CoM Must-Have: Strobist Lighting Seminar

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Image: David Hobby, Strobist.com

I am a “Fashionable Photographer”, meaning I own a ridiculously expensive camera, that I barely know how to use, and possess a virtually limitless budget for gear which are little more than fashion accessories to my lifestyle.

Yet despite this I am not the sort of dude that is likely to lay down one hundred and forty bucks on a set of DVD that I could just watch for free on account of a friend loaning them to me.

And yet I did, and I’ll tell you why, after the jump.

DavidH
A month ago I’d never heard of Strobist or David Hobby. In fact if someone had said: “Lighting Blog” to me I’d have replied curtly that: ‘I got a Nikon D700 for a reason, available light photography.’ Just a month later, though, I’ve got an OCF magnet right next to my Apple Sticker on my F150, and the boxes of strobist stuff are showing up at my house with such frequency that it’s becoming impossible to hide the purchases from my wife.

Why?

The short answer is that David Hobby has taught me more in 8 DVD’s than I’ve gathered from all the books, web browsing, and magazine articles I’ve read over 10 years dedication to the craft –and not just about lighting, but about photographic problem solving. Amortized over what I’ve spent on other books and such, the buck-forty they’re asking for the DVD’s is money well spent.

Why write about this on a Mac blog?

It’s this philosophy of solving problems in camera, with inexpensive off-camera flashes, and home-crafted light modifiers, really appeals to the Mac-Cultist in me because the more problems I solve in camera, the fewer I have to solve on my Mac.

This frees me up to use my Mac for what it’s best at, adding a layer of digital creativity to my images rather than just “fixing them” in Aperture, Lightroom or Photoshop.

So why buy a copy when I could just borrow my friend’s?

Because I find I’m constantly rewatching them. When I’m going into my studio, I’ll rewatch one of the tutorials closest to what I’m trying to achieve. I even went so far as to port the videos so I could watch them on my iPod, to have them handy.

I did have a chance to exchange tweets (Dog! Is this what we’re calling conversation now?) with David (Himself an avid Mac fan), enquiring specifically about an iPod / iPhone version. He replied that while he’s not going to port the current DVD’s he’s working on a new project that will have iPhone versions completely DRM free.

I can hardly wait.

[xrr rating=5/5]
Site: strobist.blogspot.com

Model: Strobist Listing Seminars (8 DVDs)

List Price: $139.99

Buy Nowavailable from Midwest Photo Exchange.

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