More Head Shots

I did a Head Shot Session with a local actress today.

Head Shots

I want to start doing head shots and this is the setup I have designed based on the equipment I have.

Layout and equipment schedule for my head shoot setup.

Exposure: ISO 200, Shutter speed 1/200, Aperture f/8

Main light, Godox AD360 at f/8

Background light, Godox V850 at f/5.6

Hair light, Godox V850 at f/5.6

Two 40” and one 30” reflectors adjusted to f/5.6

Pull back photo:

Controlling the light

For this photo, I placed the subject in the center of a room. With my camera in manual mode, I set the ISO to 100, the shutter speed to 200 and took a series of test pictures at different apertures until the LCD monitor was totally black, in this case f/8. I then set three speedlites close around the subject and adjuster their power to f/8.  

DYI macro set-up

Is anyone interested in Macro photography? Here is a DYI project for you. Digging through my junk drawer to day I found two small flash units, don’t know why I originally bought them, but Amazon sells them for $12.50 each (Vivitar SF-3000). I also found two sets of Cowboy Studio radio triggers (MPT-04), each set has one transmitter and two receiver’s and Cowboy Studio sells then for $21.00 each set. I bought them when I first got into off camera flash. Anyway, I put the small flash units and the radio triggers together with a broken yard stick, some nuts and bolts, and a couple of left over extension plates to make a macro flash setup. The camera is a Canon 7D and a Canon 100mm macro lens.

Real Estate Photography

I tried my hand at Real Estate photography today, much harder than it looks. I used my Canon 5D-III, 17-40 f/4L lens, two Godox V860-II flash units and the Godox X1-C controller. I had a good tripod head (Manfrotto 3437), separately adjustable in three directions, but not a geared heat and I used a little level that fits in the camera hot shoe. You must have the camera level to kept the vertical lines straight. I also used a Pixel TW-283 wireless shutter release.

In its simples form the idea is to expose for the windows and use your flash to bring the room light up to match the window. However, it is very hard to get the flash into the right location. Even harder in a small bathroom. To see how the pros do it, there are tons of videos on You-Tube to show you what to do before, during and after you take the picture.

Shoot Location

Yesterday I was talking to a lady about doing a family portrait session with her and her two girls. This afternoon my wife and I went for a drive to check out some of the local parks, looking for a good location for the family portrait session. In Sartell (MN) we found a small neighborhood park at the corner of Pine Cone RD. N and 1^st St. N. Lion’s Park is very picturesque with green lawns, picnic benches, trees and flowers. It even has a small vine covered gazebo with flowers all around. I think it will make a great location for pictures.

Down by the Lake

We were up at the lake this weekend, visiting my wife’s sister and her family. I took some pictures down by the water, I have always had a problem with water pictures. There is a reflection off the water that messes up your exposure. For these photos, I bumped the exposure up one stop. Anyway, this is something I’ll have to work on.