Favorite quote from his book: In a world where every day passesas as fast and disjointed as an MTV video, where even your average TV show jars the viewer with about three camera angles per second, and where life is a series of quick cut from the cellphone to the landline to the e-mail to the text message to the rush to the airport for the redeye for the early call...sheesh...and you´re out there with a frikkin´camera trying to stop everything. Suspend everything. Hold a moment. Pause. Breathe. Look.
This book was one of the reasons why I decided to start ordering kindle books to read on my PC. I used to think that the enjoyment of reading is lost by reading books on the computer. My new thought is that a good book is a good book, whether I am able to hold the book in my hand or read it on a screen. And that is what "the Hot Shoe Diaries" is for me, a REALLY good book!
Joe first shows the gear he uses. He says that he uses aperture priority, which I think is practical for someone with the D3 because it has extremely high ISO potential(200-6400). Joe does not push his camera to high ISOs very often because he has a steady hand and takes pictures at slow speeds very well. He ALWAYS shoots in RAW.
EV on Camera vs. EV on Flash
Camera exposure benefits:
1) flat sky-underexpose for more color and punch
2) dark subject-overexpose for high key rendition
GLOBAL ADJUSTMENT!
EV controls on flash benefits:
SELECTIVE ADJUSTMENT!
REAR SYNC SPEED: subject has power, focus and speed
Very important for slow speed photos (1/30th of a second)
Joe recommends putting the flash in iTTL mode
Pre-flash:double lightening bolt symbol signals to all of the channels in use
Balanced Light (BL): foreground and background roughly same exposure
High Speed Sync benefits: (25oth of a second or higher)
1)high noon, graduation portraits with good sky colors
Dispersion of Light: Dome Diffuser
shows environment, lifestyle and context
5ft-12ft away
Long distances w/out DD
800SB:max 105mm away
900SB:max 200mm away
FV Lock and Flash Off:must program the buttons
FV Lock off-no pre-flash to avoid blinkers
Gel only work when hot-shoes or on cord (SC-28 or 29)
"dragging the shutter"- keeping the f-stop constant for the flashed foreground and changing the shutter speed to accomodate the ambient light. The slower the shutter speed, the softer the flash effect will look
