Posts Tagged apollo
Westcott Pro Workshop Follow-Up
Posted by Amber McCoy in Westcott Update, Workshops on July 7th, 2010
Blog post by: Erik Valind of Erik Valind Photography
July 6, 2010
Lighting Workshop | Westcott Top Pros
Back in May I had the honor of being invited to represent one of my favorite lighting modifier manufacturers as a “Top Westcott Endorsed Pro”. Here is a quick blurb from the Press Release about what exactly this means.
“The Top Westcott Endorsed Pros was developed for photographic education and inspiration. This elite group is comprised of talented photographers from around the world, each a master of his or her own creative specialty, including fashion, sports, wedding, nature, photojournalism, advertising, portraiture, food and travel photography. Most Top Pros share their photographic and technical expertise with eager audiences of photo professionals, hobbyists and enthusiasts in a variety of workshops throughout the world.”
B&H, Canon & Westcott host Rick Sammon NYC Event in Central Park
Posted by Amber McCoy in Halo and Apollo, Reflectors, Speedlites, Umbrellas, softbox on June 2nd, 2010
Rick Sammon
B&H, Canon and Westcott teamed up for an amazing event featuring Rick Sammon, prolific author and world renown photographer.
There was a crowd of over 80 people packed into B&H’s Event Space, for a two hour lecture. Starting the day was Rick Berk, Canon Camera Product Educator, who went over the intricacies of Canon portable electronic flashes and all the various technical knowledge that is critical for successful flash and, especially, wireless flash photography.
Westcott's David Piazza
Following the insightful Canon presentation, Westcott’s Dave Piazza took the stage and went over the theory behind and the practical use of various light modifiers, including collapsible reflectors, umbrellas, and softboxes including Westcott’s unique umbrella frame based Apollo soft boxes that are perfect for wireless portable flash operation.
Westcott Pro Workshop: Michael Thompson & Erik Valind
Posted by Amber McCoy in Halo and Apollo, Workshops on June 1st, 2010
Recently, Westcott introduced new Westcott Top Pros. Within that distinguished list, we included Michael Thompson and Erik Valind. Since then, these two photographers have been hard at work and have decided to put on a workshop in the Tampa, FL area. Below is the information on the workshop:
Westcott Top Pros Workshop: Help You Maximize Your Speedlight’s Potential
Let’s go beyond just getting your flash off camera and focus more on what it’s really capable of!
The Goal: Move you forward as a photographer.
Photoshop World 2010: WOW!
Posted by Amber McCoy in Conferences, Donation, Spiderlites, Westcott Update on April 1st, 2010
First off – WOW!! What a show!!
Photoshop World 2010 was held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL this year. Hosted by the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) and sponsored by companies such as Adobe, Mpix, Epson, Adorama, OnOne Software, Wacom, Medialab, Kelby Training, Westcott and many others – it truly was a hit.
Day 1:
The first day began with a HUGE concert featuring Scott Kelby & his band – the only catch, they dressed up like the band KISS. It was fantastic! So as they were rockin’ the show, all exhibitors were prepping for a huge crowd hungry for information. The crowd consisted of both amateur and pro photographers as well as individuals who focus in video as well. Sessions began with instructors who range from NAPP to photographers and even social media guru’s.
Day 2:
If day 1 wasn’t good enough – day 2 was even better! The crowd was very interested in Westcott and wanted to know everything we had to offer. Since we had a booth set up with a photography studio, we were able to demo how using the Westcott Spiderlite TD5 can really change the way you shoot as a photographer. John Williamson, Westcott Technical Rep and Professional Photographer, walked individuals through a photo shoot along with techniques and tips everyone can use. Michael Green, Professional Photographer and Westcott’s Catalog Cover shooter, donated his time to speak at our booth as well as assist anyone with questions.
Day 3:
The final day of PSW was nothing but EXCITING! Our booth had a constant flow of people and questions. Best part of Day 3 had to be our ‘Headshots for Charity’! Dave Cross from NAPP joined us in the booth where individuals would donate money to receive a headshot by a NAPP Photographer as well as a thumb drive with the image. When it was all over, all donations were given to St. Jude Children’s Hospital. We were so proud to be part of this event for PSW2010! We can’t wait until Vegas where we can blow the roof off again!
To see a video of the show, please visit this Scott Kelby’s Blog.
Quotes from the Event:
Editor-in-chief of Layers Magazine
President of National Association of Photoshop Professionals
Westcott Top Pro
“Westcott was showing a new specially designed shallow softbox for their TD-5 Spiderlites that made me want one badddd!!!!!”
Photographer
Westcott Top Pro
“PSW Expo was a blast as always. It’s always great to be able to hang with my good friends at the Westcott booth. If you are ever at a photo expo look for them, pretty much the biggest baddest booth on the showroom floor!…pick up some shooting tips, learn about the products, and just meet up with some great people.”
Director of Curriculum at the National Association of Photoshop Professionals
Adobe Certified Instructor
“PSW is always an incredible event, packed with teaching, meeting people and tons of fun. This year I decided to throw in a charity event, thanks to Westcott, turned into a nice fund raiser for St. Jude Children’s Hospital. Look for it to be bigger and better in Vegas!”
Tomer Jacobson: Dream Light Modifier
Posted by Amber McCoy in Halo and Apollo on March 31st, 2010
Our dream light modifier is compact, small in your lighting bag but big enough in front of your subject, it can produce wonderful reflected light and most importantly: It allows you to control light spill and enables you to light what you want and only what you want.
The Westcott 28″ Apollo is just that. It opens and closes like a standard umbrella and reflects the light evenly across your subject without leaving any hotspots whatsoever. But the real magic lies in its amazing light spill control. When lighting our model, Moran, I wanted to light only her. I instinctively took out the Apollo from my bag and gave it to Alex, one of the students in my lighting class. I asked him to place the Apollo right above her (camera left) and even though we shot in a very narrow corridor, we managed to control the light perfectly. The light hit our model only, leaving the walls around her dark. Since there was no room to place another light for fill we placed a small reflector to her right to brighten up her left side slightly. That little addition created this result:
Feel as if you need a large space to shoot in? False – look at the space we were able to work with:
Here is an example of the setup:
As you can see, the only thing that is lit in the photo is our model. The ability to control the light in a small space is the main reason I just love my Westcott 28″ Apollo – It gives me what every photographer is constantly seeking for: total control.
For more information on this post or the images, please contact Tomer Jacobson at www.thetomer.com.
Rave Reviews on new Rick Sammon Kit
Posted by kmondora in Product Reviews, Reflectors, Speedlites on August 12th, 2009
Check out the latest review of Rick Sammon’s lighting tote on photographyvoice.com
Rick Sammon On-Location Lighting Kit and Tote
The Rick Sammon On-Location Lighting Kit and Tote is an invaluable addition to any photographer’s collection of gear: both for on-location shooting as well as the studio. The Kit includes a 30” square diffuser panel, 30” square reflector panel, Micro Apollo flash mounted modifier, and carrying case.
The diffuser and reflector panels collapse into the 12” case for easy portability and storage. It takes a little practice (it’s all in the wrists) to get them to collapse, but once you figure out the technique, it’s fairly easy to get them down to their smaller size. Each panel is solidly constructed and includes a strap for holding or hanging from a stand. The reflector is two sided giving the choice between silver and sunlight (gold) reflection. The diffuser panel reduces light passing through by two f-stops in addition to spreading the light, reducing sharp shadows.
The Micro Apollo is especially nifty and never leaves my camera bag; I’ve grown that accustomed to having it around. The Apollo mounts to your flash via a pair of Velcro strips attached to the sides of your flash and to the internal arms. The open end of the “umbrella” is elastic fitted to hug your flash head snug. The interior of the umbrella is silver lined to provide maximum pop. The front end is translucent white for diffusing the flash output.