Here is how the overpayment scam works : The scammers will overpay you for the fees you quoted them for your products or services you offer. Then they will nicely ask you to please pay the extra money to the “planner”. Or "florist". Or someone. The scammer will even throw in some extra money to make it worth your effort.
You deposit the check into your account … and then pay the “planner” the excess money, just like your "client" asked. A few days later the bank will reverse the money you deposited into your account because it’s a fraudulent Read more inside...
If you find the title of this article a touch intimidating, please stick around and watch the video. It is important to understand how The Inverse Square Law affects bounce flash photography, and creates a specific result where the background appears brighter when the flash is bounced properly without on-camera flash modifiers. I know that is counter-intuitive, but that is what happens when you bounce your bare flash behind you instead of using a light modifier on your flash. The accompanying video, linked to below, explains this Read more inside...
Published in Amateur Photographer : Beautiful bokeh
Like every photographer newly bitten by the photography bug, I read voraciously about my new hobby - although I think in recent years Youtube has become the main source of info for photographers. One of the magazines I would devour every week, was Amateur Photographer. It is incredible to think this magazine has been going since 1884. Incredible longevity.
And with that, it was quite an honor when the team at AP asked if I wanted to contribute an article on bokeh. It's one of my pet hates in photography when people interchange Read more inside...
This sequence of photos is from a photo session in my studio with a model, Eryn. I have this one canvas backdrop where I prefer the back of the backdrop, which looks distressed, rather than the proper painted front of the backdrop. I like it this way because it looks unusual compared to the front. I wanted to photograph Eryn against this canvas backdrop ... and I wanted to use window light. As I opened up the window blinds, the indirect light spilling in was also punctuated by the sunlight glaring off the hood of my car, creating these patterns Read more inside...
Wedding photography: Video light vs (gelled) flash
Over time, I've posted several articles explaining how I use gels to bring the color of my flash closer to that of the ambient light. In summary, we gel our flash, to improve the color balance in the photo, and avoid an overly saturated murky orange background, when our subject is lit by flash, and the background is lit by incandescent lighting or warm lighting of some kind. We can reduce this difference in color temperature / white balance, by adding a gel to our flash. The gel can be CTO or CTS. I prefer CTS, and usually as a 1/2 Read more inside...
Fashion inspired photo session in New York, with the Zeiss ZX1
As another installment on the theme of Two Perspectives, I met up with my friend Tracy Bosworth Page (instagram), while she was on a visit to New York. She had brought along a most interesting camera for her visit -- the very unusual and beautiful Zeiss ZX1 (B&H / Amazon). I mentioned my interest in checking out this camera and playing with it, and Since she is a Zeiss brand ambassador, she was able to wangle a loaner copy of this camera for me to use for a few days ... and from that was Read more inside...
Photographing corporate events - flash or no flash?
Mirrorless cameras offering an electronic shutter which is truly silent, is one of the best advantages to using mirrorless cameras over DSLRs. With these types of events, I really do prefer using a silent shutter, so I can take enough photos where the speaker doesn't have odd expressions and weird mouth shapes. You really have to over-shoot to be sure you have enough usable images which you can give to your client. With flash and the shutter sound, at quieter events, I am sure it can be distracting to the speaker to have every Read more inside...
When photographing wedding receptions, I would ideally like to get away with just one on-camera flash that I bounce off surfaces behind me. A venue with (close to) white ceilings and walls are just perfect. Super easy. Even with really high ceilings, I try to make it work. Here for example, I used a single bare on-camera flash to light up the entire place -- Wedding reception lighting with one flash. No diffuser cup or white bounce card. Bare flash with the Black Foamie Thing. But occasionally I reach the dead-end of a venue with black Read more inside...
The Profoto A10 flash (Amazon / B&H)is an update on the already impressive Profoto A1 flash - it is powerful, and it recycles fast - just 1 second from a full power burst. The controls on the A1, and now the A10 are easy to use. The same for the menu system - everything is obvious. With this video review of the Profoto A10 flash, we are going to look at some of that features -- but also the way that you can now control the Profoto A10 via an app on your phone, using the bluetooth connection.
Another improvement that the A10 has over Read more inside...
Studio portraits - different setups for different looks
As a kind of “inaugural” photo session in my new studio space, I asked my photographer friend, @ClaytonReynolds, if he’d be willing come in to be photographed. I liked the way Clayton's confidence and natural charm comes through in these photos. We used 3 different setups for 3 different looks. From the simplest of setups -- just window-light, to a more complex setup using a spotlight with a gobo. There are two pull-back shots if you're curious about the lighting configuration.
This photo above is a favorite way to quickly Read more inside...
