Testing New Lighting Set Ups
September/18/2011 10:19 PM
When testing new lighting set ups things can get a bit boring if you don't add a bit of life to the test images...
For anyone interested in the technical aspects, these were done with a bounce flash and four slaves, where I placed them all and how much intensity they're spitting out is a secret!
Some people like to use the word "strobe" but to me strobes are those flashing light thingys usually found in discos or some potheads apartment, that make things look like a stop motion movie and tend to give me a headache and make me nauseous, so I use flashes and slaves.... besides, "flash" is a much prettier word than "strobe".
The flash sends out a burst of light and slaves being slaves follow suit spreading joyous, luminous light everywhere and showering all within their reaches with a momentary blast of white light! Ah! Tis a right beautiful thing!
Using flashes is much more challenging that using continuous light, for you have to envision where the light will flow and spread to.
Striving to keep my work as "green" as possible I like to only use what can be reused. Not using continuous light keeps my footprint rather small as does the use of only the best rechargeable batteries available so that I am not constantly adding to the landfills and such.
It is not uncommon to find me moving the slaves about numerous times during a single shoot, I am very fussy when it comes to lighting as it has the power to make or break an image. My slave flashes understand this and usually cooperate quite willingly, as long as I keep them fed.
Oh and yes, natural light is a marvelous invention, but that is not what I was playing with the other day....