Shadow Play

Did a “themed” photoshoot with local model Amanda Veldkamp, and local photographer Faith Blackwell at the Stutz Building in Indianapolis.  Great times!  The theme was Shadows.  The idea was to use low light combined with single or multiple speedlights or monolights to create various shadow effects.

I spent hours researching ideas to shoot, lining up the model, planning the makeup (I know, I know sounds silly for a guy to worry about a model’s makeup, but hey got to get the right effect) and arranging the studio.  All came together smoothly, and we started up on time. 

I brought massive amounts of kit with the idea of covering everything.  Once again, as with other shoots I brought way too much equipment.  Oh well, I used to be a Boy Scout, so I wanted to be prepared.  Here was a condensed version of the kit I brought:

• 2 x Nikon SB-600 speedlights
• 2 x LumiQuest Softbox III
• 2 x Elinchrom D-Lite 400 monolights
• 2 x Elinchrom softboxes
• 1 x RPS Studio Softbox RS-4030
• Elinchrom Universal triggers & receivers
• 2 x Manfrotto 5001B lightstands  with the kit for the speedlights
• Various HonlPhoto snoots & flags for the speedlights
• 3 x DIY gobos for the softboxes
• Lastolite Professional TriGrip Reflector
• Nikon D300s
• AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED
• AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G prime
• AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G prime
• Tokina AF 12-24mm f/4 AT-X Pro DX
• AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D
• Assorted accessories

I know, I’m exhausted too.  You guessed it I used only a portion of the kit.  I ended up using the speedlights, the RPS Studio Softbox, the snoots & the Elinchrom triggers.  I used my Nikon D300s and the Nikkor 24-70mm almost exclusively.  Now get this people, I also brought an old school Nikon F50 SLR film camera mounted with the 85mm lens.  I shot a roll of B&W film with it.

All shots with the D300s were taken in manual setting.  I started off at 1/160 of a second shutter speed, ISO 400 and aperture set at F/8.  I also set my exposure compensation + 0.3 – 1.0 throughout the shoot.  I found I adjusted the shutter speed and aperture as needed, but kept the ISO fixed throughout the shoot.  We did 4 series, 3 in the studio and 1 in the hallway.  

The first shoot in studio consisted of 1 speedlight with the RPS softbox mounted and a snooted speedlight projecting a light circle behind Amanda against the background.  The background was made of fashion magazine pages taped to the wall.  We moved the softbox around camera right, front and left to get the shadows we liked.  Directing Amanda the entire time.

The next series was the same setup, only without the snooted speedlight but this time against a plain white background.  I won’t go into the details because the light was too bright (very large windows) and I couldn’t get usable shadowing that appealed.

Final studio setup was against a black background which blocked most of the windows.  I used the speedlight/RPS softbox setup camera left.  Again, no kicker or snooted strobe to add any lighting effects. 

The next setup was to move into the bowels of the building and shoot in a VERY dark, long hallway.  It was very industrial, but my type of place.  We had Amanda switch out of a tee-jeans combination into a black dress.  Good choice since it added to the atmosphere.  Also, I didn’t want a pretty girl look, so I asked Amanda to muss up her hair and give me a bit of attitude.  Jackpot people, she was picture perfecto.

All shots in the hall used either the single speedlight / RPS Studio softbox setup, or a single snooted speedlight.  All lighting was off camera with the speedlights mounted on the Manfrotto lightstands.  In ALL of the shots we manually set the speedlights adjusting the power up or down to taste.  We also moved the lighting around to get the desired effect.

The hall shots worked the best for me.  As you might have guessed from earlier posts I like the darker images.  I got a number of great shots in this series.  Also, for the last 30 minutes or so I asked Amanda to get on the floor and prop her legs up against the metal doors, or sit and do various poses.  The floor was cold, but she was a true pro and worked the set very well.  I really liked the shots on the floor.

All-in-all we ended up spending close to 3 ½ hours and took away approximately 500 images.  My shooting partner, Faith, did an equivalent amount.  The entire day was great fun and I ended up with really nice images.  I will definitely do this again.

My after action report:

·         Plan ahead and don’t bring unnecessary kit.  I knew I was going to move around and take different types of shots so I came prepared.  Honestly I could have left ½ of the kit at home

·         Plan your photo style and what you want in advance, but be very flexible.  I had a general idea what I wanted (I bought sketches and sample photos), but after about the 2^nd series I went off script which worked great.

·         Experiment with light.  We tried all types of shadows and I was surprised how hard it was to get the right look. 

·         Plan out the details with your model in advance including time, fee, makeup, clothes, etc.  I wanted to make sure Amanda was prepared.

·         If you don’t have a Nikkor 24-70 F/2.8, do yourself a favor and go get yourself one.  It will set you back, but you will thank me.

Spark Art Photography Party & Photoshoot

Model Angela - 1/200, f/9, 38mm at ISO 400

What started out as a holiday party turned into a really amazing photoshoot.  I was invited by a local Indianapolis model, Amanda Lynn Veldkamp, that I’ve photographed previously, to the 2^nd Annual Spark Art Holiday Party hosted by Dave Fulton at his Spark Art Photography studio on Indianapolis’ north side.

The party was an opportunity for local photographers, models, make-up artists & media to meet and mingle.  Part party and part advertising.  Dave also provided the additional bonus by allowing the photographers to use his lighting equipment and shoot the models.  Guess what I spent my time doing? - talking, introducing myself and shooting.  There was supposed to be a DJ who flaked so I let Dave use my iPhone that had a Dance & Trance mix I use for photoshoots.  It was the perfect music for the scene.

Model Hayley- 1/200, f/13, 66mm at ISO 400

There were approximately 15-20 models from several agencies & independents.  LModelz in Indianapolis brought 9 of their models and were the most active.  They were great.  There were about 5 photographer’s that took turns photographing the models in about 5 minute sessions.  I ended up shooting about 8 of the models and came home with approximately 700 images.

The lighting setup was fairly straight forward.  I was busy shooting and talking so I didn’t pay tons of attention to the lighting setup (kicking myself), but it consisted of a studio strobe mounted with a large softbox and grid.  This light was camera right.  Camera left was a huge reflector panel.  Above the model was another studio strobe with a strip light and grid.  Finally behind the model camera left and right were bare-bulbed studio lights.  After one series we turned off the lights behind the models as they were unneeded.  All lights were triggered with Pocket Wizards.  Behind the models extending to the floor was a black background mounted on the wall.  The entire setup was approximately 8’ x 8’.  It was perfect.

Model Bri- 1/200, f/8.0, 24mm at ISO 400

Model Ebony - 1/160, f/7.1, 35mm at ISO 400

I shot the entire night in manual mode with either my AF-SNikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED or AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G prime lens.  I used my Nikon D300s.  ISO was set at 400 because of the use of the studio lights.  We didn’t adjust the lighting which were a bit hot, so I kept my f-stop f/7 or higher and my shutter speed in the 1/200 of a second range.  I could have gone higher but was running into some flash synch issues when I went much faster.

I also shot a few images of the make-up artists with my aperture wide open and with ISO at 1600 and my shutter at 1/60^th.  Local make-up artist, Sasha Niles-Carnes “Sasha Star”, was working her magic and let me get into her space.  It was fun watching her work.

Make Up Session - 1/60, f/4, 38mm at ISO 1600

Overall a blast.  Great time meeting up with local artist, friends, photographers, models, and lots of pretty people.

My blog post wouldn’t be complete without some after action comments:

·         Bring plenty of business cards.  I took a handful and ran out almost immediately.  That’s the second time. 

·         If you don’t have business cards, bring a notepad and write down people’s names and contact information.  This was handy.

·         Mingle.  I spent about ½ my time just chatting people up.  I really enjoyed mixing the photography with the social event.

·         Watch your histogram.  At first the lights were way too hot (due to the previously mentioned forward facing lights).  If I hadn’t looked at my histogram I would have ended up the entire night with blown out pictures.

·         In a setting like this be courteous to the other photographers.  I worked hard to get in and shoot about 20-30 shots of a model and then hand off to the next shooter.  It would have been a real drag if one of the photographers hogged the set.

·         Watch the angles.  Almost all of the models in their heels were taller than me at 5’9”.  Although this is generally a more flattering angle for the models I did get several shots that needed to be at a higher perspective.

·         Send the models several processed images.  They were doing this for free so show them some love.

·         I’m old school, so I sent the host a hand written Thank You note because I had a great time and he went out of his way to do a good job.  I think this has a better impact than an email, but hey, as I mentioned, old school.

·         Watch your kit. I brought a full camera bag and ended up putting it in the corner. The place was literally shoulder to shoulder with people and it would have been easy, although unlikely, that someone could have walked out with some of my kit.  I ended up putting my bag in my car.  Anyway, I didn’t want anyone to trip over my stuff.