Tangents

photography tutorials, reviews & workshops

tangents photography blog
learn : discuss : share
subscribe today
  • Tangents
  • Tutorials
    • Flash Photography
    • Wedding Photography
    • Studio Photography
    • Posing People
    • Understanding Your Camera
    • Exposure metering
    • BFT
    • Best Photo Books
  • Workshops
    • Info: Workshops
    • Tutoring sessions
    • Online tutoring sessions
    • Video tutorials
    • Personal Workshops
    • Workshops in New York
    • Studio Workshop
    • Workshop results
  • Books
    • On-Camera Flash (revised ed.)
    • Direction & Quality of Light
    • Off-Camera Flash Photography
    • Lighting & Design
    • On-Camera Flash (1st ed.)
  • Reviews
    • Nikon
    • Sony
    • Canon
    • Fuji
    • Sigma
    • lighting gear
  • Projects
    • Two Perspectives
    • B&W Infrared
    • Vintage lenses
    • Time-lapse photography
  • Info
    • About
    • Contact
    • Newsletter
    • Join us on Facebook
    • Books by NvN
    • Acclaim
    • Success Stories
    • Photo Gear
    • Photoshop Actions
    • Support this Site
  • Forum

Photo session – Modern Gypsies – stilt-walking showgirl

May 10, 2013 Neil vN 4 Comments

Photo session – Modern Gypsies – stilt-walking showgirl

On the same day that we did the Silver Birds photo session with the Modern Gypsies, we did a few other setups, including this one where Irene was on stilts … as a showgirl. Since the photos are meant for their promotional material, we needed to make the images vibrant.

We scouted around a warehouse district of Brooklyn, looking for interesting backgrounds. I felt that this huge mural would make a colorful background compared to the bright white costume.

Still working with the usual Profoto Acute B2 600 Ws powerpack (affiliate) with a Profoto beauty dish (affiliate) for our lighting. Lots of juice in a very portable arrangement, and easy to set up.

Setting up. Here you can get an idea of just how tall Irene was on those stilts. Fortunately, the Manfrotto 1004BAC tall light-stand (affiliate) goes as high as 12 feet. I didn’t want the light to come from below her – I dislike horror movie lighting. So the light still had to come in from an appropriately high angle.

Camera settings: 1/250 @ f/5.6 @ 200 ISO
I intentionally under-exposed the available light so that the flash would make the image pop. The main image here was over-exposed by 2/3rds of a stop because I asked Irene to move forward and I didn’t adjust the power on the Profoto. It was easy enough to pull the exposure down on the RAW file with no detriment to the final image.

 

I felt that even though this background was complementary, we didn’t really get a sense of Irene’s height on the stilts in the final images.

So we moved around the corner and shot down the sidewalk. The sun-drenched look (along with the differently scaled architecture), gave a completely different look to the images.

Camera settings: 1/250 @ f/5.6 @ 100 ISO
The comparison photo to show the effect of the lighting.

I do love this lighting setup – the Profoto Acute B2 600 Ws powerpack (affiliate), with a Profoto beauty dish (affiliate) (and a 22″ sock over the beauty dish.) The recycle time is fast, and it isn’t a problem to dump enough light to match the sun on a bright day.

And if you were wondering just how Irene got her head-gear on … this is how we went about it. Peter Salo, who helped me on the day, steadying Irene backwards.

 

Photo gear (or equivalents) used in this photo session

  • Nikon D4
  • Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G AF-S  /  Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II
  • Profoto Acute B2 600 Ws power pack
    or alternately, the Profoto B1 flash (500 Ws)
  • Profoto beauty dish with a 22″ sock for a beauty dish
  • Manfrotto 1004BAC  – tall light-stand

 

The rest of this photo session

  • Modern Gypsies – Silver Birds
  • Modern Gypsies – floating bubbles
  • Modern Gypsies – Golden Birds

 

More info about the Modern Gypsies

  • Modern Gypsies website
  • Modern Gypsies Productions on Facebook

 

Filed Under: Modern Gypsies, photo shoot, Profoto Tagged With: photo session with off-camera flash


 

Help support this website

If you find these articles of value, please help support this website by using these B&H and Amazon affiliate links to order your photo gear.

I also offer photography workshops and tutoring sessions, whether in person, or via online video tutoring sessions.

Stay informed via the monthly newsletter.

Please follow me on Instagram for more.

You can also join our thriving photo community in the Tangents group on Facebook, where we show our photos and discuss all things photography.

Thank you,

Neil vN

Books by Neil van Niekerk


 




4 Comments, Add Your Own

  1. 1Mel says

    May 11, 2013 at 7:08 am

    Crazy! love them, my fave is actually the pull back lighting shot! thanks for all the fabbo info

    Reply
  2. 2Mike says

    May 11, 2013 at 5:10 pm

    Some nice shots Neil! I use a similar set-up with the Lencarta Safari 600watts with Beauty Dish and Sock.
    Keep up the great work!

    Reply
  3. 3Radu says

    May 19, 2013 at 4:08 pm

    Great shots, great lighting! Having a tall light stand really helped here.

    I own a similar setup – Profoto Acute600 B2 and a Mola Demi beauty dish – and I love the lighting!

    I love the way you can balance or overpower midday sun with the Acute and the beauty dish, especially on good looking skin.

    Reply
  4. 4ted says

    July 4, 2013 at 11:44 am

    Love the shots and the blog. Genius!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

categories

Articles & Tutorials

  • • About myself & this site
    • Books by Neil vN
    • Best photography books
    • Black foamie thing
    • Spinlight 360
    • Photographers’ success stories
    • email newsletter
  • • Flash Photography Techniques
    • Natural looking flash
    • Flash + Ambient light
    • Dragging the shutter
    • Bouncing your flash
    • On-camera flash outdoors
    • Exposure metering
    • Flash exposure compensation
    • Bounce flash examples
    • Which is the best flashgun?
    • Flash brackets
    • Off-camera flash photography
    • Flash photography basics
    • Using video lights
    • Flash photography tips
    • Photography books
  • • Photography workshops NJ / NYC
    • Models @ photography workshops
tutorials:
flash photography
Photography
Workshops

Recent Comments

  • Claude Carrier: And a pizzeria just next door! I think that the real reason you changed your location! Joke appart, I...
  • Randy: Congrats on the new studio space! Nice to have more elbow room with your larger square footage of the new...
  • Photo Sarah: Thanks for the great review. Interesting to compare the color profiles with the Sony and the new Canon...
  • Su Carroll: Thanks for the reminder to use my high school geometry and algebra concepts. I’m a fine artist so I...
  • Neil vN: via Google Translate: “Very interesting what you said … sometimes we wait for the...

All rights reserved. Copyright © Neil van Niekerk 2021 · Customization by The Traveling Designer

Copyright © 2021 · NvN on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in