David Bean’s Lego Profoto D4 Generator with 2 heads and Softlight Reflector on a stand.

Profoto announces the new Lego D4 Air! Weighing under 2 grams, this new generator will fit in your pocket, but probably end up lost under your couch. Well, maybe not, but check out these cute little guys, made by photographer David Bean!

He writes:

“When I first got my Profoto’s the first thing I noticed was how incredibly well-made and gorgeous they were. The second thing I noticed was how amazing the light looked, not only from the heads themselves, but the modifiers as well. But the beauty of the design and construction inspired me one day as I was playing with my son and his Legos. I had accidentally made what looked like to me, a Profoto D4 head. With that, I noticed that Profoto gear had a very clean and simple, but elegant look that could be modeled using Legos fairly easily.

“So I made these as a tribute to my favorite brand of lighting gear. Enjoy.”

See David’s portfolio here and his flickr here.

David Bean’s Lego Profoto D4 head with cable and D4 Ringflash.

©DosSantos/Lemone

It is Friday, the weekend is just around the corner, and today we just want to share a single product photograph with you. The image was sent to us by Eric DosSantos, who together with his partner Antonin Lemone runs the DosSantos/Lemone photography galleries. Eric and Antonin equipped a single ProTwin head with a Beauty Dish and connected it the Pro-8 you see, and they used a Hasselblad H1 with a Phase One P25+ back and a Hasselblad 35mm HC lens to shoot it. On a final note, Eric adds that the image has not been photoshopped in any way. Hope you like it.

Other than that, we just want to wish you all a wonderful weekend.

See you next week!

©Gianluca Colla

Today, we present you with something slightly different: an article that was originally published in a printed magazine.

But first some background information. Photographer Gianluca Colla was recently assigned to shoot the cover for the Italian edition of National Geographic. The magazine cover (above) shows the portrait known as La Bella Principessa (The Beautiful Princess). This portrait had just been attributed to Leonardo Da Vinci, which, as you can imagine, caused a rather heated debate amongst scientists, historians and enthusiastic art lovers.

Arianna De Micheli, who works as a web editor for Photographers.it and the photography sections of Italian newspapers LaStampa.it and IlGiornale.it, met up with Gianluca and interviewed him about his unusual assignment. Arianna was also kind enough to ask us if we wanted to post the interview here on our blog – an offer we were more than happy to accept.

So with no further ado we present Gianluca Colla’s story, written by Arianna De Micheli. Enjoy!

“I’ve always been a huge fan of Leonardo Da Vinci,” says Gianluca. “So when I received a call from National Geographic about a possible Da Vinci painting they wanted me to photograph, I was excited like never before. Some years ago, an art collector bought a colored chalk-and-ink drawing on vellum, which seems now to have many common characteristics with the unique Leonardo painting technique, and the story is about showing what the common points are. The only downside to this assignment was that National Geographic already had a layout in mind, so I had to make images following some directions. It didn’t make the assignment any less appealing; it just made it more difficult. In fact, I had to make a picture with two hands with white gloves holding the painting, showing the signs of time on the paint, with a black background.

“Exposed like that, it doesn’t sound tricky, but when you get on the site and you find out there are almost 8 stops of difference between the painting and the hands with white gloves, you definitely need to find a good solution. Plus, the painting was glued on a wooden tablet so instead of being dark, it was glossy. Not exactly the easiest subject to illuminate… (more…)

Photographer Earl Richardson of Lawrence, Kansas seems like a nice guy who just happens to be crazy about Profoto. In his recent blog post, Richardson details his love for the Profoto AcuteB2 AirS Li. In this post, he describes his switch to Profoto, and concludes,

Maybe they’ll put me on their blog and it’ll bring some business. I’d even take a free light modifier. Hell, I’d be happy to be a spokesmodel. If you’re passionate about great design and great lighting, check out Profoto lighting at profoto.com.

Check out more of Richardson’s photography at his site. Go, Earl!

Dancer | ©Angelo Antelmi

Where some see just a piece of cutlery, Italian photographer Angelo Antelmi sees a tool for expressing an idea. It is different way of looking at the everyday objects in our surroundings, and it is most likely that which has turned Angelo into a successful product photographer.

“Still life photography is fantastic,” says Angelo. “It is one of the few photographic activities where you cannot bluff. To create a great image, you need a great idea and great equipment, and in the end, still life images respond to only one requirement: clarity. Clarity of the concept expressed. Clarity of the image. Clarity in product visibility. And so on…” (more…)