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Photographing a dancer in New York City and faking big soft window light with speedlights

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I’ve found the dancers often make the best subjects in front of the camera. Even if they’re not actually dancing, they often have amazing body awareness. They know exactly where each part of their body is. They know how to show off tone and definition in their muscles and limbs with effortless grace.

In this behind the scenes video from Joe McNally, we’re taken on a tour of New York City. Photographing a dancer new to the big city to create a portfolio. At least, that’s the premise of the assignment. Joe uses this scenario to show off the capabilities of the Nikon D500 and SB-5000 flash units. He also offers up one or two tricks along the way that you can apply to any camera or flash system.

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If you’re shooting flash outdoors, your colours are probably wrong. Here’s how to fix it with gels

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Shooting on location with flash is one of the fun parts of portrait photography for me. But, depending on the lighting conditions where you’re shooting, your flash may not be putting out the same colour as the ambient light. This means that while your subject may appear perfect, the environment can appear very cool or warm.

In this video, photographer Robert Hall explains the problem how it happens. It’s an easy problem to fix, all you need is a few gels, and Robert shows us how.

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How to cheat at high speed sync and shoot in bright conditions with studio strobes

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High speed sync (HSS) has taken off in a big way the last few years. A relatively new technology, high speed sync has largely been limited to speedlights. The lack of power has put many people off using it. Unless you have a bunch of them, you just can’t usually get the shots you want.

HSS features have been appearing in many new powerful studio strobes lately, but what about your old ones? Are they useless now? Absolutely not. In his latest video, Jay P. Morgan is here to show you how to get high speed flash capabilities with studio strobes.

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Did Canon just release a Nikon ad remake?

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I will say, right off the bat, the photography itself is pretty amazing, but this video recently released by Canon is eerily similar to a D500 & SB-5000 promo video Nikon put out with Keith Ladzinski back in April.

Canon’s “The Shot”, with Krystle Wright takes some speedlights and mounts them on drones in order to be able to get the flashes where no light stand can go, just like Nikon did. In fact, the videos are so similar they even used the same company, Falkor Aerials to fly the drone-mounted speedlights.

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Next month you can have a “39MP” Foveon sensor for less than $800 with the Sigma sd Quattro

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Sigma have today confirmed the final pricing and availability of the Sigma sd Quattro camera and EF-630 flash units announced in February, along with a new bundle that includes the sd Quattro and Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC HSM Art Lens.

The Sigma sd Quattro is a mirrorless camera with an APS-C Foveon sensor, which Sigma claim as being “equivalent” to 39MP, and will cost a mere $799 body-only when it starts shipping in July.

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Studio portraits: What modifier for what light?

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Santa Claus has you spoiled this year by offering you the studio of your dreams?  A kit of flashes, a backdrop support and even more rolls of paper?  It only remains to push the furniture in your living room out of the way to turn it into studio worthy of the name!

A single point hurts you in spite of all the new material, you do not know what light modifier to choose?

Beauty dish, softbox, stripbox, reflector bowl, umbrellas of all kinds and sizes, flash ring, etc…  It is a bit like choosing a new car, many choices but which really matches my expectations?

No worries, I’d be your dealer today to guide you by showing you the difference in all these modifiers!

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Sony shooters need wait no more, the Godox X1 triggers for Sony are now available

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Sony’s decision to go with a hotshoe design that no other camera system in the world supports has meant that Sony shooters have typically been limited to using Sony’s own expensive flash units, or going with some array of adapters that may or may not allow them all the functionality they need out of their flash units.

A short while ago, we mentioned that Godox, along with a few other gear announcements, had planned to remedy this situation by adding Sony capabilities to their X1 trigger system.  Today, that promise was made reality and now the Godox X1T-S has been officially released.

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Cheap Speedlight comparisons, which should you buy and why?

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Venturing into the world of flash, and radio triggers can be a confusing, sometimes frightening and potentially expensive prospect for those who are very new to it.  So, where do you start?

Photographer and YouTuber Tim Oxton aims to help you figure this out in this video comparing some low budget flashes and triggers to see how they measure up, and we also offer some suggestions of our own.

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The StrobiStrip is the slimmest speedlight strip light adapter available and it’s collapsible

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Strip lights have become quite popular over the last couple of years, and we’ve seen numerous options released compatible with both speedlights, as well for continuous light.

The StrobiStrip from Strobius presents something unique, not seen in these types of light modifiers before.  As well as being extremely thin, and usable with pretty much every speedlight ever made, the StrobiStrip is also collapsible, with the StrobiStrip 50 breaking down into a small pouch not much bigger than your average 105mm lens.

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Joe McNally offers an insightful behind the scenes look at a garage photo shoot

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Joe McNally is one of the photographers I first started stalking following when I decided to start shooting portraits, and his books, The Hot Shoe Diaries & The Moment it Clicks, are two that will ever remain on my shelf.

Year after year, for several decades now, Joe has continued to inspire and educate photographers all over the world through his books, his blog, in-person workshops, and his YouTube channel.

In this five minute video, shooting a Nikon D810 with a mix of SB-900 and SB-910 speedlights, Joe introduces us to Dominick European Car Repair in New York, and explains how he turned a garage into a studio.

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