Ever since I was introduced to David Hobby (aka
Strobist) via
Gulf Photo Plus (
GPP) last year, I have been experimenting on and off with off-camera flash lighting techniques. The results always inspire me. Now, I'm not saying that my results are good or unique, but I always feel that I am taking one more step in the right direction.
After this years
GPP '09 event I was yet again inspired to try out these techniques once again. While attending one of the
Dubai Strobist events, I happened to come across a burned down warehouse. Not really sure what caused the blaze but, I wonder if it had anything to do with insurance as are quite a few blazes
rumoured to be caused by here in the UAE. Anyway, I scooped out these 'spaces' that had the right mood and ambiance for a strobist style shoot.
A few weeks later I visited this place with my wife on the way back from a weekend outing. I convinced my wife to pose for me. 'Convinced' (though she loves to be in front of the camera), because she felt that I hadn't given her sufficient warning for her to get ready!
Her mood is reflected in the first picture. After a few clicks and showing her the result, she gradually warmed up to the idea of this style of picture taking.
Basically, my setup is one Canon 580 EXII flash mounted with an umbrella in reflective mode on a stand connected to a Pocket Wizard.
First picture taken with the camera at ISO 400, 1/60 sec, f5 shooting at about 58mm.
The second was taken using my macro lens as it opens up to f2.8. Since I wanted to freeze the jump, blur (as much as possible) the background and decrease the ambient by increasing shutter speed to 1/100 sec I captured this exposure at f2.8 at 100mm while sticking at ISO 400.
The last picture was taken at f4.5 @ 1/80 sec using the 100mm macro lens. I intentionally put up this snap as it just shows the umbrella on the top left of the frame.
Overall, this exercise helped me build up my confidence in the strobist ways. I have since used the experience and knowledge gained to apply in my paid assignments. I hope to post some of them soon....
Ciao
Charles
A long time coming...this image was taken in March of 2007 but didn't know how & where to post it. It was left forgotten in the dark recesses of my hard drive. Always thought that this was in interesting image.
I like this picture and is the first attempt at a pseudo-artistic photo enhancement. Treated entirely in Lightroom, I wanted a sort of surreal look without loosing the authenticity of the image (whatever that means). This image consists of 2 versions. One is nearly black and white while the other has been desaturated a quite a bit and colours selectively added to certain elements.
