out yet. I can get to work in some scenarios but not all. I'll keep you posted.

Mert and Deb

My sister-in -law Debbie with her mother Mert






This Is Mert. Mert is my sister in laws mother who is now 87. Mert loves to have her smoke breaks. Fortunately for her she doesn't seem to have any health issues as a result of smoking most of her life. My in laws visited this weekend and as usual all I can think about is taking photographs. I wonder if it gets in the way sometimes?

I purchased the new Pocket Wizard Mini TT1 and Flex TT5 last Wednesday and wanted to run it through some tests. Since my family is tired of me photographing them I asked Mert to be my subject. She stepped up and we had fun. Good Ole Mert is a kind soul that still has a healthy sense of humor and tolerates younger people pretty well.

As far as the pictures go they weren't intended to go in the hall of fame just a test shoot in the back yard. While I screwing around with my equipment the rest of the family's went about their business in the back yard.

A friend of mine commented the photo's don't look light. They look like natural light. Maybe I balanced the light to evenly. I'm at a 2 to 1 ratio. That's highlight to shadow ratio. Maybe I should have tried a 4 to 1 ratio. Next time I will be more expressive. The Pocket Wizard mini TT1 and the Flex TT5 should be a plug and play unit. So far that isn't quite the case. Their seems to be some problem with them especially with distance. Inconsistent flashes or no flashes. Now there are a lot of variable why this could occur so I'm not throwing them under the bus yet. Although it does seems typical of manufacturers these days to sell their goods before they are perfected. I guess the sales helps pay for the R&D moving forward. Good thing is all I need to do is go to my computer for product updates which I upload directly into the TT1 & the TT5 software. Rumor is they are working on a few glitches. Isn't technology amazing!

I only have one TT1 and one TT5 at this time. I hoping to get a couple more TT5's so I can start using multiple lights more creatively. When Pocket Wizard gets the bugs out this will be great advancement for serious photographers who use lights. I know of a company who makes a product called Poppers. I have seen these used and they're very impressiveness.

For those of you that don't know about these systems what they will do is allow you to use multiple flashes / that are fired by radio frequency while in ETTL mode. The flash syn speeds go as high as you want or need. For example; the photo of Mert standing with people in the background was shot near sunset on an overcast evening using a small soft box. My shutter speed was 1/1250th of a second @ f-1.4. The photo of Debbie with her mother was shoot at 1/1000th of a second @ F 1.4. Both times the off camera radio triggered flash synched correctly with the camera. Very very cool.

The Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize Winners


http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/page/reasonable_doubt
Click on the link to go to the Tribune's site

Today was an incredible day! I was fortunate to be invited back to the East Valley Tribune to celebrate and pay respects to Ryan Gabrielson and Paul Giblin who just won the Pulitzer Price for Local Reporting. This was the first Pulitzer for the East Valley Tribune in its 100-year history. They were awarded the prize for a five-part series called Reasonable Doubt. The project exposed how police protection suffered as Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio focused his resources on combating illegal immigration.

It was truly a wonderful occasion but at the same time sadly ironic because so many people who were involved in the project no longer work there. But this was an occasion to celebrate. It was all smiles and hugs and pure celebration for Ryan and Paul winning the highest award in Journalism.

You’ve heard it when something is a success it’s everyone’s baby. Well, I can confirm that was the case at the Tribune Tuesday April 21, 2009. We even heard from an old Publisher Terry Horn on the speakerphone congratulating everyone. He was publisher for a few months early in 2008 before moving on to the troubled Orange County Register. Truthfully I don’t remember him having a presence during this project but he spoke like he was the main man. Honestly the current Publisher Julie Moreno was present and needs to tell alpha male Terry, I got this.

Everyone who had a hand in this project wanted to rub elbows with Ryan and Paul and share in their fantastic moment in the spotlight. Personally I couldn’t be happier for them. For me, I am honored to have worked with such passionate, dedicated professionals. I wish Ryan and Paul a great life and continued success.

Do trends endure the test of time?

More question than answers.

Had a conversation a few days ago that I have been thinking about. I have talked about my lighting techniques in previous posts but this is a slightly different conversation.

Its about lighting! When to use lights and the lighting technique I have used over my career. Like so many things technique can be influenced by trends and the latest gadgets moving the medium forward i.e. the strobist and the on camera speed light flash systems. Amazing work is being done using little off-camera flashes. Yes, they are tied to a system but the flexibility is totally cool.

As a photographer are you influenced by trends? Have you ever lost sight of your identity or vision due to trends? Do you hold on to your ideals, techniques and style at the risk of looking dated?

I started learning lighting techniques in my home studio through trial-and-error. I took what I learned on the road later while working as a photojournalist. In the beginning my decision to use my lighting was predicated on if I found myself in bad light and reproduction. Some photojournalist refuse to use lights because of ethics and the influence on the overall scene. I lit many of my subjects but not all for same reason. As I sit here today I'm glad I did because it prepared me for the commercial work I do today.

I chose to use strobes primarily for reproduction. Since we were printing on newsprint I needed to provide pictures with good light and proper exposures. To this day I still use the same criteria when making the decision to use lights.

I try to keep it simple. One light most of the time. I have been told I use soft light. I guess that is true. As a former photojournalist I wanted my lighting to look natural. I wanted my light to blend in and give the appearance of window light. On my web site go to the portraits section to see examples. Almost all of these pictures are studio lit on location using a one light set-up and my so called "soft light" technique.

As I continue my walk-run through this profession. I see a trend that has been around now for a while. Its the high key over lit look. I appears there maybe up to 3 to 4 lights on a single person. Two very strong back lights rim the subject on both sides with a high key main light. Looks cool but it definitely isn't blending or looking like window light. These lighting techniques are not new just reemerging due to new technologies and the portability of speed lights.

My editorial comment! It seems to me that some of these over lit photographs are more about the photographer then the subject. These are new tools for photographers to use today and they do have a wow factor. They look cool and technically are very sexy witch makes me enter into the self-doubt thought process for myself.

I see it! I can't help but to think, do I need to evolve and change my techniques to stay current. Yes, this is a trend but will it endure the test of time? This is a test for me. Do I change, or do I stay the course?

I certainly don't want to look like everyone else but I can't help to question. Since I'm a creative person in a competitive environment I'm constantly questioning. Have I settle into a grove.

Have you crossed this path in your own work yet? Just a thought! Maybe, I need new lights?

Human Paint Brush

Painting with hair


iphone photos of a human paint brush and artist working

I went to Creative Connect last night in Scottsdale. It was held at the Zischke Studio. Mr Zischke, dipped a woman's hair into a bucket of black paint while she was suspended by her feet. He then swung her over large pieces of art paper while her hair was soaked in paint. He made sweeping shape and splatter on the paper with her wet hair as the paint brush. Interesting way to paint with out a doubt and fascinating to watch.

Keeping it real

A black cat crossed the threshold today


I feel like shit today. I'm between sadness and anger. If I'm not sad, I'm angry. If I'm not angry, I'm sad.

I was talking to a friend earlier today when a cat walked past. I fired off a quick shot. I didn't think anything of it until now. It's a black cat! Now I'm not superstitious but this was ironic considering how I feel today. Hummm!

Now my wife

Our son Jason kisses Lorie after finishing the 2008 Tempe Town Lake Ford Ironman.

Sorry but this post isn't about photography or deep thought.

I just got off the phone with my wife Lorie. She called me to inform me she has been laid off today. If your new to my blog, I got laid off in January. My wife worked for Todd and Wanda McFarlane. Yes the famous comic book artist who is internationally know as movie producer, toy maker and so on.

She was there nanny for 9 years and then worked for their company TMP International for the past 3 1/2 or so years. Lorie would have given her life for the McFarlane family when she cared for their children. She loves them dearly and as do I. They have been very good to us over the years and we wish them good health and prosperity moving forward. We know this had to be a very difficult decision for them personally.

No blame just sadness! It's a shame what is happening to businesses across this country and around the world. So many people are being displaced from their homes and their lives uprooted or destroyed as a result of out of control global greed.

Lorie and I are 55. I thought according to the American Dream we would be secure in our jobs and we would be thinking about retirement in the next 5 to 10 years. We both had long term jobs, worked hard and tried to do everything right. From our experience over the past 3 months that doesn't equal security. Is this fate? There is the proverbial light that is supposed to be good, right? It seems you have to chase it because it isn't stationary.

As we get over the first few humps and (garage sales). This will present new challenges. I'm sure there is opportunity here. I have no doubt Lorie will thrive and people will benefit from her experience, work ethic and personality.