And well may you ask what is going on here!
The flash photography workshop in Seattle was one floor up in the hotel from where Electronic Arts where holding a Community Day for a video game titled “Army of Two: The 40th Day“. A community Day is when a video game company (such as Electronic Arts) brings in some of their biggest fans, as well as bloggers and site owners to get an exclusive look at the game before it releases to the public.
As we were walking back from the session outdoors where we worked with manual flash and softboxes, it just seemed like a good idea to have our two models, Julia and Jamei, join the two characters from Army of Two for an impromptu session there in the hotel lobby.
For the techies amongst us who would want to know about the lighting .. the lighting was with two softboxes at 90′ from each other. The one softbox was on my left, and close to me. The other was 90′ from me to my right, pointing at the models and beleaguered warriors. Each softbox had a speedlight, with the one to my right set to twice as much power as the one to my left.
As for the wild child Julia sprawled there on the ground .. um, yeah .. that’s all Julia. No direction needed!
Here are some other favourite images from the workshop ..
Julia, from the session outside on the streets of downtown Seattle.
Lighting is by a single softbox to my right: 1/200th @ f5.6 @ 200 ISO
The image has seen a fair amount of retouching in Photoshop.
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Jamei and Julia, lit by two video lights.
Thanks again to everyone who attended and made this workshop an energising experience! And a big thank you to our two incredible models.
Hi Neil,
It was wonderful to meet and work with you at this workshop. It was so much fun! Just finished up my wedding tonight where we implimented quite a few of the techniques. My next door neighbour works for Electronic Arts… I can’t wait to show him the pics we got of the Army of Two. Thanks again!
Comment by Linda McCague — September 6, 2009 @ 1:24 am
And it’s probably well said that you would have had an awful lot of fun taking up the opportunity that presented itself.
great shot.
not doubt a fabulous workshop too.
DavidA
Comment by David Akesson — September 6, 2009 @ 5:29 am
Thanks for the incredible workshop Neil! I can’t wait to use the lighting techniques at a wedding I’m photographing today!
Comment by Adam Baruh — September 6, 2009 @ 3:07 pm
Neil, thank you for the workshop. I did apply some flash techniques to the wedding I shot yesterday.
Here’s “Army of Two” with the models.
Comment by Tam Vu — September 6, 2009 @ 5:52 pm
Nice cosplay photo there, Neil. :-)
Julia the model is indeed very good at posing improvisation.
You said that the photo with Julia and the taxi had Photoshop retouching. Can you show us the original state of that photo? I presume that taxi fare information on the taxi car was removed.
Comment by Stephen — September 7, 2009 @ 10:14 am
Comment by Neil — September 7, 2009 @ 2:50 pm
Glad to see you are making it across the country, and even out of! I think it is a rare thing when someone such as yourself has a large dedication to teaching in all areas and is not restricted by travel. It was also interesting to see pictures YOU took in MY city! Always great to see someone else’s take on an environment I see everyday!
Comment by James — September 7, 2009 @ 6:05 pm
Ohh man, can’t believe I missed you coming to Seattle. When did you announce it?
Comment by JP Lumansoc — September 8, 2009 @ 2:58 am
Comment by Neil — September 8, 2009 @ 1:02 pm