It’s a time honored approach to establish two zones of governance in a photo, one controlled by fast flash duration, and therefore sharp, and the other governed by a constant light source, resulting in motion. The hard part is experimenting with how one falls off and the other picks up, and to take care to make sure, for instance, the flash is localized and doesn’t snuff the motion possibilities you are trying to create with the steady source.
I’d say hitting that mutual sweet spot is like the eye of the needle, but that’s too much drama. It’s never completely perfect, and lots of frames go south in search of one where the motion is just subtle enough and the sharpness is complete. It’s just experimentation and the willingness to move lights around until you get something that works. In the above instance, there are actually two steady sources, one warm and the other gelled blue. They are tucked into the corner, camera left, and look at the veil, blown by a studio fan, as Natalie strikes a typically beautiful pose and faces into Speedlights.
The flash source is the relatively new Lastolite II 40″ Octa. You can put two Speedlights into it, and fit it with a grid to control spill, which is essential for the shot above. And the one below. This source is just plain beautiful on a consistent basis. It is now part of our permanent travel kit. Always goes.
This is shot at f11 at 1/15th of a second. The up top image is the same shutter at f8, hence a bit more motion in the veil, and the little tinge of blue. At f11, the blue light kind of got squashed, as I recall. Everything has some sort of governor on it–the flash source has an egg crate, and the hot lights have barn doors. Spill and sloppiness is the enemy. Keep the lights focused, don’t spill light on the floor, and concentrate on sharpness and the expressiveness of your subject. The veil will do its thing in the breeze, and you just have to hope to catch it in an eloquent, flowing way. Shoot a lot, many won’t work.
Again, many thanks to the fantastic crew–Lynn DelMastro running production, and Cali doing video, and assisting along with Jon Cospito. And of course to “the glam squad” of Samantha Brown Style and Deborah Englesman. And of course to the wonderfully talented Natalie Wilmshurst, of Glasgow, a dancer come to NY.
More tk….
Would love to see the BTS of the set up. Thanks for all your work!
Would love to see the BTS set up
You are a great inspiration Joe. This is simply beautiful.
These shots are beautiful. Joe you always make the particulars sound so simple. Your work is always so inspiring making me strive to always capture a better image.
Cool as always for sure. I’m not sure if I understand that correctly. You wrote: This is shot at f11 at 1/15th of a second. The up top image is the same shutter at f8, hence a bit more motion in the veil, and the little tinge of blue.
More motion because of same shutter speed but smaller aperture? Is it because of flash/ambient light ratio?? But shouldn’t it be more flash light at f8 than at f11 while flash power is equal? Maybe you can shed some light for me, Joe? Thanx.
Absolutely stunning Joe. Makes me remember why I wanted to buy an SLR and speedlights in the first place. Can I ask a dumb question though. Why does a different aperture lead to more motion in the veil in the first image when the shutter speed remains the same? Or did you mean the motion in the veil is more exposed and visible at f/8?
Sure….Shutter remains the same. So that’s a given. At f11 there’s less influence of the ambient light field created by the hotlights. Did that because in that shot, the dancer is leaping. At f8, the aperture is wider open, hence the ambient light into the veil has more influence, and there is the hint of more motion, even though the shutter remains the same. And there is a tinge of blue from the very weak hot light with the blue gel that is squashed at f11. Cool?
Thanks for answering Joe. For a minute there I thought I was gonna have to drag out my old copy of ‘photography for dummies’ and go through the whole exposure triangle thing again. Was sure I was missing something.
It’s always great to read the tech specs for images like this, but much better to get an insight into what your thought process was at the time.
Much appreciated.
How to confuse the russians 😉 I was aware that you are doing two photos each time you do flash. One of the ambient which is controlled by shutter and aperture and one flash which is controlled by perture. Now I understand that “motion” is just more obvious because the ambient is more prominent with same shutter speed. Looking forward to meet you in Berlin. Thanx, Rudi
When is you next book :” Dancer Diaries”
Coming out ?
Love it Joe! Keep after it!
Love this idea, I hadn’t thought about using a constant light source and flash at the same time for this effect. The blue light really adds that extra flare to the image.
Anyone else see a ghostly male form in the veil upper left?
Your work is really great joe , keep it up.
Regard:
Farrah Habib
2016 Diary
timesdiary.com.pk