A moment about portraits...

I have been pouring over books and the interwebs looking and delving into the use of strobes and off camera flash.  Now, I am not opposed to flash.  I think it should be looked at as just another tool to achieve a desired look.  After all there is no photo without light, and in the absence of light we have to introduce some.

I have the standard flash units, but I broke down an purchased a set of studio strobes.  I received the box much as a child rips into the paper on Christmas.  I had the lights set up in about ten minutes with the umbrellas attached, and then waited for the correct subject matter to strike me.  Thankfully my wife and daughter arrived home just in the nick of time.

I wanted to comment on this as there is something I noted in most of the "instructional" sets for the use of off camera flash or strobes.  In almost all of the posts I noticed that there was something missing.... the light settings.  Now I understand this is dependent on each situation, but why can't someone give a starting point to go from.  I messed with the strobes and noticed a decent set up that should save a lot of time ext time to set up.  Main light - 3/4 to full, fill  around 1/2, hair light 1/2 to 3/4.  That is all I did... and fired away.

LIGHTS!

Okay folks, I broke down and bought a set of location strobes for portrait photos!  They are going to be a nice addition for shooting family sets.  I am also going to work on a battery set for outdoor location shooting!  This should be fun!

Update to the Boulevard Brewery!

Just received the notification for the property release from Boulevard Brewery to be able to sell my shots from there!  Check out the site, www.tblphotography.com and go to the Boulevard gallery.  I should be back in there in a few weeks, so there will be more.

Went on a photo shoot today!

The Boulevard Brewery in Kansas City, Missouri.  I walked in there and the first thing I noticed was that everyone was smiling.  These were not put on smiles... people, walking by themselves would walk around the corner not knowing I was there... smiling.  This was one place that the employees genuinly appeared to enjoy working there!  What ever they are doing as a company must be working for the employees!

                                          http://www.tblphotography.com/boulevardbrewery

Went for a walk...

I drove downtown yesterday, and went for a little walk around downtown Kansas City.  I found it interesting, like so many downtown areas... there were old, run down shells of buildings.  Buildings that years ago were filled with apartments, businesses, people.  Now they stand waiting for something.  But I also noted that there was construction going on around them.  I saw streets steady with traffic.  I saw people walking in and out of apartment buildings.  I know that Detroit is in the news lately about the decay of its Urban Core.  I just hope Kansas City, Missouri gets a hand on its core... because like all of decay... Urban Decay can spread.