After Dark Photography Education – Charlotte, NC –  2012

The recent After Dark event in Charlotte was the third time that I attended as a presenter. As you may well guess from my previous blog posts about After Dark Education events, I loved it!  A crazy-hectic-fun time. So much to do and learn and take part in. It is in my opinion the best opportunity for any photographer to learn and shoot. A lot. To sign up, or for more details, check out the After Dark Education (ADE) site.

The photo above is of Megan, one of the models at ADE. I little bit more about the setup …

For this pull-back shot, I had to bring up the detail at the top and bottom to reveal more about the lighting gear.

There’s the softbox strip above, and  the Eyelighter reflector below. It’s that U-shaped reflector (which also gives those distinctive catchlights in her eyes.

Instead of using the strobes though, I just used the modeling lights for these images.
camera settings: 1/100 @ f/4.0 @ 1600 ISO
Nikon D4 (B&H); Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II (B&H)

The way that After Dark is set up, is that there are 10 “pods” and 10 “bays”.  The pods are where there are seminars and presentations and discussions being held – up to 10 simultaneously. The bays are studio setups with a variety of lighting gear. At any time, the bays which aren’t used for a presentation, can be used by attendees, to photograph the models there.

Here I did use the actual strobes to photograph Shanese. My camera settings will reveal that studio strobes were used:
1/100 @ f/8.0 @ 100 ISO
Nikon D4 (B&H); Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II (B&H)

The pull-back shot (with a step to my left to show the large softbox to camera right, and one of the softboxes lighting up the backdrop.

Another image of Megan, with the same setup:

1/200 @ f/9.0 @ 200 ISO
Nikon D4 (B&H); Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II (B&H)

Courtney, photographed using just the modeling light again (to camera left). The red light behind her is meant to just be a subtle rim-light when the main strobe (with softbox) is used to light her. However, because the modeling light is much less bright than the strobe output would be, the red light behind her becomes more dominant. And I liked the result.

camera settings: 1/60  @  f/2.8  @  1600 ISO
Nikon D4 (B&H); Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II (B&H)

I co-presented a boudoir photo-session with the fabulous Jennifer Rozenbaum – a New York boudoir photographer. We concentrated on simple lighting techniques for boudoir. Danielle was our model.

… the last bit of sun streaming through the hotel room.
camera settings:  1/250  @  f/3.5  @  1600 ISO
Canon 5D Mark II;  Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II (B&H)

… using bounce flash with a 1/2 CTS gel over it to help match the flash’s color to that of the bedside lamp. I used the black foamie thing to flag my flash.
camera settings:  1/100  @  f/4.0  @  1600 ISO
Canon 5D Mark II;  Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II (B&H);  Canon 600EX-RT (B&H)

I led a group where we worked through the basics of off-camera flash. Working outside in low light, we photographed two models with the lake area as the background.

1/15  @  f/2.8  @ 1600 ISO  … TTL flash
Nikon D4 (B&H); Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II (B&H)

My presentation on the thought-process here on using off-camera flash in low light settings, turned into this recent blog post:  off-camera flash in low light – choosing your shutter speed

My demonstration on how to get studio-quality lighting with on-camera bounce flash, was very well attended. Of course, this revolved around directional bounce flash, using the black foamie thing. I photographed Haylie in different scenarios to show how to adapt the technique.

The background here is of the studio setups in one of the bays – the modeling light falling on the backdrop. Haylie is lit with just the on-camera speedlight. My settings were based on exposing correctly for the background. Then TTL flash picked up the exposure for our subject.

1/80 @ f/3.2 @ 1250 ISO
Nikon D4 (B&H); Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II (B&H)
Nikon SB-910 Speedlight (B&H);  Nikon SD-9 battery pack (B&H)

Working in the huge ballroom area we had as the main room, I wanted to show we could still get that kind of light, just from our on-camera speedlight. It all revolves around the direction of light, and how we pose our subject into that light.

1/80 @ f/3.2 @ 1250 ISO
Nikon D4 (B&H); Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II (B&H)
Nikon SB-910 Speedlight (B&H);  Nikon SD-9 battery pack (B&H)

In the hotel lobby, I chose a complementary background, and positioned Haylie in front of it, and then … directional on-camera bounce flash.

1/1250 @ f/3.2 @ 1250 ISO
Nikon D4 (B&H); Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II (B&H)
Nikon SB-910 Speedlight (B&H);  Nikon SD-9 battery pack (B&H)

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