I had and used the Canon Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX Flash, but never found time to complete a review of this very useful device. I have since upgraded to the even nicer Canon Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX II Flash. I invite you to read that review to learn more about how useful a macro flash […]

The purpose of the Lumiquest Softbox is to soften the light from an accessory Flash (such as the Canon Speedlite 580EX Flash, Canon Speedlite 420EX Flash or the Canon Speedlite 550EX Flash) Lighting coming directly from a small flash head is typically harsh looking on your subject because there will be very sharp, strong shadows. […]

The Cloud Dome Infinity Board is a very portable, durable and inexpensive background solution. The Infiniti Board is delivered rolled, but can be adjusted as desired for shooting – or made completely flat for storage or a unique shooting requirement. Setup for shooting is very fast. Two barrel-lock slide cords hold the board in the […]

The Photogenic Eclipse 60″ Umbrella gives you a large off-camera light source. A soft, large, off-camera light source eliminates harsh shadows and produces beautiful contour-showing light on your subject. My primary use for the Eclipse Umbrella is portrait photography. The difference between a bare flash portrait and a flash fired into an umbrella is huge. […]

When PocketWizard asked if I wanted to do a review of their PlusX Transceiver, I jumped at the opportunity. PocketWizard has long been the professional standard when it comes to off-camera flash triggering. In fact, the widespread popularity of Pocketwizards can be traced to a single NBA basketball game in the early 1990’s: From Pocketwizard’s […]

Macro photography is great fun and amazing macro photos are not difficult to capture, but adequately lighting a very close subject and preventing camera and/or subject motion blur are two of macro photography’s biggest challenges. By addressing both of these issues, the Canon Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX II Flash lands right at the top of […]

The Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX Flash is an extremely flexible and very easy to use macro flash. As the name implies, the Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX Flash is primarily suited to macro flash photography. The close subject distances inherent in macro photography require narrow aperture openings to obtain adequate DOF (Depth of Field). […]

The built-in flash on many Canon DSLRs is generally considered inadequate for most serious purposes (and the Canon pro bodies do not include a flash). The Canon accessory flashes such as the 420EX are much more versatile and powerful. The 420EX gets the light far above the lens (prevents half-moon shadows in your pictures) and […]

An external flash such as the Canon Speedlite 430EX Flash are one of the most popular accessories among Digital SLR (and film SLR for that matter) owners. Why? Why use an external flash? The answer may be obvious to owners of camera bodies without a built-in flash, but not so clear to those using bodies […]

The Canon Speedlite 580EX Flash contains a superset of the features found in the Canon Speedlite 550EX E-TTL Flash in a smaller, lighter and more modern designed housing. Canon’s Press Release contains lots of good information (recommended reading) about the new features in the 580EX, so I will focus primarily on my perception of this […]