_DSC6468 A couple of  weekends ago my wife and I became the proud owners of a Little Guy T@G Max Teardrop camping trailer.  Teardrop trailers have been around since the '30s when a Popular Mechanics Article was written on how to build one. These little trailers are really a travel trailer that was designed to be a way to stay overnight without getting a hotel on a long trip. They can be pulled by almost any car and are great for camping, tailgating, or any kind of travel.  We got one so we can travel more and see different places without paying too much money for hotels, food, etc...  These little trailers can have all kinds of amenities with them. _DSC6464  Mine has a queen size bed, TV, AC, AM/FM, DVD, 2 burner stove, sink, fridge, and everything runs off of a 12-volt deep cycle battery, except the AC.  So you could be away from electrical outlets and still watch TV or cook, etc...  They even have solar panel hookups if you want to recharge your battery if you're way off the grid.  

What I like about them is that they get my wife and me out of the house together.  Now, I love to go backpacking and hiking and taking my camera with me deep into the woods, putting up a hammock or tent and staying there all night.  My wife doesn't like roughing it as much as I do though.  The Teardrop camper brings amenities of home with you as you camp. _DSC6448  We have been tent campers for quite a long time and enjoy setting up a tent in a state park or national park, but we decided to upgrade to this little guy that is really a tent and kitchen on wheels.  But it doesn't have the cost of a big RV trailer that would have to be towed by a larger vehicle than we have and would require a lot more maintenance than we would like to do in our older years.  Right now it's a bit of a learning curve trying to figure out everything with the trailer, but we are fast learners.  

We took one trip already with our Teardrop.  We went to a state park not too far from here to Medoc Mountain State Park, a nice little park that's about an hour and a half away and a great spot for our maiden voyage.  And everything went pretty well.  The weather didn't cooperate very much.  It was chilly and calling for rain, which it finally did late at night. IMG_2254  We stumbled through getting things set up and put in the right places, learning about the stove as we cooked a couple of meals in our new kitchen.  We are towing our new trailer with my old faithful truck, my 1999 Ford F150 "Betsy."  We plan on buying a new car in a couple of years.  But until then "Ole Betsy" will be our tow vehicle.  This weekend I built a hard tonneau cover for my truck for security and maybe a little of gas milage boost would be a plus.  It turned out pretty good, and I saved myself hundreds of dollars.  I plan on going on another trip this coming weekend.  I'm sure there will be a blog about it.  

Keep shooting!

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_MSP0859Max Stansell Photography ​Hey everyone!  I know it's been a while, but I have been busy the last month or so.  First, I purchased a small Teardrop camper and then I had a wedding that I was the main photographer in.  I have never been the official photographer at a wedding before.  I have done bridal shoots and shot at receptions, but never the whole thing.  I prepared quite a bit and really worked hard to make sure that it was a great experience for the bride and groom.  A friend from my photography club wanted some experience shooting a wedding, so he asked if he could be my second shooter.  After I got the okay from the bride, he was in.  I met with the bride and groom twice before the big day.  The first meeting was to get to know them and let them know me and see some of my work.  I quoted them a price, and in a couple of days they had decided to hire me.   _MSP0676Max Stansell Photography This was about a month or so out, so I had plenty of time to get in the wedding photographer mode.  For me that is a 180-degree turn from the landscape and travel photo guy that I am most of the time.  My second meeting was the night of the rehearsal, and it was great because I got to go through the ceremony twice so I knew where to stand and where to go.  The rehearsal was great for me and took away a lot of pressure and anxiety that I was having, and I got to see everyone that was going to be in the ceremony.  On the day of the wedding, I had a checklist made, and I checked it twice so that when it came time to go I was ready.  We had decided to do the formal shots before the wedding, so I started with the groom.  There was lots of family around, and the bride kicked everyone out so we could get the first look photo which turned out great.  After that I took all of the bride's photos and then started with the family.   
_MSP0820Max Stansell Photography By the time the ceremony began, I was in the groove and it went well.  My partner was taking photos that I wasn't, and we worked very well as a team.  When I was at one end of the hall, he was at the other.  We made a point of not taking the same shots.  We got a lot of photos, but not many duplicates.  When I got home and started looking at the photos, I was very surprised at how good the photos turned out.  I have given the bride and groom a link to look at the photos while they are on their honeymoon, but I haven't gotten a response from them yet.  I can't wait to hear what they have to say.  I created a slide show of the wedding for them and will have a link below so that you can check it out.  The equipment that I used was my faithful Nikon D800, and my primary lens was my 24-70mm f2.8, although I did use a 70-200mm f2.8 and a 85mm f1.8.  For the formal part of the shoot, I used Yongnuo 580II manual flashes with 45 and 43 inch shoot-through umbrellas.  For the rest of the wedding, except for the ceremony, I had a Yongnuo 586 TTL flash on top of my camera.  This was an inside wedding, and at night and I had to bump up the flash compensation 2/3 bouncing off of a fairly tall ceiling.  For the dancing part of the wedding, I used my TTL flash with a manual flash used for backlight that turned out really well.  Things I would have done differently?  I would have synchronized my camera's time and my second shooter's camera time.  It would have made editing somewhat easier.  And maybe a better job on the formals, but overall I was very pleased.  Check out the slideshow!

Keep shooting!

Wedding Slide Show  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZUlWsLjFXA

_MSP0658Max Stansell Photography _MSP0883Max Stansell Photography

414BFcFy2sL Hey, Everyone!  This is another product review.  This week it's on Speedlight Triggers.  I have triggers that I use for my speed lights and my studio lights.  But the ones I have are manual only, and I don't have the flexibility with the ones I have to turn certain flashes off without going to the flash to do so.  I'm shooting a wedding next month.  For the reception I'm going to have some speed lights on stands to create some backlight, and I'll have a flash on my camera for main light.  The backlight flashes will be on opposite corners, and I want to be able to switch the closest one to me off without having to go to the flash.  I just want to push a button on the trigger on my camera to do that for flexibility.  I'm looking into a lot of options to do this.  With Pocket Wizards I could do this, but Pocket Wizards are very expensive.  I turned to my favorite inexpensive speed light company, Yongnuo, for the answer.  I purchased the Yongnuo 622N TTL transceivers and the 622 TX TTL transmitter.  I got three transceivers and the transmitter for the same price of one Pocket Wizard. _DSC6273  Now I normally use manual only flashes for all of my portraits etc., but for gun-on-the-run type of shooting for receptions I want to use TTL on my camera.  The Yongnuo 622N lets me put the trigger on my camera, and then I can put my TTL flash on it.  It has a pass through hot shoe so all of the information from my camera goes to my TTL trigger and flash at the same time.  I can then set up other flashes elsewhere and transmit TTL to them.  I can also adjust the power of each flash independently from my camera without going to the flash itself, as long as the flashes are TTL.  I can use the same setup with a TTL on my camera and manual flashes remotely, and the manual flashes will fire.  I still have to set the power on them manually though.  This is the setup that I'm going to use for the reception.  I'll have a 622n on camera with TTL flash on top of it.  Then I'll have manual flashes mounted on stands and group them, one on "A" Channel and one on "B" Channel.  Then from the trigger on my camera, I'll be able to change the channels to cut on or off certain remote flashes.  Problem solved!!!  This is all done with the transceivers one alone, but with the 622N TX transmitter on my camera, I can also control the individual settings of TTL remote flashes.  I won't be using the 622N TX at the wedding, but I went ahead and got it because it will come in useful for small shoots like Christmas photos or something I'm trying to do real quick when I don't have time to really set up a big set.  I do believe for studio lighting and formal portraits I'll still rely on my manual flashes and strobe so I can dial in my exposure manually.  Triggers can be bought for both Cannon and Nikon camera systems.

_DSC6277 Here are the specifications for the Triggers

Transceiver 

Features:
Compatible flash mode: i-TTL, manual flash
Compatible Shutter sync: Front-curtain sync, rear-curtain sync and high-speed sync (HSS / FP), the highest sync speed is 1 / 8000s.
Support FEC, FVL function
Support modeling flash and red-eye reduction flash
Support flash zooming (auto)
Built-in AF assist beam emitter (AF Lamp)
Settings saved automatically
Compatible with Yongnuo / Nikon series flashes
Support PC port triggering strobe flashes

Specifications:
System Type: Digital FSK 2.4GHz wireless transceiver
Distance: 100m
Channel: 7
Flash Mode: i-TTL manual flash
SYNC Mode: Front-curtain sync, rear-curtain sync, hi-speed sync (Auto FP)
Group Control: 3Groups (A / B / C)
Sync Speed: 1 / 8000s
Input: Hot Shoe
Output: Hot shoe, PC port
Compatible type of flash: Hot-shoe flash, Strobe flash
Battery: AAx2 (support 1.2V rechargeable battery)

Transmitter

YN-622N-TX adopts flexible LCD menu control, supporting mixed use of the A/B/C three groups of flashes using i-TTL, manua, or super sync flash mode and equipped with the AF-assist beam emitter. LCD screen display, multi-buttons quick operation
The firmware can be upgraded through the USB interface via http://yongnuo.com.cn/usermanual/pdf/YN-622N_TX_FW_V1.03.zip
Support wireless shutter release function
The focal length(zoom)of the A/B/C three groups of flash can be adjusted separately
Grouping flash mode: i-TTL/Manual flash/Super sync
Supporting mixed use of the A/B/C three groups of flashes with i-TTL, Manual flash, or Super sync flash mode
The exposure compensation or flash output of A/B/C three groups of flashes can be adjusted separately
Shutter Sync: first curtain sync, second curtain sync and FP high-speed sync, the highest sync speed is 1/8000s
Support exposure compensation, flash value lock function(FVL)
Support simulate (modeling) flash, red-eye reduction flash
Support the flash zooming (auto)
Super Sync (SS) time delay adjustment, for higher x-sync speed than the camera allows

Hope this Helped and Keep Shooting!