i agree. i was using a one strobe set up for a long time before i got a device to get one remote. it just takes some creativity and understanding of light control. the hardest that ive come to face is using the strobe on axis (on the camera). but once i was able to understand that, using it off camera was a lot easier to handle.
So, Iām out of town for a business trip (Pittsburgh) and I decided to check out one of the Ritz camera stores on the closing list. They have a week to go before theyāre gone, and I picked up 3 Sunpak DS-20 flashes, 2 Quantaray Flashes (and 1 module to get it to work with my friendās Sony DSLR), a +10 Macro filter, a video camera battery (for my HD Camcorder), some photo bookmarks, a couple battery chargers with Eneloop batteries, a reference card and a compact P&S camera case all for $68.
It might be worth checking out those Ritz stores near you, the ones that are closing, of courseā¦ theyāre in their final days, and I read a forum post from some guy on Fotki saying he bought some quantaray flashes for $0.50. I hope the stuff I bought for myself works in my setup the way I want it to.
^
excellent news. Iām totally amateur, but Iām in much need for some flashes and extra equipment.
Iām curious to know how do you get lighting and shadowing like this?
I seriously donāt know shit about photography,do you guys know any good write ups I could read to get a grip on this?
Thanks
the first one looks like it was done with a snoot. a snoot being a cone shaped attachment that just blocks out any spill light so that the light is only on the subject matter. looks like a single light source from the left.
the 2nd pic is almost the same. with more spill light. and because of the amount of action in those photos, i would imagine those lights to be pretty bright in order to increase the shutter speed to freeze tthe action.
let me know if any of that goes over your head. haha.
I kinda understand,Itās confusing tho I donāt know anything about shutter speed,Aperture,rule of thirde and iso.Itās overwhelming but Iām willing to learn.
Not really.
People that are used to shooting action in sunlight assume that you have to get the shutter speed up in order to freeze the action when using strobes, however, this is not the case. If your strobe is the only source of lighting, then the strobe duration will freeze the action, and you can set your shutter speed to be fairly long. If you are using a 580 on manual mode, and it is at 1/128 power, the flash duration is 1/35000th of a second.
Back in the olden times, people would underexpose the ambient and use the flash to freeze the action.
hmmm, i never thought about it that way. you have shed new light onto an old issue for me. no pun intended.
Iām starting to understand this better. Its like the flash burns the subject onto the āfilmā during the moment that the flash goes off, right? I think this is a similar principle to what you were telling me about 2nd curtain flash before, I havenāt tried it yet, but its a good way to get motion blur and a strong āfreeze frameā.
not really into photography but i do take random pictures/have random pics taken of me in interesting scenery as well as scenery itself. The first image was a typical morning for me (almost always foggy outside my house) and the second was from a philly trip a while back (which iāll post in the show yourself thread as well).
EDIT:
DOG!
lol. i like that first pic a lot. could use a ruler tho.
your post makes it seem like your daily routine consists of waking up in a cornfield and then doing some random street gymnastics and coming home to your dog.
very cool tho. what camera do you use?
power shot a95. itās nothing special but hey it takes nice on the spot random pics. also in the first pic, i put the camera down on the back patio and the little display really didnt reveal that the picture wasnāt level. by the time i uploaded it, the fog was gone and it was too late 
its all good. i used to use a canon s200 2mp camera. i got my kicks out of it and learned how to take a decent picture with it before i decided to go anywhere with photography. i think the a95 has a macro mode doesnt it? i love point and shoots because most of them have that option thats built in versus having to buy a macro lens that would cost 300+ for an SLR.
thats cool. keep it up. hope to see more contributions from you and others like you.
technical support, please
hi photogs,
need some helpā¦ my brother uses a canon 30d and has recently encountered a very persistent Err99; he cannot successfully take a single photograph.
weāve tried most of the solutions weāve come across when scouring the internets, but to no avail ā things like: cleaning contacts on the camera, the lens, the battery - also, the take everything out and leave it alone trick.
does anyone have any experience with this error who could offer some sage advice and kindly guidance? thank you
i had that happen onceā¦ but it was cuz my stupid friend was trying to force my pop up flash down while in auto. it fixed itself, or so it seemed. otherwise, you might just have to send it back to canon to check out. theyll most likely reset the camera for a fee.
mmm try holding the āsetā or āmenuā button down. i know thats how you reset point and shoots, but not sure about your DSLR.
Error 99 is the universal error that a canon camera gives when the camera has encountered a problem communicating with another piece of equipment. Because it is a generic error, most of the people on the internet will go think that the thing that fixed their Error 99 will also fix everyone elseās error 99. Not the case, as it could be any number of things.
The four most common things that cause an error 99 are:
-Dirty or corroded electrical contacts on either the lens, or the lens mount.
-Dirty or corroded electrical contacts on either the battery (or battery grip stalk), or battery compartment.
-Dirty or corroded electrical contacts on either the flash foot, or the hot-shoe connector.
-Dirty or corroded electrical contact on either the CF card, or the pins inside the CF compartment. Can also be a bent pin in the CF card compartment.
In most cases, a deep cleaning of all of the camera body electrical connections, and anything that gets attached to the camera body (lenses, flashes, CF cards, batteries, etc) will clear up the problem.
If the cleaning doesnāt clear up the problem, then that normally means that something is dying. Most of the time it is a CF card about to die, or a lose connection inside the attachable flash, or the lens is having problems. If you move the lens, flash, etc to another body, and the other body gets the error 99, then it isnāt a problem with the body. However, if you move all of the equipment to another body, and verify that none of the equipment has issues, then something in the camera is dying.
If something in the camera is dying, the most people go through a 4 step process.
- Be sad.
- Buy a new camera.
- Send the old camera in to Canon for a full service and repair.
- When you get the camera back from canon, sell it on craigslist.
thanks so much for the help and information
iāll pass this on and hopefully itāll help him some
heās already on step 1, weāll see if heāll have to proceed to step 2
if hes in the area, i wouldnt mind picking up a refurb 30D for cheap.:wonder:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3335/3479756658_3a91803767.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3660/3479756498_dc86c0e6e8.jpg?v=0
http://www.flickr.com/photos/anti-girl/
I talked to a friend of mine that had a Err99 20D, and on hers, the problem was a shutter failure. She rented a camera while hers was at canon and ended up keeping it after it got refurbished. The replacement parts plus the refurbish cost about 100 bucks plus shipping.