Okay, okay, I admit it, I bought more camera gear. This time it was a flash, an umbrella, and a combination stand to hold the two. The flash is a Canon 580EX II, the most important features being:

• Can act as master flash to trigger my 420EX in slave mode
• Can turn off the flash to use better autofocus assist beams
• Easy-to-use control dial and set button
• Maximum guide number of 58
• Sweeeeet lock shoe stand

I was able to test it out the rig on Andrew and Alex, who happened to be in town that weekend. Out of all my friends and acquaintances, I’ve known Andrew and Alex the longest, since elementary school. We got to hang out for a night and catch up before they had to take off. I can still tell them apart from face and voice, although it got quite a bit harder.

It was a good practice in doing portraits of two people, and figuring out how varied the same scene can look with the main light source at different positions. Overall, I’m very pleased with how they turned out.