NORTH Wallpapers

Heres a couple of free wallpapers from the NORTH theme, perfect for iPad and laptop use.

Where the wild things are wallpaper

Heres a little wallpaper download for you all to enjoy, a little bit of wilderness in an otherwise cottonwool world.

Be where the wild things are...

View fullsize

A little smartphone wallpaper

Favourite shot from today makes a great phone wallpaper. You're welcome!  

Download and enjoy.  

Help wanted........

So having had a long week, no plans for a Friday evening I found myself with some down time which led to messing about with off camera hard light flash and a stetson! 

That led to an idea, which is great as I have been all out of creativity lately. I'd like to shoot a series of portraits based around the black stetson, different faces under the same iconic wide brim hat, I haven't decide yet if they'll be shot in studio or on location relevant to the subject.. Thats where I need you guys to come on board, would you like a portrait in studio or somewhere relevant to you or what you do?

If you'd like to take part please get in touch by leaving a comment below or via the contact page, you'll get a free digital copy of your portrait and a discount code for a printed and framed image should you wish one.

In keeping with the cowboy theme heres a little number from The Lumineers release, have a great weekend.

The humble sync chord.

So how many have forgotten about this little cable in your camera bag? I had, up until yesterday it was a long forgotten accessory that at one time seemed to be of use.

Well, turns out it is useful once again, mixing and matching camera systems and flash systems, with or without TTL can sometimes seem to be a difficult path to walk, even more so if you are a slave to TTL. I like to get the flash off the camera and just use them both in full manual, partly due to cost, TTL things are expensive, secondly for the purpose of continuity as sometimes TTL can give you different lighting results in what you think is an unchanged scene as it is constantly re measuring and the third and I think most important reason to go manual is to learn how flash and ambient work together, giving you the two independent exposures you need in your image.

Heres a link to David Hobby, The Strobist about two exposures in one image and controlling daylight.

Anyway, back to the sync chord, its a tried and tested way to hook up your camera and your flash to get that better looking off camera light. Sometimes I can't be bothered with PocketWizards and cables and batteries to get a quick shot done working close quarters or I don't have them with me. I've found recently that the SB800 plays really nicely with Fuji using a standard sync chord and setting the flash in 'A' mode. 'Automatic Mode' is a setup whereby the flash uses an onboard sensor to cut off the light / power at the correct level relevant to subject distance, ISO and aperture, its a real quick and easy way to get great results using your existing kit across platforms.

You may have to do a little Google search to make sure that you have the correct chord for your camera and flash combination but you'll find its one of the best accessories under £10 to have in your bag. You may even find it helps you get a little more reliable sync speed and sometimes better than the manual advise, for example Fuji state 1/180 and I get reliable results with the SB 800 up to 1/250.

Most importantly, get out there and practice!