StanCox:

This isn't my place here to advise since this is Steve's contest,

Please..any and all comments are welcome. Erin, do you have any friends that want to learn about pgotography? They can help you with the gear and you can teach them what you know...win win!

Hi, I'm in the competition. Do you want me to take a picture of the scene where I'm thinking of shooting? I'm planning to shoot in a tunnel under a street for walkers. The tunnel will be very dark and in shade, and I will use the opening of the tunnel as a part of the background - like a white spot in the end. The walls are of cement and I want them dark and the model very lit.

You can post the scene if you want...remember to photograph your subject in the scene without modifiers, then talk about what you did to manipulate the scene and post your final image.

I have been experimenting quite a bit lately, trying to get stunning pictures (good pictures won't do any more) of my beautiful daughter in bright sunlight.

The challenges I face are:

• High level of contrast, most annoying on the face


• A girl that moves around quite a bit, she won't pose for very long in a nice shaded area


• I need to be able to take pictures when my wife can assist but also when I am alone with her, so the gear need to be light and easy to use. That, unfortunately, leaves out a large California Sunbounce diffuser panel with lightstands and weights to keep it from sailing off into the horizon

My plan is to use a portable diffuser, like a Lastolite TriFlip + on camera flash to get both subject and background exposure perfect.

Regards
Michael

That sounds like a good plan, Michael. I also have the large Sunbounce [reflector, not diffuser] and a huge Litepanel scrim set. The 77"X77" scrim can compete with the hang-gliders over East Oahu for air time on a windy day! I also have a very manageable 42" 5-in-1 reflector/scrim that is much better for those days. However, that scrim seems to "eat" a lot more light than the big scrim...so it is more difficult to balance the foreground/background without the flash/strobe becoming too prominent. Do you have any way to soften the on camera flash?

I do have a Lumiquest Pocket Bounce - which will soften a bit when you are very close. I think I should have bought the Big Bounce to really make a difference.

I also have the new Lastolite mini softbox for battery flashes (EzyBox Hotshoe), but I don't have a bracket for using that on camera.

I do use this softbox on a lightstand with a Canon 550ex as the main light for studio work.

I could also use an umbrealla with the 550ex on a lightstand.

I could bring this along, but that would add a lot of time and effort to the setup, which is not suitable for what I have in mind for the first entry.

In case you have not seen the EzyBox, it is basically a 38cm x 38cm ft softbox with a bracket containing a shoe mount and fitting for a standard light stand.

The following shot of my little darling was done with a 580ex on camera as master and fill, a 550ex in the EzyBox as main and a 420 behind Sarah used to illuminate the background. All controlled by wireless ETTL, so no metering of individual strobes etc. You do need to shoot RAW when doing this to handle the somewhat inconsistent exposure.


Sarah did her own hair for this shoot

So - soft location light is possible even with a flash operated by 4 AA batteries - within limits.

Regards, Michael