New Year- New Stuff

I have been wanting to do a post on the cool stuff that I got Dustin for Christmas for awhile now.  I guess it's better late than never:)  If you have been keeping up with our photos on Facebook you will have seen how we have been able to use this stuff to make some really cool high and low key pictures.  High key and low key are pictures where either the background is completely blown out to be pure white or where the background is made completely black by not allowing any light around the subject.  It is really an awesome look.  It is super clean looking and really makes the subject pop because there are no distractions in the background.  It is also very cool because you can do it at any time of day and at any place.  Most of the pictures that we have been taking are in our living room with all kinds of stuff around.  None of this stuff will show up in the pictures.  That means that I don't have to clean up!  I really like this:)  So now I get to tell you all the cool stuff that I got Dustin.  This really makes me look like a good wife-hehehe.

#1: Vivitar 285HV strobe flash:

#2: 

CowboyStudio 2 Photography Flash Strobe Studio Lighting Light Kit with Stands, Umbrella, Wireless Trigger, Receiver and Carrying Case

#3:

3.6M /10 FEET E-TTL Off-Camera Shoe Cord for Canon DSLR 

Here are some of the types of pictures that you can get for high/low key lighting:

So, now that I told you all of the cool stuff that I have gotten for Dustin you may be asking yourself what he got for me.  Since you asked, I will tell you.  He painted my entry way and living room-with my help:)  We purposely painted our biggest wall 18% grey.  It is our photography wall now.  The reason we painted it 18% grey is because with this type of wall you can make the background any color you want when taking pictures with an off camera flash.  You just put a colored gel over the flash that is pointed towards the wall and it will make the background that color.  It looks like the pictures above but instead of being black or white, it's colored.  We haven't experimented too much with that yet but we have used the wall as it is for a grey background that looks really cool.  Here is a picture of how it turned out:

So, that was our Christmas! What did you get for Christmas??