jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

That's what I do. I frame for what I want and then leave room to crop.

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

Annie Leibovitz uses the Softlighter. I figured it was OK.
Both good units and I DO need the tilt. Light loss not really an issue as when I use the speedlights, I use the McNally adapter that has three cold shoes and I use two. Gives a more even lighting that way as well.

PalePictures Loc: Traveling

I have the Lastolite 3 cold shoe adapter as well. I was wondering if you could use two speed lights in the Softlighter with that adapter? Looked like it might be a problem with the diffusion fabric attached.
You have to get a boom for good tilt out of the orb. That's a problem if you don't have a boom with the orb. Also the speed lights are embedded inside. It works for me because of the external control of the 600ex. I would have a hard time recommending the orb unless you had my specific setup.
I get diffused reflections with two speedlights.

One advantage of the orb not mentioned in the article is the fact that you can grid it. This was the deciding factor when I purchased. I wanted to do a spotlight in the street shot and needed the controlled lighting of a grid. I still haven't done that shot yet...
The problem with other hybrid diffused reflective umbrellas is that you can't grid them.

I do have the Paul C. Buff. PLM system. Just to big to lug around these days. I've got a golf shoot coming up and will need the Buff PLM and Einstein power with it's short flash duration for one of the shots. Really curious about the light output out of my two 86" PLM umbrellas.

Annie Leibovitz = World Class Photography and Imaging.
None better.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

:thumbup:

OnDSnap Loc: NE New Jersey

Thanks for the link...BTW, great shots.

Anthony Jr Loc: Spokane Wa area

Thank you-my thoughts.

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

I usually try to compose the final image in the viewfinder, allowing of course for cropping the ends a bit if a 3 x 2 composition is not my final goal. Then I recompose leaving room all around the original composition. I have been wrong too many times, discovering while standing at the enlarger that I had shot in too tight. The old admonition to 'get closer' to the subject is a principle only, and has to be applied with discretion. When I think of how much easier it is to crop with digital than it was with an enlarger I wonder at all the time spent with a grain enlarger trying to get the composition perfect and in focus.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

For me, it depends very much on what kind of photography it is: photographing landscapes, I tend to crop far less often than when photographing fast action sports, where I often don't have time to fully zoom in and carefully compose the shot. And when shooting still life in a controlled environment, I usually don't require any cropping at all.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Thank you all for your interesting and thoughtful input!

ole sarg Loc: south florida

Lesser photos were made great by the photo editors of Life. They all wanted photos they could crop.

neilds37 Loc: Port Angeles, WA

Thank you CaptainC! I was starting to think I was way off base.

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

CaptainC put it a little more emphatically than I would, but I agree. I'd add that since I'm usually holding the camera by hand and my subjects aren't necessarily standing still, I want some air so that I can be sure I included everything important. Sometimes, I don't know what's important until I see the shot on-screen.

tainkc Loc: Kansas City

I usually crop almost everything I shoot only because I have to. I shoot through my viewfinder exclusively and unfortunately, it only has a 95% view. This translates into having either unwanted stuff when viewing on the monitor or seeing it on the monitor differently than what I remember shooting. Also, since I shoot a lot of birds, of course I will crop to get rid of the unnecessary stuff. Or even to change the shape from landscape to portrait. I even used to do this when I was a kid and had my darkroom.

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

I don't think the "Get it right in the camera" was ever meant to refer to composition. More relevant to exposure and focus.

Erik_H Loc: Denham Springs, Louisiana

The crop tool can b your friend...

I took this snapshot on the way back to my car one day because I thought the fighter looked cool...


Only to find out when I got it on my computer, that the real photo was the flags.