“Zombie” Blogs

“Zombie” Blogs

by William Lulow

I have published about a little shy of 400 articles in the last three years or so. I have quite a few more that I have written prior to redesigning this website in 2018. (The website itself, has been on line since about 2003). I have mentioned before about photographers who use their blogs as kind of catalogs of their recent shoots. Some, don’t really use their blogs to impart any information, but only to advertise their own services. I have become aware that most people really don’t look at blogs unless they are looking for something specific. As a blog writer, you never know when someone might be searching for some information, which is why I often resurrect older blogs because I never know when someone might be interested in one of my topics on photography and photographic know-how. Yes, they exist in my archives, but if one is searching for something or some bit of information on how to achieve an effect, or how to use a particular piece of equipment, it can be nice to know that there is a recent article on just what they are looking for right here on the blog. So, “zombie” blogs seem to pop up from the dead, (hence their name) often just at the right time.

They are handy pieces of information which don’t require any searching. I encourage people interested in photographic technique to subscribe to my blog because the articles then come to them automatically in their emails. You can then decide which you might want to read, print or just discard without having to search for anything. Just look for the form at the bottom of the website’s HOME page.

Even though some of the information may be repeated elsewhere, I am also aware that many folks almost disregard the blog articles. After all, the site is supposed to showcase my photography. But, as I state many times, I am also a teacher and I have made it a goal to give back something to those who want to learn more about digital or traditional photography. I have had a long and interesting career in this profession and I still have plenty of stories to tell and information to impart. Nearly all images that I include have descriptions of how they were shot, what settings, what the circumstances were or otherwise how the shots were made.

Here’s an example:

This image was made by standing the model in front of a black no-seam background, poking a few holes in it and setting a single light behind the paper. I then used a star filter over the lens to create the effect. Mainlight had to be kept off the background with a gobo so that it would remain black. Another example:

This image was made by placing the bulbs on a piece of clear plexiglass and laying a gradient background on the floor beneath it. In order to make the filaments of the bulbs visable, a cross-light was used created by placing a long softbox on either side of the bulbs and shooting down on the set.

This image was made using my normal 5-light studio portrait set up. In order to make the highlights on the hair reproduce as white, they needed to be 1 f/stop brighter than the main light. My mainlight usually consists of a single strobe head fired into a large, round umbrella that I had specially made with extra ribs in it to create a “wrap-around” lighting. Here is the lighting diagram for this shot:

And, yet another image:

This image was created using my portable strobe setup with two lights lighting the background and also producing the highlights and a single light on the camera providing the main light. It’s my typical arrangement when I am shooting on location with portable lights. The two, off-camera lights usually light the background or provide highlights, while the on-camera light is bounced into a reflector card to keep it one stop less than the others.

These are just some explanations that are often given new leases on life through re-publishing them as “zombie” blogs. It’s relevant information on photographic technique that might have gotten lost in the archives. So, I bring them up from time to time so you won’t have to bother hunting them down.

Let me know if there are any questions.