14th lightGIANTS Friday night shoot (last shoot for 2011) “A bit of everything”
The last shoot for 2011 was was a bit of a mix. The first theme was a body builder who transformed over the night from someone in a business suit to a masked Mexican wrestler. Secondly we had 2 new models strutting their stuff, they also mixed it up a bit with body builder.
A special thanks to our models |links| for a great job and putting up with all out crazy ideas.
We only use 1 basic light set up but changed light formers during the evening. The was we could have a similar fell and flow through the photos but have different looks and affects to match the situation. As the evening went on we added a smoke machine and coloured filters to the hair light this changed the atmosphere of the images witch was planned as a part of the transformation over the evening. Also that way we didn't have to adjust the key light.
Well that almost wrappers up the last shoot of 2011 Thanks every one who participated and contributed to all the work shops in 2011 but what we have planed for 2012 will be even bigger and better......
And finally the world famous making of video.
10th lightGIANTS Friday night shoot. “Glamours/GQ style”
This time the Friday night shoot theme was based around fashion magazines like GQ. To achieve this high fashion looks we had 2 models "sandra" and "lars" (Some of you my recognise Sandra from my rocker girl shoot). Speaking very generally mens' fashion mags tend to use a lot harder light source them womens' magazines. There for we limited the the lights sources to beauty dishes, large parabolic umbrellas and a ring flash.
One thing i noticed very early in the shoot is that a 2m umbrella can (that we were using as a fill flash), was putting out way to much light although it was set to minimum power. My mistake was that the silver umbrella was so large and so close to the subject, that it was acting as a reflector for the key light. After a slight bit of repositioning the problem was solved.
For a lot of the solo photos of Lars we only used a beauty dish with a honeycomb grid. That extra hard light works wonders on is chiseled cheek bones and jaw line. Maybe we should have added a hair light for a bit of separation, but at the time the results were looking good.
and if its finished in time...... the world famous making of video 
9th lightGIANTS Friday night shoot. “Birds of Paradise”
Once again Lisa Futterer (http://www.hairart-lisa.de/) was back in the studio doing some of her make up magic. This time we were shooting "the Birds of Paradise". I based the lighting around quick easy set ups to get different looks quickly, and like always I had a set of lighting (with a bit of free time at the end to play with the lighting). We started with one set up and step by step changed the background lighting to create different looks.
The idea was to leave the key light and a reflector set up in the same place and only change the background lighting.
- We started with 2 flashed pointed at the background to blow the grey paper out to become almost white.
- Later turned the strobes around towards the models. This caused the background to become a lot darker (almost black) and creat a rim lightin on the models
- Then I added a 4th flash on the ground behind the models, with barn doors and colour gels we could control the colour of the back ground.
- Towards the end we changed the grey seamless paper background for curtains
Using these quick easy steeps we created 4 different looks with next to no effort or time.
It was a quick and creative way to get different looks when you are pressed for time ....
and finally the world famous video
Thanks to Daniel Neu
Sync Speed
Shooting with flash is a bit different to shooting with out flash. The key part of determining any flash exposure is the lens’ aperture, the camera ISO, and the power out put of your flash. The exposure happens when the flash fires and your shutter needs to be open for the duration of the flash.
The duration of the flash from electronic flash units is quite short, about 1/1000th of a second or even faster is not uncommon. The exposure is made while the shutter is open, and the flash fires. Your cameras shutter speed will be slower that the flashes there for you freeze that moment in time. In short the shutter opens, the flash fires, and the shutter closes. The amount of light that get through to your chip (or film) is determined by the power of the flash and the F/ (aperture) used. Finally the ISO settings of your camera will determine how much of that light it keeps or can use.
If you are shooting at a higher shutter speed than your camera can synchronise at you will only get part of the picture. What part is missing depends on which way the shutter travels and how much you get is determined by the shutter speed you selected. If your shutter speed is set way to fast you will only get a black frame, if your sync speed is set only slightly to fast you will get a black stripe on the side of your photo. Modern DSLR cameras have maximum synchronization speed that varies with each camera so please look at your cameras hand book to find out the maximum sync speed (or X speed)
There are several different affects you can achieve by adjusting your sync speed. Lower shutter speeds allow more of the ambient light to influence overall exposure, mostly the background (because the aperture you select determines the main subject’s exposure). Using a slow shutter speed can "open up" the background allowing more ambient light to affect the exposure and show more separation between subject and background.
But be aware that the colour temperature of any artificial lights in the ambient light. Depending on how bright they may be, using slower shutter speeds can add unwanted colour that may pollute skin tones in your shot. The solution: Increase shutter speed but not too much. On the other hand, warmer light sources can add pleasant warmth to the photographs.
A faster exposure speed will generally result in a sharper image due to less movement during the exposure. It will also isolate the subject more from any back ground as less ambient light will be captured in the exposure.
solidcase Guess the Lighting (competition)
Thanks to the guys from "solidcase" we have our give away/contest.
The concept is easy:
I have taken a photo of a solidcase in the lightGIANTS studio, you have to guess how i did the lighting. How much flashes, which light formers, positions...
The Prize
a iPhone 4 solidcase worth €98,- ... in fact its the one seen in the contest photo.
The Rules
- The first correct answer is the winner.
- Members of the lightGIANTS, solidcase and family may not take part
- You may only have 3 guess per day
- You may ask yes/no questions, but they count as a guess
- When guess the lighting I will answer with no, close, very close, winner
- Each day the lighting isn't guessed I will give one clue
- Any winners from outside Germany my have to cover extra postage
- shipping within Germany is covered by the lightGIANTS
- lightGIANTS can not be responsible for any local taxes but the packet will be declared as a prize
- We can only accept answers in English and German
- We don't just want to know the position of the lighting but also what light formers were used
- The power settings of the lighting isn't relevant but if you think you know then you are welcome to guess
- Judges have the final say , and no correspondence will be entered into
That is enough rules just remember that this is mostly all just good fun with a great prize .... Here is the contest photo:
click to enlarge
I have posted a larger version than normal so you can see a bit more detail in the lighting and here is the EXIF data to help get you started ....
Camera: Sony DSLR-A900
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/8.0
Lens: 50 mm 2.8 macro
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