A couple of days ago, I received this email from Dan. My response follows Dan's message.
-----
Thank you for the time you put into the education of your fellow photographers. I have a question that I think is on the minds of a lot of professionals today. That is how to approach the subject of escalation of photographers giving in and giving away their images on a disc to the client. I have stood firm on this point with my clients, I don't give them a disk but post their images online and give them a set of proofs in a binder to view.
This year alone I have lost several sales to competiors who are giving a disk to their customers that they can print from. This practice is much more widespread than I thought, after speaking to my pro lab, they tell me that the only thing keeping their lab afloat was the fact that they started to design and make albums. When a client gets a disk they take it to Costco or Walmart and have pictures made there, cutting the photographer and the lab out of the loop. After listening to my client's reasons for not booking, and research that I have done in the market I am calling into question my stance on the issue. Do you have any suggestions for incentives can we offer our clients so they don't leave our studio in favor of another that will give the images so they can print their own pictures?
======
The issue that you raise is something that new, as well as,
established photographers are facing, every day. Often, the potential
customer views us as a commodity -- they think that anyone who calls
themself a 'photographer' and is technically competent to remember to
remove the lens cap is the same as any other photographer.
They key is to build your 'brand'. While you can't do it overnight,
it can be done. You have to separate yourself -- distinguish yourself
-- from the 'shoot & burn' guys who are not only failing to maximize
their business, but who have the potential to destroy yours.
"Do you have any suggestions for incentives can we offer our
clients..."
Dan, this is the heart of the predicament. Each of us
has to educate our clients. They think that they are hiring a
photographer -- someone to take pictures. Many of use think of
ourselves as someone who 'takes pictures'. Oh sure, sometimes we say,
capture images, preserve memories, but we still mean 'take pictures'.
So long as we think that way, and allow our customers to think that
way, we are doomed to shoot & burn.
As professional wedding photographers, we are STORYTELLERS. This is
really why people hire us (even if they don't realize it). Dan, who
can best tell the story of someone's wedding: The bride or the
photographer? Assuming the photographer understands the flow of a
wedding, along with the emotions, the beauty, the stress, the humor,
the expected and the unexpected, and is prepared to capture all of it,
then the photographer is more than someone who takes the pictures.
The photographer is the storyteller.
When a bride asks for a hi-resolution disc of the wedding images, she
thinks that she is going to save money. What she is really doing is
cheating herself of her memories, because she is ill equipped to tell
the story in a way that will depict the emotions, the beauty, etc.,
etc.
The first rule of building your brand is to be prepared to turn down a
job -- or risk even not being offered it, and being okay with that.
Early in my conversations with a potential client, I simply tell them
that I may or may not be the best choice for then. Then I explain
that statement. I tell them my philosophy: I tell them who I am
working for -- and it is NOT the bride and groom. Let me expand on
that.
I don't, initially, discuss the photography. Instead, I talk about
the album that I will produce. The conversation goes something like
this: "When you first receive your album, it will be exciting, but it
won't have much value. I mean, it was just a couple months ago, you
were there, and you probably remember some of it. Your album begins
to have value when a ten year old climbs on your lap and says, 'Mommy,
you we so pretty.' But, when that ten year old looks up at you and
says, 'Grandma, you were sooooooo beautiful -- well, that's when your
wedding album has real value. So, you see, I'm not shooting your
wedding for you -- I'm working for your grandchildren."
That's it -- that's my wedding photography philosophy. If that isn't
what they want -- in fact, if someone doesn't have a tear in their
eye, when I finish, then we aren't a good match. Better to end the
conversation at that point.
However, if they truly understand what I've just said (what you've
just said), then I know that I have a client who values what I do,
well beyond a shoot & burn guy who is just going to take pictures, but
has no real investment in the outcome -- they way the story is told.
Once you have a customer who values you for what you do, then you have
to give outstanding service -- make them go 'WOW". Make them rave
about you. That's how you begin to build your brand, and distinguish
yourself. Certainly, if you already have a reputation, you have a
head-start. If you are new, then you may have to accept 'market-rate'
jobs, to get started.
Dan, do you have a blog? What is the address?
Go back to my blog -- mentioned above. Look at the archives and about
April or May of last year, I posted the first of a four-part series on
getting your photography business online. Read those articles. Make
note of Gary's 2-DVD set, called "Getting Rich as a Photographer".
If you don't have it, get it.
Obviously, there is much more to say, but I hope this gets you started
- or, at least, believing that it is possible. The DVD set is
important.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
It Must Be Spring -- Shooting Sports
It must be Spring – I’ve been getting a lot of questions about how to shoot sports – especially outdoors – like baseball, track & field, and soccer.
If you’ve spent anytime on this blog, you know that we talk, regularly, about using flash. In particular, we explore how to get studio lighting results, in relatively small spaces, using one or more hot shoe type flashes.
Today, we are leaving the flash behind and we are getting out of the studio (living room, garage, family room) and into the wide-open spaces of a baseball diamond, soccer field, and stadium.
Actually, we are going to do it in reverse order. We are going to the Surf City Invitational Track & Field Meet, in Huntington Beach, California. I’ll explain how I took a few representative photos. At the end, I’ll display a series of other images, from other sports, using the same techniques that I describe in the track & field samples -- and also illustrating that it is important to capture more than just 'action' when shooting sports.
Track meets are great places to practice your techniques because of the wide variety of events and challenges in capturing them. As in any image, the quality of the exposure is determined by the aperture size and shutter speed. In most sports photography, you will be concerned with stopping the action – capturing the image without the blur caused by the subject speeding past you.
We’ll talk about some of the techniques for capturing action, but first, let’s begin with shutter speed. The faster the shutter, the greater chance you’ll have of getting a sharp image. Normally, when I arrive at the location, I will take a meter reading. If you don’t have an external meter and/or gray card, simply position yourself in the same light as your subject, and take a reading off the palm of your hand. While this isn’t perfect, it will give you a fairly accurate starting point. Place your camera in Shutter Priority, set the shutter to 1/000 or faster, and take a reading. Depending on how much depth of field you think you’ll want, decide if the metered aperture is appropriate. You can then dial in those settings in Manual Mode, or leave the camera in Shutter Priority.
In the first image, I was shooting a discus thrower. I was able to shoot toward the subject, from the area to where he would be throwing the disc. His technique would be to stand in a designated circle, spin to gain momentum, and then let go of the discus as he was facing in my general direction. I wanted to have sufficient shutter speed to capture his motion, without a blur. I also wanted to have enough depth-of-field (DOF) to capture the disc as it left his hand. A rather ugly chain link fence in the background complicated this. I would have liked to reduce the depth-of-field, to blur that background, but then I would have sacrificed the opportunity to capture both the athlete and the disc.
I decided on a shutter speed of 1/2000 and found that I could get a good exposure and reasonable DOF at about f4.0 to 5.6. ISO was 400.
In the following five images, I was able to capture great facial expressions. Only in the middle one, did I get both the athlete and the disc. To me, the faces make up for not getting the disc.
For me, some of the most exciting and picturesque events at a track meet are the hurdles. Rather than having the runners speed by, perpendicular to the camera, try to position yourself at about 30-45 degrees, so that the runners are coming toward you. For this series, I focused on one of the hurdles, and keeping my left eye open, used my peripheral visions to see the hurdlers approaching. While your camera’s buffer will determine how many images you can capture, most cameras should be able to capture, at least, three images per second, in Continuous Mode. Pick the best image, don’t show anyone the other two, and you’ll look like a pro!
Exposure was 1/2000 and from f4.8 to 6.7. ISO was 400.
Notice that the second and third photos, above, are from the same sequence. Zooming in can significantly increase the drama of the image. With some practice, you will be able to do this in camera. Otherwise, use an image manipulation program, like Photoshop, to crop your images for maximum effect.
For most sports, select your camera’s Matrix Metering mode, instead of center weighted or spot metering.
In the above examples, we selected a shutter speed, and then allowed the camera to decide on the appropriate aperture. However, in the next example – the pole vault – we are faced with a small figure (the pole vaulter) on a large, light colored background (the sky). In this case, I took a spot meter reading on the uniform of the athlete, while he was on the ground. I placed the camera on Manual, and dialed in the settings. Then, I focused on the crossbar, and used the same left-eye-open technique that I use when shooting the hurdlers, to anticipate when to begin shooting.
Exposure was 1/000 at f8-9.5.
Now, for some random images - there is much more to photograph at a sporting event, than just the action.
If you’ve spent anytime on this blog, you know that we talk, regularly, about using flash. In particular, we explore how to get studio lighting results, in relatively small spaces, using one or more hot shoe type flashes.
Today, we are leaving the flash behind and we are getting out of the studio (living room, garage, family room) and into the wide-open spaces of a baseball diamond, soccer field, and stadium.
Actually, we are going to do it in reverse order. We are going to the Surf City Invitational Track & Field Meet, in Huntington Beach, California. I’ll explain how I took a few representative photos. At the end, I’ll display a series of other images, from other sports, using the same techniques that I describe in the track & field samples -- and also illustrating that it is important to capture more than just 'action' when shooting sports.
Track meets are great places to practice your techniques because of the wide variety of events and challenges in capturing them. As in any image, the quality of the exposure is determined by the aperture size and shutter speed. In most sports photography, you will be concerned with stopping the action – capturing the image without the blur caused by the subject speeding past you.
We’ll talk about some of the techniques for capturing action, but first, let’s begin with shutter speed. The faster the shutter, the greater chance you’ll have of getting a sharp image. Normally, when I arrive at the location, I will take a meter reading. If you don’t have an external meter and/or gray card, simply position yourself in the same light as your subject, and take a reading off the palm of your hand. While this isn’t perfect, it will give you a fairly accurate starting point. Place your camera in Shutter Priority, set the shutter to 1/000 or faster, and take a reading. Depending on how much depth of field you think you’ll want, decide if the metered aperture is appropriate. You can then dial in those settings in Manual Mode, or leave the camera in Shutter Priority.
In the first image, I was shooting a discus thrower. I was able to shoot toward the subject, from the area to where he would be throwing the disc. His technique would be to stand in a designated circle, spin to gain momentum, and then let go of the discus as he was facing in my general direction. I wanted to have sufficient shutter speed to capture his motion, without a blur. I also wanted to have enough depth-of-field (DOF) to capture the disc as it left his hand. A rather ugly chain link fence in the background complicated this. I would have liked to reduce the depth-of-field, to blur that background, but then I would have sacrificed the opportunity to capture both the athlete and the disc.
I decided on a shutter speed of 1/2000 and found that I could get a good exposure and reasonable DOF at about f4.0 to 5.6. ISO was 400.
In the following five images, I was able to capture great facial expressions. Only in the middle one, did I get both the athlete and the disc. To me, the faces make up for not getting the disc.
For me, some of the most exciting and picturesque events at a track meet are the hurdles. Rather than having the runners speed by, perpendicular to the camera, try to position yourself at about 30-45 degrees, so that the runners are coming toward you. For this series, I focused on one of the hurdles, and keeping my left eye open, used my peripheral visions to see the hurdlers approaching. While your camera’s buffer will determine how many images you can capture, most cameras should be able to capture, at least, three images per second, in Continuous Mode. Pick the best image, don’t show anyone the other two, and you’ll look like a pro!
Exposure was 1/2000 and from f4.8 to 6.7. ISO was 400.
Notice that the second and third photos, above, are from the same sequence. Zooming in can significantly increase the drama of the image. With some practice, you will be able to do this in camera. Otherwise, use an image manipulation program, like Photoshop, to crop your images for maximum effect.
For most sports, select your camera’s Matrix Metering mode, instead of center weighted or spot metering.
In the above examples, we selected a shutter speed, and then allowed the camera to decide on the appropriate aperture. However, in the next example – the pole vault – we are faced with a small figure (the pole vaulter) on a large, light colored background (the sky). In this case, I took a spot meter reading on the uniform of the athlete, while he was on the ground. I placed the camera on Manual, and dialed in the settings. Then, I focused on the crossbar, and used the same left-eye-open technique that I use when shooting the hurdlers, to anticipate when to begin shooting.
Exposure was 1/000 at f8-9.5.
Now, for some random images - there is much more to photograph at a sporting event, than just the action.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Question from a Reader - Which Diffuser to Buy
"My wife and I have operated a wedding videography business for 5 years. She wants to start dabbling in wedding photography. She has a Pentax *istDL, a AF-540 flash (the pro-line that swivels), and I only can afford one diffuser at this time. Would you recommend the Whale Tail studio over the other diffusers if we are only going to purchase one?"
Adam,
Thank you for your question. I have covered 175 weddings with the Lightspheres. I use the Gary Fong Lightsphere Cloud about 80% of the time and the Clear for the balance. Generally, I use the Cloud when I am within 10 feet +/-. The Clear is most useful at greater distance, or in dim light.
In March '07, the Whaletail became available and I have used it for 12 weddings, and dozens of other jobs.
While I love the Studio model for in studio work, as well as on location portraits, I think the the Reporter is sufficeint, and more practical for weddings.
The above assumes a single, on-camera flash. Since the introduction ofthe Whaletails, I have been doing more work with multiple, off-camera flashes. In this case, I use the WT Studio as the main light and a combination of Lightspheres and the WT Reporter as slave lights.
Currently, I think the Lightspheres sell for $40, the Reporter for $80, andd the Studio for $110. You could have two Lightspheres (Clear and Cloud) for the price of a Reporter, and a LS Clear and a Reporter for just a little more than a WT Studio. The LS Clear and Reporter would be my choice for the most flexibility.
I hope this helps.
Adam,
Thank you for your question. I have covered 175 weddings with the Lightspheres. I use the Gary Fong Lightsphere Cloud about 80% of the time and the Clear for the balance. Generally, I use the Cloud when I am within 10 feet +/-. The Clear is most useful at greater distance, or in dim light.
In March '07, the Whaletail became available and I have used it for 12 weddings, and dozens of other jobs.
While I love the Studio model for in studio work, as well as on location portraits, I think the the Reporter is sufficeint, and more practical for weddings.
The above assumes a single, on-camera flash. Since the introduction ofthe Whaletails, I have been doing more work with multiple, off-camera flashes. In this case, I use the WT Studio as the main light and a combination of Lightspheres and the WT Reporter as slave lights.
Currently, I think the Lightspheres sell for $40, the Reporter for $80, andd the Studio for $110. You could have two Lightspheres (Clear and Cloud) for the price of a Reporter, and a LS Clear and a Reporter for just a little more than a WT Studio. The LS Clear and Reporter would be my choice for the most flexibility.
I hope this helps.
Monday, January 28, 2008
AN ESSAY ABOUT RECESSION-PROOFING YOUR BUSINESS
AN ESSAY ABOUT RECESSION-PROOFING YOUR BUSINESS - by Gary Fong
(I didn't write this. It was written and first published by Gary Fong, on his blog, yesterday -- there is a link at he end of the article)
I've been in business through two recessions. Business proceeded in a healthy way and my numbers continued to grow. I had to do some adaptation and what really saved me was getting prepared before the pullback arrived. Here's what I did:
1) Photography-related services - relationships are recession-proof. In fact, in hard times the referral base became even more loyal and devoted. Rocky Gunn gave me the simplest, best advice I have ever gotten in a single sentence... "nobody needs another salesman knocking on their door, but everybody could use a good friend". In rough economic times, good friends are even more valuable. My transcriptionist is really good. And I just wrote her an email and it said, "you're so good, I'm going to use you FOREVER!" Customer supersatisfaction is recession-proof.
Family is even more valuable. It is SO easy for a photographer to make a huge increase in revenue by simply adding new revenue streams to an existing business. Here's a great example:
I have a friend who is an amazingly successful photographer here in Los Angeles. His name is Joey Ikemoto. His business does close to a million a year. He has an unbelievably loyal clientele among the Japanese American community. He has been in business for probably 25 years and went through the same recessions I did.
One day I was visiting him at his former little studio in a strip mall, about 23 years ago. He had a huge staff of photographers, and he was doing something like 200 weddings a year with a healthy average. He shot many of these himself, and his business was all referral. While all this was going on, he actually had a full-time job as an x-ray lab technician at the local hospital! He was making something like $30,000 a year working this job, while his business was grossing in the many hundreds of thousands. I asked him why he had the job, and he said, "security". So I got out a calculator and said - OK, let's just assume you sell one additional parent album to each of your weddings. Say you had a $195 special for parent albums, and include some of the unused proofs in your orders. There's $40 grand right there.
It was wild, but that suggestion really registered with him. He quit his job, focused his energy full time on his studio instead and expanded it greatly with intensely higher profits. He now has one of the largest, and most beautiful studios in California.
If I were a photographer today, I would simply add new relationship-sensitive low-initial-cost portrait sessions to my offerings. If you have a loyal clientele anyway, who love you as a person as well as a photographer, then it is a super easy thing to collect them in front of your camera again. Missy brings her Canon with the L lenses to horse shows, and a lot of people come up to her asking to see the images online, which result in sales, completely out of nowhere.
I remember when I did children's portraiture. I did it differently, we would just go to a park with the mom, and I would make it a point to not shoot right away, and just talk to the mom. Ignoring the child at a playground is a guarantee that this kid is going to be a performer. The more I acted disinterested, the more they would go, "Hey Mom! Look at me go down this slide!" Then they would try harder and harder to show me how awesome they were. This is when I would start shooting, and I would get the most awesome photos of the kids.
While at the playground, I'd show the LCD of the image to the kids, who would go wow, and the mom would go wow, and the next thing that would happen is another parent would come up to me at the playground and ask for my card. I would give them my website address, and a link to today's session on Pictage. This would turn into another session - so long as the shoot fee was low. Then I would let the prints sell themselves.
In a recessionary economy - remember that people become very negative and careful with their wallets. So having a large up-front fee is most likely going to result in an empty calendar. I would much rather shoot on spec than with a large upfront fee. While that may work with the ultra high-end customer with a lot of discretionary dough, it's still risky. I remember that I used to do engagement sessions for $15. That's right, fifteen bucks. And I always sold nearly $300, and it took me not even half an hour to do. Same with weddings. Having a low up-front fee and selling a large volume of images once I 'owned' the right to sell them exclusively was my ticket to prosperity. Later, I would do high-end stuff, but that took years to earn that clientele. I had it great from the very beginning by starting with a low fee, predesigning albums, and selling reorders. My calendar was completely full, and my average sale was multiple what other studios were getting.
Another thing I want to add, I never paid to advertise my studio. I never did ads or bridal shows. Those are so expensive and what they do is bring you a skeptical prospective customer. They're skeptical because they found you through advertising. So not only are you spending money on attracting the wrong kind of client (the client you REALLY want is the one who heard that you are the best friend they never had, with a camera and a smile!) Who would you rather meet with? The awesome person who shot your best man's wedding, or someone who you saw in an ad in a magazine? Exactly!
When things got hard for me, I put extra effort into improving customer satisfaction. If every client who uses you drags two people by the ear into your business and insist that their friend use you, your business will grow regardless of the economy. Think about it - we all know a business or service that we swear by- tell all of our friends about, right? BE THAT BUSINESS! And you will have a clientele that will remain solidly, stable and growing.
I know how to play a recession, even a deep one. The first thing I did in my products business was start to develop lower-cost products like the $19 Puffer or $29 Origami. Sales were up 194% YOY for GFI because of this. I knew that there would be a risk with higher-end pro lighting attachments like the Whaletail or Lightsphere, so I started preparing to market smaller trinkets.
I would do the same with photography. I'm not saying lower your prices in response to a recession, I'm saying buffer up the consumer fanaticism (loyalty) by endearing yourself to your clients. Foster that referral, and then have products which have a low-cost entry point. Once you produce beautiful images, sell the images and not the session. Increase the volume, diversify your offerings into more types of portraiture, and you will be fine. In fact, overall I would say you could prosper in hard times.
With all sincerity,
Gary
www.garyfong.com
(I didn't write this. It was written and first published by Gary Fong, on his blog, yesterday -- there is a link at he end of the article)
I've been in business through two recessions. Business proceeded in a healthy way and my numbers continued to grow. I had to do some adaptation and what really saved me was getting prepared before the pullback arrived. Here's what I did:
1) Photography-related services - relationships are recession-proof. In fact, in hard times the referral base became even more loyal and devoted. Rocky Gunn gave me the simplest, best advice I have ever gotten in a single sentence... "nobody needs another salesman knocking on their door, but everybody could use a good friend". In rough economic times, good friends are even more valuable. My transcriptionist is really good. And I just wrote her an email and it said, "you're so good, I'm going to use you FOREVER!" Customer supersatisfaction is recession-proof.
Family is even more valuable. It is SO easy for a photographer to make a huge increase in revenue by simply adding new revenue streams to an existing business. Here's a great example:
I have a friend who is an amazingly successful photographer here in Los Angeles. His name is Joey Ikemoto. His business does close to a million a year. He has an unbelievably loyal clientele among the Japanese American community. He has been in business for probably 25 years and went through the same recessions I did.
One day I was visiting him at his former little studio in a strip mall, about 23 years ago. He had a huge staff of photographers, and he was doing something like 200 weddings a year with a healthy average. He shot many of these himself, and his business was all referral. While all this was going on, he actually had a full-time job as an x-ray lab technician at the local hospital! He was making something like $30,000 a year working this job, while his business was grossing in the many hundreds of thousands. I asked him why he had the job, and he said, "security". So I got out a calculator and said - OK, let's just assume you sell one additional parent album to each of your weddings. Say you had a $195 special for parent albums, and include some of the unused proofs in your orders. There's $40 grand right there.
It was wild, but that suggestion really registered with him. He quit his job, focused his energy full time on his studio instead and expanded it greatly with intensely higher profits. He now has one of the largest, and most beautiful studios in California.
If I were a photographer today, I would simply add new relationship-sensitive low-initial-cost portrait sessions to my offerings. If you have a loyal clientele anyway, who love you as a person as well as a photographer, then it is a super easy thing to collect them in front of your camera again. Missy brings her Canon with the L lenses to horse shows, and a lot of people come up to her asking to see the images online, which result in sales, completely out of nowhere.
I remember when I did children's portraiture. I did it differently, we would just go to a park with the mom, and I would make it a point to not shoot right away, and just talk to the mom. Ignoring the child at a playground is a guarantee that this kid is going to be a performer. The more I acted disinterested, the more they would go, "Hey Mom! Look at me go down this slide!" Then they would try harder and harder to show me how awesome they were. This is when I would start shooting, and I would get the most awesome photos of the kids.
While at the playground, I'd show the LCD of the image to the kids, who would go wow, and the mom would go wow, and the next thing that would happen is another parent would come up to me at the playground and ask for my card. I would give them my website address, and a link to today's session on Pictage. This would turn into another session - so long as the shoot fee was low. Then I would let the prints sell themselves.
In a recessionary economy - remember that people become very negative and careful with their wallets. So having a large up-front fee is most likely going to result in an empty calendar. I would much rather shoot on spec than with a large upfront fee. While that may work with the ultra high-end customer with a lot of discretionary dough, it's still risky. I remember that I used to do engagement sessions for $15. That's right, fifteen bucks. And I always sold nearly $300, and it took me not even half an hour to do. Same with weddings. Having a low up-front fee and selling a large volume of images once I 'owned' the right to sell them exclusively was my ticket to prosperity. Later, I would do high-end stuff, but that took years to earn that clientele. I had it great from the very beginning by starting with a low fee, predesigning albums, and selling reorders. My calendar was completely full, and my average sale was multiple what other studios were getting.
Another thing I want to add, I never paid to advertise my studio. I never did ads or bridal shows. Those are so expensive and what they do is bring you a skeptical prospective customer. They're skeptical because they found you through advertising. So not only are you spending money on attracting the wrong kind of client (the client you REALLY want is the one who heard that you are the best friend they never had, with a camera and a smile!) Who would you rather meet with? The awesome person who shot your best man's wedding, or someone who you saw in an ad in a magazine? Exactly!
When things got hard for me, I put extra effort into improving customer satisfaction. If every client who uses you drags two people by the ear into your business and insist that their friend use you, your business will grow regardless of the economy. Think about it - we all know a business or service that we swear by- tell all of our friends about, right? BE THAT BUSINESS! And you will have a clientele that will remain solidly, stable and growing.
I know how to play a recession, even a deep one. The first thing I did in my products business was start to develop lower-cost products like the $19 Puffer or $29 Origami. Sales were up 194% YOY for GFI because of this. I knew that there would be a risk with higher-end pro lighting attachments like the Whaletail or Lightsphere, so I started preparing to market smaller trinkets.
I would do the same with photography. I'm not saying lower your prices in response to a recession, I'm saying buffer up the consumer fanaticism (loyalty) by endearing yourself to your clients. Foster that referral, and then have products which have a low-cost entry point. Once you produce beautiful images, sell the images and not the session. Increase the volume, diversify your offerings into more types of portraiture, and you will be fine. In fact, overall I would say you could prosper in hard times.
With all sincerity,
Gary
www.garyfong.com
Friday, December 28, 2007
Gary Fong Puffer
Don't want to get out an external flash and a big diffuser? But you don't want the harsh, direct light from the pop-up flash on your camera? Here's the answer -- the Puffer, from Gary Fong.
Gary Fong Lightsphere - Universal
Just a quick video on how to attach the Gary Fong Lightsphere-Universal to your flash. It's a one-size-fits-all (up to 2 x 3.5 inches) light diffuser, perfect for your hotshoe-mounted flash. Currently available only as a Cloud. Since it fits so many of the most popular flashes, you don't have to buy different sizes to fit all your flashes.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Gary Fong Lightsphere or Whaletail
This question came in yesterday:
"Hi I am looking to buy two lightspheres for my 2 Canon 580EX II flashes that are mounted to light stands for quick off camera flash portrait setups. Would you recommend the clear or the cloud for this type of setup or would the whaletails be better suited for this. Thank you" - Tony
-----
Tony,
The whaletails give the most versatility. That is what I prefer for studio use. If you go with lightspheres, I would use the Cloud as your main light. Another Cloud or Clear is then your background or fill light.
One thing -- the Gary Fong website has an error. It lists the size 4 for the 580X-II. Actually, that is for the older , and smaller 580EX. Most people are getting size 2 for the mark II.
Gary just introduced a lightsphere-universal (has a one-size-fits-all mount), at PhotoExpo+, last month, in NY. It is only produced as a Cloud, but it will fit a variety of flash models. Unfortunately, he sold out at the show and won't have them in his eStore for a couple of weeks.
Whaletails are in stock. If you go that route, get a Studio for your main light, and a Reporter for the fill/background.
-----
"Hi I am looking to buy two lightspheres for my 2 Canon 580EX II flashes that are mounted to light stands for quick off camera flash portrait setups. Would you recommend the clear or the cloud for this type of setup or would the whaletails be better suited for this. Thank you" - Tony
-----
Tony,
The whaletails give the most versatility. That is what I prefer for studio use. If you go with lightspheres, I would use the Cloud as your main light. Another Cloud or Clear is then your background or fill light.
One thing -- the Gary Fong website has an error. It lists the size 4 for the 580X-II. Actually, that is for the older , and smaller 580EX. Most people are getting size 2 for the mark II.
Gary just introduced a lightsphere-universal (has a one-size-fits-all mount), at PhotoExpo+, last month, in NY. It is only produced as a Cloud, but it will fit a variety of flash models. Unfortunately, he sold out at the show and won't have them in his eStore for a couple of weeks.
Whaletails are in stock. If you go that route, get a Studio for your main light, and a Reporter for the fill/background.
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