Visual Departures

LitePad Loop – Rosco's LED Ring Light – Is Great for Macro, Portrait, and Product Photography

LitePad Quality, Convenience, and Value… Finally Available as a Ring Light for Beautiful Portraits and Macro Shots!

It's no secret that we're huge fans of the LitePad product line from Rosco Labs. What's not to love about these lightweight, low-power, slim-profile, no-heat, versatile, flattering, and — by the way — attractively priced light sources? For years, LitePad has been available in sizes from 3" squares and circles all the way up to massive four-by-eight-foot custom-made panels, but has never been available as a ring light… until now! LitePad Loop is a ring light with the soul of a LitePad.

Looking to buy LitePad Loop? Click here for a list of dealers!

Why Use a Ring Light?

Macro photographers — those who take extreme close-up photos of things like flowers, insects, and body parts (you know who you are) — prefer to get very close to their subject. With standard light setups, that usually means the tip of their lens will cast a long shadow across the subject. A ring light, on the other hand, can be placed at the very tip of the lens, so it's impossible to cast a shadow.

In fact, since ring lights are "on axis" lights (meaning that since they're parallel to the camera's lens and image sensor), they create almost no shadows at all, giving a very pleasing, clean look. This works out very nicely for portrait photographers and product photographers, as well — and it's well-known that good photography results in higher sales, whether on you're selling on Amazon or eBay.

How LitePad Loop Works

LitePad Loop was designed to work with hundreds of cameras — from entry-level SLRs up to full-blown motion picture cameras. (And yes, Virginia, it even works with the iPhone, if you have a tripod mount.) Included with each LitePad Loop is a mounting sled which accommodates all these form factors. The sled provides a standard 1/4"-20 tripod screw to mate to your camera, and a strong magnetic plate mates to the LitePad Loop. The rig can then be mounted on a tripod or other gear via the 1/4"-20 socket underneath. For extra security, a safety cord (included) can be attached to guard against accidentally knocking the LitePad Loop off its magnetic mount.

Once attached, the mag-plate slides back and forth along a set of 4" rails (8" rails also available) and can also be raised and lowered to position the LitePad exactly where you need it, no matter what size your camera or lens is. See the video below for a demonstration:

LitePad Loop Kits and Accessories

LitePad Loop is available as a standard kit, with just the essentials, and in a Pro Kit, which adds useful accessories such as a AA battery kit, dimmer, color filters, and more. The standard kit includes a drawstring storage pouch, while the Pro Kit comes in a full zippered soft case with shoulder strap.

Other accessories include round color-correcting gels used for color balancing and enhancing (included in the Pro Kit), and pre-cut light masks, which can influence the shape of "catchlights" (reflections) in your subject's eyes.

Where to Buy LitePad Loop

Are you as excited about LitePad Loop as we are? Want to be the first on your block to own one? The premier dealers in the US to carry LitePad Loop include:

Foto Care (New York — 212-741-2990 / info@fotocare.com)
Glazer's Camera (Seattle — 888-531-3232 / annaw@glazerscamera.com)
Samy's Camera (Los Angeles — 800-321-4726 / Contact)
…and many more to come!

Since LitePad Loop is so new, you may find that your favorite dealer hasn't had a chance to update their online database, yet, so be sure to call or email if you find that's the case. If you don't see your local dealer listed, tell them to get in touch with us (or tell us, so we can tell them about LitePad Loop.)

Tags: closeup eBay LED light LitePad macro portrait product ring

GoPro Goes Big at NAB 2012

We're in Las Vegas this week to support Dedolight at the NAB 2012 show. It's always interesting to come out here and reconnect with our customers and dealers, and take in as much of the new gear as possible. It seems like the industry changes so much year after year, especially since Canon introduced the 5D Mark II (recently superseded by the 5D Mark III) and the tiny GoPro camera arrived on the scene.

On that note, one thing that struck me this year was how much GoPro has grown in such a short time. Their booth at NAB is roughly one-fifth the size of Canon's main booth — even though GoPro cameras didn't exist ten years ago… and still cost less than $300! I think it says something about the changing character of the NAB show (the 'B' standing for 'Broadcasters') when one of the major exhibitors has a product best known in the surfing/skating/extreme sports video industries.

Like the "5D2" before it, rapidly advancing technology and digital workflows enabled forward-thinking crews to get things done faster and cheaper… which just meant that eventually everyone else had to catch up, and then demand the same conveniences from other manufacturers. I find it very, very interesting to see how quickly these new technologies are disrupting a 100+ year old industry — but let's not forget, at the end of the day, to use these machines to make good images and tell good stories.

Tags: Canon Canon 5D Mark II GoPro NAB NAB 2012

Flexfill… on a Football Field?!

It’s the week leading to the Super Bowl (again – a year goes by so fast), and I thought it would be fun to revisit number XXVIII, between the Cowboy and the Bills, played in Atlanta. A few months earlier, we heard from the NFL with an interesting question – could Visual Departures make a large number of collapsible disks in red, white, and blue. And keep it secret. Our answer was, “Absolutely, yes,” and we got the assignment.

So on January 30, 1994, about 350 young volunteers dressed in matching red, white and blue jump suits came on to the field as Natalie Cole prepared to sing the National Anthem. Their hands were behind their backs, each one holding a collapsed Flexfill. As the anthem began, they dropped to their knees and the Flexfill disks were popped open over their heads to form an American flag covering the area between the two 35-yard lines. With a little hand movement, the ‘flag’ began to ripple for the almost three minutes that Ms. Cole sang.

I was lucky enough to have a field pass for the game, and even though I took a number of pictures, the best image of all was made by David Tulis of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, shooting from high above the playing field. By the way, Buffalo led at halftime, 13-6, but Dallas came back with 24 unanswered points. Final: Cowboys 30-13.

Tags: anthem Flexfill football halftime Natalie Cole Star Spangled Banner Super Bowl Superbowl

Jock Pottle: Architectural Model Photographer, Fine Artist, and Friend

Jock Pottle and I first met nearly 35 years ago, when he had recently arrived in New York and was beginning his career as a photographer. He was my assistant for years, became a very close friend and went on to build a career as a very successful architectural photographer, which he is to this day.

A number of years ago, Jock began working in another area of visual artistry that has resulted in a body of work that is absolutely unique and truly wonderful. As I write this, a solo show of his work has just opened at the Jim Kempner Fine Art gallery in New York at Tenth Avenue and 23^rd Street — in the shadow of the High Line. The weather was decidedly miserable for the opening, but the gallery was packed.

These images will give you some idea of what he’s been up to, but I really want you to spend some time at his web site www.diggingman.com. In particular, read the short bio he’s posted — that will give you an idea of where the ideas behind the work have come from. And when you look at these images, don’t for a moment think that you can absorb it all in one quick look.

On the other hand, Jock’s talents as a shooter are no small matter, either. He’s perhaps the best photographer in the U.S. of architectural models, which themselves can cost a small fortune to make. Sometimes the models are brought to his studio; on other occasions he has to travel to do the photography because the subjects are just too big and complex to be shipped. This area of photography is every bit as complex as food or still life imaging, and a look through his portfolio shows that he’s a master at lighting. It’s also very nice that on the web site Jock lists a number of top tier model builders… you never know.

Tags: architecture art artist gallery High Line Jim Kempner fine art Jock Pottle

In the Studio with Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller, T-Bone Walker, and Legendary Jazz Musicians

I've never thought of myself as a 'music photographer,' but there is some evidence to the contrary. The latest reminder came early last week while watching NBC Nightly News and seeing an affectionate obit for Jerry Leiber, half of the legendary music-writing team of Leiber and Stoller. More articles appeared later in the week in print. Much of the popular music I had listened and (poorly) danced to in high school and college came from their collaboration. Leiber wrote the lyrics and Stoller the music for the Coasters, the Drifters, and lots of groups as well as for Elvis Presley. Much later on, their music was turned into a hit Broadway musical, Smokey Joe’s Café, which opened in 1995.

Our paths crossed just once, in New York in 1973, when I was assigned to shoot the studio production photos for an album by the great blues guitarist, T-Bone Walker. Leiber and Stoller produced the album, titled Very Rare, and the guest artists included Dizzy Gillespie, Gerry Mulligan, Zoot Sims, and Herbie Mann, among others.

Over the years, my own musical tastes had changed, moving much more toward jazz, so it was a real thrill (no exaggeration) to be in the studio at the same time with the composers who had written the first tunes I knew by heart and, almost 20 years later, the artists whose music I had come to appreciate just as much. So it seemed a good idea to dig into the archives and put up a bunch of images to remember those days…