So, I've been very intrigued with the cool things that can be done with flash photography (even though I have declared flash photography to be BAD BAD BAD over the years...). I think, if done right, and especially if used outdoors to complement natural light, there are definitely some advantages to flash photography. However, it really relies on the photographer truly having a good grasp of flash to make it look good rather than tacky. It's a fine line to be sure. The mathematical side of flash ratios and guide numbers has always been overwhelming for me. This is part of the reason why I will be going to Louisiana next month. (more on that later) In order to prep for my trip I decided to invest (my poor husband, I've been so bad about staying within my equipment budget lately and he's being very patient despite the fact that I am racking up hefty bills) in a secondary flash unit and a couple softboxes. I got everything today and Ellie and I set it all up. Her excitement was beyond palpable. She kept going on and on about how she was going to "put on the best show ever for this shoot" and bursting at the seams. It's fun how she loves to help me set up the backdrops and stands etc... She knows the terminology for all the equipment. She'll tell me "flash A is not popping mom" and "the backdrop is getting crooked" and so on. I love it.
After about an hour of prep time we had the whole mini studio set up. Most studios can leave all their equipment out but I have to put everything away afterwards because my studio also happens to be my office! Then, after quite a bit of trial and error, I got the two flashes synching off my pocket wizards and going off at the same time. I was able to get several minutes of everything running smoothly until my old flash unit bit the dust. Yep, KAPUT. New batteries were useless. It died. A painful death. So, that puppy is being shipped back to Canon tomorrow to be repaired, sigh. At least I have my new flash to use in the meantime so that's the good news.
Well, after spending all that time setting everything up I wasn't going to stop just because I was down half my lighting units. Oh no! I made a few adjustments with the settings and location of the light and we were back to shooting, albeit with a dramatically different look and feel. I actually like the solo light better in terms of flair and dramatic appeal. It is a harsh look though and not too sure anyone would really want me using it on them. Besides, the whole point of this shoot was to experiment and play and explore the possibilities. I have no intention of having studio sessions at this point as I am virtually clueless about all this stuff. I cannot even begin to tell you how many hours Ellie and I spent twiddling around, changing the settings, taking note as to the different outputs and range and so on. With off camera flash, well, it's really complicated. At least for me it is because I have such comfort and ease with natural light.
I have been told time and time again by studio photographers how much EASIER studio lighting is. How you can just set everything up and leave it alone and not have to do anything. The light is always the same intensity and direction. It is consistent. You never have to keep changing your settings or positioning or anything. They say you can just focus on getting the kids attention rather than having to also think about all your various settings, backdrops, light changes, blah blah blah. I'm sure that is all true. But for me, after years of natural light shooting, that's my comfort zone. That said, it's about time I start stretching myself out of that comfort zone. Ergo the flash test experimentation that happened today! I have absolutely no training in this stuff so I set everything up based on what I've read. The light positioning was pretty much a guessing game and I just played around until I found something that worked.
In the end, I'm certainly more intrigued than ever but still feel that this will always be "playtime" for me, something I experiment with on the side, not something I'd want to do with my clients. It's not a look I feel very connected to. It's just something different than what I usually do.
So, here are a few out takes from today's extended session. I should mention that Ellie is wearing an original
Courtney Courtney, of course. :)
Here Ellie is checking to see if Flash B is firing. These are our test runs to check the flashes and make sure everything is connected properly with all the wires and gizmos and gadgets...
Now my little model/assistant checks out Flash A... isn't she cute!?
then I quickly grab a couple shots of Gavin and Ellie (he was so not in the mood for this) and you get the very standard Sears portrait (boooo-ring)...
with both flashes firing simultaneously I wanted to see how good the flash sync speed was at stopping movement so I had Ellie jumping and twirling. The highest sync speed for the 580EX series is 1/200 and it seemed to do the trick.
I also played around with the White Balance in post processing to get totally different "feeling" out of each image. I personally like the moodier, darker, bluer versions than the more color appropriate, warmer, natural tones but maybe that's because I was having such a moody day myself!
Uh-Oh. Yup, see that look of disappointment and chagrin...we are now down to one light. Since Ellie tended to look more towards her right I switched the working flash to that side to capitalize on her natural inclination.