a cool orbis™ portrait in three steps… anywhere, every time
July 30, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
One of the things I love about the orbis™ is the way you can get insanely cool photos with it, wherever you are. We coined the phrase “anywhere, every time”. I’m going to explain how true it is… and along the way I’ll feature a little “before and after” fun.
Tradeshow demo; model, black popup backdrop and an orbis™ in the middle of a packed tradeshow floor.
Picture the scene, I’m in the basement of a really cool camera store in Rome, demo’ing the orbis™ for some sales staff. I don’t have a funky black backdrop and I don’t have a model with me. So I’m gonna have to make do with one of the salespeople there. I’m killing myself trying to remember his name, but it escapes me.
So I shoot a standard, off camera flash shot. This is the before. This is what you get if you’re outta luck and don’t have your orbis™ to hand. Despite his winning Roman smile, it’s a pretty harsh shot. Even on flash white balance and his tanned skin, it looks over-flashed.
Bam! Bare flash. Shadows. Harsh.
As per usual for me, I’m using a Nikon D90, an old SB800 and syncing them using the good ol’ CLS system (check this Youtube vid out for a rundown on setup). The results are pretty grim. My camera is set to M, 1/250 F5.6 ISO200 with the flash set to TTL.
So let’s throw the orbis™ onto the flash and, leaving all the settings untouched, go again.
Bingo! Soft shadowless lighting.
Now bearing in mind that at the time I wasn’t expecting to publish these photos, they were more so that the guys could see the orbis™ in action, that’s a pretty passable portrait. If you ignore the photo on the wall in the background bissecting his head. But you can see the lovely, shadowless lighting effect you get from the orbis™.
With no need to mess around with camera settings and no fancy setup hassle. And to top it off, a lovely small round catchlight in his eyes.
So let’s step it up a notch and take the orbis™ off camera, holding it out to my left….
Soft shadows, directional light. Mood central.
See the effect ? Directional light, but without the hard edged shadows from the first photo, thanks to the orbis™. The orbis™ is unique in the way it reshapes the light from your flash, but what it also does is change the size of the lightsource too. To one about the same size and shape as the face. So when you hold it out at arm’s length as close to a portrait subject’s face as you can, you’ll find it gives you this lovely directional, moody but still flattering effect. And now that I’ve actually bothered to frame the guy properly, with no distracting background elements, it’s a really cool shot.
But let’s go one step further and get something even cooler. Same off-camera effect, but this time I ask the dude to turn so that he’s looking across me at 90 degrees, off to my left. Then I hold the orbis™ directly in front of his face and WHAM!
Brilliant. Off camera orbis™, side lit.
Cool huh ? Now consider what we’ve just done. In a little under 60 seconds, we’ve got THREE very different but independent looks from an average looking guy in a basement thanks to the orbis™. No other lighting tool can do that. I invented it, and even I get excited by this kinda thing.
These are just some ideas you can get with your orbis™. Have a play. Move it around.. on camera, off camera, close up, far away, subject near the wall, away from the wall, you get the idea. And when you like the results, throw your pics up onto the orbis™ ring flash flickr group.
the orbis™ meets a friend
July 21, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
As international mega celebrity and Hollywood royalty David Schwimmer shook my hand, I couldn’t help reminding myself it was all thanks to a photography idea I hatched in my garage in 2005.
When in Rome....
Rewinding a few months, I had been demonstrating the orbis™ ringflash on the Snapperstuff stand in the UK when a well-dressed older gentleman had gently told me that he would be my distributor in Italy and that I was immediately to dispatch him several shipping cartons of orbis™ ring flashes. When I told him I would have my office send him some distribution papers to sign, he smiled and with a far-away look said in his excellent, slightly accented English, “You don’t-a need-a the contract. I shake-a your hand, I keep-a my word.” And strangely, that is by and large how things have progressed.
A few weeks later I began to receive insistent faxes that I was needed in Italy to brief his salespeople and tour some dealerships. Flying into a country for a series of demonstrations is not something to be taken lightly. Aside from the time away from my desk and the expense, I always try to combine tours with tradeshows so that I can cover a lot of ground in one hit. And aside from the lure of Italian food, I had no other reason to be in Europe in July. But after much thought, I decided that business development is important, even when I wasn’t totally sure of the business that could develop. So tickets were booked and last week I landed in Milan after a nightmare trans-global 36 hour air (and airport) marathon.
Another mobile office... Frankfurt Airport en route to Milan.
It turns out that GruppoBP, our new Italian distributor, belieing their CEO’s gentle and relaxed manner, is a very well-run, pro-active and cutting edge company.
Solder central... Dimitri and his photo gear recovery workshop
It quickly became clear that most of their dealers are, too. Hard to concentrate when you’re in a country where even the parking wardens are cute though….
Rome. City of gorgeous public servants.
So where does David Schwimmer come into it ? Turns out that my host’s niece used to work in publishing in Italy, so at some point had found herself revolving in Hollywood circles. We met her for lunch halfway through our Italian orbis™ ring flash tour, on a scorching hot day in Florence with one of her close friends, the wife of another Hollywood mega-star. Discretion forces me not to say I lunched with that day, as I reminded myself that there’s nothing worse than being presented as merely “the wife of… “ so-and-so. I’m sure you know what I mean… ever been introduced to some of your girlfriend or wife’s friends as “Oh, this is X’s husband/ boyfriend,” and finding your name is inconsequential? Well, so it is, let’s just suffice to say that she was incredibly charming, gracious and talented, with a high flying career in theatre. Arm candy this lady most definitely isn’t. So lunching with Hollywood royalty was weird enough, but then my host’s niece mentioned that she’d spied David Schwimmer over my shoulder, with some friends and his stunning new fiancée, photographer Zoë Buckman. It seemed rude to turn in my seat so I took the niece’s word for it, but moments later, he came over to our table, kissed the niece like an old friend (which I found out later she was) and introduced himself to us. David and Zoë stopped by our table to chat for a few minutes and then headed off to the Uffizi gallery. Leaving me way beyond bemused at how the day had turned out. I always hoped that inventing the orbis™ ring flash, bringing it to market and seeing it on sale around the world would bring me fame, fortune and a harem of gorgeous models hanging on my every word. I wouldn’t quite say it’s all in the bag yet, but I have to tell you, it’s certainly a crazy ride. And thanks to a random encounter with David Schwimmer, crazy would be about right. Next up on the blog, a great portrait tip.
photographic pranks at PMA digital life expo
July 7, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Melbourne Australia’s PMA Digital Life Expo this year was an absolute blast. If you’ve never been to Australia, it’s definitely worth the trip, particularly if you can make it around PMA time. We spent the weekend demoing the orbis™ ringflash to hundreds and hundreds of keen photographers. At one point a fight nearly broke out the crowd got so huge… It was a blast and merits a blog post of its very own at a later date. But first, we ran a hilarious competition…
A big shout goes out to Christoph Ziegenhardt for winning AU$300 worth of Kayell Australia camera gear in the orbis™ Stealth Sticker prize draw! What the heck is a “Stealth Sticker” competition I hear you ask ?
Visitors to our orbis™ stand at the PMA Digital Life Expo took an orbisflash.com sticker, stuck it in a cunning,humorous or artful location (or all three) and shot it with any camera they had to hand. We were blown away by the creativity and enthusiasm of the photographers that submitted. Here are a few of our favourite pictures. To see all the entries head over to our facebook page.
Christoph Ziegenhardt's winning photo, © Christoph Ziegenhardt 2010
Stealth Sticker entry from Jason Lau, Highly Commended, ©Jason Lau 2010
We loved Jason Lau’s picture so much that we gave him the Highly Commended Award and sent him a limited edition orbis™ T-shirt.
Stealth Stick entry from James Vannarom Lao, ©James Vannarom Lao 2010
Turns out that James Vannarom Lao owns the Lolly Pops Playland and cafe in Narre Warren, Australia. We knew there was a story behind his photo, but turned out to be some good ol’ product placement.. his and ours! They’ve even got their own Facebook page…
Stealth Stick entry underwater in her fishtank, by Michele Eason © Michele Eason 2010
Stealth Stick entry from Sarah Smith © Sarah Smith 2010
Gold distinction for the orbis™? We couldn’t agree more Sarah.
Another great Stealth Stick entry from Christoph Ziegenhardt © Christoph Ziegenhardt 2010
Think you can do better? If you are one of the photographers worldwide who has a limited edition orbis™ ring flash sticker pack, post some of your own Stealthy Sticker photos* on the flickr or facebook page. Particularly impressive photos will earn you fame, glory and perhaps a little present from us.
*enlight photo ltd is not liable for any legal action or injury, which may result from over zealous attempts to photograph your orbisflash.com stickers. But we will probably laugh at your misfortune.
inside an orbis™ workshop
June 14, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
PHEW ! PMA Melbourne was an absolute BLAST. Now I’ve been home long enough to get my thoughts together, I’ll be throwing together a roundup here on the blog later this week.
In the meantime, I just thought I’d post some more photos from the recent series of orbis™ workshops in Australia I ran last month. Y’know, to kinda remind myself how pleasantly sunny it was in lovely Australia (as I write this it is chilly and pouring with rain outside my window). First up though, I was stoked to find photographer Aaron Fong appear at one of the workshops in his limited edition orbis™ T shirt. Aaron recently came runner-up in one of our competitions so it was great to finally meet him. And two T shirts in one room deserved a photo…
Back to the glorious sunshine, great photos, new friends and beautiful.. models. After giving everyone a run-through of the orbis™ in Sydney, we headed outside to the park in front of Canon’s Australian HQ to balance ambient light with shadowless orbis™ ring flash. If you weren’t there, here’s what went down:
To see more of the stunning Louise, check out my full blog post on the Australian orbis™ lighting tour. JM
in melbourne this weekend? $300 could be yours!
June 2, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
I’m off to PMA in Melbourne in a couple of days time for a non-stop series of orbis™ demos working with the stunning Tracey Lee Beswick from Giant Models on the Kayell Australia stand. To make it even more fun, my crew and I have come up with a fun competition we’ve dubbed the “Stealth Sticker” contest. It’s as easy as 1-2-3 and AU$300 of Kayell Australia vouchers could be yours…. See you in Melbourne !
Prizes will definitely NOT be awarded for posting orbis™ stickers on the outside of tall buildings, or right next to the Canon, Nikon or any other big camera company logos around the show. Or wait… perhaps they will…….
Hop on over to the orbis™ ring flash Facebook Page for details and to watch the competition unfold.
