Joe Farace
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Black And White Or Color? It’s All A Matter Of Preference
Web Profiles
Joe Farace • Feb 01, 2006 • 0 comments

"The mystery isn't in the technique, it's in each of us."
--Harry Callahan

How much does color add to--or take away from--a photograph? Rarely do you get a chance to see a body of work that's identical in color and monochrome but Jorge Tutor (www.jorgetutor.com)...
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Blink-Free Photos Guaranteed! A Collection Of Thoughtful And Blink-Free Gizmos
Digital Innovations
Joe Farace • May 01, 2007 • 0 comments

"There can be as much value in the blink of an eye as in months of rational analysis."--Malcolm Gladwell

The 2006 Ig Nobel Prize in mathematics (www.improb.com /ig/ig-pastwinners.html) was awarded to Dr. Piers Barnes and Ms. Nic Svenson of Australia's Commonwealth Scientific...
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Blowup; Making BIG Pictures From Little Files
Software & Computers
Joe Farace • Jun 01, 2007 • 0 comments

"Don't let's spoil everything, we've only just met."--David Hemmings in Michelangelo Antonioni's film Blow-Up

Since back in the days when a 3-megapixel camera was as good as it got, making big ones out of little ones has been a goal of digital photographers. Along the way this desire to create big prints from small files led to the...
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Booth Photographic Parabolic Umbrellas: Everybody Needs An Umbrella, The Bigger The Better
Lighting Equipment
Joe Farace • Nov 18, 2011 • Published: Oct 01, 2011 • 0 comments
Gene Kelly had an umbrella while dancing to “Singin’ in the Rain” but he didn’t use it much, preferring instead to get wet. Photographic umbrellas won’t keep you dry but are the simplest to use and most inexpensive form of lighting modifier available, and that makes them the most popular as well. These umbrellas look and act like the kind of umbrella that keeps “raindrops from falling on your head” except that in a studio lighting situation they are usually reflective and light is bounced into them, creating a big, soft light source that’s directed toward the subject. Sometimes an umbrella is covered with translucent material and instead of mounting the umbrella so light is bounced into it, a light is fired through it, turning it into a direct source. While some light is lost shooting through an umbrella, it produces more direct light, and since more light is being directed at the subject it gives you the ability to shoot at a smaller aperture than when bounced into the umbrella. If you compare the apertures produced in the illustrations you’ll see what I mean.
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Bowens 9Lite System
Hot Portraits With Cold Lights
Lighting Equipment, Test Reports
Joe Farace • Oct 01, 2003 • 0 comments

The Bowens 9Lite is designed specifically for digital photography and gets its name from the nine fluorescent pigtail tubes that screw into its main housing. Like Bowens Tri-Lite (see sidebar "Photographing Small Products") these are cold hot lights and each lamp head contains nine...
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Bowens Espirit Monolights
A New Line Of Solid Performers From A Trusted Name
Lighting Equipment, Test Reports
Joe Farace • Jan 01, 2001 • 0 comments

Like many professionals, my first studio lights were from Bowens. My original lights were the black 800B models that proved to be indestructible over the almost 20 years that I used them. The new Bowens line of monolights appear just...
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Bowens' Pulsar Radio Trigger System
Work Wirelessly...On Location And In The Studio
Lighting Equipment, Test Reports
Joe Farace • Oct 01, 2004 • 0 comments

Photos © 2004, Joe Farace, All Rights Reserved

OK, I'll be the first one to admit that I'm a klutz. I like to work with long lenses (an 85mm lens is short to me) and am constantly backing up into whatever boyfriend, husband, or hanger-on that models feel...
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Broncolor Senso/Litos Lighting System: A Class Act In Studio Lighting
Lighting Equipment
Joe Farace • Jan 10, 2012 • Published: Dec 01, 2011 • 0 comments
The monolights that I’ve recently tested for Shutterbug combine power supply and flash head into a single unit. Handy, but an alternative approach is using power pack and flash head systems, such as those made by Broncolor (www.bronimaging.com), who offer these components as individual units that can be mixed and matched to produce different lighting setups.
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Browse The Internet In Three Dimensions; Think Global Village
Web Profiles
Joe Farace • Nov 01, 2005 • 0 comments

The new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of a global village.--Marshall McLuhan

As I've mentioned many times, there are lots of Internet browsers to choose from and now 3B (www.3b.net) has produced a method for creating your own digital "village," using a combination of a proprietary browser and online software...
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Browsers On Parade; Take A Test Drive
Web Profiles
Joe Farace • Apr 01, 2005 • 0 comments

"The site is best viewed using Microsoft Internet Explorer at 1024x 768."--a.k.a. the writing on the wall

So began an e-mail from a photographer who wants his work featured in this department. Guess what happens when you use another browser, such as Opera, to look at his site? Nada, nothing, zilch, zero. You get a white screen. I don't know about...
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