Hudson Valley Click – report-back on recent Shoot Out
I’ve mentioned the Hudson Valley Click before – a group of photographers in New York state who arranges monthly shoots for members, and any visitor who’d like to attend. They are all good opportunities to network and more importantly, to shoot some and play with the photography toys a bit. I just came back from the latest shootout – The Totally Kick Ass Wedding Shoot Out. It was pretty cool again to get to attend and photograph various models and come up with ideas.
This time I decided to whip out the Canon 5D mk II and lenses, and also the PocketWizard TT5 transceivers for Canon, and give it all a spin. The photo above is of one of the models, Jill, where I tried something with a slightly more Gothic feel to it as dusk fell.
Just for interest, here is the pull-back shot:
I wanted her framed between two large vines, and then lit up with the speedlight and the shoot-through umbrella. Why no softbox like usual? Because I’d somehow forgotten the Lastolite Ezybox’s lollipop at home. So an umbrella it was. It works well too.
camera settings: 1/50 @ f5 @ 800 ISO
The speedlight was triggered by the FlexTT5 transceiver (B&H) on my Canon 5D mk II. I used the AC3 ZoneController (B&H) on the TT5 to control the speedlight’s output. I started off with TTL flash, but quickly dialled to manual output via the AC3.
In the frame you can see two cables run down from the speedlight. The one cable is the Canon CP-E4 Battery Pack (B&H) supplying juice to the speedlite, and the other is the Canon OC-E3 off-camera flash cord (B&H). The off-camera cord is to separate the Canon 580 EX II from the TT5 so that the radio-frequencey interference generated by the 580 EX II doesn’t impede the TT5’s reception of the signal. I also had a Ferrite choke on both cables – the battery pack and off-camera cord, so that the RF interference doesn’t travel down the cable. This is in accordance with some of the suggestions to extend the range of the Canon 580 EX II with the PocketWizards. You’d hope that Canon would implement a silent for this for the 580 EX II, like they did with the 430 EX II, but this hasn’t happened yet. Probably won’t. In the meantime, there are these work-arounds.
Finally, a thank you again to the cool team at HV Click for arranging another shoot out that was fun and interesting. And if anyone is in or near the Hudson Valley region, check them out, either on their MeetUp page, or their Facebook group.
Equipment used with this photo session:
Canon 5D mk II (B&H); Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS (B&H)
Canon 580EX II Speedlite (B&H); Canon CP-E4 Battery Pack (B&H)
FlexTT5 transceiver (B&H); AC3 ZoneController (B&H);
Canon OC-E3 off-camera flash cord (B&H)
Hello Neil,
compliments as always.
A curiosity ‘.
What time was quandoa your picture was taken.
Manual flash settings?
Thank you for everything you do has become very important … to connect every day and see your work.
Good day and good work Neil.
Edy Trigona Genoa Italy
neil,
i am a bit confused, why do you need the AC3 when you have the mini and flex?? cant i adjust the ttl power thru the camera?? thanks
ps right now i only have a single flash using off camera, does the AC3 come into play when there are multiple flash, in different zones, different power levels??
Neil, Great job. I wanted to thank you for all that you do. I own both your books and am always checking your site for this kind of great info. Thank you for sharing what you have learned and making us all better photographers in the process. Best wishes.
Neil,
Absolutely beautiful image, love it, detail, pose, lighting.
This image along with the bride in the shade from the “using the available light” is not random post are fabulous.
Cheers,
Trev.
So, what happened when you used TTL initially? Was the exposure changing too rapidly as the sun was going down? I need to get into manual flash sometime.
Excellent image, Neil.
Can you tell us a little more with the metering of your camera and flash relative to ambient? I’m guessing you metered about 2 stops dark in the camera and let the flash come to the necessary power for correct exposure of the subject?
Neil, great post. Love your work and helpful tips.
Just curious if you’ve tried Pocketwizard’s AC5 to help with the noise.
I guess I’ve been fairly lucky, my 580EX II hasn’t been too noisy. Only had some issues with it a few times so far.
Thanks again for sharing!
Great shot! Do you ever gel your flash outdoors when it’s towards night time? If the color temp is cooler at night, your flash woud warm up the subject without a gel since it’s a warmer temperature than the ambient, but what if it were too warm, woud you ever cool it down with a slightly blue gel to match the color temperatures?
Niel…Fabulous photos of Jill. I told her just how lucky she was that you picked her for the shoot.
Love that shot Neil. Having the flash lit model framed by the dark hedge looks great