Eddie Palmieri & Brian Lynch Jazz Quartet

What a great performance!
Eddie Palmieri, Brian Lynch, Boris Kozlov and Dafnis Prieto were a joy to listen and watch. Maestro Palmieri impressed me with his showmanship.  He was also a great subject to photograph. 
Boris Kozlov reminded me of a great musician I listened to more than 20 years ago in a far off country.  Could not remember his name though.  Afterwards I dug it out - Anatoly Sobolev!  And he appeared to be Boris's teacher and mentor!  How may world-class bassists could 80-s Moscow have?
Dafnis Prieto is an amazing young drummer - keep your eye on him.

Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photo Walk in San Jose

I had a great time meeting fellow photographers and taking pictures of strangers.  Architectural photography was less should I say engaging? 
After the walk we landed in Poor House Bistro - I just love the vibe of this place.  The food, drinks and  Kaye Bohler Band made it an enjoyable evening.

Event: Концерт Клуба Светлячок

This is a placeholder for the event pictures.  When these become available I will create an online gallery for you to enjoy.

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Flash Into the Sunset

Bay Area Strobist meetup at Alviso was a ton of fun despite the chilly weather.  We were lucky to catch two bikers who agreed to model for us.  What worked:

• Single bare handheld SB800 flash on macho bikers with harsh low sun light.
• Communication communication communication.
• Post processing in dramatic fashion with use of gradient filters and heavy vignetting.

What I did wrong

• Did not manage to underexpose the sky as I planned.  My plan to remedy this: (1) position model with sun to the side and NOT behind thus lowering sky intensity, (2) go faster than synch speed - use SB800 on a cord.
• Could not keep up with fast changing lighting conditions
• Should have keep shooting with sun below horizon - gave up too soon because of the freezing weather.

DIY: Diffusion Panels

This was my first DIY project which still exceeds the rest by its versatility and bang for a buck.

I currently have two frames of about 4'x7' made of 3/4" schedule 40 PVC pipes and joints.  I use these to stretch either diffusion/reflection screens made of white rip-stop nylon or a black canvas screen.  As I mentioned before,  build process is well documented on the Internet. Here is the necessary attribution to Dean Collins' tinker tubes with some BTS videos of this great guy. 

This is what my panels look like.

Shoot-through Umbrella vs PBL Photo Studio 40" Reflective Umbrella Softbox

I was intrigued by PBL Photo Studio 40" Reflective Umbrella Softbox promise:

• round catch-lights in the model's eyes;
• tight light control, just like a softbox;
• about $30 for two!

The softbox not only delivers on promise, but also offers:

• more than adequate fit and finish;
• extremely fast setup - front diffuser is permanently stitched to the umbrella, so all you need to do to set the softbox is to open umbrella and install the flash;
• full access to flash controls because only the head protrudes into the softbox.
• light emitting surface is flat thus making light more directional than shoot-through umbrella.

On the downside:

• When used bare, flash hot spot is way too prominent - I had to use a snap-on diffuser to achieve adequate light uniformity.  As a result almost two stops of light are lost.
• The stem is unnecessarily long and I almost poked my model when I tried to position the softbox close to her face.  I then had to cut off 5" of the stem.
• (minor) the stem is round - I really like an octagonal shape of the 43" double fold umbrella which prevents it from rotation.

Here is a comparison of light given off by a 43" double fold umbrella and a 40" umbrella softbox.  The latter, despite having a smaller advertised size, has larger diameter when opened (39" vs 35") because of the smaller curvature.  I am totally sold!  I am ready to pay 2 light stops for tight light control and round catch-lights.

Enjoy!

Right before I published this summary I found this video review.
Edit: Check out Zack Arias' Shoot Through Umbrella vs. Softbox

FlashBus in San Jose

Flash Bus happened in San Jose and it was amazing! David's methodical approach can teach flashes any poor soul, software engineers included. His and Joe's ability to control AND entertain the crowd will make any politician envious.
I was impressed with uniformity of the equipment used by Mr McNally: nothing but c-stands (really heavy I should say) with beams holding Lastolite Skylite diffusers or flashes on Justin clamps.  TriGrips and Triflashes made appearance.  The thought that Lastolite rules come to mind.
The crowd was also interesting - never seen so many nerds talking about their gear in one place. ;-)