My David Hobby Story

I recently took a class from David Hobby, creator of www.strobist.com. It was called Lighting in Layers. After I walked out of there, I was literally chomping at the bits to use all the new lighting techniques that Dear David has bestowed upon us. I went home and spent every single dime that I had in my business account on lighting equipment. Triggers, remotes, stands, umbrellas, Orbis ring flash, 2 more SB-600's, hot shoe mounts, spot grid, and a partridge in a pear tree. No, I'm not telling you to spend your entire saving on lighting, but I knew that if I wanted to be serious about this, I needed to invest in equipment that was going to make me a better photographer.



This is Sydney, she's my best friend from high school's sister's daughter. LOL Here, I'll give you a few seconds to re-read that.....Got it? Okay, moving on.

For all of my photographer friends, I took this shot at around 10:45 a.m. very sunny, no clouds. ISO 400 (I totally forgot to check this, should of been 200), f/13, 1/250 sec. with a 35mm lens. I used my SB-600 shooting thru a translucent umbrella, camera right 45 degree angle.

Not bad, love that the background isn't all blown out, it's dark enough to see the green grass and shadows and her face is perfectly lit so that you see all the angles and even a bit of light in her eyes and face...Okay, I'm liking the light again.



OMG! Are you freakin kidding me!!! I LOVE this shot! Yeah there's a little shadow of the leaves behind her on her face, SO WHAT! It's beautiful, it's cool! It's exactly the look I'm going for.... :)

Again, one umbrella light, but this time I added a second flash with the Lumiquest Softbox III hand held, camera left. I needed a little more fill light because the bush behind her was casting a pretty bad shadow in her face. Love this picture!

Lighting is nothing to be afraid of and it's comforting to know that I'm not the only photographer in the world that has had this fear. There should be a scientific term for it. Strobeophobia? Anyway, it's changed the way I've shot my last couple of projects. It's changed the way I've looked at magazine ads and professional lighting in the studios. Sometimes you have to throw away what you've learned in a class or from other photographers who are more "by the book" out the window. It's not about technical stuff, it's about what looks good to you. YOU are the photographer! YOU are the one that people are paying for YOUR look! I don't want to be David Hobby, I want to be Marci Johnson. And I want people to see my work and be inspired, be creative and be..........well, in a word, happy! It's not about if the number is right on the LCD screen, it's what looks good to you....

So I've tweeted it, Facebook'd it and said it to his face, but David Hobby, I thank you for making me a better strobist. :)

Now go shoot something with a light!