Birthday presents

Yes, this week I celebrated my birthday. Sadder and wiser, I believe the expression is. Just wanted to use this blog to share with you a number of presents that hopefully make me a lot wiser, as far as (studio) photography is concerned. First and foremost, my wife gave me a Sekonic flashmeter. I was really looking forward to this. Yes, we all know (or should, at least) how to manually calculate the proper aperture (for those who don’t: guide number / distance (from object to light source) = aperture). In reality I always find this more troublesome than in theory. First of all, you use all kinds of add-ons, like diffusers, grids, reflectors, etc. They all influence your calculation. But what bothered me most was that, after taking the shot, it was difficult to properly judge the result on the back of the camera. I always shoot RAW. The image that’s presented on the camera screen is JPEG. In other words, a processed image. I always look at the histogram, but even then, seeing the real (RAW) images on the PC afterwards gave many disappointing results in terms of exposure. The good thing about working RAW is that you can easily compensate the exposure afterwards on the PC. Hopefully, these issues will all be history with my new flashmeter now. If you’re interested it’s a Sekonic L-358. The people at FotoFlits (www.fotoflits.nl) where I bought it, advised me this one, because it measures in tenths of a second or third of a stop. It therefore better matches the exposure scales of the camera. The cheaper Sekonic meters only measure in full stops.

Besides the meter, from the boys I got two excellent books: Light & Lighting by Michael Freeman and Studio Lighting Techniques for Photography by Christopher Grey. These books will certainly make me a lot wiser.

From my mother in law I got a 7-in-1 reflector set, including a tripod and arm to hold it.

While I was at the FotoFlits shop, I couldn’t help myself and also bought an extra set of grids (20° and 30°). Expect some pictures on this site made with this shortly. All in all, more than one could hope for on his birthday. I’ve got the theory covered with the books. Together with the new flashmeter, reflectors and grids I have no excuses left anymore, I’m afraid. For you to decide….

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