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Second time out with the location flash pack. This time, much later in the night. Objective was to learn balance in usage of flash, and ambient. This laneway was a great backdrop, but quite dark. We worked with a 500w/s head (wound right down, in fact it was too powerful), with a small reflector, and medium grid.

Pleased to get an exposure to show the detail of the lane, to complement as a backdrop to the portrait. Tripod would have been good for the ones at low shutter speed, but the objectives of the trip were achieved. In one shot, we had the light stand at full height, and I was walking around looking through the viewfinder, and nearly pulled the light down from full height, onto bluestone... hmmm, no comment on my fun with synch leads (however, the radio triggers are in the mail, oh joy).

I was pleased to see the clear difference in the direction, with and without the medium grid (refer to last two images).

Any way, thought I would share our learnings, with option for C&C. I know this one is not sharp, but the lesson was on exposure. How am I doing?

The objective shot...


And the clear difference, SAME EXPOSURE, with reflector and medium grid, and then with the grid removed.


and with grid removed from reflector

first one looks quite balanced. you need to observe how much ambient light you have as well available to pull it off PLUS what sort of mood and style you're planning on setting for the final pic. It's not just a case of saying, cool I have some ambient light here, I'll just slow my shutter speed down and throw in a dash of flash to balance the lighting

Oz, you could probably replicate some of these shots using a SC29 and a SB600 or 800 which would be a lot more portable than lugging around a 500W head, reflectors, etc. If you're planning on late night jaunts in the laneways lugging all that gear, you'd better have insurance (equipment as well as medical and life) and some decent security with you just in case

Last thing we want to hear is something unfortunate. Not trying to downplay your experimentations, but just be careful (hence why I carry my monopod with me even when I'm not using it )

PiroStitch wrote:first one looks quite balanced. you need to observe how much ambient light you have as well available to pull it off PLUS what sort of mood and style you're planning on setting for the final pic. It's not just a case of saying, cool I have some ambient light here, I'll just slow my shutter speed down and throw in a dash of flash to balance the lighting

Thanks Piro, the exact purpose of the trip, and got a few with background less balanced too. In this case, I had the shotter quiet slow, at max aperture (2.8 ). I was cursing my 1.4 was "in the other bag" but worked with what I had.

PiroStitch wrote:some decent security with you just in case

I grew up in New York, one of the crime capitals of the US, so learned to shoot with one eye on the subject, one on my surroundings. And my subject was "watching my back"
[/quote]

Oz - I reckon you've done really well. The first shot appeals much more to me than the others, due to the harsh shadow of your subject (completely hidden in the first shot). One niggle about the first shot though: I would have liked to have seen some light on the wall to the left of the Porker, if only to define its lines a little more.

Great job though!!

Manta wrote:Oz - I reckon you've done really well. The first shot appeals much more to me than the others, due to the harsh shadow of your subject (completely hidden in the first shot). One niggle about the first shot though: I would have liked to have seen some light on the wall to the left of the Porker, if only to define it's lines a little more.

Great job though!!

thanks, and I agree with the left side, some seperation between the car body and the wall would be great. I was thinking the same on location, I had tried to get some bounce wall to wall, but was not enough. If I had a reflector disc, maybe I could have bounced it over. Or a another light source, but didnt have one with me... or did I? WHen looking at them at home, reaslised I could have opened the car door, and the interior light on the door would have lit the floor/lower-wall. (in this shot, I did have the interior lights on).

The result of the experiment looks pretty good. Looking forward to more experimentation.

Alex

got a boom-stand for christmas, so will re-do this shot, maybe using it to create the effect of a street lamp...