TD5 Spiderlite | PS & Variables | Diversify!

CATEGORIES: Living In Layers | RC | December 08, 2008

Welcome back everyone! I trust that the weekend treated all of you well. As for me, I decided to spend the weekend playing around with my daughter Sabine and the Spiderlite TD5 Kit from Westcott. I had three reasons for doing a quick shoot with the kit over the weekend, and only 1 of them had to do with spreading some holiday cheer. The other had to do with talking about my unadulterated excitement about the higher capacity bulbs for the Spiderlite kits, as well as a call to diversify your talents. Let’s start off with talking about the Spiderlites.

(For more on what a Spiderlite is, click here to go to the jump. Visit FJ Westcott for more info as well. )

I used them quite a bit in the office for product shots, headshots, and portraits I needed to do, and I kicked and screamed when the lights went out of town. Now with my own set, I can transport them as I see fit, and setup and break down with ease.

Click on the maximize button on the lower right of the slideshow to go Full Screen and read the captions of the pics or you can click on this link to go directly to the Flickr site.

When I thought of ‘Cool’ ‘Continuous’ and ‘Non Flashing’ I IMMEDIATELY thought Baby Portraits! That led to the slideshow that you see above. I wanted to just take some shots and walk through a sample process from start to finish, with some fun stuff at the end. As a photographer, I couldn’t see why we wouldn’t use something like this in our arsenal – especially when you don’t have to deal with the blinking and weird faces made with Flash. I still use strobes.. a lot.. but for portrait work and things like this – you can’t beat the Spiderlite!

What does this have to do with the current economy and my call to diversify? What is this week’s contest? Click on the jump to find out!

So What Exactly Is a Spiderlite?
Spiderlites are bright, continuous, cool units that are used for soft portraiture. They are sometimes called Window Light or Daylight Flourescent. The lights rock because they are continuous – no flashing required. Because the lights are cool, you can take the softboxes and place them really close to your subject without melting makeup or making a hot environment – another plus. As those lights get closer, they get brighter but also get softer. Inner baffles inside of the softbox let you stop up/stop down the lights by adding 3/4, 1/4, and 1/2 stop “Light Grids” to the unit. The result – absolutely beautiful light. I’d seen them in heavy use in Scott Kelby’s Lightroom 2.0 Tour and there’s one thing that he says that sticks in my head – “It’s like cheating.”

Diversify? How?
As I was doing this shoot, I got to thinking about the current state of our economy and how many people are beginning to feel the pinch. I mean, just last week Adobe announced a round of layoffs, which would normally make even the most staunch creative person nervous. How do you make money when the client list starts to dwindle and you are looking for your next project?

I say diversify. Forget about versions like CS3 and CS4 for the moment and keep in mind that times like these offer the BEST opportunity for people to advance their skill, develop a diverse set of tools, and go out there and be tenacious. Take the TD5. It doesn’t flash and it doesn’t heat up. Why -wouldn’t- it be a great solution for baby pictures? If it works this well and I am a wedding photographer, why -wouldn’t- I get a kit like this, throw it in the back of my car and advertise some at-home children’s photography. If I do portraits in a studio, I could take this light over to dance schools and offer dance students on location headshots at a competitive price. If the barrier of skill is lowered a little and the portability exists, why wouldn’t I get out there and do more.

Here’s another example: I showed some final pictures of a home shoot I did as I was shopping at a major baby chain store and had 4 couples ask if I could do sittings at their home. Let’s face it – times get rough, and we all have a need to get out there and be competitive. So let’s use the skills that we have, augment the skills that we kind of have, and learn the skills that we don’t. When the economy rights itself (and it always does) we’re already out the gate running.

This also applies to things like what we do here in the office. A couple of weeks ago, I did a Guest Post at Scott Kelby’s Blog where I talked about diversifying your skill set.

Kelby Training offers competitive, quick, and thorough training on Creative Suite Applications. In times like this, even Photographers can learn how to layout an Ad using InDesign. Web Developers can learn how to work with video on their sites. Logo designers can create business packages. It’s about being competitive, and using this time to get out there and get the skills to make you stand out. If you know 1 tool in the Creative Suite – you’d be very surprised as to how much you -really- know about the Suite as a whole. So get out there and dust off those programs you don’t use and start playing with them!

Dave Cross and Variable Data Sets
This week Dave Cross adds more dimension to a tutorial I did over at PhotoshopUser TV this past week (click on this link to see me on PhotoshopUser TV). Variable Data Sets is one of those instant time savers, and very important to know if you work with multitudes of graphics.

Click here to see Dave Cross’ tutorial on Variable Data Sets

Contest Time
Go to the Contact page, select the Layers Blog dropdown, then fill in your name, email address and answer to this week’s following question. Remember, the contest will end Thursday 5PM, and the winner will be announced Friday morning.

The Contest Question: What is the theme and prize for the Layers Magazine Back Page Design Contest?

The Contest Prize: A six month subscription to the Kelby Training website as well as a subscription to Layers Magazine!

Sorry for the long post today, I was feeling a bit inspired. Make something cool, and come back to share tomorrow!

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