Digital Photography Lighting
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Cure Magazine Shoot
I recently photographed a medical caregiver who was nominated to be included in a special book for Cure Magazine. An essay was written by Kady Lane about her friend and nurse, Bob Garvin, of Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles.
I was contracted to photograph the two of them any way I wanted by the magazine. A dream assignment, since anytime a client says, ” Do whatever you want we like your style,” just wish I could hear that more often.
I arrived to find the area I was to make the portrait in total afternoon shade. Very blue light due to the shade and I had about 1 1/2 hours of light left in the day.
Moving to another spot was out of the question, since one of my subjects wasn’t to mobile due to her illness. Actually, Kady would probably have moved, but I didn’t want her to.
So my original idea of a shaft of light on the main subject quickly was dashed and I looked around for some inspiration.
I found it at the entrance of the cancer wing. Beautiful red rock tile/slate covered the entrance and would make a great background for my portraits.
I took an ambient exposure and set my camera at f8 @ 200/sec at ISO 400. So, I set my flash at 1/2 power and my camera to manual. I ended up shooting at f20 @ 200 which is 3 stops over the ambient and made for a very dramatic lighting ratio.
Bob is an amazing person who was funny and personable. I can see why Kady nominated him and his story was accepted to be published.
The trick to this type of lighting is to modify the light that is coming out of your flash. You can use a very expensive gizmo or make your own.
I bought a piece of black foam paper for less than a buck and put some velcro on it and wrapped it around my 580 EXII flash and made a snoot. That’s the shape of the light that you see on the wall behind the subjects.
Then it was just a matter of moving the light and the subjects into the most pleasing pose possible.
5 Responses
@Roxane Thanks! I actually bought a piece of black foam paper at Wal-Mart put velcro on it and wrapped it around the flash. It was only about 8″ long and it kept the light formed into a small rectangle-shaped form. I think the light looks warm because of the red slate, light takes on the color of what it is reflected from. So, red slate equals warm light! Thanks for visiting, hope you can come back. Mike
Hi Mike,
I was reading the story about the care giver and how you used a piece of black paper to wrap around your flash to get the lighting affect you wanted, and I was wondering if you could post a picture of what the looked like? I would like to try that, but I am very visual and it always helps to see what it looks like.
The pictures were warm and sweet. I am glad you had that opportunity to be apart of something that is so inspiring and kind.
Thanks,
Sylvia
Hi Mike! Again great job! I do that sometimes with my flashes too… its amazing what a piece of foam paper and velcro can do. I’ve heard it called a Snoot before. Its cool because you can pretty much alter what the beam of light would look like. For a more directional beam, I like using a grid which is pretty much the same thing as a snoot, but I take a bunch of black straws (all about 2 inches in length) together and form them in the shape of my flash then wrap them in the foam paper the place it on the flash. It makes the light nice and tight. Pretty cool stuff! Hope to work with you again soon!!
Glenn Z
@Sylvia Great question, I’ll post an image of a snoot and a few other things, too. Thanks for commenting and your kind words.
Mike
Hi Mike! Nice site. So… If I get this right, you forced the shaft of light by using your flash, masked into a shape? (showing in the middle photo) Wow! The light is so warm.