NOTE – The images in this post are virtually straight off the camera with little or no post processing and are therefore not necessarily representative of the finished article.
Had a fantastic shoot this afternoon and got to try out some off-camera flash techniques that I’d been itching to have a go at for a while now.
Here is a sneak preview of some of the images. None of them have had any post processing work apart from a very light adjustment in Lightroom. The images themselves were all shot with a mixture of on-camera and off-camera flash: on-camera fill set relatively low and two off-camera side lights, one each side and slightly behind the subject pointing forwards. The overall effect is similar to the one perfected by Joel Grimes and gives a great look to the images. The harsh, 3D lighting really makes them “pop”. A quick lightroom adjustment for white balance, black level, vibrance, clarity and contrast helps bring them along a little further. Can’t wait to get them through photoshop.
The first image in this set, featuring the model Jade, shows how the two side lights were positioned. This was taken on the Milenium Bridge and was backlit by a very bright sky. There are actually two exposures going on here: flash and ambient. The flash exposure is controlled by the flash power, aperture and the duration of the flash burst. The ambient is controlled by the aperture and the shutter speed. Dialing up the flash power (i.e. adding more light from the flash) requires the aperture to be reduced which in turn will reduce the exposure of the ambient. For this shot, the flash was dialed up above the ambient to under expose and therefore allow for a richer saturation of the sky whilst simultaneously reducing the brightness of the clouds. The smaller aperture also adds the starburst effect from the two flash guns. If you don’t believe me, try it. Continue reading Fashion in the City – a sneak preview… »
