Better photographs with flash.

Hi, had this issue for sometime, I don't do much portraiture, mostly scenic. I like your advice on this.

I have a external flash and the stofen attachment. Doesn't work well. I am mostly concerned with outdoors. I figured that if one cannot used big strobes and cannot use reflectors (I am no pro so have no assistants). I might be left with only this

http://www.lastolite.com/ezybox-speedlite-softbox.php

Or maybe this with the handle
http://www.lastolite.com/ezybox-speedlite-kit.php

It is a 9x9" softbox. Anything larger cannot be used by myself. But I guess I need to be pretty close so only half body shots, or else I might be left with the bare flash with maybe a white pull out bounce card.

Might work better when the sun dims away or on a cloudy day. In a summers afternoon, maybe it's as best as I can do perhaps?

Many thanks for your help.

PS. Ind... more »

to pack an I pad?

Hello all,
I am getting ready to leave on my first adventure, excited and to be honest pretty nervous about it all.
I will be traveling to Guatemala for spanish language school and then overland by bus to Belize up to the Yucatan peninsula, across to the pacific coast traveling up to mazatlan then over into Baja, or at least that's the plan such as it is.
My question is that I will be hosteling and busing my way around and feel that an I pad would be a very useful tool, what is the general consensus on traveling with these devices, I am doing this on pretty short notice.
many thanks
Andrew

China: getting through the "great firewall"?

Could any kind person please tell me how to access sites that are blocked in China when there? I know that the solution involves using "proxy servers" but don't know how to proceed; which ones work; whether it would be better to use a free or paid-for service, and so on. Sites that are needed: above all Google, and also Youtube and Facebook, and much of the BBC.

Android Data Usage

I am planning on purchasing an android smartphone, however, I am concerned as I've heard stories (via the grapevine) that Android phones are very data hungry. More specifically, Ive heard that they tend to consume a lot of data even when not in use-just to run the apps in the background. For my phone, I'd like to have a weather app as well as a news feeds list. On average, how much data per week would I expect to go through just by having the phone on standby? i.e) without internet browsing or excessive usage? What are your experiences with an Android device and its data usage?

When travel, I normally don't want to spend much on a foreign sim card data costs but would prefer my apps to still run in the background.

Adobe reader advice

Hi,
This might sound like a daft question but I need to know how accessible adobe reader will be in Internet cafes in south east Asia and south America?
I will need it to fill work visa forms for America and I don't really want to take my netbook with me as I leave the UK end of September and will have to email the company I will be working for documents through adobe reader.

Also I'm looking for a camera under £200 to take on my trip just something simple but half desent and ideas?

Thanks Ash

Low cost tickets Web page

Hi i have find a very low cost web page lowcostetickets.com
but i dont known if its a scam or what, because they have excelent low prices in first class airlines(united,qatar,klm,alitalia, and so on)
so everybody has purchased tickets from this web? its safe or its a scam?
please let me know!
thank you so much
best regards and apologize my poor english!

Downloading movies to a tablet

So I bought this lovely ASUS Eeepad so I can take it on my next trip and I want to have a few movies on it in case I get stuck in an airport, long bus ride etc. I'd like to pay for the movies but can't figure out how. I can't use iTunes on it and I can't download from Amazon because I am in the wrong country. Any suggestions?