Have had a wonderful time of late working with Joli, a terrific dancer, based in Vegas. Recently of Showstoppers, now starring in La Reve, she is simply a terrificĀ presence in front of the lens. Hence we invited her to be one of our subjects on a recent Photowalk in LV, during WPPI 2017.
The new tech in the SB Speedlight range, which shifts control from line of sight over to radio via the WRR-10 remote, which in turn guides the remote SB-5000 units, make shooting in bright sun a complete no brainer. Easy. The above is a Lastolite 4 in 1 umbrella, used in shoot-thru mode, powered by 3 SB-5000 units, mounted via a Tri-flash onto a paint pole. It’s placed camera right, maybe 10 feet from Joli. The power of the mid-morning Vegas sun makes the three hotshoe flashes necessary to fill in and beat back the sun a bit.
Meanwhile, inside the convention, on the Nikon stage, I was asked to kinda/sorta reproduce a beauty pic I had done of Joli a month previous, under studio conditions–onstage. Hmmm. Not easy. About 15 minutes to shoot it on the tight confines of a show booth, looking out at once of the most graphically cluttered backgrounds one will ever see. Not to mention the absolutely splendid quality of convention center lighting! But I had tremendous confidence in my subject, and that’s a great deal of the game already won.
I used an overhead Ezybox Hotshoe Soft Box with a white interior, coupled with the Uplite for beauty fill. I helped Lastolite develop and design both of these, and I’m happy with the light they produce when teamed.
Pretty simply done, and quickly done. Main light, fill light on stage, with a raw Speedlight hand held by an audience member for the backlight. The magic of the Nikkor 105mm f1.4 makes the dismaying background disappear. The upfront light combo blasts away the noxious colors of the convention center overheads, especially in high speed sync mode, firing the camera at 1/2500th of a second.
Below, Cali and I onstage.
Familiar task really, to all photogs. Work fast and well in a tight space and bad conditions. These tools help. The new technology helps. Makes things fast and fun, especially when a dancer is in front of the lens. Nothing like Vegas, to be sure.
More tk…..
“But I had tremendous confidence in my subject…” Yup, how to understate the case completely š Love your humor, Joe!
BTW. is there a Valentine coupon code for Volume 2 of your “On Assignment..” series that is out now at ThinktapLearn? Would love to have one.
Fantastic job. Absolutely inspirational!
Another amazing walk through the lighting techniques for photographers to take on board and learn and get creative, especially with hand held speedlight.
Amazing modell, amazing photos!