Taking portraits on location with studio lights is something that is 90% setup, 9% small talk and around 1% pressing the shutter. Working in Sweden, I usually bring a couple of lights to every shoot, unless it is a regular assignment for articles in a magazine when natural light feels more appropriate.
The above portrait was an assignment from one of my clients where they wanted a nice picture with the man in a suit standing in their office. I had been there before, so I knew the layout pretty well. Which meant that I only packed two Profoto D1, one 5-foot softbox octa and a couple of light stands, and a Chimera reflector panel.
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This is just a reminder that soon a lot of my assignments can be done with just a reflector and a diffusion panel. And not having to freeze while taking a stiff portrait of some poor guy or girl outside in the cold just to use the little natural light that might be available around lunch just before it gets dark again.
Sunlight is very hard to beat when it comes to lighting a portrait, and even if you surround your models with stands and screens, they are a lot more relaxed out in the open than they are in the studio.
I really look forward to be able to work with sunlight again.
I recently bought an Orbis Ringflash, to use with my SB-800. Exactly for what, I still don’t know. Maybe to explore the ringflash world a bit before I go out and spend a lot more on a “real” ringflash for my Profoto system to use in the studio.
Using it is not real that easy, together with a Nikon D700, a heavy lens and a battery pack, my arms ache after a short time. I didn’t buy the arm/bracker to mount it properly so I have to hold the camera with one hand and try to get the SB-800 not to fall out of the Orbis while I hold it in position around the lens.
This was just a quick test with one of my sons who is extremely reluctant to act as a model usually, but a strange looking thing around the camera and a Batman suit later, he didn’t want to stop modeling (doing his best Nosferatu impression as well).
I have tried it once in the studio, but using a portrait lens doesn’t give the usual bright eye with the big catchlight effect I wanted. It might be good for on-axis fill.
Or it might be good for the same reason my son liked it, it transforms the scary camera into something strange that is more fun. Which might come in handy when photographing subjects that usually don’t like cameras?
Anyway, I think with just this session, it payed off for me. And made the whole thing of taking pictures of my children at home funnier. Just switch on TTL, set the camera to Program and move in really close, or up against a wall.
My latest investments in light modifiers are two Profoto Umbrella XL, silver. I also bought two Front Diffusers, but haven’t had the time to test them yet.
I have been looking for an easy way to set up simple portraits on-location without having to bring too much heavy equipment, but still be able to get good, big light that I can control. For that, I usually bring softboxes and/or diffusion panels together with a Profoto AcuteB 600R or my Profoto D1 (if they have electrical outlets).
The weight of the monoblocs or the battery generator is nothing I can reduce (until Profoto figures out how to cut the AcuteB in half), but the other bag would be nice to make both smaller and lighter. Many assignments would be easy to do with just two lights, two stands and two umbrellas. But small umbrellas are not that fun, I think.
Studio test of two Umbrella XL…
