Umbrellas

Photo Taken by Frank @ www.fotoheaven.net

Now I probably own around 10+ umbrellas because their very handy to use when it comes to doing location photography work.  They take up less room than a Softbox and because of this their easier to carry around.

There are different types of photography umbrellas.  The main ones are a shoot through and a reflective.  My favourite type is a shoot through umbrella and this is because you are able to face the umbrella at your subject and get in really close to achieve a very soft and natural light.  The reflective umbrella on the other hand faces away from the subject while the metal shaft of the umbrella faces towards them.  Now this can be dangerous and it also doesn’t allow you to get in close with your umbrella.  For this reason the shoot through umbrella is my favourite out of the two.

Umbrellas are a nice and cheap way of diffusing light. One of the bad things about using an umbrella is the lack of being able to control the light spilling off onto the background.  Now most of the time this won’t be a problem, but if you’re trying to take a picture of a subject and you want the background underexposed or completely black then you may have a problem doing this when using a photography umbrella.

Umbrellas are an inexpensive pieces of equipment but I do recommend being careful when your outside shooting in windy conditions because these things will lift off.  To make sure this doesn’t happen, either don’t use one in windy conditions but if you have to make sure you always put a weight on your light stand to stop it blowing over with the umbrella.  You could also have an assistant hold the umbrella and light stand.

When looking to purchase an umbrella you should always look to get the biggest size for what you can afford.  The reason for this is that the bigger the light source the more diffused the light will be.   I recommend getting the biggest umbrella that your budget allows, you may also want to purchase more than one as I have often broke more than one when shooting on location.  Some good photography umbrellas that I recommend can be seen below:

• Cowboy Studio 33” shoot through umbrella (less than $10)
• Westcott 43” shoot through umbrella (Less than $20)
• Westcott 86” Oversized shoot through umbrella (around $140)

Softbox

Photo taken by Jimmy Arce

A Softbox may have a disadvantage when it comes to portability, however they more than make up for it when it comes to functionality.  A Softbox allows you to control the spill of light even in the smallest of rooms.  So if you want to underexpose the background or you want to have it pitch black then the Softbox is the tool you will need.

I don’t own as many softboxes as I do umbrellas because I often shoot on location and quite often don’t have much room for a Softbox but having said that nearly all of my indoor work is done with a Softbox.  A Softbox is also much easier to control than an umbrella and because of this working with multiple lights is made easier.

A Softbox like a shoot through umbrella allows you to get as close to your subject as you want.  A Softbox also has two diffusion panels one on the inside and one on the outside, this allows for a much softer light.

If I had to choose between getting an umbrella or a Softbox then I would say get an umbrella if you’re on a budget, but if you can afford to pay a little extra and you want better looking images then get a Softbox.

A list of some good softboxes can be seen below:

• Elinchrom 27” x 27” Softbox
• Elinchrom 35” x 43” Softbox
• Elinchrom rotalux 39” octagonal Softbox

As you can see from above, softboxes are more expensive than photography umbrellas, however I believe their absolutely worth the extra money every time.  There are probably many other good softboxes out there, however I only listed the ones that I own and love and if you get any of them I’m sure you will too.

If money wasn’t an object

Now the next item I am going to tell you about I have only used around 5 times, and hopefully one day I will own this amazing light diffuser.  The Elinchrom 74 inch octabank is the biggest light diffuser that I have ever used.  It is also the most expensive costing around $1400.

The reason why I love this light diffuser is that the light source is made so big by the diffuser that the light will completely wrap around your subject even if you’re shooting full body shots.  This then creates visually stunning images that are out of this world.

If any of you reading this article are super rich and would like to buy me one of these I am more than happy to take it off your hands.  In all seriousness not many of us have money like this to spend on light diffusers, but if you do then get it, it’s amazing.

Hopefully you now have a better idea of which light diffuser you would like to use.  If you have any questions please ask them below.

By Ashley at Eccentric Photography

Ever take a photograph and it seems like something’s not right? You have checked the shutter speed, aperture, iso and metering modes but something isn’t right.  Your photos have a weird colour to them.  Well the problem may lay with your cameras white balance settings misbehaving.  Now this doesn’t mean your camera is broke, it simply means your camera in the current lighting situation doesn’t know what white should look like.

The white balance on your camera interprets what should be pure white or more technically correct the temperature of the colour.  Sometimes our cameras can get this horribly wrong if you’re using an automatic white balance setting, or maybe you’re using the wrong setting.  In this article i’m going to give you a simple fix that will solve your problem.

If you have ever shot a scene where there is a lot of snow, or one colour is more dominating than another you probably know of the problems that white balance settings can cause.

Edinburugh Airport By John Gilchrist

In a snow scene where everything seems to be white colour temperatures can be thrown off causing parts of your photograph to look more “blue” than they are.  The same can be said for when you’re shooting a scene with blacks, blues and other dark colour shades.  The automatic white balance on your camera could read the wrong temperature giving us an image that’s not how we imagined it when taking it.

The best solution to getting the correct white balance is by using something called a grey card.  These grey cards can be picked up for relatively cheap.

A grey card gives the photographer a natural reference to use when selecting a white balance setting.  By simply holding the grey card out in front of your camera in the lighting conditions that you’re working in will allow your camera to adjust to the correct colour temperature, this will give you correct colour tones and bring more life into your pictures.

Any of the grey cards below are more than suitable for everyday photography.

Kodak 18% Grey Card

Opteka Premium Card

Lastolite LL LR1250 12-Inch Card

Ever wanted to know what you would look like with a tattoo without going through the pain of actually having one? Well today you can do just that.  Check out my “Creating a realistic tattoo” Photoshop tutorial below.

For this tutorial you will need

Adobe Photoshop / Elements (download from either link)

An image of a person (you can use mine)

The tattoo (any you want, I got mine here)

Lets Begin

First load up your image you want to use (the body/person) and then duplicate this layer by pressing CTRL & J, rename this “Body Layer”.  This allows us to work on the image and if we make a mistake we can go back to the original image and start again.

Now load up an image you want to use as a tattoo.  The image I used can be found here.  Paste this image onto the body layer.

Place the tattoo image on the body.  You may need to use the free transform tool to resize the tattoo image.  To do this press in CTRL & T and click on the corner of the box that comes up.  Also hold in the shift key while dragging the image smaller. This will make sure you image is transformed in both height and width.

You should now have something that looks like the following

Now this image looks great, probably because of the great model in it, however the tattoo doesn’t look realistic, that is unless tattoo shops now cover the outside of a tattoo with a huge white border.  So to make this effect look more realistic we will need to change the blending mode.

To change the blending mode, make sure our tattoo layer is selected and click to change the blending mode, this can be seen by our layer pallet.  Checkout the image below if your unsure

Then select the blending mode option “multiply”. This will get rid of all of the white in the image.  The result can be seen below.

Now this looks pretty good as it is, and at this point you could probably fool your friends into thinking that you have actually had a tattoo, however there’s one more simple step that we can do to make this image look more realistic and this is to change the opacity of the tattoo layer.

To change the opacity of the layer once again look over by the layer pallet and you should see the opacity amount.  If you can’t find the opacity box, look at the image below.

Adjust this until the image looks right. I choose 80% opacity and this is the result I got.

And there you have it.  A simple way of adding a tattoo to your body without having to endure hours of needles sticking into your skin.  If you liked this tutorial please check out our Photoshop tutorials section of this website.  If you have any questions please ask below.

Thanks Ricky

The Bride and Groom

Wedding photography is unlike most types of photography in that you only have one chance to capture a shot, there’s no retakes once a shot is gone you will never be able to recapture that moment.   So if you want a happy bride and groom, less stress and more money in your bank account then keep on reading because these handy tips will save your butt when it comes to shooting weddings.

1. Create a shot list

The Cake Shot

If you’re just starting out then a shot list is vital.  Having a shot list will allow you to make sure that no shots have been missed.  If you start shooting weddings on a regular basis then chances are that you won’t need a shot list after a while but I believe it’s always handy to have one as backup.  Some of the shots I recommend taking include:

• The wedding dress hanging up/leaning over a chair
• The brides dress getting done up
• Brides garter
• Bride getting hair done/looking in the mirror
• Bride/bridesmaids having makeup put on
• Groom tying his tie
• Groom hugging parents
• Parents/best man straitening grooms tie
• Bride and father arriving at ceremony

• Family members being seated
• Bridesmaids walking down the aisle
• Groom waiting/checking his watch
• Groom seeing bride for the first time
• Bride before making her entrance
• Father and bride walking down the aisle
• The back of the father and bride walking down the aisle (if you have a second photographer)
• Close up of bride and groom exchanging vows
• Close up of the rings going onto hands
• The first kiss as married couple
• Walking up the aisle as a married couple
• Bride and groom outside the location
• Family throwing confetti at bride and groom

After the ceremony you will usually get a chance to get the bride and groom along with the bridesmaids and groomsmen to pose for some photos.  I said usually because I have shot wedding where couples didn’t want these types of shots.  You will find the majority of couples expect these photos however and personally these types of photos I enjoy taking.  Here is a shot list of some of the posed photos you should take.

Posed Photographs

• Full length bride shot
• Bride and maid of honour (3/4 and full length shots)
• The bride with all of the bridesmaids
• The bride and her parents
• Groom with parents
• Bride and groom
• Bride and groom with each set of parents
• Groom with his best man
• Groom with bridesmaids
• Bride with groomsmen
• Bride and groom with bridesmaids
• Bride and groom with groomsmen
• Bride, groom, bridesmaids and groomsmen

One tip I would give you when shooting big groups is that you have to take control.

One of the first weddings I ever shot I had people not paying any attention to me and looking in different directions.  When I realised this I quickly took control and specifically asked everyone behind me with their digital cameras to stop taking photographs until I had taken mine and then I would hold the group together for a few seconds so everyone with their digital cameras could come in and take their photos.

It worked and I had no problem with people looking in the wrong direction.

Another tip I would give you is to ask everyone to first look at your camera and then close their eyes.  Then ask them to open their eyes on the count of 3.  When they open their eyes ask them to find your camera lens with their eyes as quickly as possible.  I would then recommend taking a burst of shots.  This will help minimise the chance of anyone having their eyes closed.

One final tip when dealing with group shots is to say “can everyone see the camera”, then follow that line with “if you can’t see the camera it can’t see you”.  This will make sure no one’s head is being covered by another guests.

Once you have moved past taking the group shots you will want to start taking photos at the wedding reception.  The following is a shot list I would recommend capturing:

Reception Photographs

• The outside of the reception site
• Candid photos of guests outside the reception
• The bride and groom arriving at the reception
• The bride and groom laughing and joking with guests
• Inside of the reception before guests arrive
• Little details on the table such as patterns or decorations
• Guests names on cards at table
• The wedding cake (multiple shots and angles)
• The first dance
• Parents dancing
• Cutting of the cake
• Toasts/speeches
• The throwing of the bouquet
• Bride and groom leaving

Having a set list will help you make sure that you don’t miss a thing, however don’t rely on them too much as you may miss some spontaneous shots.  I would also recommend sending the set list to the bride and groom before hand to see if there are any additional shots they would like.

2. Having the right equipment

Now i’m sure the best photographers in the world could produce stunning images with point and shoot digital cameras, however unfortunately i’m not the best photographer in the world and have no shame in admitting it. I do however book more than enough weddings every year to earn a living from it.  Having the right equipment will make your job as a wedding photographer much easier.

Wedding photography can be expensive to get into, however you can pay off your initial investment and turn a profit by just shooting one or two weddings.

I recommend at least two camera bodies and at least two lenses at a minimum.  The reason for this is that in a wedding setting you don’t have any time to change lenses.  So for this reason I recommend using camera lenses that cover a wide range of focal lengths.  If you’re a Canon photographer I recommend the following Cameras and lenses:

Cameras

Canon’s 5D MkII (Full Frame Camera)

Canon’s 7D (Crop Sensor)

Lenses

Canon 24-70mm f2.8 Luxury Lens (Medium Range Lens)

Canon 70-200mm f2.8 II IS Lens (Telephoto Lens)

You may also want a lens such as the Canon 17-40mm F4 L lens for wide angled group shots.

If you’re a Nikon or Sony photographer then look out for similar lenses.

3. Use Flash

Photo By Will Fuller of www.wfullerphotography.co.uk

Now when your outdoors there may be a temptation just to use natural lighting and there’s nothing wrong with this at all.  However simply adding a little flash will do wonders for your images.  Having a flash to give a little fill light will give you nice catch lights in the eyes and will get rid of any nasty shadows cast on the face from sunlight.

Once again if you’re a canon shooter I would recommend owning at least 2-3 flashes with wireless triggers.  The following flashes are what I use at weddings:

Canon 430 EX II Speedlite

Canon 580 EX II Speedlite

I also wouldn’t leave my home without a Gary Fong diffuser.  This little accessory attaches to the top of your flash gun and makes the light less harsh, giving your images a much softer and natural feel.

4. Stick to the bride like glue

Capture all of the little details

Ok perhaps not like glue but you get the idea.  Where ever the bride goes you must follow her and keep eyes on her at all times. Now you may be thinking what about the groom, the truth is you want to include the groom as much as possible but in reality all eyes are on the Bride.  People want to see her hair, her flowers, her makeup and anything else you can imagine.  The bride is the centre of the attention on her wedding day so make sure your photos reflect it.

5. Make sure you have backups

Thankfully I have never had any of my equipment fail on me, however if it did I have equipment ready to back it up.  For this reason I carry two camera bodies, 3-4 lenses, multiple batteries, multiple memory cards and 3 Speedlites.

If something did go wrong you wouldn’t want to be in a position where you couldn’t shoot the wedding.  Be prepared and you will do fine.

Conclusion

I believe it takes a special type of person to become a wedding photographer as wedding photography isn’t for the faint of heart.  Wedding photography can be stressful but I believe if you’re prepared then you can take a lot of the stress out of the situation.

Things will go wrong when you’re shooting a wedding.  If you stay calm and composed however there is no reason as to why you can’t handle any situation thrown at you.

Most importantly enjoy the experience.  Quite often guests and family members will take care of a photographer who has been respectful and courteous.  I personally love the pressure put on me to get good shots in a wedding and I think because of this my wedding photography work improves each and every time I photograph different weddings.

Thanks for reading, hopefully I will have answered all of your questions and provided you with some valuable tips, if there is something I have missed or If you have any questions please write them below.

I’ve had this thing for just over a month now and I love it.  Many of you know that I hate camera straps full stop and I usually wrap the strap around my arm while shooting.

Lately however I have been shooting a lot more weddings and because I don’t want to look like a total douche I’ve been looking into ways that will hold my camera without being intrusive while being easy to use.

After many suggestions the Black Rapid RS7 Camera Strap seemed to be the winner.  So I ordered the thing from Amazon.com and it came 3 days later in the mail.

What I think of the Black Rapid RS7 Camera Strap

The Black Rapid RS7 seems a little over priced.  It’s a camera strap guys not a gold medallion.  Moving away from the price however this really is a good camera strap.  It doesn’t get in your way and it allows you to rest your camera by your hip without it bouncing around like many other camera straps.

One of my main concerns was hanging my Canon 7D and Canon 70-200mm f2.8 lens from the strap simply because of the weight of the camera and lens.  I was worried that the strap may not have held up and my expensive equipment was going to take a tumble to the floor.  Thankfully the RS7 strap was more than capable and held my equipment in place without any problems.

One of the cool things about having the Black Rapid RS7 was the feeling I got when I took the camera from my hip and started shooting.  Now you may call me a kid but this motion made me feel like a real wild western cowboy.

The Real Test

I decided the only way to test the effectiveness of this strap was that I needed to use it when I shot my next wedding.  This is what I found.

The drawing motion was effortless and I didn’t manage to bang the camera or lens against my side when bringing it up to my face to take pictures.

After shooting for what must have been more than 8 hours I can tell you that this strap is much kinder to your shoulders, neck and skin than a standard canon strap.  I didn’t have any skin indentations or rashes from the strap rubbing or digging in which I was quite surprised about as I was carrying some heavy equipment.

The most important thing about this strap especially as the evening went on was the ability to swing it up and start taking pictures right away.  For the quickness of usage the Black Rapid RS7 camera strap is worth the price alone.

The Good

• Quick to use
• Comfortable
• Works great

The Bad

• Expensive
• Initial set up was a little complicated

The Conclusion

The Black Rapid RS7 camera strap is an excellent addition to any photography kit.  It’s much more comfortable than conventional camera straps and because of this I guarantee you will use your camera much more if you have this strap.  Although a little expensive it comes nowhere near the price of some of the equipment you may have purchased in the past and I know you will use this product much more than any previous buys.

Click Here find more about the Black Rapid RS7 including the price.

Watch The Black Rapid RS7 in Action below

The Black Rapid RS7 is on offer Here

Photo Taken By Sushil Click Image to see more photos

The great thing about having a flash gun is that their much cheaper than purchasing lenses with a low aperture.  Now low aperture lenses are great and I have a few in my line up but there’s only so much a low aperture lens can do and without light you can’t capture any images at all.

Now as many of you know i’m a Canon shooter so I would recommend either of these flashes:

Canon 430 EX II Speedlite (expensive but not too expensive)

Yongnuo 460 (Chinese product but does the job)

The two above flashes are excellent products.  If you can afford the Canon 430 ex II Speedlite then get this one as it has a better build quality than the Yongnuo.  However having said that there is nothing wrong with the Yongnuo 460 and you can probably buy 3 of these things for the canon equivalent.

If you already have a flash then great, if not look into getting either of the above as the built in flash already on your cameras is pretty much a waste of time.  The images will look rubbish and the results will be unflattering.

Indoor Flash Techniques

The reason why I recommended both flashes above was that they have the ability to tilt and swivel the main head.  Other flashes are fixed and I really don’t see the point in these flashes at all.  If you have a fixed flash then sell it now because you are ruining your chances to taking good on camera flash photos.

Now let’s say the flash is mounted to your camera and you’re shooting in landscape mode.  The most unflattering shot to take in this instance is to point your flash head straight at the subject and fire off a shot.  If you don’t believe me then take the shot yourself.  You should notice that the image looks washed out and your subject will have a deer in the headlight look to them.  Not good at all!

If you have a white wall available you will want to turn your flash head to face this wall.  A ceiling is just as good.  Turn your flash head so that it is facing against the wall/ceiling and then point your camera at the subject.  Take your shot.

You should notice that there aren’t any harsh shadows on your image.  This is because the white wall has now diffused the light which in turn has created a much softer and natural light.

No wall/Ceiling available

Now in some instances in my case quite a lot there won’t be a white wall to bounce light off upon.  So what do you do in these instances? Well don’t worry i’m going to tell you.  You need a light diffuser to create the same effect.

Stofen Omni Bounce

The most common light diffuser for a Speedlite is a Stofen Omni Bounce. One of my friends describes them to tupperware but they do actually do a job.  You simply put the Stofen on top of your flash and once again point the flash head up and fire away.

The only thing about the Stofen that I don’t like is that it wastes flash energy by throwing light in all different directions which sometimes is an unwanted effect.  For this reason I often use the following product.

Gary Fong Diffuser

Now I have no idea who Gary Fong is but i’m guessing he is a photographer, because the product he came up with would only be thought of by a photographer.  The Gary Fong diffuser is a little weird to look at but I swear by its results.  The Gary Fong is a much larger diffuser than the Stofen Omni Bounce so it gives better results.

Images taken with the Gary Fong produce less harsh shadows and because of the way the product is designed no light gets wasted.

Click Here for more information on the Gary Fong

The Free way

Now I have no idea what this diffuser is called, I simply call it a bounce card but i’m unsure if this is technically correct.  These bounce cards though are an excellent way to diffuse light if you’re on a budget.

When I first started shooting weddings people were a bit worried that I was shooting them using a card on my flash, however I believe my results speak for themselves.  If you’re looking to create a bounce card for free then checkout this YouTube user’s video below.

Now that’s out of the way, let’s get into looking at the canon 430 Speedlight.

Item Specifications:

Exposure Control Type: E-TTL II, TTL, E-TTL

Lens Coverage: 24mm – 105mm

Guide Number: 43

Brand Name: Canon

The Canon 430 Speedlight is suitable for photographers who are looking to venture into the world of flash photography.  Some photographers are put off using a Speedlight because they often find them confusing.  One of the benefits of using a Canon 430 Speedlight is that it has something on it called “ETTL” this basically means that in this mode the flash will meter the settings for you to give you the correct exposure.

Eventually you will want to turn your flash to manual mode for more consistent results but in the mean time the ETTL mode is a great way to get new photographers experienced in using flash.

The Canon 430 Speedlight head can be tilted and swivelled for when it is on top of your camera.  This is a great feature and this allows you as a photographer to bounce the flash off any nearby walls which softens the light giving a softer flash which makes your images more appealing.

If you purchase the Canon 430 Speedlight then make sure you get the mark 2 version as it is much quieter and 20% quicker than the previous Canon 430 Speedlight.

If you ever upgrade to the Canon 580 in years to come then you will be glad to know that the Canon 430 Speedlight can be used as a slave light.  What this means is that you could use your newer Canon 580 as the main light and the 430 as a 2^nd light source which leads to some interesting photos being taken.

The Canon 430 Speedlight is a great flash gun that is very affordable and easy to use.  You don’t have to take our word alone for it though as you can read over 230 customer reviews below.

Read Full Product Review

If you’re undecided on the Canon 430 Speedlight then check out what Amazon.com customers had to say about it below:

“I use this external flash unit with my Canon Rebel xTi. The flash does a great job calculating the amount of light it needs to release to expose the photo, making grossly over exposed or underexposed photos a thing of the past…” Read Full Review Here

“The Speedlite 430EX II flash is a solid unit. It contains most of the upgrades that its big brother received. A metal foot finally, with a twist-lock that holds it totally securely to the top of the camera, yet removes in less than a second when you want to take it off, are true values and make a excellent flash unit even better. Canon quality is demonstrated in every aspect…”

Read Full Review Here

“I had been holding off on purchasing an external flash for my XTI for months, making up all sorts of excuses as to why I shouldn’t own one. It’s too big, I’ll never use it, $200+ for a flash of light is obscene and on and on the excuses went. My wife surprised me by getting me one for my birthday and after using it for 6 months I couldn’t be happier. How did I ever live without this thing?..” Read Full Review Here

Thanks for reading this overview/review of the Canon 430 Speedlight.  If your still undecided to whether this flash is the right one for you then why not check out the whole line up of Canon flashes at Amazon.com

Some of you may or may not have heard about Yongnuo, and until about a year ago I was oblivious to them also, however that soon changed when I was in the market for wireless transceivers.  I did a quick search and Yongnuo receivers popped up and under them they had some glowing reviews.

I took a chance with this little company and it sure did pay off.  Since then I have purchased the yn-460 and now the yn-560 flash.

The Yongnuo yn-560 Speedlite has 8 power level outputs ranging from: 1/1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64 and 1/128.  At full power the YN-560 has a recycle time of only 3 seconds.  The Yongnuo yn-560 Speedlite also has 7 different zoom positions which range from 14 / 28 / 35 / 50 / 70 / 80 and 105mm.  This is useful for determining how wide spread or closed in you want the flash to appear.

The Yn-560 flash is a good and cheap alternative flash to the canon 430 ex II Speedlite.

Read the full product review here

I love the Yn-560 flash and so do many other photographers, check out what they had to say below:

“For the money, I am amazed at how powerful, useful, and effective the 560′s are. Since I bought mine, Yongnuo has added a metal shoe foot which is an even better reason to get these for strobist work. Beyond the fine manual control…” Read the full Review Here

“Overall great buy and I might buy some more down the line. Glad I didn’t spend another 500 on a canon Speedlite.” Read the full Review Here

That concludes our Yn-560 flash review/overview. If you are still on the fence and can’t decide whether or not this Speedlite is for you, be sure to check out the reviews and spec, or compare other flashes, on Amazon.com

If you own quality lenses then you will need a filter.  A filter protects your lens from scratches and even cracks.  Some filters can cost 10 bucks where as others can cost up to $100.  You get what you pay for and in this case you get a good quality filter.

Specifications:

• Item Display Diameter: 77 millimetres
• World’s best optical glass
• New thinner Pro mount. Which results in no vignetting
• Brass Ring for higher Quality Image

Although the B+W 77mm UVA (Ultra Violet) Haze MRC Filter protects your lens from scratches and damage its main responsibility in this instance is to minimise camera haze.  If you’re a photographer who purchases quality lenses then don’t throw a cheap filter on the front of it, instead get a good quality one like the B+W 77mm UVA (Ultra Violet) Haze MRC Filter.

Read a Full Product Review Here

We absolutely love the B+W 77mm UVA Haze MRC Filter, but don’t just take our word for it, check out what these loyal Amazon.com customers had to say about the lens filter:

“If you have quality glass, like the Canon L series, then you need quality filters. the B+W are made from ground optical glass, not a piece of plain glass like as you see in the tiffen and Hoyas filters (even the expensive ones are still cheap grade glass)…” Read Full Review Here

“I have always found Hoya filters difficult to clean. I just purchased my first B+W filters and now I plan to replace all my other filters with B+W filters. Yes, they are more expensive, and I thought the reviews were over-inflated and perhaps a little snobbish. I am now a believer! The quality of the filter construction is unmatched…” Read Full Review Here

The Westcott 301 5-in-1 reflector can be used in 5 different ways, i’m sure you have guessed this from its name but I think it’s worth mentioning anyway.

• The silver side gives specula highlights which are perfect for a high contrast image.  This side is very useful for shooting video recordings and also black and white images.
• The gold side gives a natural look and also adds warmth to an image.  This side can be used to replicate the sun.
• The white side can be used for two different styles.  The first style can be used to bounce light off, this gives much softer light and softer shadows.  The second usage of the white side is to diffuse harsh light.  This gives the light a broader source making it much softer and it allows the light to wrap around your subject.
• The black side of the reflector can be used as a flag to block or subtract light from your image.

The Westcott 301 5-in-1 reflector kit can be used either for studio or location photography.  This 40 inch reflector can also be folded down to a third of its size and can be neatly tucked away in the carry case provided.

The Westcott 301 5-in-1 reflector is perfect for those photographers looking to add more light to their photos without purchasing another flash or studio light which can be very expensive.

The 5-in-1 reflector weighs only 1.8 pounds and measures 13.5 x 13.5 x 1 inches when folded.

See Full Product Review Here

Let’s take a look at some review snippets from Amazon.com:

“If you do portraits, you want to make sure you cover the shadows and with a smaller one it’s a little harder to aim. I also like that the translucent part of this is big enough to cover a whole person without standing too close to them. Also the large size lets you use this as a background for a headshot or closeup…” Read Full Review Here

“Let’s face it, this is a reflector. It really does everything I could ask out of it. It is solid and well made. The slip is easily reversed and I noticed no problems with the zipper, as I had read in other comments. I say that this is a very nice product…” Read Full Review Here

“I just received this today and am impressed with it. Very good value for the money. Folds down to a nice size and seems very large when open. I’d recommend this to someone who is looking for a decent reflector at a good price…” Read Full Review Here

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