I was pointed in the direction of the Strobist Blog, which you can also link to from the blog links over there–>>>
The author is David Hobby, a photographer for The Baltimore Sun Newspaper in the U.S. so the majority of the information is in reference to actual photo-shoots he has done for his day-job, and also some other “assignments” he has been commissioned to do.

Here is a small extract from the site to explain what it’s about,

This website is about one thing: Learning how to use off-camera flash with your dSLR to take your photos to the next level. Or the next ten levels.

Here, you’ll find everything you need to know about how to more effectively use your small speedlights. There are more than 1,000 articles about lighting. Over two million photographers from around the world have learned small-flash lighting techniques from this site. We’re thinking you can, too.

Given the need for the flash to be moved around, away from the camera, I have had to purchase some Wireless Flash Triggers. There is a vast amount of these on the market, ranging from $30, Chinese-made versions, right up to the top-of-the-line, $300 Pocket Wizards.
To begin with I have simply invested in some of the relatively cheaper units, and am currently awaiting their arrival. From reading a number of reviews, the quality and functionality of the cheap units has become much better over the last year or so, and for a lot of users, are quite adequate. The professional photographers will still use the expensive Pocket Wizards for their bullet-proof reliability and extra functionality.

Have a read of the blog, begin with the “Lighting 101″ tutorials for an insight into how photographers achieve the results you see every day in newspapers, magazine, advertisements, etc.

Also I’ll add some of my own work once I take delivery of the units and get some shots under my belt.

It’s a professional quality lens in the Canon line-up as designated by the “L” in it’s description and on the lens itself by the distinctive red band around the lens itself.

This type of lens is well suited for a lot of sports photography due to it’s ability to zoom up quite close to the action. However, sports that are played on a large ground (such as AFL Football) an even longer lens is frequently used. I also plan on using it for my surfing photography.

It is also regarded as a great portrait lens too. Either for tight, head and shoulder type portraits or any length portraits outdoors or where you have the space to work a little further away from your subject.

Here’s a few shots from the weekend when I attended a close friends “puppy-warming” party. (don’t work with children or animals….)

While the surf itself was nothing to write home about particularly, by all reports it was genuinely fun.  While I’m not producing outstanding images as those seen by another local surf photographer, Stuart Gibson, here’s a small collection of my images from the day.
This also highlighted my need for a longer telephoto lens…

All the shots were taken at Port Arthurs, Remarkable Caves, quite a sight in themselves, and one of the Tasman Peninsulas many sight-seeing attractions.

The view from the rocks, just a small walk down the embankment, through the undergrowth from the main car-park and lookout.

Also note Cape Raoul in the distance, which was used as target practice by the British Navy in WWII.

One of the boys, Ty Hibberd

And the other, Robert Boost

This glass and steel plaque was designed, constructed and installed by a group of the local surfers and crew. In memory of one of our friends, Eli Horsman, who passed well before his time a few years ago. This was a favourite spot of his to surf, so this seemed a fitting location for a small memorial.

I need say no more….

The most important addition being a new Canon EOS 40D dSLR body.  This is the bigger brother to my previous body, the 400D.  While i won’t bore you with technical specifications, they can all be found HERE, including a detailed revie, there are a number of differences which make is simply easier to use and can help produce better images.

Here’s a short list of relavent differences.

The 40D has a newer generation image processor which is capable of capturing more image detail, colour and range of tones compared to the 400D.  It can also do it all at a faster speed.

It is a physically larger and heavier unit than the 400D, which aids in stability when using long lenses and flashes, as well as being more comfortable to hold on to and operate.

It has more “steps” is some of it’s main settings, which allows you to make finer adjustments to the image controls, for cleaner and crisper images.

It’s image capturing sensor has some minor differences which allow it to produce sharper images with less “digital noise”.

And finally, it has more controls available via the dedicated buttons on both the top and rear panels. While this may seem a little daunting to someone not used to using a digital SLR, it makes adjusting the settings a much more intuitive and speedy process. Rather than having to dig through menus to find the control you need, it’s right there at your finger-tips. This time saving can be the difference between capturing that special or exciting moment, that you would have otherwise missed while searching through the maze of menu’s available on modern digital cameras.

Hopefully over the coming year I will be doing more and more work on progressing my skills and techniques and actually beginning to do some “real” photography work, outside of taking photo’s for my own enjoyment.

My other major purchase, I have just collected today. It’s a “Standard” Zoom Lens, the Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 it’s main purpose it to be a very versatile lens, that can be used for a variety of different types of photography.

It it wide enough to be used as a lens for taking landscapes, it’s mid-range is suited to taking group portraits at indoor or outdoor functions or parties, and with the zoom fully extended to 50mm, it’s a great lens for classic 3/4 length portraiture.  The actual optics of this lens are of very high quality, and it has the ability to be able to be used in a host of low-light situations (indoors with no flash, for example).

I’m yet to take any real test-shots, but i’ll add some to another post once i’ve had a chance to get out and shoot with it.

Hopefully it meets my expectations.

And by the end of the night, it was all too much for some….

Oh, and there’s always one……

The beach is basically private, with only two or three properties having access to it, abundant with fish, abalone, rock lobster and even Calamari squid.

Absolutely perfect location for a lazy day by, or on the water, in one of the most untouched parts of Tassie.

A healthy baby boy, Noah John Wicks, 7 pounds.

Congratulations to the parents, Daniel and Kiah, and Noah’s big sister, Izabella.

NOTE: If any friends or family would like to purchase prints of any of the images from the day, just contact me @ brooksrl@telstra.com and I’ll be happy to discuss the options.

Prints will be sourced from my un-compressed, high-resolution original files. And are available in a number of different sizes, finishes and products.

The only real issue I had with my gear on the day is the gap in focal lengths I have between my 10-20mm and my 28-135mm. Due to the space I was working in and the group sizes I had, I found that I really need a lens covering the 17-40mm range if i’m going to continue doing this style of work. Also something with a wider aperture (F2.8 ) would have also given some nicer results in keeping the background out of focus a little more and making the subjects ‘pop’.
I found that I shot the majority at 28-40mm, but needed to change lenses to get a little extra width at 20mm on a couple of occasions.
**(also remember that I’m shooting with a 1.6x cropped sensor DSLR, so all focal lengths mentioned are multiplied by 1.6)**
The only other small issue I encountered was using “partial (centre 7% of frame) metering” in conjunction with “aperture priority” mode initially, which are my usual/ everyday-type settings. This gave me some over-exposed backgrounds as I had quite a lot of shadows on the subjects to deal with, which were within the metering zone of the camera.
A quick switch to fully manual control and evaluative metering soon brought things back into shape. This was also due to me having limited previous experience in using the speedlite in real world situations, and understanding fully the differences needed to gain correct exposures when using a speedlite.

Anyway, enough of a novel from me, as I have over 500 photo’s from the event to sort and edit, but all in all it was an enjoyable learning experience for me and I believe the happy couple will be pleased with the final results.

A few preview shots will be posted in due course…

Quick Edit and update:
Slowly getting there with the editing and should have some results by the end of today..
I NEEEEED a faster machine

UPDATE 2:

Editing is now completely complete, and i’m impressed with how the majority have come up, upon further inspection it appears that one person in the wedding party (the damn groom) is quite sensitive to the speedlite’s pre-flash.
but that was only on the occasions that i did not use the FEL function (Flash Exposure Lock)
some of the indoor shots lost a little detail in noise as I had to shoot at ISO 800 and a couple of times at 1600, but nothing that will stand out when printing at normal sizes.
Faster glass and better body will solve those issues in the future
A couple of sample images will be uploaded soon, once the couple have viewed them.

Has been a great learning experience for me, and I now know what I need to focus on and improve on next time around.

Preview at www.Dpreview.com CLICK HERE

Luckily I got in before the coming price rise and also managed to bargan a substantial discount from the salesman at the time too.

The “External” type flashes (as opposed to those that are built into the camera body) are far superior units, as they have a number of great features such as.
-The flash is physically further away from the lens, which eliminates the “Red-Eye” problems as seen with compact cameras and even the built-in flash on SLR’s
-The Speedlite has much greater lighting output power to cover a much larger area and distance, as well as giving you the ability to “bounce” the flash off a ceiling, wall or other reflector for a much more diffused and natural light.
-The speedlite is also able to be swiveled and tilted away from the subject to give much more “dynamic” looking images, as opposed to the flat and washed out images that are ususlly assosciated with flash photography.

Anyway, for further techincal info and techniques, I found this link the other day, which i found very interesting and helpful in understanding the basics of flash photography.

Flash Photography

She will heave her first serious outing this weekend, when i’m shooting a wedding for some friends of mine so i will be very intertested in the results that i achieve.
Watch this space for some sample shots from the wedding.