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)
An experimental image taken during a photo session with Czech model Iva.
Light Info: one 580EX II on an Ezybox 60 in front and to the side and one 580EX + blue gel on the back directed to the model.
Combining different color temperatures in one image can give some interesting results.
-Gerard.
This image illustrates the use of the technique called “dragging the shutter”, combining ambient light with flash to have the “diamond” frozen in the air leaving a trail of movement going upwards that gives the impression of a magic levitation trick.
(tech info: 2 speedlites in softboxes at both sides and behind the subject, 1 speedlite on the background. Synchronized using a voice-activated shutter release. Canned mist for the mystery ambient)
I got a recent request to produce a series of images to illustrate the use of the built-in flash. I had to confront that small source of light that I had banned for so long from my photographic arsenal. I also had to come up with something refreshing, that was not only showing the technical aspects but that would get you inspired to engage you in some photography.
From all images this one I liked the most:
The “secret” of the shadowless and yet flattering soft light was a piece of Plexiglas that I hand-held in front of the little flash. The light looses are huge –so don’t try it from far– but the result speak for itself (me hopes 
Here you see the simple piece of plastic in action:
-gerard.
A ring flash is a really estrange piece of kit. The light comes from around the lens creating a shadowless rendering of your subject. The ringflash ‘look’ is often associated with fashion photography and expensive, dedicated equipment.
It was a big surprise seeing this innovative flash modifier, that bends the light from a speedlite around the lens to create (approximately) the same effect, with a very portable solution. The fact that the camera system still preserves the E-TTL capabilities for metering makes you truly mobile.
Here’s an image of the product (bathroom mirror self-portrait 
)
And a first quick test with my in-house models
It really looks promising and I’ll be taking it for a ride in upcoming shoots. Keep tuned for a more detailed review of it!
-gerard
Sometimes it’s really hard to get the light right where you want it. With the help of this home-made honeycomb grid we manage to light the butterfly and create the magical environment that this image requires to work. As comparison, you can see the effect of a bare flash, which spills light all around, ruining the effect of the butterfly in the hands of the little princess.
“Straw” Honey comb
Improvised snoot with a black cardboard and a velcro strap
Last weekend I had some time to do work some more with the Ezybox Hotshoe. Here’s a sample of what can be achieved with it.
| Portrait taken with Ezybox |
| Natural light |
| setup: Ezybox Hotshoe ‘charged’ with a 580EX on a standard Manfrotto light stand |
This image illustrates few important points of using the Ezybox Hotshoe:
- Color Temperature - using a flash as main light provides us with a consistent color temperature of about 5500oK, the shadow where the girl is placed is actually much colder, which is visible on comparison image on the right. The portrait is much pleasing with the neutral-warm tones
- Light Control The light of the moment was quite harsh, coming slightly from the back and leaving most of the face in shadow. The Ezybox+580EX were used as main light. This was achieved in this case by decreasing the ambient exposure by 1 stop and using the flash without exposure compensation
- Portability Sorry to state the obvious but it’s really nice to have creative control over the light in the middle of the garden
The flash was used in automatic exposure mode (E-TTL) triggered by the controlled wireless ST-E2 on the camera.
is this info useful to you? Drop me a line with comments or questions. A more detailed review on handling the Ezybox Hotshoe is coming. If you have questions, now is the moment. - Gerard
I’ve been playing with one Ezybox hotshoe unit recently. I’ll post a review in few days (hopefully I’ll find the time)
It seems logical to think about freezing during the winter, but fact is that we haven’t seen the first temperature under 0oC. Freezing time seems as appropriate.