Tuesday's Tips: Lighting London

This series of photographs is from my one day workshop "Lighting Goes on Location in London", part of The Societies of Photographer's Convention last month.

The group spent the day shooting in Piccadilly, Chinatown and Soho.  We used several different portable lighting kits, and rarely used light stands!  

Equipment & settings under each photograph.
1 Nissin Di700A Speedlight
Westcott Rapid Box
PocketWizard Plus IV
ISO: 100
Aperture: 4
Shutter: 1/250

1 Nissin Di700A Speedlight
Westcott Rapid Box
PocketWizard Plus IV
ISO: 125
Aperture: 4
Shutter: 1/125

1 Nissin Di700A Speedlight
Westcott Rapid Box
PocketWizard Plus IV
Crossfiltering with Rosco CTO gel.
ISO 64
Aperture: 4
Shutterspeed: 1/250

2 Nissin Di700A Speedlight
2  Flashbender XL
PocketWizard Plus IV
ISO: 100
Aperture: 4
Shutter: 1/100

1 Elinchrom ELB strobe with a Pro head
Rotalux Softbox Deep Octa 70cm
Skyport transmitter
ISO: 160
Aperture: 5.6
Shutter: 1/100

1 Westcott Ice light 2
ISO: 64
Aperture: 5
Shutter: 1/250

3 Nissen Speedlights,  
2 Rogue FlashBender XL
4 PocketWizard Plus IV
Rogue grid shot thru Rosco Cinifoil pattern from Rosco Rick Friedman Location Lighting Kit
ISO: 64
Aperture: 5
Shutter: 1/250

Rogue Reflector
ISO: 800
Aperture: 4
Shutter: 1/100

1 Nissan Di700A Speedlight
Westcott Rapid Box
PocketWizard Plus IV
ISO: 200
Aperture: 4
Shutter: 1/50

1 Nissan Di700A Speedlight
Westcott Rapid Box
PocketWizard Plus IV
ISO: 100
Aperture: 4
Shutter: 1/13

Most of the time the attendees photographed the models.  I took a few minutes at each location to demonstrate my lighting and shooting style. .  We started at 10 o'clock, with a  lunch stop at the pub between, we finished shooting after 5 o'clock!  All my images were shot on a Nikon D810 with a 24-120.  My camera was set Manual for all the photographs, lights were read using Sekonic light meter.

Come join me at one of my upcoming workshops.  Lots of lighting and laughing!

This spring, I am teaching Unique Photo (NJ), Boston Center for Adult Education Center, Harwin Camera (NYC), Cardinal Camera (Philadelphia & Charlotte NC) CanAM Photo Festival and Pixel Connection (Avon, OH).  I will be back in the UK for a series of workshops this summer.   Please visit my workshop page to see a complete schedule.

Tuesday's Tips: Lighting the Show!

I had a great time at Photoplus 2016 in New York!  I shot this image during one of my 12 lighting demonstrations. To light this photograph I used 3 Nissin flashes. The main light shot through Rogue Flashbender XL, the hairline light was shot through Rogue grid, placed directly behind her head to backlight her.  The background pattern was created by shooting the flash through a pattern cut out of Rosco Cinefoil and colored using Rosco gels (from my Rosco Location Lighting Kit!). I shot this on a Nkon D800 with a Lensbaby Velvet 56 lens at 1/160 second at f4, ISO 100. I later converted the image into Black and White with Adobe Lightroom.  This image was a hard choice between color and black and white.  Each has a very different feel.

View fullsize

Equipment Used:
Nikon D800
Lensbaby Velvet 56 lens
3 Nissin 700 A flashes with portable battery
Nissin transmitter
Expoimaging Rogue Flashbender XL
Expoimaging Rogue grid
Rosco Cinifoil
Rosco color gels
Sekonic D478 Light meter
3 Lightstands
3 Manfrotto Umbrella adapters
1 Manfrotto Spring Clamp
1 Manfrotto Super clamp

I used Tethertools to connect to the display during PhotoPlus.

Below is a photograph that shows you what the room looks like without my light,  This was not shot in a fancy studio but in a small space on a trade show floor.   I underexposed ambient light by having low ISO and fast shutterspeed. Without my lighting, the frame looks like a blank empty canvas.  You add and control your light to set the mood and feeling of your photograph.   That, is the magic of lighting!