One example from my own work was this image of mine. Here there was no way I could have gotten this image outdoors without flash. The dynamic range was on about 4 f-stops difference. At the time I had to choose financially between; (2) $400.00 each, Sony Hotshoe Flashes plus a few hundred dollars worth of triggering equipment to make it work on location or get the studio strobes I’ve already had to work on location with the modifiers I already had. My strobes won out… besides everything else… they were more rugged and I had much more power available too me. Problem was getting them powered up on location. Enter what I recently discovered from Innovatronix. The Innovatronix Tronix Explorer 1200. A simple power box… plug in, turn on, fire, wrap up session. I took my strobes out on location and used them as though I were in studio. the only additional thing I had to consider was how much background exposure I wanted and handled that minor piece by using my shutter speed. But had I had the hot-shoe options only, I may have had recycle time woes, battery power woes, and safety issues (it started to sprinkle a bit at times).

Lighting On-Location reigns supreme!

Lighting On Location Reign Supreme!

Not to retrace my steps from the shoot, but, none of my gear, lighting tactics, or newly acquired knowledge would have mattered had I not had the tools to pull it off!  I actually needed the Tronix to complete my mission! After some real time had passed and  light levels dropped to near nothingness, I was still shooting and realized just how valuable that damn black box was!

Shooting on-location is something every photographer has tried. Many have failed and given up hope. Instead they have opted for the “safety” of the studio and become “Studio Exclusive”. Me, I can’t loose my edge. I love to light! Lighting is what I do best -its what I wrote about most of my time at Studiolighting.Net. I’ve been checking out gear all along the internet (mostly on accident) and its mostly been some seriously useful stuff!

By far the most useful tools I’ve run across are my trusty Interfit Reflectors I torture use and the Innovatronix light powering suite of power supplies. The new tool in the bucket is the outstanding Tronix Explorer Mini I was sent to beat down test. During the “Hell Week” I gave the unit, I put it through its “expected paces” the way a photographer who understands the product should use it. Here I took it out during midday with only an Alienbee B800 flash, a 36″ Octobox, stand, and 2 sandbags. Results I expected: Great. Results I got: Great +! The main thing I took away was that the Tronix Mini is perfect for the photographer who KNOWS what he wants and will be shooting at a fast pace. (By pace I’m referring to total shoot time not frames per second.) If speed is your thing… the Mini is your ticket.

Here you clearly see the Tronix Mini powering my shoot!

Here, I took out Jason Soares, an agency represented model from LA Models and went on location in the middle of the shopping district in Inglewood, California. Location was low on traffic but high on urban simplicity.

Time from setup to shot? 2minutes and 45 seconds! Hassle (On a scale from 01 – 10 – with 10 being the most hassle): -10 Thats right thats a NEGATIVE TEN SCORE ON THE HASSLE SCALE! I did this quick setup and fire shoot in the grand process in under 3 minutes! I’m counting the time from having all tools in hand, to first click! Mind you, we did NO scouting location or anything. We just wanted to get in… BANG (get some images) and BONG (get out)! Total shoot time with all changes and random children that belong to me shots… 35 minutes of shoot time! The weight was… LIKE NO WEIGHT! I had more complaint possibility because of the heavy duty Linco Inc. lightstand I was using more than the power source!

Here’s the big deal, ever since I got the original Tronix Explorer 1200 3 years ago, my onlocation shooting has SKYROCKETED! Locations are BETTER THAN STUDIO HANDS DOWN! I feel like I’m able to “Doorhoof” at times and “Hobby” at times (if emulation was the goal). The lack of weight that the Mini carries (or does not carry) is just astounding. I’m actually use to lugging around 70-80lbs of unnecessary gear…. it felt plain dumb taking out ONLY the tools that I “knew I would need” and nothing I “felt I might need“. But that’s exactly what the Mini was designed for. In = Out = Dinner! Its a money making photographers tool! It serves its purpose and has the plus of being durable.

Light Against Darkness

I’m not being paid in products nor am I being compensated financially for this post but I will by all means say that there are a number of tools that I have used and give credit to “helping” me become a “more capable” and the Innovatronix Tronix Explorer(s) have done there job with me. Its purely upgraded my shooting possibilities. I could shoot with small hotshoe flashes like the MASTER at it David Hobby – but its less expensive and for me to use what I already have. The truth is, the Innovatronix system of products didn’t upgrade me – It upgraded my photographic opportunities! As of now, I have a “Tactic” for: 12′Oclock Devil light (make studio whites), the beach, afternoon outside, evening, night (make studio blacks), single light on location wedding work and a miyriad of other situations that photographers sometimes dread! The “Innovatronix System” has enabled me to solution each one into a style I can reach into. I have a bookload of other “Tactics” this is one I just felt compelled to speak about. If you feel the need too you can learn more about Innovatronix’s power solutions here.

I’m DAVID GRIFFIN, (A.K.A. The Prince of Cheap) now get ta shootin!

Power to Go!

As a professional photographer (if you stay long enough) you find yourself one day having amassed hundreds of lbs of gear over time. Then you find yourself dreading going out and doing the thing you love to do the most! You realize that it’s not creating the image that’s gotten too you, but, it’s the things you do that lead up to that one click that’s beaten you up! You haul tons of gear around (for those of us who are not “hog-tied” to a studio).  You start saying the ultimate No-No “…Just how much can I leave and still get my shots?…” You begin to compromise, and limit your lighting options! That’s the worst feeling – Having to shoot this because you didn’t have the energy to bring THAT.

Unfortunately, some gear is just damn-near non-negotiable-must-carries: grip, on-location power, sandbags, and the inevitable (for maximum creative options) strobes! The years have not been kind to photographers who have had to carry such gear alone. The weight goes up and up… This photographer’s longevity and inspiration goes down and down with each session! I consider myself a “creative.” I seem too always have and want to have ALL my gear with me when shooting!

In the case of strobes – over the past couple of years a few companies have come to solve the problem of – “How do I get the studio from in here – to out there….” GRAND ENTRANCE: the Innovatronix Tronix Explorer 1200 (4) years ago. (Think of a small-black-rectangular 15lbs. version of Darth Vader…give him twin AC electrical sockets that you plug your AC strobes directly into and shoot just as one would in studio.) That titan lasted for 800-1000 shots per charge and had user interchangeable batteries (although it was a bit of surgery to do). The Tronix 1200 begat the Tronix Explorer XT (which was nearly the same weight but delivered double the capacity and half the wait time for strobe recycles)! The XT begat the XTse and the XTse has begat the upcoming behemoth 24 pound Tronix Explorer XT3 (Due out Late August – hopefully Innovatronix will get me one out to abuse err review/test. This past May 30th, 2011 we witnessed entrance of the Innovatronix Tronix Explorer Mini! Innovatronix was kind enough to send me one while my Explorer XT is with them for repair. (I dropped “Darth II” a whopping 9ft while climbing a ladder to shoot on a roof illegally… it still worked however it no longer would charge. What can I say – I had to get the shot!)

The Explorer Mini is a small 6lb on-location electrical power box (think of a teeny version of the Tronix Explorer 1200). The box is 3 inches thick, by 7.5 inches wide by 10 inches long (outside of the bag). Let’s put this in perspective. I now have the option of bringing out a 6 pound, box – 10 inches long, 7 inches wide and 3 inches thick, or, a 7 inch wide by 12 inch long by 5 inch tall 15 lbs box. As a photographer if the smaller box has the ability to power the shoot I can’t justify bringing an additional 10 lbs of weight (unless I’m going to use that weight as a sandbag).

The Explorer Mini essentially is an awesome solution that slims down the photographer’s bag. During my time with the Explorer Mini I abused the little work horse like no other! Aside from setting it on fire, I did virtually everything imaginable: ran the battery all the way down to zilch (twice!), timed the unit till full charge tested max shot capacity (essentially making the unit beg for mercy!). How does it still look new after having the S#!T kicked out of it – good engineering and manufacturing I must admit. I tested the Mini with an Alienbee B800 (set at its maximum of 320 watts). My drain test ended up giving me 322 flashes before the unit shut itself down! That is an awesome shot count for something so lightweight and so necessary a tool. Something worth note: 99.99% of the time a slightly knowledgeable photographer wont shoot at full power every shot! In my real world,  I rarely have to use more than half power! Meaning – the potential for 600 + shots per charge is definitely there! A plus in the power department!

The next area I tortured tested the Mini in was recharge time. After running the unit for 2 hours – firing full power shots with the B800 at 320 watts until it died I set up the unit to charge. Unlike previous Innovatronix strobe powering products the Mini’s charge unit is a separate entity that conveniently rests in a side pocket within the same bag that houses the Mini. The unit must be plugged into the Mini when its shut off then the unit may be plugged into a wall socket for powering. The charger has two power indicator lights. Green for “fully-charged” and red for “charging”. When the charger indicator lights only show red, the unit is charging. When both the red and green lights are on the unit has completed charge and is full. The charging process after totally depleting the Mini for me took approximately 5.5 hours. The next day when the unit was full, I rinsed and repeated the whole full power shoot and recharge process. This time the shot to shot actually increased to 330 shots at full power per shot. Amazing result!

Lastly, I took the out for a test drive in real world shooting… easy to do knowing beforehand the unit would withstand whatever I “realistically” would throw at it. I took it out on a shoot with a new model I‘ve been “grooming”. I took her to my local park to shoot some simple images where I knew I would be have to use a higher power from the strobe. Try this on for “real-world” use sake. I wanted to combine the purpose of the Tronix Mini (to reduce weight), and the typical situation users would be in. The sun was high and burning bright at 1:30pm (better know as “Devil Light”). There was NO overhead COVERING for our model. We had only a Interfit 5-n-1 Flexilite Panel using the diffusion cloth for a clean white background. We took our solo Alienbee B800 and no other lighting. As for light modifier I used a 36 inch Octabox.

Our image goal was to create several high energy white background images of our model that were, clean, simple and required the least amount of “technical” gear. By technical gear I mean electronically powered that is more complex than a reflector. Here was the gear packed: (2) light stands, (1) Alienbee B800, (1) Innovatronix Tronix Explorer Mini, (1) 36” inch Octabox, (2) 15lb Sandbags and (1) Interfit Flexilite 5n1 reflector and camera full backpack. Total weight: 68lbs (most of the weight came from the camera bag (approx 18.4lbs!)! Now, this is rehab coming from a guy that would go out with approximately 230lbs of gear (4 Tronix’s, 6-8 light stands, 6 flashes, hot shoe flashes, 12 sandbags, and more! I believe I have the right to say that I’m reforming really well!). The images below show what you can do with just one flash unit (just remember the coolest part. The Mini has TWO sockets that accommodate two flashes! So what does this say? The Explorer Mini has been specifically developed with the “working  photographer” in mind. You’ll have enough power to get through your session and smile at how much weight you saved. When I was finished, I felt like I stole the shoot because life was so easy having so little for the shoot.

In recent years Innovatronix has continued to release viable and aggressively priced tools that help photographer solve some of the most critical challenges to “getting the shot”. At the time of this writing, the engineering department over at Innovatronix are gearing up to release the Innovatronix Tronix Explorer XT3 that’s said to have double the capacity of the “Darth Vader Box” (Tronix Explorer 1200) and will be one of the most powerful power options available. Relevancy you ask? Innovatronix continues to set the tone and change the tone to the on-location power market. The Mini is an excellent choice if you have the desire to get out of the studio. One of the standout features is that the Mini has User replaceable batteries that I have seen on amazon.com for a ridiculously low price of between $10 and $15 dollars! This makes overall cost of ownership aggressively low priced! The largest thing I noticed about the Mini is its TANK-LIKE build like all other Innovatronix products I’ve experienced…. They DON’T PLAY WITH BUILD QUALITY ONE BIT! They even thought to make sure the bag has rear ventilation so that the Mini wont overheat unless the photographer forgets that it should be used laying flat with nothing covering its air vent when used in the bag!

Though the Mini is a joy, it is not without its flaws. Small as these“flaws,” are they are still flaws that are to be mentioned.

• Since the Charger is separate from the actual Mini itself and not integrated like previous on location power sources from Innovatronix

1. Users now have a risk of loosing it or breaking it in some wild manner

The Mini does not come with an auto charger plug.

1. I can’t see myself tying off to my car for a charge, but, that doesn’t mean the dedicated “no-mans-land” shooter out there wouldn’t.

• The Mini has no provision for an auxiliary/spare battery like the one introduced its “Father Product”, the Tronix Explorer XT.

1. A kind of put-off but definitely not a deal-breaker, because if I plan on shooting… I actually planned my session! When out with the Mini I wouldn’t spend all day thinking about my shoot as much as shooting my shoot. However if you experiment day on end without having a clue as too what your going to create – not having a fresh battery to tear through may hurt your prospects a fraction.
   1. i.      This flaw alone makes the current Mini ripe for an update that allows users to buy multiple batteries from Innovatronix and easily pop in and out with cheetah-like speed for fresh power.

CHECK OUT THE GALLERY OF IMAGES ABOVE TO SEE MORE OF THE MINI!

Here’s what I would say if someone were to ask me about the Innovatronix Tronix Explorer Mini. If you don’t want a 100lbs generator, a unit from “Auerbach-Xazserland” that has only one technician building and fixing them, if you don’t want to D.I.Y. your own electrocution, if you want TANK-LIKE build, if you want reliable recycle speed, if you want a low cost of ownership, if you want a light weight on-location flash powering system… its definitely a unit to look seriously at! I’d give the unit a 85 out of 100! GO GET IT!

Find the TRONIX MINI @ http://innovatronix.com/index.asp

Here’s a brief quick-start lesson. Take your model outside on the hottest – brightest day you can…

Put the sun behind her/him….

Put a diffuser between the sun and the model…

Place about 160 watts worth of flash in an umbrella or softbox outfront…boom! Instant “POTATES: Of Lighting Greatness!” (NOTE: If you have a flash with less than 160 watts of light you can still rock… just move it in closer!!! Sure, the closer the light source the less area it lights… but you can still do it!

• Now, you don’t have to set the light to the full 160 worth of watts… but since I shot this using an Alienbee B800 in an ebay Visico 35″ octabox at the distance I had it I had a solid F5.6. However I shot at F4.5 because our lovely had a bit of bronzing in her makeup style and I didn’t want her tones to show up orange or red… so in essence, I over exposed by about a half a stop. So what you can do is set your umbrella close enough to render the F-Stop that you can work with or like and go from there! If you don’t have a light meter to get a perfect judge of light intensity (how much light) you can always shoot and test and shoot and test till you get close in ratios visually. But I don’t recommend this being done this way as it can be time consuming. My recommendation… at all cost (try under $200.00 you can get the shepard polaris spd-100 light meter from amazon.com. The coolest thing about this meter is that it measures flash, and ambient light. It measures incident (light that is hitting the subject) and reflected light (bouncing off of the subject)  as well. Its so simple, I let my 5 year old take meter readings for me!!!).

MAKE SURE THE FLASH IS CLOSE ENOUGH TO PUT OUT F8.0 @ ISO 100

The “Lovely” below is C. Nicole. The goal was too create something edgy, with commercial appeal. As you can see it doesn’t take much when you have a great model at your disposal! You can book C.Nicole via email inquiry at spencer4pr@hotmail.com

Just a sidenote: the choice of light modifier doesn’t matter much… just grab the umbrella, softbox, white wall or whatever will give you a bigger light source than the standard reflector will work fine… afterall I’ve used this tactic at the beach with a 32″ shoot through umbrella! NO MORE EXCUSES… GET TA SHOOTIN!

Ohhh how did the images turn out you ask?

If you like this crash tutorial… hit me at twitter at twitter.com/destrianlives and let me know! I’ll keep posting quick start tutorials like this!

The very though of it sent one thing reeling through my mind… “I gotta be damn good for what I’m charging! In fact, I had better be BETTER THAN WHAT I’M CHARGING! You know what? Parents should think I under-charged them after I’m done with them!” That’s my honest mentality. OVERDELIVER as often as humanly possible! This quest itself forced me to take my prices back as I began to charge $25 per child session.  I studied 2x’s as hard and learned 10xs as much! My sole job now was simple… become the best since I’m charging. I had one more thing to contend with: (WARNING: CONTROVERSIAL STATEMENT UP AHEAD…. PROCEED TO READ WITH INTENSE CAUTION) The community I worked in was very unforgiving of mistakes. The rule of thumb was if you worked with African Americans and did a bad job one time…. close up shop because by the close of business day… you business was killed because of word of mouth!

That very thing also drove my mind into scientist mode, LEARN HARD – LEARN FAST – LEARN WELL! Natural Light shooting… CHECK! Studio Light shooting…. CHECK! Mixxed Light Shooting… CHECK! No gear besides camera shooting…. CHECK! No Lightmeter Shooting… CHECK! I had to learn a whole lot real fast! My fear of “That” stigma was strong enough to push me to a point of perfection. A perfection that has kind of hurt me… I sometimes fall into the trap of validating myself on getting paid. Meaning? If I’m not getting paid, I may not be that good. Sound familiar or am I the only one? WELL, OF COURSE I WAS WRONG! Some of the greatest image artist worked and still to this day work for the love of the art and not a dollar! My overall point is the desire to be GREAT (not just good or worse… good enough) made me put pressure of monetary value on my images to force me to become better. Did it make me better? Debatable. However what I will say is this… it made me learn a whole lot really fast in order to create pleasing images for my clients! Not that image creation alone is the only thing that matters however it is one big aspect. The forgotten area which is most important is marketing then presentation (I say this because I’ve seen blurry-underexposed-poorly posed images that sold for hundreds of dollars because they had the best presentation and marketing so I have no high horse). In other words, if you want to become a photographer, a great one… find out what about it drives you to become better before just shooting for a dollar. I know it sounds confusing, but for me, being given the dollar only told me how much value my work was perceived as at that time… but I’m telling you to be better! Dont just hunt money with your camera… hunt greatness with it!!

These images are the result of me going after perfection with children…. how it translated for me? I photographed them in harsh light and sometimes shady light. I used to science in to to figure out how to photograph much more rugged subjects and make them look flattering. Did it translate? In my opinion… yes. The bright brights of the park against the yellow park sand used to drive me insane! I what I learned on children I applied to beach shoots! I even became an avid Monte Zucker Scrim guy… why? All white in daylight! It translates great on children! The thought…. my persuit of greatness made me great in many areas in photography! So here it is Photographers…. GET AFTER IT AND BE THE BEST YOU YOU CAN BE!

Update: My condition of paid means good – long gone! New condition… Just plain being the BEST at what I do!

P.S. the lighting lessons on each type of shoot shown is coming! LOL! I know you want that…don’t you!

A few Sundays ago I spent a moment (about 10 of them to be exact shooting my little darlings. My daughters. I saw that after church they looked exceptionally pretty. I couldn’t resist… what father with the know how could? Told both my little girls to sit on the couch on there knees and bend there legs back a little. They said okay of course! I setup an Alienbee B800 on a C-Stand high above them and over my head. The flash was in an 36inch Octabox with a Grid (for all you strobists out there that must know). I set the output to give me F8 and….. POW! Instant super cuties!

Whats important about the image? FAMILY! Make sure you dont spend all your time shooting your clients and end up years later without lots and lots of portraits of your very own family! Its good for your creativity and good for your spirit! Take some time out to make great images of the ones that love y0u!

Let me tell you… this is how easy it is… If I really wanted too… i could’ve shot it without metering it! (I would not have gotten the ratios between the background and subject…. however I still could have gotten a beautifully exposed subject.)  EASY! If you have a small studio say in your living room, I’d say look into the Linco Flora light systems’ high powered fluorescent system with softbox and grid!

Now that you’ve see the shoot and the images?

YOU BE THE JUDGE? IS CONSTANT LIGHT VALUABLE?

YES THERE WILL BE MORE ON THIS SOON! CONTINUOUS LIGHT IS AN AWESOME TOOL! LEARN HOW TO USE EVERY TOOL… LEARN HOW TO ALWAYS GET A GREAT SHOT! NO EXCUSES… NOW GET TA SHOOTIN!

Mr. Hollywood

As a photographer one of the things I look for in my subjects is there strongest feature and I try to turn the volume up on that as far as I possibly can. In my eyes, that method seems to make any of my subjects flaws (or in some cases inabilities seem low priority). Its the way an artist spends time highlighting a particular area of a painting. I do this with either: lighting, posing, image composition or angle of camera to exaggerate what I want to be told as priority of the image. Its how I select what I want told loudest or most in an image. When I have a model with a strong face I tend to stay heavily away from romanticizing them I “beef them up”! For example, if his chin is strong… his pose will be overly aggressive. This tactic creates character. If his his chin is soft and his eyes are large and he happens to have relative expressive eyelashes… I stay within that range.

For example, in the image above… newcomer acter Sean Harrison is 6’2, well built, muscular, has a strong face structure with sharp lines… his obvious posing selections will be strong… AGGRESSIVELY STRONG AND STOUT! Why? It seems to bring out the domineering aspect of his “look”… Dont get me wrong – every subject wont fit a strong aggressive pose… but those that do… dont try to “soften them up” with less aggressive posing. Its a hard to sell visual… even for them. The only way to soften them up in my experience is to naturally off camera get them out of Model or Actor Mode and mood them into relaxing into your desired non-aggressive posing. As a photographer, heres your goal with the “Power Image” look for the most dominant aspect or feature of your subject and BOOM! BRING IT TOO THE SURFACE AS LOUD AS POSSIBLE!

Harrisons best suits came as I managed angles along with bright highlights and hyper aggressive posing. All combined to make a “Power Image”.

Stay Tuned… more on this subject with part two!

Photographers… use mobile blogging to show cool stuff on the road!

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For example…. “Junegloom” – Blessing or Curse? Blessing! If your skilled enough to see the dynamic range! Crow shots anyone?

Pay attention to the small movements that keep an eye out for and how I adjust my angle frequently to keep the model in optimal pose. YOU SEE HOW IT WAS DONE…. IMPROVE ON IT AND… GET TA SHOOTIN!