Something I get asked at least once a month is "what kind of lighting should I buy?"
I suggest not buying hot lights (lights that are always ont) unless you are also planning on using them to shoot video. They tend to be very comparatively weak and hard on your subjects eyes when compared to "strobe" lighting. As the name implies they also provide a lot of heat which can do anything from warming up your studio to melting/burning some of your accessories.
Hotshoe flashes operate on AA batteries and throw out a lot of light in a fraction of a second which makes them ideal for photography. The lights you buy are of utmost importance, but the accessories you buy with them (stands, brackets, etc.) really don't matter as far as brand or price.
Below is a group of items that can get most people started in lighting while keeping the cost somewhat low:
SB-600 for Nikon camera owners
430ex II for Canon camera owners (may or may not require sync)
******Please note that you should buy a flash that coincides with the brand of camera body you own, for compatibility reasons.
Accessories:
General Purpose Light Stand
Universal Umbrella bracket
Shoot through umbrella
For more information on photographic lighting and equipment, check out Strobist.
Well I finally got my act together and started making the tutorial videos I promised everybody about a year and a half ago. The audio turned out a bit too low, but hopefully I'll get this worked out as I go.
The first series will be working with HDR, but after that I will go to regular photo retouching and maybe then something like advanced photo lighting lighting.
Part 1:
Part 2:
All the best,
Barney D.
HL2 is one the largest reasons I decided to leave my old job in TV control room and pursue photography, more recently commercial photography and Art Directing. The scenic maps and renders in the game made me realize I was up for more of an adventure, and that I needed to get out and see the world outside my century old concrete box.
I've been attempting to bring in 3d models and textures from the game and combine them with some selected HDRs to show people something like I saw the first time I played through. This first one took about a week to complete because I know next to nothing about texturing 3d models, but it has been very well recieved.
Striders hit Danville!
Hello all, my name is Barney D. and I am a full time student running a commercial photography company with my Dad, Mark Davis.
We both specialize in working with HDRi, but that is where the similarities between us tend to dead end. He is mainly interested in photojournalism, and I am interested in just about anything commercial. I am also in school as a business/marketing major, aspiring to be an independent art director.
Enough about us, enjoy some pictures from the last meeting of the North Carolina Photography Group taken by me with my friend Chris Richardson:
See more pictures on Flickr
