We just got some prints back from and framed and they look wonderful. These 11×14’s will be going up in a doctor’s office so their patients can enjoy these art pieces. It’s cool to see what a beautiful photo can become once we put our DavidHam magic on it. It’s even better to see that photo in printed form. But when that print gets properly mounted and framed, the photograph transcends being a mere photo and into the realm of fine art work. To our clients, do yourself a favor and order some of your favorite photos in an enlargement and have it framed. It looks amazing!

We’ve been waiting on these to help take our lighting and photography to the next level. At OSP West, we got a chance to get a live demo of Kevin King’s Radio Popper. At DavidHam, we currently use the industry standard Pocket Wizards but always wished we had the ability to control the flash output using the FEC on our camera instead of manually on each flash head. When you think of how many you may use through a dark room, you can see why we pray for more control. Canon has the ST-E2 infrared based solution and Nikon has their own, but both systems are highly unreliable because they require line of sight. That’s where the Radio Popper comes in to answer our prayer. The flagship P1 model is shown in the follow pictures.

Radio Poppers basically intercepts the infrared signal our camera flash or Canon’s ST-E2 system puts out and transmit that data via radio. All this has to happen in real time with virtually no latency in order for the remote flash to sync with the shutter curtain. Because the E-TTL or ITTL information gets transmitted to your remote flash, all the smart logic Canon and Nikon programmed into their gear is utilized to best expose your photo. And if you need more or less light…a simple FEC change on camera is all you need to do. Very slick.

Like the old generation Pocket Wizard, there is a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter attaches via velcro to your hot-shoe flash or ST-E2 as shown in the picture and “magnetically” picks up the TTL info. You also have your choice of two antenna sizes. The short one shown, and a longer one if you need more distance. On the flash receiving end, you have a Radio Popper receiver with a detachable fiber optics cable (shown with the red arrow) that serve to relay the infrared back to the optical receiver of your flash unit.

During the demo, the prototypes work really well and triggered the flash placed in the next room. Some things we would like to see in future revision is some mini jacks like those found on Pocket Wizard in case we want to hook up studio strobes and simply trigger them in “dumb” mode. Also, the ability to have multiple channels or some sort of pairing mode so multiple transmitter could be used without conflicts. Additionally, maybe some thoughts to better mounting options that velcro could be devise. Having said all that, we recognize the awesome achievement Kevin is able to bring to the photographic front with these Radio Popper and we can’t wait to see what the future has in store.

Like I said, the Poppers shown here are still prototypes and I know Kevin said that some of the element were hand drilled and assembled. The machine assemble units should be even more refine than the units shown in these pictures and I am not sure what final design changes may be reflected in those. The good news is that Kevin expects the manufacturing run for these should be happening soon and we can not wait to get our hands on some.

Just wanted to share a quick snapshot of this fiery sunrise. Normally sunrises are blue/gold and cool in tone…but this morning’s sunrise was fiery red and orange!!! Reminds me more of a sunset.

Ladies…if you are planning on doing something like this during your first dance, do let me know ahead of time!!!

Woke up early to make the 2hr drive up to Pasadena, CA to attend it’s annual Pro Photo Expo. Hanson Fong was speaking at 8AM so we made sure to be there for that, as he is always a wealth of information when it comes to posing people – big or small – into a pleasing portrait. We find that it is important to continually learn from great photographers so that we may provide our client the best images possible.

One of the things that we got the privilege of viewing first hand is Nik Software’s recently announced Viveza Photoshop plugin. Viveza uses U Point technology that I first saw in Nikon’s NX Capture software that allow the photo editor the ability to define control points that serve to restrict and isolate color/brightness changes to specific regions of the photograph without need for creating layer mask or complex selection first. This is a huge deal and I have been waiting for the port of the technology to Photoshop. Viveza will cost $250 and is expected to ship in April. Until then, you can use NX Capture software if you want to try the technology out yourself. Canon RAW shooter will need to convert their files to JPG in order for it to work with Nikon’s software.

Where did the rain come from. I swore, the last couple that hit San Diego was a complete surprise to me. One day it’s beautiful out and the next morning…rain. When I woke up and heard the rain coming down I knew it was a good opportunity to wash the car and save the hassle of having to dry it. Although the neighbors may think you are a lunatic, washing your car during the rain means that the rise you get from mother nature will dry spot free saving you some time and effort.

Friday afternoon, my photography buddy Denny and I braved Friday LA traffic to drive up to Napa Valley for the second annual OSP West user meet. It’s a long way from San Diego but it affords us photographers the opportunity to meet, network and talk shop so to speak. It was awesome to see familiar faces and meet new ones. Chris and Jen Stewart and Tana Huffman did an amazing job to help organize and keep things running smoothly. So big applause to them. Here are some photos of mine from day one doing a senior session and some off camera lighting later that night.Here’s some of VivienLoving those eyes Vivien.A couple of shots of Camille…such vibrant colors. Love it!I love this moment between Lisa and Paul.

We’re heading up to north to Napa Valley, CA for OSP West II.