Small softbox on location
Neil June 27th, 2008
Continuing my explanations from the gear I use - today again the small softbox:
So I was out on an engagement shoot and had done all the normal stuff and wanted a little something extra…
But the simple daylight angle was not very flattering and the busy environment of the playground rope piece made for a very messy image - cool - but a little too messy - what could I do quickly to improve the impact of my couple in the space…
Here I am climbing around searching for the right perspective….
Read on to see the final shot and read about my camera settings making it….
This was shot at ISO 100, F8 and 1/250th of a second with a 15mm fisheye lens.
The small soft box in a large environment creates a pool of light. With such a wide angle lens I was able to obtain a vignetted feel highlighting the engagement ring and the couple with soft directional light in the midday sun. To darken the background I chose a low ISO and a fast shutter speed which has the effect of lowering the contrast of the ambient light. I increased the output from the TTL flash head to +1 EV for the flash output, transforming the flash light from fill to the main exposure source. A quick tweak in photoshop could dramatically increase the contrast without blocking the shadow tones if I thought the client would like a more dramatic look - so I’ve created a very flexible capture. As I listen to the shadows, I note that there is a nice Rembrandt caress across both their faces.
Hey Neil,
The light here made a huge difference. How did you attach it to the playground equipment?
In this case I just balanced it if I remember correctly, although - a superclamp would do it also.
[...] Strobist: Canon 550 in Photoflex XTC softbox held in hand camera left - balanced against ambient. [...]