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Available for local and destination weddings and portrait sessions.  Each project is different, so contact me for an exact quote.  Portrait sessions start at $300 and wedding coverage begins at $3,000.  Typical wedding fees are about $5,000 - Send an email to me.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

The Gary Fong Lightsphere Universal Clear

I have photographed 175 weddings with the Gary Fong Lightspheres, since 2002. Most where with the Lightsphere-2 Cloud and Clear. I loved them - still do. Last year, the Whaletail Reporter and Studio appeared. They are very versatile diffusers. I shot about a dozen weddings and many other types of jobs with them. However, recently I have been experimenting with the Lightshpere-Universal. I have also received lots of user feedback.

On the weekend of May 2-4, 2008, I had to go to El Paso. The main reason was to cover a QuienceaƱera. If you are familiar, this is a coming of age event tied to the 15th birthday, in the Hispanic community. Living in Southern California, and traveling to Texas, most of my experience is among Mexicans. These are beautiful events, much like a wedding: A religious ceremony, photos in a park, dinner, and an evening dance/reception.

In this case, we went early to spend a day shooing the birthday girl, then some evening photos with family. On Saturday, there was the service at a church, followed by the other events, mentioned above. The result was an album, at link to which I'll provide at the end of this article.

Since I was flying, I had to pack everything into a hard-sided carry-on case. That meant, I couldn't just run out to the car to get another piece of equipment. I decided to take the LSU-Clear and the Chromedome insert (I had my wife pack as LS2 Cloud and Clear, just to be safe, but I didn't use them).

Here is a little video, where I talk about the Universal.



This is the link to the album -- all images with LSU-Clear.

4 comments:

  1. Excellent video. I am trying to decide which one to purchase. Your 7 minute video - had I seen it earlier today, would have made up for a lot of reading in forums and such.

    Thanks for taking the time to do that.

    Mike

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  2. Great video - looking to get either the clear or the cloud. You recommend the clear? They have taken it down from fong's website because they said the polymers that make the clear were too close to those that made the cloud and clients confused the two. I want to chose the one that will be best for all around shooting in and out doors. What do you think?

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  3. Tyler -- My understanding is that they are reformulating the LSU-Clear to be more clear. While the product is not listed on the Gary Fong web site, you can still get one by calling them at 1-800-906-6447 x2, while supplies last -- or from some resellers.

    I still LOVE it.

    Paul

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  4. I'm pretty set on getting it, just trying to decided wether I want the cloud or the clear. Still can't really decide - the clear should in theory allow more light out to fill the surrounding area that your shooting...

    Have you seen the latest creation? The LightSphere Collapsable? check it out here:
    http://www.xanga.com/garyfong1

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