Yokimbo

The Rise and Fall of Twitter has to be one of the funniest videos of the year. And, as Biggs said, it’s about Twitter, not Hitler.

I just want to say publicly that Tumblr rocks, and I wish Wordpress had the same functionality of subscribing to my Twitter feed, Flickr feed, etc, and turning each new entry on those services into a new blog post on Wordpress. I know it’s possible to do, it’s just not nearly as easy as Tumblr makes it.

Ok, it’s been a couple of weeks since I first wrote about This Week in Photography and I must say that episode 35 was a bit of a fluke. I’ve since added the podcast to my regular lineup. The group is funny, and has that TWIT feel to it that I like so much. And, Fred Johnson cracks me up. If you like photography (and humor), check it out.

I’m a big fan of Leo Laporte’s TWiT network of podcasts. I regularly listen to This Week in Tech (TWiT), MacBreak Weekly, Windows Weekly, Jumping Monkeys, and FLOSS Weekly. I also listen to a couple others, although not as frequently. The funny, informative content in Leo’s podcasts often leads me to other interesting podcasts, websites, or gear. The last one can be expensive.

Listening to MacBreak Weekly has lead me to This Week in Photography (TWiP), which is hosted by Alex Lindsay and Scott Bourne. Both, especially Alex, appear frequently on MacBreak Weekly. I’m an amateur photographer, so this is right up my alley. I’ve listened to a few photography podcasts over the past couple of years, but only a couple remain in my playlist. Nonetheless, I decided to give TWiP a try, starting with episode 35, Portrait Lighting.

In this episode, Scott’s setup consisted of one studio light on a stand with an umbrella. This was about 45 degrees off the subject-camera line, on camera left. One thing Scott mentioned, that I’ll second, is that he prefers using an umbrella close up instead of using a softbox because the umbrella setup is much easier. And, the closer you move the umbrella to the subject, the softer it gets. Of course it also helps if you can reduce the output of your light as you move it closer so you don’t cook your model.

That brings me to a problem that Scott’s setup suffered from. By using a studio light, he couldn’t move the light too close to the model because he didn’t want to overpower her with light. But, he wanted the light as close as possible to get a nice soft light. This can easily be solved by using a flash (aka speedlight). With my Nikon SB-800, for example, I can place the light with umbrella within inches of the subject and just manually dial down the power of the flash. Using this technique, you can have a large soft light without overpowering you subject. To learn more about off camera lighting with flashes, I highly recommend visiting Strobist, and/or picking up Dave Hobby’s Strobist DVD set.

Another thing that caught my eye in the video podcast, which I don’t think was necessary, was Scott’s use of a light meter. In fact, Scott insisted that you, the viewer need one too. I understand that using a light meter may have been necessary for getting great exposures using non-natural lighting in the days of film. However this is the digital age. You don’t need to waste your money on a light meter when you can take a best guess at your exposure, chimp, then re-adjust your exposure, and be sure you’ll get a great exposure. You may have to chimp and re-adjust more than once; your mileage may vary. The point is, I personally have been convinced that light meters are a thing of the past, like outhouses and $3 gallons of gas.

Lastly, Scott mentioned that the setup he used for the podcast was the cheapest way to start getting studio lighting, “It’s the cheapest way to get into studio lighting”. I have to disagree. You can get similar results with a cheap flash, then use the money you saved on the light to buy a few light modifiers (or even build your own).

Scott seems like a nice guy, so I want to stress that I’m not trying to make him look bad. I merely wanted to point out a few places I thought could have used clarification or modification in episode #35 of TWiP. To be fair, I’ll check out a few more episodes before I decide whether or not to add it to the permanent playlist.

Cheers!

Jenny and I watched the HBO film Recount today. It was fantastic! Here are links to a few reviews:

• Roger Eber
• IMDb
• Metacritic
• Rotten Tomatoes

David Hobby released eight DVDs of Strobist lighting know-how yesterday. Having been to the his Phoenix workshop I couldn’t resist. I ordered mine as soon as I found out. If you have any interest in photography beyond the point-and-shoot, seriously consider this set. It’s cheaper than one of his workshops and contains far more information than just a workshop. Check out Duncan Davidson’s write-up on the DVD set for more information.

Heard this on TWiT. The Godfather Trilogy is getting the treatment and being restored to 4k. And, 4k is four times the resolution of 1080p HD video. That’s plenty of resolution to spare for a Blu-ray release.

For all three films, there are now new 4K preservation negatives, separation masters from which new printing elements can be derived, and backup data tapes.

Looks like I’ll be using SmugMug for video of our new little girl. Thanks to a recent flash update, they now offer H.264 up to 1280×720p. Now I just have to buy the camcorder.

I have to admit, I was a little bummed at the news that Ars Technica was being purchased by Condé Nast Publications. I’m a fan of Ars and read it nearly daily. That said, once I read the NYTimes piece about the deal, I was at ease about the whole thing.

After talking to people at Wired.com and Reddit, he and his partners decided that the Condé Nast way left them the best chance of developing what had been a hobby on steroids into a business.

Then I skimmed Ars Technica’s article on the topic, which made me really happy for them. Emphasis theirs.

Ars Technica will now grow with the tools and resources of Condé Nast’s WIRED Digital unit. WIRED Digital oversees the business operations of not only WIRED.com, but also Reddit, WebMonkey, HotWired, and other technology destinations. Ars Technica will remain an independent publication, with the same editorial leadership in place.

Good luck to the Ars Technica team.

Some interesting things have been going on around the web this week.

Wired (Conde Nast) bought Ars Technica (which rocks btw).

The NYTimes wrote up Yelp, a site that I really dig (my Yelp reviews).

Google Reader just got better for the iPhone.

Grand Theft Auto IV broke a bunch of records, including Guinness World Records’ Highest Revenue Generated by an Entertainment Product in 24 Hours. Booya! It sold 3.6 million units for $310 million in that time. That’s nuts.

Nintendo Wii continues to outsell every other game system available.

Mahalo has a free GTA4 walkthrough with video I can’t seem to get to play despite folowing the instructions at the top of the page.

And finally, here’s a review that only gives GTA4 an A-. I’m guessing this rating is more fitting. Playing through the first 20% I wouldn’t call it a perfect 10. It close, but again, it isn’t perfect. I’m hoping to get a chance to read it soon, but I’m a little busy these days.