Strobist rocks. Generous detailed lessons in dealing with light and a very helpful active community make it better than any photography class I could attend.

“Cooking Light” is the first assignment in the new Lighting 102 online “course”. The task seems easy at first — photograph a kitchen utensil. The hard part? Making a simple object look like fine art.

So, I figured I’d use one of the original Hawaiian kitchen utensils, the poi pounder! I didn’t have one though, but I was lucky enough to know someone who knows someone that does. Foliage was from my backyard.

This was actually light painted with a mini maglite snooted with my hand, 30 second exposure.

Check out the other great looking submissions too! I had a lot of fun with this one.

My friend Sunny got married this pass 7/7/7 on Coconut Island… and I offered to help take photos along with the professional photogs while trying not to get in their way (he hired two for the day). I was happy to do it to practice my strobist techniques especially since I didn’t have to worry about missing shots since the pros would get them.

vivitar 285hv on tree behind bride

"abetterbouncecard.com" for quick candids

direct vivitar285hv camera left - the "pros" tried taking photos facing the sun, but said the sun was "too bright" not for a strobist!

direct vivitar285hv camera left

this was their first dance…long exposure… no flash..

Looking back I really wish I spent more time planning a shot than worrying about where to put the light and what exposure, etc… can’t wait till the technical stuff becomes second nature. I really respect wedding photogs… the pressure is tremendous, and I’m not sure if I’d like to get into this field.

I also must note that the "professionals" doing the real job were both using on camera direct flash… for everything!…but I don’t want to judge their work without seeing their photos.

See the whole set here.

Congrats Sunny!

I’ve been playing around a lot with Strobist techniques in the last couple of months, sadly using only one lonely strobe. This will all change, though! Yes, we at Techy3 will have 2 more flashes *and* a 2 umbrella kit coming in soon. Kevin and I will be sharing them. So what does that mean for our clients? Professional studio lighting - on the go, anywhere you like, at anytime of the day! Even at high-noon!

One flash has been loads of fun to play with and two more will really open up the possibilities. Here are some samples of what I’ve been doing so far.

Is a lot of fun!

I gave up trying to paint the actual shapes we needed for a current project, so I thought, why not just make them Illustrator brushes? I’ll post a step-by-step tutorial on how to import real brush strokes into Illustrator soon. It’s really simple with Illustrator CS2’s new features.

Techy3’s new lens needed a little test run, so I brought it along to the Pana’ewa Zoo. All of these are unretouched except for the blue frog and some minor cropping.

The Sigma 18-50mm 2.8 EX Macro Lens is a wonderful walk-around lens, and the added macro feature is a great addition! See more photos at my Pana’ewa Zoo Flickr Set.

Yes, it’s ordered and shipped 2nd day air, and I can’t wait to screw this on to my Canon. F2.8 throughout the entire zoom range, plus macro features! This will be one very versatile lens and will truly benefit techy3, I’m sure.

Sigma launched this lens just late last year.

Strobist has an excellent tutorial on how to make your own softbox from an ordinary cardboard box. I made one myself following Strobist’s instructions, though there was no available box lying around the house to use… until I found my buddy Samuel Adams near the fridge. He never lets me down!

So, I emptied the half-full case of Samuel Adams, cut open the sides and the top, taped on some tissue paper, and there you have it: a beautiful lookin’ softbox!

Now, all you need is some white posterboard to slide in and up the back of the box to put your object inside… then a household lamp to light it up. (see the Strobist tutorial for more details)

And there is my breakfast! Looking extra good because of the flattering light. Oh how lucky you are Mr. Breakfast Sandwich… ermm…

Well, I’ll probably be using this softbox a lot on my food blog Big Island Grinds when I can.