The Tripod a Must!

Recently I got a tripod and I am very proud on owning it. Ha, I think I'm really proud because it such a professional looking, study, and robust tripod. What I got is a Manfrotto 3021 tripod with a Manfrotto 3028 Head. The head is a good model, but the locking levers get in the way! Well, when you loosen the lever to allow movement on one axis. If funds permits I will get a ballhead to quickly move about with my camera for shots. This Manfrotto can be higher than 60+ inches tall, and can be less than 10 inches off the ground! This will most definetly allow me to be eye level with my subjects for long periods, and it seriously is relieving not to hold it in place for over 5 mins of cars rolling in. Not only that, but just getting angles into hard to keep steady. Ill show examples of that in the future.



This tripod is just so darn useful! It gives me a position to keep consistent photos. Today I used this tripod at a local car meet at Gillis Motorsports grand opening. Cars rolled in and I had the camera set at a certain angle to capture the cars and just zoomed in the lens to frame a car just right!


ISO: 200 SS: 1/800 fstop: 2.8


ISO: 200 SS: 1/2000 fstop: 2.8


iso: 800 (forgot about my ISO indoors) ss: 1/2500 fstop: 5.6


iso: 800(still was shooting on a high iso...) ss: 1/4000 fstop: 5.6

With a tripod and my strobist work im looking to freeze my subjects with flash and have long enough exposures to pull out detail in low lighting outside or even inside with dim interior lights if the shot calls for it. Other than that, what I can readily say is that it will so help with group shots and portraits in general when I want to be in them or give the best sharpness possible. I know some people say you can just get sharp photos by using a fast shutter speed, but regardless if you are shooting at high sutter speeds you can be shaking or you just suck at holding a camera. It maybe a shooting aid, but hey I admit at time I cant hold steady enough to get a clean shot at time, especially less than 1/100th of a second!

If viewers are wondering what kind of gear I am even shooting with, I will get to it later. For now its going to be gear, lighting, leading up to my camera so don't worry about it because what camera you use does not really matter! Well, just as long as you have a way to sync up lights and have manual control, that is all that is needed!

Manfrotto Super Clamps Are Here!

Hey all. Now I have a special piece of hardware that I think I will have a great love using in my work. This glorious piece of hardware is called a Manfrotto Super Clamp. These things are used allot for rigging up something, mostly lighting, and I see them allot in plays/theater applications. Currently, they are only thing I can do with a clamp is to make a "ghetto boom". What I did is take the clamp and put it on my Manfrotto 3336 stand, and then took another stand and clamped it into the jaws of the super clamp and fastened it. It look like a crazy crane designed to build a skyscraper! but if i put a future softbox or umbrella, it will give a unique look to my photo no doubt.



Later on for these guy is to hold my speedlights onto doors, poles, railings, tables, virtually anything that is less than 3 inches thick, and I can get a secure fit for some lighting things. Sadly, that wont happen till I get at least two main pieces of hardware to make it happen, and that would be the swivel/umbrella bracket, and a cold shoe for the flash. I hope it comes in soon! It looks like February 3rd is going to be the day of experimentation using flash since that when my box of GOODIES come in! I look forward to updating my blog with all those bits!

Also this thing can be used to hold my camera if i dont have a tripod! That is, if it buy the other bits! Many what an expensive business I am taking on!

Take care all! Hope the info is good reading for you guys, and I am anxiously awaiting the day I get some light modifiers in!

The Start of the Lighting Equipment Lightstands!

Im so exited to start doing my flash photography! I have light stands! I have two kinds but this is my first set I just got. They are old school Bogen 3336 stands. They are AWESOME! They go up to 11 feet high! imagine a small speed light up that high! Its extremely useful to have stands like this because they are sturdy and robust to take a beating and give security for your equipment. Im Planning to use these with the Manfrotto 026 Swivel brackets and Stroboframe Cold Shoe attachments.

However this isnt my most portable set up. Ill update more when I get more equipment! Here is a quick and dirty picture of them!

First Entry of the Blog!

Hey viewers! This is my first blog entry for my experiences of being a strobist to share with family and friends about my work and my progress to enlighten others and further my career in photography! I hope you all enjoy my experiences from what is good to bad!

To start things off, my name is Robert Adams and I am a aspiring photographer, medical student, and communicator. I only say that because for the past 3 years I have been in college is the paths that I have made that I could get credentials in! I have been taking pictures on and off for 3 years since my senior year of high school but it was only until now that it has caught on and I'm so exited to start shooting!

My first cameras were a Sony W1 back in 2004. A capable camera...back 5 years ago!! I said to myself that one day I will get myself a SLR, and when I do and learned to use it I would try and document my experience and teach others. Now that I learned about blogs Id think that be a great way to do it! I went to a Panasonic fort their G1 back in 2008. It is a GREAT camera, and it was great for someone else because it got stolen right out of my car! Bummed and down on my luck and hating cameras, somehow I started looking online at Canon forums and learned of the word, "Strobist". I never heard of it in photography class back in high school , so I conducted research and i was fascinated to what I learned!

Its all about lighting being a photographer and being a strobist is putting all of that on your back and rolling with it! Being a gear head and a bit of a geek when it comes to these things, I was hooked! In these entries, you guys will get to see the evolution of my photography and my writing skills since I tried many times to just do a stupid journal and failed every time, every year to keep them...I hope that dosent happen with my blog! Well enough of my intro for today! I will update this from time to time of my experiences with photos, gear, and events. Enjoy!

To start things off. Here is a picture of one of my rabbits in my yard.