Technique Tuesday: Using My Mini-Z-Ray For Great Portraits

Good Morning Everybody,
The Western States leg of of Digital WakeUp Call tour [link] kicks off again this evening. We will be visiting with over 200 photographers in Seattle tonight and then on to Portland tomorrow.

Yesterday morning I received a quick email from my photographer buddy, Bruce Hudson, inviting us to dinner at his home last night. We jumped off the plane, rented the car, and headed over to Bruce's for a wonderfully relaxing evening of great food, wine, beautiful scenics and scintillating conversation. Bruce and I have known each other for a number of years. He continues to be one of the industry's leading photographers and teachers.

He and his son, Josh, have created MyStudioMentor.com to show other photographers how to be successful, both photographically and professionally. Check out this link to MyStudioMentor.com right here . Bruce has been at this a long time and has a great track record - just read the above to see what I mean.

During our visit last night we had the opportunity to meet his daughter, McKenna, son Austin and Bruce's wife Terri. It seems Bruce has two weddings coming up in his family over the next year or so, both McKenna and Josh have nuptial plans. Without missing a beat - I asked if they needed a good wedding photographer. You know me, I'm always trying to book another job or two;~) Bruce, thanks again to you and your family for your wonderful hospitality last night!!

Hey gang, time to move on to this week's brand new Technique Tuesday.

Using My Mini-Z-Ray For Great Portraits
I've been providing content for DWF - Digital Wedding Forum for the last several months. Here is the link to the DWF site right here. I'm featuring one of my early episodes today at DPT - I think you will like it. DWF is a great organization with lots of good benefits going on for their members, including their DWF-U where there are many more short tutorials on how to do all things "wedding" - check it out.

So here is the question, just how much expensive equipment do you need to make a portrait. You know, most photographers are three things, and the first thing is...... CHEAP! Me included ;~) Over the years, more for the challenge of it all, I was always exploring the minimal amount of equipment I needed for the job. I never thought you needed the most expensive gear just to capture a picture. For me, it was never about the gear - it was always about the light. So my goal has been to find the least expensive priced piece of gear and then see just what I could do with it.

Today's tutorial demonstrates this challenge very well. Check out the images I was able to put together with only a $1 LED flashlight. Hey, you get a peek at good lighting and composition too. It's all in good fun so just hit the play button below and enjoy the show.




Hey gang, that's it for me today. Hope to see many of you tonight in Seattle - heck, if you can't make it tonight, maybe I'll see you tomorrow in Portland. See ya' then. -David