Mood:
brightTopic: Pix of Week
As the autumn leaves fell on the state of Vermont, I purchased a Doug Box light box for portraiture. It is a key practical component of building a studio-like light setup using Speedlites instead of strobes. This has the huge advantage of being immensely lighter, much more portable, and takes up far less space when set up. I first practiced with the first key elements last fall and posted a few examples of my practice shots. I felt like I had a good handle on how it is used outside to complement natural light.
My next step was to try to augment it with additional Speedlites for use inside, where natural light may be minimal or non-existant. In this case spacing is more cramped giving rise to unwanted shadows and overly dark spaces.
My subject was again, my wife, Linda. We had a little natural light but it was a pretty overcast day making it a good day for our experiment - that of designing a portable setup that does not depend on natural light. In fact, the natural light through the window was so poor, I needed a flashlight to adjust the manually set power on the speed lights!
Here is the result of our experiment.
For the camera / photo enthusiasts, the shot specifics were:
Camera: Canon EOS 1D Mark IV
Lens: Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM at 70 mm (dist = 1.9m)
Exposure: 1/200, at f/3.5, and ISO 200
Settings: Manual Mode, Evaluative Metering
Lighting: 3 Speedlites - one mounted in Doug Box to camera left of subject set for proper exposure at camera settings, one mounted with a Harbor Digital Design Ultimate Light Box to camera right and adjusted about 2 stops lower for a little fill, and another Speedlite mounted above and behind the subject with a Harbor Digital Design Quickspot / honeycomb grid for hair/rim light. Lastly, we also mounted a large soft white reflector to camera right of subject. All were fired wirelessly with Pocket Wizards.
Pleased with these results we turned the tables and I became the subject while Linda operated the camera. We had to adjust the angles slightly to cut down on glare off my forehead and glasses, but otherwise used the same basic setup. We also found that my very thin gray hair needed far less hair light than Linda's thick mane.
And lastly, another one holding a camera.
So the conclusion of our experiment is that we are loving the Doug Box and the other modifiers for Speedlites that gives good results with a much much more portable and flexible setup than was possible with our studio strobes. One very important difference was for the hair light. A studio strobe outfitted with an appropriate grid severely limits posing options when setting up in a room with only 8 foot ceilings. With a Speedlite we were even able to properly light standing subjects.
Hmmm ... having come this far, we may never go back!
Happy Shooting!
Posted by Warren
