nice tools... will get that next month...
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Here is a nightmare for the average guy.

Natural backlight, coupled with glass behind the subject.
Two things normally happen here.
Your camera reads the excessive light and compensates, hence your subject is dark.
Next, your flash glares like heck with the glass.

Again, bounce lighting with the diffuser.
I think Gary Fong should freaking start paying me to promote him.:-)

Note what I love about this candid.
Look at his devilish look. Then look at his hair. I swear it wasn't planned that way.

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Thats a great picture!!
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Awesome Pic
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Had two of those in ye olde in house studio in my college photolab made some great black and white florals with them
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I take it this is the 4th generation of Blueface? He looks like a handful :-)
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Yup.
That is my 2.5 yr old grandson Alejandro.
He is beyond a handful.
That picture suits him just as he is, a Devil, but the joy of my life.
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All your Gary Fong talk has got the sphere in the wishlist right next to the sb800
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I'm poor, I may get the 600...
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I swear you will not regret it.
I would recommend the Whale Tail if you can cough up a few more bucks and are really into photography. Much better lighting options with that one.

Go to his website and see the videos. That little contraption can actually come darn close to imitating the effects of multiple studio lighting of a 2:1 ratio. For years, I use to attach homemade contraptions to accomplish this effect but Gary had the idea to mass produce it. Bastage!!!

B&H also carries his stuff but you can also buy directly from his site.
Check out this video. Get the "cloudy" one as works best for home use. Use the clear if in an open "hall"/"church" type area.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wfshQuBLdw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l1I7dHXBgY

Here is the Whale Tail
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...client=safari#

Link to his direct store:
http://store.garyfonginc.com/

Dang!
Just clicked onto his website and he now has the light sphere as a collapsable.
That is very neat as the only drawback to this unit is the size.
$59 bucks. Well worth it.
Check out the how to video on there.
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It is an awesome flash Dan. Just less power but you can always compensate if need be with your f stop or shutter.
For indoor, home use, you will never, ever know the difference between the 600 and 800.
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I'm poor too don't get me wrong... 4 years ago this was almost a career move... so I'm a little addicted to it :-)
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Ritz Carlton Sarasota Florida.

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Nice picture! :-)
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Here are a couple. All suggestions appreciated. Go easy on me.

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I shot these with my d40 with SB600 and Tamron 24-70 f2.8 glass.
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Everything looks pretty good Darrell.

Picture 1
Awesome picture. A little more DOF (depth of field) would make it even more awesome. a tripod and raising the f stop will accomplish this. The lighting is cool too.

Picture 2
Same DOF thing as picture one. I like the old school theme of this one.

Picture 3
Kinda depends on what you wanted us to focus on. I like to have more in focus than just one spot. On the other hand this photo has some AWESOME! boque. :-)

Picture 4
Raising the ISO will allow you to shoot with a faster shutter speed which will also get rid of the blur. If there was enough ambient lighting you could also open up the aperture at the loss of DOF. This picture would be ok to have the doggies face crisp then fade off down the body.

Picture 5
Same as 3

Keep them up. I love seeing pictures.

And one of my photos for the road. Another kitty cat surprisingly in focus and not blinking. WOOT!

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Thanks Wolf.

I'm kind of dumb with my camera still.

How do I get more DOF? and turning up the F stop means a higher number or lower number?

and what does F stop really do?
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The F# represents aperture. All lenses have a series of blades in them that open or close.
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A low F stop (f/1.8) the blades are completely open allowing the most light to hit the sensor (or film) This creates a very shallow depth of field.

A higher F stop (f/36) the blades are almost all the way closed this allows little light to hit the sensor so longer shutter speeds are needed to get the right exposure.

With a high F stop the Depth of field will be much greater. For an all around decent Depth of field I shoot between F/8 and F/11.

Photographers such as Jerry Uelsmann and Ansel Adams would have such a high F stop that their exposures could take hours for one shot and everything would be in focus. But this also has to do with the ISO or speed of the film. But that's another topic.

Let me know if I'm making any sense. :-)
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I agree with all of the above and would add that you should try to keep in mind the "rule of thirds" when composing your shots, I.E. subjects don't look as nice when they're dead center of a photo.

A random shot of mine just for fun. Rally Cross!
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-Roland.
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A shot of the DrMS's pre-func before we left for downtown last night (I was the designated driver):

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I'll get some of the people shots I took last night up once I have a chance to go through them just a little bit more....
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