Snoot It

Okay, so last night while sipping on some gin and juice, I began to make my own version of a snoot. Like my photo bud, I used thin (flexible) cardboard from a Fresca box and gaffers tape. The design is really easy and simple and will not take you long.  I won’t go into details on exactly how, but if you want a step-by-step process refer to Thao’s post below.  Here are my results. 

My snooty measured more than a foot in length and about 9 inches width. Mas o menos

Another view. I didn’t have Velcro and was too lazy to purchase some, so I smoothed out the cardboard by rolling it, kind of like a rolling pin, and then used a hair tie to keep it in place. I rolled it tightly at one end to have a smaller and round effect to my light.

My first test result. I exposed a bit for the stove light and filled my buddy with the snoot. As you can see the snoot is kind of wide due to the lack of grid and the wide end of the snoot. I was almost there to getting the effect I wanted.

Here's my result making the end of the snoot smaller and round as opposed to the square shape end I had in the previous photo. Much better! Also, I held the snoot closer to the subject to make my light effect smaller/tighter.

Shot it the same way, but also exposed a bit for the stove light. This is what I originally wanted the snoot for. I'm pretty happy with the result. In case anyone is wondering. I shot this at 2.8 1/60th @ 400iso. I shot the flash on manual at 1/128 power and held the snoot with my left hand. It took some trail and error to get the position of the light right.  

A result with the flash on camera, no snoot, bouncing of the ceiling. Okay result (I think), but you can see the difference a snoot made. 

And here's an alien with a snoot for a nose. 

 Next time I use my snoot I'll use it in the 'real world.' I still need to make a grid, too, but im guessing a grid gives me the same effect I got by making the end of the snoot smaller.

Any questions and/or comments??

-Ben

Flash accessories

So before I begin this journey of playing with light, I have to make a few random accessories that will help me out tremendously. I've used http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101-cereal-box-snoots-and.html as a guideline and made a few adjustments to it.

For my snoot, I added a few adjustments. I found an old hamburger helper box (which worked out pretty well since 3 of the 4 sides were already at a perfect angle for my flash.

I just cut off all the flaps, folded down my last side and covered it all with black gaffer's tape.

I colored my white velcro with a black permanent marker... I didn't have any black on hand and the white was distracting and driving me nuts!

front view.

side view

For the connection part, instead of taping it down to make a rectangle I decided to leave it to where you could open it and..... insert a grid!

Grid made with a white/red political sign.

Assemble as so....

Presto!

So my grid is white and not particular black like recommended, but it was free and available, so I decided to use it anyhow.

After cutting and taping the grid together, I made it the perfect size so that it could slip into the snoot.... so BAM! 2-in-1 device! :)

Ben here.

I'll try to keep this short and sweet. Well, at least sweet. I was born and raised in El Paso, Texas. I did not start playing with my daddy's brownie camera as a young child. I didn’t actually start playing with photography at all until 20 years later. Back to childhood: I grew up a loner with a love for Star Wars, Heavy Metal music and a creative imagination. As an only child, a creative imagination can go a long way—especially for photography.

A dislike for school led me to drop out of high school and begin a routine life working at auto parts hell, I mean AutoZone! After a few years of meeting the right people, I attended the University of Texas @ El Paso. This is where I found my interest for photography. I began playing with a camera in Spring of 2000 after meeting my first photography mentor, a creative writer—go figure. After a few years of experimenting and mimicking the photographers at the El Paso Times, I felt I was ready to start work at the university newspaper, The Prospector

In 2004, I did my first internship at the now closed Cincinnati Post.

There I met two photographers who helped me grow as a newspaper photographer, Bryan Moss and Melvin Grier.

The following year, I had decided to stay in El Paso for the summer, but after receiving a call from the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky area, I found myself driving 24 hours (not non-stop) back to Cincy to work
on a website project called KY Post Preps. The website was dedicated
to Northern Kentucky high school football. There, with the help of Bryan Moss and Ken Harper, I taught myself how to shoot and produce multimedia stories for the web.

In 2005, I grounded myself back home with work, school, family and friends. Lame. I know, but I have no regrets. A year later, I graduated from UTEP with a degree in Print Media and a minor in
Philosophy, AND a job waiting for me at the Spanish-Language daily newspaper Al Dia - published by the Dallas Morning News.

In fall of 2008, I was one of the many journalists across the nation who fell victim to the dying print industry and was laid off. I currently am a freelance photographer based in Dallas, TX who would love to shoot for you. 

Hi! I'm Thao!

So for this blog it is my mission to improve my knowledge of lighting. I use to hate light. I use to say that I was a natural light kinda girl.... and well, I still am. But there's no doubt that there are a million advantages to knowing how to use artificial light in your favor.

So my quest for this blog and even for 2011 is to be a kick ass portrait photographer. So feel free to give some constructive criticism and follow us on our quest! :)

(us in that Ben is doing this too!)

Oh right a little back story.... I'm a freelancer in Austin, TX and I actually met Ben at another photographer's birthday 2+ years ago. I've actually only seen Ben twice in my life, but he is quite the resource for my random photo questions, so I like to keep him around! :)

More back story-- After shooting a not so great portrait for one of my newspaper assignments, I came to the realization, that yes, indeed, my portrait photography was... WEAK. So it was best to do something about it! :)