Jack Neubart

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Photographer ProfilesPro Techniques
Pro's Choice: The Photography Of Jeffrey Totaro: Architecture On The Technical Side
Jack Neubart  |  Jan 30, 2012  |  First Published: Dec 01, 2011  |  8 comments

Jeffrey Totaro (www.jeffreytotaro.com) didn’t plan on becoming an architectural photographer. After graduating Drexel University in 1991, he became an architectural engineer. In his job, he found himself working alongside architectural photographers and was soon assisting them, until finally he found the allure too great and switched careers. Now he runs his own studio near Philadelphia.

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Lighting Reviews
Nissin Di622 Mark II Shoe-Mount Flash: Wireless Flash, New Interface, Enhanced Functionality—Affordable Price
Jack Neubart  |  Dec 13, 2011  |  First Published: Nov 01, 2011  |  0 comments

I was quite impressed with Nissin’s initial lineup of shoe-mount strobes. The Di866 Professional (now the Di866 Mark II) is quite innovative and versatile in its own right, sporting a full-color menu interface, while providing TTL wireless operation. There’s also the Di466 (for Nikon, Canon, and Four Thirds cameras). And the Di622 has been updated to the largely revamped Di622 Mark II, now the subject of this review.

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Lighting Reviews
Wireless TTL Flash: What It Is; How It Works; What’s Available
Jack Neubart  |  Dec 27, 2011  |  First Published: Nov 01, 2011  |  0 comments

Increasingly, manufacturers are coming out with cameras and speedlights that support wireless TTL flash operation. What this means for you is a simplified approach to using dedicated flash units off camera—especially multiple speedlights, alone or mixed with other light sources. With wireless TTL you’re free to move the off-camera flash a few inches or a few feet here or there, not to mention modifying the light in any desired fashion, and all without having to recalculate exposures, use a flash meter, and link everything together with wires. The camera’s metering system does the math for you. Beyond that, wireless TTL assures you that all speedlights on and off camera will fire in sync.

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Pro Techniques
Pro's Choice: On The “Cutting” Edge: Ann Elliott Cutting’s Conceptual Portraits
Jack Neubart  |  Nov 17, 2011  |  First Published: Oct 01, 2011  |  1 comments
Many commercial lifestyle/portrait shooters turn first and foremost to studio strobe to light their subjects. Not Ann Elliott Cutting. Her studio features a south-facing window that she utilizes to the max. I know, it’s not the proverbial north-facing skylight that we’ve been taught to strive for, but it does the job—and quite nicely. More than that, her penchant for employing window light doesn’t mean she shuns brawny power pack systems. She owns and uses those as well, but they’re not always the go-to gear even on commercial assignments and often play a subordinate role.
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Lens NewsLens Reviews
Nikon Micro Nikkor 85mm f/3.5G ED VR: Vibration Reduction In A Macro Lens
Jack Neubart  |  Nov 22, 2011  |  First Published: Oct 01, 2011  |  1 comments

The 85mm VR Micro Nikkor ($529.95, MSRP) benefits from next-generation VR II technology and is stated to deliver usable results at up to four steps below the optimum shutter speed. Keep in mind that we’re dealing with a DX-dedicated lens for an APS-C sensor camera (like my D300). So the optimum shutter speed when shooting handheld and without VR on translates into 1/(Lens Focal Length x Sensor Factor), or 1⁄85mm x 1.5, or 1⁄125 sec (rounded off). (Because this is a DX lens and this is Nikon, the multiplication factor is 1.5, so the effective focal length is approximately 128mm.)

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Pro Techniques
Pro's Choice: The Photography Of Jonathan Robert Willis: Simply Elegant Portraiture
Jack Neubart  |  Sep 20, 2011  |  First Published: Aug 01, 2011  |  1 comments
Jonathan Robert Willis knew where he was going at a young age. “In school, imagery always spoke to me louder than words and numbers. My interest in black-and-white photography was sparked during my high school years by music-industry portrait photographer Michael Wilson, a family friend. His work really resonated with me and I just fell in love with the idea of making pictures for a living and shooting the music that I listen to.” In fact, Willis switched to a public school “because that school had a decent darkroom that nobody was using. I knew I wanted to make photographs.” It was there that he taught himself black-and-white processing and printing. And in college, “I pretty much lived in the darkroom.” Fast forward and we now find Willis comfortably settled in his Cincinnati, Ohio-based studio, although we may find him shooting on location just as much, if not more. Willis’s creative team consists of first assistant Scott Meyer and digital retoucher Patrick White, with Laura McMurray serving as production assistant/studio manager.
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Lighting NewsLighting Reviews
Rogue FlashBenders: Positionable Reflectors With Added Flexibility
Jack Neubart  |  Aug 29, 2011  |  First Published: Jul 01, 2011  |  0 comments

Many of us use the speedlight’s built-in kicker panel to add catchlights to the eyes and thereby give the subject a more animated look. Regrettably, this built-in device plays a marginal role in filling in shadows. So we turn to much larger, more functional bounce panels, and although they offer distinct advantages, these third-party panels may not be as flexible as we’d like. Enter Rogue FlashBenders from ExpoImaging (www.expoimaging.com). These panels quite literally lend a unique twist to speedlight photography.

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Photo Bag News
Photo Backpacks And Sling Bags: Camera Carriers For Sightseeing And Adventure Travel
Jack Neubart  |  Sep 02, 2011  |  First Published: Jul 01, 2011  |  1 comments

Before buying a photo backpack or sling bag for that photo safari or vacation, consider how you’re getting there, how you’ll get around once you arrive, and what you plan to photograph. Will you be flying commercial or hopping a puddle jumper? Do you anticipate being on foot most of the time or traveling largely by car, jeep, or bus? Do you expect to encounter rugged terrain and steep trails? Will you need fast optics and long zooms for wildlife, a macro for close-ups, a wide zoom for landscapes, and perhaps a speedlight and ring flash?

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Pro Techniques
Pro's Choice: Jeff Kauck Captures The Essence Of Food: The Assignment Dictates The Lighting; The Location Dictates The Camera
Jack Neubart  |  Jul 18, 2011  |  First Published: Jun 01, 2011  |  2 comments
Chicago-based food photographer Jeff Kauck (www.jeffkauckphotography.com) developed his artistic eye through years of training as a watercolorist. While attending Central Academy of Commercial Art, in Cincinnati, where he also studied advertising, “I picked up my father’s camera—a twin-lens Rolleiflex—and really enjoyed playing with it. And to help support myself through art school, I did a lot of color printing for a wedding photographer.” But he soon realized that his time and talent were better spent on photography than painting. And Cincinnati proved to be the perfect location for a start-up food studio, since it was the home of Procter & Gamble, which became his first client, and a major one at that. But a larger market—Chicago—beckoned to him after 18 years, so he made the move and hasn’t looked back.
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Software How ToSoftware NewsSoftware Reviews
Bibble 5 Pro; Asset Management & Nondestructive Editing
Jack Neubart  |  Jun 07, 2011  |  First Published: May 01, 2011  |  0 comments

We’re all familiar with image-editing software, but we may be a stranger to asset management, that is, organizing and managing your stock photo library so that image files are readily accessible. Bibble 5 Pro’s asset management begins with pooling data from all the images you’ve shot on any given day, occasion, event, trip, or job into individual databases that Bibble defines as “catalogs.” The process also entails assigning keywords and labels, which along with other criteria, can be used to search through all of Bibble’s catalogs, whether the images or the catalogs are stored on your computer’s hard drive or on external drives.

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