Beaming the Beamer Better
Posted by latoga | Filed under Landscapes, Photos
This past weekend, while at the annual Pigeon Point Lighthouse lighting, one of the photographers from our group had a Better Beamer flash attachement. It consists of a Fresnel lens that is held about 8 inches in front of your strobe by a plastic holder. The lens focuses the light from the strobe into a narrow beam that increases the distance of your strobe and the brightness by 2-3 f/stops. The Better Beamer is typically used by nature photographers to provide a glint in an animal’s eye (like a bird which could be a hundred feet away).
However, when you use a Better Beamer for landscape photography, it provides a wonderful way to light paint a subject with a single flash. Especially if the subject is a building standing off by itself…like a lighthouse at sunset. The above photo was the combination of an image taken with any strobes and one taken with a single better beamer aimed at the lighthouse. The strobe was aimed a bit low, so it illuminated a bit of the hillside below the lighthouse, but by combining the two images you get a nice balanced affect.
It’s interesting looking at the two individual images. Especially the person that was caught by the flash lounging on the hillside talking on his cell phone… 
Click though on each image to view larger image.
Tags: Better Beamer, Landscapes, Pigeon Point
Lighting the Pigeon Point Lighthouse
Posted by latoga | Filed under Landscapes, Photos
Over the past few days the Bay Area has been treated to a rare Fall warm period. This has results in temperatures in the 70’s-80’s (seaside to inland) with crystal clear nights. This resulted in a rare evening for the annual lighting of the Pigeon Point Lighthouse. The Pigeon Point Lighthouse is located on the California coast south of San Francisco, about halfway between Half Moon Bay to the north and Santa Cruz to the south.
The annual lighting is an event that can draw a crowd. With the unseasonably warm weather and clear conditions the the crowd of spectators numbered in the hundreds and of course a large number of photographers. The large number of photographers was a bit overwhelming for some members of the crowd. But the weather yesterday resulted in a wonderful photo opportunity with a clear sky and beautiful sunset. I have driven by the lighthouse in the past and experienced it so shrouded in fog that you couldn’t even see it from the highway. I’m glad I joined the other photographers last night! I’ll be putting together a portfolio of photos from Pigeon Point over the next few days.
Tags: Lighthouse, Photos, Pigeon Point
