In my look at the newly announced Phottix Odin ETTL flash trigger last week, towards the end I mentioned compatibility with the Phottix Strato. As pointed out in my update, the guys at Phottix send me a firmware update for it that would upgrade my earlier demo samples to the latest firmware which promised compatibility. Due to teaching a multimedia photography workshop over the weekend, I didn’t have a lot of free time for much testing but was able to quickly put it to the test. All I really needed to find out was whether or not I could trigger the Strato from the Odin. Sure enough, it was possible. Read on after the jump for the details.

My first step was to update the firmware. That was a simple as running a small utility and connecting the Odin TCU and each receiver in turn to a USB cable and letting the utility do its thing. It only took a couple of minutes for me to update the transmitter unit as well as three receivers. When you buy a Phottix Odin set you won’t need to do this as yours will be factory updated but if there are any future updates, I can let you know that it’s a very smooth process.

Due to the lack of spare time I had for the test, I decided to shoot a self portrait rather than arrange a model. I figured it could serve double duty as a new profile photo for Twiiter, Google+ et al as well as allowing me to test the remotes. So here I am wearing an I Shoot RAW shirt designed by Jared Polin of Fro Knows Photo.

Self Portrait

I set up a camera with a 70-200mm lens on a tripod in my kitchen, facing out the door towards the balcony and the trees behind. On the balcony itself, I placed a light stand with a 580EXII attached to an Phottix Odin Receiver set to ETTL. This was shot into a small softbox and was placed 45 degrees to my (as subjects) right. On the left also at 45 degrees I attached a 550EX with a Phottix Strato II Multi to a water pipe using a Justin Clamp. I placed a basic dome diffuser over the head and set the power to 1/8. Here’s the lighting setup.

Self Portrait Lighting Setup

It was a bright day and my background was metered at f8 when keeping within my cameras native sync speed which was a lot more depth of field than I wanted. As I was at ISO100, normally my only option would have been either let the background blow out or wait until the ambient light changed. Due to time constraints this second option wasn’t possible, and I didn’t want to have a background that was a stop or so brighter than the light hitting me. Which makes the Phottix Odin even more of a wonderful tool in that simply sticking it into high speed sync mode meant I could use a shutter speed of 1/400 which allowed me to shoot it at f4 and still keep things in balance, allowing just enough light from my strobes to brighten up the shaded balcony where I was standing. I hit the self-timer on the camera, got in placed and sure enough, both the speedlight being triggered by the Odin and the one being triggered by the Strato fired. Compatibility assured and a successful self portrait shot.

The Phottix Odin is available at the Phottix Store now and should be in retail stores in the coming days if not already.

A selection of wireless flash triggers

There’s probably not a photographer alive these days that hasn’t at least considered usign off-camera flash. Since Strobist first appeared on the scene in 2006 through to Joe McNally’s book and workshops, Zack Arias’ One Light and more, the secrets and tools for lighting have moved out of the realm of professionals only and within reach of all photographers. Coming with that has been a boom in options for photographers to get their lights off camera wirelessly. What follows is a look at the various options available today to photographers everywhere. It’s important to note that I’m not reviewing any of these today (although I’m happy to if someone sends me any I don’t already have), but just an overview of what is available.

Most of the wireless flash triggers available work on radio frequencies. There are a couple of options such as the Canon ST-E2 and Nikon SU-800 that operate via infrared however you’re restricted to shorter distances, line of sight and a single camera/flash combo with those. What follows are mostly designed for manual setting of flash and will work with any combination of camera and lights. There are a couple that take advantage of ETTL/iTTL as well. Click on the product names for more information on each.

Pocket Wizard Plus II

The industry standard wireless transceiver, reliable at long distances (500m / 1600ft), multi-channel and simple to use. $169.

Pocket Wizard Multimax

Billed as the most advanced wireless trigger available it can do just about anything including rear curtain sync, time lapse imaging and more. $295

Flex TT5 and MiniTT1

Available for Canon and Nikon, these allow you to take advantage of the E/i-TTL abilities of the speedlight systems. $219 Flex TT5 and $199 Mini TT1

Phottix Atlas

4 channel transceiver that boats a range of 100m/330ft and includes a hotshoe port as well as a PC sync port. $123

Phottix Strato

A 4-in-1 trigger that features TTL pass through allowing you to use a TTL speedlight on camera and pair it with remote manual lights. Available for Canon and Nikon. $83 for 1 transmitter + 1 receiver.

Elinchrom Skyport

This offering from Elinchrom is very small, lightweight and offers extra features when used with Elinchrom lights. If you don’t have Elinchrom lights, it’ll work perfectly with standard speedlights as well. $242.95 for 1 transmitter + 2 receivers.

Radio Popper PX System

With a 500m / 1500ft range, high-speed sync and TTL abilities, the RadioPopper gives you full control over your flash in either manual or auto (Canon / Nikon). $249 transmitter and receiver (sold separately).

Radio Popper JrX

Almost the same as the PX system above except without the TTL triggering. Perfect for mixing and matching lights from different makers. $79.95 transmitter and $99.95 receiver.

Cyber Sync

Created by Paul C. Buff and the Alien Bees team, the Cyber Syncs boast a 110m / 350ft range and are usable for anything from small speedlights to studio systems. $59.95 transmitter and $89.95 receiver.

Yongnuo RF-602

Another trigger that boasts a 100m / 330ft range on a 2.4GHz signal, these also feature a hotshoe connection on the reciever and use AAA batteries. Approx $60

That was the 352nd Daily PhotoTip. If this post was useful to you, why don’t you subscribe to my feed, leave a comment and share it with your friends. You can also get access to exclusive content and special offers by subscribing to my newsletter. Sign up today. Thank you.

Sunglasses on black.

With a bit of easy preparation, the right tools and some gaffer tape, any photographer can take good looking product shots in their own living room. This is a handy technique for people who wish to sell goods on eBay, as well as a good exercise for photographers who are first starting out with lights and wish to try some basic two light setups.

Before we continue, professional photographers as well as those who aspire to be shouldn’t miss out on portfolio consultant Selina Maitreya and her audio series The View From Here. It’s available at a 50% discount using the code FOSCFI.

To achieve the above shot, I hung a large piece of black cloth onto the wall. Using some fishing line, I suspended the sunglasses from the ceiling and had them hanging over the silver side of a 5-in-1 collapsible reflector. I mounted the camera on a tripod, chose a 70-200mm lens and shot tethered into Lightroom. The camera was at ISO200, f8 and 1/200. As mentioned (and seen in the following photo), two lights were used, both with softboxes. The upper left light was set at 1/8 power and the lower right was at 1/16.

Setup shot for sunglasses on black.

On the computer side of things, the photo had a minor blacks adjustment performed on the RAW file in Lightroom, and then was brought into Photoshop. I had to touch up some smudges on the glasses because I forgot to properly clean them before I photographed them, clone out the fishing line and added a color burn gradient layer to the lens to get it looking right. All in all, it was a pretty easy process, so give it a try some time. If you do, I’d love to see your results.

That was the 54th Daily PhotoTip. If this post was useful to you, why don’t you subscribe to my feed, leave a comment and share it with your friends. You can also get access to exclusive content and special offers by subscribing to my newsletter. Sign up today. Thank you.

I recently received a request from a reader asking about some tips for taking photos in situations of low light, particularly when flash or tripods are not able to be used. Standards tips for this type of photography would be to use a fast lens. With lenses such as the 50mm f1.8 being so cheap, this is an easy solution. Other options usually include using an image stabilized lens, which, although more expensive, can give an extra 3-4 stops. Modern DSLRs boast excellent high ISO abilities with low noise – shooting in RAW at ISO1600-6400 can produce images that are easily acceptable for most peoples needs.  A further option is to rest the camera on some kind of support, be it a wall, box, chair or whatever. Not as good as a tripod but often a viable option. These tips are all commonly given and work well.

Oftentimes however, there’s another easy option, especially when there’s a willing subject, that can help improve the light of a photograph. Consider the photo below of Selina. Before you scroll past it to continue reading, spend a few moments trying to work out how it was lit. It did have a high ISO, in this case 3200, but I used a 70-200mm lens at f4 with a shutter speed of 1/125.  This is a straight RAW conversion without any Photoshop editing.

Selina shot at f4 1/200 ISO3200

So how is it lit? I didn’t use a flash, but the observant amongst you will notice that there is a catchlight in her eyes, so the light must be coming from somewhere. I did give the ambient lighting a little bit of help. Here’s another version but without the help I gave it.

Selina in the dark

We can see that it was very dark in this room. This used the same settings as the first image, that is ISO3200 f4 and a 1/125 shutter speed. The trick in this case was sitting on the table in front a me. Take a look.

Selina holding a napkin as an improvised reflector. ISO3200 f4 1/125

This was taken between sets at the BoPoMoFo gig last weekend. A paper napkin/serviette that was on the table made for a quick and easy DIY reflector which bounced enough light back into Selina’s face to make the shot work. The light is just the regular ceiling lights over the table.

So there you have it. Take a look around you next time you’re shooting photos in a dark environment. You never know what a difference it could make.

I hope this little tip is useful to some of you. If it is, drop a note in the comments and share it with your friends. I’d especially like to hear from anyone who guessed what was used before they saw the answer.

As a reminder to anyone interested, I’m still taking bookings for Light Your World lighting workshop. It’s only NT$2000 if you book and pay before the end of the month. There aren’t many places left, so get in quick. Thank you.

Strobes? Snoots? Grid-spots? Softboxes? Confused by all these terms? Does umbrella mean a thing to keep you dry or a thing to improve the quality of your photos? Have you ever wanted to get a rich, creamy look to your portraits, or add some color to a background, or create a low-key moody atmosphere? Then the Light Your World series of workshops are for you. Up first is Light Your World – Taipei. This promises to be the first professionally led lighting workshop held in English in Taipei. Read on after the jump for more details.

Sheri C lit with one-light in a medium softbox

Sunday October 4th 2009 is the date. Beginning at 9:30am, we will start with introductions and then run through some discussions of equipment needed to get started. Topics covered will include getting the flash off-camera, equipment, the five variables of exposure, use of light modifiers, some hands-on demonstartions and a few more tips and tricks. This will be held in a private meeting room and should take 2-3 hours, depending on how many questions there are.

Following that, we’ll break for lunch (not included but there are plenty of options nearby). After lunch, we’ll move to an outdoor location where we’ll look at what we covered in the morning session in a more detailed, location oriented way. Here, everyone will get the chance to shoot with a variety of lighting setups, from basic umbrellas to softboxes, grid-spots to reflectors. As necessary as the basic theory covered in the morning is, there’s nothing like actually doing it yourself and that’s what the afternoon is dedicated to.

Once everyone has had a chance to try a few different lighting setups, we’ll take a short break where there will be time to get a coffee and a snack and prepare for the next segment.

Jen lit with a single shoot-thru umbrella

The third session will give you a real chance to put things into practice. We’ll have a 2 hour shoot with a professional model. This part will be loosely guided – mostly it’ll be you shooting, trying things out and asking questions when necessary.

Following the model shoot, there’ll be the option to ask as many questions as necessary. The day won’t end until everyone has had every question answered.

Costs.

For people in Taiwan, the costs are as follows.

Book and pay before August 15th 08/15. NT$1500
Book and pay before August 31st 08/31 NT$2000
Book and pay after August 31st (09/01 – 10-03) – NT$2500.

Get in quick because there are only 15 spaces available. Payment can be made via ATM transfer (Taiwan only), Paypal or cash. For more information, payments details, costs for international currencies and so forth, you can get in touch and all questions will be promptly answered.

Selina indoors with a bounce-umbrella

Equipment Needed.

Really, the only thing you need is a camera that has a hot-shoe. Any DSLR/SLR or higher-spec compact camera will do. If you have any flashes, remote cables, RF triggers, e/i-TTL cords, IR triggers etc feel free to bring them along. Also handy is a laptop for if you want to edit a few pics during a break, or shoot tethered. If shooting tethered, it’ll be your responsibility to ensure you have the correct software, cables etc to work with your camera.

Light Your World is a wholly available light workshop. By that, we use any light that’s available, whether it’s the sun or a speedlight.

If you have any further queries, don’t hesitate to get in touch. Thank you and let’s light our world.

Another week gone means it’s time for 5. Today’s 5 features Leslie, a young model from America that I worked with the other day. We went up to the ecological garden at Baguashan in Changhua and then moved over to the baseball field. This shoot was rescheduled 3 times due to wet weather so it was great to finally get together. We got some great images and had fun, which is how you want every shoot to go. So, without further ado, how are five photographs of Leslie at Baguashan.

Shooting Notes – These were all shot in more or less the same fashion. Camera was a Canon 5D Mark II with 70-200mm lens. Focal lengths varied over the course of the shoot. I alternated ISO between ISO 50 and 100, aperture was f4 and shutter speed was mostly 1/200. Leslie was lit with a 550ex speedlight fired into a shoot through umbrella that was positioned just out of frame to either the left or right, depending on the photo – if you look at the light and shadow you can tell where the light was coming from. Due to shooting outside on a bright day, the strobe was set at either full power or 1/2 power and triggered by Elinchrom Skyports.

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A quick two light setup. Before I explain anything, I’ll take a second to remind you that 5 will be back tomorrow, so don’t forget to check back in the morning. Anyway, here’s a shot for today – setup and info after the jump.

This was inspired by a shot Scott Kelby posted recently. The sunglasses were suspended with fishing line in front of a black backdrop (in this case felt gaffer taped to the wall).  See the quick set up photo for positioning.

Camera was the EOS 5D Mark II with 70-200mm lens, shot straight into Lightroom. The camera was set to ISO200, f8 and 1/200. The upper softbox had a 550ex @ 1/8 power, the softbox on the right had an 540ez @ 1/16 and an optic slave. Strobes were triggered with Elinchrom Skyport RF triggers. And I had a silver reflector underneath – it’s a very handy 5-in-1 collapsable reflector. Processing was pretty basic – black adjustment in Lightroom, then into Photoshop where I cloned out the fishing line, touched up a couple of little dirt smudges on the glasses (because I forgot to clean them properly before the shot), and used a colour burn gradient layer to get the lens looking right. And that was it.

Today we’re going to look at a simple lighting setup that you can easily do at home to add a professional look to your still life shots, eBay ads, product photos and anything else you can think of. I’ve used the vegetables I just bought at the market for this, but the principles will be the same for anything you care to substitute.

Setting up for this shot was quick and easy. I came back from the market with a bag full of vegetables and basically dumped them onto a piece of white seamless. To the left, I placed a flash on a lightstand pointing into a bounce umbrella. A couple of test shots showed too much shadow on the right, so I placed a sheet of white cardboard on the right to act as a reflector to throw a little light back into the shadows. I didn’t want to completely eliminate the shadow – if I did, I could have placed another light there, or moved my camera left light to a more overhead position.

Here’s the lighting setup. The diagram is from www.kevinkertz.com who makes a lighting diagram file available for sharing of setups. It’s a layered PSD file  and you can move things around until it shows the lighting setup you need.

As long as you have some means of getting the flash off-camera, all you really need is an umbrella and you can replicate this. I used a bounce umbrella but you could just as easily use a shoot-through. In fact, I normally use shoot-throughs when I incorporate umbrellas – the umbrella I used can be used as both a bounce and a shoot-through. The only reason I chose to bounce was because I was too lazy to remove the black/silver backing from the umbrella. For my Taiwan readers, convertible umbrellas are available at Keystone for under NT$1000 – I think I paid $700 (US$20) and lightstands for a similar price. And that’s really all you need, moneywise. You could even get away without using an umbrella and shoot through a white bedsheet or shower curtain.  For a reflector, I used a sheet of cardboard and you could use the same as a background as well in place of the white seamless. I had an Elinchrom Skyport as my flash trigger – for those wanting to do things cheaper, there are a variety of very cheap RF triggers, affectionately known as Poverty Wizards, available for US$20 or so on eBay, and as a bonus for those in Taiwan, these triggers are available in most camera stores for a few hundred NT$. You could also use PC cords or TTL cords.

For these shots, I set my camera and flash to manual.  I used the Canon EOS 5D Mark II with a 50mm f1.8 lens and 550ex speedlight triggered by the Elinchrom Skyport. The flash was set at 1/8 power, and the camera was ISO200, f5.6 and a 1/200 shutter speed.

As usual, any comments or discussion is welcome.

Camera : Canon 5D Mark II
Lens : 50mm f1.8
ISO : 400
Aperture : f11
Shutter : 1/125
Lighting : 540ez @ 1/8 into shoot-through umbrella, camera left triggered by Elinchrom Skyport.
550ex with CTO gel and snoot @ 1/16 camera triggered optically.