Six years ago when teaching lighting to the School of Photography 1 in Kona Gary S. Chapman’s daughter Sara helped as part of the staff for class. Sometimes she was a model for the students. This is one of the assignments I used to give where the students were mixing flash with available light. In this photo, Hasting Franks took the photo as other classmates tossed water onto Sara.

This was where the student’s used a studio monobloc light to overpower the sun to shoot the assignment.

Today more students are using the Godox because it is more affordable than their Sony, Nikon, Canon, or Fuji brand flashes.

I did a post not too long ago using them to light the soccer players.

Here is the lighting setup for both of those soccer photos:

For the assignment shoot this week in Kona, Hawaii we were illustrating how to improve a difficult available lighting situation like this one here.

To do the assignment this year I took the class to the coffee shop on campus where it had been raining. I picked a situation where the off-camera flash could improve the lighting in a situation. Here you can see that one lady is backlighted and the other lady has a light on her face from the window.

On the far left you can see not just the Godox V860IIN but the instructor for the school Dennis Fahringer getting a photo of me demonstrating this to the class behind me.

Here you can see how much the off-camera Godox V860IIN flash helped the photo.

The assignment PDF is here for you.

They have to first take a photo where there is no flash and then take a second photo where the flash improved the photo.

They are also making an environmental portrait. An environmental portrait is a portrait executed in the subject’s usual environment, such as in their home or workplace, and typically illuminates the subject’s life and surroundings. The term is most frequently used in a genre of photography.

We went outside as well to demonstrate how someone sitting in the shade would benefit from an off-camera flash. I instruct the students to put the flash so it forms a triangle between the subject and the camera.

A good starting place is always at 45º, but they can put the light anywhere to help improve the lighting.

Here you can see the after shot showing better lighting on the face. Also, you can see Dennis taking more photos of the teaching time with the students.

I was using a wide-angle lens to capture the environment around the subject.

A couple of years ago I changed the assignment from just a mixed lighting assignment to more of an environmental portrait. In 2016 I walked around the campus doing a similar exercise and here is that post for you.

Godox V860IIN + Godox X1NT

This is the very first year where almost all the students had bought a similar flash. Most of the students have the Godox V860II + Godox X1T for their brand of camera.

Most all the students are shooting this assignment with the speed lights that they own rather than using the studio strobes that are available as well. No one wants to carry around the heavier gear if the lighter gear will do the job.

GODOX X1-N FEATURES

Godox 2.4GHz RF Radio System
Range – 100m +
Flash Modes – iTTL / M / OFF
HSS to 1/8000th
Second Curtain Sync
FEC / FEB – 1/3rd Increments (±3 Stops)
FEL (Flash Exposure Lock)
Manual Flash – 1/128 – 1/1 Output (1/3rd Increments)
Remote Flash Zoom (Auto / Manual) (Global for All Groups Only)
Group Mode – 5 Groups A / B / C / D / E (D & E Are Remote Manual Only)
32 Channels
Large LCD Display with Back Light
HSS Delay Setting – 0~19.9ms, (100us Increments)
Modeling flash
Auto Memory Function
AF Assist light (With an On/Off Switch)
Wireless Shutter Release
Micro USB Port for Firmware Upgrades
Transmitter PC Sync Port – Input & Output
Receiver 2.5mm Sync and Shutter Release Port – Output

Photographing Island Breeze Dancer Victoria Taimane Kaopua while showing the class at Youth With A Mission Photo School 1 how to use off-camera strobe. [Nikon D5, Sigma 24-105mm ƒ/4, ISO 400, ƒ/5.6, 1/1600 – 2 Godox V860IIN + Godox X1NT with CTO +1 gel]

Last night I worked with Island Breeze dancer/singer Victoria Taimane Kaopua at the Old Kona Airport along the beach. I am teaching lighting this week at the University of the Nations-Kona, School of Photography I.

Last night I was teaching them off-camera flash and mixing it with daylight.

You are seeing three flashes on the left 2 Godox V860IIN and Flashpoint XPLOR 600 HSS TTL Battery-Powered Monolight with Built-in R2 2.4GHz Radio Remote System – Bowens Mount (AD600 TTL). Both systems work together using the Godox X1NT. They make this so these will work with Sony, Nikon, Canon, and Fuji. When you buy them just get the one for your system.

In the first photo, the only flashes firing are the smaller speed lights and not the larger studio strobe.

I start with a photo of the dancer with out flash and then I add the light.

My friend Dave Black likes to call this the Silhouette and Reveal.

I would show the students some of the shots as I was working.

I also was showing the model dancer the photos.

Today we will go over the photos in our class and I will see how many students paid attention to the conversations I had with the dancer and when I showed her photos. I will ask them why I did this. Do you know why?

The dancer and I were working together to make the photo. I was able to show her what I was getting hoping to get her more excited about the shoot and engage her more in the process.

We will talk about composition today as well as the lighting.

We are also going to talk about VALS today. That is a Voice Activated Light Stand, which is having someone hold your flash and adjust it when you ask.

Besides it helping you it also gets people involved and creates excitement for everyone because they are now helping you and are a part of the process.

If you want to do this with me give me a call and we can organize a photo shoot with your friends in your hometown.

Impact 360 Institute’s Campus Expansion Dedication [Nikon D5, 14-24mm ƒ/2.8, ISO 2200, ƒ/8, 1/100]

One of the types of photography I do a great deal of for clients in event coverage. This is the type of coverage that you are capturing the photos with available light and an occasional on-camera flash for a quick grip and grin.

In these situations, you need to go as wide as possible to pretty close up. I find that the Nikon 14-24mm ƒ/2.8 is the best lens for capturing those super wide and wide-angle shots.

With a new campus dedication, I needed to show tour groups going through and around the new campus. I used the 14 -24mm to capture the room interiors with people to give a sense of perspective and to capture as much of the room as possible.

Now I was also using the 28-300mm because I was needing to capture moderate to telephoto shots of people around the campus and the speakers at a podium.

Now, this lens combination works great for just about any situation. Now for a smaller venue, I am often using the Sigma 24-105mm ƒ/4 when I just want to carry one camera.

If you are to cover things where you have speakers and need to capture rooms where you cannot back up enough then the 14-24mm and 28-300mm lenses will help you do a great job.

I am also loving my Fuji X series cameras and lenses. I am finding shooting with the Fuji X-E2/X-E3 with the 10-24mm and the 55-200mm lenses will give you a similar lens coverage.

The Fuji is a much lighter system than the Nikon.

It is much easier to walk around at an event all day with the Fuji system.

I haven’t tried the Fujifilm XF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 R LM OIS. I would love to try this with some high school football games to see if it could work. However, I am super confident with the Nikon D5 & Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 with the TC-2001 converter keeping up with the action.

I am also more pleased with the Nikon D5 having microphone and headphone jacks for recording video. The Nikon D5 is the camera system that does it all and my only complaint is the weight.

My recommendation is to have lenses for covering events that are at least 20mm wide to 30mm for a full-frame camera. As far as a camera I cannot see ever buying a camera today that doesn’t have an ISO of at least 51200 and a low of 100. This will let you shoot in almost every situation without the need for a flash. The reasons I use my flash today are to add light to improve the photo where often there is no light.

Shooting events requires you to be ready for just about everything, so be sure you have the lenses, camera, and flash to deliver to the client.

I bought the Fujifilm 10-24mm ƒ/4 lens. It translates to a 15-36mm (35mm Equivalent) lens.

I have advised many photographers looking for smaller systems like the Fuji mirrorless camera. Many of my friends have already had this lens in their bags for a while, but I finally picked this up, and before using it on a paying job, I am just shooting test shots.

My test shots are not portfolio shots.

I am just shooting things to get a feel for the depth-of-field and how it focuses, which is super fast and quiet on the Fuji X-E3.

This is one of my favorite zoom ranges. I like to use a great deal. I have the Nikon 14-24mm ƒ/2.8 that I use on my Nikon D5, which is like a center block compared to the Fuji X-E3 and the 10-24mm.

I love just taking photos all the time. It is not just my profession but also my hobby. However, I am not a fan of the weight of the Nikon D5 cameras and lenses. I trust them a lot more than the Fuji, but this has more to do with having 35+ years of experience with my Nikons.

When someone pays me to shoot an assignment for them, they are paying me to know what my gear will do and for my creative instincts. Whenever you buy new equipment, always take it for a good number of test drives, so you know any quirks before you find out about the paying job.

Stay tuned for more photos from my new Fuji X-E3 and my new 10-24mm ƒ/4 lens. I am off to Hawaii in a few weeks and can’t wait to see how they do around the Big Island.

I am my family’s visual historian. I take photos and give them away to my family all the time. Thanks to social media, there is a good chance these may be seen and enjoyed more than when I shot the film, and they went into a family photo album.

While I am not working on an assigned story, I still capture our family’s story in moments. The cool thing with social media is our ability to match words with those pictures.

I still take those formal photos of our families, but the living life photos capture the personalities of each person, in my opinion, so much more.

This role often means you are just observing, but I believe long into the future, when I am no longer here, my family will cherish these and learn about their ancestors.

My mother’s dad was always documenting his family and my dad.

I grew up every Christmas with my dad having these lights pointed at us as we walked into the room. I am not sure I saw anything for a few moments. It was so bright.

This is one of the rare moments where my wife Dorie has been with two of her sisters. While getting to see them was excellent, capturing the moment for us to remember makes this so we can tell the generations who their family is and how they are all related.

Here are a few tips to make you a better visual family historian.

• Take lots of photos of your family.
• Share your photos with your family. USB Jump Drives are good.
• Use metadata to put the text with each photo. For example, be sure you have the occasion and the names of the people in the image.
• Put your photos in some storage system like Google Drive, DropBox, or other online services.
• Create photo books. I use Blurb http://www.blurb.com/user/stanleyleary.

One of the best things you can remember is how you captured your family for everyone to enjoy now and for eternity.

American Gold Finch [Fujifilm X-E3, 55-200mm, ISO 8000, ƒ/10, 1/280 – Flashpoint Zoom Li-on R2 TTL & Flashpoint R2 TTL transmitter]

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

– Matthew 6:26

The past few weeks have been bitterly cold for our community in Roswell, Georgia. While we didn’t have a lot of snow, it stayed on the ground longer than usual due to the freezing weather.

While we always have birds at our bird feeders during this cold snap, they have been eating a lot more. I think this is because the ground is so hard to kill many insects and keep many in the background.

We stayed inside more than usual due to the icy streets for many days.

Since I couldn’t sit still, I decided to take photos of the birds at our bird feeder with a new Fujifilm X-E3 camera and a new flash system made by Flashpoint for the Fuji cameras.

This morning I pondered how they survived and was reminded of the scripture that says God takes care of the birds. I was fascinated by the scripture that birds do not “sow nor reap nor gather into barns” as humans do, yet God takes care of them.

No matter how well I know the scriptures about how God will take care of us–I worry.

We all indeed worry to some extent but do it too much, and it can color your whole life, leaving you strung out, unhappy, and constantly anxious. It’s not unusual either. Around 1 in 20 of us experiences excessive worrying – called Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) – at some time in our lives.

If you are struggling, get some help through a licensed counselor like a social worker, psychologist, or psychiatrist.

One thing I noticed from being locked up inside due to the cold is getting cabin fever. It can be depressing as well.

Keep physically active. Develop a routine, so you’re physically active most days of the week. Exercise is a powerful stress reducer. It may improve your mood and help you stay healthy. Start slowly and gradually increase the amount and intensity of your activities.

Make sleep a priority. Do what you can to get enough sleep to feel rested. If you aren’t sleeping well, see your doctor.

Eat healthily. Healthy eating — such as focusing on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and fish — may help reduce anxiety.

As a freelancer looking for work to pay your bills, focus on the jobs, people need now. Portraits/headshots are usually needed quickly compared to someone booking a wedding photographer.

People don’t book headshots six months to a year out, but that is how they book photographers for their weddings.

Get together with other photographers and talk. They will not solve your problems by telling you their clients’ names, but you will pick up tricks and how they talk to their clients.

Maybe you can just practice a cold call with another photographer. Maybe you can practice doing an estimate with them.

Don’t let life ruffle your feathers.

Focus on one thing at a time. For me–and most people–multi-tasking typically leads to chaos. I try to choose one task, see it through, and head on to the next task that needs to be done.

Learn to be flexible. Things will come up, or someone will ask you to help with something, so learn to go with the flow a little bit. Just take a moment to think about what is happening and regroup. Change your plans accordingly.

Learn to prioritize. Let’s face it; some things will not impact your goals if you don’t get to them. However, there are some action items, if you put them off, can wreak havoc.

You can use your energy to focus on all that could go wrong or, even better, just focus that energy on doing something. The energy amount is about the same, but one moves you forward and leaves you standing still.

Remember, birds go where the food is, which is called migration. This is where we get the word about migrant workers. They go where the work is for them. They go where they can help their families survive.

Today is a day for action. The question for you is, what steps will you take? While the birds don’t “sow nor reap nor gather into barns,” they are out looking for food. How about you?

2017 SOP1 Group Photo–L/R Juan Carlos Sanchez De Fuentes, Thema Black, Daisy Wang, Fred Tesone, Hayley Webb, Michael Gellerstedt, Laurelee Martens, Chance Punahele Ortiz,Heather Morse, & Dennis Fahringer. Also featuring Keiko the dog. [Fuji X-E2, Fuji 18-55mm, ISO 200, ƒ/9, 1/80]

A month from now I will be back in Kona, Hawaii to teach the YWAM School of Photography 1 portrait lighting and business practices for a week.

This group photo is last year’s class. This year’s group will be twice the size of last year.

While I will be teaching a great deal about lighting the business practices is the one thing that over the years has proven even more valuable to the classes.

“How do you make a living doing photography?”, is answered through solid business practices.

Knowing your Cost-Of-Doing-Business and how to price your work doesn’t get you clients. It only makes sure that you make money when you price jobs rather than losing money.

How do you get those clients? Well this is the Catch-22 of Freelancing.

When you are a professional photographer you are like every other business person. You are in the business of solving people and businesses problems through the use of photography.

What you need to be doing is interviewing people and listening. You need to find out what their problems are so that you can pitch to them solutions for which you can provide those services.

Having a portfolio is like any other business where you can display your wares, or as in this example Maine lobster buoys on the side of the road of commerce.

If the client know what they need then this works really well, except now your work is more of a commodity. This is an article of trade or commerce, especially a product as distinguished from a service. Due to your work being seen as a commodity it is much harder to get prices that work with your Cost-Of-Doing-Business.

You need to be seen as a visionary for the person’s business and not just a commodity if you are in the creative arts type of a business.

You need to put yourself in situations where you get to listen to business people talk about what they do. You need to learn about their business. You need to ask questions that give you understanding.

Only when you really understand what problems they are facing with their business can you then think of ways that you can help solve some of those problems.

Now often they do not even know that your solution is to a problem they have. This will come over time where you start to recognize problems facing business owners and knowing that there are solutions you have done for others that could work for another business.

Here is the Catch-22 you must face each day to make a living as a photographer. You have solutions for a business to thrive, but you must first find a way to know what problem a particular business is facing before you can offer a solution.

Making this even more complicated is that if the client already knows what they need then you will be treated as a commodity. You need to be the photographer that has business solutions and not just the ability to take a picture.

Blue Bird on my Bird-feeder in Roswell, GA [Fujifilm X-E3, 55-200mm, ISO 1000, ƒ/4.8, 1/200 – Flashpoint Zoom Li-on R2 TTL & Flashpoint R2 TTL transmitter]

Before Christmas, my friend Dennis Fahringer forwarded me a special Adorama had on their  Flashpoint Zoom Li-on R2 TTL & Flashpoint R2 TTL transmitter. The flash was $119, and the transmitter was $46.

I bought the Godox VING V860IIN TTL Li-Ion Flash Kit for Nikon with its transmitter because I loved the Neewer TT850, which is pretty much the same flash as the TTL capabilities.

Neewer, Godox, and Flashpoint are all the same company but are marketed differently. Flashpoint is the Adorama-branded system with more warranties than the others.

I have not bought the studio version of the system yet, but I plan to do so soon. This week, they introduced the newest version of the studio  Flashpoint XPLOR 600PRO TTL Battery-Powered Monolight (Bowens Mount) – Godox AD600 Pro. This sells for $899 without the transmitter.

The XPLOR 600Pro TTL is the next evolution of the Flashpoint R2 radio system, compatible with the R2 Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, and Olympus/Panasonic TTL auto flash systems for remote power control and shooting.

Using the bird feeder in my backyard, I tested how well the camera worked with the HSS of 1/4000. The flash supports the FP mode (high-speed flash sync), in which the flash outputs continuous light while the first and second curtains travel across the sensor, enabling flash photography at any shutter speed.

The range of the radio transmitter from the camera to the flash is 330ft / 100m. Recycle time is <4 seconds. This is great for more than 600+ full-power flashes with the Lithium battery.

You need to use their studio heads if you want something faster. The Flashpoint XPLOR 600PRO TTL Battery-Powered Monolight recycle time is approximately 0.01- 0.9 seconds.

When you think of the exposure triangle, you believe all are affected as you change the others.

There is a kink in this because when you use a flash, the light volume is pretty much the same as you shorten the duration. The problem through the years was the ability to shrink the shutter speed and sync with the flash. This has now been pretty much solved in the last few years. So, shortening the shutter speed impacts the available light (The Sun) if outside and not the flash as much.

Earlier, I showed how I did this with the Nikon system. I can do the same with my Fuji X-E3 and the Flashpoint Zoom Li-on R2 TTL & Flashpoint R2 TTL transmitter.

Now, the cool thing about picking up the studio flash Flashpoint XPLOR 600PRO TTL Battery-Powered Monolight (Bowens Mount)—Godox AD600 Pro is that it works with all the transmitters for Nikon, Fuji, Sony, Canon, and Olympus. So, my two camera systems can use the same studio flash in TTL mode.

I look forward to shooting more with my Fuji X-E3 and the Flashpoint Zoom Li-on R2 TTL & Flashpoint R2 TTL transmitter in the months ahead. I love such a small system for travel.

Witchdoctor and his family in Togo, West Africa [Nikon D5, Sigma 35mm ƒ/1.4 DG Art, ISO 100, ƒ/1.4, 1/2500]

I believe that many journalists look for validation that the work they are doing is essential. I sure do look for it myself. I want to know that I am making a difference.

However, I believe that too many put that validation within the industry through awards given mainly by the high priests of journalism. Awards like the Pulitzers and POYs are judged by our peers and not by our audience.

I stopped entering contests more than 25 years ago and only recently can articulate why. I felt like the awards didn’t validate if the stories I worked on making a difference in the audience’s lives.

When journalism is done right, it is often a languid pace of change in the communities it serves. Sometimes the most challenging part of the job is our impact can take years to see. Sometimes we take credit for the change. We see that is the work of others long before we came on to the scene.

As journalists, we should look to our audiences and how they respond to our stories about our communities for validation.

Though it may be interesting or even entertaining, the maximum value of news is as a utility to empower the informed. The purpose of journalism is thus to provide citizens with the information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives, communities, societies, and governments.

We need to ask ourselves, “Who’s paying attention? Why does the story need to be told? Why should the audience care?”

When the inner drive in our souls is that of a calling to journalism, it is much easier to endure a long time, sometimes necessary, to see any real change.

I am most depressed from burnout when I am no longer in touch with the audience and know what they care about. If there are stories we think they should care about, and they don’t, then this is where I struggle the most.

I have discovered that when I see no impact from my work, it is often because the metaphors and similes I may be using do not resonate with the audience. I must know my audience so that while doing the story, I think of what the audience would be interested in and why.

One of the best questions journalists should ask themselves is not how much time they spend telling their stories but how much time they spend getting to know their audience.

Once you have sought to understand your audience and your subject entirely, only when great journalism can take place.