Editorial Portrait - Final photo shoot

The final shoot took place on the morning of March 13 as planned. The weather was slightly different from the day of the pre-light, no rain.

The technical problems i was faced with using my camera (Canon):

The off camera flash (sunpak) mounted on a stand was working on and off, it was not triggered by the one on camera (Canon 430 EX II), therefore I had to switch my camera with the Audrey's one (switched from a Canon to Nikon) in order- to accomplish my assignment.

By swtiching to Nikon, i faced a different challange: the camera will not sync at a shutter speed higher the 1/200 sec, with the flash. That being said my background was not as dark as i wanted, and the flash was not as strong.

Overall I am ok with the photo-shoot.

• Shoot at f8 - 1/200s @ 75mm, ISO 200
• Flash used at full power
• Color balance easy to achieve, the background was grey, so it made it easier
• Used 1 camera (Nikon), 1 flash SB 800 (no beauty dish as initally planned)
• There was just enough available light
  

Lesson learned: I got home and ordered a flash trigger in order to avoid the above mentioned technical issues.

Assignment 2 - Editorial portrait - Pre - light test

Pre-light report

1- Available light will be used as a fill light – the flash will be used as main. Background will be darker – probably 2 stops down from the main light

2- For testing I used a 50 mm lens at f2.8 / ISO 200 / 1/. I am planning to use a wide angle lens if available, to get more perspective.

3- F/8 – F/11 that I found really well for a portrait (focus on the subject) and not allowing the background to be out of focus

4- The shutter speed would be at 1/200s at least in order to darken the background

5- As I am planning to keep the available light just as a fill, and actually keep it dark – I am not worried too much about the available light

6- I will use one flash (speedlight) Cannon 430 EX II with a portable beauty dish or an umbrellas as back-up

7- I will have probably just enough light – looking at the weather forecast, it seems we are “lucky” to have the same kind of weather we had for the testing. I believe I am able to achieve my shoot with just one flash.

8- Having to shoot a full length portrait, the post production will be probably more difficult If the ground will be wet and full of puddles. I might re-think the shoot and take a ¾ length instead.

9- Will use a grey card.

10- Equipment :

- wide angle 16-24mm or a 50 mm (portrait lens)

- 1 stand

- 2 external flashes (one Canon (main) to be used on the stand and one Sunpack flash to be used on camera and to trigger the canon one.

- 1 umbrella (in case)

- 1 umbrella mount

- 1 optical slave

- 1 reflector

- 1 light meter

- 1 tripod

- 1 portable beauty dish

- Plastic bag rain cover for the camera

- Plastic bags to cover the equipment

- Milk crates to keep the equipment off the ground in case of rain or snow

- Umbrellas for the rain

- Backup batteries for flash and camera

• I need a backup plan in case we don’t have the permission to shoot under the bridge (in such case I will choose to shoot along the river, on the bike trail)
• I have a model available for Sunday
• Make-up has to be appropriate (the model is actually a make-up artist)
• Appropriate clothing for the weather as well as for the shoot

Insiprational photograph
Photographer: Unknown

• 

Testing photograph:

Gourmet Magazine Cover - Final Shoot

We both decided that indeed, the floor location is more attractive, and more fit for our dish. The composition we decided to go was the plate on the floor center - right in the frame.

- The available light was used a main light
- The fill light was a small soft box at about 3.5 feet away from the ground pointing down on the plate.
- A kicker light with a grid (size 10) was used at 2 feet above the ground hitting the plate from back - left.
- We used a 18 - 200 mm VR (Nikkor lens) at f 5.6 and focal lense 55mm - in order to keep the subject very sharp
- ISO choosen 200
- Shutter speed was very slow (about 1/8sec), camera was on a tripod at 2 feet above the ground, and we used a remote control in order to avoid any movement of the camera
- We had enought available light
- We had enough strobes
- We had the appropiate equipment
- The color balance was set on site, and slightly adjusted in post production
- We cleaned the floor

Small technical issues:
- Extension cords - Some close by outlets were out of order, so we had to use the far away ones. The cords were a bit stretched - I used masking tape to tape them to the floor to avoid tripping over.
- The kicker light was creating some shadows that we fixed by reducing the power and repositioning.

Overall impresion - quite a challenging shoot, but we are happy with the final shot.

If I was to re-shoot this assignment (professionaly) I would use:

- a food stylist
- more extension cords
- different type of kicker light for more texture or even a snoot
- some reflectors