Second shooting a wedding for a photographer friend

     
           Last week I was asked by Samantha Turco (an old photo school friend) if I could be her second shooter for a wedding because the person she had as a second shoot had bailed on her.  I had a commitment the night of the wedding, but I agreed to help her since she really needed the help.

            While Sam photographed the bride and her party getting ready, my job was to photograph the groom, his father, and friends getting ready.  When I got to the room where they were located, they were all ready and just sitting around doing nothing.  I started shooting but I really didn't have much to work with since the images where all coming out the same; just guys sitting around.  So I decided I would walk around with a Canon 580EX II Speedlite on a stand get some portraits done to get some more interesting images.  Those portraits ended up being my favorites and here are some that I liked the most.

Instagram Halloween costume

    Halloween was last week and I dressed up as Instagram; a free photo-sharing program and social network.  A couple years ago I dressed up as Facebook.  That costume was a great hit because it was interactive, I had bought a large poster board, printed out the Facebook logo as well as a profile picture, and I walked around with a marker so people could write on my "wall".  So this year I want to think of a custom that was also interactive.  Then while reading some of the photography blogs I check every week I found a posting on PetaPixel of someone who had made a Instagram custom that worked.  Their custom was very bulky and complicated so I started to think how I could make my own custom on a smaller scale and this what I came up with:

 I recently had used my Orbis ring flash which made me think this would be a great light for this costume, as well as easy to incorporate.  So I cut a hole into a large poster board and taped it on to the Orbis and speedlite so I could wear it with the neck strap that the Orbis and camera have.  Then I attached the Canon Speedlite 580ex ii with a off-camera TTL cord to a Canon Rebel T2i.  The settings were iso 100, f3.5, shutter speed 1/60, and the flash was set to 3+ on TTL. 

    These are some of the images that I came out with.  They aren't the best but I they're are a good start.  I was very impressed by the great quality of light the Orbis ring flash give in a event setting and how even it was on the subject.  I think for my next event shoot I will attempt to shoot it with the Orbis even thought it's a bit bulky compared to a on camera flash.  A few of these images remind me of Kareem Black's "Feels Good Lets Go" work.  To see more from that night go to my Facebook page.

Edge light and milking your set ups

  

  Like I mention before, I've been working at Ultra the Night Club for more then a year now.  A few months ago I had chance to photograph one of the bouncers that I work with, X. X isn't only a bouncer but he is also a personal trainer; so naturally he is very muscular and I knew that I wanted to capture that in the images.  The way I did that was by using a edge lighting set up.  

    I put two White Lightning X800 lights with foldable medium softboxes behind him pointing them toward his shoulders.  I also add two White Lightning X1600 lights: one with a 5 degree Profoto honeycomb grid taped on that was pointed to the back of his head and the other with a silver beauty dish to light his face.  The last light I used was a Canon 580ex II speedlite with a LumiQuest Softbox III and a full CTO gel on it aimed from the bottom to give a warm fill from the bottom.  The last idea I used was two V-flats on each side of him as gobos so I would get anything flare form the rim lights.  I have add a lighting diagram that I made at Online Lighting Diagram and more images from the shoot below.      

     After about and hour of shooting, X and I got the shoots we need and he left.  Then I said to my self why am I going to strike the set that took me about an hour and a half to two hours to set up alone and not keep using it.  So I called Victor, a friend that plays soccer for FC Greater Boston Bolts, to get some more use out of the set up.  I kept all the same lighting but I did change the gel in the speedlite from a full CTO to a full CTB to get a cool light from the fill to play off the colors of the Bolts' logo.  

    Heres a BTS image of what the set looked like.

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