You see this particular shoot came in as a matter of urgency with a tight deadline, and not only that there was a time limit on the shoot itself i.e. 1 hour which included meeting the guys for the first time and location scouting! So the pressure was on but to add to this, out of the 4 guys I was shooting, one was in a serious amount of discomfort with his Wisdom Teeth and another had developed a stiff neck.

So…what to do???

Regular readers of this blog will know that when it comes to using ‘off camera’ flash I’m a Manual Shooter all the way…period! It’s how I prefer to shoot because of the consistency in exposure it gives me from shot to shot which in turn means working faster, so you would expect that seeing as I was on a tight time schedule and 2 of the 4 guys I was shooting were in a considerable amount of pain, that I’d stick to what I know, right?

Well I kind of did by using a single Nikon SB800 and 60″ Shoot-Thru Umbrella but for some strange reason decided to give the PocketWizard Flex and Mini’s [Link] a run in TTL…what could possibly go wrong???

Well nothing it would seem! You see the PocketWizards worked flawlessly with no misfires and despite a few variances in exposure which were very quickly corrected using the AC3 Zone Controller, the guys’ pain and suffering was kept to a minimum…in more ways than one

Talking of the AC3 Zone Controller [Link] I’d be really interested to hear from any of you folks that have one with regards to how you are mainly using it…TTL or Manual? Before I got hold of a unit I was using the new PocketWizard Mini and Flex units in combination with the Nikon SU800 [Link] which worked really well but I know from previous comments here on the blog and through forums, that some people have experienced strange behaviours with it…how about you?

Lighting:
Nothing ground breaking here when it comes to lighting…just keeping it really simply with a single Nikon SB800 and 60″ Shoot-Thru Umbrella…

With regards to the future I’m definitely going to be making more use of the PocketWizard AC3 Zone Controller simply because of the speed the whole set up allows me to work at but one thing that won’t change is working in Manual Mode. You see despite the advances in technology with TTL etc, I still prefer working in Manual because I know that 100% of the time I’m going to be getting consistent exposures from shot to shot.

Enjoy

•     •     •

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Now as a rule you won’t see many (if any) family photographs on my main website or here on the blog and that’s because it’s not my main body of work. However that being said it doesn’t necessarily mean I won’t on occasion take on this kind of work because I will, but what I’ll always do is add my slant to it in the way that they’re photographed, posed and/or edited.

Anyway here’s a random selection of images from the time we spent in the studio and at the end of the post I’ve added a little ‘behind the scenes’ information on how the set was lit plus a little bit on the editing side of things…

Lighting Set Up
This ‘White Seamless’ set up was one that I was introduced to by Zack Arias and it incorporates a reflective surface on the floor to add a little more interest to the shots:

The basic workings of setting up this kind of ‘rig’ is to first of all expose the subject of the shot correctly. Once you’ve nailed this exposure then the background which is to go white needs to be roughly 1½ to 2 stops brighter. This ‘lit’ background then reflects light onto the shiny white tile board being used as the floor and turns that pure white also.

The only thing to remember when photographing a subject on this kind of set up is to shoot from low down (kneeling) so that you catch as much of the light reflecting on the floor as possible otherwise it won’t appear to have turned white. It’s quite amazing to see the difference as when you shoot from standing the floor appears ‘off white’ almost grey but then by dropping to you knee the floor turns to pure white; and you’ve done nothing to the lights.

Shooting subjects on a ‘solid’ background
No ‘Rocket Science’ here but just something to consider…

If you’re photographing a person or anything for that matter on a background that is a solid colour e.g. White, Black etc.. and this colour is consistent across the frame i.e. there’s no dark or lighter parts then be sure to fill the frame with your subject. This way the sensor in your camera can do what it’s there for and that’s to capture as much detail as possible. If you want there to be some ‘dead’ space in your picture then this can be added later during the editing stage; this way your not wasting the pixels by photographing ‘nothing’…

Now that we’ve used our camera’s sensor to capture as much detail in our subject as possible we can then extend the background, and here’s a video that I recorded almost a year ago now that shows exactly how to do that:

As always if you have any questions or comment then please feel free to make use of the comments section below.

In the mean time whatever you’re up to have a great weekend,
Enjoy

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These shots are of my nephew Ashley; a great little guy who is one mean ‘Gamer’. Trust me you do not want to challenge him on X-Box, PlayStation and whatever other gaming consoles there are out there. I tell you, seeing his fingers in action on the controller would make Clarke Kent look like a slow coach!

These photos were taken in the family living room using just one Nikon SB800 Speedlight and my other favourite piece of kit, a 60″ Reflective Umbrella. The black background was achieved by controlling the shutter speed on my D3; something I’ll be covering in the upcoming InSight Workshops.

Enjoy )

It’s when I see Rowan that I get reminded just how incredibly important photography is; capturing special moments forever that in reality are gone in the blink of an eye. I’m sure by now Rowan thinks that his Uncle Glyn’s face has the word ‘Nikon’ stamped across it, or his hand has an Apple symbol tattoo cos virtually every time I see him I have to take a photo … be it with my Nikon D3 or my iPhone. I keep an ‘album’ on my iPhone with photos from the day after Rowan was born to present day and I’ll regularly look through them to pick me up if I’m having a low moment, as we all do from time to time, or I’ll look at them just because …

Being ‘Uncle Glyn’ is just the best feeling in the world and I’ll forever be thankful to my Sister Sian, & Brother in Law Andrew, for not only making me an Uncle but asking me to be Rowan’s God Parent too.

I guess if there was any message I’m trying to get out to you from this blog entry it would be ‘snap away’. Keep taking photos and if need be, become the pest in the family that always has the camera out because in years to come everyone will be glad you did … guaranteed!