Do-it-yourself: Speedlight Snoot from Pringles' Box

Have you ever wanted to have a speedlight snoot for your flash for free and in 2 minutes? I show you how you can make one yourself from an empty box of Pringles and scissors. 

Learn Lighting Techniques with Strobox Vol.3 Photo Book (Promo Code)

Strobox.com is a great community site for sharing lighting schemes and learning new lighting techniques from others. They just released their third book, Strobox Vol.3 (both digital and printed versions) with a selection of 50 photos. This year's Strobox's book was produced with the help of Udi Tirosh, a photographer and a blogger of DIYPhotography.net. I'm particularly proud of this announcement because one of my photographs has been selected and features in Strobox Vol.3 photo book.

The book is a great source for lighting inspiration and learning . There are two version: - e-book available here: http://goo.gl/z4oktn - softcover print version: http://goo.gl/T5oyNh

To get 20% off the print version, use promo code OCTOBER20 (must be all capital letters) during checkout. Hurry up because it's valid only until the end of October 2013!

Dear ModelMayhem wanna-be models, please don't …

put half-naked or bikini pictures in your portfolio, with you butt sticking out postures that say 'hump me'; well, unless you want to get a job in Hooters or a strip club. Before I continue with my ramble, let me give you some feedback. I'm a European photographer who moved to Memphis in June 2013. I was a freelance photographer in Belgium and I occasionally used ModelMayhem to network and find models and make-up artists. I started using the website much more often when I moved to the US, and I was really surprised with what type of pictures female models put in their portfolios.

At first I thought that it might be a culturally artistic difference and that I simply didn't understand the US photography and the American-style of ModelMayhem. Maybe I was right, maybe I don't understand it and my photography style and believes don't fit in the US. But hear me out…

I spent hours, hell, days and weeks on searching for aspiring and/or interesting models with potential for producing interesting photographs but I all kept finding were nasty looking portfolios. You ask: What are 'nasty looking portfolios'? I'm not sure how to explain it without swearing. Just try to imagine (for obvious reasons I can't publish here examples) a portfolio full of half-naked or biking pictures in stripper shoes (if you don't know what these are, don't worry, I just learned it myself - click here); where a model bends in unnatural way, sticking her bust and butt out. Do you get the picture?

If you ask me, these are not pictures suitable for a modelling website and I'm rather repelled than attracted as a photographer by such pictures. However, these pictures are perfect for applying to Hooters or a strip club. But again, I might be wrong. You know, these culturally artistic differences…

To clarify, not all aspiring models have these type of pictures in their portfolios; but from what I've seen so far, most of them do in Tennessee and the neighboring states. In my personal and humble opinion, it's just sad.

Industrial Woman Shaman Photoshoot

If you follow my blog, you already know I've moved from Belgium to the US. Although I was very busy organizing the move, I had time for my last photo shoot in Belgium on the theme of  'contemporary woman shaman'.

woman shaman

Justyna Kuklo, who is a designer and a make-up artist, contacted me with her ideas for the woman shaman theme. We were very lucky to get the industrial site for the photo shoot. In fact, we ended-up having 2 slightly different shoots on the same day, but both on the theme of the contemporary woman shaman.

woman shaman

I have to admit that the pictures from the second shoot (in this blog post) are my favorite.

Make-up: Justyna Kuklo Model: Viktoria Bocevska Assistant: Jav Luc

ANNOUNCEMENT! Konrad moves to the US!

Well, what can I say more? :) I've been given an opportunity to move to the US, where I'll be working on some new and exciting personal photography projects. This unique and once in a lifetime opportunity came quite fast and unexpected. It took me some time to take my decision but there you go: I'm moving to the US! The move will be very soon because if everything goes according to the plan, I'll touch the US soil already at the beginning of June (yes, next month!).

The US Photography Projects

I don't know yet what my photography projects will be in the US. It's something I have to decide on quite soon. For sure, they will involve traveling, people and culture. I decided to drop studio photography and focus on outdoor and on-location photography. I really enjoy putting a subject in a unique and special environment and combining natural and artificial light. There is also a certain degree of unpredictability when shooting outdoor (changing light, environment, etc.), which makes it so exciting for me.

Follow me in the US

If you've been following my website/blog and my Facebook, Twitter and/or G+ accounts, not much will change. The website and the blog's addresses will stay. I might create an additional website (or two) that will focus on my photography projects.

Aokatec AK-TTL Speedlight/Flash Trigger Review

Most of you heard of speedlight (flash) TTL triggers from PocketWizzard, Phottix and Pixel King. But I'm pretty sure that the majority of you didn't know about Aokatec's TTL triggers. Aokatec, like many other similar companies, is based in China. Honestly, I didn't know about Aokatec myself until I received their first TTL flash trigger for testing, a set of AK-TTL for Nikon. If you have been considering a TTL trigger from Aokatec (they have AK-TTL for Nikon, Canon, Pentax and Sony at the moment), then you might want to carefully read this short review because AK-TTL is not a typical TTL speedlight trigger and differs considerably from the TTL flash triggers currently available on the market.

Aokatec AK-TTL's Transmitter and receiver

How does the AK-TTL work with the transmitter?

The short answer is: unusually. The long answer is a bit more complex. I think the most important information for the potential buyers is that AK-TTL is very unconventional and I haven't seen a similar system on the market yet.

At first, I found the AK-TTL's way of triggering flash quite complicated, because the transmitter unit is not mounted in the camera's hot-shoe. Yes, you read it well and here is the complicated part. The transmitter doesn't obtain the TTL or triggering information from the camera's hot-shoe but from the built-in (little) flash. Therefore, you have to set up the camera's flash as a TTL off-camera trigger and pop it up. Then you place the AK-TTL's transmitter on a hot-shoe bracket.

I know that I still haven't answered the question how does it work. The Aokatec representative had to help me in solving the mystery and I was told that "when pop-up flash fires, there's an invisible electric wave around the (pop-up) flash. There's a special sensor inside AK-TTL TX (transmitter) that gathers information from electric wave. Then the TX processes the electric wave information into control signal data, and sends it to the RX (receiver)."

AK-TTL TX hot-shoe bracket and RX with IR cable

The problem I've found with the hot-shoe bracket (see picture) is that if you put it on the camera first before popping the flash up, the flash hits the bracket quite hard. I don't know if it might cause the built-in flash's plastic frame to break, but it's definitely something I would like to avoid from happening.

The Receiver - the missing hot-shoe

The AK-TTL's receiver (RX) doesn't have a hot-shoe for a an off-camera flash and I have to say that it's something I can hardly accept nowadays. So if you want to use the TTL capabilities of your camera and the off-camera flash in high-speed sync, things get a bit more complicated.

So to use the TTL, you need to take one of the cables that come in a box with AK-TTL - a cable with an IR sensor. You have to put this IR sensor (let's call it an IR transmitter) exactly where your off-camera's flash has it's IR receiver. To help you do that, Aokatec included a nice thick yellow rubber band that will hold the IR transmitter tight to your flash.

AK-TTL transmitter RX on Nikon SB-900

You have to be quite precise to match the IR transmitter to the flash's IR receiver, otherwise it won't work. Of course this adds few more steps to your workflow as well as extra cabling that you have to be careful about. For me, it's not a problem when photographing in a studio. However, I found it rather problematic when shooting on location, especially for clients, where everything has to be done quickly.

Reliability

I found the AK-TTL for Nikon to be quite reliable. The only problem I had was that there was quite a lot of interference (probably from other household devices, like WiFi) where the RX (receiver) was triggering flash, even though the camera with a transmitter (TX) were lying on my desk untouched. Changing the radio channels solved this problem.

The AK-TTL proved to be reliable outdoor. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to test the real maximum distance between the TX and RX (FYI: Aokatec claims that the maximum transmission distance is 110m/360ft.)

Packaging

Unfortunately, the AK-TTLs' boxes have to be improved and you have to be really careful when buying the units: there are no marks or indications whatsoever. You don't know from looking at the box whether it contains receivers and/or transmitters and for what camera manufacturer (Nikon, Canon, Sony, etc.). This is quite unusual so pay extra attention if you plan to get AK-TTL.

Aokatec AK-TTL packaging

No manual so count on yourself

I received 2 boxes of AK-TTL and unfortunately there was no manual inside. I don't think it's much of a problem because you can get it online from the manufacturer's website. If you don't print it, you will save some extra trees :) Maybe Aokatec did that on purpose.

Price

When publishing this review, you can get a set of AK-TTL (1 receiver and 1 transmitter) for Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Olympus and Sony for $109 (+ shipping and import taxes) directly from the Aokatec's online store.

Final Comments

I'll keep the final comments on AK-TTL short.

Pros: - relatively small and light units; - both the receiver and the transmitter use standard 2xAAA batteries; - quite reliable (I would give it 8/10).

Cons: - requires to use extra bracket for the transmitter that adds extra workflow and takes time to setup; - the IR cable with IR transmitter (attached to the receiver) has to be attached precisely on the speedlight's IR receiver, which often is hard to find on the speedlight - it adds extra cables and work, which I found problematic when working outdoor with a photo crew when things need to be quickly setup and ready; - no hotshoe on the receiver; - the price - looking at the pros, the cons and other alternatives on the market, the price could be a bit lower for AK-TTL.

Visual Impressions of Porto - Night Panorama Photograph

This is the third part in the photography's mini-series on Porto, Portugal I titled 'Visual Impression of Porto'. You can read and see the previous two blog articles.There is really not much to say about this Porto's night panorama photo. Some of you might be interested how I took this night panorama. The panorama you see is made out of 7 separate pictures that were stitched together in post-processing. Each picture was taken on a tripod in long exposure. Here are the Exif details: ISO 200, f/7.1, 8 sec. exposure.

The panorama by itself is quite big, actually it's huge: 15450x4093 pixels.

Visual Impressions of Porto - Art Museum

Porto Art Museum - Panorama of sculptures

When you're brainwashed with a variety of TV series, movies and pop culture, it's good visit a high culture place, like a museum, from time to time (at least, that's what my girlfriend says :) ).

The first museum that we visited (out of two, the second museum we plan to visit is a photography museum) was the Porto's Art Museum. The most interesting, in my very personal and subjective opinion, was the sculpture exhibition.

Porto Art Museum - Sculpture

FYI: All the pictures were taken with an iPhone and edited on an iPad.

Porto Art Museum - Sculpture

Visual Impressions of Porto - Abandoned Buildings

I arrived to Porto yesterday (Sunday) and I'll be spending here the whole week with a couple of planned trip to the cities nearby. I think that this short holiday is a pretty good opportunity for a little photo project. Although the weather forecast looks really bad for this week (rain every day), I came to Porto with these two things in mind:

- to shoot some night photography of Porto (yes, I dragged a sturdy[=heavy] tripod with me);

- to take a few pictures each day around a theme or something that I've noticed/discovered that struck me about Porto or Portugal.

Porto's abandoned building

For the latter, I noticed that Porto has lots of abandoned buildings. Every street has at least a couple of derelict buildings that in many cases are still for sale. But I don't think that these building 'destroy' Porto's look. On the contrary, they give the city it's visual identity and ambience!

FYI: the pictures were taken with an iPhone and edited on an iPad

Porto's abandoned building