lighting

Elinchrom Ranger Test

So far on this blog, you've read about me talking about photography but you haven't seen me pony up any shots.  I thought now would be a good time to throw some pics in the mix so to speak.  I recently acquired a new toy, the Elinchrom Ranger Speed AS set with the "S" head.  I ordered it from B and H because they were, well, the cheapest.  It didn't come with the proper power cord which was annoying, so I couldn't charge one of the batteries.  I had to wait two days before I could contact them (warning: B and H is closed on saturday) and get a replacement.  Luckily, I ordered the set with two batteries so I was still able to do some shooting.  When I finally got the cord, the first battery charged and then gave me an "Er" msg, which isn't good, but I charged it again and it seemed to be working.  I also ordered the 53" octabox from Amazon which is a big ole softbox.  First impressions....well, the 53" softbox is big and not the easiest thing to put together by yourself.  It's kinda like putting a tent together, so if you've ever done that you'll probably be alright.  It also came with a 33" shoot through umbrella, which I'll put to use on other shoots.  When it came time to shooting, I used the supplied sync cord plugged into the pc-sync port of the D300 and fired away.  I'm still relatively new to off-camera lighting, so it's gonna take me awhile to get the hang of it, but I'm pretty pleased with the shots I got.  Plus, I fired off about 240 shots and it didn't even make a dent in the battery life.....and my set came with two batteries.  Pretty pumped about what I can do on location with that.  Nikon CLS users take note: one annoying thing about trying to use CLS and my SB900 in conjunction with the pc-sync port....doesn't work.  CLS takes precedence and your pc-sync port won't fire.  I wish both did, but since I'm planning on getting radio triggers in the near future, this shouldn't be a big deal.  Anyway, check out the shots below....not bad for a first time with the set.  Shot with a Nikon D300, Nikon 24-70 f2.8g, flash power ~ 5.3, aperture ~11-13.  Enjoy!

OneLight DVD

Thanks to a recent black friday sale I got my hands on the OneLight DVD Workshop by Atlanta photographer Zack Arias.  Being relatively new to off-camera lighting, I'm trying to take in all the tips and advice I can get at the moment to make not only my photos better but make myself a better photographer.  Zack is great at what he does and offers a workshop in Atlanta and throughout the country.  Unfortunately the workshop sells out REALLY fast and cost wise is out of my current budget.  For people like myself, he put together the next best thing:  a workshop DVD.  While a little pricey, it's still a fraction of the cost of the real-life workshop, and I've already picked up some tips from the disc.  Can't wait to get through the whole thing and start applying some new tips/tricks/etc.  Some of the proceeds for this sale went to an Atlanta charity, so not only do I get to pick up some lighting tips, I'm putting some $$ back into the Atlanta community.  Hopefully I'll get through it this weekend and get back to shooting some in the near future.  I have several sets of pics I need to edit at the moment, and this being the end of the semester I'll have my plate full for the next two weeks or so.  Til then....

The Zack Arias OneLight DVD Workshop can be purchased from UsedFilm Studios here:

http://www.onelightworkshop.com/DVD_Ordering.html