My anxiously-awaited new HonlPhoto Speed Grids are now shipping. I've done some fun shoots with them recently- this one from the tranquility of Ojai, California a few weeks ago. I cooled down the background by shooting tungsten white balance on my 1DS, then balanced the gridded light on the subject's face with a full CTO gel (plus a 1/4 CTO to warm it a little). I used a 1/4 Speed Grid for this shot, with the flash about 3-4 feet from the subject lighting only the area I wanted it to, and nothing more. Although it looks like a 2nd, bluish flash was used as a hairlight, I in fact used the existing daylight for that one. Just one flash and a little thought and experimenting goes along way!

Strobist David Hobby is the only other guy to have these so far, so you can probably expect a full review from him as he puts them through some poking and prodding, over at The Strobist.

The Speed Grids are made of super rugged ABS, will fit most any shoe-mount and handle mount flash (including the Vivitar 285), and are priced at $24.95 each. You can get 'em now at HonlPhoto.com