portrait photography and strobist books

david1701 said:
it's a mindset thing, v tricky to explain.

it's looking at a scene that could be shot perfectly well ambient and altering it to make it a bit better and have a different feel by adding a flash exposure to the ambient. I dunno I'm not communicating the idea in my head v well.
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But that's just using a tool to be creative with. If you used a studio head instead of a flashgun would it be different? If you bought a snoot instead of making one would you not be a strobist?

I use off camera flash for all my bmx stuff, sometimes using cardboard snoots and stuff but I don't think it warrants a new name to give myself because of that. If that makes sense?
 
joecobbs said:
But that's just using a tool to be creative with. If you used a studio head instead of a flashgun would it be different? If you bought a snoot instead of making one would you not be a strobist?

I use off camera flash for all my bmx stuff, sometimes using cardboard snoots and stuff but I don't think it warrants a new name to give myself because of that. If that makes sense?
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kinda, I mean you're using a studio head wrong, you're using it not in a studio, hotshoe flashes are for the hotshoe so to use them as flash heads is a bit wrong

I dunno I've confused myself now.

tbh a 'strobist' just sounds better than a 'guy using off camera flash'

use the words you like really, strobist is an acepted term for a way of doing things, c'est la vie
 
joecobbs said:
True it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things really, just interesting. Would you tell people you are a strobist then?
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only the sort of people that would know what it means, I consider myself a strobist, but if someone who wasn't into photography asked I'd say I like playing with light :D
 
I think the strobist way of shooting is new. It's different to anything that has gone on before, and its widespread popularity is really very recent.

I think the strobist style is about using flash in unconventional ways - using flash in situations that would not normally be handled that way, or even handled at all, putting light in unusual places, firing guns through modifiers and gels etc. Usually hot-shoe guns, but not exclusively.

The technology to make this all happen is quite new. TTL-auto flash, wireless remote firing, affordable radio triggers - that's all quite new. And none of this was really practical pre-digital because setting up multiple flashguns in unusual locations, then trying to work out an expsure that is anywhere near accurate - that takes a lot of time and skill with a meter, but only a second or two with digital by firing off a test pic.

The other thing about digital is that you can shoot with decent quality at high ISO - being able to use 400 or 800 ISO instead of 100 ISO with good quality film, increases the effective power of hot-shoe guns massively - like 300% - so they can now be used in ways that were impossible before.

All that is using new technology in new ways, and I think it deserves a new term. I like strobist :) Whether or not you also have to be an American new-age hippy with a ponytail is quite another question.
 
HoppyUK said:
The best book I've read for ages. I think it's rapidly becoming the strobist's bible - inspirational, practical, and a great read - The Hot Shoe Diaries by Joe McNally http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hot-Shoe-Di...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263700108&sr=1-1
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Arkady said:
I second that - not as detailed technically as I'd hoped, but gives you lots of scope to try things out for yourself...
Very useful...:thumbs:
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This is good news :)! I had a similar question to the OP, but was too lazy/stupid to post it here. Instead, I went to Amazon.co.uk and read all of the relevant book reviews. Luckily, I too chose "H.S.Ds.". I got my copy this week, but it's sitting in a (small) pile of other books on photography, so I haven't looked at it yet.

Think I'll dig into that one next :naughty:.

haggis said:
Does that mean we should call ourselves "flashers"? :lol:
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:p Well, it sure beats being labelled "terrorists"!
 
Mark Cleghorn's book 'Portrait Photography' isn't bad for the basics of studio and location portraiture. I got a copy pretty cheap off amazon
 
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