A few shots from Thursday including IR portraits
March 20th, 2010
This portrait was lit with a Speedlight in an Orbis ring flash adapter. I used the PW system to expose using TTL. Orbis is the ring flash adapter that is not camera model specific. It is great for Canon, Nikon, Sony and Pentax too.
I had to modify the Orbis by adding a Velcro lock for my Speedlights to avoid them accidentally dropping out of the bottom. Over the next few weeks I’ll be exploring a lot more with this budget ring flash option. I never got into Rayflash because I’d have to buy one for each camera and because I have the real deal from Broncolor. Not everyone can afford the Broncolor option so I’m demonstrating and using the Orbis on all my Speedlight Mastery workshops.
Sunshine on a rainy day. I used the Lastolite Ezybox hotshoe as a key light and a bare faced Speedlight as 'the sun'.
Here's the same riviting location only this time two bare faced Speedlights were used.
For this picture of Sarah I used a bare faced Speedlight on a stand with a cool 1/2 blue gel as a kicker. And I used a Speedlight into a silver umbrella on my Magic Arm as the keylight. We set the Speedlights to full power on Manual and shot at f/2.8.
Rivets and more rivets. Just one Lastolite 60cm Ezybox was used for this shot. I put a Honl full CTO gel on the Speedlight and Marko has added an HDR type effect in Lightroom. The blue was from the ambient daylight with the camera white balance set at 3400K.
I thought I'd get my newly converted Canon 5D IR camera out for a few frames. At first I thought it was miss focusing with a colomation error due to the fact that IR focuses at a different distance to visible light but the shots were spot on in Lightroom. An Ezybox and a bare faced Speedlight were used to key and kick Sarah in this shot. I held the camera over my head and shot blind to get the high viewpoint.
Heres another f/2.8 shot lit with a Speedlight from the left. I had rigged another Speedlight on the right but by the time I took this shot the batteries were stuffed in both units and recyling was taking ages. I think I'll investigate some Quantum Turbo battery packs for the Speedlights when I'm running workshops.
Please feel free to comment on these pictures or the techniques I’ve used.
22 Comments Add your own
1. Steven Brooks | March 20th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
Thank you Damien for an excellent day as ever. The images speak for themselves. Simply, beautiful.
2. Derek mc auley | March 20th, 2010 at 7:35 pm
Beautiful striking images stunning work, can’t wait for the nikon tt1+tt5 pocket wizards to come onto the Market.
3. Fizmoo | March 20th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Very interesting. What focal lenght did you use for the Orbis Portrait ?
4. Rob Brook | March 20th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
Great images as always Damien. Interested to see you’re using the Orbis. Are you trying to use it without it’s bracket?
5. martin | March 20th, 2010 at 10:55 pm
Got a Quantum Turbo SC which works well but its just more weight and more faff so it gets left behind a lot of time. A couple of spare sets of Eneloop AAs in the bag is a cheaper and more practical alternative.
6. damien | March 21st, 2010 at 10:39 am
Thanks Derek. Nikon units are likely to be August or September now
Us Canon users are all waiting for the manual PW controller that lets us dial in 6 stops of range on all 3 groups (AB & C) from the camera. TTL is a bit variable to say the least and it’s a Canon thing, not a PW thing. Once we have full remote manual control of all our flash guns via radio, life will be easy. At least as a Nikon shooter you have manual flash control from the camera with the fantastic SU-800, okay it’s not radio but it works
Damien.
7. damien | March 21st, 2010 at 10:42 am
Hi Fizmoo,
What a great name. I used a 24-70 f/2.8 lens at about 35mm with the Orbis for the portrait.
Damien.
8. damien | March 21st, 2010 at 10:45 am
Hi Rob,
The Orbis bracket looks a bit of a faff. I have to be able to pass the Orbis around amongst my 4 delegates who often have different cameras and lenses etc. My latest Velcro strap attachment is just the ticket for safe fast shooting without any hassle.
Cheers, Damien.
9. damien | March 21st, 2010 at 10:47 am
Hi Martin,
Thanks for the heads up on the Quantum. I was secretly wondering if having the batteries out of an SB-900 and using an external power source might stop the thermal melt down issue with 4 delegates shooting at full power!
Damien.
10. david ruddle | March 21st, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Hi Damien
Interesting comment about the manual PW controller. Any idea what the timing of release is likely to be? (I assume it will be a firmware update for the TT1 AND FLEX)
David
11. damien | March 21st, 2010 at 7:24 pm
Hi David,
Here is the latest news on the AC3 ZoneController:
Pre-production units are going into beta testing now. There has been a delay due to some needed modifications found in alpha testing. Production will follow a successful beta with units most likely available in April.
Regards, Damien.
12. Mark Betts | March 21st, 2010 at 8:01 pm
Hi Damien
I have been using the Orbis for about 12 months now and I have done the same as you, a bit of velcro certainly does the trick, stops the flash making a heart stopping break for the floor !!!!!
Mark
13. damien | March 21st, 2010 at 9:42 pm
Hi Mark,
I thought the Orbis was a newish thing. I couldn’t find one at Focus on Imaging so I bought mine online last week. One of my delegates on a course last week had one of my 580 EX2s and a Flex fall out of the bottom. The Flex hot shoe broke but the rest of the kit is fine. I replaced the hot shoe myself. Phew!
My Orbis is all fitted with Velcro now so it should be fine from now on. It should come with Velcro in the first place really.
I’ve still got to learn shooting distances and available exposures at each ISO. Do you find that your customers like Orbis shots? Have you used it at a wedding?
Cheers, Damien.
14. Ian Kebby | March 22nd, 2010 at 10:36 am
Hi Damien
Interesting news on the PW manual Control. I was on the point of getting an ste2 but would I be right in thinking the AC3 will be a better choice?
Any idea of price?
Kind regards
Ian
15. Mark Betts | March 22nd, 2010 at 4:35 pm
Hi Damien
Yes I purchased it direct from their site in the states.
No I havent used it on a wedding yet , but use it on other shoots, I like it and the clients seem to like it as well.
I think its a great bit of kit.
Thanks
Mark
16. Gwyn Cole | March 22nd, 2010 at 6:49 pm
Although I attended an Urban Portrait workshop last year, I’m feeling the need the book this new workshop soon! Fantastic images…
17. James Madelin | March 22nd, 2010 at 9:19 pm
hi damien, great images. i have a gear tip for you; i always found speedlight booster battery packs perform brilliantly; the canon version is the CP-E4 and the nikon one is the SD-8 or the SD-9. i’ve used the canon one for years.
18. damien | March 24th, 2010 at 10:49 pm
Hi Ian,
You would think that the AC3 would be a better choice but there is no focus aid assist light on it as far as I can tell. What is that all about? So if you want to use the PW system in a dark environment it will be really difficult to focus. Needs a third party to come up with a solution me thinks.
Cheers, Damien.
19. damien | March 24th, 2010 at 10:50 pm
Hi Mark,
I shot my first wedding style shot with Orbis today and it created a wow from the delegates. I’ll posy it by Monday.
Cheers, Damien.
20. damien | March 24th, 2010 at 10:55 pm
Hi Gwyn,
Speedlight Mastery and Urban Portraits share no systems or technologies. SM is all new on that front and I can vary the locations too. So far all the SM delegates have not shot UP so I used some of the key locations from last year in the itinerary
If you want to join me we might be able to do a refresher rate on a late place or cancellation. Give Blaise a call or email her for more options. I hope we meet up again soon.
Cheers, Damien.
21. damien | March 24th, 2010 at 11:09 pm
Hi James, Thanks for this info on the booster battery packs. I’ve opted to buy a few more packs of the 7Day Shop 2900mAh AAs. At £5 per pack they are excelent value and if I change them at lunchtime on each workshop it will be fine without the need for other bits plugged in etc. I appreciate your advice. Regards, Damien.
22. Mark Betts | March 25th, 2010 at 9:26 am
Thanks Damien
I will look forward to seeing it
Thanks
Mark
[edit by Damien] It’s here
Leave a Comment
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed