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White/Black Reflection Umbrella:
44"
This huge, 44" White/Black
umbrella is made of the new P-Satin clothes-PU bonding with high
denier Satin. Their Black cover can achieve almost 100% light
reflection rate and provide soft almost shadowless light, which
is suitable for indirect and diffusive lighting. A wonderful
method of softening the light.
Technique:
Photographers use these umbrellas
to diffuse and soften light; in portraits, for example, this
soft lighting very effectively hides many of the lines and wrinkles
on the faces of our victims (umm, our "subjects" :),
making them look younger and more vital. It's also great for
photographing highly reflective surfaces, such as jewelry, glass,
and chrome (it avoids the bright reflections that mess up our
pictures). But don't let our clients know our little secrets,
just accept their appreciation (along with your quickly-escalating
fees), and let them believe it was your phenomenal photographic
skill that made them (or their products) look so damn good!
Look, you're spending a lot of time and money acquiring the
equipment, and learning the skills of the photographic arts;
you're becoming a skilled professional; your work is valuable
as well as beautiful. Don't price yourself out of the market,
certainly, but don't sell yourself cheap, either.
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Point of Information:
BTW (which means "by
the way" for any "newbies" paying us a visit),
a "Reflection" umbrella is one that reflects the strobe's
light back onto the subject, and thereby softens and diffuses
the light. This technique is often used in portraits and for
photographing reflective surfaces (glass, jewelry, chrome, mirrors,
etc.), and performs many beneficial services for all us hard-working,
underpaid, and under-appreciated photographic artists. Keep it
a secret from others, though, and let them think we get our beautiful
images through some sort of esoteric magic, passed down through
the centuries, from master to disciple. It helps increase our
value ;-) - and please don't send me any e-mail explaining that
photography hasn't been around for centuries, I know that. Duh
(actually, photography in one form or another has been around
for about a century and a half).
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Silver / Gold Reflection Umbrella
32"
The Gold & Silver umbrellas are
made of high 300 denier black cover with PU coating. Inner surfaces
are bonded with Silver and Gold aluminum metallic foil. The Gold
side produces a lovely, warm reflected light that creates those
warm, soft, healthy skin tones that are so desirable for portraiture
(and many other areas of photography).
As with all well-designed, and
properly thought-out photographic packages, the accessories included
with this great professional kit are those which the photographer
needs most, so s/he can create the most effective and striking
images for the majority of situations in which we find ourselves
in today's world.
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H70- 150mm 6" Umbrella Reflectors
Used alone for about
60º coverage, or with barn doors to control lighting spread,
or with an umbrella to create soft and diffuse lighting. This
custom reflector is designed with a special "slot"
in it to allow for the use of an umbrella, without the need for
a special umbrella holder accessory! A unique Britek innovation!
This is usually the reflector that comes with the Britek SM-1250
Strobes, since they have an integral umbrella holder built in
to the strobe's light stand connector. You get TWO of these reflectors
with your package. |
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H70MM Snoot
The Snoot provides a 30º
concentrated light source for spot lighting or dramatic accents.
Often used to "spotlight" a product, or a specific
area of a photograph; and used for hairlights in people pictures
(your new AS-66 Mini-Strobe is also a great hairlight). One of
the photographer's "must have" accessories (for the
SM-1250s).
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Medium Honeycomb
This unit attaches to
the end of the Snoot, above, and restricts the light beam to
15º as well as softening the light. Often used for hairlights
and accent lights, as well as many other uses. Another one of
the photographer's "must have" accessories (for the
SM-1250s). |
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Barndoors
This unit attaches to
the strobe's reflector. Barndoors are used by photographers to
restrict and control light; wide, narrow, and anything in-between,
can be easily achieved by moving the "doors" open or
closed over your strobe (for the SM-1250s). |
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Here's a great
little accessory that all photographers always need more of:
a panning light head with
integral umbrella holder! It's hard to wax philosophic about
a photographic accessory, but anyone who's ever worked with lights
knows that these little tools are absolutely indispensable. For
example, even a super-duper, antique, $100,000.00 table lamp
isn't going to do anyone much good without a light bulb that
works. It's hard to admire anything sitting in the dark! But
this little baby works, and keeps on working. You'll need one
of these for every standard e-27 Edison base strobe or continuous
light you'll ever work with (the E-27 is the standard household
light socket size, so you can use "regular" lights
with it too, if need be). Plus, this little baby has an integral
(built-in) umbrella holder, which saves you from having to buy
an additional umbrella adapter, whenever you might want to "bounce"
the light off of (or through) an umbrella. This is used with
the AS--120 Strobe that's part of this package. As with all well-designed
kits, everything you'll need to make all the equipment work,
is included.
Specifications:
Single standard E-27 bulb socket
On / Off switch
10 foot power cord
3/8" Stud for attaching to light stands
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Similar
to the Tilt/Swivel Bulb Holder above,
this bulb holder is an integral part of an amazingly versatile
clamp! With this little accessory, you can place your E-27 base
strobes (like the AS-66's in this kit) anywhere your photographically
demanding little heart desires! Clamp them onto a light stand,
or a chair, or a desk, or a ladder, or a door, or darn near anything
else that may be handy! These little units will make your life
so much easier (put that light anywhere you want!), that
you'll be amazed how you ever got by without them before this!
You'll use these for your two AS-66 Mini-Strobes, and since you
can "clamp" them anywhere you like, without requiring
additional light stands, you save money with this great package,
without sacrificing capabilities, while increasing creative control!
Specifications:
Single standard E-27 bulb socket
On / Off switch
10 foot power cord
Versatile "anywhere" Clamp
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Custom Light stand and Umbrella Carrying Case
This custom high quality
carrying bag is designed to hold all three of your light stands,
AND both of your new Umbrellas! Don't tell anyone, but I somehow
manage to pack in a few extra goodies whenever I really have
to. UPGRADE: New larger light stand carrying case replaces
current case at no extra charge!
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Custom Strobe and Accessories Carrying Case
This custom-made high
quality carrying case is designed to hold all four of your strobe
lights, AND all your extra accessories, with room for more! It's
heavily padded for the safety of your new toys, and has several
removable panels and separators, which allow you to customize
the interior to suit your ever-changing needs. Finally,
a bag that fits!! UPGRADE: New larger strobe carrying
case replaces current case at no extra charge!
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You're also getting a great new 6' 8"
X 9' Raw Muslin Background / Backdrop to start you off! This is a great starter background
for those of us who are just begining to realize the importance
of backdrops to good photography (see a sample of how backgrounds
can affect your pictures, below). Raw muslin
is a lovely cream color (sort of like this background color),
and has been used in its raw state as a favorite of photographers
for decades. Be aware that this is a brand new, top quality,
100% pure cotton muslin (unlike the cheap recycled and cotton
blend so-called "muslins" that others have been selling
online recently). Also, you can easily dye and/or paint raw muslin
to create beautiful custom backgrounds that sell for up to $450.00!
What IS a "Muslin" you may ask? Muslin is a type of
cotton material that is light weight, easily hung, draped, stretched,
folded, or rolled. It's easy to paint and dye, and relatively
inexpensive. You'll likely acquire several different color muslins
as your photographic needs advance. But if your budget won't
stretch to buy additional backgrounds, you add to your background
creativity by using a bed sheet (iron it first, so all the wrinkles
are gone), or a wall, or buy some cheap material at a local fabric
store. Set your victim (um, your "subject," that is:)
at least 4-6 feet in front of your background (whatever it may
be), and place your background strobe behind your subject (hidden
from the camera's view, of course). Please note that this muslin
does not come hemmed or with a loop sewn across the top (however,
it's a simple matter to make a loop - to insert a background
cross bar through - with a few safety pins (real photographers
improvise:), or you can sew one yourself, if you're handy). When
you get more backgrounds/backdrops, you might consider acquiring
a Background Support Set to hold them; but for now, just tape,
thumbtack, or hang your muslin behind your victim (er, your "subject,"
that is:) in any convenient manner; nobody will know what you
don't have in the final prints anyway. No need to spend a fortune
to get great pictures, just be imaginative and creative with
the equipment you have. |
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Technique:
The most important "secret"
of good photography is the
thought the photographer puts into a picture before s/he
even considers what type of film to use! The point here is that
we have to train ourselves to think before we shoot! What
color is our subject? How can we make that color (or shade) stand
out? Look at the example here, and see how the simple choice of using
a background that matches our subject's (blue) eye color can
improve our pictures. We have to ask ourselves: What do we want
to emphasize in our picture? How will we direct our viewers'
eye to our subject? If it's an outdoors photograph, how will
we separate our main subject from any other distracting elements
in our photograph? At which angle should we shoot? Is it important
to establish place in this photograph (i.e., is it important
for the viewer to know where our subject is? Or do we want to
hide the location)? If we're shooting people, what is our victim's
least appealing feature (i.e., a large nose, a bald head, pot
belly, lotsa wrinkles, etc.:)? How can we hide or de-emphasize
it? What's our subject's most appealing feature (i.e., eyes,
profile, smile, boobs - oops! sorry, I couldn't resist:) ? How
can we emphasize the attractive aspects of our subjects? These
are the questions photographers have to ask, before we
shoot. THINK before you shoot! MAKE a photograph - don't "take"
a snapshot! Learn to "design" your picture before you
pick up your camera! Take a piece of paper and a pencil, and
sketch out what you want in the picture you're considering; this
will be a great help in the beginning, and after a few weeks
or months of doing this, you'll start to do it all in your head,
and won't need the pencil and paper any more. I promise you that
a good photograph doesn't require the genius of an Einstein -
it just takes a little thought and preparation (creativity and
practice doesn't hurt either)! You don't have to study photography
for 20 years, just train yourself to think before you
shoot! Don't try to plan out 100 subjects all at once; think
about one or two, and then use 10 rolls of film on just a few
ideas. Shoot from different angles; shoot from different heights;
shoot with different lighting angles; shoot with color film;
shoot with black and white film; think, then shoot! Pretty soon,
you'll wake up one day and realize that you've changed; you'll
look at the world differently; you'll "see" things
most people never even notice; one day, you'll realize that you've
become something special; something different, but different
in a most amazing and wonderful way; you will have become - a
photographer!
Quickie Technique
#4: Exposure - All
meters built into all cameras are "reflection" meters;
they read the light reflected by our subjects AND everything
else in our viewfinder! This often causes incorrect readings,
and pictures that turn out looking like doo-doo. Instead of letting
our camera's meter to read the exposure from our whole
frame, either zoom in to fill the viewfinder with our subject
(i.e., the face of our subject, or the flower's petals, or the
black cat's coat, etc.), or, if you're not using a zoom lens,
walk up close to our subject, fill the viewfinder with the most
important part of our subject (i.e., the face, etc. as described
above), then, when our viewfinder is filled with our subject
and NOT with the surroundings, lock in exposure (e.g., press
the shutter button half-way down), and zoom out or back up, re-compose
the shot, and then press the shutter button all
the way down and make the exposure! I think you'll be amazed
with the results! More "quickie techniques" information
will be included in my other auction descriptions. Thank you
for viewing this auction, and may you have the very best of luck!
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You'll
also be receiving a Sync Cord (also called a "PC" Cord),
and a power cord for both your new SM-1250 ProStrobes; and don't
forget that both the SM-1250s and the all the Tilt/Swivel
Bulb Holders have integral (built-in) umbrella holders, too!
Everything you'll need is included, so when your new photographic
equipment arrives, all you'll have to do is plug 'em in, and
rock & roll (fire away)! Unlike some other lighting equipment
which requires additional power supplies and connector cables,
this great A.C. kit comes 100% complete - no additional attachments
or accessories are needed to use this equipment (although you
might want to add a camera, film, and, oh yeah, a photographer,
too:)!
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