Vampire Family Reunion I have started to go on a fair number of group shoots. Some photographers (myself included) will take strobe lights and reflectors to modify or add to the light that is there. Sometimes we will almost completely replace the existing light. Others will simply shoot what is there. No modification. Far be it that I will say one is right and one is wrong. But I do get questions at times asking why I would be willing to schlep around a bunch of additional equipment and take the time and effort to set it all up for my shots.
Well in my mind photography is basically about using light to "paint" the image. A painter uses paints, I use light. I recently did a themed shoot that was all horror and creepy stuff. The image here, Vampire Family Reunion, is one of the shots. This shot is basically "as shot". I did a dodge on a couple of faces because they were too light. But other than that I did not do any photoshop touch ups. It was shot in the afternoon about three hours before sunset. The red leaves are from a light with a red gel. The lighting from the two sides are from strobes, one with a softbox and one with an umbrella. There was one shot before the lights were set up and it was very flat and just not interesting at all. This photo took an honors rating at our local camera club judging. What I think really makes this photo is the intense colors and shadows that are created using the effects of the lights.
Well in my mind photography is basically about using light to "paint" the image. A painter uses paints, I use light. I recently did a themed shoot that was all horror and creepy stuff. The image here, Vampire Family Reunion, is one of the shots. This shot is basically "as shot". I did a dodge on a couple of faces because they were too light. But other than that I did not do any photoshop touch ups. It was shot in the afternoon about three hours before sunset. The red leaves are from a light with a red gel. The lighting from the two sides are from strobes, one with a softbox and one with an umbrella. There was one shot before the lights were set up and it was very flat and just not interesting at all. This photo took an honors rating at our local camera club judging. What I think really makes this photo is the intense colors and shadows that are created using the effects of the lights.
This shot was done this weekend. We were at an abandoned paper mill. First, it was very dark inside. So there was not even enough light initially to get anything in the way of a photo. Second, even the rooms with windows had lighting that was dull and lifeless. So with the strobes I was able to shape some shadows and to get some interesting lighting. I put a strobe in the stairwell up on the stairs a ways up. Then there was a light behind Kim lighting up the door behind her. It had a grid on it to restrict the light some. And then there was one more light to my right with a loose grid for a little wider light.
There are two ways to remotely trigger a strobe. One is optically. when the strobe sees another strobe going off it goes off. The other way is with radio triggers that use radio waves. OK, you can use cables too, but almost no one does that any more. For optically triggering the light the strobes have to "see" one another. The light behind Kim was optically triggered from the one next to me. The one in the stairwell could not "see" either of the other two lights though. So I put a radio trigger on it, just like the light next to me. I would have had radio triggers on all the lights, but forgot one of the triggers. Silly me. But I always prefer radio triggers to optical when on location. FYI, speedlights that talk about remote triggering are always talking about optically triggering each other.
OK.. that was a bit of an off topic aside. Here is the on topic point though. With the strobes I was able to get some good keylight in Kim's hair. I was able to light up the stairway so that it was not just some dark bland hole. I was able to get good lighting on the shadow side of her. The light in the stairwell also helped to separate Kim from the background too.
There are two ways to remotely trigger a strobe. One is optically. when the strobe sees another strobe going off it goes off. The other way is with radio triggers that use radio waves. OK, you can use cables too, but almost no one does that any more. For optically triggering the light the strobes have to "see" one another. The light behind Kim was optically triggered from the one next to me. The one in the stairwell could not "see" either of the other two lights though. So I put a radio trigger on it, just like the light next to me. I would have had radio triggers on all the lights, but forgot one of the triggers. Silly me. But I always prefer radio triggers to optical when on location. FYI, speedlights that talk about remote triggering are always talking about optically triggering each other.
OK.. that was a bit of an off topic aside. Here is the on topic point though. With the strobes I was able to get some good keylight in Kim's hair. I was able to light up the stairway so that it was not just some dark bland hole. I was able to get good lighting on the shadow side of her. The light in the stairwell also helped to separate Kim from the background too.
If we were outside we could have used reflectors to shape the natural light in the photo too. This shot from a beach shoot a couple years ago used a reflector. Had we not used the reflector her face would have been totally in shadow. The reflector is very easy to use, very inexpensive, and very effective. A reflector will also work with a point and shoot camera or a smartphone camera too. It is inexpensive low tech that is simply awesome. You can get some very nice reflectors that fold up very small for well less than $50. The smaller ones run around $20. The larger ones will be a bit more expensive. But all of them will help you to shape the light nicely.
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