Beach photoshoot with Dani

Canon 5D mkII 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 400 1/200 @f16

A few months ago we did a sunset photoshoot down in south Maui with model/actress Dani Jae.  Dani was a lot of fun to work with and her wide range of expressions and movement gave us a nice variety of looks by the end of the evening.

The lighting was kept relatively simple for this shoot - we mainly used a silver California Sunbounce Pro to work with the existing light.  Later on for sunset we switched to a single AB800 with a 7" reflector powered by a Vagabond Mini Lithium Battery pack. Triggering was done via PocketWizard MiniTT1  with the AC3 ZoneController and PocketWizard FlexTT5 with the AC9 AlienBees Adapter.  This allowed us to remotely control the power level of the AB800 from the camera.

We started off with some basic headshots.  As we were walking down the pathway to the beach, Dani laughed as I suddenly stuck my head into the branches of some trees.  While I probably appeared slightly insane to her (and a lot of models that have worked with me probably think the same way), what I was looking for was a spot where I could use branches in the foreground of the shot and use the sun to backlight both the model and the branches in the foreground.

We positioned Dani in between the trees and had her escort Ryan bring the Sunbounce in close for her main light. I first tried shooting this with the 85mm f1.2, but it blurred out the branches a bit too much.  Switching to the 70-200 f2.8 helped define the foreground branches better.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 200 1/250 @f5.6

Canon 5D mkII 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 200 1/250 @f5.6

I really liked how the sun lit up her hair from behind in combination with the quality of light that the Sunbounce produced and it was a bonus to have a great assistant like Ryan to help us out by holding the reflector in whichever position we needed it.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 200 1/160 @f7.1

We also tried a few shots on a nearby bunker.  As the sun got lower in the sky, it was getting obscured by the trees, so we had little pools of sunlight to work with.   By positioning Dani in certain spots, we were able to get sunlight to fall only on her hair.

Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L  iso 200 1/400 @f2.8

Next Dani changed up her look and we shot against the side of the bunker.

Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L  iso 200 1/160 @f2.8

Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L  iso 200 1/125 @f2.8

We then headed down to the beach as it was getting close to sunset.  We did a few final shots with the Sunbounce before switching to the strobe. To get enough light on her, Ryan had to hold the reflector really close - just out of the left side of the frame in this shot.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 400 1/2500 @f2.8

Canon 5D mkII 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 400 1/2500 @f2.8

While waiting for the sun to get lower, we tried a few jumping shots. The sun was still relatively bright so in order to stay within the camera's flash sync speed of 1/160, had to bring the iris down to f16 and power up the flash to full power.  Something I need to experiment with next time is using an ND filter so that I can shoot at a wider aperture.

Canon 5D mkII 24-70 f2.8L iso 400 1/160 @f16

As the sun got lower, the colors really started to pop.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 400 1/160 @f16 

Canon 5D mkII 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 400 1/160 @f16

These last few on the beach I wanted to get more sky in the shot, but could not get low enough because of the way the  beach sloped down to the water.  Maybe next time I'll try digging a hole to jump into.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 400 1/160 @f8

Our last setup was at the showers near the beach park entrance.  Shooting flowing water using strobes is something that I've been wanting to do for a while, and this was a nice opportunity to try out some ideas.

The main light was a Canon 580EX II with a Gary Fong Lightsphere. We backlit the water with a Nikon SB26 and a blue gel.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200 f2.8L IS II iso 1600 1/60 @f5.6

Would have liked to experiment further with adding one or two additional lights, but it was getting late and our model was pretty soggy by then.  Didn't want to push it too far and have her possibly catch a cold. Always be mindful of what you are putting your model through during a shoot. You don't want to put her through hell.

Canon 5D mkII 24-70 f2.8L iso 200 1/200 @f2.8

Finding reflectors in the environment

When out shooting on location, it's always good to keep an eye out for things that can be used as reflectors. Whether it's the glare of a late afternoon sun reflected in a window of a nearby building or the wall of a public restroom, reflectors can be found all around in places you would not expect to see them.

Even in a parking lot. . . 

While prepping for a test shoot at Ironwood Beach in Kapalua, I noticed some trees next to an empty parking stall that would make a nice backdrop for a photo.  What made it even better was that there was a white Toyota Tacoma in the next stall which acted as a natural reflector for the late afternoon sun.

When the model Stephanie arrived, I had her stand in the empty stall and we did a few quick shots using nothing but natural light.  Since she was pretty close to the trees, I shot with the lens wide open to blur the background as much as possible. In addition, there was sunlight streaming through the branches of the trees so Stephanie had to position herself carefully so that we wouldn't get spots of bright sunlight on her face (you can see some of it on her right shoulder in this first image).

One thing to keep in mind when using reflectors in the environment is that light will take on the color of whatever it is bouncing off of.  For example, sunlight that reflects off of a tan or brown wall will cast a warmer light on your model than sunlight bounced off of a blue wall.

Sunset shoot with Valerie - working with the Pocket Wizard Flex TT1

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 200 1/250 @ f2.8

After we left the studio, we headed out with model Valerie Wessel to the west side of Maui to try to catch the sunset.  At first we were planning to go to 505 Front Street in Lahaina, since the water is usually pretty calm there.  While driving along the coast however, we came across this old fallen tree on the side of the road that was halfway in the water and I thought it would make for some interesting photos. Besides, it kinda sucks these days that you have to pay for parking nearly everywhere in Lahaina.

We started on top of the fallen tree with the model's back towards the sun.  Our lighting was a WL1600 with a 7" reflector, powered by the Vagabond Mini Lithium and triggered with the Pocket Wizard Flex TT1 trigger.

We just got the Pocket Wizard Flex TT1transmitter and TT5 tranceiver a few months ago and have been using them on a few wedding shoots to trigger an off-camera strobe. One of the things I like about the TT1 is the lower profile it has on the camera as opposed to the Plus II tranceivers.




Another nice feature of the TT1 is the ability to do what is called HyperSync, which allows you to exceed the native flash sync speed of the camera when using a non-Canon flash such as the WL1600.  The TT1 comes with software that runs on PC or Mac and lets you plug in the TT1 via USB and tweak the internal settings of the TT1 so that you can fine tune this ability to your particular camera/flash combination.

In this case I was using a Canon 5D mkII which has a sync speed of 1/160.  The Hypersync feature of the TT1 allowed us to crank the shutter speed up to 1/500, with the only catch being that the WL1600 had to be set at full power.  Dropping the power level of the flash down meant we had to back down our shutter speed to 1/250.  You can find out more about the TT1 and hypersync on this blog by Adam Swords.

Couple of drawbacks of the Flex TT1/TT5. First the build quality of the hotshoe mount blows chunks is relatively poor. The TT1 is designed to mount in your camera's hotshoe, then you have the option to have a flash mounted on top of the TT1.

Although the hotshoe on top of the TT1 is sturdy metal, the foot of the TT1 that slides into your camera's hotshoe is made of plastic.  Freakin' plastic. Mounting a Canon 580 EX II flash on top of the TT1 stresses the plastic foot to the point where it will eventually snap off.  Which actually happened to me during a wedding the day after I had received the unit.

Luckily I was able to order a replacement hotshoe mount (actually bought several 'cause I just KNOW it's going to wind up breaking on me again) and it is relatively easy to replace.   Directions for how repair the hotshoe foot on the Pocket Wizard Flex TT5. The procedure for the TT1 is roughly the same.

The second problem has to do with range.  When using the TT1 and TT5 with a Canon580EX or EXII flash, you are limited to a range of about 20-30 feet.  Anything past that and the flash triggers intermittently.  Pocket Wizard says this has to do with RF interference generated by those particular flash models.  Some of the solutions they suggest are:

1. Use the the AC5 RF Soft shield on your flash.  I don't care for this since it blocks access to the flash controls and makes the flash look like a saggy sock puppet.
2. Use the AC7 RF Hard shield on your flash.  I didn't go this route either because the design of the AC7 hard shield prevents you from using an external battery pack with the flash.  What the hell were they thinking?!?!
3. Use an older model Canon flash, like the 550EX.  (This is what I've been doing lately when using the TT1 at weddings)

Sorry for the rant, I got sidetracked for a minute there.  Ok, back to the shoot.

Using the TT1 and a shutter speed of 1/500 while firing the WL1600 at full power allowed us to easily overpower the afternoon sun.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/500 @ f11

Just for kicks, I also wanted to try out the RadioPopper triggers so that we could experiment with what could be done with small flashes in this setting.  We rigged up a painter's pole with a Canon 580EX flash and the Radiopoppers and fired off a few shots.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/1000 @ f8

Had to fix a little underexposure in Lightroom, but I liked the effect that we got with it.  Having the 580EX on the painter's pole really made a difference as it was easier to get the light up higher and closer to the model for a better lighting angle than we could get with the WL1600 on the standard light stand.

To do some wide scenic shots we turned Valerie around and shot from the other side of the tree.  This time we used the sun as her main light and filled in the shadow areas with a silver California Sunbounce Mini reflector held by Ronald.  Use a circular polarizer filter on the lens to pull in more detail in the sky.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 100 1/160 @ f5.6

We then moved to the branches of the tree that were half submerged in the water.  We used the reflected light of the Sunbounce as Valerie's main light and used the sun as her rim light. I swapped out the circular polarizer for a neutral density filter so that I could shoot with the aperture wide open and blur the background.  Used a faster shutter speed to freeze the water splash.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 400 1/1250 @ f2.8

For this image I needed a higher camera angle to put the ocean completely behind the model so I stood on two of the larger branches of the fallen tree, trying to keep my balance and not drop the camera into the surf.  Probably should rethink my no-camera strap policy when shooting in these kinds of environments.

Also need to send props out to both Ronald and Valerie for this shot.  Ron for being willing to get completely soaked in the surf as he got the reflector in close for the best lighting.  Valerie for her ability to hold the pose and expression steadily and patiently as wave after wave crashed into her from behind while waiting for me to get the timing of the shot right.

For sunset, Valerie changed back into the blue dress that she had worn in the studio.  We used the WL1600 light  and the Flex TT1 trigger for the rest of these shots, this time adding a beauty dish to the mix.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 400 1/250 @ f8

Had Valerie whip the dress around a bit to add some movement to the image.

 Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 400 1/500 @ f8

The original plan we had for going to 505 Front Street was so that we could get the model almost neck deep into the calm water and do a headshot to show off the makeup against the sunset.  Since by now it was too late to change locations, and the surf conditions by the tree prevented us from attempting that particular idea, we compromised and did an implied nude shot against the sky.

Since Valerie was wearing a nude-colored swimsuit underneath the dress, this was relatively quick to set up. We had her pull the top of the dress down to around her waist and adjusted the placement of her arms and the angle of the lighting to hide the swimsuit top in the shadows of this image.

  Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 400 1/250 @ f5.6

The wind started to pick up which made for some nice dynamic images towards the end of our shoot together.

 Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm f2.8L IS II lens iso 400 1/250 @ f5.6

Alyssa and Alana - Old bridge shoot

Kahulani, Ronald and I met up with models Alyssa and Alana for another shoot, this time in the late afternoon at the old train bridge in Wailuku.

Since we had three photographers this time, we planned to do two different lighting setups in separate areas so that we could all be shooting at the same time. Due to time constraints and the high winds we experienced that day, we ended up doing just one lighting setup and rotating the photographers and models through that.

While we were setting up our lighting at the location, Alyssa was already coming up with ideas I never even thought of doing at this location. Since our lighting was setup in the other arch from where she started doing these poses, we ended up shooting this with just natural light.  The sun had just gone below the mountains behind our location, but there was still enough light from the sky coming down so give her a soft rim light.  Shot it with the 85mm for a shallow DOF to pull the attention to Alyssa and also to blur out the fencing way in the background.

 Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L iso400 1/640@f2.0

It was really windy at this location in the early evening and it stirred up a lot of dust.  It seemed to calm down a bit when we first got there so I thought "maaaaaaybe I could get away with putting up the Octodome if I braced the edge of it against one of the walls".

Big Mistake.

As soon as I set it up, the wind picked up again and started whipping the Octodome around in every direction EXCEPT the one we wanted.

So then I tried switching to a medium softbox.  Of course the wind just laughed at me and said "Dude, don't even THINK about it".

Soooo we finally went to the beauty dish which seemed to hold up pretty well.

Yeah I know, I know. I shoulda just started with the darn dish in the first place.
I'm dense like that sometimes.

So here is the lighting setup.  If you look at the photo at the very beginning of this post, you'll see that each wall has two archways. About the third wall in, one of the openings is sealed up. We set up in this archway, with the sealed wall behind as a backdrop.

Our main light was an Alien Bee 800 and beauty dish setup in front of the archways off to the right about 45 degrees. Behind the archway wall are 4 more lights - another AB800 and 3 Nikon SB26s. One of the SB26 flashes was used to light the back wall and the rest of the lights were setup to rim light the models and also to light the ground behind them.

This is the view from behind showing one of the rim lights- the AB800. If you look past the wall off to the left, you can see about where we placed the main beauty dish light.

Here Ronald is setting up one of the SB26 flashes on a lightstand as a rim light.  There is one more SB26 on the ground that has a CTO gel on it to add some warmth light to the ground behind the models.

Another angle (shot from the archway where the models were standing) showing the AB800 rim light and also the third SB26 which is aimed at the wall. This third SB26 was gelled to add color to the background.

All these lights were mostly triggered with Pocket Wizards.  The SB26 on the ground didn't have one attached (ran out of Pocket Wizards) so it was set to trigger optically instead. 

It was starting to get dark by this time, so we had to hurry. For the first look, we used a dark blue gel to light the wall behind the arch. If you look closely at the background light, you'll see a diagonal shaft of light below the blue - that was a happy accident - because the blue gel didn't quite cover the flash head completely.

 Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L iso200 1/160@f7.1

I'd be lying if I said we meant to do that.  Sometimes things happen and it's best to just roll with it.  Especially when you're rushing to get the shots done before the wind covers your models in dirt.

Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L iso200 1/160@f7.1

For the second look, we swapped out the blue gel with a red gel for the background.  This time we were able to fully cover the flash head with the red gel for a more solid background color.

 Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L iso200 1/160@f7.1

 Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L iso200 1/160@f7.1

Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L iso200 1/160@f7.1

 

Canon 5D mkII 85mm f1.2L iso200 1/160@f7.1

 Had some more ideas I wanted to try out at this location, but will have to save them for another time.