Susanne workshop shots
Today it was time for Susanne and the workshop Advanced III.
In Advanced III the main focus is on working outside with strobes and natural light.
In this workshop I try to combine all the previous workshops and when the weather is nice we move the whole group outside for a real outside session (when the weather is not that good, we emulate the situations in the studio). Today the weather was ok so we moved outside, Susanne hates me for this because I think she almost froze to death today 😀
Because there was a huge chance for rain we decided to not go far from the studio and use the company from my wife (ITC) as location, we do have a lot of nice options next to our studio but two of the students already did the workshop before on that location so we moved a few meters to ITC which is really close to our studio.
Today I started out with a setup with the Quadra to show what you can do with this little wonder from Elinchrom. However with the Quadra one has to take time to setup and when something moves you have to remeasure of course. Because I will start doing the Small Flash workshops in February I decided it was also nice to take with me two Canon 430EXII strobes and show what you can do very quickly with a strobist like setup. I believe this was a surprise for the students because they reacted almost surprised to see what you can do with those small units. The main advantage is the option to use the high speed sync on the strobes and when understanding the ratios and the options to lower ambiant and raise strobes it’s a real quick system to operate.
I get A LOT of mails about which system is perfect, for me it goes without saying that no system is perfect.
I use the Ranger RX speeds for when I need a lot of light outside or when I need to be very flexible with outputs.
The Quadras I bring with me when I go inside, for example in an old building or church and I have the time to setup.
The strobist approach I absolutely love when walking around and having to setup a shot very quickly without metering, just give your assistant a strobe in her/his hands and move him/her around and shoot and balance in camera, it doesn’t get easier to work with strobes.
So here we have some shots I liked from today.
Frank, it’s great you talk about the “small” setup strobes such as the 430EX II. Since I am a graphic designer for a living, my photography does not pay…yet. I am slowly building my arsenal of gear, but do not have strobes yet. I would love to see more on small light setups.
Thanks again for showing and sharing your work and your teaching. When you spoke to Larry Becker in your Photoshop class I loved what you said about sharing and important to give. I really believe you get back what you give.
Take care
Julie
It’s my life’s motto, always give and see what you get back, it never disappointed me so far.
Because we are starting with the small flash workshops soon I teamed ip with Canon NL and they got me some 430EXII units to play with, I did some strobist work before but not this seriously, I was very quickly moved by the “big” strobes.
Going back has in some forms been a refreshing breeze, but with limitations as mentioned in the blog post, you can do stuff VERY quickly and very accurate (depending on the situation, but it’s more limiting than working with the “big” strobes, but indeed a lot cheaper.
Although when you really calculate through you will almost get a Quadra for a GOOD strobist set.
If you need any help deciding just ask.