Thursday, April 7, 2011

IN-CAMERA Workshop Day 2 - Light

"What's that movie where they're in a bunker during a tornado and a cow goes flying by? Twister?" -Jody

Day 2 of the workshop began under severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings. Gotta love Spring in the South! Zach's Light lecture was preempted by lightning, sirens and the news that a tornado had reportedly touched down in a town nearby. We all contemplated squeezing into the bathtub, but instead we watched the weather radar until the worst had passed.


Zach lectured about lighting patterns, ratios, flashes, strobes and metering - Oh My! When it was time for us to go shoot it was still raining sideways. Pouring. As a wedding photographer, this was actually to my advantage. Zach and Jody showed me how to take beautiful portraits, on location, in the absolute worst weather conditions. Lets be real... if you are getting married in the South during Spring or Summer the odds that it will rain on your wedding day are pretty high.

I wasn't sure about booking this day of the workshop because I was afraid of getting overwhelmed but Z&J are SO good at breaking down the process into simple steps and making it fun. I'm very glad I decided to go because now I feel prepared and won't go into full on panic mode if I'm ever in poor weather at a wedding. That is a good feeling :)  Also, I fell in LOVE with artificial light!! You can create some absolutely stunning portraits with just one strobe. I'll be saving up my pennies to buy some lighting gear as soon as possible.

We shot at Factory in Franlkin, TN.  Here the rain let up for a few minutes so we ran outside. Elly is standing under an awning in front of the parking lot. It was about 4:00 in the afternoon and the sky, while gray, was actually pretty bright. Zach showed us how to darken it.


 Showing how strobes can create mood and beautiful light anywhere. This is in front of a bathroom.


Behind the scenes.


The result.



Huge thanks to the models that came out in the weather and still KILLED it during the shoot. Y'all are amazing!

What we used, aka my wishlist ;)
Ellinchrom Ranger Light
Photogenic Powerlight
Westcott 24x32 Softbox
Photogenic Speedring
Westcott 13' Air Cushioned Light Stand
Vagabond Mini
Pocket Wizard Transceiver
Sekonic L358 Light Meter w/ Light Module 

1 comment:

  1. "Twister"...hahaha! Great blog JD! Makes me want to go back! :)

    ReplyDelete