05 September 2011
Rajshahi, Bangladesh
on the first day of our Rajshahi tour, we had the opportunity to visit the bank of the Padma only for a short period of time.... we went on a nice visit on the outskirts of the city, from where it took almost too long to reach the Padma.... yet, we rushed and had been able to extract at least several shots out of the almost missed opportunity..... the sky was superb and produced that dramatic backdrop you always dream about.... we actually missed the best colours as we had to pack several minutes earlier than ideal because of security concerns... we could see the western skies go red while we were going back..... I used a single light source and mixed it with a dramatic sunset backdrop.... there was hardly any daylight, but whatever was left of it, was enough to encourage us to shoot.... I only had to provide some fill....
I had been privileged with some basic help, which isn't easy to find.... I had enough assistance for the one light I was using to augment the sun; well, if there was any left of it.... used a single SB-900 flash inside a 24" Lastolite Ezybox Hotshoe softbox, triggered by an Elinchrom Skyport radio trigger.... the softbox was mounted on top of a Manfrotto monopod, which was held by several of my kins in turn.... had to change the settings quickly to adjust to the changing light situation...
some key lessons learned from this.....
lesson 1: show up early..... yea, I knew this all along, but rediscovered this once again.... we were too late to reach and setup.... the sun was already on its way down when we had our first shot.... most shots were done after the sun had actually set....
lesson 2: don't waste time.... when you are shooting against the clock, you keep your experiments to the minimum.... look for the one shot that you this should be the winner.... reduce the time between changes of subjects and changes of settings to the minimum.... I kept the settings simple, with one light.... I had prefabricated most stuff to save time during preparations.....
lesson 3: look for the opportunity..... it was a very public place... and there were so many people going about the place that it was pretty difficult to compose.... I had to persuade quite a few onlookers to step out of the frame.... had to wait for the best moments when the background cleared.... it was difficult to get the best combination of expression, composition and moments.... so, it was sort of a compromise all along....
lesson 4: have patience.... we did miss the best colours.... we left too early.... I was ruining the fact that we left 5 minutes too early.... I knew that in sunset shooting, you should wait for a while to let the colours have a chance.... but I had little chance with everyone around me clamouring about security.....
it was a nice day's shooting though with some good memories... these shots are almost straight out of the camera with very little adjustment.... I guess most of my posts from Rajshahi would look like this.... a lot more coming up, including the evening strobist venture.....
Rajshahi, Bangladesh
on the first day of our Rajshahi tour, we had the opportunity to visit the bank of the Padma only for a short period of time.... we went on a nice visit on the outskirts of the city, from where it took almost too long to reach the Padma.... yet, we rushed and had been able to extract at least several shots out of the almost missed opportunity..... the sky was superb and produced that dramatic backdrop you always dream about.... we actually missed the best colours as we had to pack several minutes earlier than ideal because of security concerns... we could see the western skies go red while we were going back..... I used a single light source and mixed it with a dramatic sunset backdrop.... there was hardly any daylight, but whatever was left of it, was enough to encourage us to shoot.... I only had to provide some fill....
I had been privileged with some basic help, which isn't easy to find.... I had enough assistance for the one light I was using to augment the sun; well, if there was any left of it.... used a single SB-900 flash inside a 24" Lastolite Ezybox Hotshoe softbox, triggered by an Elinchrom Skyport radio trigger.... the softbox was mounted on top of a Manfrotto monopod, which was held by several of my kins in turn.... had to change the settings quickly to adjust to the changing light situation...
some key lessons learned from this.....
lesson 1: show up early..... yea, I knew this all along, but rediscovered this once again.... we were too late to reach and setup.... the sun was already on its way down when we had our first shot.... most shots were done after the sun had actually set....
lesson 2: don't waste time.... when you are shooting against the clock, you keep your experiments to the minimum.... look for the one shot that you this should be the winner.... reduce the time between changes of subjects and changes of settings to the minimum.... I kept the settings simple, with one light.... I had prefabricated most stuff to save time during preparations.....
lesson 3: look for the opportunity..... it was a very public place... and there were so many people going about the place that it was pretty difficult to compose.... I had to persuade quite a few onlookers to step out of the frame.... had to wait for the best moments when the background cleared.... it was difficult to get the best combination of expression, composition and moments.... so, it was sort of a compromise all along....
lesson 4: have patience.... we did miss the best colours.... we left too early.... I was ruining the fact that we left 5 minutes too early.... I knew that in sunset shooting, you should wait for a while to let the colours have a chance.... but I had little chance with everyone around me clamouring about security.....
it was a nice day's shooting though with some good memories... these shots are almost straight out of the camera with very little adjustment.... I guess most of my posts from Rajshahi would look like this.... a lot more coming up, including the evening strobist venture.....
