Last week I shared the first of a set of four scenarios that I planned to test the capabilities of the Profoto B2, Air Remotes and OCF modifiers. Today I’ll delve into the second shoot.
Women’s Fitness & Portraiture Scenario
Talent: Carly from Wink Models
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Time: Afternoon
Conditions: Cloudy with some sun
Assistant 1: My good friend and photographic artist Trib HüVan helped as a Voice Activated Light-stand (VAL)
Assistant 2: My fiancée and amazing food photographer Rachel Jane took the behind the scenes images
Gear: Nikon D600, Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8, Profoto B2 Off-Camera Flash (1 head only), Air Remote TTL-N, OCF Softbox 2′ Octa
Overhead Run
I don’t tend to shoot fitness in portrait orientation very often because most of my images are used on a website where most images are landscape. I also wanted to capture a different viewpoint, so I climbed up the side of this bridge to get overhead.
Profoto B2 on camera left (see how Carly’s shadow goes to the right) fired remotely by the Air Remote TTL-N.
Finding lines makes me happy, although it sounds really odd when you say that out loud…
Here’s the behind the scenes image of where I had Trib with the Profoto B2 to light the shot above.
Giving directions from my perch.
A photographer climbing walls and looking at the back LCD screen – chimping squared! 😉
Taking a breather
Carly taking a breather under the bridge. Natural light from camera left with the Profoto B2 creating rim light from camera right.
A BTS shot over my shoulder. You can see that the natural rim light isn’t as pronounced.
Going through the shots with Carly.
Stretching it out
This was probably my favourite location of the day. I love the clean lines and bluish-grey tones.
Shooting through things can get an interesting effect. In this case I was shooting through the perforated metal. It’s the same stuff that you can see on the left side of the frame, just closer.
In this spot we used the Profoto B2 Air system to add a touch of extra light from the same direction as the natural light was already coming. This allowed me to highlight Carly in a way that looks very natural.
This is where Trib was set up to light the shot above. I was able to trigger the Profoto B2 with the Air Remote TTL-N.
When Carly was more vertical (like the shot at the very top of the blog post), I had Trib up on the stairs to get a higher angle.
Trib having a bit of fun up on the stairs during a break in the action.
Getting close up
Carly has the most incredible eyes. They’re actually a big part of what made me want to work with her when she reached out to me on Instagram.
I made sure that I got a few close up shots before we called it a wrap. The toning is a bit different from the fitness images as I wanted to play around a bit with my post-processing.
Dem eyes.
In all of the shots the sun was coming from behind Carly, highlighting her hair but creating shadow on her face. The Profoto B2 was used as the key light on her face from the front.
The Profoto B2 was able to overpower direct sunlight coming from behind because the light was in close.
Conditions kept changing between full sun and clouds. Since I was close to Carly, the Profoto B2 was able to overpower the ambient light without any issues in both cases.
Here you can clearly see how we were in fully sun during these portraits. I kept Trib and the Profoto B2 close to the camera so that I would get a nice catchlight in Carly’s eyes.
Overall I thought this test shoot was successful. Working with strobes is different from what I’m used to, and a good challenge.
The Air Remote TTL-N (seen here on the D600 hot shoe) allows me to control the power of the Profoto B2.
The Profoto B2 is great tool for the type of shooting I do:
- It allows me to sync at almost any shutter speed – I tested up to 1/4000 sec
- It’s lightweight in comparison to larger strobes, making it easy to move locations – we were in at least 4 different places in the span of a few hours
- The Profoto B2 Air capabilities allow me to control the output of light directly from the camera – which would be helpful in cases where my assistant is less experienced than Trib
Finally, I’d love to leave you with this photo from the shoot. I pride myself on making sure that people have a good time when on shoot with me and here’s a beautiful in-between moment of Carly having a laugh:
Hope you’re having an amazing week!
MK