In this video you will go behind the scenes with commercial photographer Joel Dryer and videographer Ray Jackson, as Joel shoots a GQ inspired magazine cover for The Wedded Bliss magazine.

Inspired by Dean Collins teachings, Joel shows how to light a scene using a light meter and the knowledge of chroma zones and lighting ratios. Discover why once you have complete control of the light in your scene, you can produce beautiful images straight from your camera, that need little or no retouching in LightRoom or Photoshop.

This tutorial features a three point lighting setup which includes a key light, fill light, and kicker. Different light ratios are featured, as well as a small section about kicker lights and the angle of incidence being equal to the angle of reflection when relating to specular highlights. Metering for dark diffuse values are covered – as well.

A helpful money saving tip featured in this video shows the use of ankle weights in place of costly sand bags for weighing down your light stands.

Photography equipment used in the actual shoot include: Canon 5D, 28-135mm EF IS lens, Adorama Flashpoint 1220A and 1220M 600ws studio strobes monolights, Paul C Buff CyberSync radio slaves and transmitters, 20 degree grid, Calumet medium softbox, eight-inch reflectors, Sekonic L-358 light meter.

Affiliated Links:
LegendaryMediaTV
The Wedded Bliss

Be sure to check out more behind the scenes videos from the magazine shoot – that day.

The goal of this shot was to show the chocolate strawberries in all their glory, without using any food trickery to enhance the look of the hero plate. The client wanted to show the strawberries exactly as the customer would get them. Time to unleash the power of light to get the job done.

First I decided I wanted to rely heavily on rim lighting to show the form and draw out the texture of the strawberries and the chocolate swirls. My primary focus was to be on the top strawberry, all wrapped in its little chocolate tuxedo. Don’t you just want to eat it up? (Sorry, I am writing this on an empty stomach.)

Back/Key Light

Anyway, with my camera set at F11, I decided to place my first strobe to camera right, behind the plate of strawberries. This strobe was fitted with a standard reflector and set to skim light across the top strawberry, as seen in the first photograph. I was on location and working around a counter. Because of this, my light was located approximately 10 ft behind the plate of strawberries. Just as in the cupcake photo, I wanted the white areas of the chocolate to be two stops brighter than my base exposure. Since my camera was set at F11, I knew that the whites would need to read F22, using my Sekonic light meter’s spot attachment. I choose to use a reflective meter reading whenever the angle of incidence is great enough to make the highlight area appear brighter from the camera’s point of view. By merely taking an incident meter reading with the dome of the meter facing the back light, portions of the highlight area could have blown out completely.

Back/Key Light with Mirror

Next, I decided to add a small plexiglass mirror, attached to a light stand, to reflect the light from my key, into the left sides of the strawberries. The effect is subtle, but notice how it adds dimension and sheen to the subject.

The great Dean Collins used to use plexiglass mirrors in his shoots. They do not shatter, and are a great tool for learning how to manipulate light. They also are light on the pocketbook, and are great for people just starting out. Need another light, but just do not have the money? Just attach a plexiglass mirror to a light stand and you are good to go!

Right Rim Light

With one side taken care of, I decided to add another rim light to skim across the right side of the plating. This light was a small 550ex speedlight that was placed on a small table across from the counter. The 550ex was fitted with a handy hot shoe to miniphone adapter, enabling it to be used with my radio slaves. After taking multiple exposures at different power settings, I decided that a 1:1 ratio between my key and rim light gave me the look I was going for.

This would be a good place to note that I could have just as easily used the plexiglass mirror to reflect the 550ex rim light into the left side of the strawberries. However, since I was pleased with the ratio that the reflection of the back light gave me, I decided to stick with what I had.

Overhead Fill Light

Finally, I decided to use a large source from above as my fill, in order to bring out the shadow areas of the scene. I first thought of using a softbox, but then I realized that the white eight foot ceilings would act as a perfect source of illumination. I fitted my final strobe with a standard reflector and aimed it up at the ceiling, just over the plating. I took an incident meter reading and adjusted my light until the meter read F8 – one stop less than my camera setting of F11. This gave me a 1:2 light ratio between my key and fill light.

Final Image

Click for Larger Image

The final shot shows how all the lights work together to bring out the form and texture in the intricacies of the chocolate.

Lighting can be a daunting task, but with a good understanding, you can take control. By building your scene one light at a time, you remain in control of your exposure, and insure yourself against unforeseen pitfalls along the way.

Recently, I had the chance to shoot some promotional shots for The Luscious Crumb, an up-and-coming bakery specializing in gourmet cupcakes, cupcake towers, and designer cookies. All shots were done on location at the bakery.

The shot I want to break down was the first of many shots taken that day. My goal was to produce an airy, vibrant picture of the cupcakes, while emphasizing the details in the icing and embellishments.

The lighting ratio is a simple 1:3, with the key set at f8 and the fill set to 4.8. A fill panel was also added, as well as a background light, but more about that later.

Key light

First, I knew that I wanted to show off the texture of the white icing. I decided to place my key light camera left and behind the cupcake tower. The light from the key would skim over the tops of the cupcakes and reveal the detail in the icing.

I needed the white highlights of the icing to be 2 stops above 18% gray.(72%) This would ensure that I did not lose detail in the whites. Due to the angle of incidence of the cupcakes to the key, I took a spot meter reading of the highlight area off one of the foreground cupcakes, and adjusted my light until my meter read F16. Since a spot meter reading is reflective, not incident, it tells me that to make those white highlights 18% gray, I would need to set my camera to f16. F16 is two stops higher than F8, which is what I want my camera set at.

Key Light with 30 degree Grid

With the standard reflector attached to my Flashpoint II monolight, I noticed that my key spilled a little too much onto the bottom tier of the tower. I wanted to focus the attention mainly on the row I was focusing on. To kill a bit of the spill, I attached a 30 degree grid to the reflector of my key light. the difference can be seen in these two pictures. After adding the grid, I made sure I re-metered.

Fill Light

Now that the key was set, I decided to move onto the fill light. I wanted a soft, non-directional, flat light that would fill in the shadows while keeping the accentuated texture provided by the key. I chose a large 3.5′x7.5′ PVC panel with rip-stop nylon attached to it, to act as my broad light source. This panel was placed directly behind the camera in order to provide the fill. (To learn how to make these handy frames yourself, check out Dean Collins Tinker Tubes.) Behind this panel I placed my second strobe. I then took an incident meter reading and adjusted my light until the meter read f4.8.

I decided to place another PVC panel with a reflective white material slightly off to camera right. This panel was angled slightly to reflect some of the spill from the key light in to the shadow side of the cupcakes. The change is subtle, but opens up the shadow a little more.

Cupcakes without white reflector panel

Cupcakes with white reflector panel

 

With background light

Once my lights were set, I began to take a couple of exposures. After reviewing the exposures, I felt that the background was too dark. I wanted it to render as pastels, in order to achieve the airy look I was trying to express.

I took a small portable strobe, placed it under the table, and aimed it at the wall, that was acting as the background in the photograph. I was not concerned about retaining detail in the background, so I set the hot-shoe flash to full power so that I could effectively overexpose it.

With backround translucent panel

Happy with the lighting setup, I began shooting away. As the day progressed, the sun started peering through the west-facing window, located behind the tower. I noticed it was casting a wonderful shadow onto the floor, so I decided to place a third panel with rip-stop nylon behind the tower. The light shown through the translucent material, blowing it out, while casting the shadow of the window pane onto it. Just when you think you have gotten the shot, another opportunity arises.

I hope this tutorial has inspired you, or has taught you something new. Until next time, happy shooting!

Another photo from the same shoot

Light Diagram - Click for larger image

 

 

By this time I was hooked. I had a multitude of clamps, clips, and panel fabrics that needed their own baggage. Timber Creek had me covered. I quickly yanked up a nylon, drawstring  $8 “Stuff Bag” for my fabric panels and clamps, and a small $4 “Ditty Bag” to hold some of my smaller items. All-in-all I walked away with three bags for less than $30 dollars!

If you do not have an Academy store near you try Bass Pro Shop, Cabelas, or any other outdoor store. Maybe they will have bags like this under their name, and hopefully you can snag them up at a great price.

Have fun and happy hunting!

I recently set out on a quest to find this mythical creature. My journey was going to debut on the Discovery Channel, but Bear Grylls eating a live fish proved to be a little more interesting. (Can you believe that?)

My quest led me to the outer sanctum of the land of Adorama. The Adoramites, the native people of this vast land, had within their possession the key to my quest. A key that they had kept locked away for centuries, or maybe a decade or so.

Now, after years of being hidden from the world, I have unearthed this key, this holy grail of monolightedness. I present to you the Flashpoint II 1220 monolight. (Insert Oooos and Ahhhhs here)

Seriously though, the Flashpoint brand of monolights have to be one of the worst marketed monolights, and best kept secret out there. I recently purchased 2 1220As from Adorama. The very next month I placed an order for a third. What I unpacked was an updated version of the monolight, that at the time of this writing was still not listed on their web site.

Surprisingly, I would have thought that word of mouth alone would have unearthed this little jewel, but alas, you just do not hear of anyone using them. Sad really since this strobe kicks some serious derrière. This baby dishes out 600 watt seconds of retina-burning light, is fan cooled, boasts a 250watt modeling light, has an audible recycle alarm, an aluminium chassis, all for only $290.  What!?

This in-depth review covers Adorama’s Flashpoint II 1220A and 1220M 600 watt second brand of monolights. (The 1220M is the newer version I referred to). But the Flashpoint II also comes in 1200ws, 900ws, 300ws, and 150ws models. Oh, joy of joys!

Let’s get started with a quick/brief specs overview.

• 600 watt seconds
• 252 guide number – with reflector
• 250 watt modeling light
• 5 stop step-less control from full power to 1/16 power (more about this later)
• 1/600 to 1/1000 sec flash duration (most likely T.5)
• Fan Cooled
• 1-3 second recycle time – (I had different results in my tests)

When I first cracked open my first Flashpoint monolight I was very impressed at how rugged the build was. These puppies are tanks. The housing and stand mounts are made of metal, not plastic, which was a welcome surprise. Unfortunately, this also adds to the weight. The 1220A/1220M weigh in at around 5 1/4 lbs.

Tilting the head is made easy with a pull of the lever, but make sure you tighten it real good whenever you have a large modifier attached. The lever uses two rubber rings and friction to get the job done. Once again, make sure it is tight or your strobe will start sagging with the added weight of the modifier. I also like the added handle on the back, it aides in tilting the light and makes a great place to attach your wireless slaves.

The 1220A

The 1220M

DC Plug Located on the Bottom of the 1220M

Now let’s take a look at the controls of the 1220A and 1220M. As you can see there are some difference here. The biggest differences in the two units are the addition of the AC/DC switch and the extra 1/32 step that has been added to the 1220M. The AC/DC switch lets you operate the strobe in regular AC mode or switch over to DC to use the Flashpoint II DC battery Pack on location. I personally have not used the DC battery pack, but it looks to be a steal at only $124.95. Also, I am not sure how many flashes you would get out of this battery at 600ws since the web site rates it using only 150 watt seconds. (400 flash durations at 150ws to be precise)

On another note, I prefer the test fire button of the 1220M over the switch featured on the 1220A. Overall, I like the new control layout and prefer it over the A series.

As I noted earlier, the 1220M appears to provide you with an extra stop of power reduction, but on the unit I tested the 1/32 step is there for nothing more than looks. Both units give you 5 stops of power reduction. In fact, after running all my tests, the 1220A and 1220M are pretty much the same unit wrapped in a different shell.

As you may know from other bargain monolights, the need arises to dump the stored power from the capacitors when you dial down the power. The Flashpoint II actually autodumps whenever you lower the power, which is an awesome addition for such an inexpensive monolight. However, it seems to work only at the higher power settings. In my experience you still need to pop the flash to empty the capacitors when operating at a lower power.

As far as the modeling light, the Flashpoint II lets you choose to track with the power dial or operate at full capacity. No separate tracking here, but for the price, who is complaining?

Another feature I love is the audible alarm you can turn on to let you know when the unit has recycled. Of course, if high-pitched beeps are not your thing, you can also have the unit dim and brighten to let you know when you are ready to go again.

Now onto the optical sensor. The sensor is located at the top of the flash and appears to be fairly sensitive. I took a hot-shoe flash knocked it down to 1/128 power and started popping away. As I walked out the doorway of my office and into the hall, popping as I went, the strobe consistently tripped time and time again. Did I mention that a 4′ Octabox was also attached to the strobe, placing the sensor in its shadow? Nice!

An awesome strobe is nothing without a good mount and the Flashpoint does not disappoint. The flashpoint adopts the Photogenic mount and is compatible with all Photogenic Photomaster accessories. The Photogenic mounts remind me of the mount featured on the Calumet Travelites. Both feature a bayonet-style locking mechanism where the reflector, speedring, or modifier lock into a metal-lipped channel. I personally prefer this over prong/tine mechanisms, such as the Balcar mount. In my opinion, modifiers are easier to attach and feel more secure.

Speaking of modifiers, each Flashpoint strobe comes with a sturdy frosted metal reflector. The reflectors have a hole punched in them for umbrellas and a recessed lip for grids. You can swipe a set of four Flashpoint grids for the low price of $59.95. Check it out here. The only thing I am not crazy about is the umbrella hole in each reflector. It allows stray light to escape and I am not a fan of that. However, as long as you attach the reflector with the hole pointed downward, you should not have to worry about stray beams of light polluting your set.

Closeup of Reflector Texture

Reflector - Umbrella Hole Down

On the upside, I am a big fan of the umbrella mount. I attached a 60″ Impact Convertible Umbrella and was pleased at how well it was secured to the unit. Having the umbrella attach to the under-side of the unit makes a lot of sense because the weight of the umbrella pushes the shaft upwards. The body of the strobe actually aides in the support. (By the way, I cannot gripe too much about the hole in the reflector. The hole actually adds an extra layer of stability which does make it kinda nice. Don’t let anyone know I told you, though.)

So now that we got the features out of the way, let’s talk performance! The Flashpoint II 1220A and 1220M were fairly consistent when it came to flash output. Every now and then the flash output would dip by 1/3 stop. Overall I give the consistency a 8.5 out of 10.

Adorama’s web site claims the Flashpoint monolights take 1 to 3 seconds to fully recycle. In my experience they are a tad faster than what Adorama gives them credit for. At full power, both my 600 watt second strobes consistently recharged in 1.9 seconds. No too shabby.

By now you are probably dying to hear about the color consistency? Ohhhhhh, I wanted to save the best for last. Let me start out by saying yes, the Flashpoint does shift color as you dial the power up or down. But by how much, you might ask? How does 200 degrees throughout the entire 5 stop range sound to you? That is only 50 degrees per stop! Below is a diagram showing the change in color temperature at each stop.

To construct this diagram I set my strobe at full power, then set my white balance. I shot a white card and underexposed it by one stop. At each power setting I took a meter reading with my Sekonic light meter and set my camera accordingly. Each image was recorded in RAW format and imported into LightRoom for further inspection. Using the picture shot at full power as my control,  I used the white balance eye dropper to record the change in color temperature. As stated above, LightRoom consistently recorded a 50 degree difference from one still to the next.

As you can see the Flashpoint II brand of monolights pack a whole lot of punch for very little dough. In my opinion, there is no other monolight on the market that provides you so much for so little. Metal housing, fan cooled, 250 watt modeling light, auto-dump, audible alarm, admirable recycle time, minimal color shifting, all for a measly 290 dollars! So go buy a couple, try them for yourselves, and if you like them, spread the word… I know I will.

http://www.adorama.com