Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh
my family being away, I took the chance..... sat down in the evening with some unfinished work that are usually kept on the shelf....... Lamisa is usually too interested in anything that her Dad uses; so, it becomes impossible to work..... anyway, finished some work on the 4'x4' panel..... broke it down to 2ft size pieces for better transportability.... the work went on without a hitch..... until....
I got a plan.... wanted to have a real feeling with something I have always thought, but never executed..... making a big soft-box..... or at least, making something that would behave like a 4'x4' softbox..... just a day back I bought some black fabric to be use as flags..... I actually cut them in a way that they can cover a whole 4'x4' panel's rim.... that gave me the opportunity to potentially have a 4'x4' softbox.... I also wanted to use the concept of Westcott Apollo 50-inch softbox to make the best use of one light, especially its a small light.....
used a silver reflector umbrella to act as the reflector for the light.... the light then would fall on the 4'x4' panel..... and the gap between the silver umbrella and the panel would be covered in black fabric..... thats it!!..... sounds simple; yet, its execution was nothing other than trouble.... I learned quite a few things at the end of an exhausting night's effort.....
the equipment continued to malfunction until I was able to pack the last bit of it..... it was a disastrous night!!..... I thought of making at least one picture that would at least keep a record of what the whole set-up was capable of..... and at point, even that single shot seemed improbable...... anyway, I was able to shoot some example shots...... ahhhhh!!
almost everything backfired on me..... the silver umbrella fell off with the flash out of the flash holder and got damaged...... I replaced the umbrella with a second one (thanks God, I had two!!)..... need to repair the umbrella..... the whole setup with the three stands and booms almost came down on its own weight..... the addition of the umbrella and the black fabric seemed too much..... the DIY umbrella adapter god damaged and needs a replacement!! .... and lastly, the thread inside the panel pipes malfunctioned!!.... need to do the whole threading again, may be with an elastic this time......
many many lessons.... I'm still making sense of all those learning..... it was a disaster, but at the same time, it was great lesson..... this would prepare me for the coming shoot....
the only shot I was able to make...... the results were decent.... a one-light setup that pulled this off only because it turned into a very big light source....
Camera Info:
Nikon D700 + Sigma APO 150mm f2.8 EX DG HSM Macro + Elinchrom Skyport radio trigger
f6.3, 1/125sec, ISO100
Strobist info:
1 SB-900 @ 1/4 power; shooting into a silver reflector umbrella, bouncing light into a 4'x4' diffusion panel, skirted by black fabric cutting off light; triggered by Elinchrom Skyport radio trigger; all the things kept over the object to be photographed using three improvised boom stands.
Object placed on white paper; another white paper on camera right to reduce shadows.
