Camera's, rain and models...

reyvee61 · November 20, 2010

Had a chance to shoot a young man named Eric today though the weather was horrendous....
He came to Los Angeles to work as a runway model.
Wasn't fearful of my D700 getting wet though the SB800 and inexpensive radio trigger where another thing all together.

A few from today:

1.

2.

3.

I used an SB800 set at 1/4 power shot through a 42" umbrella triggered by radio transmitter as the augmentative light source. The camera metered the ambient light at about f/5.6 1/60 at ISO200 so I manually shot at f/4 1/125

C&C always welcome

Icebear · November 20, 2010

I'd say you nailed it, Rey. Especially on #3. Is that lens the best value anywhere, or what? Your brolly gave you good catchlights. I'm curious about your choices. Why f4? And why not use your camera's CLS. Why the wireless trigger?

I would have thought a larger aperture might have been your choice to further blur the bg.

reyvee61 · November 21, 2010

Thanks John.
I think I wanted to be greedy with regards to control of ambient light by making it appear a wee bit darker and Eric wanted the background fairly visible so we collaborated a bit.
Yes, the 50MM is a gem for the money

briandelion · November 21, 2010

You're tempting me to take the plunge and invest in some lighting equipment, especially after 1.) seeing the results you are getting and 2.) coming across your comments in another thread about doing it on the cheap. you referred to Scott Robert Lim. Are there any specific links you could point me to? I know absolutely nothing in this area and want to begin by understanding some of the terminology before I start buying anything.

Mitchell · November 21, 2010

Good lighting, but the poses in #1 and #2 are very effeminate. Has he seen these? I'm wondering if others view them the same way.

Icebear · November 21, 2010

I think "metro-sexual" was the look he was going for. I think he got it. H sure wouldn't know how to direct posing for a "runway modeling" portfolio, but would guess these are not too far off the mark.

reyvee61 · November 21, 2010

Thanks Mitch, I thought of all that when I was shooting but I let him do his thing since he's the runway model. It kind of goes back to the touch up thread here....
If I have a client with an obvious blemish I would definitely mention it in pre shoot or if I had an inexperienced person I would discuss posing appropriate for males and females, head tilts and what not.
But in this case I thought it would be insulting had I brought it up just the same if I had a client who had terrible dark rings around their eyes.....
Much easier to just touch up in post.

John, I'll have an opportunity to photograph him in action as he's inviting me to one of his runway shows soon....
I'm sure your correct in assuming that this is common practice for male runway models.....

Brain, thanks

I'll post everything I can here when I gather up some links as it's not as expensive as I thought it would be to get some gear to make fabulous images.

reyvee61 · November 21, 2010

Brian,
The whole idea is to have complete control of your lighting hence the use of totally manual flash as well as camera settings.
After meeting Scott Robert Lim I decided that I wanted that kind of control too.

He uses inexpensive flashguns and radio triggers to create light that either augments or totally modifies the ambient light.
Many pros do this all the time with equipment that costs thousands of dollars.
He showed us (Smugmug meet) how we can do this with very affordable gear.

Triggers like these:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002W3IXZW/ref=oss_product

His are probably very similar though a bit higher in cost plus you get three triggers.

Here is a cheaper alternative:

Ebay

His flashguns are adjustable from full to 1/64 power but I found this one that is adjustable to 1/16 power for only 90 dollars.

As for inexpensive light modifiers and stands, here is what I have that works well for the price:

Umbrella holder with shoe mount

44" umbrella

I have Manfrotto stands that came with my Elinchrom kit but here is a more affordable alternative.

Here is an excellent DYI beauty dish made by forum member and all around great guy and photographer Alex:

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=180289&highlight=beauty+dish

I think there are plenty of great options on a budget and once you dial in your lighting you can make beautiful portraits on the cheap.

As I mentioned above, I like to meter the ambient light with the in camera metering, I'll set it to matrix or evaluative depending on what it's called on your camera body and while in Aperture mode I'll point the camera at the brightest area of the location where I am shooting to see what it decides for exposure.
I'll also do this in fully auto mode to get a reading of overall settings, what the camera decides for aperture and exposure at ISO200.

I'll then calculate my manual settings based on what I want at what aperture.

If the camera choses 1/80 at f/5.6 and I want to shoot at f/2 I'll adjust the exposure time accordingly making sure not to exceed the flash sync speed. If this is the case I'll bump the f/stop to f/4 or higher instead because I have a pet peeve about blown areas in my photographs. I know some know how to make good use of this but this doesn't work for me :-)

Right now I only own one flashgun so I'll set it to the appropriate power level based on my camera settings.

Scott has a simple guide that I attached here that is very helpful and it works!

Practice, practice, practice...
I can't wait to get more flashguns for rim lighting and or hair lights as well as lighting up backgrounds with gels and stuff.....

Much to learn and I can't think of a better place to be among all the talent here.

briandelion · November 21, 2010

Wow! Thanks so much. I have a lot to digest here. Kinda' like an all-you-can-eat buffet of your favorite foods.

I'll probably have many more questions as I go along, but I like the idea of this approach. I'll keep you posted and again, I appreciate all the trouble you went through in providing such a wealth of information.
Now back to talking about the pictures you posted. :hide

reyvee61 · November 21, 2010

Ha ha...yep, there are many choices indeed within a budget.
I've learned so much here that it's great to be able to give back and share information.....

grimace · December 20, 2010

nice looking set. I'd have to say #3 is my favorite.

Hackbone · December 20, 2010

Missed this the first time. Nice work and love the subtle pp.

zoomer · December 20, 2010

The first two look like girl poses to me. I do like the light and background in 1, maybe tone down the reflection a bit.
I like the third one best. Slight crop from the left to get rid of the orange building and the light space under his arm, then clone out the branch in the upper right. Nice shot.

coldclimb · December 20, 2010

I was struck with the very strong feminine vibe on the first two as well, and frankly it takes all the goodness from them for me. Your photo skill is evident, but the poses are a little overwhelming. Nice work though!

Camera's, rain and models...

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