SimpleViewer 2 has been released and I will have an update of my SimpleViewer SWFAddress code shortly. Most of the code is done – I just have to do some testing. You can check out a preview example here. Update: the post has is up here.

Borrowlenses.com

I recently rented a lens from Borrowlenses.com and over all it was a good experience, but there were a few issues. They have strict address requirements, which in some ways are understandable based on the value of the gear. This does however limit shipping to basically your business or home via FedEx with a signature requirement, no hotels and no P.O. Boxes. The other issue was that the lens was sent to me very dirty, good thing Photoshop can fix it, but still would be nice if had been cleaned before it was sent.

Fotomoto

I have set up Fotomoto for selling prints on my site; it is a nice service for those photographers who don’t want to deal with ecommerce and shipping headaches. They have a simple script that you embed into the gallery page that automatically identifies your images and adds a purchase button to them. I have received some test prints and have to say that both prints and the shipping packaging was amazing. Unfortunately the Fotomoto script does not currently support flash and API has yet to be officially released. So in order to get it working with my site I had to use a intermediary until they release the API.

Mailbag:SimpleViewer and ecommerce

I have had several messages asking how I integrated SimpleViewer with my ecommerce app. Because of how Fotomoto works I’m not sure how well you will be able to translate it to another ecommerce app/service, but here is the basics. This currently works for SimpleViewer 1.9:

Use this post, Hyperlinking Main Images, to make your image clickable and/or add a purchase button. I then use Flash’s external interface to send data about the current image to Javascript in the page. The javascript opens a page in a modal window with the image in it that the Fotomoto script grabs, does it’s automated ‘magic’ and that’s it.

How can you adapt this to work with your ecommerce app? That depends on what options the app/service have, but every situation is going to be different.

Disclosure: no one paid me to write any of these reviews, though I do work with Airtight Interactive.

The Strobist Lighting Seminar DVD is a set of 8 DVDs by David Hobby, released about a year ago in May of 2008. Essentially it consists of one DVD on equipment, 4 DVDs of a taping of his Strobist lighting seminar and 3 DVDs of example shoots. His method of lighting is quick and dirty, done with Speedlight flashes often in nontraditional ways.

Content and Presentation

The first DVD is basically a summery of Lighting 101 for those who have not read it on the Strobist blog. If you are new to lighting equipment or the Strobist blog this DVD will be helpful, as it details equipment and some of the homemade goodies the Strobists use.
In the four seminar DVDs David Hobby presents his style of lighting. He tries to get you to relax about shooting with off-camera lighting. He gives some hints and tricks about how not to be tied to modeling lights, light meters and the Inverse Square Law, with the intention of bringing about a “calm in the storm” for those new to off-camera lighting. This section was shot live, and as such is not as clean as if they had been shooting takes. Again, the content for this part of the DVDs comes from the site, Lighting 102 and David Hobby’s seminar.

The last three DVDs comprise the nine “bonus” shoots, which is the application of the previous five DVDs. In the first couple of shoots he gives you an idea for his technique and some of his tricks. The third shoot with the “kendo practitioner” is 8 minutes long – it seems abrupt, truncated, and feels a bit like padding. Don’t get me wrong; he gets some decently executed photos. He also shows you his method for dealing with subjects wearing glasses and how you can adequately light a large room for a group shot with several Speedlight flashes. The homemade lightbox macro shoot; he gets the shots and we are suppose to get the versatility of the lighting system, but it just seems a bit like filler material. The final shoot, of a mountain biker, has some interesting shots using flash dragging.

If you boil all nine shoots down, it’s the same thing over and over again. Does this show versatility in different environments and applications? Yes. Does he pull off the shots? Yes. Does this reinforce the concepts? In away, however at this point I find myself remembering from the seminar David Hobby saying “you are building a bag of tricks”, but what we are shown is the same few basic tricks in every shoot. The application section would have been stronger with few more trick and a few less shoots.

Production

I’m not sure of amount of involvement David Hobby had in the production process, but the production quality of The Strobist Lighting Seminar DVD is poor. It is understandable that the budget probably was not that of a Hollywood action film, but with an asking price of $139, one would expect more.

This departure from quality is evident in several areas including the limited use of chapters and very static tripod mounted video, but it is most evident in the sound quality. During the four seminar DVDs the attendees are making comments and asking questions that you cannot hear and David Hobby rarely remembers to repeat the questions. This leads to one way conversations, occasionally causing you to have trouble understanding what’s being discussed. During the example shoots David Hobby is wearing a lapel mic which is not suited for windy conditions, and several times he lays on the mic, making it difficult to hear and understand him.

Final Thoughts

It’s always good to get other perspectives and see alternative methods. Most of the content in the DVDs is on the Strobist blog, and if you feel like spending the time reading it’s there for free. If you are looking for a little more organization of the information or if you are one of those who digest information better by seeing and hearing it instead of reading it, this is where these DVDs will do well.

Should you buy them? If you are new to the concepts of lighting start elsewhere and come back later if you are still interested. I say this not because the presupposition is too high, on the contrary David Hobby does a good job making the material accessible to a beginner. You could certainly start here; however, I believe that artists benefit more by first knowing the traditional methods before learning how to break with tradition. This gives you a cannon of techniques that you can test new ideas against to better understand their validity and how and when to use them. Once you have such knowledge, you can better judge for yourself the value of these DVDs.

If on the other hand you have some (intermediate) experience in lighting these DVDs will give you a different perspective on lighting and what can be accomplished with small lights, according to The Strobist Motto: “Less gear – more brain – better light.”

Rating: 2.8 out of 5 stars

The Strobist lighting seminar DVDs – By David Hobby

8 DVD Set released May 2008

US $139.00

EU £102.35