UPDATE:This photo was shot indoors — Jeff posted a lighting setup shot here._________One of the best things about running a site like this is watching people use light to elevate their family photos. Every day, someone drops a photo of a baby (or kid, or sweetie) into the pool that looks like it could have jumped off of the pages of a magazine.Jef79m used a DIY beauty dish at camera left and a shoot-thru umbrella at upper camera right, both with speedlights at half power to overpower daylight. But that still wasn’t enough soft light to fill in all of those Butterball wrinkles.Note to the photographer: If you lose your memory card, it might be in Mackenzie’s arm somewhere…-30-This month’s feeds are sponsored by:

15 Tips for Great Candlelight Photography
Image by Sea Eye Have you ever tried to photograph a candle lit scene with your digital camera? The results can be stunning with the warm glow of flickering flames reflecting off your subjects face (can you feel the romance?) but the shooting in such a low light environment make it can make it a challenging situation. Here [...]

5 Quick Tips To Keep You Motivated
We all have those days. Days where you know you want to do something with your camera or photographs, but the motivation tank is on Empty. I’ve been having some of those days recently and came up with a list to help pop me out of the rut and back to being productive. [...]

Greetings from the Land of Cranes
Finally over my jet lag in Dubai, where the temperature is currently 167 degrees. Although, that’s fahrenheit, so that’s not as bad as it sounds. The humidity is 132% and the breeze is zero mph. Or less.But it is totally worth it, as I have been hanging out with the other intructors and learning loads about some really cool stuff without having to pay. More pix and some cool links after the jump.Dubai is perpetually under rapid construction, with three new skyscrapers popping up in in my field of view during the time it took me to write this sentence. I have met some wonderful folks, and am very much looking forward to meeting those of you who have signed on for the next five full days (gulp) of seminars.Among the cool people I have gotten a chance to meet for the first time is David Nightingale, of the absolutely lovely site, “Chromasia”. As you can see here, David will do whatever it takes to get the photo, even if it means steadying his lens with a huge tripod and his hand with a “Stella” beer…Seriously, go right now and check out Chromasia. You can see a few of his contruction shots here, here, here and here.Here is Burj Al-Arab, the totally over-the-top hotel as seen from our hotel’s roof. Our hotel is perfectly fine, of course. Until you compare it with the Burj Al-Arab, which is a “seven-star hotel” which is, like, three more starts than anyone else has.If you have a chance, take a few minutes and explore Chromasia. I am loving David’s stuff and wanting to know more about HDR now.This month’s feeds are sponsored by:

Funny Photo of the Day
No Seagulls Allowed

Funny Photo of the Day
Better than bleeding

Tip of the Day: All the Photo Contests You ll Ever Need (and how to win them)
Contests are a great way to get your name out there and see how your work stacks up to others. Check out Current Photo Contests…

Talkin’ Trash: Free Light Mods
(Updates at bottom)News photographers always keep a trash bag or two in the trunk of their car. They have lots of uses — waterproofing in the rain, keeping your cold gear from fogging up when you walk outside on a hot day, cleaning out the trash in your trunk (nah)…Enter my friend Aaron, who works at Google. FYI, he’s the guy who manually types in the phrase, “Did you mean, ‘vacuum?’” when you misspell the word in a search. Aaron just added a new use for white trash bags: Light diffuser. He just wadded the bag up, stuck it (and a CTO gel) on his main light, shot on tungsten WB and left his rim light ungelled for this cool self portrait. Typical Googler, he is ahead of the curve on Lighting 102, where we’ll be doing this same gel technique very shortly. (You can see his photo bigger here.)Pretty neat, IMO. So, to the list of free stuff offered to employees at Google (gourmet food, bikes, massages, etc.,) you can now add, “light diffuser.” Just find the nearest trash can and have at it.As for the look, Aaron was inspired by photos of the SF Jazz Collective. As jazz is all about improvisation, you have to think they’d approve of his idea._______UPDATE: Just got a text msg from Aaron, who is on a work trip to NYC, has just stepped into the B&H retail store for the very first time. Be afraid, Jayita. Be very, very afraid…UPDATE #2: Good news: Google sends you to NYC to lecture on the company dime. Bad news: Your trip coincides with a visit by Joe McNally (and free lecture) at the Mountain View HQ. (D’Oh!!!)-30-This month’s feeds are sponsored by:

The Best Photo Tip I Ever Received What Was Yours?
The following post on The Best Photo Tip I Ever Received is by San Francisco based photographer Jim M. Goldstein. Learn more about him at the end of this post. Far and away the best photo tip I’ve received to date has been… “Capture an image with a sharp foreground and the rest will follow.” What does that [...]

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