CreateThatLight.com | Commercial and editorial photography.

A month ago I was cleaning up an old camera bag that was laying around in the garage, besides some useless gear I discovered a 3stops neutral density filter in it. A filter I bought about 2 years ago but to photograph the setting evening sun at the beach but never really used it. The idea behind ND-filters sounds great … being able to have longer shutterspeeds works great in combination with a (setting) sun, the ND8 filter enables me to reduce 3stops of light hitting the sensor or about 12.5% of the available light. Which means I could use a wide-open aperture of f2.8 without a blown out sky & sun.

It gets really interesting when I add a lightsource to fill in the dark areas I want to be lit, I could do this with highspeed sync but using a ND8 in combination with speedlights would require at least 6 of them on full power ratio. For this testdrive I used my Elinchrom Quadra 400Ws powerpack at full power, the light modifier was a 100cm Elinchrom Deep Octa without the external diffuser (with internal baffle).

Here’s a testshot with the Quadra & Octa on 30% power, without the ND8 filter. The setting sun was left out of the frame leaving me just enough detail in the back at max. sync speed 1/250sec (iso200 / f5.6).

Shooting without direct sunlight (sunset) into the composition without the ND8 was possible but I lost the whole feeling of the setting sun, here’s an example shot at 1/250 (iso200 / f4) – Quadra set to half power (200Ws).

After these testshots I screwed the 77mm ND8 onto my Nikon 70 – 200 VRII – I also cranked up the Quadra ratio to full-power (400Ws). This image was shot at 1/250 (iso200 / f2.8).

Using flash to fill-in the subject isn’t always necessary to create interesting images, sometimes a silhouette shot adds more feeling / drama to a scene (IMHO). This image was shot at 1/160 (iso200 / f2.8) NO FLASH.

For comparison … this is the same frame as the previous one but with the Quadra ratio to full-power (400Ws). This image was shot at 1/250 (iso200 / f2.8).

Another silhouette example from later that evening without the ND8: this shot is taken with flash-fill (400Ws) – 1/160 (iso200 / f4).

This is the same frame without flash-fill at 1/160 (iso200 / f4). For you to decide which one you like the most.

Overall BTS (BehindTheScenes) shot:

Additional image to call it a wrap

As you can see, the use of flash fill-in with a ND filter isn’t always the perfect choice. For me this shooting was a good opportunity to test the advantages & disadvantages of ND filters with rater powerful light sources. In some shots I like the fill-in in other shots I would definitely choose the silhouttes, I hope this little insight blogpost gives you enough ideas which set-up suits your personal needs.

I own the most sexy twin flash bracket in the world and like to share my findings with this great tool with you … a RSO (Review Sort Of).

Most people know me as a 100% California Sunbounce user but I still use speedlights in some cases. During a Communion session with Margot I wanted to try out the different TTL & iTTL functions of my PocketWizard Flex units. Mounting a speedlight + Flex receiver on a regular flash bracket is no rocket science but when it comes to mounting 2 speedlights & 2 Flex receivers there aren’t many options left, unless you are very handy with CNC machinery and build your own bracket. You can always DIY a twin bracket but in my own experience these projects always result in unstable structures that give you more stress than satisfaction on location.

What about the Lastolite TriFlash?
I own a Lastolite TriFlash bracket, which works good when shooting Nikon CLS, but once the PocketWizard Flex receivers are mounted the whole bracket is a piece of cr*p. It does what it does … it can hold up to 3 speedlights but I don’t recommend to use it in combination with Flex receivers.

The Holy grail?
Yep! I’ve found my “Holy grail” … The GEMINI from Damien Lovegrove.
The best bracket I’ve ever used and it looks sexy too. But there’s a price for it … an investment in a tool I would never regret though.

Product description from Lovegrove Consulting:
The Gemini has a hard-wearing silver anodised finish and the build quality is fabulous with radiused corners. The Gemini is locked in place by a multi-positionable lever arm. The knob on the top is used to secure an optional umbrella. An asymmetric foot plate allows a perfect clearance for the PocketWizard Flex units and keeps the Speedlight heads close and parallel to the umbrella shaft. The Gemini works equally well with smaller and larger Speedlights from both Canon and Nikon. The flashes are situated near the end of the umbrella shaft to ensure a full and even light coverage. The flash units mounted in Gemini offer the least possible blocking of the light output from the umbrella. You can see below the evenness of umbrella illumination too. Another industry first. When used with an umbrella the Gemini is in near perfect balance. The weight of the Speedlights close to the lighting stand counteracts that of the umbrella set further out.

When using speedlights I always try to compensate the flash exposure to create a more natural looking fill-in light. The following images are some quick edits from the session with Margot, the “real” communion shots will be posted soon. In this setup I used 2 Nikon SB900 speedlights with SD-9 batterypacks, a large 40″ shoot-trough umbrella was used to create a soft but crispy fill.

BTS image of the set-up, I used a California Sunbounce Mini to create shade … normally I would do this with a California Sunbounce Sunswatter but I traveled light with only a mini-sized Sunbounce. Using speedlights in this setup is an advantage, sure I could shot this with no fill-in flash but the result would be more “creamy” and less “crispy”. Mounting 2 speedlights on the bracket gave me a faster recycle time which I could not have when using 1 speedlight (faster recycle times when shooting kids is essential).

More quick edits:

Final thoughts:
NEGATIVE:
- Pricey for the “Strobist” movement followers – DIY is cheaper but think twice
- Not compact.

POSITIVE:
- Great build quality – sturdy as a brick.
- Foot plate & cold shoes are the best I’ve ever seen.
- Lever knob is Manfrotto quality.
- Light-weight aluminum.
- Looks very sexy

I’m a big fan … I’ve used Damien’s twin flash bracket on many shoots and this is the first time I’m 100% convinced that this tool is my not-to-be-missed “Strobist” accessory.

No long description this time, just 5 word-tags:

#Routine-Break
#Detachment
#Change-Perspective
#Practice
#Allow-Imperfection

Please take a break and watch the slideshow to experience the full shooting…

The images below are only a few examples of many more to be found in the slideshow.

Clothing credits:
Les Zigous
Bellerose
Antik Batik
Mod8
Comptoire des Cotonniers
Sonia Rykiel
Nathalie Verlinden
JBC
Bensimon
BrandAlley
Elvis Pompilio

Big thanks to:

Gana!
Also watch her images & blogposts covering this shooting on her great blog (which you must add to your reader! – French)

Dimanche, quelque part par là…
Toujours là-bas, mais un peu plus loin encore…

Make-up & hair by Raphaëlle Laline

Here are some quick edits from the practical session of the #CreateThatLight workshop I held today. Again … as always on my workshops lately … there was no sun, a cloud covered sky with a lot of wind, but the weather didn’t stop us from shooting a great outdoor session with our model Chiara.

Today was a perfect day to show and teach my attendees how to create light on location with various California Sunbounce products and how to bend & reflect the light on a cloudy day to deliver good looking portraits to their clients.
(FYI: All images where lit by a California Sunbounce SunMover Silver and a Mini Silver – No flash was used).

During my last visit in Amsterdam & Rotterdam to teach #CreateThatLight workshops at Calumet I’ve planned a “freestyle” session with Lois. It’s always fun to meet people IRL you’re connected to trough the social networks and to combine that get-together with a non-pressure session of their kids. These “freestyle” sessions are perfect opportunities to test gear and set-ups with no high demands from paying clients. I’ve decided to shoot at least 50% of the session with my Panasonic GF1 & 20mm pancake, a funny thing to experience … pointing a white (tiny) camera while looking at the lcd-screen instead of a viewfinder. The plan wasn’t to look “pro” but to deliver “pro”-a-like images from a fit-into-your-pocket camera.

Here is a selection of images I took with the GF1 (iso800) & edited in LR with my home-cooked GF1 presets:

But … my good-old-trusty Nikon D700 & the 24-70 got jealous so I promised my D700 the other 50% was for him, so here’s a selection of those images … all processed in LR with some new custom presets: