Shutter Flux – Nash Haq Photography

I primarily shoot with a Nikon D700, primarily because of its ability to produce low noise images at higher ISOs. I admit i have thought about getting a Canon 5d Mk II, but theres always one thing that stops me from changing/adding systems and that is its the ability to use the Nikon CLS (Creative Lighting System) system effectively, especially when I’m shooting with multiple flashes. Its just easier changing the flash settings on the flashes remotely via the camera. Saves me a lot of time. It’s efficient and works remarkably well. There are times when i rely upon my Alien Bee triggers, but thats only if I lose the line of sight with my flashes which happens to be the only flaw with the Nikon CLS, which of course is the advantage of using radio based triggers. In both cases, I shoot manual and never TTL.

I have recently started holding workshops for photographers who want to learn more about advanced multiple flash setups. As like any other workshop the main objective is to teach aspiring photographers how to light with one or multiple flashes.

Here are a few shots from the recent workshop along with the strobist info.

Here is Hassaan, being shot with two flashes. The pattern on the wall was achieved by shooting a bare flash through a french door as a gobo (Goes between objects). Pretty much any object can be used as a gobo if used properly to create patterns, that can be used on or off the subject. In this shot, we went for the background configuration so i had to move Hassaan out of the line of sight/light of the flash. If i had not, then he would be the gobo which would cause his shadow on the wall. The background flash was set to 1/2 power.

Since the only flash being used was lighting the background, and since this was pretty late at night, i had to light him separately with another Flash. So i took out my trusty Westcott Apollo 28″ softbox and hooked up my SB-800 with 1/4 power. The light stand with the softbox was held up by another photographer about 4 feet away from Hassaan, at face level. The exposure was 1/250th at F/6.3.

Here is another shot with the same settings. I just added another bare flash facing Hassaan, right behind him for some rim light and added separation. Flash was set to 1/2 Power.

Here is Saeed, with a single SB-800 mounted in a Westcott Apollo Softbox. About Three Feet away, on camera right, facing upwards towards the face. I wanted to get a lighter blue sky, so i decreased my sync speed to about 1/160 to separate Saeed from the background since he was wearing a dark shirt and the sky was a couple of stops darker than what you see here. Exposure was 1/160th, @ f/6.3

This is probably my favorite from the workshop. Lit completely by ambient. The Exposure was .6 seconds and Hassaan is being lit by a Flashlight. .6 Sec @ F/2.8. Cant’ really categorize this under multiple flashes, but until i do a post that relates to light painting, this is where its going to live