A few days ago I mentioned that I’d bought a couple of Honl Speedgrids to attach to my Speedlites. The original post can be found here.
I had the opportunity and the pleasure of using one of these, the 1/4 Speedgrid, during my Notting Hill Beauty Shoot and here is an example of what one can achieve with these magic little devices.
As a comparison, I’ve also included a version that I lit with just available light. Both images were shot in the same room with the model standing in exactly the same place.
For the first image, I lit her using a 580exII speedlite with the 1/4 speedgrid attached. The flash was positioned off to camera left, very close to the model and triggered using a PockedWizard MiniTTL and FlexTT5 trigger. I wasn’t using any of the clever ETTL trickery though as I had the flash set to manual mode. No idea what the power level was. The result was that the light cone from the flash was extremely narrow, a little larger than the model’s face. This allowed me to underexpose the background and shoulders, adding the drama and mystery to the shot.
Now compare this to the second shot, taken just a few seconds later. This is a typical soft light portrait shot using just the natural, available light. It’s a beautiful, flattering portrait but a much softer image than the first.
This brings me on to the quality of the light. I’ve already mentioned that the second image was shot using natural and very soft light. The first was very different. Owing to the proximity of the flash and the relative size compared to the subject, the light in the first shot was extremely hard.
In summary, this is a great example of how very different an image can be based on the light falling on the subject. We as photographers are responsible for not only finding the right kind of light to suit the image being created but also controlling and manipulating it where necessary in order to enhance it.
Above all else, the light matters.
Technical stuff
First image…
- Canon 5dmkII
- EF 70-200f2.8L UIS lens
- MiiniTTL transmitter
- 580exII
- FlexTT5 transceiver
- Honl 1/4 speedgrid
- Camera: Manual mode, 1/125, f2.8, ISO100
- Flash: Manual
Second image…
- Canon 5dmkII
- EF 70-200f2.8L UIS lens
- Aperture priority, 1/125, f2.8, ISO1600
