Morning everyone! It's a rainy, sleepy kind of day here in Cincinnati, but I'm up and at it so I thought I would do something productive and update my blog (which I should be doing daily). Sometimes people call us and want photographs taken that quite honestly seem a little boring. I mean it may be interesting to them, or it may be the most important thing in the world to them, but to me, it's just kind of boring... This was not one of those times. My good friend Danelle opened a dance studio in Blue Ash and her grand opening was last weekend. She had a bunch of people there doing different dance routines including some pole dancing, hip hop, Zumba, and more... Shad and I got the privilege of covering this event, and I couldn't have asked for a better time. The women were beautiful, the music was good, and the lighting was easy. It doesn't get much better than that! The things that made the lighting SO easy were the large wall of floor to ceiling mirrors, and my Gary Fong light modifier. The modifier is a great little addition to any photographers arsenal, and without a doubt the best way I know of to deal with ever changing lighting situations. More on this wonderful little piece of plastic below. Also if you are interested in learning any form of dance, call Danelle at 513-469-7929 or just click on the "Sway" link on the upper right of this page.
Gary Fong is a genius. Not because of this wonderful light modifier he designed. Not because he took $3 worth of plastic and molded a $40 light modifier; because he used to charge $150 per wedding, but profited an average of $6000 per wedding. Selling albums and prints is where the money is in wedding photography. I want those profit margins, and honestly that's what I'm working towards. But that's not what you're hear to read about. You don't want to know how some jack ass made a killing selling wedding albums. You want to know how I got that wonderful "wrapping" light in that image above with one speed light and a piece of Tupperware. Read on my friends, read on.
Ok so it's not Tupperware, but it sure looks like it doesn't it? Ever been to a wedding and seen a photographer walking around with one of these on top of his or her flash? Ever wondered what it was, or how it's used? Well I'm going to explain. The basic idea of the LightSphere is that the flash hits the top "dome" and gets reflected throughout the sides in all directions. Some light gets through the dome and hits the ceiling(if there is one) and bounces back onto the subject, but the rest of the light exits the sides and bounces all over the place lighting the whole area. Great for wedding photographers, not so great for the guy standing behind the wedding photographer that gets blinded. The really nice thing about the light sphere is the ability to switch from portrait to landscape quickly, again this is really important for wedding photographers. You can watch a small video put on by Gary below.
As you see in the video these units are great for using indoors and out. They work really well when the light is changing because you don't have to worry so much about finding a white wall, or a white ceiling to bounce your light off of, you have a bounce built right in with the lightsphere. At $40 it's something that every photographer can add to their collection of modifiers and use when needed.
Alright, that's it, I'm outta here for today. I'll see you all tomorrow. Jason
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