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!