spacer spacer
spacer

Tangents

favorite images – After Dark Edu – Charlotte, NC – 2011

October 1, 2011

favorite images – After Dark Edu – Charlotte, NC – 2011

As a mentor and presenter at the recent After Dark Education events in Charlotte, (much like what happens at any workshop or seminar that I present), I didn’t get to shoot much. I feel it is more important to let the people that are attending, get the time with fingers-on-the-camera’s-controls. But I did get to play with some of the lighting equipment in the bays there. That’s much of the attraction of the After Dark events – loads of lighting toys to play with and learn and figure out on your own, or with the help of someone.

With that, here are a few of my favorite images …

Josh was posing for another photographer in the one bay. I decided I like the look of the modeling lights – the look of the lighting setup and the quality of the light. So I took a few images just with the modeling lights. No flash.

I even liked the warmth, and retained much of it, for the images I originally posted here. (Like the one shown below.) Even if the White Balance technically isn’t correct, I just like the look. But I had several people comment immediately that the photos looked wrong, so I changed the images that were originally at the top, for those with a better WB setting. Ones with a WB that looks more pleasing than the overly warm images.

camera settings: 1/80 @ f2.8 @ 1600 ISO
Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S (B&H) … handheld at 70mm

Here is the pull-back shot to give some idea of the lighting setup.

The lovely Amanda, who I met when she modeled at the previous After Dark event in Cincinnati. This photo was the one demonstration shot during my presentation on bounce flash photography.

1/250 @ f3.2 @ 800 ISO
Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II (B&H)

One of the several adorable kids we had as models. Tons of attitude and confidence. An excellent model.

For lighting we used one of the Larson softboxes and  the Photogenic CL500 continuous light (with daylight balanced bulb), which gave out a huge amount of light.

The background here was the elevator doors, thrown out of focus with a telephoto zoom used wide open.

As I mentioned, the beauty of After Dark’s setup is that you have 10 bays with different lighting setups and kits, and if there is one open, you can play around. Megan was our gorgeous (and patient) model here.

the pull-back shot of the lighting setup:

 

The next two images were taken in a different bay. There was a large softbox to the camera left, and then we worked with the placement of the reflector on camera right. The first image was without a reflector, and the second we positioned the reflector to do its thing.

Everyone was also fascinated by the fluorescent ring-light. Blindingly bright when you get close to it as a model. The photographer’s view is one of flat even light. Quite wonderful if that’s your thing. The ring-light leaves its calling card as that perfectly round highlight in your subject’s eyes. Strange to see the first time, and really bizarre when your subject looks up and the white halo intersects with the iris of the eye.

Blonnie – a Delaware wedding photographer – indulged me by posing for a few photos. The catch-light here in her eye isn’t perfectly circular around the iris because I had her turn her head away from the camera.

I also did a presentation / shoot on boudoir posing & lighting. Chris was our kinetic model … so much more interesting that when I showed a few of the poses. (It even makes sense to internalize and memorize the basic boudoir posing by doing it yourself, same as learning the basics of posing for photographs in general.)


(photo by Blonnie Brooks)

 

A final image – one which I posted earlier on in the convention, when Britney posed for us during an impromptu session using handheld video lights.

For more info on upcoming After Dark Education events.

 

photography books by Neil vN

Amazon USA

Amazon UK

 

newsletter / forum / workshops & seminars

Stay informed of new articles via the monthly newsletter.
Also join us on the Tangents forum for further discussions.

If you need more direct help or instruction on flash photography,
I do present workshops & seminars and also offer individual tutoring sessions.

If you find these articles interesting and of value, then you can help by
using these affiliate links to order equipment & other goodies. Thank you!
 

       Comments (15)

 

 

 

 

 

 

All Rights Reserved © 2006-09 | Client Login