New gear test shoot(small strobes)

     Last week I ordered some new equipment from Midwest Photo Exchange and you all know as soon as it came in the mail I just had to play with my new toys.  I ordered a LumoPro Umbrella Swivel,  LumoPro Studio Clamp w/ Double Stud, and Cactus V4 Radio Slave Set.  I got all this equipment to use with my  Canon 580EX II Speedlites so I would have a smaller and lighter strobe kit to use when I'm just walking around the city or out with friends.  

    I went into my grandmothers room and set up my speedlite with a 1/2 CTO gel on the door with the clamp and umbrella swivel and pointed it toward my grandmother's face.  My grandmother has a lamp on her night stand I wanted to simulate that light with the angle the light was pointing at her from and the warmth of the gel. At the end of the post is a shot of the setup.

    I liked the look but I wanted to make the image more moody, more dramtic.  So I taped a Profoto 5° Grid on the speedlite to spot the light on to her face.
  

    I was losing to much of the detail in the shadows and to fix that I added another speedlite on camra as a fill light.  I also added another 1/2 CTO gel on the speelite on the door and set the color balance on my camra to tungsten.  This makes the light on the door have the warmth I want and the fill light turn blue, this simulate a lamp lighting her face and a tv filling in the rest of the room with light.

Set up