My weakness

OK, popcorn IS one of my weaknesses, but that's not what I'm writing about. My weakness is off-camera lighting. It's hard, it's frustrating, and many times off-camera lighting can ruin a photo.

The problem is so many people do it so well. The solution: get better.

As much as I work on my blog, my brand, my website, my image...whatever. The first thing I think about when I wake up is taking better pictures. That's numero uno. The holy grail. The big cheese.

To fix my off-camera lighting phobia (strobophobia) I'm participating in the strobist.com boot camp. Each week, strobist author David Hobby creates an assignment. Readers submit their photos and he chooses the tops for a photography related prize of some kind. Strobist has like 4 million readers from all over the world.

The second assignment (OK, I'm a little late to the party) is food photography. Click here if you're a photographer. If you're not, be prepared to fall asleep with technical stuff.

Here's my first foray into the strobist boot camp food photography: "Movie night"

MMMMM. Doesn't it look yummy!

For photographers:

I lit this with 2 Canon 430EXII speedlights. The back one was gelled CTB to emulate the blue cast of a Television, and the main light was gelled 1/4 CTO with a photoflex 16" softbox to warm up and light the popcorn. They were both triggered with PocketWizard FlexTT5 and MiniTT1.

I also used two TRA actions: Pool party and highlight separator.

For brides/couples:

The popcorn was yummy. Practically, the principals in this assignment can be used throughout the wedding day. From lighting cakes to rings to bouquets.

Wish me luck!

Comments

[Michael Strout]

Very Clean!
I have considered doing the Boot Camp, but I don't have enough time.

Would a midweek, or weekend Photomeetup be better for you?

[Trav]

Looks good to me. And I don't even like popcorn.