Wireless flash, radio triggers, speedlite Breaking from the Line of Sight

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The perfect combination

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.

preparation/setup for the water drips & drops shoot.

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! :-)

Stephanie - Water Drips&Drops II - Cold

Stephanie - Water Drips&Drops I - Warm

That was a great way to close the year.

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

-Gerard.

digital photography, site-admin Multiple Speedlites

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Hunting Easter Eggs

Hunting Easter Eggs. In this image, one speedlite with a Lumiquest softbox was used to light the egg and another flash in a Lastolite Ezybox was used to light the girl behind. The balanced output was automatic calculated by the E-TTL system, even when the lights where illuminating different planes, requiring different power levels to achieve a similar light effect.

After getting familiar with using a speedlite off-camera, the need for more control will soon arise. Adding one or more additional speedlites to your kit will expand the creative possibilities while the advanced E-TTL system will take care of the complexity of setting and balancing different light to achieve a natural effect.

Mitha and Roses

Mitha and Roses. Two speedlites were used to create this portrait. The main light was located to the right of the image while a soft fill was located to the left and sideways of the model

The wireless E-TTL system can seamlessly grow to support many speedlites in several configurations. Each speedlites can be configured with a group A, B or C.  A and B are supposed to lit the subject -wherever in the frame- while C is supposed to illuminate the background.

Belly Dancer fancy dress.

Belly Dancer fancy dress. - A 3-light setup was used for this image. Two speedlites were setup in front, one on the ground (A), lighting up and one above, pointing down (B). A 3rd speedlite was located behind the girl (C) to highlight the hair. Ratio A:B=4:1, C=+1

The best advice that can be given is to always start with one light, but once you explore many of the possibilities of a single wireless speedlite, the need for additional lights will arise to better control the scenes and multiply your creative possibilities.

Eye with special make-up

Eye with special make-up

Special Make-up - Second light

Special Make-up - Second light. Introducing a second speedlite allowed us to better illuminated the eye to show the make-up in all its detail.

Home portraits

Elena - xmas portrait

Elena - xmas portrait

Behind the scenes

Portrair of Elena: Behind the scenes

Adding a second speedlite to the setup is easy. Just turn the speedlite unit with wireless slave capabilities, to the ’slave’ setting and to the same channel ast the master unit, like for the setup with one slave.

In the setup above, both flashes will equally contribute to the total exposure. To achieve the soft light in the portrait of Elena, one 550EX was set pointing to the ceiling, to “bath” the scene with some soft bounce light, while the 580EX in the sofbox provided additional direction light to the face of the girl.

Nature

Empty Cicada Cocoon

Empty Cicada Cocoon - Backlighted with one speedlite fitted with a custom grid

Cicada Cocoon

Cicada Cocoon- Added a second speedlite with a small reflector to add some fill, providing a better rendering of the natural environment where the cocoon was found. Using a ratio 4:1 ensured that the fill wouldn't overpower the backlight to preserve the transparent effect.

Cicada cocoon - how to

Cicada cocoon - how to

Flower Close-up.

Flower Close-up, taken with a MR-14EX Macro ring light. A typical issue of macro photography with a ring flash is that backgrounds are rendered very dark due to close distance of the flash to the subject and the light fall off on the background.

flower close-up with MR-14EX Macro Ring light

flower close-up with MR-14EX Macro Ring light. Using the wireless master capabilities of the MR-14EX, we can independently light the background with another flash (a 580EX in slave mode in this case).

Location Photography

The portable nature of the speedlite system makes it ideal to use it for location assignments, keeping the bags light and transportable.

Model photography on location

Model photography on location

Behind the scenes - setup

Behind the scenes - setup

Vicky - Location portrait

Vicky - Location portrait

location portrait setup

location portrait setup

Events & Party’s

Party dancer

Party dancer

Double speedlite setup. Image taken by Diego Garc?a de Rio. Should be correctly accreditted if used.

Double speedlite setup. Image taken by Diego García de Rio. Should be correctly accreditted if used. To achieve a professional result even in the middle of a dance party, this particular setup was created. The two speedlites bouncing off the umbrellas are portable all around the dancing hall. The two bounce surfaces create a big area of light that softly illuminates the subject.

The Advanced Home Studio

Delphine - Portrait

Delphine - Portrait

Portrait Setup -

Portrait Setup - Speedlites can be used with a variety of modifiers to achieve professional results. In this home studio setup, we used an Ezybox and an Umbrella box, both from Lastolite, to transform the harsh light of the speedlites into soft illumination for our model.

Deenah - portfolio image

Deenah - portfolio image

Studio setup in a room of the house

Studio setup in a room of the house

Beauty portrait

Beauty portrait

Beauty Setup

Beauty Setup - Speedlites are handy to move into different setups. In contrast with big studio lights, speedlites do not heat up and are very light. Changing the whole installation to go from a full body portrait to a beauty close-up only takes a few minutes. Note here the use of 3 speedlites: Above, below and behind (purple) the model. Using the ratio function it's easy to adapt the lighting for the different situations without the need of a flash meter.

digital photography Dark Blue

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Dark Blue

Dark Blue


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.

technique Keeping it simple

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Britt

Britt


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.

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personal projects Have a great one!

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

Happy 2009

Happy 2009


-Gerard

digital photography EOS 5D MKII High ISO: 400 is the new 100

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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.

Slender Loris

Slender Loris in the dark (at the zoo, ISO 12800)


I’m truly impressed with the image results. On the original 5D, I didn’t go above ISO 400 unless I was really pressed to, and being a flash junkie that was not really often. But with this level of performance ISO 400 is the new ISO100. That’s very practical for extending the range of my speedlites as well… but that’s something to explore in the MKII version of this post.

While image performance is great, at this extremely low light levels AF becomes nearly impossible. Even manual focusing was difficult as there was almost no contrast between the subjects and the dark background. Sometimes I just had to guesstimate the focus point and hope for the best.

Here are some images comparing the high-end of the ISO range. This guy, an Indian Flying Fox, kind of scared me. Luckily it was behind glass. I hope I don’t see it banging at my window at night…

ISO 6400

ISO 6400

ISO 12800

ISO 12800

ISO 25600

ISO 25600

digital photography Christmas is over. Hail 2009

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Christmas trap

Christmas trap

Happy New Year 2009 to all of you!

-Gerard

digital photography Alternative light sources

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Plasma Light

Plasma Light


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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digital photography Macro Photography with one wireless flash

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Image overview - click on image

Image overview - click to browse

Close up of Pincusion Protea (Horizontal)

Close up of Pincusion Protea (Horizontal)

In order to light the interesting tentacle-like structure of this pincushion protea, we softened the flash light with a Lumiquest softbox. The light is located sligthly behind the flower to backlight the structure and bring the vibrant colors out. The Lumiquest softbox makes the light source bigger than the flower, providing a nice even light that wraps all around it.

How-to (Horizontal)

Pincushion Protea Close-up: How-to (Horizontal)

Pincusion Protea Close-up (Vertical - version 1)

Pincusion Protea Close-up (Vertical - version 1)

Pincusion Protea (Vertical - Version 2)

Pincusion Protea (Vertical - Version 2)

Pincusion Protea How-to (vertical)

Pincusion Protea How-to (vertical)

Natural Looking Red Tulip

Natural Looking Red Tulip

For this tulip close-up we used a hand held the speedlite with a Lumiquest Softbox attached. We located the flash low and to the side of the flower to resemble the light of the low sun during the early spring days when is tulip season. Using a rather long exposure of 1/10 we could build up enough ambient exposure to illuminate the background and provide a nice backdrop for this flower portrait.

behind the curtains

Tulip Close-up: behind the curtains

Tulip Close-up - Vertical

Tulip Close-up - Vertical

To give a backlight illumination to this tulip, we handheld a 580EX with a Lumiquest Softbox attached to it behind the flower, but higher than the axis of the lens. This setup provides illumination to the subject but leaves the background in the dark. We used a piece of cardboard to throw light back to the tulip as otherwise the front side would be completely obscured. Using reflectors is a good way to complement the light setup when using one speedlite unit, optimaly using one light source to illuminate the subject from multiple  directions.

When placing the speedlite in the direction of the lens, care should be taken to avoid the light shinning inside the lens as this will cause severe flare.

Tulip Portrait (illustrating flare)

Tulip Portrait (illustrating flare)

Tulip close-up showing the use of a piece of cardboard as reflector

Tulip close-up showing the use of a piece of cardboard as reflector

personal projects Creative Juice

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flowing gold

flowing gold


Experimenting with something different is a two sided coin: A risk of failing and the ONLY way to break usual patterns and grow your artistic vision. “Failure” is on itself a success when you learn from it and contributes to your growth, so in turn it’s a win-win situation each time you cross the barrier of the comfort zone. Of course, that’s personal growth, but when working with other people there’s an additional element to take into consideration: expectations. People you work with like to see good, nice results. Then failure is not an option, would you say? How do you grow, then? That win-win situation from the beginning is turned back to the flat line of the comfort zone just because of the expectations from others.
How to manage both? One method I’ve found practical, is to move in and out of your comfort zone in a way that you can manage and fulfil the expectations of your work and at the same time grow your artistic value. For a photo shoot this translates in getting a couple of good images in the pocket and then moving to the exploratory areas. Just make sure you have a good idea of what to explore, not to make the other party nervous.
Communication is a key enabler in this process.
So, get the creative juices going, just know how to control the flow.
-gerard.

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