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Travel Portrait/Fashion with single flash

from Don Leonard (don_leonard@student.uml.edu)
I just found this forum and thought I'd pull a question from the unmoderated forum over here for your eyes to look over.

I have been skimming over location portraiture literature for some good rules of thumb when setting up a model for a portrait while on my trip to Spain. It is an interesting problem, because I can count on high, harsh sun during those times of day when we aren't supposed to shoot :) .

Here's what I've come up with for my Canon FD rig (T90 and AE1P).

1. Fuji S-Reala 100

2. Shoe mount Vivitar 383 for on camera fill or off camera with tripod adaptor (and 20ft of pc cord).

3. Photoflex XTC II mini-softbox (about 8x6" bath toy) for softening with flash off camera and 6ft to Subject.

4. Rosco #09 pale amber gold gel for flash

5. 100mm f/2.8

The most appealing (and probably ambitious) style that I have taken a liking to is the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. For professional and personal reasons I have been disecting each shot trying to figure out how they did it (with 3 assistants and a truck full of gear), and then trying to figure out how I can come close to replicating it with a single flash setup . From what I gather, I can either use the sun as the main light and flash for fill, or use flash for main light and sun for hair highlights/slight modeling light.

Are you laughing yet?

The reason I like the SI swimsuit shoot is that they are shooting in tropical regions with similar lighting issues to the ones I face. Here is what I've found so far.

Technique #1: Shoot at sunrise and sunset. Perhaps use the flash for some fill or modeling??? Use warming filter gel on flash to match sunlight?

Technique #2: Shoot subject in shaded area. Since I'm shooting neg film I don't have to worry about blue cast??? Flash becomes main light with no fill or hairlight? If so, on or off camera?

Technique #3: Shoot subject in daylight, but with the back of body or face to the sun, thus puting the subject in a shadow that I can brighten with flash. In this case, I gather, the flash is considered the "main" light and the sun is the hairlight. So I shoot flash at full power, or stopped down 1.5 notches for fill? On camera or off?

I know these are very subjective questions (read "answer will vary"), but I would like to know if anyone has any tips for composing outdoor portraiture with such limited gear? If the model's face is in the sun, is it normally good to position her so that the line between light and shadow falls down the center of her face, or perhaps off around 45 degrees?

Also, has anyone found a particular color gel that works good for warming skintones, particularly during sunsets/rises?

Shooting from the hip, I picked up a Rosco #09 pale amber gold gel from B&H. Here's a link with a rough image:

https://secure03.bhphotovideo.com/default.sph/FrameWork.class? FNC=ProductActivator__Aattributelist_html___43705___RO09S___REG___SID= E6B224EA922

Any thoughts on best color? will this work?

Sorry for the long string. Thanks for taking the time to read it!

Best, Don

(posted 8352 days ago)

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