Father Daughter Dance

anwmn1

I had the honor to shoot portraits for the 2008 Father Daughter Dance in my little town. For some canned food dads could bring their daughter(s) for dinner, raffle prizes, and dance. For $5.00 they could get their photo taken (by me) and receive an 8x10 print.

This was my first real shoot with strobes so I rented 2 profoto mono lights and a backdrop. Unfortunately I was one pocket wizzard short so I was reduced down to a single light. To make it even worse there was nowhere to mount the freaking umbrella!!:scratch I was not very happy :wxwax but managed to jam the umbrella rod into a clip on the light and tape the thing down so it would stay. All those times of watching Magyver really pays off!! :wink

I will be a very unpleasant customer when I return the gear but here is what I managed to get with one light. Shoots were quick as I ended up shooting 103 groups in 2 1/2 hours :jawdrop . JavaLover was a great assistant too- no way I could have taken money and shot.
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Comments always welcome.

saurora

In spite of being short a light, those turned out just precious!!!!! Moms are going to lovvvvve these!!!! Love #2 (and 3, 4, 5, etc.!). What's cute is if you look at each shot, it's just amazing how much all of these girls resemble their fathers in looks. Wonderful stuff!!!

joshhuntnm

I think only people like us are going to notice the missing light. the light you have is soft and the shadow on the right side creates some depth. I agree, the moms will love them!

Nikolai

Aaron,
nice job, especially for a one light setup.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my profotos do have a hole for the umbrella right on the bottom on the unit. It's not very obvious at first glance, but it should be there. I also guess it was some old version - mine have optical trigger built-in (as well as the PW reciever).

Cheers!

frg

and very nicely posed.......

jayegirl

agree. good job.

Travis

Great set photos seeing that you had to adlib. Each one shows the distinct personalities of the subjects as well as the father daughter bond. Shooting that many groups in that amount of time is also a challenge unto itself. In the future, you may want to pick up a decent reflector like a full length Photoflex 72" with stand. You can get by with one light and still fill the weak side shadows. I go as far as to say that with it, you can use the 2nd light as a background to provide more separation from the background and kill the shadow. Congrats on surviving what must have been a nerve racking shoot when you first realized that your equipment was all together!

Mitchell

You did great with these. The parents will love them. Nobody will know the difference about the lighting (except you). These are great keepsakes.

I always bring lots of tape with me when I shoot stuff like this! Never know.

Flyinggina

Absolutely adorabe!

Virginia

Swartzy

Great poses Aaron. Really adorable..yep, mom's will like them. Good processing to boot. I'm quite surprised there wasn't an optical slave on the rentals. Guess that's what I love about my Bees.

Setting up a backdrop on location, in a hurry, stuff not coming together, people waiting.......you did very very well. Congrats!

anwmn1

Nikolai wrote:

Aaron,
nice job, especially for a one light setup.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my profotos do have a hole for the umbrella right on the bottom on the unit. It's not very obvious at first glance, but it should be there. I also guess it was some old version - mine have optical trigger built-in (as well as the PW reciever).

Cheers!

Hmm....

You could be correct. I will find out when I return the gear in a few hours. I had never used these before and didn't get much instruction either.


I am quite happy considering everything though.

anwmn1

Travis wrote:

Great set photos seeing that you had to adlib. Each one shows the distinct personalities of the subjects as well as the father daughter bond. Shooting that many groups in that amount of time is also a challenge unto itself. In the future, you may want to pick up a decent reflector like a full length Photoflex 72" with stand. You can get by with one light and still fill the weak side shadows. I go as far as to say that with it, you can use the 2nd light as a background to provide more separation from the background and kill the shadow. Congrats on surviving what must have been a nerve racking shoot when you first realized that your equipment was all together!

Thanks Travis-

When I finally decide to purchase some strobes I will look into reflectors as well.

The personalities is somethng I was really trying to get even though I didn't have a lot of time. I was trying to give each group some personal contact without holding everyone else up.

Doing the math I had less than 2 minutes to make an introduction, pose them, and get two shots off before moving on to the next group. I am still tired from that shoot.

anwmn1

Saurora, Josh, frg, Jaye, Mitchell, and Virginia--


Thank you all for your comments as well.

dadwtwins

anwmn1 wrote:

Thanks Travis-

When I finally decide to purchase some strobes I will look into reflectors as well.

The personalities is somethng I was really trying to get even though I didn't have a lot of time. I was trying to give each group some personal contact without holding everyone else up.

Doing the math I had less than 2 minutes to make an introduction, pose them, and get two shots off before moving on to the next group. I am still tired from that shoot.

You did a tremendous job and that is not including the added stress of equiment problems. Very very nice. You did your customers proud.

Nikolai

anwmn1 wrote:

Doing the math I had less than 2 minutes to make an introduction, pose them, and get two shots off before moving on to the next group. I am still tired from that shoot.

I had a few like this in the past. I agree, very tiresome at first. Especially with the new lights and such. But once you do ten or so of those it's all downhill:-)

Travis

anwmn1 wrote:

Thanks Travis-

When I finally decide to purchase some strobes I will look into reflectors as well.

The personalities is somethng I was really trying to get even though I didn't have a lot of time. I was trying to give each group some personal contact without holding everyone else up.

Doing the math I had less than 2 minutes to make an introduction, pose them, and get two shots off before moving on to the next group. I am still tired from that shoot.

I have to say that for 2 minutes a group, you did a fantastic job at capturing some great expressions!