Reader's Comments - Index of - Free

Studio Photography
you shoot and you develop your style and knowlege of equipment through experience. In the meantime
you use what you have available. Granted, its fun to use studio lights and if you've got the money and
the desire, well then why not. personally id buy what the rental houses carry so i can get accessories
when i need them. But its not the only way. I shoot for a living and i frequently use desklamps, florecent
lights fixtures, cieling lights, or whatever. when i was starting, i was sure i needed strobes. I finally got
some and as soon as i had them came to the realization that my best work happened when i used more
inventive light sources. My absolute favorite light (i shoot people) is day light through a window or
reflected off a wall. Sometimes I walk around until i see the light i want reflecting off a building. the
point is that photography requires adaptability, inventiveness, and imagination. Not brand x or tool y. If
someone needs a colour meter its because their client needs accurate color and by the time anyone is in a
position to have to worry about it they will know this stuff. Saying you need piece of equipment x is like
saying you need an f1 race car to drive for a living. If you want to race in the f1 circuit then yah, if you
want to deliver milk then maybe not.
very happy to see this dialogue happening. The photoworld needs forums badly.
-- dvd wmth, September 30, 2001
I'd like to challenge the author's comments re: White Lightning flashes. I have used one of their model
10000 units for a number of years. I find that the performance is exactly as claimed for output. Did you
conduct your own tests to determine that their WS ratings were inflated by a factor of 2?
Generally, I found your site to be very helpful and informative. Your comment about Paul Buff,
however, seems to qualify as a "cheap shot." I find no test data to back it up.
-- William Croninger, February 28, 2002
I would just like to give a small bit of advise to those of you who want to get the best out of your flash
meters: when you have a flashmeter that has variable shutter speeds and you want to find out how much
the flash is blasing out, (this is especially evident with outdoor portraits) set your meter shutter speed to
at LEAST 1/500th of a second. This will cancel out most (if not all) of the ambient light that will alter
your readings. I specialize in outdoor portraiture, and was amazed at the difference in meter readings
when I learned this. For me, it was a good two to three stop difference. You may try and get other
results, but this is what I have found to be more effective. Jeremy Hall
-- Jeremy Hall, April 17, 2002
I'm a first year photo major, and I've been shooting for no more then two years. With that background in
mind, I found the Minolta Flashmeter-IV to be totally self explanitory (contrary to the opinion of the
author, who found it to be muddled and confusing). It doesn't have too many buttons, and even without
the user's manual I was able utilize most of its functions.
-- Tom Eldred, October 17, 2002
http://www.photo.net/studio/primer (15 of 17)7/3/2005 2:18:01 AM