February 19th, 2010 Photo Blog 019 – Strobing in the park

Hello! I was out and about with my camera again tonight and have a handful of new images to share with the world. I had another go at some off-camera lighting using my 2 new Cactus flashes at a local park after finding a cool graffiti wall there as to use as a background for some portraits of Sonia.

The basic setup for these shots was simple; underexpose the background somewhat (it was around sunset so still fairly light) and then use the flashes to bring Sonia back up to a brightness I was happy with.

It was pretty much a trial and error situation again, but my favourite shots were the ones where I had one flash behind Sonia pointing back towards her which gave that edge that you can see in the above shot and having the main come in at the front from the opposite direction. This technique gave the images real separation from the background and combined with the hard light from using the flashes with no diffusion gives the shots a real edgy look.

The photo above was taken early in the session, when I had forgotten to turn on the wireless trigger for a light I had set up adjacent to the wall behind sonia (to try and give that rim of light on her camera-left edge), so it turned out to be lit from just the main. The result was still pretty pleasing though from just the one flash.

Again, another early shot with the second flash still not triggering. Also, the tripod can be seen in the background, but I thought I would leave it in the shot just for the heck of it!

At last, I realised that my second flash wasn’t firing! The above was the result of flicking that little switch.

The final image of the day was a bit of an afterthought, but just as we were packing up the most fiery sunset started happening behind us, so I quickly threw a flash back up on a stand and composed this portrait against the warm colours of the sky.

Just one flash was evident in this shot, I did have a second set up but in the rush I didn’t have it pointed exactly at Sonia so it’s beam just dissappeared into nothingness.

So, what did I learn from my second foray into outdoor off-camera flash photography? For one, I learned I really enjoy this stuff! I’ve spent so much of my time shooting landscapes etc but I think my real passion is people and combined with the coolness of learning how to light properly I really am excited about what the future holds for my photography.

I also learned that I need to calm down my excitement and take a breath when trying to figure out what it is exactly that I’m trying to do. This would give me that extra moment just to take stock and really concentrate on the final image while I’m making it, rather than what I currently do which is to want to try each and every pose, lighting setup, composition and technique all at once.

I’m sure that will come in time though. And that I’ll be blogging about the results here!