Shot with the ring light camera right
So Susan Ashe of Ashe Photography came to the studio today to do some testing. Our model Andrea showed up right on time, 1:00pm. I just have her come hair and makeup ready when I’m doing this kinda of testing. We were going to do some hot (temperature) middle of the day shooting. People say to shoot in the early morning or late afternoon but when I’m shooting a models comp card you might not have a say. I’m not an early morning person so that is off the table. My makeup artist has a family so I don’t want to shoot too late. So that leaves the middle of the day.I normally look for bright shade but sometimes you don’t have a choice. Today we went out to an open field right across from the studio. When I’m testing new equipment I like to stay fairly close to the studio.
You see me sitting down on the job with my TV screen sitting on a vagabond, kinda hokey but it works. I made a cardboard viewing hood that I’ve Velcroed to the side of the TV so I can see in bright light. I wear reading glasses so looking at the camera lcd screen just doesn’t work for me (or the model). I remembered I had this $7.99 white Ikea umbrella in the car, so, whalaa, shade.
Susan brought over her Paul Buff ring light. I have to say I think it meets my needs. I want to be able to leave it on a stand and throw it into the back of my car. I would power it with my vagabond. I would have to take the vagabond in but I think I would take it home to plug it in versus back up to the studio.
We put tons of ND gels on the lights to shoot at F4 and I also shot at F16 which I normally don’t do. We didn’t have enough NG gels so I also put on my rotating ND filter. I can definitely see some possibilities for overpowering the sun with this little unit. I’m interested to see it used with the grid so we’ll see how that goes next week.
We stayed in the field the whole time and just did the one look. I was looking through my lens and thought the light on Andrea looked great towards the end. I shot all natural light for the last few shots and was surprised at how wonderful the light looked. The only thing I can figure out was the light colored grass was reflecting up into her face. I’m not a big fan of reflectors but once in awhile I’ll whip one out (or I should say I’ll hand it over to my makeup artist).
So the testing continues, stay tuned.
PS I forgot to remind you that Monday was half off day at Salvation Army; which happens every major holiday. Andrea is wearing a cover up I picked up there for $3. They have tons of cute clothes and the stores here in Michigan are clean and super organized.
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I lots of fun testing with you Mary! The off camera ring flash gives a very different look to loading up the small flashes (in my opinion). I like doing both but the ring flash used this way is just another tool for the toolbox. Can load up the ND’s and then take them off and shoot at higher F-stop… yielding some very interesting shots for my seniors without needing assistant to hold reflector or juggling my small flashes and set up quick/move to new location. Just another approach. Really enjoy looking at all the results of your testing and spending time with you and Andrea!
Hi Matt
yes I have, it was super slow though….but i think i forgot to turn on my battery pack to my cameras 580?? not sure
i will have to test it again…i was getting a lot of blanks
Have you tried hi-speed sync on your 580’s? They will allow you to shoot at higher shutter speeds so you don’t have to worry about the gels. I know you were your the AB Ringlight, but the HSS is another technique you can test. I am told the new Pocketwizards will also allow you to go beyond 1/250th sec with the ABs. Dunno, just heard…