We had about 45 minutes with Jennie and I wanted as many different poses I could get during that time. These photos I was taking for St. Mary's where going to be for inside use of their magazine. I wanted to provide my client with plenty of choices allow them a place to put copy within the photo. I shot both horizontal and vertical orientations and I placed the subject on the left and right side of the image.
We also shot video that day and I've posted that at YouTube.
The lighting for these photos where as follows: I mounted 3 SB-800 strobes on Justin Clamps and than clamped them onto the speed ring that the octabox box was mounted too. I set each of the strobes to Remote, Ch 1, Group A. I fired all of the strobes via my built in command unit on my Nikon D700. I had no trouble in the bright sunlight sending the pre-flash info to the strobes from the camera.
When ever possible, I choose to use the Nikon CLS system when ever the distance and workability of the system allows. I always carry sets of Pocket Wizards with me for those times when distance is an issue. The key to using small flashes on location is to honestly think of them as you studio strobes. Use the same modifiers as you would with your studio strobes, just outfit them with your smaller strobes. Here are some of my favorite images from our shoot.
8 comments:
Very nice shots David!, my initial thought would be to use a STU, but I guess the reason to use an octa box with 3 sbs is to overpower the sun right? Or am I wrong?
Cheers Vincent
David, whats the brand of that octa (could figure it out in the video)? I also own the D700, isn´t it a beauty?
Love those videos
Vincent
Have to admit that I've missed seeing your videos lately, but you've been really busy so it's understandable.
I'm impressed that the D700's built-in flash could command those SB800s in that arrangement in daylight. It looked looked like the built-in was even on the far side of your hand from the strobes in some of those shots. What do you find to be the range limits on the CLS in daylight situations like that? When would you switch over to the PocketWizards?
I'd use the PocketWizards when the distance was greater than the CLS could handle.
Any particular reason why you chose to use 3 sb800's? Did you experiment on site to see how many u needed or was it based on prior experience?
Great video David. Very helpful.
On thing to tweak for the future though. There is an annoying high-pitched whine in your audio for several of your latest videos. Shouldn't be too hard to filter that out.
Nice shots! One thing I'm curious about, though. I borrowed a D3 for a portrait shoot and it seemed that the sensor that's in the d3 and d700 over exposes the highlights from my strobes ( or makes it seem as though my strobes are too hot, even though the rest of the face looks good).
I've had most of my problems with my subject's forehead and the side of her face where my strobe is shooting from. I tried many different diffusers, too.
Do you find that you're having this problem? I have examples from my portrait shoot on my blog, www.travisdulany.blogspot.com
How do you get the speedring attached to the lightstand? Looks like is screws right on the blolt. Can you buy them that way or did you hack a a speedring to make it work?
Awsome vid. I love using sb 800s off camera even though I'm a canon shooter.
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