Two Lights + Huge Lights = Two Huge Lights

My team and I are working to get my book project started. A lot of work is required for the project to start so its taking a little while longer than i expected. Of course, with temperatures rising every day, constant power shut downs and bombs going off doesn’t help at all. Anyways while I am trying to get everything sorted, i figured i should do a few posts before i start posting images from my upcoming project.

I shot Justine back in March, while i was in Dubai. We were supposed to do a fashion shoot that day but the rising temperatures forced us indoors. We didn’t want to waste the day since everything was ready so we decided to do a beauty shoot instead. Justine was brilliant in every way. One of the most telented models i have ever had the pleasure of shooting.

This image was shot with one AB800 (Alien Bee) with a Large Paul C. Buff Octa/Grid – Camera Left & a Large Softbox/Grid on Camera right. The power on the strobes was set to 1/8. The flash was about 4 feet high, aimed towards the model at about 45 degrees on camera left & right . The background is a carpet, Yes.. its a carpet. I was using a D700 with a 70-200 f/2.8. Shutter 1/250, F/7, ISO 200. Everything was triggered by Paul C Buff Cyber Commander. I can’t even begin to tell you what amazing system this is. I feel its light years ahead of anything thats on the market right now. You have complete control over every aspect of your light source, The power, modeling lamps, ratios, define groups, and what makes this setup shine is the ability to save your current setups so you can quickly come back to them on your next shoot.. How great is that???

I used F/7 cause i wanted most of the image in focus, but i wanted to blur the carpet on the background, and a little on the foreground.

The 47″ Octa with an AB800 is beautiful huge light source, that wraps around the subject.. but shooting with it in tight spaces is an absolute nightmare. I had to be extremely careful while i set up the lights as i was getting a lot of bouncing around the room. The obvious solution was to equip my Octa & Softbox with Grids (Also made by Paul C Buff), so i did. It didn’t help a whole lot so i tweaked the position and angle of the strobes (Thank God for modeling lamps!!)

I try to adjust the light ratios and position while i shoot the model so i have to spend less time photoshopping the images. I think it makes you a better photographer at the end of the day. The only post i did on this image was adjusting the contrast, and the obvious beauty touchups.

More to come later…..

Multiple Flashes

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