Tokyo studio shoot with Kayo

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 400 1/125 @ f5.6

This past December I was extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to work once again with one of my favorite models in Japan, Kayo Fantastic from Model Mayhem.

For this session we shot in the Force Studio in Edogawabashi.  This studio had a much darker theme compared to the previous studio we shot together in, which made it much easier to control the lighting. This worked out really well since we were going for a slightly edgier/sexier look for Kayo this time and I wanted to light her a little differently compared to our previous shoot together.

Our lighting for this session consisted mainly of 3 Nikon SB26 flashes triggered with Pocket Wizard Plus II tranceivers.  The light modifiers used were primarily the Westcott 43″ Apollo Orb and two Westcott Apollo Strip Softboxes. We also used a Gary Fong Lightsphere and a  Lumiquest Softbox III for a few setups.

There were several potted plants near a bench in the middle of the studio and to keep things simple we used this as our first set.

An SB26 with a CTO gel and a Stofen Omnibounce was used behind the plants for a background light.

The Westcott Apollo Orb was used as the main light and the two Strip lights were used on either side of Kayo  to help separate her from the background.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 400 1/160 @ f5.6

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 400 1/125 @ f5.6

Next we went into some headshots against a wall on the other side of the studio. Used the Westcott Orb as Kayo’s main light, overpowering the existing window light.

An SB26 with a CTO gel and a grid was used to light the wall behind her.  Another SB26 was aimed at the back of her hair for a rim light.

Had a Vornado fan nearby to add movement to her hair.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 400 1/160 @ f5.6

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 400 1/160 @ f5.6

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 400 1/160 @ f5.6

In one corner of the studio we found a set of prison bars.  This looked like it would be fun to work with but the space behind the bars was completely black. In order to give the shot some depth I knew we would need to light it somehow.

In the small corner behind the bars, we used a Nikon SB26 with a red gel and a Gary Fong lightsphere.  This lit both the background and rim lit the model in red.

Once Kayo had changed outfits, she found this great hairpiece to use which gave her a totally different look. We used one of the striplights for her main light, but positioned low in front of the bars and aimed up at her face to add a little more drama to the shot.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 400 1/160 @ f4

After taking a couple of shots behind the bars, we then brought Kayo around to the front. There was a large window next to the bars which you can see in the photo below, and we did some natural light shots while still using the rear lights for background and rim light.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 1600 1/125 @ f4 

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 1600 1/125 @ f4 

Since Kayo was now in front of the bars, the window light wrapped around her more, which greatly reduced the effect of her rim light.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 1600 1/125 @ f4 

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 1600 1/125 @ f4 

To change up the lighting and go back to more of a glamour look, I added another SB26 to the lightstand behind the bars and aimed it towards Kayo.  I also swapped out the gel on the background light for one that was a little more red.

For her main light, we used another SB26 with a Lumiquest III Softbox.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 400 1/125 @ f5.6

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 400 1/125 @ f5.6

While Kayo changed into her next look, I thought it would be nice to do a few more shots with the windows on this side of the studio since they had an interesting kind of high techy pattern on them.

A bare SB26 was set in the corner to act as a hair light.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 800 1/160 @ f2.8 

We did a few shots with the window light as her main light, then switched to using the SB26 with a Lumiquest Softbox III.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 800 1/160 @ f5.6

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 800 1/160 @ f5.6

Our final setup resulted in one of my favorite shots of the day and it worked out way better than I had originally planned.

This was a shot where we tried a combination of a fan and a length of red organza fabric wrapped around Kayo.  To be honest, I didn’t really have a solid image in mind when we started working on this set (that’s something I need to work on – getting a clearer idea of what I want to shoot BEFORE the shoot).  I only knew that I wanted to show fabric in motion, some mystery, and some sexiness without being too revealing.  I really have to thank Kayo for this one because she was extremely patient with me while I set everything up for this shot.

Although I had brought a small Vornado fan for the shoot, it wasn’t really strong enough to keep the fabric flying upward out of the frame like I had originally planned. We had to figure out a way to suspend the fabric above Kayo.  Ideally in a situation like this we would use a stand with a boom arm or an assistant. Since we did not have a boom arm available (there’s only so much lighting gear that I can bring when I travel), a bit of MacGyvering was needed.

Our solution was to use 2 ball bungies to strap a small light stand to the back of a chair to create an impromptu arm to which we could then clip the red fabric to:

Had to put some extra gear onto the chair itself to weigh it down so that it would not topple over onto Kayo.  Always think of your model’s safety when suspending objects above him/her.

To light this we used two Westcott Apollo Strip Softboxes positioned on either side of Kayo.  In the setup shot, you can see all that stuff in the background.  By bringing in the lights very close to the model and setting the power levels to 1/2 power (or maybe it was full power?), we were able to overpower the existing light in the studio and hide all of that in darkness.

So now that we had that setup, I positioned the fan so that it would add a little motion to the part of the fabric that was suspended.  If we had been lucky enough to have had an assistant, we could have had them to point the fan at the fabric and move the fan from side to side until we got just the right look.  Since it was just Kayo and myself that day, I would take a couple shots, adjust the fan position, shoot a couple more frames, move the fan again, etc.

Like I’ve said before, assistants are invaluable on a shoot. 🙂

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f3.5

I also had Kayo shift her position slightly between shots so that we would get subtle differences in the feathering of the light across her form.

This shot was one of those where everything came together just right – the fan caught the fabric and made it ripple and Kayo’s hand pose created some shadows that added a sense of mystery to the image that I really liked.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f4

It was so much fun to work with Kayo again, I just wish that we had more than just 3 short hours to work together this time as there was so much more we could have done together.  Will just have to save the ideas until next time.

Studio headshots with Brittney, Part II – Making backgrounds

Sometimes all you need to create an interesting backdrop is a flash and a pile of bones.

During Brittney’s studio headshot session, we did a little experimenting with creating backgrounds on a plain white wall.

Since our lighting setup of a tabletopped softbox and the two gridded strip softboxes kept most of the light from hitting the back wall of the studio, the white wall was now a dark gray.

That meant that we could then take another flash and light the background in a different way from how we lit Brittney.  David Hobby of Strobist.com refers to this as “lighting on planes”.

In the film/video world when you want to put a pattern on a background wall, you would use what is called a “cookie” – a metal disc with a design cut out of it.  This is put in front of a focusable light that projects the design onto the wall, creating a pattern.

We were all out of cookies that day so to improvise, we used a Nikon SB26 with a set of barn doors to control the spill of light. We set it up facing the back wall and tried putting different things in front of it to try and create an interesting pattern.  Tried a lot of things – garment bags, lace material, plastic cups, plants, nothing really seemed to click.

Until we found the remains of a skeleton lying around the studio.

Don’t laugh, it actually worked out pretty well.  Skeletons should be a part of any well-equipped studio. 😉 

We suspended the skeleton from a light stand and aimed the flash through the ribcage. We then just played around with the positioning of the flash and the skeleton until we got an interesting pattern on the background behind the model.

If we wanted to, we could also have added color to the background pattern by putting a colored gel over the flash.  Now that I think about it, we also could have tried putting larger sheets of gels onto the skeleton itself, maybe in multiple colors and see if that would have produced a multi-colored background when the flash fired through it.  Something to experiment with on a future shoot.

So the next time you’re on a photoshoot and all you have is a blank wall behind your subject, try putting objects in front of your background light and see what happens.  You never know when you’ll end up with something cool.

Studio headshots with Brittney, Part I

Recently did some headshots with model Brittney Baker in the studio, as part of a collaboration with makeup artist Kahulani and local artist Ben Kikuyama.

Wanted to try a different lighting style this time.  For our main light, an Alien Bee AB800 in a medium softbox, we boomed it up overhead and pointed straight down at the model (what’s known as “tabletopping” the light).  Two AB800s in strip softboxes with grids on either side of Brittney were used to rim light her.

Since the main light was aimed straight down and the two strip softboxes had grids on them, we were able to keep most of the light away from the white walls of the studio, which made them go dark gray.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso100 1/160 @ f8

One of the things to be careful about when using the main light in this fashion is to make sure the model is not directly under the center of the softbox, but rather closer towards the rear edge.  This allows more of the light to wrap around the mask of the face.

Sorry for the crudeness of this drawing.  I’m not an artist. 😉

While we were shooting we noticed that sometimes depending on Brittney’s pose, the shadow under her nose would get really dark.  This is why having a very talented makeup artist on a photoshoot can really make a difference in the final images. As soon as we mentioned the shadow, Kat came up and adjusted Brittney’s makeup. I don’t know what she did exactly, or if she just waved a magic wand or something, all I know is that whatever she did worked.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso100 1/160 @ f8

Kat, you are just all kinds of awesome, you know that? 🙂

For some of the later shots, we also added a silver California Sunbounce Micro Mini reflector just below the bottom of the frame to help soften the shadows a bit more.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso100 1/160 @ f8

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso100 1/160 @ f8

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso100 1/160 @ f8

For these last few sets Brittney wore her hair down, so we added some CTO gels to the two strip lights to help highlight her hair.  We didn’t have enough gels to completely cover both strip lights, only about half of each, so the color difference is subdued a bit.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso100 1/160 @ f8

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso100 1/160 @ f8

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso100 1/160 @ f8

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso100 1/160 @ f8

Part 2 of this post will illustrate how you can create interesting backgrounds using a flash and some not so ordinary household items.

International studio shoot with Irish

Canon 5D mkII  70-200m f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f5.6

While in Tokyo this past Decemver, I had the opportunity to collaborate with a truly international team – model Irish Kashima from the Philippines, makeup artist Mai Shimura from Japan, and body painter Yilei Liu from Shanghai.

Mai was able to book us some time at the Zero Studio in Edogawabashi. This was my first time in this studio and I tried to plan out the lighting in a way that we could move quickly between setups and make the most of our time there.

Our first setup utilized an existing curtain of shiny material in the studio that was hung next to some windows.  Since there was a lot of natural light streaming in from the window,  I decided to start with a strobe setup to first overpower the ambient light, then quickly switch to a natural light setting so that we could get two different looks in one setting.

For this first setup, a Nikon SB26 with a CTO gel and a Pocket Wizard Plus II tranceiver was set up behind the curtain.  A ProKit Speedlight reflector was used to direct the light onto her hair.

The main light was a Nikon SB26 with a CTO gel and a ProKit Beauty Dish positioned to camera right. We also used a small Vornado fan to add a little lift to the model’s hair.

I set the camera to Tungsten white balance and did a series of headshots.  Also added a fan to give a little lift to her hair.  In addition, Yilei held a silver California Sunbounce Micro Mini to bounce some of the main light back as fill.

Canon 5D mkII  70-200m f2.8L IS II lens iso 200 1/160 @ f4

We started adding some accessories to Irish, and since we needed Yilei to help with other things, he wasn’t able to hold the reflector anymore.  I setup another SB26 on low power right next to my camera to use as a fill light instead of relying on the reflector.

The reason that I used the CTO gels and tungsten white balance for this first set was so that the incoming window light would [hopefully] turn the background blue.  You can kind of see it in the reflective surfaces of the curtain behind Irish in the above headshot.  It didn’t translate so well tothe back wall however, so I added another SB26 behind Irish and put a blue gel/Stofen Omnibounce on it to color the wall behind her.

 Canon 5D mkII  70-200m f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f5.6

Canon 5D mkII  70-200m f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f5.6

To quickly transition into our natural light look, the Pocket Wizards were turned off so that the strobes would not fire.  The camera white balance was set to cloudy white balance/aperture priority mode.

Canon 5D mkII  70-200m f2.8L IS II lens iso 400 1/125 @ f2.8

Canon 5D mkII  70-200m f2.8L IS II lens iso 400 1/80 @ f2.8

Moving to our second setup, we hung a red satin bedsheet on a backdrop stand.

You can find satin sheet sets like this at Ross’s Dress for Less for around $25.  Didn’t have a fabric steamer available so to help hide some of the wrinkles in the sheet, we put a fan behind it to add some movement to the fabric.

While we were testing, the Vornado turned out to be a little stronger than the white standing fan, so we swapped them around and used the Vornado in the back, with Yilei holding it and moving it from side to side to keep the bedsheet constantly in motion.

Mai adjusted Irish’s lipstick to match the color of the sheet and we started shooting this look.
For lighting we used just one SB26 in a Westcott Apollo Orb Softbox to camera left.

Canon 5D mkII  70-200m f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f2.8

We tried several variations on this, including wrapping one of the bedsheets around Irish as sort of an impromptu evening gown.

Canon 5D mkII  70-200m f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f2.8

Canon 5D mkII  70-200m f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f2.8

Found a blue muslin backdrop in the studio and wanted to try something different instead of simply hanging it.  I laid it out on the floor next to a ledge where I could get on top of for an elevated shot. We didn’t have a ladder and the ceilings were pretty low, so I switched out the lens for the 24-105mm f4L IS so that we could get some full length shots.

We used some blue and pink organza fabric that I had brought and Mai wrapped them around our model.

Canon 5D mkII  24-105mm f4L IS lens iso 200 1/160 @ f4

Tried out one of the Dave Hill B/W presets in Lightroom and I kinda like what it did.  Always fun to experiment with new things.

Canon 5D mkII  24-105mm f4L IS lens iso 200 1/160 @ f4

While we were shooting these, Yilei did some sketching on a whiteboard and suggested the idea of making Irish into a mermaid using some red organza fabric.

This is why it’s great to work with a team.  A lot of times ideas will come up during a shoot that you never even thought of.

We used the Westcott Orb Softbox again as our main light, and propped the Sunbounce against the ledge I was standing on to add some fill.

Canon 5D mkII  24-105mm f4L IS lens iso 800 1/160 @ f4

It took a while to get the pose and the fabric to look right.  I tried to emulate a water look in post, since we probably would not have been allowed to flood the studio floor with water.

Canon 5D mkII  24-105mm f4L IS lens iso 800 1/160 @ f4

For our last look, Mai and Yilei wanted to experiment with body paint.  The idea was to paint a dragon onto Irish’s back, then drip some gold paint over it.  It was something new and interesting to try, as I had never done a bodypaint shoot yet.

To light this, I wanted to put Irish up against a black backdrop, which we did not have.  Since the studio walls were all painted white, I knew we had to really overpower the ambient light with flash in order to make the background as dark as possible.

We setup as far away from the back wall as we possibly could.  2 SB26s in Westcott Apollo Strip Softboxes were setup to light Irish from either side.  The flashes on either 1/2 or full power and positioned really close to the model, just out of frame.  This made the white wall in the background go down to a very dark grey, which we could then tweak a little darker in post.

Canon 5D mkII  70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f5.6

Canon 5D mkII  70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f5.6

For the last few shots, Mai and Yilei added some gold paint dripping down the dragon.  The side-lighting helped bring out the texture of the paint.

Canon 5D mkII  70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f5.6

Canon 5D mkII  70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f6.3

Wish I could have made it look more sparkly (there were tiny flecks of gold in the paint that they used). Guess I’ll need to study up more on how to light bodypainted models…

Made a short video of the shoot with lighting info and diagrams:

Studio shoot with Brittney & Valerie / Background Lighting

Canon 5d mk II 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 100 1/160@f8

Last month we had the opportunity to work with two Maui models – Brittney Baker and Valerie Wessel.  Makeup and hair was done by Kahulani and Ronald assisted us on this shoot.

A white wall can be a very versatile background – it can be white, gray, dark gray, black, or almost any color you can think of as long as you control the light that falls on it.  For this entire series in the studio, the background was the same white wall.  All we did was change the lighting on it.

We began with a white background.  We lit a white seamless backdrop similar to the setup we did last year.

Canon 5d mk II 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 100 1/160@f8

The main light was an AB800 with a 5 ft Photoflex Octodome to camera left.  We used a silver California Sunbounce Mini reflector on the right for fill.  2 AB800s with umbrellas were used to light the back wall about 1 stop over the main light to make it an even white.  We did a few full length shots, then switched to our next lighting setup.

To drop the color of the background down to gray, we turned off the two AB800s in the back. The Octodome was switched out for a WL1600 with a beauty dish boomed above the model.  The silver reflector was moved to the front and below the model to bounce light from the beauty dish back into the model. We added an AB800 with a small gridded strip softbox and a 1/8 CTO gel to edge light her.  I darkened the edges slightly in Lightroom to put more emphasis on the model.

Canon 5d mk II 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 100 1/160@f8

Brittney is a great model to work with – not only does she know how to rock her poses, she has a look that is just wonderful to photograph.

Canon 5d mk II 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 100 1/160@f8

If you look closely at the catchlights in her eyes, you’ll see the position of the beauty dish and the reflector below.  There’s one thing to be careful about when you have a light boomed above the model.  Actually, there’s two things.

First, always have sandbags on your lightstands so that they don’t fall over and whack your model’s head.  Your model will NOT be happy if it does.  And no, that did NOT happen on this shoot. 🙂

Second thing is to study the model’s eyes.  Some models have deeper set eyes and if you have the light too directly above them you’ll start to get shadows in the eye sockets, which isn’t very flattering.  If that happens, start moving the light towards the front of the model’s face while taking a few test shots until you can start to see the catchlights in the eyes.

For Brittney’s next outfit, we went with more of a Hollywood glamour lighting style.

Canon 5d mk II 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 100 1/160@f8

We used an AB800 with a gridded small strip softbox and a 1/8 CTO gel up above the back of the model to light up her hair.  We took away the beauty dish light and lit the front of the model using 2 AB800s – one with a gridded medium softbox for fill and one with a 7″ reflector and a 10 degree gridspot which was aimed at the model’s face.   The fill light was set to about 1 stop under the gridspot light.

Because we were using grids on the light modifiers to control the directions of light, we were able to keep most of the lights from hitting the background, which made the white wall go almost completely black.

Don’t have the exact lighting measurements because I didn’t have my light meter that day so we had to eyeball it. The overall effect we wanted to achieve with this lighting setup was a more dramatic look with her face being the brightest part of the image, in order to draw the viewer’s eye to it.

One of the main difficulties of doing this type of lighting is trying to aim the light that has the 10 degree gridspot on it.  The gridspot turns the light into a very narrow beam that has to constantly be re-aimed at the model’s face as she moves from pose to pose.  Miss it by just a little bit and her face will not have as much impact.  This is one of those times when you REALLY need to have an assistant.

Canon 5d mk II 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 100 1/160@f8

An added benefit of keeping the fill light off of the background and feathering the light (meaning not aiming the fill light directly at the model, but rather aiming it so that the light skimmed across her front), was that the shadows that it created helped define the folds of the dress which made it look more interesting.

Canon 5d mk II 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 100 1/160@f8

When we started photographing Valerie in her blue dress the folds of her dress really stood out in this lighting setup.

Canon 5d mk II 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 100 1/160@f8

Valerie is a very theatrical model, and at one point started playing around with some very dramatic poses.  To match the lighting to what she was doing, we used 2 AB800s with gridded strip softboxes for her edge lights and turned off the gridspotted AB800.  We pulled the softbox fill light off of the lightstand and lit her from underneath as her main light.  This resulted in a more evil look, similar to that of old hollywood monster movies.
Since there was very little light hitting the background wall, we were then able to add a little mood to the image by putting a splash of color to it using a Nikon SB26 on 1/16th power and a red gel.  We gaffer-taped a set of small barndoors to the SB26 to help control the amount of colored light hitting the wall.  We tried different power levels on the SB26 until we got the right amount of color intensity on the background.

A little smoke and lightning effects helped make the final image.

Canon 5d mk II 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 100 1/160@f8

For our final set in the studio before heading out to location, we went back to a gray background to get setup for a couple of shots of both Brittney and Valerie together.

Lighting for these final studio shots was with the AB800 and Photoflex Octodome for the main light and the two AB800 striplights. Since there was no grid on the Octodome, the light traveled past the models to light up the background a little, making it go back up to gray. While Kahulani put the finishing touches on Valerie, we did a few tests in this light with Brittney in another outfit.

 Canon 5d mk II 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 100 1/160@f8

Canon 5d mk II 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 100 1/160@f8

We then brought Valerie back on for our final set.

Canon 5d mk II 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 100 1/160@f8

These two really photograph well together. There’s a nice contrast of calm, collected seriousness from Brittney and the wacky playfulness of Valerie.  They probably could start in their own TV sitcom someday.

Canon 5d mk II 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 100 1/160@f8

Shooting with Alyssa and Alana

Did a joint studio shoot recently with photographer Chaz from After6Media.  Our models were Alyssa Sved and Alana Santos, with makeup work done by Kahulani.

For Alyssa’s first look, we experimented with gold makeup.  For lighting I used an AB800 with a beauty dish boomed above the camera and in close to the model, about a couple of feet.  I used another AB800 modifed with the Paul Buff PLM 2.0 Parabolic reflector for fill.  Another 2 AB800s with strip softboxes were used for edge lights.

Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L II iso 100 1/160 @ f9

For the shot below of Alyssa with the Terminator 2-style shotgun, I wanted to have more of the gun barrel in focus so I used a smaller aperture of f16.

Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L II iso 400 1/160 @ f16

For Alyssa’s next look, I wanted to experiment with more dramatic lighting so we used a single AB800 with a grid (maybe a 20 or a 10 degree grid) for her main light and used one AB800 for the edge light.

 Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS iso 100 1/160 @ f11

While Chaz was in between setups for his shoot, I grabbed a couple of shots of Alana lying on the black satin sheets.  Her back light is an Octodome and the main light is a large softbox, both with AB800s (I think).

 Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L II iso 100 1/160 @ f2

Alyssa joined in and we shot some 2-girl images from a ladder above. Think we added another SB26 with a small softbox to help fill light into the lower right corner of the frame.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS iso 100 1/160 @ f8

For these shots of Alana, we used the face of the Octodome as the background, tilted slightly upward so that it did not fire directly back into the camera.  Main light was an AB800 with a beauty dish.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS iso 100 1/160 @ f8

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS iso 100 1/160 @ f8

Studio shoot with Miyu – Testing the Speedlight ProKit Beauty Dish

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS 1/160@f4

My second studio shoot in Japan during this trip was with Miyu from Model Mayhem.  We did several setups, and I tried to keep the lighting very simple since we only had a few hours to work with. 

One of the first things Miyu and I worked on was a series of headshots.  For this I went with 2-SB26 flashes triggered with a Pocket Wizard.  Each flash was mounted on a lightstand with a Westcott white shoot thru umbrella in an over-under clamshell style lighting setup. I used the 70-200mm L alens and shot in between the two umbrellas.

I had Miyu standing pretty close to the front of the umbrellas, so I really dialed down the power on the flashes. The top strobe was set to about 1/8th power and the lower one to about 1/16th power.   This allowed me to not have to worry about recycle time.  Also, I only needed to use two Pocket Wizard tranceivers – one on the 5D mkII and one on the upper SB26.  The nice thing about the SB26 flashes is that they have a built in optical slave, so the upper flash triggers the lower one.
This two umbrella clamshell lighting setup is one of my favorites – it’s relatively quick to setup and it produces a really clean look on models, which they like.  You can adjust the strength of the shadows by simply dialing down the power of the lower flash or by bumping up the power of the upper flash.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS 1/160@f4

Also tried adding some motion to the hair by fanning it with a reflector, but it’s really hard to do it and fire the camera at the same time without an assistant and without knocking down the umbrellas in the process (forgot the sandbags again).  I did try using the DSLR Remote Pro app on my iPhone to fire the camera which I had tethered to my Macbook Pro, but it was hard to get the timing just right.  An electric fan would have been easier, but unfortunately the studio didn’t have one.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS 1/160@f4

Miyu did a quick restyling of her hair and we did a couple more headshots before moving on to the next setup.  I also had her do a series of different expressions just for fun.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS 1/160@f4

The next setup was on the bed, and for this I went to a new addition to my traveling lighting kit – a collapsible beauty dish by ProKit.

I really like using a beauty dish in studio when doing model photoshoots.  It has a very nice quality of light that is different from using an umbrella or a softbox.  The main problem with the beauty dish is that because of the size and shape, it is impractical for me to take it on trips to Japan.

I first learned about the ProKit line of flash modifiers via the Strobist website.  The collapsible beauty dish is one of their newer products and although it seemed a bit pricey at $100, it looked like it would travel very well. It packs completely flat, so I could store it in the front pocket of my ThinkTank Airport Security 2.0 rolling camera bag.

Setup was relatively quick, if a bit fiddly.  It reminded me a lot of those “build-your-own-starship” paper model making kit books they used to have, you know the ones where you punch out the cardboard pieces and assemble the model by folding and bending, inserting tab A into slot B etc.

Basically you put a thick rubber band around the head of the flash, mount the dome diffuser and reflector onto that, then insert the assembly into the center of the beauty dish (which itself is basically two large semicircles of white plastic that snap together into a shallow cone).  You then secure the dish to the flash with a strip of velcro and congratulations, you have just built the starship Enterprise – er, I mean the ProKit Beauty Dish.

 

  

Canon 5D mkII 24-105mm f4L 1/50@f4 

I was originally going to bring some silk Hawaiian flowers to Japan for this shoot, but totally forgot about getting it until the night before our flight. So I went to WalMart at 1am and found these silk rose petals in the wedding decoration section.  Think it worked out for the better as the color matched her lingerie top.

I also brought a couple other reflectors that ProKit makes.

 

These reflectors also snap together and are secured to the flash by rubber bands and velcro.  Here I have it mounted to a Justin Clamp on a C-stand.  I used this behind the model as the edge light. The beauty dish is the main light.

Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L II 1/160@f4 

 For these last few shots, I added a CTO and a 1/8 CTO gel to each light and set the white balance to tungsten to add a bluish tint to the background.  Had some difficulty trying to get the rim light to give a good edge to the dress and also highlight the hair.  Next time will have to remember to use 2 rim lights instead of just one.

 Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L II 1/160@f5.6

 Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L II 1/160@f2

I really like the shallow depth of field look you can get with the 85mm.  I’m seriously considering getting a second 5DmkII just so I can use different lenses on it.

I almost forgot to mention, on this shoot I used version 2.0 of Shuttersnitch on the iPad to collect the images from the WFT-E4 transmitter on the 5Dmk II and am happy to report it worked much better than version 1.1.9.  Didn’t crash at all during our session together.  I think the next thing I want to try is to have the WFT-E4 send images to both the iPad and my MacBook Pro running Lightroom at the same time.

Studio shoot with Kayo and Yasuko

Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L II Lens iso800 1/60@f2.8

Kayo is a model in Japan that I have wanted to work with for a couple of years now, but everytime we tried to setup a shoot, our schedules just would not allow it.  We caught a break and were finally able to do a studio shoot together this past December.  We shot at the White Studio near Edogawabashi station, which I used on a previous shoot with model Stephanie Kei.

Kayo also brought along another model, her friend Yasuko.  Having a second model on the shoot who could also assist made setups go much quicker.

I also got to give my dream lens a proper workout – the Canon 85mm f1.2L II lens. I picked it up secondhand the day before at Map Camera in Shinjuku along with the first generation IS version of the 70-200 f2.8L. I had originally planned to pick up the IS II version of the 70-200 f2.8L, but by trading in my older versions of these lenses and using my saved up points, I was able to get two lenses for less than the cost of the 70-200 IS II lens.

For this shoot I used the 85mm for about 99% of the images. I only swapped it out on two setups- one where I used a 24-105mm f4L to get just a little wider and then for the 70-200mm f2.8 L IS when I needed to compress a background.  Using a prime lens really helps you think more about setting up a particular shot and working out angles.  You have to “zoom with your feet” as opposed to just standing in one spot and moving the zoom in and out.  In run and gun wedding situations, a zoom lens is still essential IMHO, but I think in the near future (when I can afford it), I might switch to using just primes for model photoshoots.

For the first setup we kept it pretty simple, and just used the large softbox light provided by the studio.  I positioned this off to camera right and we started shooting, alternating between Kayo and Yasuko.

Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L II Lens iso200 1/80@f2.8

Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L II Lens iso250 1/100@f2.8

While we were changing to our next setup, I noticed the light from a window near the bed cast a nice streak against the wall.  Working fast, I had Yasuko switch outfits and positioned her in the path of the light.  Unfortunately the angle of the light from outside did not cast enough light on where she was, so we had to cheat it a bit.  I setup an SB26 with a cardboard snoot to camera right and raised it as high as I could on the light stand.  I then had Kayo angle it down so that the light came down onto Yasuko’s face, mimicking the angle of the light coming in through the window.  We were trying for the look of early morning light coming in through a bedroom window.

Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L II Lens iso400 1/160@f8

Once we finished with this, we started with Kayo’s second look – an open men’s shirt with a tie.  I had her lean against the wall and lit her with an SB26 in a Prokit beauty dish.

Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L II Lens iso200 1/160@f5.6

In order to clear this section of the wall, I had moved a table that had a mirror on it.  While shooting Kayo, I happened to notice her reflection in the mirror.  With a few more positioning adjustments, we were able to get this shot using the mirror as a frame.

Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L II Lens iso200 1/160@f5.6

For Yasuko’s next look, we moved back to the first area.  This time, instead of using the large studio softbox, I used the SB26/beauty dish combo, and another SB26 with a ProKit reflector as a kicker/edge light.  I added a CTO gel + 1/8 CTO gel to both flashes and set the camera white balance on tungsten to add a bluish tint to the light coming in from the window while keeping the model’s color normal.

Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L II Lens iso200 1/160@f4

Also tried adding a bit of motion with a hair dryer.

Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L II Lens iso200 1/160@f3.2

For this next look, I used the SB26/beauty dish as the main light.  A silver California Sunbounce Micro mini below was added to help fill the shadows.
The studio did have a white backdrop, but it was not a roll of white seamless.  It was a slightly off white canvas with some folds in it.  To help hide that, I put another SB26 with a Stofen omnibounce pointed at the backdrop to blow it out to white. I also used the 70-200mm f2.8L IS racked out to 200 to compress/blur the background and hide the edges of the backdrop (which wasn’t very wide)

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS Lens iso200 1/160@f4

We then did some shots back in the area of the studio we first started in.  For these I used just the natural light coming in from the window.

Canon 5D mkII 24-105mm f4 IS Lens iso800 1/60@f4

The studio is quite small.  To get a wider shot of Kayo from this particular angle, I had to switch to the 24-105.  Thinking a 50mm 1.2 L lens is next on my to-buy list.

Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L II Lens iso250 1/80@f1.8

We switched to the bed set next as we were starting to run out of time on our studio rental.

For Kayo’s set I used the SB26/Beauty dish for the main and another SB26 with a ProKit reflector for the backlight. Yasuko added motion to Kayo’s hair by fanning her with a California Sunbounce Micro Mini reflector.

 Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L II Lens iso200 1/160@f4.5

For Yasuko’ set, I added some silk rose petals and used a shoot thru umbrella on the main light for a softer feel.

Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L II Lens iso200 1/125@f4.5

We ended with a few headshots.  I used 2 SB26 flashes, both with shoot thru umbrellas stacked vertically in a clamshell configuration.  California Sunbounce Micro Mini reflector used again for adding motion to the hair, although a couple of times it almost knocked over the lightstands and umbrellas.  Need to remember to sandbag the lightstands next time.

 

Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L II Lens iso200 1/160@f4

This was a really fun shoot to do, and there was not enough time to do everything we wanted.  Looking forward to the next time I’ll be able to work with Kayo and Yasuko.

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Headshot session with April

A few weeks ago I did a short studio headshot session with model April Boone and makeup artist Kahulani.
Because we were working in pretty tight quarters in the studio (there were two other sets that were being built for an upcoming TV production), we kept the lighting setup relatively simple – 2 AB800s, a large softbox above and a small softbox below for fill. A Nikon SB26 was used as the backlight.

 We kept the background mostly dark, but added some color with an AB800 with a 40 degree grid and a blue gel.

Later we added 2 AB800s in gridded strip softboxes behind the model and swapped out the upper large softbox for a beauty dish.  The image really started to come together once we brought in a Vornado fan to add motion to her hair.

This was our last setup of the day and one of my favorite shots.  April had the perfect outfit to go with these guns.

Just to try something different I added a blue gel to one of the edge lights to throw some color into her hair, to sort of give a nighttime feel to the shot.  Kind of like a glow from a nearby neon sign or something. It’s very faint, but you can just barely see it on the left.  An idea to play around with more in future shoots maybe.

I also just heard from the makeup artist that with the help of this final image, April was able to get a part on an upcoming episode of Hawaii Five-0 .  Congratulations April!

12 hours, 800+ frames, 3 cases of Red Bull: The Four Elements Photoshoot

Wow, that was a really long day!  But it was FUN!

Makeup artist Kahulani and model Julie LeBlond wanted to do a “Four Elements” shoot in the studio.  We had a lot of help on this one – Ronald, Jeane & Alex were our assistants.

To make the setups go as quickly as possible, we chose to use the same basic lighting on the model and just change up the background lighting and hair light between each look.

To light the model, we setup 4 AB800s with these modifiers: a large softbox above, medium softbox below, and two strip softboxes on either side.  Each light was controlled with the Alien Bees Wired Remote Control.
Since the lights were in so close to the model’s face, the sliders on all four of the lights were set at minimum power.  Shot through the middle of this setup with a 5D mkII and 70-200mm f2.8L lens on a tripod.  Settings were iso 200, 1/160@f5.6.

Because we set up the main lights about 10-15 feet in front of the white wall, the light falloff allowed the white wall to go dark grey. For the background light we used another AB800 aimed at the white wall behind Julie.  We covered the light with a different colored gel to change the color of the wall for each look.

For Julie’s hair light, we used a Nikon SB26 set at about 1/8th power.  This we also gelled differently for each look.

While Kat was working on Julie’s first look “Fire”, we put red gels on both background and hair lights.  We also added a 20 degree grid to reduce the light on the wall to just a small spot of color.

The look really started to come together once we put the hair light directly behind Julie and set up a fan to add motion to her hair.

For the next look “Wind”,  we went with a high-key look.  We took off the gels and put a shoot thru umbrella on the background light.  To help add a subtle suggestion of wind/clouds to the background, we setup a couple of C-stands and strung some white tulle between them.

Because of the shallow depth of field, the tulle blurred out and left just a hint of movement in the background.

Each look also incorporated a neck tattoo to represent each element – Earth, Water, Fire, Air.  The graphic used was similar to the ones from the movie “The Fifth Element”.

For the “Earth” look, we took off the umbrella and put on a green gel for the background light.

To help break up the light, we tried various things- shooting the light through water bottles, stacks of plastic cups, etc.  We finally just put an imitation silk tree in front of the background light.

This was one of the more elaborate looks of the day and Kat worked extra hard to make each look amazing.  The eyelashes were Kat’s own invention.

For this “Earth” look, Kat also incorporated some greenery taken out of her own backyard.

We added a CTO gel to Julie’s hair light and dialed down the power a bit to give a more subdued look.  You can just barely see the hair light on her neck and shoulders.

For the last look, “Water” we brought out the C-stands again and draped a blue satin bedsheet over them.  Alex positioned the fan underneath the sheet to add some random movement.  We lit it with a blue-gelled AB800.  After shooting a couple of test frames, we added another SB26 with a blue gel to help fill in the background from the other side.

To go along with Julie’s wet hair for this look, we added some water droplets.  Alex was able to macgyver together a spray bottle with a bottle of water and the sprayer from a Windex bottle.

We then had Alex spray the water behind Julie as we shot. With a blue gel on the Nikon SB26 hair light, the water spray lit up pretty well.

We took over 800 frames to get to these final four images, and it was a very long day of work.  The results however, were really worth it.  I’ve always wanted to try shooting a concept like this and I’m glad I got to be a part of it. Mahalo to everyone for all their hard work!