addicted to "one-light"....

23 November 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

this is another of those boring technical blogs!!....

its a lazy solution for sure.... and moreover, I'm basically lazy.... this combination is pretty damaging to new possibilities.... I've already learned to call a big DIY light-source as my "Lazy Light".... and moreover, there's the lure of a 50cm x 120cm softbox and of late, the 100cm Deep Octa.... there you go... such light sources can create such moody pictures that you would hardly want to get rid of them.... but all these sources are with the big light.... I use these with the Elinchrom Ranger RX... so, what if the light sources are basically speedlight?... actually even speedlights caused trouble for me, as I've done many a shoot with a single speedlight mounted on a softbox (Westcott Apollo 28" Hotshoe or Lastolite Ezybox 24")...

so, is this good, or is this bad?... its debatable actually... whereas more than one light source can help sculpture the light around the subject, a single light source would try to show what a single light can potentially achieve... there's no doubt that single light sources are faster to setup.... a quicker and less complicated setup can help the photographer to think more about the subject if there is time constraint.... but that definitely restricts the photographer from applying some more creative options in lighting...

another issue here to consider is the size of the light source... the first-mentioned light sources are quite big, indicating towards their suitability for fully-body portraits or group portraits.... smaller speedlights are more suitable for closer portraits, thereby serving a different purpose... single light sources can potentially create more contrasting lighting scenarios if the photographer really wanted to... in some cases it comes automatically, while in other cases, its created... that need for contrast and also the need for Depth-of-Field would decide whether light source would need to be big or small when I've already decided to go with one light...

anyway, enough of that lecture.... this particular shoot was done with  Lamisa's new cycle, which can't be termed as a tricycle, as it had, well, more than three wheels!... but it worked a bit like a tricycle.... Lamisa was very much excited to feature with that new craze of hers... this was her parents' gift to her on her third birthday!.... this shoot was done within a very short time.... again, as the topic of this blog said, with one light source.... an Elinchrom Ranger RX coupled with the Simpex 50cm x 120cm softbox...

a lot more to come....

for that background separation...

24 November 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

this is a technical blog for my strobist friends.... dark-haired people in front of a dark background always creates a separation problem... there are times when I would go without that separation, but there are times when that separation really improves the image... its not just for the dark hair..... one-light solution creates a shadow on the subject that really gets mixed with a dark backdrop.... so, that back-light cuts the shadows on the dark edges, creating the separation....

I've tried that separation in different ways.... sometimes using a bare speedlight, sometimes a snooted or gridded speedlight or sometimes even a softbox.... the softbox creates the best separation, if flash power isn't an issue... it spreads the light more evenly, while softening at the same time.... a bigger light source, so it gives more options to the photographer...

bare speedlight works as well, but flaring is always a potential problem... snooted or gridded lights work nicely, restricting light within a very small area, preventing flares... but as it restricts light, it gives a smaller area to put the subject... this is a particular challenge when you are dealing with an unstable subject.... when I was doing this third birthday photoshoot with Lamisa, I knew I would be pushed to keep her within the area covered by the gridded back-light... it was difficult keeping her within a reasonably workable area.... we needed to improvise... as we had that big hand-made "three" as the prop, we made sure that she was close to it.... we just controlled the prop, and she was automatically there in the lighted area.... it wasn't that simple doing it though..... but we reached home in the end!

Lisa, my wife, worked hard creating that "three"..... Lamisa was so happy to feature with it.... this photoshoot was done at midnight... she usually goes to bed by that time.... but the lure of a photoshoot with that new favourite thing of her kept her interests awake....  I used the black backdrop to create that contrast of colours.... in the end, the colours were important to us.... after all, it was Lamisa, a 'colourful' personality!!

now, the lighting setup.... the main light was the Elinchrom Ranger + Simpex 50cm x 120cm softbox on left.... a YN-560 (with grid spot) was on an improvised adapter attached to the DIY backdrop stand.... it was triggered in optical trigger (S1) mode, while the Ranger was triggered with a Skyport radio trigger....

a lot more to come....

and the midday sun came down to our knees!!

03 December 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

this is a more of technical blog post for my strobist friends..... ever since I got the "Elinchrom Ranger RX Speed AS" in my hand, I had been looking for the opportunity to overpower the midday sun.... and actually thats probably the biggest reason why I opted for the Ranger RX instead of the much smaller and much more portable Ranger Quadra.... I just wish the RX had the weight of the Quadra... but that extra power would justify anything when you need it... if you can remember the TTL group portrait that we took earlier in 2011, you would know what this beast is capable of.... but that shot was done very late in the day, almost near sunset.... that 71-man portrait was done using a single light... the Ranger RX....

that time I used a reflector to concentrate light.... but that reflector is not very polite towards people with softer profile, say Lamisa.... for that, I needed a much bigger light modifier.... I had the 50cm x 120cm Simpex softbox for a while.... but that works more like a strip light and restricts the light within a tunnel... for a single person's portrait, that light source was surely big enough.... still, for some reason I didn't get the motivation to conduct this sort of an exercise.... so, right after getting the Rotalux 100cm Deep Octa in my hand, I started to feel for that kind of an image!.... just a few days back, AKA was showing me an example image that had a child under the midday sun.... that thing kinda reminded of my duties.... hmm.... enough of a motivation to pack everything up and carry it to the top floor of the building.... pain?... well, not as much as climbing the whole building!.... we only had to go from the 2nd floor to the 6th floor.... the 10kg or so weight of the Ranger system couldn't break my back within that short period....

the December sun was under extensive gloom, in an overcast day, which gave me quite a bit of latitude... the sun gave 1/640sec @f11 & ISO100 and 1/250sec @f16 & ISO100... I knew I had to shoot below f11 and also had to bring down the shutter below 1/160sec to reach the flash sync..... that brought the Cokin ND filters in action!!.... for the first time, I put those glasses in front of the 20mm wide lens.... and immediately, I could shoot @1/160sec.... the Ranger wasn't shooting at full power though... it was roughly around 80% power, translating to around 880w/sec..... that was enough power for f14.... tried out a few with f16 at the start, then switched to f14... the first of the below images was shot at f16....

 

 and when I have a model as good as Lamisa, things become entertaining right from the word 'go'.... although it was typically challenging with Lamisa, keeping her in the frame and in focus amidst her big movement.... she at first featured with her new cycle (a blog post coming up) and then posed without the cycle...

I wish there was more texture in the sky, though there was more than enough cloud for a December sky... that gives me another excuse to try this thing out once again when there would be more cloud around... I'm not really a fan of tilted frames... but decided to try these out finding the rooftop railings too boring.... tilted frames creates some diagonal lines, which were at least somewhat better than the monotonous straight lines....

a lot more to come in a hurry!!