I was selected to be the official photographer for this areas Marine Corps Birthday Ball this year. Here are a few samples showing the results and I included a setup shot too.
Strobist info: 3 Alienbees total, B800 with 42" PLM (1/8 power) far left and a B400 far right of camera shooting through umbrella. Third one (B400, 1/4 power) was up high and center behind backdrop providing rim light shoot through 20" softbox. Shot with Canon T3i, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 and wirelessly with rf-602's.
They placed me in a horrible location, notice the low ceiling and I requested black carpet but the hotel loaned me a horrible scrap that wouldn't stay taped down. Oh, and the hallway on the left of the photo lead straight to the bathrooms, so I was getting constant traffic in front of my lens.
Came out great Matt!
Couple of questions. Did I read correctly that these were these shot at 2.8?
Secondly, how did you secure the flags to stand like that? Couldn't tell in the setup pic.
Thanks for sharing.
Tom
"They placed me in a horrible location, notice the low ceiling and I requested black carpet but the hotel loaned me a horrible scrap that wouldn't stay taped down. Oh, and the hallway on the left of the photo lead straight to the bathrooms, so I was getting constant traffic in front of my lens."
Seems like you performed just like a Marine. They're the best is spite of being underfunded with less equipment in the worst conditions. The delivery is all that matters and you did that. HooRah.
@ Steady Hand: Yes, we had two separate groups in the JROTC.
@ Tom Robinson: My lens is a "Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8" but I had it set at f/8. The base is made to hold the flags at that angle. It's a tube welded to the metal plate.
Thanks for sharing this. I'm active duty military and have been to a fair share of formal events. These photos are some of the best I've seen in my experience. Typically the deal goes to the lowest bidder (usually free to get them to show) and they just spit out average quality photos.
Concerning the flags angel: I'm assuming they provided you a guidon holder. Uually these are wood or metal and sometimes custom made to reference the type of unit. For example my old unit was an Engineer unit so the guidon holder was a Castle.
andyjh wrote:
Very nice. Your overhead hairlight doesn't seem particularly big/wide, yet seemed to hit everyone in the group photo. How was this achieved?
It helps with the height I had it placed. It's almost 10' off the ground which allows a wide spread of light from the 20" softbox. If I do this setup again I will use my 36" Strip soft box for even more coverage.
