Progress with speedlighting

Progress with speedlighting

Yesterday i had an amazing 3 hour shoot at a relatively new location for me, though it is yet another derelict raf base, but this one is in Norfolk, a bit further afield than my usual haunt, but well worth the 45 minute drive to get there!

My previous shoot there was a quickie, no speedlights, just tripod, camera, and those boots...

Yesterday i took those speedlights with me and i had a little something in mind even before i got there, similar shoot to the previous one, same outfit, though with slight wardrobe change midway through. Anyway within moments of my arrival i got chatting to a guy who worked in oe of the businesses on the former base, who gave me some good insider info on the base, as well as a green light to shoot at my hearts content.

Had a quick gander round a recommended spot but soon returned to my shoot location to set up and get shooting.

The light here was amazing,, specially as time went by, the golden hour made it magical, but even prior to that the light was damn good and useable, and i only really used my speedlight, attached to an 80cm octobox, as a fill in light, which it did very well.

I barely moved from that spot all afternoon, only moving into the corridor a few times for some leading lines and light and shadow play, not using the speedlight for those, no need, the light was perfect.

Of course, when the golden hour arrived i still used my octobox as a fill in, the images would not have worked without it, not without overexposing the background where the sun came in through two huge, long windows.

I almost went arse over tit as i ran down a corridor and my foot landed on some broken glass, which caused me to slide and almost crash, thankfully i am a thigh high boot wearing photo-ninja, so i kept my balance, composure and pride and carried on like a pro actually i caught it all on video, with replays of the clip, as well as the obligatory slow-mo!

I have to say, i now feel rather condfident and comfortable shooting with my speedlights, even if it is just as a fill in light, i can see the massive difference it makes.

As mentioned, there is a video for it at the end of this post should you wish to view my time shooting there yesterday, but it is allmost 49 minutes long, quite an epic one, and one i really enjoyed doing, attaching my leica to a joby gorillapod and attaching that to my lightstand while using it to record video was a stroke of sheer genuis it also gave a nice little wobble which makes a change from the never moving footage from a conventional tripod.

There is a slideshow of my days shooting right at the end of the video, right after "I got a lovely bunch of coconuts"... hmmm...

Fab afternoon doing what i love to do, photography! Subject matters not to me, it was as enjoyable as any i have done and probably moreso due to the high number of good images from it, well i say good, good for me lol good in general well, thats another matter

Tags: Self portraits Speedlighting