[philbaum]

I've been to many strobist flickr groups with hundreds of thousands of photos displayed, almost mind-numbing, and very little or no dialogue that one can learn from.

Please don't just drop off your photos on this thread and run onto the next thread, Instead i'd like to see 1 or 2 photos to illustrate a technique for using your equipment and the story about how you developed it or solved a problem.

Why non-studio? Because there are tons of material and books out there for studio shooting. Shooting in the field is another challenge entirely - you bring it with you or don't have it. No AC, no backdrops, etc.

In the photo below, there is no car access and the barred rooms are a jail in a coastal fort (now a state park) that has no car access. I either walk the 1 mile up the hill or ride my bike (recently) with a carry basket i use on the back.

In the image below, i used a 1/8" Honl grid to highlite the facial area (the only commercial light modifier i carry along) and a single flash in manual mode to camera right. Took about 4 attempts to get the exposure and the bar shadow across my face. First time i used the Honl and it did the job well - i think.

[jpzk]

Phil, I think this is a great idea!

Of course, wouldn't it also be handy to have ALL technique steps, i.e.: camera and flash (if used) settings?
I am often (read: most of the time) confused about what exact/specific settings one uses on a given flash-use situation: manual camera exposure or other, shutter speed, aperture, EV comp., flash settings, etc ...

This guy behind bars ... I thought I saw him somewhere?

Cheers.

JP

[adpo]

here's a picture i recently did as part of my Single in August challenge


decided to go for that creepy haunted kind of look, the kind you get when you were 4 and someone had just told you a ghost story and you start to notice all the creepy shadows in your house that you never really cared much for before.

anywho, onto the lighting. There are a total of 4 light sources in this shot, 3 flashes and one ambient. The ambient light source is the somewhat diffused sunlight coming in behind me through the blinds and a bit on the right behind the door. The first flash is inside the dryer, set to its widest at about 1/16 power and just pointed at the top back corner of the dryer.
The second is in the laundry room off to the left and on top of a small table, bounced up and slightly towards the right in order to light the room enough, but still give plenty of shadows on the shelves and whatnot. It was set to its widest setting and i think it was at around 1/8 power. There's a cabinet next to it, acting as a scrim and throwing a shadow over the dryer.
The third flash is also to the left, but in the hallway. I had it pointed straight up and set to about the 50mm setting and about 1/8 power in order to get enough light to light the hallway, but enough falloff to give that nice shadow down the right of the door.

i think it worked out alright, what do you guys think?

[Coeurdechene]

Nice idea! i'll play since most of what i do now is outdoors flash photography. I felt the same about the strobist flickr, although i like that mind numbing sensation when you see so many photos, lots of them with great light, i like spending hours looking at lots of them and trying too decode lighting when the info is concise.

[IMG] [/IMG]

We made a series of fotos near a little stream here in the middle of the mountains...the idea of this particular shot was to give it a feel, a colour hint to make people think of a lamia (it's a basque legend: woman with duck feet, long hair and a golden hair pin that lives on streams in the forests and mountains). Lacking the gold hair pin i tried to colour her a bit with a golden bit of light. The problems were related to the terrain nature: not a single plain surface...all was quite steep and i had to use rocks as light stand extensions and as improvised sandbags. The whole matter was pretty fun, a bit messy...it all got covered with mud, but it was worth it.

I used an Olympus Fl50 shooting to a wide reflective umbrella in front of her to work as a beauty dish, at 1/2 power, then a nikon sb80dx in 70 mm position with yellow gel (which was a bit of a mistake because it made some hard shadow edges on her face, although i like the little spill of light and the general look). And finally i used the pentax 500ftz at 1/16 under the bridge, on a rock in the middle of the stream (adrenalin shot) to try to give some depth to the scene.

PS: You did a fine job with the grid there phil, the vertical shadow just besides the eye gives it a very dramatic feel.

The shadows are cool adpo, you manage to transmit the effect you talked about...but the kitchen could have more...maybe placing a pattern (like a candlestick, or a bird cage, or some volume) in front of the flash?...and maybe color it with a light green or blue gel to give it a creepier and colder look?.

[magkelly]

I mostly use whatever light is available outside. I don't haul anything for lights outdoors except the odd reflector or maybe a canopy if I have to shoot at noon or something, though I usually don't even go there. I just find some natural shade overhead instead. When it comes to working outside I believe in chasing the light, not making it artificially. I mean the whole point of doing shoots out of doors is to get the advantage of the scenery and the beautiful natural light, right? If you're going to bring a light box et all along you might as well just shoot in the studio. I like Mama Nature's light the best and I'll wait till need be until she gives me what I need rather than fake it too much.

[philbaum]

Phil, I think this is a great idea!

Of course, wouldn't it also be handy to have ALL technique steps, i.e.: camera and flash (if used) settings?
I am often (read: most of the time) confused about what exact/specific settings one uses on a given flash-use situation: manual camera exposure or other, shutter speed, aperture, EV comp., flash settings, etc ...

This guy behind bars ... I thought I saw him somewhere?

Cheers.

JP

JP - thanks for your additional suggestions that folks could add settings that might be very useful - i agree. Yes, i also posted my jailed self-portrait somewhere else on PF.

Your comments seemed to get this thread going - thank you for the help!!

decided to go for that creepy haunted kind of look, the kind you get when you
were 4 and someone had just told you a ghost story and you start to notice all
the creepy shadows in your house that you never really cared much for before.

adpo,
Congratulations - I thought i was the only one that liked to set up creepy scenes like this - well done - love the shadows.

Nice idea! i'll play since most of what i do now is outdoors flash photography. I felt the same about the strobist flickr, although i like that mind numbing sensation when you see so many photos, lots of them with great light, i like spending hours looking at lots of them and trying too decode lighting when the info is concise.

[/url] [/IMG]

We made a series of fotos near a little stream here in the middle of the mountains...the idea of this particular shot was to give it a feel, a colour hint to make people think of a lamia (it's a basque legend: woman with duck feet, long hair and a golden hair pin that lives on streams in the forests and mountains)....The whole matter was pretty fun, a bit messy...it all got covered with mud, but it was worth it.
....

Coeur - i've seen this picture before on PF and they are very lovely shots. But hearing the background and your having to fight terrain and mud makes it real for me. Much appreciate the settings as well.

... I mean the whole point of doing shoots out of doors is to get the advantage of the scenery and the beautiful natural light, right? ...

Nope, thats not my point, i'll shoot natural light OR artificial light. I'm used to shooting for a live theatre organization, and to them, using artificial light is no big thing. Okay folks who feel the same way - i know this point of view is out there and mag has said it very well. But i don't want debates - i want to learn how folks are using flash and perhaps other lighting methods out in the field (indoors or out of doors - non-studio though) Please honor the intent of the OP (me ).

Okay, my second picture.

Near where i live, a contractor is tearing down an old housing area and regrading for something new. At night he parks all his eqiupment in a dark part of the lot, 4 or 5 large dump trucks, equal number of bucket excavators, and other smaller stuff. On a moonless night - didn't plan it that way - i went up there and a sympathetic guard first said no and then gave me permission to photograph what must be $1 or 2 million in earth moving equipment. The next day - i went down to the contractor's trailer and he gave me permission with a signed business card in case anyone stopped me. i gave him my business card and promised to put up the photos on my website, which i did. Very dark shooting conditions, hard to even find my tripod after i stepped away from it.

This first photo was done at 30sec, 80iso and was pretty much pitch black. I could have done an extended shutter until the cows came home and not got any significant exposure. I used a manual YN-460II GN 34 flash, set at 1/16th power and walked around the truck splashing light on the side of the truck by tripping the test button. You can get away with walking in front of the camera as long as you keep going and don't stand still enough for an image to form. On the back side of the truck, i splashed 2 flashes into the cab roof with a yellow gel over the flash. Because of a green tint on the windshield, the cab light came out more green than yellow. There were probably 10 flashes to light the side of the truck.




This second picture was done much the same as the first, but its been toned lighter to expose detail, it actually was quite dark and i had to be dang careful not to trip over my own camera/tripod. I've tried flashlights, spotlights, some small led hiking lantern, but i've found the ordinary flash works far better for this painting stuff, unless one wants to do the led pattern type things.