I made a modest suggestion for my stay in Milan. How about we get together a fashion shoot in the fashion capitol of the world? Something simple, small flash, with Lastolite light shapers, seeing as my overall stint there was at the behest of Manfrotto?
Well, say the word “fashion” in Italy, or even (tremble), “haute couture” and leggy women dressed in killer gowns and outfits just start showing up. My heartfelt thanks go out to Marco Bertani and Carlotta Borgogna who put all the hair, makeup and styling together. They are the experts, and, wisely, I just turned them loose and let them do their thing. I just added Group A, at minus 1.3:-))) Some of the time, anyway. Also a huge thanks to the wonderfully hard working model, Olha Honchar!
Lighting here couldn’t be simpler. Three SB-910 units on a Tri-flash, through a Lastolite 4 in 1 umbrella, all supported by a Shur Line paint pole. Line of sight TTL transmission. Soft light, done deal. Add a trolley car for background. Nikon D810, with a 70-200mm lens, shot at 1/1000th at f4.
Below, Mark, Giorgio and I seem to agree we are looking at a D810, with a 200mm f2 lens, mounted on a Gitzo tripod. We appear to have achieved consensus.
Our whole stay in Milan was a hoot. On Sunday, Annie has a laugh as morning churchgoers come out from mass into the midst of a lighting workshop.
And of course, I couldn’t resist. Bill Frakes also works with Manfrotto, and we go way back, and there is great respect and friendship between us. We both got our start at newspapers long ago, though his stint at papers was far more illustrious than mine, as he won a Pulitzer when he was at the Miami Herald. Me, I believe I have a couple of dusty plaques from the long defunct Long Island Press Photographers Association in the attic somewhere from my stint as a daily paper shooter. He went on to become a staffer at Sports Illustrated, and I have worked for SI as a freelancer since 1983 or so. Lots of history between the two of us. And of course, given the fact that we are friends, and photogs, we bust each others’ chops relentlessly. I think I might have upped the ante by outfitting my entire lighting class with his head shot.
This was of course in response to his suggestion that the room at Manfrotto HQ with my name on it was actually the luggage room.
Ya gotta have fun doing this, otherwise, it’s just too hard. More tk….
Awesome, as usual, Joe! Looks like you guys had a blast!
As always… entertaining and informative. Thanks for sharing the setups.
Joe, for future reference, the legs on that Manfrotto tripod actually extend so you can get the camera higher! (lol) Sorry Santa Fe is not on the schedule this year.
Love it! Keep living the dream pal.
Damn! I knew I was missing something! :-)))
Manfrotto makes some of the best tripods and monopods out there. I personally use some of the Benro stuff. Anyway, another nice article.
Thanks for the great article on how to setup a simple, but very effective lighting setup for portrait photography. Did you triger the flashes with the help of Pocket Wizards?
Been a long time fan of your work Joe. Lived in Milan 8 years ago so fun to see you shooting there. Brings back so many good memories. Thanks for your books and all of your work. You are truly an inspiration.
Hi Rafael…no PW. Just line of sight technology. All the best!