Pixiq

Last week we had this cool photo-shoot for our good friend, designer Alla Koval. She is talented kids wear fashion designer, and we are happy to collaborate with such passionate person.

We had a good history working with Alla, several outfits were photographed in a past (here and here) and it was always awesome experience, as we work with our own daughters, Sonia and Lilia.

They are great models, being models from the very beginning:

Now they grow up, and photography for them is a serious business:-)

Back to the shot:
This time we decide to shoot outside, the weather was beautiful and it will be easier to get desired composition without messing up with props in a studio.

The lighting setup:

We were working between 4PM and 5PM, the sun was on the right, relativelly low. Trees around does not have much leaves at this time, and it was a perfect filter for the sun. I found a nice sunny spot, right on front of a large pine tree (it worked as a natural background ) and decorated place with artificial white flowers:

Total 3 light sources were used (Einstein 640):

#1 on white umbrella (ideally it should be PLM silver umbrella, but I've broke it few days before), positioned at 45 degrees to a sun.
#2 was a hair-light: bare PCB reflector with a brandoors attached.
#3 on a background, yellow gel (to add some juice to a dark-green pine three) with brandoors attached to illuminate a light spill.

BTW, this was a first time what I've used brandoors (was using honeycomb grids instead), and I was surprised how easy it was to manipulate with the light beam using them:

I do not use flashmeter (useless device for a product photographer, IMO), so no information on a light ratios. Usually, working outside, I overpower the sun by a little: this gives me more freedom with the lighting around and model positioning.

For the whole shot exposure was set in this range:
1/160-1/250 sec shutter and F7.1 - F10 of the aperture. I was planing with the exposure during the shot, changing ambient/flash ratio without adjusting the flash power: to add more ambient light to a scene I simply was increasing the exposure time (from 1/250 to 1/160 shutter speed), or/and closing aperture by 1/3-2/3 stops.

Two lights was powered from an outlet with extension cord, but one (#3) was completely on a battery power: used my DIY power pack. I have few articles about how I did it, you may like to check it out, pretty cool and easy to do device:
DIY portable power system for Paul C. Buff monolights: Vagabond III?
Power pack test drive: dark studio under the sun.
DIY battery power pack for Paul C Buff lighting: the follow-up test shot.

Now, few images from the shot:

On the photo below I've let sun to take over (by jumping from 1/200 sec of shutter to 1/160 sec and F8 to F10.). See how it changed the lighting ratio, more light from the sun on the right:

I would call this a successful and pleasant photo-shot, but during the shot Lilia was not really posing well, (which was unusual for her, she loves to play a model), and at the end she did not want to smile at all, saying that she wants to go to play on a swing (it was 15 feet away from us). She was almost crying. We tried to entertain her, but it did not work.

We stopped the shot, and... imagine how I felt myself after we found that she is running fever, 102F! Poor baby, she did not tell us that she felt bad, she was trying to work as good as she cold in her condition...

She was fine next day, without any medication, saying that she was fine and would like to be a model again:-)

End of story.

If you'd like to see my other recent photo-shot, you can check them out at Atlanta Photographer's blog.  The most facinating, our latest jewelry shot.

Camera gear:

• Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III DSLR
• Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS L

Lighting, light modifiers and accessories:

• Paul C. Buff Lighting: 3×640WS
• AlienBees/White Lighting reflectos
• Paul C. Buff Cyber Commander 16 channels remote control with CSR+ receivers
• Adobe Lightroom 3 as a remote capture solution for tethered shooting