Light Bending 411 Encore

I’ve been getting such WONDERFUL feedback from the Wireless Lighting Workshops I’ve been teaching.  THANK YOU to everyone that has participated and made it such a success.  I’ll be teaching my “Light Bending 411” course again on November 6th!  I’ve been asked by The Aroostook F-Stops, an extremely active photography club in northern Maine, to come do a full-day program for them.  The club’s fearless leader, Tom, has been so organized and fun to work with.  His wife is a fellow alumni from The American School of Kinshasa (TASOK)…so we’ll have lots of catching up to do!  Since Cami spent several summers in Maine and has many fond memories from this beautiful part of the country, we’ll be going up early and taking some much anticipated R&R.  We’ll fly into Portland and wind our way up to Aroostook, hiking and sightseeing in places like Acadia National Park, and staying in quaint B&B’s along the way.  I’m truly excited and look forward to sharing my enthusiasm with these wonderfully talented photographers in Maine!!!

RadioPoppers & PocketWizards, Oh My!

My good friend and fellow photographer, Robbin Knight, was covering Lisa & Justin’s wedding with me last weekend.  (www.chrisandcami.com/blog).  Like me, he’s another big fan of using every trick of the trade, including wireless technology, to cover all the angles and get our clients something unique and different.  So between us we had as many as 8 remote Nikon SB-800 strobes AND a remote Nikon D300 firing at the SAME TIME!!!  The strobes were being fired via RadioPoppers and the D300 was being fired via PocketWizards.  

For our bird’s eye view of Lisa & Justin’s Horah, Robbin used his 96” ShureLine pole, normally used to hold a remote flash, but that we had modified to hold my D300 with a 10.5mm fisheye.  He triggered the camera with a PocketWizard, which fired the on-camera SB-800, which told the RadioPopper to fire all the remote SB-800s.  Meanwhile, there I am in the crowd getting the “inside” view with my Nikon D3/14-24mm combo, triggering the same remote flashes via a RadioPopper mounted on my SB-900. 

It’s always so much fun working with Robbin.  We had a BLAST!!!  Plus Lisa & Justin couldn’t have been more fun to work with…

High-Flying Camera

While we were shooting for Bolongo Bay Resort in St. Thomas last month, one of our tasks was to get some updated images of the “Heavenly Days”. This sleek catamaran sets sail for evening sunset cruises and other chartered trips by resort guests. Well, I got the usual shots from shore…then rode along side the sleek vessel in a speedboat to photograph it skipping across the turquoise Caribbean water. But that wasn’t enough! For a truly unique image, I had a crew member hoist up the mast and clamp my beloved Nikon D3 plus 14-24mm f2.8 super wide angle lens to a cross beam with my Bogen Super Clamp. I used a pair of PocketWizards to wirelessly trigger the camera. Not only did it make for a cool shot, but I actually got to be IN the final image. Can you tell which one is me?!? 🙂 100102-0304100102-0307100102-0312100102-0325

School Portraits

Something I LOVE about my profession is that no two weeks are alike. One week I might be shooting a beautiful wedding, the next I might be shooting Serena Williams at the Family Circle Cup. This week, I was photographing the school pictures for the Child Development Center at Ashley River Baptist Church. Since I’m truly just a kid at heart anyway, I felt right at home. 🙂

Many of you have asked me how I set up for assignments like these. So here’s a couple shots of this year’s set up. We decided to do an all-white high-key setup this year. To properly do high-key, it’s CRITICAL that you light the background separate from the subject. This allows you to over-expose the background by a stop or so to give it that angelic glow. I have two Alien Bees with umbrellas lighting the white seamless background, and one AB in a large soft box lighting the kids.

Another great tip when working with kids is to always use a remote triggering device. Children are just TOO FAST to try and jump back to the camera to get the shot. Their smiles light up their face for an instant, the next they’re digging for gold or admiring the ceiling tiles. I use a Pocket Wizard, attached to a PW Caddy, strapped to my belt. When I get the reaction I want, a quick tap to my hip transmits the signal to my receiver, which is picked up by the receiving Pocket Wizard, instantly firing the camera.