At the Mono “Creative Light” workshop, we do different portfolio shots every time.
So imagine our delighted on Sunday when a student turned up in a Hummer. This was immediately put to use by model Tara:
Tara Elizabeth and Hummer
That was lit how?
This is how: with a softbox, to our left. And a small speedlight to our left aimed straight at the car – with a blue Honl gel. Both were fired using pocketwizards (the speedlite using a Flashzebra cable). Metered using a light meter, of course.
Here is an alternate take:
Angry Tara, with Hummer
That was taken just a few minutes before. Can you see how every minute counts when shooting in beautiful late day light?
Okay, one more. Just to show that lens flare – which should normally be avoided – can sometimes be OK:
Angry with tire iron
You avoid flare by:
- Using a lens hood
- Shielding the lens with your hand
- Avoiding lens filters
- Pointing slightly away from the light source
Have fun!
Hi Michael what were the settings on the flash ? Thanks
That’s an easy one: it was manual flash. On the big flash with the softbox it was almost full power; on the smaller flash (a Canon 430EX with a Honl gel) it was also full power. We were fighting the sun (successfully, I think, no?)
So after setting the flashes I used a light meter to get the setting for the camera’s aperture. Done!
Of course with manual, you need to know the point you will be firing.
Great! Thanks for the tips!