Jay P. Morgan: Window Light Portraits for Stills and Video

In this tutorial, we'll look at how to use window light as an effective light source to create portraits.

Window light is a natural light source that can create beautiful light for portraits for both video and stills.  It's a constant and immediately available light source that is defined by the size of the window and the proximity of the subject to the window.  Large windows give softer light with brighter backgrounds and smaller windows give harder light with darker backgrounds.  The same principle applies to soft boxes.  Large boxes create soft light and small boxes create more directional light.

Here, we'll look at window light as a backlight, key light, and flat frontal light.  In the process, we'll explore how skin tone and hair color affect the way we light.  Combining someone with dark hair and olive skin and someone with fair skin and red hair creates a challenge.  You'll see how to overcome that challenge.  Lets look at window light as a light source for portraits.

Our first camera setup was a strong backlight or silhouette.  We were using the light source as a background.   I wanted the sky outside to be bright enough to give me the silhouette without becoming so bright that it started to wrap around the talent.

The room was very white and the light bounced off the walls causing an overall fill light in the room. In post we could have opened up the contrast to remove the fill light and create a stronger silhouette if desired.  I liked the subtle bleed on her body and chose to leave it.







By adding a fill card on camera right, we bounced light back into Brooke's face.  I had my assistant hold the card up high so that the fill card gave us a Rembrandt light on her face.

 If the card is placed on the ground and reflected upward, it's not very flattering on her face. Reflectors need to be placed in the same areas as lights to be effective.  Many times we let the floor be the resting place for the reflector, and we end up with "horror light" coming from underneath!

Shooting Brooke and Adelaide together was a challenge because of the skin tone and hair color difference between the two of them. Brooke's dark hair and olive skin combined with Adelaide's red hair and fair skin made it tough. Care needed to be taken to make sure both their faces were exposed correctly.

Placing the reflector on Brooke's side and letting the strength of the reflector hit her first and then fall off on Adelaide’s face accommodated both of their skin tones.  We feathered the reflector away from Adelaide to keep her fair skin from becoming overexposed.

The reflector was almost turned away from them.  This kept the light strong on Brooke and lighter on Adelaide.

Moving alongside of the window turned the window light into a direct key source rather than a backlight.  This is a very popular way to shoot with a window light source.  The light coming through the window was soft and wrapped around the face very nicely.  The window itself cut the light off the wall behind the talent, allowing it to go darker and cause separation of our talent from the background.  It's hard to go wrong with this setup.

Brooke had a nice highlight on her face, and the background fell slightly darker, so she was separated nicely.

As the sun set, we were able to capitalize on the hard light coming into the room. The window cast a wonderful shape on the wall for us to play with.

Using the hard light coming through the window, we were able to take some more dramatic portraits. Don't be afraid of allowing the highlight to blow out. Hard light can be dramatic, interesting, and a change of pace from what people are used to seeing.

In this setup, we moved the subject around and used the window as a large light source on the same axis as the camera.

The window was high and wide, giving us a very soft source of light. It bounced all over the room and created a soft, yet slightly directional light.  You can see how it created a wonderful butterfly light with the shadows under her nose and cheekbones.

Moving out onto the fire escape, we did some shots using the window light in a grittier environment. I wanted to give this image on the fire escape a more interesting look, so I did some work in Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

I used a recipe called Black Gold.  I changed the color palette in Black Gold and made it less gold and more green.  I then pulled back the TC just a bit and added a vignette. There are so many possibilities in post! 

To see more of Jay P. Morgan's work, visit http://www.jaypmorgan.com

John Beckett: Shooting Cowgirls in Action

One of my favorite western clients is Annie Ellet, a world champion in the sport of Cowboy Mounted Shooting.  We were discussing a shoot for her sponsor, Equibrand, and came up with the idea of an evening shoot using strobe to catch the fading light of sunset as our background. It would be very different from the normal types of shots used in the sport.

Since the shoot was being staged, we would be able to repeat her shooting runs over and over until we felt we had the image.  In the sport of mounted shooting, a "run" is a pattern the horse and rider make in an arena as they round barrels and fire blanks at balloon targets using single action 45 caliber revolvers.

There was no other way of capturing the image I had in mind except to use flash.  Firing a single pop of light from the strobe would be too "iffy" and time consuming.  Repeating a run too many times would wear the horse out and he'd loose the feeling of power in his turns after making six or seven runs at the top speed.  We needed to exemplify the look of a champion for the sponsor's use.

After having worked with Photoflex on a lesson using the TritonFlash™ in it's rapid fire mode, I felt comfortable proposing the shoot at sunset, as I knew I could get multiple flashes during a single run.

When photographing mounted shooters it's very important to get the correct angles of horse, rider and gun as they make a run at the balloon targets.  I always use the high speed firing mode on the camera and time the bursts for the moment the rider hits a key point in the course pattern to get the most dynamic shot.

When working with champion competitors like Annie, an "OK" shot isn't good enough, so we shoot a couple of runs, review the results, talk about corrections we both need to consider, and do it again.

Adding to our challenge was getting part of the sponsor's banner in the shot, and a good views of their products as well -- saddle, saddle blanket, chinch and leg wraps, and capturing the horse's legs in the correct position to demonstrate good form.

Annie made the first series of runs while we still had a little sunlight so we could get a feel for the speed and angle we wanted.

To prepare for the sunset shot, I chose a Medium LiteDome for the TritonFlash™ with the front diffusion panel removed to give more flash power and I added a warming gel over the inner diffuser.

By the time everything was ready, the sun had already dropped below the horizon and we had to move fast to catch the last glow and color in the sky.

Nothing ever goes exactly as planned.  With the sun gone, I was just about shooting blind.  The tracking system wasn't any help in the dark with a horse running at full speed. I switched over to manual focus and "pre-focused" on the spot Annie was trying to guide her horse through in the dark.  At the speed she was riding, it would only be possible to capture her in the proper light exposure zone for three frames maximum.  Fortunately, the TritonFlash™ is capable of firing off multiple frames per second!

The big question we had asked before the shoot was how the horse would react to the flash?  He jumped a little the first time we fired the strobe before she made a run, but after that he seemed to ignore the flash even in almost total darkness.

The results were worth the effort.  Equibrand purchased three shots for their advertising and Annie will be using them in her self promo packets.  We have an upcoming shoot for the highly recognized horse trainer, Clinton Anderson for his marketing materials.  It pays to play with light!

After the running shots, we took several posed standing shots.  The only way to tell when to shoot was by watching the horse's ears silhouetted against the fading skylight.  In the Western World and horse photography in general, a good horse shot has the ears going forward.  I pre-focused and sat still as my partner Julie made noise and jumped around behind me to get the horse to focus on her for an instant, then I'd shoot.  Their ears tell you what they're paying attention to.

To see more of John Beckett's work, visit j2photopro.com

Jay P. Morgan: Turning Sunlight into Moonlight

In this LiteBlog post, which is a slightly condensed version to the YouTube video version above, I wanted to demonstrate how to change sunlight into moonlight for stills or video.  This is not a post process, it's an in camera technique using two different color temperatures in the same image.  People ask me all the time, "Why worry about color in the camera when you can shoot raw and fix it when you process?"  That can work to some extent, but it's important to keep in mind that color balance can become another tool you can use to create mood and interest in your images.  Here, I'll demonstrate a creative way to shift the color balance of sunlight and create a blue background that looks like moonlight.

I wanted a nighttime look for this 1920's "speakeasy" scene.  Shooting at night was not an option. The technique I used - creating a nighttime look to sunlight streaming through the window - can be applied to all types of photography.  I once saw a wedding photographer use this technique.  He attached a warm gel to his strobe, which allowed him to let the background behind the bride and groom go slightly blue.  This can add depth and interest.  I've also used it in corporate portraiture to create a cool background out of what was a boring scene.  The blue becomes a unifying layer that pulls a background together into one element.

We shot in a well-lit room in the afternoon.  The sun was streaming into the room through the window and had little-to-no mood.  I wanted this image to look like night, which meant that we needed to cool the sunlight in the room to make it look more like moonlight.


From an overhead vantage point, you can see the lighting setup we had.

 

Even though the scene was daylight with an approximate color temperature of 5500 degrees Kelvin, I dialed the white balance on the camera from Daylight to Tungsten (3200 degrees Kelvin).  As you can see, this color shift to deep blue made the background look like night, and a lot more interesting.  The sun became the first light source in this setup.

Next, we needed to light our talent.  Strobe lights are daylight balanced, which under this white balance setting, would render our model with very blue light unless we color corrected the strobes.  The first light we added was a Medium Photoflex LiteDome soft box from camera right to rim-light her body.  We panned the box slightly away from the background so it would allow just the right amount of light on the man at the window. This gave us a nice rim light on her and did not over-light him.

Because Strobes are balanced at around 6000 degrees Kelvin, we needed to add a Full CTO (Color Temperature Orange) to the strobe lights for balanced color. Without the gel, our model would be rendered very blue.

Next, we set the key light on her face from a low angle.  This light consisted of a strobe with a Small Photoflex OctoDome (also gelled with a full CTO) attached on a low light stand to camera left.  I attached a set of Grids to the face of the OctoDome to keep the light contained, which prevented it from over-lighting the background.

Placing the light low gave us a more interesting key light on her face that was consistent with this "speakeasy" scene.  I panned the light away from the man in the background to maintain his silhouette.

This is what the shot would have looked like if I had shot it at 5500 degrees Kelvin or "Daylight".  Very warm on her face with the full CTO, and neutral on the background, doing away with the nighttime feel.

 

Let's now look at the post process.  I wanted the image to look a bit more gritty than what the camera gave me, so I used Nik Software color effects 4 pro to enhance it.

Using a recipe called "Super Cross Pop", I opened up the shadows and reduced the contrast.  The effect on her face was a little too heavy, and so I removed about 60% of the effect there and then dialed the whole effect back about 20%.  This became my final image.

This lighting style is easy to use when shooting video as well.  If you're using a Tungsten light, like a Photoflex StarLite, set the color temperature on the camera to Tungsten you're ready to shoot. Tungsten lights are balanced at 3200 degrees Kelvin and sunlight is 5500 degrees Kelvin, so no gel is needed to achieve the effect.  Tungsten light is naturally warm so when you warm the camera, the sunlight goes blue. 

It's important to think beyond my examples here and visualize the application in your own work.   Keep those cameras rolling and keep on clickin'!

To see more of Jay P. Morgan's work, visit  jaypmorgan.com

Blair Bunting: Water + Electricity = River Monsters

Lighting as a thought process is fundamentally easy to apply to schemata, water is not. Sure, there are the physics that govern the drops via gravity and pull them back to Earth properly, but the abstract way that this is done is a logistical nightmare when combined with good ole electrons. Sure, water makes for dynamic imagery when lit well, but what doesn’t get seen is the grey hair that the photographer grows as a result of the set.

When the call came from Discovery to shoot the ad campaign for their show River Monsters, I was thrilled. The concept was strong and the comps that we were to key off made visualizing the final image easy. However, creative potential and potentially dangerous walked hand in hand on this campaign. The idea was to have the show’s host Jeremy Wade wrestling a giant fish in the shallow waters near South Beach, Florida. Now by "giant", I mean the kind of fish that hangs out with the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man on weekends… probably having a glass of wine with its flippers and talking about the delicacies of krill. Where things got complicated is that we wanted to have Jeremy and mega fish in the water thrashing around…. lit. Obviously we didn’t want a bathtub with a toaster situation, so safety would come first, creativity second. After all, electrocuting an actor is not a good way to land another job (the industry tends to look down on these sort of things).

 

Knowing that this set would be determined by the quality and work ethic of the people on it, I flew assistants in that I had worked with on previous shoots. We approached the lighting situation with Photoflex TritonFlashes, for their safety, weight, and flash duration (we would be freezing splashing water). We had a scout look for beaches with long gradations to the shoreline and went to multiple locales just to walk into the water to his waist level. Background would not be important, as we would fade to black behind the subject. For cameras, I brought both the Nikon D3x and D3s to back it up.  Never on a shoot had I expected to destroy a camera more than this, so redundancy would play key to making sure I came home with the shot, even if the camera was a paperweight.

With lighting, safety and concept behind us, it was up to Jeremy to make the action, and he did it masterfully. Often he would bring advice and reality to the table that we could not have thought of in our wildest dreams… mostly because I have yet to catch a 350-pound grouper, and also because I don’t fish. However, one comment amongst all the others stood out to me… All of us (7 people, 1 fish) were waist deep in the water at night in the Florida ocean and Jeremy looked up at me and said, “You know, these are perfect conditions for a Bull Shark….” to which I replied, “Haha, and when’s the last time you caught a Bull Shark?!?!”  He replied, “I caught one here….. last night.” At that point, without any direction from me, the entire set moved about 10 feet closer to shore.

We shot for only a couple hours, not due to a time crunch, but because Jeremy, the creative director, and rest of the crew worked so well together that in two hours we had a solid 30 images that would work for the ad. Since we were in the ocean, laptop previewing would be impossible, but seeing the shots out of the back of the D3x, the Creative Director was able to see that we had the shot directly out of the camera. Although this image was not the final one chosen because of the main subject’s address to the fish, it shows the strength of a RAW file, and gives an idea to the situation around us:

 

Also, here's a short video to show how the prep work went. We originally wanted to have a complete behind-the-scenes production of the shoot, but with the dangers at hand (be it lights, sharks, groupies, sea turtles), we decided that everyone would contribute to make the shot. My assistant Matthew Coughlin made this video of the prep, and may I warn you, once you have seen this skinny, pale photographer without his shirt on, you might wish you had never watched it…

To see more of Blair Bunting's work, visit www.blairbunting.com

 

Dan Bailey reviews the Photoflex TritonFlash™

This is a slightly updated version of Dan's original review, which you can read here in its entirety.

Photographers who continue to experiment with off camera lighting techniques and expand their shooting styles, quickly discover the limitation of using regular shoe-mount flashes.

If you’re shooting a big job, you’ll drain your batteries, which severely slows down recycle times.  Also, when trying to overpower the sun, sometimes a single flash just doesn’t put out enough light.  Your answer is to either carry a handful of flashes, or enter the world of battery powered strobes, which, often times don’t allow you to go fast and light.

The latest battery powered strobe from Photoflex is the surprisingly portable TritonFlash™.  Now, before I go on, I need to disclose that I’m a featured Photoflex Pro who writes lighting tutorials about how to use gear like the TritonFlash™.  As an action and adventure shooter, the Photoflex crew wanted me use it and put it through the rigors.

That said, I had to be talked into even trying it out.  As a guy who likes to carry all my gear on my back, I was pretty hesitant about entering that world, but as soon as I got my hands on the TritonFlash™, I feel like my world opened up.  Things changed.  In short, I saw the light.

Here are the basic specs and my real world analysis of the TritonFlash™:

• Rated at 300 watt seconds with a Guide Number of 185
• Fires 750 full power flashes on a full charge
• Ultra fast recycling that allows firing rates of up to 6 frames per second
• Built-in optical slave sensor
• 19 power settings in 1/3 stop increments
• 10 second modeling light
• TritonFlash™ head weighs under 2 lbs
• Lithium-ion battery pack only weighs 1 lb
• Kit comes with 2 batteries, cables, wireless triggers, OctoDome NXT soft box and reflector dish

Size, Weight and Portability

At roughly three pounds, with flash head, battery pack and cables, the TritonFlash™ is highly portable.  It weighs about as much as a 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom lens, and when broken down, it packs up small enough to fit inside my backpack, along with a camera, a couple lenses, radio triggers and a jacket.

The flash head itself is smaller than a Nalgene water bottle, and comes with a hard plastic cover, which protects it from getting damaged when not in use.  The lithium-ion battery pack is about the same size as a box of mac and cheese, and the included OctoDome NXT soft box case is small enough to strap to the outside of a pack.

And that’s it!  Flash, battery, OctoDome, and a couple of thin cables and you’re good to go.  The flash head and battery pack together take up about the same amount of room as two speed lights, but pack way more power.  Pound for pound, the TritonFlash™ delivers big light in a relatively small package.

Ease of Use

The TritonFlash™ comes with its own heavy duty swivel clamp.  Stick that on a LiteStand or have your assistant hold it, hook up the battery and trigger cables to the head, slide on the soft box (OctoDome or any type of light modifier) or the 7 inch reflector dish, and turn on.  You have light.

The back of the flash head only has a few controls: Sync input, modeling light button, optical slave button and the main command knob.

To adjust power, you simply turn the knob to change in 1/3 stops until you’re desired setting is achieved.  Fast.  Easy.  No menus.  No sub command dials.  Just turn and set.

You trigger the TritonFlash™ in one of four ways: Included sync cord, included FlashFire™ wireless triggers, PocketWizard, or optical slave from another flash.  I’ve used each of these methods and they all work.  The Photoflex FlashFire™ triggers operate up to 164′ and sync up to 1/160 sec.  PocketWizards actually work better because you can sync up to 1/250 sec. and operate at much greater distances.

However, sync speed isn’t a huge issue, given that the duration of the flash head is about 1/8000 sec., which will freeze just about any action.  Here’s a test shot that I did on my first day with the TritonFlash™. (1/250 sec at f/16.)  Normally, 1/250th doesn’t always stop action, but the ultra high speed burst of light from the flash does.

Light Quality and Power

Using the double-baffled OctoDome NXT softbox, the TritonFlash™ put out really nice light. Keep in mind, though, you can use any of the Photoflex soft boxes with the TritonFlash.  I’ve used both the OctoDome NXT and the much bigger WhiteDome to shoot action, sports and portraits, both inside and out.  I really like the OctoDome NXT, and had one before I got the TritonFlash™.  It does an incredible job diffusing the light up close, and even looks good from a distance.

The hard 7 inch reflector is designed for use with umbrellas, or if you want a harder, less diffused blast of light.  You could even stick a makeshift snoot on it for a really strong directional light source.  Might be something to play around with…

When it comes to power, the TritonFlash™ recycles fast enough to shoot up to 6 frames per second bursts.  Actual speed and firing rate depends on battery charge, temperature and flash power.  When it’s really cold, recycle time does slow down quite a bit, but nowhere near as slow as a regular flash would under the same conditions.

At full power, the TritonFlash™ is rated to 750 shots on a full charge.  At minimal power settings, you’ll get a few thousand fires per charge.  And with the way that lithium batteries work, recycle times will remain quick right up until it dies.  Supposedly.  I’ve never actually had one die, not when shooting for 2 hours at 10 below zero.  Kept right on working.

And even it if does die, you’ve got a second battery.  Depending on your power settings, that gives you somewhere between 1,500 and well over 10,000 frames, which is more than enough to get any job done.  Keep charging and swapping out batteries and I guarantee, the TritonFlash™ will keep working longer than you.

The TritonFlash™ features a 10 second modeling light, which is perfect for grabbing focus in low light, or for doing a quick check on how your scene will look when it’s lit.  Hit it once, do your check and it will turn off by itself.  Nice feature.  I’ve used it a few times and when you need it, it’s there.

Durability

I can attest that the TritonFlash™ is indeed durable.  I’ve already dropped it and bent the ring on the reflector dish, which I fixed with a pair of pliers.  I’ve dragged it outside in the snow and cold numerous times and have had no problems with it at all.  As I said, recycle times certainly slow down, but the thing keeps firing.  The plastic cover protects the unit adequately to the point where I have no qualms about carting it around into the outdoors.

The fabric on the OctoDome is tough and quite tear resistant.  You’d be hard pressed to ruin it.  Might get dirty, but that’s about it.  You might bend the little metal rods, believe me, but unless you really wrench on them, you can usually straighten them right back out.

Limitations

The TritonFlash™ does have limitations.  For one, it will only sync up to 1/250 sec. under normal operation.  As I pointed out above, though, the 1/8000 sec. flash duration is fast enough to freeze action in most uses.  There is a way to sync it up to higher speeds, but it requires some separate gear.

By triggering an an off camera flash in non-TTL mode with pair of PocketWizard FlexTT5 or MiniTT1 radios, you can set the TritonFlash™ to optical slave mode so that it reads the other flash.  This way, you can get the TritonFlash™ to sync all the way up to 1/8000 sec. shutter speed.  There may be other ways, as well, and maybe this is something that Photoflex will work out in future models.

Also, I’d like to see a small handle on the casing of the TritonFlash™ head.  This would allow you to take off the swivel clamp and save even more weight and space if you’re hand holding (or having your assistant hand hold) the unit.  As is, you can still hand hold it with the swivel clamp, but I’d like to see the option of being able to easily use it without.

Price and Value

The TritonFlash™ Kit runs around $1,499.  It’s not cheap, especially if you’re just getting into lighting gear.  However, put it into this context.  When compared to a top of the line speedlight, it’s still less than three SB-910s or 580EX IIs. (Often times, photographers will double and triple up on flashes to shorten recycle times.)

Plus, you get the OctoDome NXT, which costs around $164 brand new, and a set of wireless triggers.  Not PocketWizards, mind you, but the FlashFires do work, and they take up less room than a set of Plus IIs.

When you consider the amount of power and versatility that you get from the TritonFlash™, and that it costs less than most fast lenses, it’s actually a pretty good value for a high performance piece of technical photography equipment.

TritonFlash™ vs. Elinchrom Ranger Quadra

The Elinchrom Ranger Quadra is the TritonFlash’s main competition, alternative, or whatever you want to call it.  I have not used the Quadra, but I know it’s a very capable strobe unit that’s used by a wide selection of both indoor and outdoor photographers.  Both the TritonFlash and the Quadra are excellent professional quality units, and either will get the job done. 

Light Output & Recycle Time: The Quadra is rated to 400 watt seconds, vs. 300 on the TritonFlash™.  However, the TritonFlash™ wins out big in recycle time.  Whereas the Quadra recycles in 4.0 seconds (full power) and 2.2 seconds (half power), the TritonFlash is rated to recycle at 3.0 seconds (full power) and will recycle at 0.1 seconds under partial power for quick bursts of up to 6 frames per second.  From that standpoint, it seems the the TritonFlash™ is the better choice for shooting fact action and sports. 

Battery Performance: The Quadra is rated to produce 150 shots full power charge, compared to 750 full power shots on the TritonFlash™.  One review on the Quadra listed a practical limit of 200-400 partial power pops.  Even when using the TritonFlash™ in below zero temperatures outside, I’ve easily gotten that many pops with well over half the battery charge remaining.  Like I said above, I’ve still never drained my TritonFlash™ battery, even on longer photo shoots. 

Size and Weight: The Quadra flash head is considerably smaller and lighter than the TritonFlash™. (1/2 lb vs. 2 lbs.)  However, the Quadra’s battery pack is quite a bit larger and 2 lbs. heavier.  In my experience, the TritonFlash™ battery is small and light enough to tuck inside your jacket when it’s around your neck. Not sure it would be very comfortable to do that with the Quadra. 

Overall Value: The TritonFlash™ kit comes included with the OctoDome NXT, whereas the Quadra does NOT come with a soft box.  Also, for roughly the same price, the TritonFlash™ kit comes with that second extra battery and wireless triggers.

Final Analysis

A battery powered strobe like the Photoflex TritonFlash™ may not be for everyone, but it’s a very powerful, capable and portable tool that gives you great options for shooting just about any type of subject inside or out: action, studio, location assignments, interiors, portraits, etc…

As for me, Mr. fast and light, run around adventure photographer guy, I’m sold.  I feel that the TritonFlash™ has added an entirely new dimension to my photography, especially to my style of Going Fast With Light.


To see more of Dan Bailey's work, visit danbaileyphoto.com

Sooska: Bloody Princess

The following blog post (which we've attempted to translate into English via the help of Google Translate) from Romanian photographer Sooska takes a look into a recent photo-shoot in which he used a newly acquired Photoflex TritonFlash.

But first, here's the video he produced for this shoot:

What causes things to happen?  Is it all random?  Personally, I don't think that things happen just by chance. Recently a friend of mine told me about a unique setting -- a house left neglected, but still in fairly stable condition -- and invited me to visit.  This place turned out to be visually gorgeous, with infinite possibilities for conceptual photo-shoots.  I immediately coordinated a photo-shoot for this location.

For this shoot, I wanted to have a lighting setup that would allow maximum flexibility and mobility.  I spoke with the folks at Photosetup, who had previously helped us organize a photo-shoot in Croatia, and we discussed the equipment I'd ideally like to use for this project.  I proposed using a new product from Photoflex, the TritonFlash™, which is a DC-powered 300 w/s strobe kit powered by a small, lithium-ion battery, along with a Small OctoDome, which they agreed to let me use. 

Before the day of any shoot I do, I try to visualize what will happen, or write it down on paper, so that everything is ready once we arrive.  Then it's usually just a matter of putting everything into motion.  And while everything does not always sync up in reality to what I have envisioned - camera angles, backgrounds, lighting conditions - a rehearsed plan does help me to maintain my overall direction. 

Much of this approach is inspired by an experience I had while working in Hungary, where I had the good fortune to meet with and photograph the well-known painter, Endre Szasz.  I spent the day with Szasz and his wife, and became fascinated by what surrounds him: his style, his art, his unique personality, and last but not least, his talent to paint very quickly.  In the 1970's, he emigrated to the Unites States, and on the day he arrived, he went to one of the largest television studios and asked to speak with a producer for just five minutes.  Within those five minutes, he produced a beautiful oil painting for this producer, who was so impressed, that he decided to create a weekly TV show in which Szasz would paint live for its viewers.

While photographing him, I asked him what his secret was? How was he able to paint for a live audience and have it be captivating and not boring?  After all, it can be difficult to maintain the typical TV viewers' attention.  He answered, "Before I start to paint, I have all the imagery in my mind, right down to the last detail, which allows me to paint without thinking!  I don't experiment with colors, angles, etc. in front of an audience.  I stick to my plan and just let my hand do the work."

So it's important to have a plan, but there are times when you have to improvise.  This shoot happened to be one of those times.  When we arrived at the scene, we discovered that the castle bridge that we had planned to use in the background had toppled, and so we were forced to shoot in a different location.  We ultimately decided to set up in the attic of the main house.

 

Inside, we discovered sunlight breaking through the cracked roofing tiles, which provided a unique atmosphere, dramatically illuminating the dusty air.  My choice of model was simple: I wanted her to be tall and have long hair, and Alex was perfect for what I had in mind.  I wanted the makeup to be theatrically red to match the dress, which was created by Loredana Novotná, whom I also worked with in her "Sacred" series.  

 

I have a good friend, Attila Lovasz, who owns an antique shop and before the shoot, I swung by for some accessories. He's an expert in his field, and after I told him my concept, he recommended two objects, though we ended up using only one: a candlestick with three candles representing "three sins".  I actually forgot to bring the white candles I was planning to use, but this turned out to be a happy accident, as I ended up finding a place nearby that had red candles instead, which I think tied in well with the red dress.  

 

Alex, my model, didn't have much experience in modeling, which made me a little anxious at first, but her great attitude and desire to help really compensated for her lack of experience.  It was challenging for her to work in the cold with ten men surrounding her, but I can't imagine a professional model faring any better in such conditions.  I'm so grateful to you, Alex!  Thank you!  

 

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a photographer who is fascinated by technology or devices. That said, I do feel the need to say a few words about the Photoflex TritonFlash.  Oftentimes, a newly released product will be praised highly on a website, but these praises don't always measure up in reality.  With the TritonFlash, however, I was genuinely surprised with how well it performed. 

At full power and 2 meters away from my subject, I was able to achieve f/11! The kit comes with an extra battery, but if you forget to bring one, don't worry.  A typical battery this size might give you 300-400 flashes on a full charge, but here I shot a total of about 500 frames and never had to change out the battery!  The battery is also incredibly small and very easy to operate. 


If you're interested in this kit and you happen to be in Croatia this summer, you'll have the opportunity to test it out at Summer Photo Camp. 

I owe much of the success of this shoot to a wonderful team of talented individuals.  Thank you for all who helped in this project!

To see more of Sooska's work, visit http://pintograf.blogspot.com

John Beckett: Shooting Action with the TritonFlash™

For the last photo-shoot at the international reps meeting at Photoflex a few weeks ago, I decided to do an action shot outdoors at sunset.  In addition to showcasing the beautiful quality of light from the TritonFlash™, I also wanted to demonstrate its super fast recycle rate of 7 frames per second while shooting a moving mountain biker.

I have to admit this was something I'd never done before with flash, but as the old saying goes, "All ya need is one!" In this case two worked better.

In the past, we would have shot hundreds of frames to get "the shot".  But when time, location and conditions don't always work as planned, experience and knowing what can be done in post-production can play a big part to insure you create a good shot.

Under most conditions, using electronic flash means you will only be able to shoot one frame of a fast action sequence.  You either have to pre-focus on the spot where you want to catch the action, use follow-focusing or use a continuous focus until you are ready to shoot a single frame.  Because of the angle needed for our moving bike, the pre-focus method worked best with Nikon's "Continuous-High" firing mode and focused on the bike's takeoff point.  Once the focus point was set, I didn't move until the entire sequence was completed from pre-focus to our model going back to his original starting point -- through the takeoff and landing.

 

There were several other factors to contend with: the position of the sun, the weight of the bike, the only approach direction, and a one foot high dirt mound on the edge of a parking lot for the ramp.  The result was that the bike never achieved more than a few inches of clearance off the ground.  Due to these limitations I shot with a very wide angle lens to get low enough to make our small jump to look somewhat dramatic.

 

I knew that the TritonFlash™ would do well with the "Continuous-High" firing rate, but found the remote flash trigger couldn't keep up.  The solution was to shoot in bursts of three or four frames that the trigger could handle better.  Later, I realized syncing directly into the TritonFlash™ head would have solved the problem.

The image I decided to work with was based on the height of the bike off the ground.  In that shot, the model's face wasn't well illuminated because of the remote trigger's firing speed for the main light head, or there was mirror cut-off as a result of shooting at a 1/250th of a second shutter speed.  I'll be doing more tests in the near future to determine the safe shooting boundaries at higher shutter speeds with my camera and the TritonFlash™ outdoors. [Editor's note: With standard wireless triggers and DSLR's, 1/160th is the safest bet for fastest sync speed, in some cases 1/200th.  Higher end trigger systems, like PocketWizard, allow for faster sync speeds and 1/250th would be no problem.]

 

To make it a better shot, I selected another frame just before the point of take-off frame and combined the two using Photoshop, replacing the darker face with the better illuminated one.  A Motion Blur filter was applied to the background and Liquify was used to lower the ground under the bike's back tire. 

After the action shot, I took a still shot with the same general lighting setup.  Needless to say, I was really happy with the quality of light the TritonFlash™ provided.

Tech Specs

Camera: Nikon D300 with a Tamron 11-18mm lens
Exposure mode: Manual
Aperture: f/9
Shutter speed: 1/250th of a second
ISO: 400
Lighting: TritonFlash™ Kit with 3' OctoDome, 32" MultiDisc
Color: a warm color correction gel was taped inside the OctoDome to help balance the warmth of the setting sun.

John Beckett is based in Phoenix, Arizona, where he is the Creative Director and Photographer for J² Photo Productions.  To see more of John's work, visit j2photopro.com