Strobist Seattle Meetups Video

Seattle strobist meetup group has been very active in response to the Florida meetup that garnered nearly 50,000 views a few months ago. This time they came out with a video of what transpired during their meet. I cant wait to participate in such an event in my area, which Im anticipating won't be too long now.

This video is worth watching.Checkout what happened to Panda!

Find your meetup groups in Flickr.com

http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?q=meetup&m=discuss&w=71917374%40N00&s=act

Checkout the official link of Seattle Strobist Flickrites

Related Articles:
Florida Meetups Photography Session

DIY Photography - A Better Bounce Card

I have tried most DIY bounce cards. Purchased and used a few, like gary fong's lightsphere, stofen omni-bounce, etc. None of them struck me more than this ABBC (A Better Bounce Card) DIY tutorial video.

You owe it to yourself to try it.

You Can Learn How To Make A Better Bounce Card!!!! Do it yourself . . . FREE. Watch the Free Learning Video!!!

Gothic Photoshop Photography Effect

brendan.oshea Flickr Pro User was kind enough to share the photo retouching secret to this gothic effect look in photoshop by using Unsharp Mask tool and overlay blend mode technique.

Here is what Brendan.Oshea had to say about this method:

I've done this on a few of my other photos Jimmy, and I've documented the process in one of the shots I've posted previously. It involves cranking up the radius slider in unsharp mask more than the amount slider. (opposite of what you'd usually do) desaturate a little, then repeat until it starts to look too silly.

Sometimes I'll get one of the channels, paste it into a layer and use overlay mode to desaturate. Depends on the image.

To tell the truth, I usually only use this technique when I want to hide technical flaws. Unfortunately, I use this technique alot. The lighting is critical though, and it just doesn't work unless I use this particular style of lighting.

Single Sunpak 383 Super on full power, newly acquired shoot thru 28" umbrella, triggered with Elinchrom Skyport.

Im in search of the Manny Librodo photoshop retouching technique, and this might be one of the secret ingredients as to how Manny comes up with his stunning photoshop effects. Manny is smooth and subtle when it comes to photoshop effects, and this is more deliberate, but effective. I'll talk more about my Idol in the upcoming articles... I can't wait!

(RED) Annie Leibovitz - Vanity Fair

Annie does it again! How many times have we seen her photograph world leaders and icons, and stretching the boundaries to produce incredible pictures everytime. She keeps amazing us with her ability to choreograph her subjects and lighting scene (with the help of a million assistants) in a very limited time.

Vanity Fair July Issue features (Red), an awareness campaign which seeks to benefit the people of Africa by donating a portion of the money, when we buy (red) designated items. I saw the youtube video and can't help but share it to the readers and also inspire to help aid the people of Africa through (red).

Enjoy this video and try to study the lighting scenario she designed.

Who is Phil Ratio?

Check this site out for your self, from popphoto.com , includes a great PDF explaing all about fill ratios. If you have been playing outside with your flash lately, you'll notice that you can get stunning effects if you meter for the sky (or background) and fill the subject with flash. 1:3 fill ratio is the magic ratio. But rules are made to be broken, so keep firing that strobe and you'll soon get the hang of it. Ratios will depend on how you want to project the final outcome.

DONT FORGET TO DOWNLOAD THE PDF. Cheers!
http://www.popphoto.com/article.asp?section_id=4&article_id=706

Florida Nature Photographer - John Moran

John Moran - Florida Nature Photographer
John uses unconventional setups to create a spectacular shot of the fireflies on the Ichetucknee.

His setup involves:

• Stobe on a boom, for water sparkles.
• Continuous light, for scene painting.
• Custom-made black box to emulate the blinking of an amorous female firefly

Visit his website at http://www.johnmoranphoto.com

Here's the fruits of his creativity. Phew!

www.planetneil.com

I was browsing on one of the sites and I came across a link on how to use flash effectively. This site talks about how to balance ambient light with flash light, how to make it flash, not look like flash. We all agree that light coming from a strobe looks artificial. Try to read through this site and it will greatly improve your ability to work with your flash.

http://www.planetneil.com

Cheers!