Image Wizards is a North Carolina based lab that makes metal prints. I'm not talking metallic prints like you can get from any lab, but prints actually printed on real aluminum.

Their website asks "remember the first time you saw HDTV"?  It calls it's prints "AluminArte", and describes them as being high definition.

I decided to give them a try. Prints are offered with a high gloss, satin, or brushed satin finish.  IW recommends satin for portraits, so that's what I had made.

The print was not shipped in a box, it was actually shipped in a heavy plywood crate!

It came mounted on a black-edged aluminum frame and was ready to hang.

Okay, so what's the deal?   The print is very, very nice. It has good color, is reasonably sharp, and the mounting/framing is clean and modern.  

However, based on the marketing hype (and the high price!) I was expecting more. While it's a nice print, it doesn't look any sharper or more vibrant than the canvas prints I get from Simply Canvas.  It looks like a nicely printed Fuji luster print that I get from my regular lab. For the price (about $300 for a 16x20, including framing and shipping) I did expect more.  

If you look at the sample images on their site, most of them are of very vibrant subjects like underwater images of colorful tropical fish.  I think that this product would indeed make stunning high gloss prints for landscape, wildlife and architectural prints - but for portraits, I think I'll take a pass.

3.5 stars out of 5

Laurence Kim Workshops

Building a Profitable Portrait Business, Feb 27, Seattle:  Sold Out!

Location Lighting 101, March 20, Vancouver BC:  Seats Available

So you're determined to start shooting with off-camera flash. You've got a stand, umbrella bracket and some pocket wizards. Great start. Now you need some modifiers.

Umbrellas are a great place to start, but eventually you're going to need a softbox. Why? Because - especially when shooting indoors - you want a large light source that is directional. Shooting indoors with an umbrella, unless you're in a very large room, will result in lots of light spilling all over the place. To control the light better you'll need a softbox.

Which softbox to get?  If you're shooting with speedlights, there's pretty much one softbox of choice:  the Westcott Apollo.

The Westcott Apollo is a softbox that is mounted on an umbrella shaft. That's important, because it means (1) near instant setup and (2) you don't need speedrings or adapters - just mount the softbox to your umbrella clip and you're good to go.

You can find the 28" softbox here and the 16" softbox here. B&H sells them in various kit configurations, some including stands, umbrella mounts, etc. It'll be the best 100 bucks or so you've ever spent.

I have the 28" version.

I used this softbox for this quick snap of Shinji, one of my one-on-one lighting students.

Chris is an up and coming guitarist who needed some publicity stills.

These are a bit more processed than you're used to seeing from me, but I based my processing on what I believe my client was trying to achieve.

Gear for this shoot was very simple, a single 5D body and two lenses, my 35mm f1.4L and 85mm EFS 1.8.  I used my Lumopro flash with a shoot-thru umbrella on maybe half the shots with just natural light on the other half.

By the way, the Canon 85mm 1.8 is a great lens. It's sharp wide open, focuses twice as fast, and is 1/4 the price of the 85mm f1.2L.  

(1)  85mm, ISO 100, f1.8, 1/1250 sec, no flash.  It was a very bright sunny day. This image was taken about 10:30am. I used full shade for this shot. B&W conversion was done using TRA2 "Brooklyn" action. I added grain in Photoshop using the noise filter.

(2) 85mm, ISO 100, f8, 1/200 sec, flash camera right at about 1/2 power. Even though it was late morning I was trying to simulate night with this shot. B&W conversion in Lightroom. Grain added in Photoshop.

(3) 85mm, ISO 100, f1.8, 1/1600 sec, direct backlit sun at about 11:00am, no exposure compensation, no flash, TRA2 "Lux soft" at about 50%. A tight headshot with a telephoto lens shot wide open with backlight is an easy setup to create and always looks great.

(4)  35mm, ISO 100, f11, 1/200 sec, flash w/shoot-thru umbrella camera right. I underexposed the ambient light by close to 3 stops then set the exposure on Chris by adjusting flash power. Desaturated in Lightroom. The structure behind Chris is a crane for off-loading railway cars. I took this shot lying on my back to get it in view.

Laurence Kim Workshops

"Building a Profitable Portrait Business" Feb 27, Seattle WA: 1 seat left

"Location Lighting 101" March 20, Vancouver BC: seats available

What is the LumoPro LP120?  It's a basic, no-frills manual flash that's great for off-camera flash work.  Oh yeah, it costs $130 from MPEX.com.

No stinkin' TTL, ETTL, or whatever. Just one manual control - a switch that controls the flash power. That's it.

On the back you can see that the power setting is really simple. No LCD. No menus. Just flick the switch from 1/32 to full power.

Aside from it's simplicity, the other thing that makes this thing great for off-camera work is that it has a pc outlet and comes with a small cord that will hook this puppy up directly to a Pocket Wizard.

I'm not a real camera gear tester, so I didn't scientifically test the power. However, on a real quick test I find it to be about as powerful as my 580EXII.

Build quality is not as robust as a Canon or Nikon flash, but what do you want for $130?

So should I get one?

For on-camera flash, you'll need your Nikon/Cannon speedlight. If you want to get into off-camera flash, then get the LumoPro.  Why buy a Canon or Nikon flash for $450 when you can buy one that does the same thing, is much easier to use, and is 1/3 the price?  

Laurence Kim Workshops

Building a Profitable Portrait Business, Seattle, Feb. 27: one seat left

Location Lighting 101, Vancouver BC, March 20