Gerard Maas Images

I really appreciate the patience of Janna while I took more than 15 minutes to find the right position for the lights to achieve the right color coverage on the wall behind her. She did great by keeping her concentration and giving me a great pose to work with. It made the effort worthwhile!

(Lights: used a green and a blue gel on 2 speedlites placed on the ground. The model was lighted with a single speedlite in a Exybox 80 high above her)

I did today my first shoot with a new set of Pocket Wizards MiniTT1 + FlexTT5.

In a typical indoor shoot like the one today, the IR communication would mostly work in the basic setups until I start moving around, getting too close to the softbox(es) or trying more tricky angles. In the past I’d have to revert to previous "known to work" positions and resume from there.

E-TTL is great for me, as I like to change my lights to follow the poses of the model in front but in the past, I’ve seen many black frames from that technique, sometimes breaking the flow of the shoot and affecting my mood.

But as from today, all that has changed. The radio communication of the PW TT1/TT5 units got me in every corner and for the first time I didn’t have to worry about turning heads (580’s heads–that is) to follow my movements around. The only black frame today was from empty batteries!

That was a great way to close the year.

A happy new year to all and great light in 2010.

-Gerard.

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Short listed for the EOS Magazine cover Jan-March 2009, reflecting on wireless flash techniques.
This image was possible thanks to the great collaboration between Evelyne, Daisy and myself.
Model: Evelyne Mertens
MU Artist: Daisy Van Winkel

-Gerard.

KISS: Keep it simple, stupid. What a great advice. I’ve a mind that likes to make simple stuff complex. It’s hard not to. But from time to time an image like this one reminds me that it only needs to be as complex as it’s required to get get the light where it’s needed to get a great image, not more.
You see? such a complex sentence to say something so easy:
As simple as possible: That is the best choice.

For this beauty portrait of Britt, only a Ezybox 60 with a speedlite 580EXII was used, high on top of her head, pointing at her face. Click. Done.
I think I like simple.

With almost one week entered in the New Year, it’s still a good time to extend my best wishes for 2009.

-Gerard

This is a ’see it to believe it’ kind of post. After the war of the pixels, the digital SLR Titans Canon and Nikon went on to the war of the ISO and the EOS 5D MKII is the Canon answer to the Nikon D3 field advance.
With an EOS 5D MKII in my hands, I had to test this high ISO feature in something else than the ubiquitous gray wall picture. I though of the night pavilion of our local zoo as the best place for such a field test. The pavilion is dedicated to the night crawlers from the nature and light levels are accordingly VERY low.

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Happy New Year 2009 to all of you!

-Gerard

As a kid I always wondered plasma lamps and the wonderful light patterns they create with the touch of the finger. Of course, all those stores had a sign saying “don’ touch”, but who cares?
Last Christmas (2007) I casually saw one of these lamps during my quest for xmas gifts and decided to fulfil that old dream. Of course, as with all other light sources that I’ve found, the first thing I tried was to take pics of the plasma light… with a big disappointment: It produced far too few light for the fast shutter speed needed to capture the rays, so it was all a big ball of blur.

This Christmas, with the high ISO feature of the new EOS 5D MKII, that reality changed. I re-explored the plasma light with a totally different result. Using ISO 6400, the rays of light are crisp just like the eye experiences them.
I still love the mystery it creates.
-Gerard.

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