A couple of updates ago, I posted how to enhance the look of a fashion show with a single speedlite. That was useful when there are enough frontal lights to light up the model, so the extra speedlite is a nice touch and can differentiate yourself to others at that event.
So what do you do if there isn’t even enough lights to light up the model?
You’d be surprised how often this happens…The norm is that the smaller the event or venue, the worse the lighting it will be for the photographer. Why? Well, our eyes are just so much more sensitive than the camera, so while the lighting is perfect (aka moody) for the audience, it is simply way too low for still photography.
1.
This is what the camera sees, it is very dark and unusable.
Settings: 1/100 @ f2 @ 1600ISO … the lens was 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm
2.
After studying the surrounding I decided to place a Canon 580EX2 on a lightstand directly in front the runway, at a slight angle.
A Stofen Diffuser was put on the flash to make the light wider and larger, followed by a 1/4 CTO to match the ambient lighting.
Same settings as the above image, it is now much more usable.
Settings: 1/100 @ f2 @ 1600ISO … the lens was 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm
3.
As the speedlite is placed off-center, there is a much reduced risk of getting red-eye. Ironically, the ambient lights worked really well as accent lights to increase the mood!!
Settings: 1/160 @ f2 @ 1600ISO … the lens was 85mm f1.8 @ 85mm
4.
Because of the 1/4 CTO gel, the speedlite is much warmer and mixed into the ambient well. If the flash was bare, the slight orange glow from other lights would instead be an ugly deep orange.
Settings: 1/160 @ f2 @ 1600ISO … the lens was 85mm f1.8 @ 85mm
5.
Didn’t nail the focus in this shot, but I just love the model’s expression and smile.
Settings: 1/160 @ f2 @ 1600ISO … the lens was 85mm f1.8 @ 85mm
6.
By now you should have noticed that shutter speed for these are 1/160, remember that shutter speed changes the ambient only and does not affect the speedlite. By increasing or decreasing the shutter speed, it was basically a remote to adjust the ambient accent lighting.
Settings: 1/160 @ f2 @ 1600ISO … the lens was 85mm f1.8 @ 85mm
7.
The bright white super flare on the right is coming from other photographer’s flash.
Settings: 1/160 @ f2 @ 1600ISO … the lens was 85mm f1.8 @ 85mm
8.
This is a wider view of the runway and gives you some idea of the ambient lighting conditions. Notice how un-interesting the lighting are in this wider view.
The reason for this is because the light created by the speedlite is quite tiny and only works in a small zone.
Settings: 1/160 @ f2 @ 800ISO … the lens was 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm
