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Monthly Archives: June 2013

Lighting Technique

28 Friday Jun 2013

Posted by Bob Harrington in Uncategorized

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California Sunbounce Micro Mini, CT Headshot Photographer, Expoimaging, Foto Care, Headshot Photographer, Nikon, OCF, off camera flash, Off camera flash workshop, Phtography Education, Rogue gels, Rogue XL Pro

 

Hi and welcome back.

The next few posts will cover lighting technique.

From last Tuesday’s workshop at Foto Care, let’s take a look at this shot of Cori:

_RVH3928I wanted to make it look as if she was outside in warm sunlight.

To do this, I set my key light to Manual Mode at 1/2 power behind her using a Rogue XL Pro with the strip softbox attachment and a Rogue Full Cut CTO Gel.  The warming gel gave me that late afternoon sunlight look.

With my key light actually behind Cori, I used the silver side of my California Sunbounce Micro Mini to give me reflected fill on her face.

Here’s the behind-the-scenes (BTS) shot showing how the setup worked.  You can see how warm the light is coming out of the flashbender and lighting the room.

The original WB was set to Dayllight, but that was too warm, so in post I dropped WB down to about 4,000 degrees Kelvin to keep the warm tone on the overall image without it being too warm.

_RVH3952I finished the image in Photoshop using Totally Rad Actions Portrait Retouch V2.  If you’ve never used this action set for skin retouching, you need to check it out.  I got it last year and it took a 30 minute retouch down to about 3 minutes.

If you like it, buy it with my coupon code good for 15% off of any product from TR: 1434rhstudios

Totally Rad Actions

Check out Foto Care and Totally Rad Actions, you won’t be disappointed.

That’s it for now, happy shooting!

 

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Foto Care

26 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by Bob Harrington in Uncategorized

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Expoimaging, Foto Care, Nikon, off camera flash, Off Camera flash workshops, Rogue Flashbenders, Rogue gels, Rogue Grid, Rogue XL Pro

Hi and welcome back.

I spent the day yesterday teaching Off Camera Flash with the Rogue Flashbender system at Foto Care, NYC.

If you’ve never shopped at Foto Care, do it.  Stop in when in NYC.  You’ll love the store and amazing staff!

Expoimaging

Foto Care

I’ll have more info on gels used and shot setups later this week.

Here are a few shots from yesterday, many thanks to Ricky and Cori for modeling:

_RVH3916 _RVH3928 _RVH3948 _RVH3952 _RVH3954 _RVH3960 _RVH3969 _RVH3975 _RVH3987 _RVH4006 _RVH4007 _RVH4046 _RVH4055 _RVH4056

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Foto Care Tuesday, June 25

24 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by Bob Harrington in Uncategorized

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Expoimaging, Foto Care, headshots, NYC workshop, off camera flash, Off camera flash workshop

Hi and welcome back.

Currently I’m in full prep mode for Foto Care tomorrow.

Interested, check it out.  We go from 9-4, lunch provided, and shoot two fabulous models.

I’ll be using the new Rogue XL Pro and Rogue Gels.  I’m recently enamored with gelling my flashes for creative effects, so look for gel work tomorrow.

Ricky:

_RVH8423

 

Cori:

Calumet NYC Expoimaging Cori Cohen 6 16 2012 3346Here’s the event link:

Foto Care, 43 w 22 nd St, NYC

Fotocare Screen shot 2013-06-24 at 12.44.24 PMHope to see you there for a great day of OCF!

 

 

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Off Camera Flash Gear Guide

20 Thursday Jun 2013

Posted by Bob Harrington in Uncategorized

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Ansmann, Ansmann AA Batteries, Ansmann Chargers, california sunbounce, Expoimaging, Hildozine, Lighting Equipment, Lighting Gear, Off Camera Flash Gear Guide, Off Camera Flash Gear List, Photek Softlighter, Photoflex, Pocket Wizard, Rogue Flashbenders, Tenba Bags, Westcott

Hi and welcome back.

I get asked a lot what I’m using for gear.  After all this time using OCF and buying and trying the current “Greatest Thing,” I’ve narrowed the entire list down to what’s below.  I’ve tried and owned and used so many gadgets and softboxes and manufacturers gear, but this is the refined list of what I keep with me every day.

I keep a Tenba 38″ Roller in my truck with everything below in it at all times, except my chargers and speedlights.

I’m giving you part numbers where I can, but you can just Google to see if your local suppliers have the gear or something close to it.

Lightstands: Manfrotto 1052 BAC Quickstackers, the best lightstands for speedlighting in general, a pack of three will store where I used to keep 1 stand:

Umbrella Bracket: Lumopro LP633, get these from Midwest Photo Exchange, BH carries Photek brand, same thing:

Boom arms: Matthews 40″ Hollywood Grip Arm, get Matthews as they are stainless steel and can be cut in length for any purpose with a hacksaw:

Rogue Flashbender XL Pro Kit, all the included pieces and the strip box attachment makes this modifier amazing, I own 3 of them and just love them (Tip: assemble the XL Pro on your speedlight backwards so the weight of the unit will not cause the flash head to tip forward, this also puts all the controls of the speedlight facing you for quick adjustment):

Rogue Flashbender Large with Diffusion Panel, this used to be the big one; the mid size is perfect for most speedlight applications and works great as a snoot:

Rogue Grid, this replaces a 7″ strobe reflector I hacked to fit my SB910 and is a must for any bag, I keep two with me always:

Westcott 26″ Rapid Box, this is not new to the market as it used to be marketed by Denny under the name Firefly, but the rebranding has added life to this modifier.  It is a beauty dish or softbox and the light out of it is amazing:

Westcott Rapid Box Disc, spend the money on the disk and install it every time you use it, even when you add the softbox diffusion panel (Tip: put a dab of Loctite on screw that attaches to the disk so it stays put every time you install/uninstall it from the softbox):

Photoflex 45″ Convertible Umbrella, simply the best umbrella I’ve ever used, I keep one to two with me at all times:

46″ Photek Softlighter II 8mm Removable Shaft, eats a lot of light with diffuser on, but just a beautiful umbrella softbox with gorgeous light:

California Sunbounce Micro Mini Silver/White, get this reflector, pay the money, don’t ever regret it, it’s that good.  I have two of them that are in my Tenba all the time:

California Sunbounce Enterprise Grip Head, again, spend the money!  I think the older Grip Head Pro is better, but they don’t offer it anymore: (Tip: buy a Matthews 2.5″ grip head as it’s made of aluminum, bring the head and one of the CS tubes to a machine shop, have them bore the grip head to fit the tube: I did it!! Works perfectly for less money.)

Ansmann 2850 Mah NIMH AA Batteries, hands down the best AA out there!  I own about 80 of them: 

Ansmann Energy 8 Chargers, again, the best charger I’ve used, and I’ve used a bunch of them:

Pocket Wizard Plus II and III, excellent radio trigger system, a bit pricey, I own 9 of them but am currently looking for cheaper alternatives:

Hildozine, if you have PW’s, get Hildozines to attach the PW securely so it won’t fall or get damaged:

Nikon SB910, a fabulous and powerful unit, most often used as my key light:

Nikon SB800, I have 3 of these in my kit.  They are the best flash ever made and I get one used when I need to replace one: usually cause I break it!

Nissin Di 866, if you are looking for a good alternative to a branded flash from Canon or Nikon, the Nissin line is very good:

Nikon SD9 and SD8A AA battery packs, Nissin battery pack:

I think that’s about it!

Wanna try some of this gear out, I’m at Foto Care June 25 and BH Photo Event Space July 8 running lighting and shooting workshops.

Till next time, happy shopping!

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Natural Light…Again!

19 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by Bob Harrington in Uncategorized

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CT, CT Editorial Photographer, CT Food Photographer, Cupcake Wars, Food photography, milford, natural light food photography, Suzie Cakes

Hi and welcome back.

Yesterday I was assigned to shoot “Suzie Cakes” Cupcake bakery in my town of Milford, CT.

Suzie Cakes just won “Cupcake Wars” and one of the magazines I freelance for wanted shots of the signature cupcakes and the restaurant for an article.

Suzie Cakes Cupcake Wars

I shot totally with natural light and pushed my ISO for these results.  As you know if you follow my blog, I’m all about speedlights and Off Camera Flash, but the light in the small room was just fabulous.

Here are a few outtakes.  The cupcakes are “The Lucille Ball”, which is Red Velvet, and the “The Ethel”, which is chocolate with a peanut butter center and chocolate frosting.

Enjoy!

_RVH3387 _RVH3391 _RVH3415 _RVH3425 _RVH3437 _RVH3447 _RVH3449 _RVH3451 _RVH3469

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Natural Light and the Reflector

18 Tuesday Jun 2013

Posted by Bob Harrington in Uncategorized

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california sunbounce, CT Headshot Photographer, headshots, Natural light portraiture, Nikon, Nikon D3, OCF Workshops, Workshops

Hi and welcome back.

Near the end of my Off Camera Flash workshop on Saturday, Audette, one of my students, asked about natural light portraiture using a reflector.  She showed me an image she had taken with natural light and a gold reflector.  She was happy with the overall quality of the light but not the yellow tone in the image.

I recognized right away that she had used a gold or silver/gold zebra stripe reflector.  When she confirmed she had used a gold reflector, I quickly told her to stay away from gold reflectors for caucasian people; that gold reflectors worked best on people of dark skin and that yellow color casts will affect your image and she’ll find herself in post processing removing all that yellow cast from skin tone.

So at the last moment of the workshop I set up my California Sunbounce Micro Mini with Grip Head onto a lightstand and went to work.

Califonia Sunbounce Micro Mini

I placed Christina in such a way that the sun was behind her and thus falling over her head and shoulders and hitting the silver side of the reflector, giving me that great, bright, non-yellow light needed for a perfect color tone.

Here’s the setup with the Sunbounce: it’s important to note that the 20×30 micro mini is perfect for upper body and head and shoulders shots.

_RVH3377

 

At this point, you can locate your reflector, set your exposure, WB, and just shoot.  I usually push ISO up a bit to get a fast shutter speed and aperture of between 4 and 5.6.

The real beauty of this is that there is no flash or strobe battery to deplete or recycle times to worry about.  You can just have your subject act natural and knock out some great, fun shots, like these:

_RVH3300 _RVH3308 _RVH3316 _RVH3334 _RVH3356 _RVH3361 _RVH3372You can see the catchlight in her eyes is the reflector doing it’s job and giving me perfect, contrasty fill light for a great round of shots with the sun behind for hair and separation light.

All shots are raw to jpeg unedited proofs right out of my camera, Nikon D3 and 70-200 vr lens.

The reflector is one of the most important tools in your lighting kit.  Take it out often and use it; you will be amply rewarded with great images using simple gear.

My next workshop is at Foto Care in NYC on June 25.

Check it out here: Foto Care

Hope to see you there.  Till next time, happy shooting!

 

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Photo Center Rogue OCF Workshop

17 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by Bob Harrington in Uncategorized

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beauty, Expoimaging, Headshot Photography CT, headshots, off camera flash, Off Camera flash workshops, Photo Center, Rogue Flashbenders

Hi and welcome back.

Here are a few shots from last Saturday’s workshop at Photo Center, Bricktown, NJ.

We had a great time working at Shark River Park in Neptune, NJ on a beautiful, sunny day!

Thanks to Photo Center and our model Christina.

Nissin Di 866 and Rogue XL Pro:

_RVH3193

 

On camera flash with the small Rogue Flashbender and diffusion panel.  I shot this look in completely auto mode: Program Auto Exposure and TTL on SB910 to show how to get great results by letting the camera do all the work:

_RVH3232

 

Over and under beauty.  Key light SB910 into Rogue XL Pro with diffusion panel, fill or kicker light underneath Rogue XL Pro into the Strip Box:

_RVH3266

 

Barehead SB800 with a Rogue Full CTO gel behind the model for full backlight.  I exposed for her face only and let the flash give me a lot of colored back and fill light:

 

 

 

 

_RVH3285

 

We had a great time in NJ and I’m looking forward to going back!

My next event is at Foto Care in NYC on June 25.  In the area and want to learn these techniques?

Register here: Foto Care

That’s it for now.  Till next time, happy shooting!

 

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Sometimes It’s Natural Light

14 Friday Jun 2013

Posted by Bob Harrington in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

editorial food photography, Food photography, fun, natural light food photography, New Haven Living Magazine, Nikon

Hi and welcome back.

Yesterday I shot Zafra Cuban Restaurant in New Haven, CT for a local magazine.

I rolled into the job as I always do, with my camera bag, tripod, and flash bag of lightstands, umbrellas, Rogue Flashbenders, and California Sunbounce reflectors.

Well, I went right for the front window and all of this beautiful natural light to illuminate the food.  I thoroughly enjoyed not having to set up all that gear!

Here are a few shots.  Nikon D3, 60mm Micro Nikkor, all natural light.

Enjoy and till next time, happy shooting!

_RVH3160 _RVH3139 _RVH3118 _RVH3114 _RVH3078 _RVH3067 _RVH3017

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Upcoming Events and Workshops

11 Tuesday Jun 2013

Posted by Bob Harrington in Uncategorized

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BH Photo, fashion, glamour, Hensel Lighting, Hensel Workshops, motorcycle workshops, off camera flash, Off camera flash workshop, portrait, Strobe lighting workshops, Unique Photo

Hi and welcome back.

Here is a list of what is coming up for the rest of June and beginning of July.

June 15,Photo Center, Bricktown, NJ, Rogue Flashbender shooting workshop. 

June 25, Foto Care, 44w 22nd St, NYC, Rogue Flashbender shooting workshop.

June 29, the Motorcycle Workshop, Prospect, CT, If I have my new Hensel Lights by then, we shoot Hensel and not Profoto.  

Here’s the look for June 29:

Screen shot 2013-06-09 at 7.07.14 PM

 

July 8, BH Photo Event Space, Herald Square Shooting Workshop, 1-5 pm, link forthcoming.

In August look for Hensel Strobe lighting workshops at BH Photo and Unique Photo.

That’s it for now. Check back often to see what’s going on.  The Summer is going to be great with the new sponsorship from Hensel and a bunch of great gear to use, including:

Porty 1200L with two heads

Porty Ring Light

Hensel 3 light 500ws kit

Various modifiers and softboxes and everything!

Hope to see you soon!

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Back from Unique heading to Photo Center this weekend.

10 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by Bob Harrington in Uncategorized

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Nikon, OCF Workshops, off camera flash, Rogue Flashbenders, Unique Photo

Hi and welcome back.

Had a blast presenting and teaching at Unique Photo, Fairfield, NJ over the weekend.

I got some great shots with the new Rogue Flashbender XL Pro and just had a wonderful time with the crowd!

First, I used a single SB910 and the XL Pro for some simple shots of Cynthia:

Cynthia Andino 6 8 2013 5209 Cynthia Andino 6 8 2013 5205

 

Then I headed out to the show floor for some creative one light portraits of Juli using the XL Pro in Various configurations, including the awesome strip box:

Studio Session-044 Studio Session-041 Studio Session-038 Studio Session-035 Studio Session-034 Studio Session-025 Studio Session-023

 

Then I headed over to the Pro Showcase and did another one light setup with Juli:

_RVH2993 _RVH2990

 

Then we stole away to the empty warehouse attached to the Pro Showcase.  Here, on Caroline, I used two speedlgihts:

Key: SB910 with the XL Pro as beauty dish, Hair: SB800 with 16 degree Rogue Grid.

I used the sodium lamp in the ceiling also as a hair light and the light from the open door behind to show how you can use what you are given effectively.

_RVH3007 _RVH3003

 

Interested in learning how to shoot like this?

Then join me at the Photo Center, Brick, NJ this Saturday. Register soon as spots are filling up:

Photo Center OCF Workshop

Till next time, happy shooting!

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