For almost the entire shoot I was using just the one light. Kinda felt like Zack Arias for a minute there. Though I suppose since I wasn’t using big strobes and just using nikon speedlights, you might be thinking “more like McNally” but, there is no way Joe could use just one. Just his lighting gear bag is drool-worthy. I’ll get there someday, it just probably wont be anytime soon, and since he’s not likely to stop buying gear I’ll probably always be envious of what he’s got in his bag. For now though I’m making do with what I’ve got: 2 speedlights, a pair of shoot through umbrellas, a 5-in-1 reflector/diffuser and now this 24″ Ezybox. You’d be surprised what these few tools can accomplish. BTW if anyone actually compared me to either Zack or Joe at this point in my career, I’d probably piss myself.

On a side note: I bumped up the image sizes for this post, since the portrait oriented shots were leaving some space on either side, and frankly it bugged me. I like things to line up, have a certain order about them, but then some of you already knew that about me, didn’t you. What do you guys think of the giant-size photos? Do you want me to go back and upsize the older posts too?

Her band The Scarlet Ending had just flown home to Syracuse from a USO tour of West Asia, were now heading back into the studio to finish up their latest efforts for a full length due in March 2010, and Kayleigh herself was working on still more recordings as one half of Elective, a side project she started with composer/filmmaker CJ Wallis of Vancouver, BC. I was thrilled to not only get to spend some time catching up over dinner, but also to be able to make these images of her at the studio and hear some of TSE’s hard work. As a bonus I got to check out the newest (and well on its way to being the nicest) recording space in my hometown plus preview a few tracks from other bands who were recording there too.

Lighting setup for these images were again pretty simple. Lastolite Ezybox Hotshoe high to the side and, on the one image, another bare light kicking into the ceiling to bring up the background out of blackness. Switched between the 24-70 and 70-200 for lenses but these three came from the 24-70 at 70mm. I’d really like to get that Nikon 85 1.4 but its not going to happen till Spring it seems, unless someone gifts it to me of course, since moving expenses will be eating all of my savings I’m sure. Ce la vie.

Casey and I spent a rainy afternoon together in Brooklyn while she was getting ready for a party that evening. We kept the atmosphere casual and I just worked around her as she prepared some delicious mushroom bruschetta that I would unfortunately not get to taste, as I had elsewhere to be that night. Casey was wonderful to work with, all smiley and happy all the time. It actually took us quite a few attempts to get the above no nonsense expression. Kept the main light – my Lastolite Ezybox mentioned in the last post – about head level to push the light in to her face better and popped another flash in the back to use as either fill for the room or a highlight as I saw fit.

Shot both of these with the camera on manual and speedlights on TTL. I can’t really decide if I like using the flashes in TTL or not. It is nice when the subject is moving and the light levels need to change, but other times I really just want the steadiness of “this-is-exactly-how-much-light-you’ll-get” manual mode. It was interesting to play with nonetheless, and changing it all from the menu in the D700 makes it super easy to try it out when I have the time.

Good things coming later this week!

Now, if you’re a nerd like me, you might like to know that I shot this session, and the next three sessions that I’ll be posting over the next week, with a new toy. I ventured to the B&H store in Manhattan to stare in wonder and then to eventually buy this Lastolite Easybox Hotshoe 24″ speedlight softbox. It’s a mouthful of a name but it’s a wonderful little accessory for off-camera, small flash photography. First saw one in action while in Montana for school when my buddy Thomas picked one up. I was envious ever since and have just now caved and bought one. For me at least, it is well worth owning one. I shoot a lot with speedlights and up till now was making do with umbrellas for portrait scenarios. This light modifier has already become my staple for enlarging and softening my light, especially when lighting people. My only gripe with it was that in order to use it with an umbrella adapter/moveable angle adapter you need a double spigot – envision a double sided threaded bit at the business end of a lightstand – which would be a nice include in their kit, even if they bump the price of the kit $5. Basically if you want to angle this thing at all other than 90 degrees using a straight stand, you need one.

Check back for the next installment of Portrait Session in a few days. If I’m feeling artsy-fartsy I may draw up a basic lighting diagram for how most of these sessions went. Be warned though, it really is pretty basic, both in technique and in my ability to draw.

The acrylic shop informed me that what makes this dish so unique is that when light passes through transparent/translucent acrylic, not all of it makes it out the other parallel surface. Some of that light gets kicked around between the two surfaces until it finds another perpendicular surface to escape from. This meant that I knew ahead of time that I wanted a light overheard directed into the center of the bowl as a source to enhance that effect.

I started out with a SB800 and a HONL grid on a lightweight boom directly over the dish, but the grid wasn’t tight enough. I switched to an eight inch snoot, also from HONL, and stayed with that for the overhead spot. (For more on my love of HONL check this post for some preliminary light tests I did when I received these lovely modifiers.) I worked varying amounts of fill in but never really got what I wanted and after playing around with this bowl for a few minutes on white I quickly realized that I needed to go black.

Swapped out the white backdrop for black and immediately liked it better. I then discovered that the catchlights in the bowl were reflecting so well that the ribs of the umbrella I had been using for fill were now fairly distinct, and distracting. Since I dont have one of those fancy softboxes designed for small flashes (yet) I brought out the 5 in 1 reflector and took it down to the diffuser core and placed that between the umbrella and the bowl and voila! nice, soft, even catchlights. A few tweaks here and there with light levels, a minute or two to rough in the idea in post and make sure its what I liked and I was ready to shoot the final options. Here, along with the top image, is what came out:

Final images are 1/200th @ f/22 ISO 200, overhead light at 1/128th the other at full. And here is an awful awesome lighting diagram of the final shot because I, as always, forgot to shoot the set up:

Florida has been very hot and rainy lately. Its good for the plants and what not but not my favorite kind of weather really. Quite a change for me from last year’s rather dry Montana summer. Hard to believe that was a year ago, and now RMSP has taken down my first gallery show and has sent it on its way back to me. Hidden Lake should be arriving in its custom crate back to me sometime tomorrow, hopefully no worse for its travels.

I had the opportunity to fill in for Beth Wild – another local Sarasota, FL photographer – when a regular client of hers asked her to shoot an event on a night that Beth had previously booked elsewhere. Beth was nice enough to give me a heads up and put the two of us in touch, and I had the privilege of documenting a surprise 35th wedding anniversary. It was a fantastic evening all around, and despite the warmer than average event hall everyone had as much fun at an anniversary party as I’ve ever seen. They even brought their own disco ball! Lots of dancing, smiles, hugs and love for and from everybody.

On the nerdier side of things, I ran across an article the other day I wanted to share with anyone who might need it. The article is on Luminous Landscape and is a quick review/comparison of the Eizo ColorEdge monitor line vs Apple’s Cinema displays, but might as well be vs any non-professional graphics monitors since the comparison points are pretty general. If you’re a photographer its worth a read, there are some fun facts in there – like why so many prints come back from the lab darker than you expected. The short version, however, is that the more expensive Eizo is better. Go figure.

I am currently planning a trip to NYC for the end of August to visit my long lost friend Jaclyn who I have not seen for more than a few hours at a time since 2004 (at least thats what it feels like). She is currently the Director of Operations at Chelsea Frames, a staple frame shop in the art district of Manhattan, and because of this her vacations, especially around the holidays, are short. I also have an ulterior motive in visiting, though. I am in search of a new home. Sarasota was never meant to be a long term habitat for me, and while I enjoy the warm weather, nice beaches and utter lack of snow (bonus), it is ever more apparent to me that it is not where I should be right now. Having visited New York City for short spells previously, and barely getting a taste of what living there might be like, I thought it might be best to spend ten days or better and really sink my teeth in, so to speak. So while I am visiting friends, some old, some less old, I will also be trying to get a feel for whether The City is the city for me.

A few final notes about non-photographic life and I’ll put this post to bed: I went to the cinema the other night, by myself, to see a very lovely Miss Zooey Deschanel in 500 Days of Summer. What a refreshingly well made movie. If you have the occasion to see this film, I recommend it fully, be it on large screen or small. Its worth your time.

Also worth your time – all 14 seconds of it – is the following offering from Dave Grohl, Josh Homme and John Paul Jones. Really looking forward to this album.

I think thats enough for tonight. If you need me I will be outside watching the annual Perseids meteor shower and wishing I owned a telescope of some sort.

I mentioned I went to NY at the beginning of March but didn’t say why. I was in a band for 10 years and we had a lot of fun and made some records and drove around the country in a van many times and made tons of friends and it was an amazing experience that I’d never trade. As all of us started to focus our efforts in other areas beyond music we decided to put an official close to the band with a couple of farewell shows. They were amazing shows, and for me there is nothing like playing music with my best friends. I set up a remote camera for one of the shows, and managed to grab a couple decent frames before the vibrations jarred the focus ring out of position rendering the majority of them severely out of focus. Lesson learned? Gaffers tape / lock the focus into position somehow. The camera is mounted on a ball head, mounted to a Bogen Super Clamp (love those things), and clamped to a beam just above Josh’s head, center stage. D700 with the DX 10.5mm fisheye.

So when PW released their TTL capable remote flash triggers about a month ago, I was very interested to know how they compared to the Radio Poppers that were recently redesigned a few months prior. Having no excess of money and also no “IN’s” with either company, I resolved to wait for someone else to test them and make a report.

The folks at TriCoast Photo have done just that, in an 8 video series released via their You Tube channel. Comprehensive and technically centered (as it should be) the videos aren’t going to win any golden globes, but they are going to be a definitive resource for photographers looking for solutions to off camera flash.

Here’s the link to the post on their blog and here is the link to the first of the 8 videos on You Tube.

Thanks guys for taking the time money and effort to not only test these comprehensively but also to document your efforts in order to continue to educate the masses out of the kindness of your hearts.

Something I just realized: if you’re a nikon shooter using CLS and you hold down the Depth of Field Preview button your remote lights will turn on their modeling/preview function and give you a few seconds of preview for where your light will fall. If you dont know what the DOF preview button is then check the diagram in the manual, its on the front just in-board of the shutter release. I had absolutely no idea this was possible. I basically now have *useful* modeling lights on my SB-800′s. I stumbled upon this while I was trying to understand shooting TTL with these puppies a little better than I already did. I’m glad I decided to stay up and dick around some more instead of going to bed.

If you’re curious I was using a D700 with pop-up flash in commander mode and a pair of sb-800′s.