When natural light and a reflector can help creating a studio shot

When playing with lights sometimes you never know how many you might need and if you don't have enough, well you still have the sun to help you. For these photos I had two SB800 but, to achieve the desired effect I needed an extra help.

No "moving" reflector has been used for
this shot

First of all let’s see how I organized the table. I have a squared piece of glass sitting on top of four plastic cups to separate it from the base. Under the glass there is one SB800 with a red gel, above the glass we have the Molix' Finder 110 sprayed with water. Off camera right slightly above the subject is the other SB800 through a translucent umbrella, while the window of the room is opened and its position is again on camera right.

Here we are using the "moving" reflector
but the SB800 with the red gel has been turned off

On camera left a friend is holding a silver reflector with a bit of a hammered surface; is not flat and smooth and it works better for what I want to achieve. The exposure time is 2 seconds, enough to be able to play with the light coming from the window and mix it with the speedlights.

Shot taken with the setting described in
the post

When I take the shot my friend is moving the reflector for the 2 seconds of the exposure and the light coming from the uneven silver surface paints some sort of “blurred” background with liquid lights and shadows while the product has been perfectly lit by the SB800. The water sitting on the glass surface also helps achieving this result but as you can see in the three shots, the difference really pops out.

It is very exciting for me to always explore new ways of lighting a product, the studio gives you so many different opportunities and the subjects never complain J I hope this give you some ideas for your studio work and if you think of a way to improve it your comments are always welcome.

Front cover shot for the magazines: Voyages de Pêche, Mundo Pesca and Pesca&Barcos. Sb800 through Orbisflash

This image has already become the front cover for three different magazines: Pesca&Barcos in Spain, Mundo Pesca in Portugal and Voyages de Pêche in France. Is a shot that I love, perfect timing around sunset, great smile and amazing Sea Bass. I lit it with the SB800 through the Orbis Ring Flash, a wonderful combo for my fishing portraits

The Magic Strait

Truly magic, and I really mean it. How many times in your life the stars are aligned to the point that everything, and I really mean EVERYTHING goes well ? Such it was for us last week and if you care to listen, here's the real story.

Two entire days of fishing in the Strait of Gibraltar, a bit of jigging (almost nothing) and a lot of popping, so the Master Paquito decided for us. he knows his home turf (and surf). Two smal boats left the harbour Monday morning, 12 meters the pair, you don't need a yacht for this kind of fishing. 4 fishermen, Paquito and Nelson (well his name is Félix but we have re-baptized him Nelson, the Cuban skipper, but this is too hard to explain) at the helm and Vincenzo and myself, pretty much looking forward to see what the Strait of Gibraltar was going to deliver. Dani and Fran, the cameramen, with as much expectation as the rest of us.

The one who's writing this report has been the first to cast. the first to have a strike, right on cast one. And it never stopped! Two days in a row of non-stop fishing, cast after cast until the sun, too high in the sky called for the quits. Lunch break, a little siesta and back to the battlefield for more hours of amazing action. I have fished few and far remote seas all over this darn planet and believe me, very few times I have seen anything like that!

We landed four different kind of fish, Barracuda, Bonito, Amberjack and Sea Bass. Most of them on top water and few with swimming plugs and minnows. We used the magic Habano for the top water action and it killed the Sea Bass, the Brugas again for the Bass in the foam from as well as the T-jerk and Finder Jerk this time for Barracuda and Bonitos, Surface Cruiser and Roosta Poppers completed the arsenal and as wild card the Trairao, Imakatzu top water star, that landed the big Amberjack.

I used my Lamiglas travel rods, the 7025 up to 1 1/2oz, both for casting and spinning. They worked wonder, casted flawlessly, fought like Spartans and handled the roughest situation at the best. Three pieces, lightweight and just perfect, a lot of fun to fish with them. Two daiwa reels completed the tackle department, both rigged with 30lb Tuf Line, always MY line of choice. We rigged a good deal of lures with single hooks, and they worked wonder. In fact, Vincenzo landed the Amberjack only because he had a Decoy Sergean' in the rear, the belly treble just opened up like a banana skin...


Paquito told us it was probably going to be good but he didn't say it was going to be THAT GOOD1 Awesome. Amazing! Just one (or two) of those days. I will never forget it.

The Italian lure company Molix debuts in Japan

The Italian lure company Molix is proud to announce a new partner for the distribution of his products in Japan. Since August 20th Paolo Cartocci Uchida
(cannot hide the Italian origins) has decided to share the journey of Molix,
taking on distribution and promotion of Molix products in the country of the
Rising Sun.

Molix staff, who have always been paying special attention to the Japanese quality and creativity in lures design, has finally reached its goal which is part of a process that includes a broader proposal of Molix products and business alliances, in order to make these items available to a large audience of enthusiasts.

The cooperation Molix-Uchida will also be an incentive towards continued innovation and development of products for the Japanese market.
Paolo Cartocci Uchida - Molix is based in Hiroshima, a place of spirituality and memory. A city evoking dramatic events, but at the same time representing a
symbol of rebirth.

The percentage of Italian blood that flows in Uchida’s veins will help him convey to the Japanese Molix’ values and style, for sure not too far away from Japanese’s’ own.

We will keep you updated on the news. In the meantime we suggest you often visit the Website:

Molix Japan

Molix T-Jerk, amazing Sea Bass lure

After the fabulous fishing that has given me in Cork I doubt I will take too long to put it in the store. The Molix T-Jerk Suspending 11.7 cm has really surprised. First, it casts very well, the ball bearings in the body do their job perfectly and the small bib is not so much of an aerodynamic issue. But what has impressed me, especially considering that I'm not a fan of this type of lures who travel below the surface, is the action it has.

I tried several different kind of retrieve, slow and even, slow jerks and pauses, fast jerks and stops, fast and steady with no pauses, and finally very quickly paying with the rod tip up and down, producing violent jerks. The T-Jerk responds perfectly to each one of these actions, and never fails or starts swimming in a weird manner. Being suspended as well, during pauses and stops it stands still, and has been precisely during these moments I've had most of the strikes, until I finally managed to smash the bib against the bridge’s pylons.

Let's say that somehow this lure made me come to terms with the family of the "swimmers”. Two strikes few feet from the boat were as good as those I had on top water, and I have learnt something new

Molix, Italian design for lures

Let’s put it this way, if Italians are famous around the globe for their magnificent styling, design and architecture, why they cannot become the best lure designers in the planet?
I guess you guys are familiar with Ferrari, Lamborghini, Alfa Romeo, Armani, Versace, Scavolini and many other famous names and brands born and developed in my country. It’s something that we, as Italians are pretty proud of, can’t hide that.

Now, a group of crazy fishermen decided that it was about time to do something with a very high standard in the lure design field.

This is how and why Molix was born. Produce the best lures with original designs, no copycat or stolen ideas, with the best possible quality. So good they can rival the highest Japanese standards, and if possible, beat them. Molix Lures come for 100% Italian ideas, design and investments, mixed with Asian high tech quality manufacturing.

One of the owners of the company one day told me: “A Japanese guy said to us that we had a crazy idea - “The Italians are good at making ledgering and Bolognese rods, but they will never make good artificial lures, this is Japan’s business.” I couldn’t disagree more and we have hundreds of examples that show exactly the opposite. If we can build a Ducati we can sure make a 15€ plastic lure that fishermen will enjoy using and that will catch fish for them.

Nothing is impossible 