I had a SUPER EARLY photo shoot a few weeks back for Coastal Cardiology.  It was one of those days that was absolutely FREEZING here in Charleston.  I had to be on-site at 6:30am to set up and photograph the exterior of their building in that pre-dawn light that gives the sky that dramatic blue color and makes the interior look so warm and inviting.  I set up three SB-800 flashes with full CTO gels on them to light up the building.  Then, bundled up like an Eskimo, I waited by my tripod for the light to be just right.  I shot with my Nikon D3 (set to tungsten white-balance to give the sky that saturated blue) with a 14-24 f2.8 lens.

After I got my shot, I went in and set up for head shots of all the doctors.  These had to be completed before patients began arriving at 7:45!  I decided to use a giant 36” shoot-through umbrella, for the main light, with two SB-800s firing through it.  I placed a white light-disc on the opposite side for fill.  In the past, I might have used a main light and a fill light.  But I’ve really been liking the effect of my new head-shot lighting set up because it produces only ONE catch-light in the eye.  If I use a main light AND a fill light, this produces TWO catch-lights…not quite as natural looking.  A third SB-800 provided a hair light to complete the look I wanted.  All the head-shots were done with my D3 mounted to the 70-200 f2.8.  All the flashes were triggered by an SB-900 in Commander Mode only, via RadioPoppers.  Enjoy!