{"id":14822,"date":"2013-06-09T23:51:23","date_gmt":"2013-06-10T03:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/?p=14822"},"modified":"2026-03-13T01:51:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T05:51:28","slug":"photo-session-modern-gypsies-floating-bubbles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/photo-session-modern-gypsies-floating-bubbles\/","title":{"rendered":"Photo session – Modern Gypsies – floating bubbles"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Photo session – Modern Gypsies – floating bubbles<\/h1>\n

Another from the most recent publicity photo session with the Modern Gypsies<\/a>, with two of the girls in French period costume … inside plastic bubbles. Seemingly an easy setup, it took a few quick adjustments to the off-camera lighting while they were enclosed in the plastic bubbles. Time is very limited!<\/p>\n

Let’s start off with the test shots, and see the progression from there …<\/p>\n

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I had Peter, my assistant on the day, stand in the spot where I thought it would be best to do the shoot. I knew I could shoot from a low viewpoint in this busy Brooklyn park, and minimize the cluttered background. I wanted it to appear like it were just the two girls in the bubbles in a wooded area, with sun streaming down.<\/p>\n

Two of the test shots with Peter, to get my base exposure. I initially wanted to use the available light, with a touch of fill-flash from the off-camera\u00a0Profoto beauty dish<\/a>\u00a0and a\u00a0\u00a022″ sock<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>) over the beauty dish.\u00a0The idea was that if I let the background blow out through over-exposure, it would help the ethereal look.<\/p>\n

Then, with the angles and viewpoint figured out and the equipment set up, we had Jen in the first bubble, and I instantly knew I would have to adapt. Quickly!<\/p>\n

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The test shot showed what was obvious with the naked eye – the plastic bubble reflected so much of the sky and surroundings, that you lost the detail of Jen, the one performer who was in the bubble. Next stop – drop the exposure (by two stops), and instead of the flash being the slightest bit of fill-flash, allow the flash to do most of the work in terms of correct exposure.<\/p>\n

I hastily instructed Peter to bring the Profoto powerpack and beauty dish much closer, and to raise it way high on the light-stand, and let the beauty dish light her up from high up. I thought this would minimize the direct reflection of the beauty dish in the plastic.<\/p>\n

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However, the first shots showed the beauty dish was too high, and we got top-heavy light on Jen. \u00a0Her eyes were shaded. Also, the hot-spot on the plastic wasn’t reduced like I thought it would be with the light coming from higher up.<\/p>\n

So I had Peter again quickly move the light to the side and bring it lower – better light on Jen, and the hot-spot seen there was easily fixed in post-processing by cloning in part of the plastic bubble from a non-flash shot.<\/p>\n

Problem solved with brief adjustments to my camera settings, and scurrying to change the lighting setup. And we still had enough time for a sequence of images with both girls in the ‘floating bubbles’.<\/p>\n

Here is a pull-back shot to show the setup. By this time we had attracted an audience in the park.<\/p>\n

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Photo gear (or equivalents) used in this photo session<\/h2>\n