Mohammadpur, Dhaka
I was just looking for an excuse to try out a new softbox.... its a cheap 24" softbox for speedlites... its especially suitable for location shoots where you want to put an overhead light.... this softbox can be mounted on a simple light-stand as well, but the weight of the softbox sets it apart.... now, the question is, how do I manage to put the softbox overhead?.... I don't have a dedicated boom.... I never had.... previously, this job of overhead light was totally dependent on improvisation.... and needless to say, it was a real pain to set things up for it... you have to face it when you are using stand-ins....
this time, I used another improvisation, but this time, it was a lot better than what I did previously.... I used a monopod.... a carbon-fibre monopod from Manfrotto made it all possible... I mounted the softbox on the monopod and instantly, I had a boom-mounted softbox..... mounting the softbox on the monopod was a bit of a challenge..... it required a stud from an umbrella adapter to get the two pieces together.... I don't have to worry about lightstands creeping into my frame now.... but one problem still remains.... its a monopod, and it requires an assistant.... I can't just put it on the ground like a c-stand.... and the overall mounting is still heavy when the session is long and the monopod has to be extended quite a bit.... it becomes a tough ask for the assistant.....
anyway, I was planning to do some close portraits using shallow DoF; also, where I could control the light on the subject and background .... a very low-powered flash was a necessity as I was mostly shooting between f2.0 and f2.8.... I mostly shot at the lowest settings for the flash....
my first subject was my typical model Lamisa.... haven't had a session with her for a while..... my stay outside the country took those sessions away and put them in the closet.... now, she's back with a bang!.... her mom became the assistant....
and then my two old photog buddies Rumi Bhai and Gazi Bhai came up... they both became subjects and assistants..... we tried to do some funky portraits.... Rumi Bhai featured like an urban stroghand.... and Gazi Bhai featured like a techno-freak!
but also did a more typical portrait of Rumi Bhai..... used a 1/4" grid-spot for that.... the idea was to bring a shadow on the wall, where the shadow would also have some character.....
Picasa and Blogger both became temporarily out of my reach for a couple of days due to some incompatibility with my ISP.... anyway, with that solved now, I can go on posting again.....
more to come later....
