“from prep to page” – an orbis™ documentary
August 12, 2010 by admin
Before the most intense creative rush to my head fades, I’d like to show you my latest project, “from Prep to Page”. It’s the first orbis™ documentary, featuring adventure photographer Graeme Murray working on a real magazine assignment in the middle of nowhere.
Watch Graeme going through his thoughts before a big job, prepping, working and shooting, talking about how he works with adventure and extreme athletes. Then for a bit of fun, I shot Carena West, orbis™ muse and FHM’s “Girl Next Door 2010″. Look closely and you’ll spot the photos that you’ll see Graeme shoot. Before heading over to Carena’s to film her, the shop where I was buying a video tripod head excitedly showed me some new stock of Voigtlander lenses. I needed no prompting to ask cheekily if I could borrow one, a 58mm f1.4 II and that’s how I got the delicious shallow depth of field and general look in the closing scenes.
Wierdly enough, pro photographers are often the most reluctant to pick up a camera for fun. When you do something for a living, it almost always loses its appeal. I never took fewer photos than when I was working as a full-time photographer. I got so focussed on the operational side I forgot what it was like to shoot for the love of it.
Shooting and editting this latest and greatest orbis™ ring flash video has totally brought back the love of image-making to me. The love of photography and a newfound love of video. Graeme also reminded me about the love of photography… he seems to have never lost it at all. Maybe because his background was as a TV cameraman, who has relatively recently switched over to stills, and who now gets as many video assignments as photo.
To get inside his head and watch him work, check it out.
a cool orbis™ portrait in three steps… anywhere, every time
July 30, 2010 by admin
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 Read more
orbis™ + a tiny flash = MORE great light
May 25, 2010 by admin
A while back someone asked me if you can get the great shadowless orbis™ ring flash look with the tiny Canon 270EX. I wasn’t immediately sure, so headed down to my friendly local camera store to find out. Turns out it fits ! And here are the photos to prove it….
As you can see, you need to hold it differently to a normal SLR flash, but it’s no problem at all. But I really wanted to see if it could shoot properly with the orbis™ too, as small flashes like this and the Nikon SB400 aren’t very powerful. So I grabbed my favourite camera Read more
australia roundup… pics, tips and more
May 4, 2010 by admin
The distributors of the orbis™ ringflash in Australia, Kayell, recently invited me over to Australia to run a series of lighting seminars, meet some of the stores selling the orbis™ and generally hang out with my orbis™ in tow. Tough break you might think, but it turned out it was five non stop days of full-on touring, on my feet from 7am until sometimes as late as 2am before crashing briefly then getting my ring flash on the next morning. OK, so there were some fun times too, like a spectacular dinner at Melbourne’s Brisc restaurant.
And one magic moment when a silly idea turns into a photo you really really like. The final orbis™ lighting workshop was held at Glow Studios in Melbourne. For the shooting section, where everyone got to borrow some gear from Canon and Nikon who had kindly come along, we headed out behind the studio into a gritty, almost pitch-dark alleyway.
Having spent a few years working as a newspaper photographer, finding great background to use to find a photo quickly, almost anywhere, is a skill I had to learn fast. I’d been teaching all evening how to Read more
the orbis™ in Japan
March 30, 2010 by admin
Travel really knocks it outta you. There’s been a lot of really cool stuff happening here at enlight photo, particularly in our Skunkworks department where we’ve been beavering away working on orbis™ innovations and some totally new products in the pipeline. But while the paint dries on some patents, and the jetlag fades after my long trip to PMA in LA and Focus on Imaging in the UK, sit back and enjoy a new film we’ve just thrown onto Youtube, and our new iTunes video podcast channel. Shot by Irwin Wong in Japan for his excellent Japanorama site, he uses the orbis™ at parties for a great shadowless look and off-camera as a portable beauty dish. Check it out;
It’s back to business as usual here at the orbisflash.com blog from now on. Coming soon, updates from tradeshows, another orbis™ TV appearance and more.
The orbis™ arm Virtual Launch Party
February 5, 2010 by admin
At the end of last year we invited everyone with an orbis™ to a Virtual Launch Party for the orbis™ arm, now available worldwide.
Throwing our own global launch party was going to require a Trump-sized budget. So we threw out the idea to everyone through flickr and elsewhere to shoot any party with an orbis™, post the results to flickr and the results would become the Virtual Launch Party, full of fast’n’ easy shadowless light.
The results are finally in! My excuse for the delay was a new addition to my family that addled my brain and shocked my eardrums, and a whole heap of work to do on my next Strobist-inspired invention.
We couldn’t decide on one winner to rule them all, so came down to two. The first stood out for its colour, charisma and ‘leap off the page’ quality. The second winner just puts you right in the middle of what must have been a super-fun party, with a little perfectly balanced ambient light to tick the “technically accomplished” box.
So I guess you want to see the winners ? First up, let’s step into Christopher Goette’s glamorous life with.. Read more
Tu-whit to-wooo
September 7, 2009 by admin
I heard there was a display of falconry at a nearby garden centre last weekend. It’s something that I’ve always had a passing interest in, so I headed on down with my new D90 and an orbis™ in the car. Unfortunately the birds weren’t flying, but after having a nice chat with the chap running the show, I asked if he’d mind if I photographed his bird, a majestic Eurasian Eagle Owl. I was surprised to discover that they don’t mind flash photography, so I grabbed my orbis™ from the car and voilà!
He’ll be appearing on the gallery page shortly, too. To get this, I set my camera… Read more
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