Since we all enjoy learning about photography it seems a natural to share what I’m learning from starting the photo a day 2009 blog (Talkington Photo Video). What is there to learn? Well, a new blogging program, new processing software and a new camera and lenses. If there’s not something there to learn then I’m definitely not paying attention!

This is pretty much the way I learn. We all have different methods for what works best for us as individuals and clearly defined goals are effective for me. “Photo a day” is perfect for that. There are a number of things on my “I’d like to do that someday” list…and that’s just when they’ll get done: someday. But, hey, announce to the world you’re going to start a project on January 1 and now there’s a greater sense of obligation, a purpose beyond my own learning.

Online photo sharing is still relatively young but it’s dramatically changed the way photographers interact. We’ve become accustomed to showing our photographs and we all enjoy receiving kudos for a nice image. The approval of others can lift us to new heights and the sharing of ideas is an incredible boon. For instance, yz (a photo blogging inspiration) suggested I print one of my abstracts really large. Hmmm, I hardly ever print large but that’s a really cool idea and it has me thinking in completely new ways. That’s one of the really enjoyable things about such a photo project (and it’s nice we’re still talking about printing in this online age…I was starting to forget about printing!).

But, when you’re trying to post 365 new photos in a row, they’re not all going to be winners. There are going to be photos that are part of a process that aren’t finished works of art, they’re just steps along the way to improving as a photographer. While it’s nice to produce work enjoyed and understood by others, sometimes you have to do like that old proverb, just put it out there and “dance like there’s no one watching”. Those are some of the most important images of all.

Trying to achieve a photo goal like this is also not just about the photographs. I realize that 365 photos aren’t just 365 photos. Hopefully, they’re also a wide range of experiences and recollections. Photography has given me many gifts in the form of personal experience.

For instance, I’ve never watched The Surgery Channel and often turn my head at blood and gore in movies. But I’ve had no problem photographing in an operating room, framing incisions and complicated procedures through the lens of a camera. The camera has done that for me.

Extreme heights are something else I’m not particularly fond of, yet I’ve leaned out the side of a plane with the door removed with no problems, all because a camera was in my hands. Go figure.

Who knows? We’re only 3 days into the new year as of this writing but I’m certain that 362 photos from now I’ll have enjoyed some new experiences as a result of photo a day. I don’t plan on hanging out of any planes in the coming year but even seeing my own neighborhood in a new way would be reward enough. Maybe it will be a year of new visions, maybe a year of refinements.

Next week in part 2 I’ll share some of the technical things I’m learning from the initial experience regarding the Olympus E520 and lenses, Pixel Post and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom!.

President Lyndon B. Johnson

Votes for the 2008 U.S. Presidential election are being tallied as I write this. The past year feels like it’s been one long, non-stop political conversation and many of us are relieved to see it finally coming to a close. Though prophotolife isn’t a forum for politics, it seemed a natural to tie photography into the big event somehow. Rather than looking at what’s happening today or contemplating the future, I thought it might be interesting to take a look back at Presidents and photography.

In a few months there will be a new nameplate on the Oval Office at the White House and shortly thereafter a new Presidential portrait will be created. Since many of us have an interest in portraiture I took a look online at some images preserving the likeness of those who have served at this country’s highest post.

A quick search turned up two interesting sources for Presidential portraits:

1. The Library of Congress Special Presentation: Time Line of Presidents and First Ladies

2. This smaller collection at the U.S. Military Department of Defense

The portraits all have different qualities and inspired a few different thoughts.

President William J. Clinton

First, the photo of President Lyndon B. Johnson (above) from the Department of Defense site. This is a beautiful environmental portrait with a strong main light and a nice edge light from slightly behind on the same side. This is a well known image among photographers of my vintage. Hmmm, I wonder if we should be concerned that the Department of Defense officially lists the photographer as “unknown”. For the record, the photographer was celebrated portrait artist Arnold Newman (and there’s his signature in the lower right of the photo).

The attached portrait of President Bill Clinton (right) is from an admittedly poor quality copy negative, so hopefully we can look beyond that. The most interesting thing to me is how this image defines “pre-digital photography” from not so long ago. Yes, airbrushing was available in the days of film but this portrait managed to slip through with a bunch of fly-away hairs. The reason I mention it is because it’s really easy for even amateur photographers to retouch such things now. Fifteen years ago they were often overlooked.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower

President Dwight D. Eisenhower is looking relaxed and dignified in this simple two-light portrait. There’s a fairly hard main light at left (beauty dish?), no fill light, and a small spot light on the background. This is a perfect example of Rembrandt lighting that creates a triangle of light on the subject’s cheek (discussed in video episode 13, beautiful portraits with just one light). The lack of a fill light creates more contrast and drama. A sharp suit helps “Ike” look downright dapper.

There are many more portraits on the sites mentioned above and some are covered by copyright exclusions preventing them from running here. They range from nice images to not-so-impressive photography, to be honest.

The one constant is that they’re all of former Presidents of the United States, men among the leaders of the free world. That’s a lot of power to wield, isn’t it? Trying to capture that in a photography could understandably be a daunting task.

Why does this interest me so much?

1. If you haven’t shot film this is an excuse to do so without breaking the bank
2. If you have shot film it’s an excuse to buy a reasonably priced new toy
3. The resulting camera reviews will be a lasting resource for all photographers

There are many other good reasons, those are the highlights. For many this is a nostalgic trip and for others it will be their first time around with film. That should make it interesting.

It just so happens I shot a roll of Fuji 400 color neg film this past weekend in my Nikon FE. I plan to follow the contest closely and right now I’m setting up my home film scanning setup. In coming weeks I’ll write about how I’m setting up the scanning operation. I also have strong feelings about shooting film (and film cameras) and running that roll through this past weekend brought it all home. Thanks to Brian for giving me an excuse to break all of this stuff back out.

Attached to this post are some initial scanned images from the recent roll. They were scanned with my Nikon Coolscan V ED on automatic, pretty much (so this is what scanned Fuji 400 Superia color neg film looks like). As mentioned in a prior post, I’m setting about documenting “my town” and will be posting those images to my Flickr account.

Why do I seem to end up in downtown alleyways photographing patterns on walls? Honestly, I don’t see decay, I see very subtle colors and perfect impressionist compositions, the very things I wish I could use a paintbrush to create. But, sadly lacking in painting skills, I’m at least able to spot patterns and colors I like and am able to capture them in a photograph. It’s not something everyone finds appealing, but to me it’s urban and impressionistic and feels like a slideshow for a classic Coltrane jazz track. The colors, tonalities, grain and mechanics of 35mm film just seem so right for this application.

That’s one of the things that makes photography so cool. It gives us all a way to express ourselves, how we feel and the things we enjoy. Whether we strive to take pretty pictures, preserve memories or express a feeling, it’s all a matter of mastering the skills necessary to tell our particular story, a never ending journey of discovery. And it never hurts to (re)discover the old tools and ways of doing things.

I’ve long been a believer in both Apple hardware and the Mac OS, it truly is quality stuff. So when I needed a blogging laptop I planned to go straight for a Mac. An iBook with DVD burner would run around $1400 and then I’d need some software and then…I could be up to $2000 before I knew it. Wow, the blog makes a couple bucks here and there but it would take quite a while to pay off $2k. That’s more than I could afford to invest.

Hmmm, what about a PC? I’ve also needed a PC / Windows machine at times to troubleshoot website and video delivery glitches. After much debate it seemed like it would be worth a try. At that point my goal became the creation of a budget system under $1000 that would hopefully satisfy all of this blog’s posting and photo / video editing needs.

I compared specs and eventually found a Toshiba Satellite A205 laptop which also has a webcam and firewire… a bunch of trimmings for $599. Then I bought a few extras:

For photo and video editing, a great package deal on Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 & Adobe Premiere Elements 4.0 – Full – $119

For video and podcast conversions, QuickTime 7 Pro for Windows – $30

So I’m around $825 and want only to boost the RAM up from 2 GB (it will take up to 4 GB). I’ve also done a couple things to make Vista more Mac-like, I admit:

So now I probably have Mac users laughing at me for buying a PC and Windows users laughing at me for trying to make the computer more Mac-like. But after a month or so, you know what? It’s working out well and I have no complaints. Is there life after Apple? I’ll keep you posted.

Definitive copyright info

I just watched a couple of very informative videos on Photoshop Insider: Scott Kelby’s exclusive interview with Attorney Ed Greenberg on copyright, model releases and shooting in public. Many of the questions posed by prophotolife readers regarding legal issues (can I photograph that building? do I need a model release? how do I protect copyright?) are answered here in Scott’s videos, all in easy to understand language. Mr. Greenberg starts with a funny (and very accurate) statement, “photographers insist, when they have a legal problem, on asking other photographers for legal advice rather than asking an attorney”. Here’s your chance to hear the answers straight from a knowledgeable attorney.

Great source of photo links

Digital Photography School just published a current 25 Great Links and Tutorials from Around the Web. I was attracted to a couple of links in particular and found a few sites I wasn’t familiar with. I’m confident there’s something of interest here for everyone.

Movies (dramas/mysteries) about photographers

For some reason I was thinking about movies centered around photographers today. Not the many great documentaries out there but some fiction, dramas and mysteries. It’s summer here in the northern hemisphere and my movie watching time seems more confined to the winter months, but I wanted to write down what surfaced during my after work bike ride, while it was fresh to memory. With a little help from the International Movie Database (imdb) I came up with this info. Around December I’ll remind myself with a link back to here:

Blowup (1966) – a mod fashion photographer in mid-1960s London believes he’s photographed a murder after developing his negatives shot in a park. He then sets about solving the crime. I seem to recollect the main character was inspired by fashion photographer David Bailey (?). Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, this film provides a great ‘snapshot’ of the once ultra-cool, freewheeling fashion photography world of the ‘60s. Once considered a must-see for all photographers.

Rear Window (1955) - acclaimed director Alfred Hitchcock and actors Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly star in this thriller about a wheelchair bound photojournalist who broke his leg while photographing an auto race. Impatiently stuck at his rear window he believes he may have (did you guess it yet?) witnessed a murder through the lens of his camera. Nominated for four Oscars and starring these great talents…what more can I say?

The Public Eye (1992) – Joe Pesci stars as “The Great Bernzini”, a 1940s New York City crime photographer based on the life of Arthur “Weegee” Fellig (if you liked the link to period photographs in the Farm Security Administration post earlier in the week, I’m sure you’ll like the work of Weegee). I’m embarrassed I haven’t seen this movie because it was partially shot here in Cincinnati and some local friends worked on the production. Okay, I need to check the library for this one

Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006) – Director: Steven Shainberg (oops, not Spielberg, as I’d originally written -thanks, Harly), Lead Actor: Nicole Kidman, fictional portrayal of famed photographer Diane Arbus. There’s a lot there to like, right off the bat, those are some big names. But of the few people I know that saw the movie there were no raves. I like documentaries. I like dramas. This falls somewhere in between…? And the imdb database says something about Arbus (Kidman) falling in love with Robert Downey, Jr.’s, character, who has “werewolf syndrome”. I’m not compelled to check this one out. Has anyone here seen it?

Time for a project

After reading my own advice this past week, it’s time to start a new personal photo project. The trick is making it all fit: running a (currently extremely) busy photo studio, a busy website (you’re looking at it), trying to enjoy a bit of summer and then adding a personal photo project on top of that. Hmmm, how to do that? Well, if I make the project part of the website then that covers a couple of bases. So I’ll chronicle whatever project it is, right here.

All I know right now is that it will be during the month of August and will somehow be based around the photo-a-day concept. Any suggestions? Once I get it figured out I’ll be sure to let you know. And anyone / everyone is welcome to join in…it’s not a party unless everyone is invited.

Have a great weekend, I’ll see you on Monday with a new video!

- Jim T.

Today I’d like to share a letter from a reader. Questions like this are always welcome and they give genuine purpose to what I hope to accomplish with prophotolife.com. This young man is the future of the profession…

Hi, my name is Matthew,
I’m 17 years old, and a Junior in High School.
I’ve been taking Graphic Editing and Graphic Design classes for a few years, and photography has caught my interest. I love cameras, I think they’re incredible. I started saving up for a Canon Rebel XTi, and I should have the money for it by next week. I’ve been using an old Canon full manual film camera for the past year, and I’d like to know what kind of classes / college I should be looking into. I’ve been looking into Portraiture, and it seems interesting, but commercial photography seems to be where I could make a career. I’ve been talking to my counselor about a couple colleges, but none of them seem to catch my interest.
I’ve been watching your videos and you give some really useful advice.
How long have you been interested in Photography? What college did you attend?

The fact that you are planning this far ahead bodes well for your future. I’d like to be concise with my responses but that’s a lot of ground to cover…it’s all very important ground and they are all great questions.

Random Photo School Assignment Q: How much light does it take to fill in shadows and add detail under a shady deck? A: The back of this house received only partial sunlight and was a nightmare of harsh shadows. In this case a 4,000 watt second Norman power pack with strobe head was used under the deck and another 4,000 watt second Norman pack with strobe head was aimed directly onto the house for fill light. Mother nature provided the rest.

I picked up my first camera at 16 years of age and it’s probably safe to say we’ve had similar initial experiences with photography. At that point, for me, it became a life-long passion that turned into a profession.

As for college, I never attended school beyond graduating high school in 1982. As the son of a truck driver and a coal miner’s daughter, my upbringing in rural West Virginia pointed more toward hard work than continuing education. This was at a time when college wasn’t a necessity in the photographic world. As a matter of fact, for commercial photographers it was more like a craft where apprenticeships (photo assisting) were recognized as a common point of entry. A year after graduating high school I packed my motorcycle and headed to Columbus, OH, with $20 and a determination to become a photographer. Looking back now at the past 25 years it’s been a great journey that has ultimately led me to my current business, Daylight Photo.

Today, though, I feel a college education is a near necessity to make it as a commercial photographer. Now it’s vital to understand digital technology, software, computers and post-production. In the fast pace of today’s world there’s not as much time to learn these things “on the job” and technology is constantly evolving. This makes college more important than ever.

As for recommending specific schools, it’s hard to pinpoint just one or two. For a list of top photography schools visit this great resource at photopreneur.com . They concentrate on sharing business information with photographers and have some very helpful articles.

I will throw out some school names, though. When I was younger the two most recognized sources for a commercial photography education were the Brooks Institute on the west coast and, undoubtedly, the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York (the home of Eastman Kodak). They should still be considered near the top of anyone’s list. One of our photo assistants attended the Hallmark School in Massachusetts and received an intensive, practical ten month commercial photo education there. I must say he really learned his stuff in this “real world” based educational environment.

Being located in Cincinnati, OH, we’ve hired talented graduates from OIP&T (Ohio Institute of Photography and Technology) in Dayton, OH, and they have all arrived with very practical skills and a well-rounded understanding of what is required. My studio makes the occasional presentation at OIP&T and their students are always welcome to visit Daylight Photo (hey, Dave, when are you bringing the next group by?).

I also have an advisory position with one of the schools on the photopreneur.com list. Currently I serve on the advisory board for the photography school at Antonelli College, located here in Cincinnati. In our bi-annual meetings I get to see all sides of the photographic education question. We all (photographers, educators and students) are doing our best to adapt to quickly changing times.

Random Photo School Assignment Commercial photographers don’t look at this and see a window, they see dozens of surfaces (different textures of glass, many cut facets and shiny metal). The basic techniques for lighting glass were used here with four monolight strobes providing the light.

So, with that all said, where should you go to school? If you want to make a happy, sustainable career out of photography it involves more than just having great photo skills. If the school concentrates only on technical skills, for example, that might not be adequate preparation for the real world. These are the questions I’d ask of any photo school:

• May I speak to recent graduates? What are the student success stories?
• Will I be receiving a degree that might translate into other job opportunities? A diversity of skills is becoming more highly valued.
• Do you have a healthy co-op or internship program?
• Do you offer an integrated approach to evolving forms of electronic media? Looking forward, I believe photographers possessing the most commercial value will also understand how photography integrates into evolving forms of content delivery: the internet, video and audio.
• Are there business-specific courses, including business ethics?
• Do you have a personal relationship with national and / or local chapters of professional photography organizations? Do you work closely with the professional photographic community?

I’m sorry I can’t tell you where to go to school, Matthew, but I can try to tell you how to start thinking like a professional photographer (do you know the story about giving a man a fish and feeding him for a day or teaching him to fish and feeding him for a lifetime?). I’d also suggest looking at this list of professional organizations and contacting local photographer members, asking them about school information that might be specific to your geographic area. You’ll find most members are helpful when they aren’t too busy to respond.

As for the Rebel XTi, it’s a great little camera, Canon is a wonderful company dedicated to helping professionals (and budding professionals) and it comes with really nice software (DPP), right in the box. What’s not to like? Just be aware that they’ve already come out with the next model, the XSi, with some new features. The XTi is being discounted now, making it an even better buy than before. New camera models help keep the economy churning. It’s hard for me to personally keep up with what’s going on so sites like photographyreview.com are great resources for camera-specific information.

Thanks again for the questions, I hope this has been a help. If any other readers can help Matthew out I hope you’ll leave a comment.

And welcome to the world of photography! Keep us posted…

- Jim T.

]]> http://www.prophotolife.com/a-letter-from-a-reader-decisions-decisions-about-a-photo-education/feed/ 8 http://www.prophotolife.com/the-alex-spiderlight-the-coolest-diy-studio-light-ive-seen-yet/ http://www.prophotolife.com/the-alex-spiderlight-the-coolest-diy-studio-light-ive-seen-yet/#comments Thu, 01 May 2008 04:30:49 +0000 Jim Talkington http://prophotolife.com/?p=84 My friend Udi over at DIYPhotography.net has a great post on Alex Campagna’s DIY Spiderlight. If you are into DIY studio lighting this is a must-see. I had made a duplicate post on the Spiderlight but I consider DIYPhotography.net THE resource for DIY information collected from around the net, so I’d like to let Udi tell you the details…

I’m pulling out a bonus video to add another entry to today’s blog, to follow shortly (11:30 a.m. EST)

A couple things were on my mind when it came time to write today’s review. One was the requests I’ve received lately about sharing tips for obtaining better white balance. There’s a future prophotolife video on tap to explore that. Another thing on my mind has been “the big picture”. That was mentioned in yesterday’s post about what the client really needs. So before we roll out the video I’d like to give you an advance look at the overall color management support system we use at my studio, Daylight Photo in Cincinnati, OH. These are the products we rely on to make sure our images reproduce accurately on everything including 4-color ink-on-paper, website, print and electronic billboards and specialty trade show applications. White balance is the vital first step in getting accurate color but it’s just part of the picture (yep, pun intended).

Proper color definitely starts with an accurate white balance. The first thing that’s really needed (and not pictured here) is your camera owner’s manual. Are you already familiar with all of the options for white balance (be honest, now)? It’s all in the manual. It never hurts to go back to basics to check out the fundamental building blocks. I’ve been doing this for (mumble-mumble number of) years and I still go back to basics because it makes me a better photographer.

A. The next step up (from the manual you already have) is a good ‘ol coffee filter (cost: $0.02). For the really cool way to use a coffee filter as a color meter there’s no better resource than this DIY at DIYPhotography.net. The coffee filter can bail you out as an incident color meter in tough situations like school gyms, open shade, etc. Just wrap that rascal onto the front of your lens, point it at the light source and shoot an exposure. You can either set your camera to a custom white balance based on that shot or use that digital file later to neutralize color balance when processing out your RAW files (you are shooting RAW files, right?). This trick has bailed out many a news photographer. A white styrofoam coffee cup can also do the trick in a pinch.

B. QPCards (101 Digital Reference Card, Set of Three). These are cool little things that most product photographers have in their bag somewhere. They have white, neutral gray and black patches (and a 40 millimeter ruler) on each card. The are durable plastic(ish) material and have a tape strip on the back so you can stick them onto anything you’re photographing for a quick exposure – no assistant needeed. We set them just off to the side of a set, barely peaking in (as long as they are in good light). A set of three cards will last for years with care. I carry one in my wallet…what a geek.

C. Color Confidence by Tim Grey – “The digital photographer’s guide to color management“. The foreword to this book, written by Photoshop guru Katrin Eismann (see her speak if you get a chance), says it bluntly: if you don’t color manage your workflow then every time you throw away an 8″ x 10″ print because the color isn’t right, you’ve thrown away a $1 bill. This book is technical but it isn’t intimidating. I really like that. It starts with the nature of color and progresses to how we make our cameras, computers, monitors and printers all see the exact same way for repeatable results, not only with our own equipment but so that this accurate color travels with each file to other professionals (printers, agencies, etc.) that we deal with. I hope you’re not disappointed when I tell you that getting a good print isn’t black magic, it’s a science. This book helps de-mystify the whole process. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not as fun as reading the Sunday cartoons…but you’ll be a much better photographer with each chapter.

D. The X-Rite Color Checker Chart (formerly GretagMacbeth). This is the industry standard color chart. For every critical shot we take a frame of this chart to set our white balance on one of the neutral grey squares. Yes, the white balance will be more accurate than with the QP Cards, in my opinion. It also costs way more and is more fragile and will eventually discolor with age (it’s made of paper) and need replacing. But it’s the best…the industry standard as far as color. It’s also used (with “E”) to create custom color profiles for our cameras. The default color settings on DSLRs are set for things like “portrait” and “vivid” and they do a good job. But even the neutral settings determined by the manufacturers aren’t as color accurate as we’d like sometimes. So we make custom color profiles using our cameras, our lights, our lenses and this chart.

E. The monitor, printer and camera profiling system. ICC profiles are the industry standards for color consistency and we create our own ICC profiles for our monitors, printers and cameras using this beautiful piece of equipment and software. Our monitors get calibrated every month, new brands or types of printing papers get profiled as we buy them and each camera is profiled just once for the life of the camera. With this setup our monitors all match each other and every printing paper we use from cheap contact sheet papers to gallery prints will all match in both color and density all the way down the line (to the limits of the papers capabilities). If it looks good on our monitor it looks the same on our prints and will print the same for our client (as long as they are also color-managed). Okay, it does cost around $1400.00 so it’s not a casual purchase. If you’re shooting for commercial clients it’s a great purchase and if you’re shooting strictly for fun but want your prints to be accurate to your monitor then it’s also a good purchase. If you haven’t choked on the price and have read this far then I’ll let you know that for around $140 you can do accurate monitor calibrations using the .

Not shown: Monitors. We’re still using old school CRT (LaCie ElectronBlue IV) monitors for the most part. They work well and are within tolerance so that’s what we’re going with. At the moment I’m working on an Intel iMac with LCD screen that does a fine job. For the video editing I do and our portrait prints it’s super…but Bob the perfectionist prefers the CRTs or investing in one of the way expensive LCD options. We’ll run with the CRTs a little while longer.

That’s it for color / white balance goodie reviews, I hope it’s a help. If you’ve read this far it means you’re serious about photography, so how about sending me an email with “I read it” in the subject line and I’ll pick a faithful reader to receive a lovely prophotolife.com logo’d gift?

Thanks always for reading,
Jim T.

A great thing about the clamp lights used in the DIY videos is that they’re an inexpensive way to learn the principles of lighting. Plus they should last forever and I still use them without hesitation for tabletop shots. At some point, though, if you’re serious about photography you’ll begin to fully explore strobe lighting. The shoe-mounted flash for your camera is a great way to start. When it’s time to move up to a more professional flash unit, I really like the White Lightning units made by Paul C. Buff.

Buff currently has five models available, three in the monolight (power source and flash head combined) X series (X800, X1600 and X3200) and two in the Zeus series of power packs with seperate heads (UZ800 and UZ1600). Our studio uses four of the middle-of-the-line X1600 units so that’s what we’ll concentrate on.

Photographers often debate about which is preferable: monolights or power packs with separate heads. This older post on photo.net provides a variety opinions on buying monolights versus packs and heads.

A little background

I remember first seeing the White Lightning units fifteen or so years ago, when they resembled a white coffee can. They were designed as inexpensive, entry level units for portrait photographers and were manufactured with cost savings in mind. As a photographer shooting mainly large format or large sets with people, the White Lightnings couldn’t provide the power needed for f64 so I never gave them much consideration.

Fast forward to 2003 and it was time to outfit our studio with strobes. We already had three Norman power packs (1-2000 watt second and 2-4000 watt second) and heads. These are big, heavy units capable of putting out big power. But with the proliferation of digital photography and smaller cameras we couldn’t turn the power down low enough with these! Something more portable and lightweight made sense. I had worked on a catalog crew that used the White Lightnings and was impressed…mainly with the fact that they’d been beaten up by a number of photographers and were still flashing. We decided to give them a go by buying four of the X1600 units.

The practical benefits

The Paul C. Buff website has a ton of tech info on these units so I’ll refer you there if you want to dig into the tech details. To be honest, the way companies rate the power of strobes is all over the place and Buff gives a good explanation. I’d like to just give you my practical observations on the strobes (and the company) as an investment.

Currently selling for $479 / each with standard reflector, sync cord and power cord, the X1600 units aren’t cheap but they are more than reasonable, compared to the competition. Hmmm, and how much does a shoe-mounted flash cost these days? Buff does have multi-unit packages available with accessories that create considerable savings. This is a smart way to go if you want more than one unit.

What I really like:

• The power can be turned seamlessly all the way from full to 1/128 power output using a slider. Good stuff for those tiny little pops for fill light or for using large apertures.
• They don’t draw much AC power so shooting in an older home or business won’t kick off circuit breakers. We feel comfortable plugging three of these units into a shared wall outlet, something we wouldn’t imagine doing with older strobe units.
• Durable and well made in all respects, something not seen in cheaper strobe units.
• The units are fan cooled. This is an important feature, I feel, (and again) not something you see in cheaper flash units. Heat leads to wear and the White Lightning fans kick on to cool when need.
• Color balance is pretty consistent across the power range, no major changes. With some strobe units there are slight (but visible) changes in color balance as power output and flash duration change. The vast majority of photographers wouldn’t notice this but we do a lot of color critical product work and consistency among our strobes (at all power settings) is essential.
• Affordable, well priced set of accessories. The flash tubes and model lamps are inexpensive compared to the competition.
• Great customer support. All repairs and tech questions have been handled immediately. They stand behind what they sell.

Any downsides?

• Over the course of five years and literally thousands of flashes, we’ve had two units fail and need repair. That’s a great track record and not something I consider a downside. Throw in the fact that they were repaired at n/c and returned within a week and we couldn’t be happier.
• The model lamps aren’t as accurate or bright as the power pack / head units I once used. I’m no longer even aware of this, it was just a concern when doing really finicky tabletop lighting back in the film and Polaroid days. Now, with digital capture, we instantly see results and fine tune lighting quickly and easily on the computer screen.
• The flash tubes are easily replaced but make sure they are seated properly in the unit. Early on I heard a slight cracking noise on one of the strobes at exposure. The flash tube had been knocked slightly ajar and the crackling was an arc where it made electrical contact. We pressed on using the flash (it appeared to operate okay) but the electrical contact on the tube eventually burnt and wore from this use. All was fine after replacing the relatively inexpensive flash tube ($35) but live and learn from this experience.

In conclusion, I have no affiliation with White Lightning other than being a very satisfied customer. For another opinion you can also check out the Shutterbug White Lightning X-series review. If you have an opinion on these units (or another particular strobe system) I hope you’ll share your thoughts.

What does a custom logo design for your photography business cost? With The Logo Company you’ll find high quality and surprisingly affordable logo design services (Logo Design Just $149).

An earlier prophotolife post discussed why you should design a custom logo for you and your photo business. Whether you have a full-time business or a part-time photo blog, a well designed logo conveys professionalism and sets you apart from the masses. I’m really happy with the prophotolife logo, which was designed by one of this site’s affiliates: The Logo Company. When I’m pleased with a product or service I like to let people know about it.

With a number of options available for logo design, how did I choose to use an online service? There were a few options available. I could ask one of my friends in design to do it, they would probably do it for free or as a trade of services. But, to be honest, they’re all pretty busy and this would just add to their pile.

I could try to find a student designer, it’s great to support students. Trying to work through this with someone less experienced would probably add to my pile, though. I just wanted it to be relatively quick and easy.

Then there was The Logo Company, who reported to be affordable, easy to work with and fast. When I first saw their claims of designing a logo for $149 with multiple design choices and a quick turnaround, it sounded ideal for what I needed. So I checked out their website for samples and was impressed with the diversity and quality. The many positive testimonials on their site also backed up their claims.

The order and fulfillment process was simple. I filled out an online questionnaire about the blog and shared basic design ideas and my preferred colors. Then, as just another customer, I paid them my $149 before logging off (in the spirit of full disclosure, since they are a sponsor of this site a percentage of that will be paid back to this website at some point). In three days they promised to email a minimum of three company logo design ideas to choose from. To my surprise I received eight(!) different design choices via email on the third day:

I immediately responded to the far right logo on the top row. The mouse and film strip icon pulled together modern and conventional photo and computer technologies…it just said “photo blog”. Plus the text was modern, clean and easy to read, things I had requested. The color did need a little adjustment, I felt, so the logo was sent back and in three days another version was sent for my approval. It was right on.

Later that day the finished design was delivered as a zip file in eight file formats for various uses. They ranged from a large tiff RGB file to CMYK eps to a variety of png and jpg sizes for the web. There was even a file with a transparent background and one already converted to grayscale. While I can resize images if I want, it’s been nice to just pluck one from the folder for whatever use is needed. For the average consumer without graphics capabilities this greatly simplifies things.

It should be obvious I’m happy with the logo, I feel it’s professional and says just what I had hoped. The experience was also just as promised: affordable, quick and easy. And, because they want customer satisfaction, there’s even a money back guarantee.

If it’s time for you to upgrade your professionalism and image with a new logo design, I hope you’ll take a closer look at the offerings available from The Logo Company. As mentioned earlier, they are a sponsor of this website and accessing them through the banner at left will benefit prophotolife, as well. Any revenue generated by our affiliates helps keep the blog online…

- Jim T.