Continuing on with attempting to learn to light I met up with some friends of mine, John and Mel. John and I have shot together before so it was a nice relaxed shoot….in the middle of the day. Shooting in the middle of the day is hard! The ambient was very bright so even at my max sync speed the ambient light was too bright. We tried a bunch of shots before giving up and heading for the shade; the small hotshoe flashes just weren’t up to the job (well, they probably are but I dunno how to make ‘em work for me).
In the shade we had a much easier time, we took a lot of shots using soft light, hard light and a mixture of both. This shot is all hard light; a bare 580 EX for Mel & John and a gridded 580 EXII with 1/4 CTO gel onto the foliage behind them.
We tried a lot of different things, some worked and some failed miserably. I definitely learned a lot and I was very thankful that Mel was directing the poses so I could concentrate on the technical aspects of lighting that continue to kick my arse!
Lighting Info:
Canon 580 EX, bare, 1/16th power, zoom at 50mm to camera left. Canon 580EX II, 1/8 Honl Speed Grid, 1/16th power, zoom at 50mm, 1/4 CTO to front and right of camera.