Do you want better lighting options when shooting on location with speed lights? Do you need to break out of your lighting rut? Or maybe you just want to get more creative?
Image Copyright Kevin Kubota
From small portable soft boxes and adaptable bounce flash reflectors, to honeycomb grids and colorful gels, Rogue light modifiers for speed lights give you studio style light control.
Our Rogue gear is travel friendly, packs flat and will easily slip into just about any laptop case or camera bag.
Whether you’re just getting started, shoot the occasional wedding, or are a bona fide heavy weight speed light shooter, Rogue has three new lighting kits to suit your needs.
Save Over 10% on Starter Kits, Portrait Kits and Master Lighting Kits.
What is Profoto Continuous Lights?It is a new range of continuous light sources, designed specifically to work with Profoto’s wide assortment of Light Shaping Tools. The core of the range comprises ProDaylight (HMI) and ProTungsten. These units are powerful enough to be used for both video and still photography.
Why light shaping for video? Modern DSLR cameras can be used to shoot high-resolution videos as well as still photographs. Since more and more photographers are required to do both, it is a natural step for us to introduce our concept of light shaping into the world of video.
If you are already familiar with Profoto, you will feel right at home. If you are new to Profoto, you will love the creative possibilities that our Light Shaping Tools offer. Experience the gentle push of the Softlight Reflector, explore the soft shadows and the distinct highlights of the Profoto Giants, or play with the smooth yet powerful light of the Magnum Reflector. You are only limited by your imagination.
Are all Profoto Light Shaping Tools compatible with Profoto Continuous lights? Yes, most of them are. This means that you can now use your favourite tools in a brand new way. However, some of them are not compatible due to heat restraints. For guidance, download the Light Shaping Tools for Continuous Light chart here.
Are all Profoto Light Shaping Tools compatible with Profoto Continuous lights? Yes, most of them are. This means that you can now use your favourite tools in a brand new way. However, some of them are not compatible due to heat restraints. For guidance, download the Light Shaping Tools for Continuous Light chart here.
A quick self-edit of some bts footage of a shoot I did with Aussie model Lauren Vickers. Shot using a white mola 22" demi beauty dish with PAD deflector, lit by the new Profoto ProDaylight 800w AIR HMI system. (continuous HMI lighting)
Yes, Photokina is still the world’s largest trade fair for the photographic industry. There is no other place where so many industry professionals gather at once, and it goes without saying that it is a golden opportunity to showcase your work. Would you like to do so?
Here is the thing. Profoto will of course have its own booth, and there will be a number of screens in it, showing a selection of amazing images that was created with the help of our gear. We already have plenty of images, but it would be nice to also give our blog readers a chance to show what they can do. All images will of course have the photographers name and the website right next to it.
What do you say? Are you up for the challenge? Then send us an email containing the following:
This was hard work with a great result, so take a look at the article...
• Take a look at how the modifier effects the exposure on the subject and the background. • Watch the transition from highlight to shadow. How hard is that line? • Take a look at the catchlights in the eyes. • How effecient is the modifier in terms of lost light from the standard? • Look at the difference in the quality of light when some of them are moved closer than the standard shooting point. • Moving the light closer to the subject changes exposure so I didn’t list the change in aperture for those images since they deviated from standard position.
I’ve highlighted a few areas here to watch in the photos below… Look at this crop between the 7′ and 4′ Octabanks…
A few people have been asking about further information on the new Mola 28″ Sollo. Here is a photo of the new reflector. Here is is pictured with the OPAL glass central deflector which also has the stabiliser rings to hold it securely. These both ship with the Sollo. Like the other larger Molas (28″ and above) it has an integrated handle to secure onto your stand of choice.
We do have stock at Mola Inc, distributors should start to list this item shortly.
dinsdag 12 juni 2012
René Kramers Comes Prepared
It is interesting how different answers you get when you ask photographers what it is that they like about photography. The art, the technique, the technology, the documentation, the interaction with people – there seem to be as many answers as there are photographers out there. “I love to solve problems,” answers Dutch photographer René Kramers. “When a client or an ad agency comes to you with an idea, it’s up to you to turn that idea into a result. The challenge is of course to figure out how to do that. So in a sense, photographers are like problem solvers. And that is something that I really, really appreciate. “This is connected to the fact that I enjoy working with people. Together you are almost like a football team. You find the right people for the right position, you have a common goal, and when the atmosphere is right and everybody is enjoying themselves, you might just be able to create something mind blowing.”
What would you say is the most important thing that you have learned during your 20 years as a photographer? “What’s the word in English? Self-esteem? Or perhaps confidence is most accurate? As a photographer, you’re like the team leader on the set. You must believe in yourself and stand up for the ideas in your head. You also need to be able to express those ideas to the people you work with. You need to convince them. Otherwise you’re just not working towards the same goal.”
And what would you say is the most important thing that you’ve learned about lighting? “That light is crucial when it comes to creating that feeling and atmosphere that you want to express. It’s also important to remember that the light becomes a part of your composition. Let’s say you’re shooting a dark, intense sky. A sky like that will of course seriously affect the balance and composition. But for some reason, you tend to forget that.”
What products do you mainly use? “I love the Pro-7b because of its speed and simplicity. But I hate travelling with equipment, so I always rent it when I’m going somewhere. That’s one of the main reasons why I always go with Profoto; no matter where I go, South Africa or America or Spain, they always have it.
Speaking of South Africa; these images were shot there, right?
“Yes, they were done there as part of an ad campaign for Johnny Loco bicycles. You know, I had a lot of fun shooting those images. Planning the shoot, scouting the area, going out there like four in the morning to set up the lights, and then just waiting for the sun to rise – it was pretty amazing. It’s also a nice example of how important pre production is. We spent a lot of time prepping that shot. Hence, the actual shooting was actually pretty easy.”
With Hanson shooting, we decided to get one more use out of the OctoDome before putting it away. We decided to use it as an element in the image itself.
To do so, we lowered the light to floor level, moved Stephanie forward, and adjusted the lights, accordingly. We used the same main light on the Magic Stand and, to add some sparkle on the floor and fill in Stephanie’s face and eyes used a 6′ Profoto strip box as a fill, placed well behind the stand and angled up at 45 Degrees. One of the things I like best about this image is the is the reflection on my cement floors and the shadow it throws forward.
I’m going to try this pattern again and, to capture more of the reflection, I’ll shoot with a wider lens.
(Copyright: PrairieFire Productions/Stephen J. Herzberg — 2009)
Jessica has been in the business for 13 years. Like many other freelance photographers, she does a little bit of everything – portraits, fashion, editorials and so on. The common denominator is that most of Jessica’s assignments include people in the entertainment industry, such as musicians, actors, writers and TV presenters.
The images in this article are the results of one such assignment. They depict singer and songwriter Laleh, shot for the cover of the December edition of the Scandinavian music magazine GAFFA.
“Shooting musicians is by choice my favorite assignment,” says Jessica. “To me, musicians are everyday heroes. They put words to things we all feel and they help us understand ourselves better. To me music is pure energy and music inspires me a lot in my work as a photographer and often helps me get into a certain mood before a shoot for instance.”
Zoals al in een eerdere blogpost aangegeven ben ik redelijk actief met “small flash”, een van de dingen die me enorm irriteerde aan het systeem was het zogenaamde “line of sight” van de flitsers. Met andere woorden, de flitsers moeten elkaar kunnen “zien” anders werkt het systeem niet. In een studio opstelling is dat vaak niet zo een enorm probleem maar goed daar gebruiken we natuurlijk andere flitsers….
Op locatie heb je dit probleem al redelijk snel, een flitser die om de hoek staat, een flitser in de volle zon en ga zo maar door, de problemen stapelen zich op.
Zelf heb ik gekozen voor het Pocketwizard systeem en in mijn geval de TT1 en TT5 die ik gebruik op mijn Canon flitsers. Het is geen goedkoop systeem, laten we dat voorop stellen, ik gebruik op dit moment bv 1 TT1 en 2 TT5’s en dat is toch een beste investering…. Maar zoals al gezegd een “beste”
Het grote voordeel wat ik bemerk aan het pocketwizard systeem is dat ook ETTL gewoon werkt via de radio signalen, met andere woorden ik heb de keuze of ik de units op manueel wil laten werken als ik meer tijd heb om een sessie op te zetten, of als het snel moet even op ETTL, dit is echt een enorme plus voor dit systeem. Maar daar stopt het niet.
Veel radio signalen ondersteunen geen HSS, High Speed Sync. Dit maakt het mogelijk om met hogere sluitertijden toch flits te gebruiken, en vooral buiten is dat ideaal, pocketwizard ondersteund HSS, maar gaat nog een flinke stap verder. Naast HSS heeft pocketwizard ook een eigen oplossing genaamd Hypersync. Het gaat wat ver om precies uit te leggen wat dit systeem precies doet, maar laten we het zo zeggen, de flitser recycled een stuk sneller dan op HSS, je krijgt meer output en de batterijen gaan langer mee…. En laten we eerlijk zijn daar gaat het om… toch?
Nu zul je denken, ah leuk voor small flash maar ik moet ook een systeem voor mijn studio flitsers, wel geen probleem. Ook daar is aangedacht. De TT1 en TT5 kun je ook gebruiken voor je studio flitsers natuurlijk, en het leuke is dat je ook dan gewoon gebruik kan maken van de hypersync…. “wacht even Frank, wat?” yep je las het goed, het Hypersync systeem maakt het mogelijk om met hogere sluitertijden dan 1/125e studio flitsers te gebruiken… cool he.
Er is wel een hele grote MAAR…. Het verschilt per camera en per flitser, de beste resultaten behaal je met de goedkopere / langzamere flitsers, op een flitskop met een flitsduur van 1/3000 e zul je bv nagenoeg geen winst halen, echter met een kop die een flitsduur heeft van 1/ 400 kun je enorme winsten halen in je sluitertijd.
Bij de oude software versies moest je dit allemaal handmatig instellen, maar bij de nieuwe versie word dit allemaal automatisch voor je geregeld.
Zowel voor “small flash” als voor “big flash” is er een zone controller gemaand de AC3, je kan hier 3 zones op instellen die je via de AC3 in kan stellen op sterkte, dit werkt natuurlijk een stuk makkelijker als naar de flitser toe te lopen, of het via een menu van de camera in te stellen.
Hier een kleine video die we een tijd geleden met Marie hebben opgenomen waarbij ik voor het eerst experimenteerde met het TT systeem.
LIVE VIDEO WEBINAR Light is the foundation of photography. Understanding light and proper lighting techniques are important first steps in improving your portraiture. In this seminar you will learn the basics of studio lighting and how to leverage the Profoto D1 Air to its fullest potential. We will cover everything from how to set your main light to how to determine a proper exposure. This will be the first installment of a multipart seminar on studio lighting.
Mark your calendar for 1PM Eastern Time on June 5th! Please note that there is no pre-registration. Simply go to this page on June 5th at 1PM EDT, enter your E-Mail address, Postal Code and Country, and the live streaming video will begin!
FREDRIK FRANZÉN
Ron Egatz