Until yesterday, I had this 3-way head on my tripod for the camera. I bought it many years ago, together with the tripod, and didn’t think to much about the pros and cons of different heads. I just bought something that felt good.
But lately, I have been more and more frustrated with the space a 3-way head takes up in my equipment bag, it doesn’t fit in really well with a the long and thin light stands, reflector panels and other stuff that I pack.
So, in my continuing quest for a smarter way to bring a portable studio to different places, I bought a ball head. It might not be lighter, but it hasn’t got any parts that stick out and makes the packing of equipment something you swear at.
A small investment, and I don’t know why I haven’t done it sooner, but very rewarding in many ways. The old 3-way head can retire onto my huge studio stand that I probably never will bring anywhere. It might exist a better head to mount on that stand, but until then, this works just great.
This was actually part two in my shrinking campaign, the big first step I took was to buy two large umbrellas which have provided me with a simple way of lighting small groups as well as individual portraits on location without bringing too much equipment. Next phase will be to add a few really compact lighting stands to the list, you can never have too many stands with you on-location. And using big stands just for holding a reflector or a sheet of black fabric is overkill.
And maybe a smaller camera bag, because if you have a large bag, it is easy to fill it with stuff you probably won’t use, but you have to carry it nonetheless.
This is a group photo I shot for a magazine cover I did on location last year. The assignment was to get photos from an animal hospital but with focus on the father leaving the control over the company to the daughter (but they wanted the sitting guy in the picture as well).
Hospitals are not very well known for their nice lighting, and the same goes for animal hospitals. Everything is almost white or a shade of light orange, I guess it might have a calming effect or something like that.
As it was late a winter day, and no natural light left anywhere, I brought my Profoto AcuteB 600R with me. I did not know beforehand if we were going to shoot the group photo outside the hospital or indoors. Sooner or later guess I will buy a BatPac, just to be able to use my Profoto D1s, but until then, the AcuteB works fine.
[Read the full post here…]
I do a lot of portraits for articles in different magazines, mostly nothing fancy. But I get to meet interesting people and go to interesting places. And very often, I try really hard to make the photos stand out, and not just fill the blank spaces on the pages.
Sometimes I can control the time and place for the photo shoot, a little bit at least, but most of the times, I will have to make do with what I get, the where and when. For this assignment, the magazine needed some portraits of Malin on a short notice, and the only time we both were free was in the middle of rush hour one dark winter night in Stockholm, just after sunset.
Instead of thinking too much of how I would like to set this up, I just brought my D700, a 50 mm lens and a SB-800 flash.
[Read the full post here…]
Last week as was in Bologna, Italy, on an assignment for The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA). My job was to cover the announcement of the winner, photograph and deliver press photos from the book fair and generally supply my client with photos from different events during my two days in the city for their image bank.
As this was the tenth anniversary of the prize, some of the earlier recipients were at the fair to celebrate. During a hectic schedule I managed to take a couple of minutes with each of them, to get good up-to date portraits my client can use.
More portraits of the recipients here…
Recently I bought two Profoto Umbrella XL (silver) with the optional Front Diffuser, they are really big and gives a soft light (of course, as they are quite big light sources) but with contrast. Maybe not the light modifier I would use primarily for portraits in the studio (I have tried it, and it is ok, but not great), my 5-foot softbox Octa is still more my choice there, but for assignments on locations they are very good. And they are easy to carry, and easy to set up.
I was hired to take publicity photos from an event a client of mine had which included a prize ceremony and they needed good photos of the winners. That included single portraits of the winners as well as group photos in different sizes.
What made me very glad was that with just two umbrellas (big ones, but still just umbrellas) I could use the exact same lighting setup as well as light settings and exposure to get good portraits and good group shots.
Two umbrellas for portraits and group shots…
