More from Saturday's photoshoot

Finally cleared up my video editing backlog and had more time to work on images from this past Saturday's photoshoot with wolfpup.


I put this image in my previous post, but wanted to play around a bit with the cropping in Lightroom. I kinda like this angle, as it fills the frame more with the model and gives it a little more drama. The only thing is that it cuts off more of the rock formation to the right. Haven't decided which one to use yet. Any suggestions?



Because I didn't have my Vagabond battery pack available, I wasn't able to use my studio strobes to overpower the sun like I had originally intended. I experimented in this shot using 2 SB26s on 1/2 power each. One is connected to a hotshoe adapter on the lightstand. The second one is ball-bungied right below it.


For this shot, I only had about 15 minutes to setup the set. This was a spur of the moment idea to try to recreate a bedroom set in the middle of a studio.

I covered a table with a white satin sheet and had the model climb onto that. I setup a c-stand next to the table and hung a couple of white drapes from the c-stand. Finally, in the background I put up a couple of folding wooden doors to simulate a closet.

For lighting I used an AB800 in a large softbox just out of the frame to camera right. I setup another AB800 barebulb behind the drapes - this was to simulate the sun coming in through the window.

After I took a test shot, I noticed the background was too dark, so I added another AB800 with a small softbox behind her. This lit up the background and also gave her an edge light.

I shot with a 70-200mm lens at about 135mm, wide open at f2.8. This blurs the background and helps hide the makeshift setup.

Saturday Photoshoot at Dragon's Teeth

Shot this past Saturday with wolfpup, a Model Mayhem member I met through fellow photographer Allan of iCandy Maui.

I had originally intended to use a White Lightning 1600 strobe to try to overpower the sun, but unfortunately ran into some problems with my Vagabond battery pack while testing it the night before. This left me with using reflectors and my Nikon SB26s for lighting.

For the first setup at Dragon's Teeth in Kapalua, I had the model wrap some sheer fabric around her and try to get it flowing in the breeze. She had to struggle with the 10 yards of material (I bought too much of it), but managed to do it after several tries. It's harder than it looks, especially while trying to balance on sharp jagged rocks, and she really worked hard at it. I was really impressed with the results we got once we got it working.

For lighting, because I wasn't able to overpower the sun, I ended up using the sun as my main light and a California Sunbounce silver mini on a lightstand to fill. Didn't have any sandbags so I used a couple of big rocks to hold down the lightstand.

We then changed up the look a little. We wanted to see how the red kimono and sword would look against the sky.

The rock formations at Dragon's Teeth really lend themselves to cool shots. I think I might want to do a future shoot there with maybe a sci-fi theme.

We were a little pressed for time as I was booked for a wedding later that afternoon, so we headed to the studio in Kahului to try and do a few studio shots.

This was setup in the storage room adjacent to the studio. For her main light I setup an AB800 in a beauty dish in front. For the back light, I mounted an AB800 on a C-stand and boomed it above and behind her. To this light I added a 20 degree grid and a 1/2 CTO gel then carefully aimed it so that it hit the back of her hair.

Really wish we had more time to work together as we got some pretty good shots from this session.