Dubai-based photographer Leo Edwards likes his AcuteB2 kit, no question about that. He starts off one of his blog posts writing that ”Those of you that know me are fully aware (I do tend to go on about it a bit) that my favorite piece of lighting equipment in the world is Profoto’s Acute B2,” and from there on it’s pretty much a love letter.

So, you can’t blame us for reposting, can you?

Click here to read the entire post (including solid tips on how to travel with the AcuteB2 and an award-winning image Leo shot with his favorite bit of kit).

If you think it is difficult to make one kid sit still long enough to get some decent shots, try photographing five. Fstoppers staff writer Corey Melton experienced this first hand when he was asked to shoot comedian Jim Gaffigan and his growing family for Jim’s new book Dad Is Fat.

“I figured that this shoot could end up going in any direction,” writes Corey. “I have a 3 year old daughter at home and I know how hard it is just to get her to sit still long enough to get some decent shots, so I couldn’t imagine 5 all at once! Because of this I wanted to keep the lighting simple and straight up, but to light in a way that the kids could move around and still maintain consistent lighting throughout the shoot.”

Corey’s solution incorporated a D1 monolight with an umbrella and an AcuteB2 battery generator with an Acute/D4 Ring flash.

Read the full article at Fstoppers and learn how Corey used these tools to create a series of promotional images for Jim’s book.

All images and quotes in this post are used with permission of ©Fstoppers and Corey Melton, all rights reserved; story is ©Profoto. Please respect and support photographers’ rights. Feel free to link to this blog post, but please do not replicate or repost elsewhere without written permission.

©Eric Chang

Not many photographers can brag about having their prints hanging on a wall in sir Elton John’s home. But Eric Chang can. And just like the knighted singer, Eric likes his art exceptionally extravagant and beautifully bizarre.

Eric Chang is a Los Angeles-based photographer and film director born in East Java, Indonesia. The son of a sculptor and a ceramic designer, Eric spent his early years in his parent’s workshop, playing and writing music and poetry, sketching with charcoals and sculpting gypsum.

“My family taught me a lot of things,” says Eric. “From drawing, painting, sculpting and creative writing to playing and writing music. These experiences have grown inside me ever since. They brought me an enormous amount of freedom and joy, but I still felt restrained and could not articulate my point of view. It wasn’t until I discovered photography that I also discovered a way to express myself and communicate my ideas to people.”

When you meet someone at a party who don’t know the first things about photography and they ask you what it is that you shoot, what do you reply?

“I never give the same reply twice,” says Eric. “Part of it depends on who’s asking, of course, but generally I always say something beautifully bizarre.”

What does that mean?

“What I want to suggest is that I don’t just shoot beautiful fashion portraits. For me, that’s boring. It has to be more to it than just assembling a team, getting models and designer clothes, and ‘wam-bam’ shooting it straight away. I like to spend time thinking of different ideas and combining to make something unique. And most of the time, the result of that process is something that is … beautifully bizarre. (more…)

On March 25, Profoto released the AcuteB Two-head Split Cable – an uncomplicated accessory that lets you connect two heads to your AcuteB2 battery generator. Photographer Kurtis Kronk has tried it out. Here is what he has to say.

The new AcuteB Two-head Split Cable is a cord with one plug in one end and two in the other. Connect it to the output on your AcuteB2 and you have two outputs at your disposal. Very simple, yet very effective.

San Antonio-based photographer Kurtis Kronk was the first to shoot with the Split Cable. Kurtis had long planned on doing a shoot with a yogini at Enchanted Rock – a huge, pink granite exfoliation dome a couple of hours drive from his studio. Before the release of the Split Cable, however, Kronk had to choose between using just one light and carrying two battery generators with him on his trip. But now there was a third option. (more…)

Remember this? Well, today is the official release date of the product we were talking about: the AcuteB Twin-head Split Cable. 

The Split Cable is a cord with one plug in one end and two in the other. Connect it to the output on your AcuteB2 and you have two outputs at your disposal. Very simple, yet very effective. It is either half the baggage or twice the possibilities, depending on what you are used to.

For the record, with the Split Cable connected, the power distribution from the AcuteB2 becomes fully symmetric and each head can be powered with up to 300Ws.

We would also like to take this opportunity to say thanks to those of you who replied to our little contest. As promised, we sent a Split Cable and two Acute-B Heads to one of you. The images and the interview that came out of it can found here.