Oh the things you can do with those LED lights!!!! (Apologies to Dr. Suess).

Every day I read some expert on the web who tells the unwitting and incurious that LED lights aren't ready for prime time, can't be of interest to photographers as long as we can get our hands on some sort of flash mechanism, don't hold a candle to the brilliance of XXX other lighting  equipment. But I fundamentally disagree. If you want to do interesting things it helps to use interesting tools. And I find LEDs most interesting. 

The image of Erin, above, was done for Zach Scott Theatre's (world) premier of Steven Dietz's play, Mad, Hip, Beat and Gone. The lead tech and I decided on LED lighting for the session because we were shooting for both video and a stills and, well, flash doesn't work so well for video. We were shooting black and white and we're projecting the images up to 24 by 30 feet as part of the on stage production design. The look, feel and style of the images is just what the art folks wanted. And the two hours we spent working under the cool lighting of the LEDs was pleasant. Four lights, a couple modifiers.

Of course the web experts will tell you that you can't get good color out of LEDs but that's not true either. The above shot of the cook is lit with LEDs mixed with the lighting in the kitchen. If you look at the inexpensive florescent bulbs under the hood vent you'll see a classic green spike. But that was coming from the Flos, not the LEDs. I could have used flash but why? This is the image I was looking for and the blend of light sources is part of the magic. Need more color purity? Turn off the overheads and put more LEDs in to take their places. (color pumped up but not corrected in Snapseed).

From the very first day I used a decent, modern LED that plugged into the wall I've been sold on the what you see is what you get accuracy of the way the lights track. I like the way they can mix and blend with ambient lighting and I love the quick, no hassle set ups. When I go battery powered I love the fact that I can get good color, ample output and not have cords to trip over.

In fact, I liked LEDs so much I asked my publisher at Amherst Media if I could write a book about the subject. It's still the only book out in the market for photographers that is a dedicated introduction to LED lighting. If you are curious about the future of lighting I humbly suggest you read my book. At the very least you may come away comfortable with what you already have in your light kit but with some curiosity satisfied. 

I'm loving their use as Hybrid Lights. Crossing over between video and stills. Easily. 

Here's a link to the book at Amazon:  LED LOVE

Note: Don't want the book but want to support the VSL blog? Any link you click on here will take you to Amazon and, on that particular adventure, anything you buy counts. I'll get a small commission at no extra cost to you.  Thanks very much for the support!

I have been interviewed about photography (mostly business topics). It's a podcast.

http://www.thecandidframe.com/

Ibarionex Perello is a photographer, writer and interviewer. His latest book is: Photoshop Master Class: Photoshop Inspiring artwork and tutorials by established and emerging artists. He works in Los Angeles and he's really fun to talk to about photography.

He took time out of his busy schedule to interview me for his blog, the Candid Frame. (hit the link at the top of the page)...

I ramble on for quite a while but Ibarionex did a good job at reining me in...

Please go and listen to the interview, if you want to hear how different I sound from Ron Perelman....

Thanks Ibarionex.

(Not an April Fool's joke).

My favorite book about the business of photography.

Now available at Amazon.com 

My absolute favorite photography purchase of the year is a cheap LED panel.

I want to start by saying that the commercial image above is one of my absolute favorites from the entire year of 2012. We shot it on the run during a long day of image making for an enormous radiology practice. I like the very authentic interplay between the two people in the image and I like the way the round structure of the machine intersects the frame diagonally; both from side to side and from front to back. I like the tonalities of the white machine finish both in the shadow areas to the left of the frame and the bright but detailed highlights on the top right of the machine. I like that we were able to achieve a perfect light balance between my lights on the two human subjects, the diagnostic machine and also the computer screen in the far right background.

The white, translucent curtains in the background plane frame the technician in a wonderful way; dark against light. But most of all I like the captured gesture of the technician's hand.

Although we have sunlight outside the window, florescent lights overhead and three LED panels in the room the white of the "patient's" robe and the white of the machine are very neutral and there are no rogue areas of color shift.  

With enough time I could do this well with flash. It would take some trial and error and a lot more time than I spent doing it my way. This image was shot with LED panels and that made my job easier, the image hold together better and our set up faster and much more fluid. It's not an "over the top" or adrenaline drenched shot by any means but I think it has a balance and feel of reality that makes it a good image for the world of medical commerce.

Fast forward from the summer (when the above shot was done) to yesterday. I spent all morning photographing in a pet hospital. We did portraits, animals, treatments, procedures and interior wide shots and we lit everything with the same three panels. I was able to shoot non-stop for almost four hours with the lights on most of the time. The light are battery powered so they don't need power cords or extension cords. No flash and no noise means no skittish dogs and no cringing cats. The lights can be made to blend seamlessly with the light I find in most interior locations.  And when we're done they go back into a small Tenba case that rides on top of my Think Tank rolling case.

I own a lot of lights and I've used many more lights of just about every type over the 20+ years I've been working as a professional photographer.  These particular LED panels are the most amazing lights I've played with so far. And pretty much among the cheapest, considering what they do.

I have an image of them below. They are the Fotodiox 312AS LED panels and they run about $150 in the Fotodiox storefront at Amazon. Why do I think they are so amazing? Well, they put out enough light to do many of the fill in tasks we mostly need. In a darkened room they make great main lights when used with modifiers and either higher ISOs or lower shutter speeds (use your tripods, they are magic).

They have two controls. And they have two sets of LEDs. One control is a stepless dial that takes the light from a minimum power setting to full power in a smooth twist of the control. The other dial allows you to balance between an equal number of tungsten balanced LEDs and daylight balanced LEDs. Twisting the knob on the back takes you from daylight to tungsten and anywhere in between. I've found that a setting near the middle of the rotation gets me right into the ball park to balance with most popular florescent lighting.

The fixtures come with a diffusion panel that attaches to the front of the unit with magnets. Very cool. Three or four of these in a small case gives me enough flexibility, when combined with the recent slew of cameras that perform well at 800 and 1600 ISO, to do just about any interior lighting (for one or two people) that I need. Your mileage may vary. I wouldn't choose these small panels to light a large group. And I wouldn't choose any continuous light to try recording sports or fast action.  But when I pack these are the first lights into the cases and they generally get used on every shoot. Even when I'm shooting mostly flash there always seems to be the need for just a little fill somewhere. The need to bring up the levels in a dark corner. 

I have used all three, crowded together on a couple of stands, and set behind a diffusion panel, to do some fun portrait lighting with both film and digital. The panels don't have the big green spikes of their predecessors so the AWB on most digital cameras makes short work of providing you with neutral files. 

I recommend these panels. Come to think of it they are the only new studio lights I've purchased all year long. That I am not hungry for something different speaks volumes about their value to me. I suggest you try one if you are curious about LED lighting. 

If you want to trim the learning curve where LEDs are involved you might want to pick up a copy of my LED book. One of the Fotodiox 312AS Panels combined with my LED book might make a thoughtful gift for someone you know who is working as a photographer. It might also make a great, self-indulgent indulgence. Just a thought.

My Afternoon with James Evans and Andrew Eccles.

Crazy From The Heat.  By James Evans.

A few months ago I shot a black and white video of photographer, Michael O'Brien, talking about his new book, Hard Ground.  He shared the video with James Evans and the next thing you know I'm getting ready to do a video of James talking about his new book,  Crazy From The Heat.  James is one of the most interesting photographers I know.  A self described hermit, he moved to Marathon, Texas (pop. 250) about twenty five years ago and he's been photographing the landscape, the animals and the people of this desert region since he arrived.  He doesn't pay much attention to what everyone else is doing, he just does work that pleases him.  He is his first audience.  But his work is appreciated by collectors, major magazines and museums.

I met James 28 years ago when he moved up to Austin from Corpus Christi.  He claims that I'm the first person he met here in Austin (it's a long, good story).  And our paths intersected from time to time since Austin was a small town then.  When the bottom fell out of the local economy in 1988 he decided to chuck the dream of being a commercial photographer and do something a lot more fulfilling: Become a real artist.

We made plans a couple weeks ago to shoot an interview this weekend.  He was going to be in town for a gallery opening at the Stephen L. Clark Gallery.  I dropped by the opening/book signing to pick up a copy of the book so I could look through and decide what we'd talk about.  While we planned our session he nervously asked me if it would be okay if he brought along his friend from "out of town",  Andrew.  I wanted him to feel comfortable, right at home, so of course I readily agreed.  I had no idea he was talking about Andrew Eccles.  Andrew is kind of a legend in advertising and editorial portrait photography and a former first assistant for Annie Leibovitz.  His work is amazing in a totally different way from the way James's work is amazing.

So, five o'clock rolls around.  The temperature outside has been holding steady at 105 for a few hours now.    I've had the studio air conditioning set to super-turbo high for the better part of the afternoon (we'll need to turn it off to record good sound and I want it under 70 degrees when we go "dark cool.").  The Toyota rent-a-car slides into the driveway and James, his wife, Marcie; and Andrew pile out and head into my frigid, little studio space.  

We do the refreshment offer/request thing and get down to work.  I'm using my trademark lighting set up.  That means just about anything that throws off light pounding through a six foot by six foot silk diffusion scrim.  Today I'm using two of the big LED panels as primary light sources and they're giving me exactly the light quality I want and BONUS! the exact exposure I wanted:  ISO 200, f2.8, 1/45th of a second.  Magic.  And amazing quality.  I also stuck another LED light source on the background for a little separation.

James spoke about the fun of immersing oneself into a sparsely settled area.  Where I have thousands and thousands of people around to potentially make portraits of James has a hand full.  But what he lacks in choice he makes up for in depth.  He's totally in.  He remarked that a small town like Marathon turns everyone (for better or worse) into family.  You know EVERYONE.  Your documentation is their life.  Their life is your work.

James has taken a different path than anyone I know.  He's earning a living by selling his work through his gallery and galleries in Austin and around the country.  His work is in many, many private collections.  But he barely concerns himself with the nuts and bolts of commerce.  He's not a blogger, has only a rudimentary website, probably doesn't twitter.  His focus is making work that hangs together over decades.  And his true work is pleasing himself and being happy with his life.  The scary thing?  It works. He love the adventure of shooting and he loves the time he spends in the traditional darkroom.

To a large extent James and Andrew are the "odd couple" as far as friends go.  Both came from Corpus Christi.  James ended up chasing the light across the lone deserts of the southwest, sleeping on the roof of his car and spending weeks and months at a time pursuing projects with no deadline and no client other than himself.  Andrew is the quintessential New York super photographer with an amazing reputation and an enviable body of commercial and editorial work.  And yet they seem so comfortable as friends.  After a couple of hours of catching up, shooting and then having the video camera turned on me, James, Marcie and Andrew went off in the little red Toyota Corolla determined to have sushi at Musashino.  They invited me to join them and I would have loved to go but Belinda was making Ratatouille, there's a super Tuscan breathing on the sideboard,  and my life is different from theirs.  They're catching up and James is still basking in the glow of a very successful gallery show and book signing.  Sometimes it's better to bow out than to get in the way.

I should have my interview with James up sometime this week and I think some of you will really love it.  His message is unmistakable:  The government, corporations and society try to make you into obedient and controllable cogs but you can do whatever you want to do.  The system will take care of itself.  

Book Notes.  The book was shepherded through to publication by many people but the designers were D.J. Stout of Pentagram, and Julie Savasky, also of Pentagram.  The design is impeccable and gives the images in the book a very comforting flow.  The images are the best examples of wide open landscape, night shots in vast empty spaces, whimsical shots of animals and defining shots of the feel of being in west Texas.  If you are interested in landscape it's a "must have."  The printing defines world class.  It's a nice romp through the desert.  My favorite?   Nude with Clouds.