Updates and info

So, for the past week I have been neck deep in all of the artificial lighting info I can find. Whew! Talk about information overload! I am looking for sufficient lighting on a budget. I currently have a 110 umbrella strobe though the bulb has recently blown. I am looking into purchasing either a softbox or a larger umbrella, a boom arm, a speedlight and slaves. Unfortunately I have no idea what flash to get. I have been contemplating a Vivitar 285 hv which is fully manual but has no ttl function. I'm told if I want to learn flash from the ground up, this is the way to go. But I'm not very familiar with ttl and what it means to me to not have that option. I was considering the Starving Student Wireless Kit here. If anyone has any thoughts on all of this please let me know!

One of the sites I have been educating myself with is Strobist. If you haven't checked out this blog yet, do so! This place is jam packed with information!! You could research for days and be hard pressed to find so much information! Its a gold mine with everything lighting all in one place!

Another great place I'd like to share with photographers is MB Photo Professional. This site has everything a photographer might need in the area of workflow tools and business forms. This IS a shop as it isn't free information but actual products to be used. But the resources are invaluable - model release forms, photoshop actions and raw presets, and textures. And she DOES offer freebies when introducing new products and she provides a forum for discussion which helps with any product questions. Have a visit if you get some time!

The weather is finally starting to look up around here, despite a few cold days now. But it promises much fun in the photo department as I have several things lined up now and I'm really looking forward to it!

Here are a few I snapped while enjoying the past week's weather with my family...