Carol Gering






         Just a place to post random thoughts

June 11, 2010

Determined to master off-camera flash photography

Filed under: photography — carol @ 5:24 pm
Tags: ,

Here’s the confession:

I’ve read a half dozen books on lighting, attended workshops on the use of strobes, and frequented the Strobist blog

I can give you definitions for the common vocabulary: E-TTL, dragging the shutter, slow shutter sync, fill flash, flash exposure compensation, high speed sync, second curtain sync, inverse square law…

…and yet my flash photography remains hit or miss (i.e., try various settings with some level of logic and hope for the best).

Here’s the problem:

Much of the information I’ve read and the workshops I’ve attended have focused on Nikon equipment. I know it should be transferrable knowledge, but I’m just not there yet!

Here’s the plan:

Reading: I’ve found a new book, Mastering Canon EOS Flash Photography. It’s specific to Canon, and I’m loving it!

Research: I’m actively looking for new online sources to follow. I’ve found a photographer named Zach Arias who’s using Canon and producing some training material. (In fact, he’s steaming live on UStream right now.) Not ready to recommend anything yet, but it’s a beginning.

Practice: This is undoubtedly the most important. I’m making a commitment to dedicate time this summer–and I’m saying it out loud to you here, so I’m really on the hook.

That’s it. Just trying to make myself accountable to follow through on this!

October 22, 2008

InDesign to Flash

Filed under: All things Adobe — carol @ 2:09 pm
Tags: , , , ,

I have to admit I haven’t yet spent much time looking into the new features of Adobe CS4 products—that’s on my things-to-do list for next month, when I’m planning to attend Adobe Max 2008. As a preview, however, I’m particularly intrigued by the new features that allow InDesign to export working swf files as well as xfl files (ready to import natively into the Flash authoring environment). This clip from Adobe TV gives a demo. It’s about 30 minutes long, and you have to persevere through a bit of cheesiness at the beginning. (The part where he speaks to plush stuffed toys only lasts for seconds…resist the urge to turn it off there! Seriously.) It’s really a fascinating idea, and I’m looking forward to exploring it further.