Dustin Diaz Photography

This is Whitney and Jamie at the Palace of Fine Arts in SF. We casted them (among a few others to come) to have new material for the upcoming Strobist Info book. They were awesome!

Speaking of the book, y'all have been extremely patient. I've finally received word from Peachpit Publishing and they're excited about it. In related news, did you know David Hobby owns the "strobist" name? Thus my tentative title "Strobist Info" may become "Strobist® Info" ....

David, if you're reading this, name your favorite whiskey and I'll send a bottle your way if you lend borrowing rights to name :)

strobist info: (withheld)

Erin picked up this fancy dress at a nearby block sale for a ridiculously good bargain. Here she is showing it off (and because I asked politely). She looks great, doesn't she? (the answer is yes ;)

strobist, camera, setup info: see here

358/365. Erin — awaits santa

This is Erin. Merry Christmas. Now to go eat cookies.

256/365. Downtown woman — better catch a cab

Today I had the privledge of being featured by Yahoo! as an avid Flickr user. In the next couple days or so (not really sure when), that'll show up on the Y! Corp Blog :)

Regarding this shot (and the other two that follow it) were taken somewhere near Market, Mission, and 1st.

The whole experience was interesting seeing as how Erin and I are both photographers, and we were being shot & filmed. It's one thing if I'm behind my own camera (or Erin's) and vice versa for Erin... but it was a bit crazy coming up with interview answers while being filmed (Erin snapped one off of that happening) and being waken up before 10am on a Sunday.

ANYWAY, this happened because of you all, the awesome Flickr community....

which brings us to a final point why most end up on my photo stream... yep, just admit you're a strobist setup junky ;)

setup, camera, strobist info: see here

240/365. Erin — yep, always hot

It's always great when coming home from work and Erin's just wearing somethin' fancy. I had to prompt the question...

me: "where are we going?"

erin: "nowhere, I'm just dressed"

me: "!"

and to the drawing boards...

setup, camera, strobist info: see here

214/365. Modesty Appeal — or reserved hotness?

Yeah, we could come up with titles all day. Anyhow, another night in the sketch. We had several drunken groups pass us by... some said nothing, others made themselves just look dumber.

man: "wooo! take it off!..."

man2: "are you guys shooting a porno!!??"

erin: "no."

man to me: "eh bro, you don't need a zoom lens if you know what i'm sayin'"

me: *raised eye browe & nod*

setup, camera, and strobist info: see here

213/365. untitled — check out the hotness that is Erin

It always helps when... Erin helps. In this case it's two fold. First and most obvious, she's my bestest model and lovely wife. Secondly, she has equal care for our surroundings. She near ran off one guy who was calling her "mama bebe" and walked in our shot a few times.

Other than that, so far it's a good weekend. setup geeks, do your thing.

setup, camera, strobist info: see here

191/365. Linda Wu — Meet Linda, it's her birthday

As usual on party nights, I tend to not get these up until the next day. We celebrated a birthday of our friend Linda. We made her stand out in the street while Erin held an umbrella and I snapped a few away.

Sorry folks, no setup shot. Just appreciate this one :)

strobist info: two lights
SB900 @ 1/32 @ 17mm w/ 1/2 CTO gel into 43" shoot thru umbrella - high front & left
SB900 @ 1/64 @ 105mm on AS-21 stand back right

camera info: Nikon D3 | 85mm(ƒ/1.4D) | ƒ/1.4 | ISO 500 | 1/25s — Handheld | triggered via PW2's

189/365. When she walks, she swing her arms... instead of her hips ~ Cake (let me go) — have you waited for her for so long?

So... the return of stubby (the 200mm ƒ/2.0) didn't happen. Nikon mixed up my orders and sent back my old D700 (which will now be up for sale).

On this photo itself, Erin and I rigged up the Flash Bullet studio. For a second I thought about doing my usual Flickr/90second edit... but there was just too much good stuff (about 5 minutes worth). Plus it really shows how we work together when shooting with each other.

So without further waiting, it's definitely worth your time checking out the setup, camera, and strobist info video (via iPhone 3Gs - hosted on Youtube).

strobist info (for those who prefer text):
SB900 @ 1/2 in 28" softbox high and above
SB900 @ 1/16 @ 35mm direct left
SB900 @ 1/64 @ 200mm into 1/8" grid direct right
580EX2 @ 1/128 @ 105mm front left

171/365. Never, never gonna give you up ~ Barry White
have a dance

Despite avoiding "Crazy Mike" (a drunkard passer-byer who wouldn't leave us alone), we managed to grab a shot for the night. Erin bought this new under dress thingy (that's the technical term) from Betsey Johnson (same place where the wedding dress was purchased), and it makes for pretty awesome twirling! :)

But of course it was freezing and windy outside so this had to be done quick.... so this is one of four shots we got out of the series.

Alright... and on with some Q & A from emails...

Q: "The distances, flash power settings, aperture, and ISO settings don't match Guide Number (G.N.) of your flashes in your diagrams... help me understand?"

A: Anyone curious enough to break down my shots from the strobist info set may often scratch their head around the numbers.

If you've tried to duplicate these setups, take special note that there are other things that contribute to altering light such as light modifiers themselves. This includes the umbrellas, softboxes, and gels. Not to mention in other cases you have to account for feathering, whereby when a light is not directly pointed at a subject, but simply feathered off in another direction.

Q: "What font is that in your photos?"

A: Although answered a dozen times, it's Trajan Pro. It's a very pretty serif font. I recommend "if" you're going to use it in your photos, you should at least buy it (I did). There are a million other fonts out there, try some of those.

And finally, for the strobaholics, read on...

setup, camera, strobist info: see here