Small Strobes, Big Results Denver Results

First and foremost I want to thank the two models we photographed at the workshop. Lorraine and Colin, they both really did a fantastic job and I want to thank both of them. We had a wonderful time at the Small Strobes, Big Results workshop here in Denver this past weekend!

Unfortunately we where unable to accommodate everyone that wanted to attend the workshop, we left about 4 people on the wait list. To those of you that we where unable to fit in, I'll let you know when the next Denver workshop takes place. Right now I'm thinking May?

At my SSBR workshops, I like setting up shooting situations that look realistic and believable. It's fun to take a situation your photographing using one technique and than switch it around and shoot it in a totally different way. Participants quickly realize with demonstrations like this, "you" can control and create the images that you have in your mind.

For this workshop, I rented an old 1950's style mic from an audio store in town. I brought a fabric background, white dinner jacket and Colin brought his soul. It is such a pleasure to work with such a talented model. Colin is totally comfortable in front of the camera.

The lighting on this shot was a single large Octa box with one SB-800 attached to the back of box via a Justin Clamp. The mounting of the strobe is similar to this illustration but using an Octa box instead. I photographed Colin with my Nikon 85mm f1.4 wide open. The power setting was at it's lowest setting of 1/128 power. The Octa box was just out of the frame, creating soft beautiful light.

I than changed out the lighting to create a totally different feel. I wanted to create more of a night club feel, stage lights and such. The lighting for this second shot was created using 2 SB-800's. One strobe was placed on a make shift boom with a the flash head zoomed to about 50mm pointed back into the lens of the camera. This light is intended to simulate a stage light overhead. The second SB-800 was gridded using this SET UP. I can't remember what size grid I used off hand, I think a 30 degree grid, it's not important. The gridded strobe was used to light Colin singing at the mic.

Lorraine put on a nice dress and sat down at the piano to finish the look of the shot.

I have several workshops coming up that you might be interested in. Philly, PA at Eastern State Penitentiary, San Francisco April 13th, Orange County, CA April 16th.

I'll also be teaching a week long workshop for The Santa Fe Photographic Workshops in late March and in September I'll be in Maine teaching at Maine Media Workshops.

I am always interested in hearing for my readers, please let me know what subjects you would like me to post about. DT