Tangents

photo session – Modern Gypsies – Bird Girl

July 7, 2010

Before we went in to Times Square with the Modern Gypsies, we did a quick portrait session with one of the Modern Gypsies performers, Bird Girl …

We wanted to give a sense of freedom and have her against a backdrop unencumbered with urban clutter. Just trees and space. I lay down on the ground and shot up towards where she was standing on a low sloping wall.

off-camera flash as fill-flash

As with previous examples in this site, we get a basic ambient exposure that is close to correct, and then add flash to clean up the light. Here I decided to use wireless TTL flash, with the Slaved flash in the Lasotlite EZYBOX softbox, held up at camera right. Since the flash was just fill flash to make the photo pop a bit, my flash exposure compensation (FEC) was turned down to -2EV.

1/250 @ f3.2 @ 500 ISO .. TTL flash, -2EV
Nikon D3; Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S II … at 170mm

As comparison, here’s the same image but without flash:

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11 Comments »

Hi Neil,

Another great picture. I do like the with and without flash shots.

I have a few questions.

Could you have retouched the picture without flash by lightening the whole scene (or exposing for the singer rather than the background) to obtain a good result albeit with a lighter background?

When do you use wireless TTL flash instead of flash triggers?

Do you sometimes have problems with the two flashes communicating and under what circumstances (in bright sunlight for example)?

What distances can the wireless flash TTL system be expected to be reliable? (I have two 580 EXIIs).

Thanks in advance for the reply.

Mark

Comment by Mark — July 8, 2010 @ 4:07 am
Mark … I am sure the more Photoshop-savvy amongst us could edit the photo without lighting, to look similar to the photo where the additional lighting was used. But I imagine it would be pain-staking work. Much more fun to do it while shooting. And easier, I’m sure.

Re using wireless triggers vs wireless TTL flash with the flashguns .. if the setup is simple and I have line-of-sight, then using simple wireless TTL flash with the speedlights, is just faster. And I can control the output of the Slaved flash from my on-camera flash.

I have problems with line-of-sight .. but indoors, the Slave flashes are surprisingly sensitive to the Master flash’s signals.

I have heard about bright sunlight interfering with simple wireless TTL flash setups, but I haven’t tested the limits of this by any means. So I don’t have an idea either of the distances under which it would work without resorting to Radio Poppers or other triggers.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — July 8, 2010 @ 5:58 am
I admire your subtlety Neil. That soft puff of light is just right.

Sean

Comment by Sean S — July 8, 2010 @ 6:28 am
I second that opinion about the wonderful subtle balance of light.

Comment by Greg B — July 8, 2010 @ 8:57 am
Another Masterpiece Neil.

The ambient here was pretty dim at ISO 500 and f 3.2. I was wondering what the difference is in using TTL BL with a bare on camera flash and the soft box off camera. At -2 EV for the fill, would it not be barely perceptable that flash was used in either scenario. I usually use manual exposure for the ambient with TTL BL.

Thank you for being such a consistent blogger. Your masterful use of light, composition and and ability to create impact in your images is outstanding. Between your book and your blog, you continue to be an inspiration to me and have helped me better understand lighting. I will probably never get to meet you in person so I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate what you do here. Thanks again.

Comment by Gene — July 8, 2010 @ 10:32 am
Gene … fill-flash from the camera’s point of view would’ve looked very different from the fill-flash as shown here, off camera.

By taking it off-camera, there is no fill-flash on the side of her body turned towards the camera. Just her face. And by subtly lighting the side of her face away from the camera, we enhance the shape and form.

And thank you for the kind words, everyone : )

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — July 9, 2010 @ 12:23 am
Hi Neil

Thanks for the above answer. It is true what you say about Photoshop (and post processing in general) I am always trying to spend less time on PP.

I bought a second Canon 580 EXII and will have to try it outside as a slave. I don´t usually do much in direct sun so maybe it won´t be a problem.

On another theme, I was wondering if you would care to comment (or rather blog) on the directions you give to models (especially non-professionals), developing a rapport etc. I am good at this but sometimes “it” just doesn´t work so well. I work in Spanish which is not my native language so I know this is a small handicap but I always try to improve. Your technical details are a great help and I am beginning to domninate my flashes rather than the other way around! It would be interesting to “hear” the other part to your skills.

Thanks again for sharing. If you ever come to Madrid I´ll buy the beers!

Mark

Comment by Mark — July 9, 2010 @ 5:07 am
Hi there Mark … here’s the article on how to pose and work with a model.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — July 10, 2010 @ 12:40 am
Hi Neil,

I appreciate your work, and the time you take to educate through your blog! I have a question regarding softboxes. I’ve noticed lately you are using a 24″ ezybox. Have you ever used the 28″ apollo? I’m trying to decide which to buy, and wondering if there is much difference between the two.

Ben

Comment by ben — July 12, 2010 @ 4:34 pm
Neil, great site and great tech support for the no so savy. I also recently ordered your book last week and should be here Friday. Just curious, I noticed most pictures of your shots you constantly change your ISO, do you have a formula for how you use yours. Thanks

Comment by Jerry — July 29, 2010 @ 10:18 am
Jerry … I have posted some about my choice of ISO settings. However, there is no real formula. I quite often change my ISO so that I can get to maximum flash sync, and then I change my ISO also to reach an aperture that I might need for depth of field.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — July 29, 2010 @ 12:44 pm