PIXAPRO

Written By Lewis McGregor

Often you can be placed into a location where Fresnel lighting isn’t an option. This is usually as a result of limited space and an extensive heat output from tungsten lighting. Unfortunately, on a DIY and/or budget film shoot, it’s unlikely you’re going to be able to extend the space available or find another location. In such a time, it’s great to have a continuous LED light option.

Recently I’ve been using the Pixapro LED100D Mk II daylight light which is priced at £299.

The light itself is very robust and encased in a metal casing. Unlike the compact shape of a Fresnel, the LED100d Mk II has an oblong shape which has made most of my carry cases redundant as the light won’t fit in them. It looks like it would work well as a laser blaster in a sci-fi movie, nonetheless, it definitely holds the power of a laser blaster as it has a massive illuminance rating of around 15,00 lux at 1-meter and up to 42,000 at 50cms.

Whenever the light has been in use, I’ve always decreased it to the lowest setting. The brightness of the light is truly outstanding. You can dim the light down to 10% of its power allowing for a more varied lighting option.

The light uses an integrated LED chip over the conventional housing of multiple LEDs. As I previously stated, the light has a very robust casing, this leaves very little to be broken or damaged. I would imagine it could endure quite a lot of stress before it would become unusable.

The light itself has a frontal S-Type fitting which is how the reflector, amongst other accessories, is fitted. I’ve been using the light in conjunction with the Easy-Open Octagonal softbox, also from Pixapro. The soft incandescent light is perfect for when I do product reviews or close up shots, in which other lights in my kit would be too harsh for. I do have the option of setting up a diffusion sheet in front of the Fresnel, but with limited space, it’s not always an option.

The light has a CRI rating of ≥94 which is going to dramatically help reproduce accurate colour in your video photographs. A problem I’ve always had with tungsten and other LEDs is the flicker you encounter as you start to increase your frame rate and shutter speed for slow motion. With the Pixapro LED100D Mk II you can work up to 900fps before you start to see any flickering. Along with the Illuminance, this light provides its great tool for slow mo.

As for of the overall consistency and brightness of the light, it’s been a great tool for green screen work. Although the beam angle at 45° doesn’t make this the one-stop-shop for light coverage. For those who are looking to use this light for video and are worried about possible fan noise, rest assured that there’s virtually little to no fan noise produced from the cooling system. The updated version of the light which is being released this week also allows for a v-mount battery to be attached.

Direct from Pixapro, here are the specifications.

SPECIFICATIONS

Model                                                      PIXAPRO LED100D MKII

Power Output                                         100W

Luminous Flux                                        10,000 lm

Brightness/Illuminance                           42,000 lux @ 50cm (15,000 lux @ 1m)

LED Type                                                Integrated LED Chip

Colour Temperature                                5600k

Beam Angle                                            45°

CRI                                                          ≥94

Power Range                                          10-100%

LED Life                                                  Approx. 50,000 Hours

Remote Control                                      Yes (Sold Separately)

Dimensions                                             275mm x 130mm x 220mm

90cm Umbrella Softbox

Diameter                                                 90cm

Shape                                                     Octagonal

Layers of Diffusion                                  2

Gris size                                                  4cm

Fitting                                                      S-Type (Interchangeable)

260cm Stand

Min. Height                                             111cm

Max. Height                                            260cm

Max. Load Capacity                               5kg

Tube Diameter                                        30cm/25cm/22cm/19cm

Spigot Size                                             5/8”

Air-Cushioned                                        Yes

Material                                                  Aluminium

I think the light definitely works best when equipped with the softbox, and while the design is robust, I do find that the size of the light is also quite bulky, but I would suspect the internal fan is responsible for that. The light has quickly jumped rank in my kit, and will be used for all future product reviews.

Written By Simon Cade

A lot of classic films that are considered Noir, were born out of a low budget. The characters were regular people, the scenes took place in regular locations, and they used the bare minimum of lighting equipment.

So we should be able to recreate a noir shot a lot easier than say a Sci-Fi, with large sets and complex alien costumes.

THIS WEEK’S DSLR GUIDE:

UK LINKS

Pixapro LED100D

Light Stand

 Black Wrap

OTHER POSTS:

Written By Xtraordinary Photography

Let me start by saying that my product reviews are going to be a little different to what you’ve seen before. I won’t be looking to baffle with all of the science and mathematics about the lighting and all that jazz.

I’m very easily pleased with photography gear; if it does the job I want it to do then that makes me happy. So when I review equipment, I do it on that basis and that basis alone.

So does it do what I want it to….

I was lucky enough to have the CITI600 sent to me the week before the Photography Show in Birmingham as I was going to be providing demo’s on the Pixapro stand using this light. Now, I didn’t really get the chance to do a great deal with it prior to the show and ended learning the vast majority of its capabilities while demoing it live to an audience.

First and foremost, the most noticeable characteristic of the CITI600 is the fact that it is battery-powered. Yes, as studio head that is battery-powered. For me this is a god send. I run studio creative nights and have kids portraits sessions which means that a lot of the time there are lots of people in the studio moving around quickly. Being able to take away the hazard and hassle of wires, extension cables and everything that goes with that is a huge huge selling point to me.

This battery can fire 500 full power flashes on one charge. Let that sink in for a minute. That means that if you were shooting at the full 600w, you could fire continuously for 21 minutes (taking into account the recycle time of 2.5 sec). Now I wouldn’t advise this as you’d probably blind your model! So lets strip that back to even shooting at half power- around 1000 flashes at half power means you could literally go all day shooting with this.

As I mentioned above the CITI600 is as the name suggests 600w of awesomeness. Stepping down in third stops to 1/256th power, meaning the sheer range of power available extremely versatile opening lots of doors as to how it could be used. Not mentioning the three-step LED Modelling lamp which I have used to shoot at very shallow apertures to. The battery boasts an inbuilt charge indicator so that you can see at the press of a button, on or off the head, how much charge you have remaining. The official charge time from empty is around 4 hours, however, I’ve not yet had this down less than 25% of its charge, and the recharge time has generally been around the 1 hour mark for me.

There are of course two versions of this light available; the full manual and the TTL version. If, like me, you’re used to working with manual lighting, it’s a no brainer at the price its retailing right now at £450 (correct 27/04/16), and to be honest at the usual price of £599- its still a bargain! If you’re more inclined to use the TTL version for shooting in ever-changing conditions, or for quick set up- again this light offers extremely high value for money.

The High Speed Sync capabilities of both versions offer sports and dance photographers an easy line into high-powered HSS shooting, with speeds of up to 1/8000sec available. Not to mention the Strobetopic function too for multiple bursts in one exposure.

The bulb itself is very easily accessible and changed with a three prong system, and there will be an update allowing an external head to be plugged into the bulb socket for extra reach if needed.

So, let’s get back to me using this light. Weight wise its manageable for one of my assistants to hand hold even with a soft box attached at 2.6kg, and handles itself well at the top of a light stand too out on location.

Since arriving back from the photography show I have used this light on quite a few different types of shoots- just to see what it is capable of. Now this is raging from kids portraits in the studio, to a full day Fashion Editorial shoot (see the video at the bottom of the page) and each and every time it has performed brilliantly. I use the standard Pixapro trigger system, rather than the ST- III which is used for HSS and TTL shooting, as I like easy trigger systems and this is a reliable and simple remote. I tend to shoot a lot of my work with the light positioned around 8ft in the air pointing down towards my subject, so being able to adjust the power, and the modelling lamp, from the trigger on my camera is extremely important to me. The screen on the side of the unit is bright, easy to navigate and displays all of the relevant information and menu’s its ease.

Being an S-Fit/Bowens Fit, all of my existing Pixapro adaptors work seamlessly with the CITI600- I mainly use a 95cm Octabox and a 45dregree reflector.

Now I already use a range of location lighting systems such as the Elinchrom Quadra and Pixapro’s own PowerCore600. If I had the choice- at the price of the CITI600 and everything else taken into account- it would be the CITI600 every single time. The fact that I could potentially buy three of these heads for the price of one Elinchrom Quadra system is very appealing.

I can honestly say that I am in awe of this light. It’s very rare that I get excited about equipment, but the more I use this the more it makes sense to swap out all of the other lighting I use and replace it with these. I have yet to use the TTL or the HSS function (as it’s just not my way of working) but the feedback I have seen from other photographers is overwhelmingly positive.

See Pixapro’s Website here

SPECIFICATIONS

ModelCITI600                                      Manual Flash

Max Power                                          600Ws

Guide Number                                     87m @ ISO100  with Standard Reflector

Colour Temperature                            5600±200k

Flash Duration                                     1/220s – 1/10,000s

Recycle Times                                     0.01 – 2.5 Seconds Recycle Time

Manual Flash Power Range                1/1 – 1/256 (1/3 Stop Increments)

Power SourceBuilt in (removable)       11.1V / 8700mAh Lithium-ion Battery

Number of FlashesApprox.                  500 Full Powered Flashes Per Charge

Flash Modes                                        Manual / Multi

High speed Sync                                 Up to 1/8,000s

Radio Frequency                                 2.4GHz (Compatible with PIXAPRO PRO                                                               ST-III TTL Triggers)

Work Range                                        100m with ST-III Transmitter in Open Area

Channels (Radio)                                 32

Controllable Slave Groups                  5 (A, B, C, D, E)

Slave Modes                                       S1/S2

Other Trigger Methods                        PC Sync Port, 3.5mm Sync port, USB                                                                   port for Pro AC Trigger Set

Dimensions                                         220mm x 245mm x 125mm

Net. Weight                                         2.69kg

Accessory Mount                                S-Type

BOX CONTENT

Item                                                           QTY

CITI600                                                Flash Head1

Flash Tube                                                   1

Standard Reflector                                      1

Lithium Battery Pack                                   1

Battery Charger                                           1

Power Cord                                                 1

Written By Gavin Hoey

With 600ws of flash on tap and a massive 8700mAh built in battery to power it, the PiXAPRO CITI600 sounds like a very capable flash head on paper. Throw in the potential for HSS and TTL if you’re a Canon or Nikon user and that unit is starting to sound very promising.

For the purposes of clarity I’m reviewing the PIXAPRO CITI600 TTL from Essential Photo here in the UK who were kind enough to send me a unit to review without prejudice. The flash itself is the AD600 from Godox and can be found around the world rebadged as various names. For example in the USA it’s the Flashpoint XPLOR600 from Adorama.

What’s in the box

Inside the box was the CITI600 flash and it’s 8700mAh battery. Being battery powered you get a mains charger which can run on anything from 100-240v and thankfully came with a UK plug. The charger also has some LED’s to indicate how charged the battery is.

The flash tube for the CITI600 is inside a glass case which out of the box needs to be fitted. It’s the usual thing of aligning some pins and pushing home and once done the supplied plastic cover keeps everything safe for transport and storage.

Although the box had room for a reflector mine was missing. As I got one of the first units to arrive in the UK I don’t think that’s normal. The CITI600 has a Bowens s-mount for which I have several reflectors (and softboxes, beauty dishes etc) so that wasn’t an issue.

Performance

The CITI600 is joining the growing ranks of battery powered flash units but  unlike my current go to Godox AD360 (Streaklight 360) flash this is a fully fledged Monobloc complete with a 10W LED modelling light and an industry standard Bowns S fit mount.

Power is adjustable in 1/3rd stops from full to 1/256 and my testing showed it was incredibly accurate losing just 1/10th of a stop from full power to minimum power and anywhere in between.

Testing barebulb gave the following results

Power                                 CITI 600                                  Godox AD360

                                  @ 1 Meter 100 ISO                      @ 1 Meter   100 ISO

1/1                                          f/25                                              f/18 

1/2                                          f/18                                              f/13

1/4                                          f/13                                              f/10

1/8                                           f/9                                               f/7.1

1/16                                         f/6.3                                            f/5

1/32                                         f/4.5                                            f/3.5

1/64                                         f/3.2                                            f/2.2

1/128                                        f/2.2                                           f/1.6

1/256                                        f/1.6                                           – – –

Recycle times were also good. At full power recycle time was 2.4 seconds which dropped to just 0.7 sec at ½ power and more or less instant at ¼ power. That compares cery well against my other similarly powerfulGodox flash (Streaklight 360) that I reviewed a few years back and is still going strong.

Although there is a manual only version this CITI600 has TTL which can be switched between Canon and Nikon via the menu. Being an Olympus shooter I can’t test how well it worked but it has +/- 3 stops of exposure compensation and HSS tops out at 1/8000th second.

The CITI600 has a built in 2.4ghz receiver that works perfectly with the new PiXAPRO ST-3 transmitter. Personally I prefer the older but still excellent PiXAPRO AC (Non-TTL, No HSS) transmitter and I was glad to find the USB socket on top for its companion receiver which worked perfectly.

Other triggering options include a 3.5mm jack plus  an optical slave with S1 and S2 modes supported. There’s also a micro USB socket which is for firmware updates apparently.

The display on the CITI600 is big and bright with the buttons and dials being nicely spaced out and intuitive to use. One nice feature is the flash duration which is displayed on the LCD in t0.1 format. At full power it’s a slow but OK 1/220th sec which decreases down to 1/10,000 sec at 1/256 power.

Downsides

With a 8700mAh battery this was never going to be a feather weight flash and at 2.8KG it’s heavier than it looks. Some of that weight is the 0.62KG battery which you might want to have a spare of. Having said that in my tests it consistently ran for a full day of reasonably heavy use on a single battery with power to spare.

The dimmable 10W LED modelling light works fine in dark rooms but isn’t that bright even at full power and switches off after a few minutes or whenever you adjust the flash power, which is REALLY annoying.

In use the only thing that really annoyed me was the lack of a grab handle at the back. That means every time I wanted to adjust the flash angle I had to loosen the clam and use two hands to adjust the flash head rather than having one hand on the clamp and the other on the handle as I normally would. The clamp itself has ratchet clicks which also made adjusting the flash angle a rather notchy affair.

Conclusion

The PiXAPRO CITI600 (Godox AD600, XPLOR600) is a solid bit of kit with reliable and predictable performance. It’s got a wide 9 stop power range and is compatible with endless modifiers thanks to its Bowens mount. It’s also become my “go to” light both in the studio and on location.

I only have the one CITI600 but as it fully supports for the Godox radio triggers I’m able to mix and independently control the CITI600 plus my PiXAPRO Li-ION speedlights, my Streaklight 360 and my Streaklight 180 all from the same remote control. It’s a truly brilliant system.

It’s no lightweight but it’s small enough to carry to a location but it can also hold it’s own in the studio. A sturdy lighting stand is a good idea, especially if you have any plans to put it at the end of a boom arm.

If you need TTL then get the TTL version but if like me you only shoot manual, take a look at the manual only version of this flash. At around £150 cheaper (currently discounted to £250 cheaper) it’s a bargain!

The word is that a AC power adaptor is coming soon.

Price at time of review: £700.00 (manual only £450.00)

Website for product:www.essentialphoto.co.uk/product/pixapro-citi600-ttl-battery-flash

Manufacturer: PIXAPRO

Written By Colin Brister‎

Hope you don't mind Ian.. bit more playing with the Citi 600's.. I did manage a few BTS shots... but will explain the shots as I go. Yang Wu might be interested.. So today was wet, track was in about as worse as it gets, slippy wet, muddy, damp.. you get the idea. So first image.. After an hour on track, as you can see it's wearing a rather fetching rain jacket...

Shot 2... Head on just to left of track... lighting one side of rider..

Shot 3.. outside of jump, balance ambient light, bit keeping the front of rider harshly lit...

This one... Just coz I like it....

Written By Awthurm

Like most people, I would like this, and I’d like that, I may even ‘need’ something, but that list is pretty much endless and unfortunately my finances are not, (fairly far from it, and I like being married, and having a house)….

So what can I do ‘on the cheap’ to acheive the results I want… OK maybe not the exact results I want but a close approximation until “when funds allow…”

Now I love all sorts of photography, and really enjoy weddings, commercial family portraits etc, but I have a definite passion for headshots and fashion/beauty photography!

Now with these type of shots, especially close up headshots, it’s all about the lighting and the catchlights, (those little bits of light in people’s eyes), nice catchlights in the eyes can just ‘make the shot’… Now I have ‘toys’ like a Lastolite Tri Flector, which sits below a beauty dished Lencarta light and makes 4 little catch lights in people’s eyes, like so:

But I want a ring flash, and I want one now…. oh hang on the good ones are £400+ ( example PixaproRiko400) now then, I see a small problem (roughly £380+, I have £20 in the kitty), I want the shadowless shot with nice little ring catchlights… how do I get the ring flash without the cash? Well I suppose, I’m studio based for this, so I don’t need it to be portable and really I don’t ‘need’ it to flash, so I only need a ring light…. still £100 ish… so now I see a smaller problem (roughly £80)…. I guess it stops here….

Or at least until, as we all do, I got lost in IKEA…. on one of the many wrong turns and laps of the store I ended up in the Children’s section, and stood in front of the lights… where I saw LJUSNING “Frame with LED lighting” which is a circlular frame to go around a picture with LED lighting to light up the picture, (but importantly just about big enough to go round a face)… price £14.. (problem now -£6, I like that, there’s food in IKEA, might cost me £20 after all…)

So, purchase made I put the light on the desk in the studio, (I’d eaten the food and the wrapper already in bin), and left it there….  Now a few days later, I’m in SimpLee Studio, hosting our Portfolio Night, the light had just been sat there, but now I need a 3rd shooting area to have something to keep people interested…..

A quick test shoot by me, using only the light around and that produced by the frame itself…. (settings: best check)

I guess that works…. So, now I let the rest of the photographers loose…

A few examples by David Richardson who attended the Portfolio night at http://www.simpleestudio.com

Now I own a £20 Meike ring flash, which is great for macro, but small, now I’ll admit I still want a more expensive ring flash (such as the Pixapro Riko 400 but I’ve given myself time to save up and still enjoy the basic effect, of course I may have built a bigger DIY ringlight along the way, but for now, I’ll enjoy the ‘plug & play’ of my £14 IKEA light..)

Images copyright of photographers and words (and my images) copyright me… I’ve started moving model photography fromPumpkin Pictures (Facebook) to AWThurm Images (Facebook).

Written By Ian Pack

I like to keep up to date with developments with lighting for stills and video photography, a new light which has been bought to my notice is a powerful 100w LED unit with a CRI ≥94 which makes the PIXAPRO LED100D MKII Daylight Balanced LED Studio Light a unit useful for photographers who need a cool running continuous daylight source for studio & location use.

Written By Ian Pack

Pixapro ST-III TTL Transmitter & Receiver for Canon DSLR cameras

I conducted my initial test of the Pixapro ST-III T (Canon) with a Canon 580EXII Speedlite. For now the triggers are only available for Canon or Nikon. I'm informed that Sony compatible units will be available later in 2016. First impressions. The build quality and layout of controls is good, although the CH (Channel Select), GR (Group Setting) & MODE (Mode Selection) buttons would benefit from white fill to the recessed letters (see photograph). The backlit LCD display is clear and once I became familiar with the button sequences changing channels and moving between modes is straight forward. Camera Trigger ST-III TTL-T CanonButtons:TEST - press to see if flash fires, also to trigger remote camera with supplied lead.Select Dial -  Changes flash power, moves between groups and modes.CH - Changes channel 1-32 and adjusts custom functions.GR - Selects group A-C and confirms settings.MODE - Moves groups between modes. It should be noted that the flash group to be adjusted needs to be in the centre of the screen next to the white dot on the left of the backlit LCD panel.

The flash group to be adjusted needs to be in the centre of the screen next to the white dot on the left

When set to Manual Mode the flash power may be adjusted from 1/128 to 1/1 power in 1/3 stop increments. In TTL Auto mode exposure may be compensated between ±3 in 1/3 stop increments. I don’t know if this is a feature or an anomaly, but when set to Manual mode the power settings are mirrored on the flash LCD display, but not when in TTL. Apparently this is a feature of the Pixapro CITI600 (Godox AD600) as the flash is multi camera system compatible. In TTL mode the ST-III trigger doesn’t need switching between normal & HS Flash mode it does it automatically. On my flash I have to switch to HS Sync and the trigger recognises this. Wireless range is stated as >100m which will be line of sight with no obstacles. Indoors, depending upon conditions, less. There is an AF beam assist for those times when light levels are low or contrast insufficient for cameras to focus. Flash/Speedlite Receiver ST-III TTL-R CanonButtons:TEST - Fires all functioning flashes with compatible receivers in place.CH - Changes channel 1-32.GR - Selects group A-E. Both units have a Micro USB socket for firmware upgrades - which at the time of writing only seem available in Chinese and MS Windoze OS. Nothing for Mac users. The transmitter also has a PC socket which will allow older studio flash etc to be used triggered but not controlled remotely. I’ve tested Pixapro ST-III TTL Wireless Flash Trigger/Receiver set with the following: Pixapro CITI600 TTL - total remote controlYong Nuo 565 EXII - TTL, Manual remote power setting, no HSCanon 580 EXII - total remote controlCanon 550 EX - Manual only, no HS or TTLElinchrom Ranger Quadra - trigger onlyElinchrom BXRi - trigger onlyElinchrom EL500 - trigger onlyMultiblitz Profilux 200 - trigger only

Written By Ian Pack

The first time I took my Pixapro CITI600 TTL portable battery flash on location, in typical English fashion the sun disappeared behind cloud and rain so I didn't bother testing the high-speed sync facility as planned.

This Ed Nugent; Ed is one of life's nice guys, a nurseryman, grower & plantsman who's worked with plants since leaving school, including exhibiting at the internationally renowned Chelsea Flower Show in London. He and his wife Josie have just established a new plant nurseryGarden Sage not too far from the studio I work from in Burgess Hill. I popped in to a) see what was in offer & b) buy some herbs plants - as you do, we got talking as Ed was on hand to welcome the customers, a great touch and testament to his desire for the nursery to succeed. He even agreed to be photographed for my Sussex Photographer blog! As I said at the beginning, they day became very grey thick cloud & rain making for a a very cool look to the images which didn't really give the look I wanted. To compensate for this I added ½ CTB (Colour Temperature Blue) gel - LEE Filters 202 ½ CT Blue, took a grey balance reference close to Ed's face to correct in post-processing. This gave me the warmer background area not lit by the flash.

The Pixapro CITI600 TTL battery mono bloc flash head was mounted to a 20" sliding leg Kupo Grip C-stand with a 40" boom - I find this a very stable & versatile configuration for most lights from Speedlites through to bulky mains powered studio heads. It's essential to remember that when rigging any light stand that one of the legs MUST bender the load of the light & boom for optimum stability. The soft box is the Pixapro 60cm portable beauty dish (silver inside) with the front diffuser in place, but not the inner deflector. This modifier has a recessed diffuser panel allowing a egg crate grid (supplied) to add more direction & less spill to the light. As this is a TTL unit I used the TTL facility in conjunction with the Pixapro ST-III T (Canon) trigger. My camera was set to Av with -⅔ stop exposure compensation dialled in. The flash was set to TTL via the trigger & an initial exposure compensation of -1 dialled in (this was established with a number of controlled Fred Tests prior to use). When using the CITI600 you'll notice that any exposure compensation does not appear on the head display; this doesn't mean the flash doesn't recognise the trigger commands, it's just the head is designed to work with both Canon & Nikon camera systems. This may or may not change with future firmware upgrades. The first frame was a bit hot (over-exposed) so I dialled in -2 stops exposure compensation on the ST-IIIT trigger and was ready to go. The light was not that challenging so for the short duration of the shoot I didn't need to change this.

Given the ambient light conditions, camera Av TTL exposure was ISO 160, ƒ/4, 1/160th sec.

The

Pixapro CITI600 TTL

 is a welcome addition to my portable lighting gear as it fits nicely when I need a wide aperture ƒ/stop for shallow depth of field (DoF) effects which with conventional portable battery flash are not possible without the use of a camera lens 0.9 solid ND filter which darkens the view finder & reduces the exposure overall requiring more flash power. I will have Speedlites in my kit, which on average are 80w/s compared to the mighty 600w/s of the CITI600 at full power:)

During a controlled location Fred Test I've achieved with a

45º deep long focus reflector

in place (honeycomb grid not fitted), ƒ/22 at 4m (13ft) in bright sunlight, Manual 1/1, camera ISO 100, 1/50th sec.

The Pixapro CITI600 TTL is also available in a

non-TTL version

.

Pixapro CITI600 TTL Key Features:

TTL auto exposure Canon & Nikon with appropriate trigger, variable over a ±3 stop range in ⅓ stop increments.

Manual from 1/1 to 1/256th power - a firmware upgrade is required for the ST-III T rigger at the time of writing as the trigger only goes to 1/128th power. Be aware that the firmware upgrade is only PC, not Mac for now and the download page is in Chinese.

Multi stroboscopic flash with variable frequency.

32 channels and 5 groups.

10w CoB LED modelling light with three power levels.

Written By Gavin Hoey 

There’s just one week to go until The Photography Show opens its doors at the N.E.C. in Birmingham and this year my free demos are bigger and better then ever. Running from the 19th – 22nd March, it’s easily the UK’s biggest and busiest photography show with 30,000 amateur and professional photographers attending. It’s packed with a great mix of stands from the major photographic suppliers to the small independent retailers.

But this isn’t just another trade show, there’s also loads of things to see and do. There’s a constant stream of free demos and talks on various live stages and that’s on top of all the smaller demos on many of the booths dotted around the show.

I’ll be there for the whole four days giving various talks and demos on Photoshop, portrait lighting and photography. I’ll be dashing from demo to demo (see below) but if you’re coming along it would be great to meet you.

Saturday

11.15 amPiXAPRO E91Small Space, Big Impact Lighting

12.30 pmAdobe TheatrePhotoshop CC Hidden Gems

3.15 pmPiXAPRO E91One Flash Lighting

4.30pmOlympus E31Losing A Mirror But Finding Focus

Sunday

11.30 amTPS Live StageFearless Flash Photography

12.45 pmPiXAPRO E91Small Space, Big Impact Lighting

2.00 pmAdobe TheatrePhotoshop CC Hidden Gems

3.15  pmPiXAPRO E91One Flash Lighting

5.00 pmTPS Behind the lensSnap Happiness (Talk)

Monday

11.00 amAdobe TheatrePhotoshop CC Hidden Gems

12.15 pmPiXAPRO E91Small Space, Big Impact Lighting

2.15 pmPiXAPRO E91One Flash Lighting

3.30 pmAdobe TheatrePhotoshop CC for Photographers

5.30 pmTPS Networking EventMega Mess Ups! (Talk)

Tuesday

11:00 amAdobe theatrePhotoshop CC Hidden Gems

12.15 pmPiXAPRO E91Small Space, Big Impact Lighting

2.15 pmPiXAPRO E91One Flash Lighting

3.30 pmAdobe TheatrePhotoshop CC for Photographers

All my demos are free and available on a first come first served basis. There’s no need to book but as the Adobe theatre in particular has limited seating I’d recommend getting there early!

Written By Mike Hardley & Jane Kelly

The PHOTOSHOOT team decided to do something around the Medusa theme, so Mike and Jane (our photographers) got started straight away on making the headpiece (link to our blog). Misty Couture came on board and made us a bespoke corset and along with a few of our own accessories, we had our look.

Tirry Jane was our fantastic model, who really got into the part with her scary looks. Charley Payne, our makeup artist, used her creative skills to produce Tirry’s ‘snake’ look.

We worked with three main sets; black, grey and an orange mottled backdrop. The lighting setup remained for all three sets. We used one strip box as the main light to the left of the model and a beauty dish as a fill, high up, facing down to the right at 45 degrees to her. Both lights had a grid fitted. The only additional light was used on the third set, which had a gridded snoot fitted and positioned at ground level, pointing towards the model’s face, as the snakes on her headdress were causing a shadow to fall over the left eye. We used two or three PixaPro 400 watt lighting, Beauty Dish with Grid, Strip Light with Grid and Snoot with Grid. Jane also used orange gels and a gold reflector. Two black light boards were used to control the light bouncing around on this set.

Mike’s camera settings and equipment: Aperture f/7.1, Speed 1/125, ISO 100. Equipment:Canon 6D with a Canon 24-105mm IS f4 lens.

Jane’s camera settings and equipment: Aperture f8.0, Speed 1/125-200 (depending) ISO160. Equipment: Nikon 610 with a Nikon 24-70mm lens.

Have a look at our behind-the-scenes video

Makeup Artist: Charley Payne http://www.charleypayne.co.uk

Model: Tirry Jane www.facebook.com/TirryJane

Venue: Creativus Imago Photography Studio

Styling: Jan Davidson, Jane Kelly & Mike Hardley

Corset: Misty Couture www.mistycouture.co.uk

Written By Gavin Hoey

Last Sunday I was in London with a great bunch of photographers. I’d been asked to be part of a workshop organised by my friend Robert Pugh and hosted by Olympus UK at their Art Bermondsey Project Space.

The day was themed around fashion photography with Rob running through a fashion set up with Profoto studio lights in the afternoon and me covering as many lighting tips and tricks as I could fit into the morning. Rob had secured the services or Amber Tutton as our model for the day, make-up was in the expert hands ofMichelle Court and the clothes were supplied by Rob’s contacts in the fashion world… or so he told me :)

I kicked off the session with a single PIXAPRO speedlight in combination with either a MagMod snoot or just random house hold items used as GoBo’s

Next I moved on to a more powerful PIXAPRO flash inside a Westcott Rapidbox Duo softbox. Adding a grid to the softbox made controlling the light much easier and gave some great effects.

Finally I moved from the plain white walls of the gallery and on to Robs roll of black paper. The lack of background shadows makes black a great choice but a little uninteresting, that’s where background lights really help and when you throw gels into the mix, things can get really fun.

With my time up, I had one last tip. Learn the rules of photography so you can break them. My last shot did just that by pointing two speedlights right at the camera. The result was hard to predict but great fun.

Written By 360 Photography

I’ve generally been a natural light photographer. I understand natural light and love its variability. Normally it’s enough to get some beautiful photographs; many photographers stop here and go no further.

Constantly critical of my own photographs, I realized that I was at the mercy of natural light, searching and modifying, but rarely creating or directing. That’s why I chose to learn how to use flash those years ago. To get full control, it’s essential to put the flashes where you want them, and for this, you need to support them. This article will talk about the options available to you for holding your speedlights and off-camera flash.

Off-camera flash

Human Light Stands

Using a human light stand is one of the easiest ways to support an off-camera flash and is often overlooked. If you can get someone to hold your flash, you get what’s effectively a voice activated light stand (VAL). It’s easier to change lighting setups this way, especially if your subject is moving. There’s also less hassle on windy days. That said, most people won’t know how to position the lighting modifier and it will tend to drift as you’re shooting. Another photographer or an experienced photography assistant will be very useful.

Handheld

Hand holding is quite simply, having either you, or an assistant hold the flash. It’s perfectly possible to do this yourself if you feel comfortable taking pictures with one hand, and it gives you a lot of control. Or hand the flash to someone else and let them know where to point it.

Monopod Boom

Again, you can do this yourself, and it helps if you have the monopod touching the ground because it means that your arm doesn’t feel as tired while holding a larger softbox or beauty dish. Or your photography assistant (or family member, friend, or passer-by) can boom, or hold the flash up, to light your subject from a higher angle. This gives you a lot of control and if you look at photographers like Annie Leibovitz and Joey L, you’ll see that their assistants are often using this approach.

It can be heavy so make sure you pause for breaks. I use a long aluminium Benro monopod that allows me to attach a flash to either end. It’s cheaper than the Gitzo alternative, but do bear in mind that there seems to be no after-sales support. Carbon-fibre is lighter, but not essential.

Off-camera flash

Tripods

I’ve been using my tripods to support my off-camera flashes for a long time. First because I already have them, and secondly because they are perfect for uneven ground. Generally they don’t get the flash high enough, but they are stable, especially if you weight them down by hanging a heavy camera bag from the center column.

Small, Lightweight Tripod

This is my go-to option when I’m travelling light and won’t have an assistant. The idea is that the tripod is so small and light, that I can wear it on my belt and largely forget about it. Of course it doubles as a tripod, which I’d normally want to have with me anyway. It’s flimsy by itself and needs to be weighted down with a camera bag. It’s also far too small for most purposes, so it needs to be up on tables and so, to get more height. But you’re more likely to actually carry it, so that’s a good thing. I use a 1kg Sirui tripod that I’m pretty happy with, especially for the price, with an equally small and light ball-head.

Big, Heavy Tripod

As I began to use larger lighting modifiers, like huge octoboxes and parabolic umbrellas, I needed a heftier support for them. I happened to have an enormous old tripod which has been excellent. It weighs a lot by itself, and is definitely bulky, but is easily carried with its broad shoulder strap. It’s perfect for uneven ground, and can be made more stable by hanging the camera bag from it. I use one of Manfrotto’s largest tripods which gets the flash over my head (I’m 6’2″). It’s old, and very durable.

Proper Light Stands

And then there are dedicated light stands, designed for the purpose of supporting off-camera flashes. I started using these when I wanted to get the flashes higher above the subjects. Some are light and flimsy, and others heavy and stable. Some stack together, and others are designed precisely for travel. They seem to break regularly in transit, or just being used on set. They do get the flashes high off the ground, but they don’t seem particularly stable because they’re tricky to weight down with the camera bag, and as soon as the ground is uneven, they’re a pain to use and won’t work on a steep slope.

Supporting Larger Flash Modifiers

Light Stands

These come in several shapes and sizes. Generally all the legs open at the same angle so they only work on fairly flat ground. Smaller light stands meant for travelling are a good solution, though they can be flimsy. Larger light stands can get the flash very high off the camera. Balanced properly, they can be used with a boom pole to get the flash over your subject.

C (entury) Stand

My most recent acquisition, and now my go-to light stand unless I’m travelling light, is the C-Stand or Century Stand. It’s an old design from Hollywood film studios, and very well engineered. It weighs a lot which is inconvenient if you’re walking to your shooting location, but helpful because it means the stand is more stable in use. The legs are also made so that it’s very easy to weight them down using sand bags. I personally use a lead diving weight belt for ballast. Importantly, one of the legs can move along the central column, which means that you can use the stand on uneven ground and on stairs. It’s not quite as versatile on uneven ground as the huge tripod, but it’s much taller; up to 3 meters (9.8 feet). It’s cumbersome to pack because it’s an L-shape, but when it’s on location, it’s perfect. The included boom is very useful, and can handle hanging backdrops too. I use the C-Stand from Pixapro which is well made enough to outlast me. It’s designed to make it a pleasure to use. Though not a pleasure to carry!

You can see the various light modifiers in the video below, as well as see them used on location.

Written By  Lucy Bartholomew

On Sunday, we packed up the car and drove down to Pagham, near Chichester to photograph 4 week old Amelie. In truth, we actually packed up two cars as we have an unhealthy number of gorgeous props and backdrops, which in addition to our lights, camera equipment and giant baby beanbag means we have no chance of getting everything in one vehicle anymore! (note to self, need studio or van!).

It was a beautiful sunny day and as we drove along the seafront in convoy, I couldn’t help but give a (in my opinion, superb) rendition of Shake it Off by Taylor Swift, Spring must be on its way, right?!

We arrived at Barbara & Ken’s lovely home and began unloading. Stacey & Tim would be arriving with Amelie shortly and we wanted to be ready for them. They had a spacious dining area with patio doors which were allowing natural light to flood in and would be a great focal point for our set-up. We built the frame and placed the beanbag alongside the window and use our giant pop up backdrop in front of the doors to create a giant softbox.

We wanted to create very soft, natural lighting and popped up our new Pixapro Lumi 400 (800w) lights, one with the lovely 120cm Octagon Gridbox and the other with an umbrella. The Octabox cast beautiful feathered light over the subject point and the fill from the umbrella would help with any unwanted shadows. We set them to minimum power and used modeling mode, rather than flash to help keep the baby calm and happy.

We greeted Stacey, Tim & Amelie and chatted them through the running order for the afternoon, we were keen to get pictures of them as well as just the baby, and had a few different set-ups in mind. Usually it is best to photograph a newborn when they are 10 days or younger as they are inevitably sleepy and are more ‘moveable’. Amelie was 4 weeks old and she was keen to keep her beautiful big eyes open and did not want to miss out on a thing, she was also keen to keep stretching out her arms and legs, which made some of our favourite poses tricky, but that simply meant we adapted and worked around her.

What that meant, was that we captured lots of gorgeous images of her beautiful big eyes and some shots that really captured her personality, which I absolutely LOVE!

When shooting a newborn, it is so important that we create a calm and relaxed environment, I always place a heated blanket on the beanbag to keep baby snug and we are very much working around them. New baby’s need to feed and be changed on a frequent basis, and we always allow for that, so our baby shoots are never rushed and we work until we get what we need, or until baby tells us that we’re done!

Once we’d captured a selection of pictures of Amelie on her own, we removed the beanbag, and used the giant ‘softbox’ as a backdrop, draped with black fabric, to capture some family portraits of the three of them together. All we needed to do, was move the backdrop away from the window and place the light which previously had the umbrella attached, behind the screen in order to provide some backlight. We used the Octabox really close to the subject to create a beautiful soft, feathered effect, the results you will see below!

We decided to finish off with some ‘high-key’ shots, so removed the black background and adjusted the light settings in order to create a different end result, with them against a white background. You’ll notice we asked Stacey and Tim to change from black shirts to white for this.

Nick and I do as many shoots as we can together, as we both get so much enjoyment from it, but Nick really took the lead on this one. I did a few of the baby posed pictures, but it was great to have Nick direct and capture these wonderful memories, his confidence continues to grow and he has such talent, I’m very proud to call him my ‘Photography Husband!’. I was very much  ‘behind the scenes’ at this shoot, helping to calm and pose Amelie, holding backdrops up and switching out props etc, which was great fun too, we have an amazing little team and it makes every work day a real pleasure!

All in all a brilliant day, thank you so much for having us Gorman Family!

Written By SDB Photography

Just received my Pixapro Lumi 400 800Ws studio flash kit, to use at home and in other places. So decided to test it out on my oldest son theses are just a few of the images taken with the flashes.

I was also inspired by Light, a new camera technology that just hit the market. and their #VantagePoint project.

Written By Ian Pack

I've worked lighting correction, effects and diffusion gels for most of my photography career - in the early days shooting video correcting tungsten lights to daylight entering through a window necessitated clipping a blue CTB gel to the barn doors of the hot lights - hot lights because if you touched any metal part your finger would blister, hence why we used to all have a pair of riggers gloves handy.

Simple, cheap and effective,  fixing lighting gels to barn doors with wooden clothes pegs

A few lighting gaffers used metal crocodile clips to clamp gels to a hot light and many nothing more sophisticated than the humble wooden clothes peg - wooden clothes peg don't transmit heat and if they get too hot only char - use plastic clothes pegs on a hot light and they melt! The wooden clothes peg has become the subject of myth - in the film industry they are know as C47s! The same principles apply when attaching gels to modern studio & portable battery location flash with a reflector in place.

The 600w/s TTL Pixapro CITI600 battery location/studio flash with standard reflector

I keep a handful of wooden clothes pegs in my camera bags along with numerous other useful odds & ends not directly photography related!

The quick & scruffy way to attach lighting gels to flash reflectors, clip a couple of clothes pages direct to the reflector.

It's also possible to gel soft boxes and beauty dish modifiers using clothes pegs by clamping the gel to the soft box spars.

Another useful accessory is the Double or Multi-Clip. The name will vary according to where you buy or who manufacturers. 

Pair of Double Clips attached to your flash reflector make a easier solution for attaching gels to lights.

Here you can see a LEE Filters cosmetic gel (combined diffusion/colour) clamped to an Elinchrom Ranger Quadra standard reflector with a pair of Double Clips.

If you need to change gels frequently during sessions then I use a piece of clear acetate or polycarbonate sheet clamped between the Double Clips.

Gels are then attached to the clear sheet with clothes pegs! This is also useful with diffusion gels as it increases the distance from the flash tube giving a better diffusion effect. When using diffusion gels and textiles I use a scrim frame as it allows me to fine tune the distance between the diffusion & light source, as illustrated in the image below.

The Pixapro CITI600 portable battery flash is available from Essential Photo in Birmingham, England.

I work mainly with LEE Filters which are available from Acebil in UK and other retailers worldwide. Elinchrom portable battery & studio flash is available from The Flash Centre - call Birmingham store and talk with Brian Collier or email Simon Burfoot and don't forget to mention this blog.