This shot was shot at 1/400th of a second on accident...so right part of frame ended up being blacked out..I liked effect though...mix of sunlight with 86" silver PLM.
lafashionphoto wrote:
This shot was shot at 1/400th of a second on accident...so right part of frame ended up being blacked out..I liked effect though...mix of sunlight with 86" silver PLM.
That worked well. The reflection of the guy in the glass door is a bit disconcerting though...
lafashionphoto wrote:
This shot was shot at 1/400th of a second on accident...so right part of frame ended up being blacked out..I liked effect though...mix of sunlight with 86" silver PLM.
I really like the shot too. The PLM is a great choice to bring out the satin sheen and the gold highlights, but the reflection is killer. The sync shadow might move my eye to the subject, but it's the reflection that adds the right amount of obfuscation, tension and suspense to the shot. Not that your model isn't beautiful on her own or that the shot is boring otherwise, but it's better when mystery and enigma surrounds a women like a lingering perfume.
What appears to be a center hotspot is the glare off the glossy door. Also, the pattern is small because the PLM is close to the door and focused to max.
My PLM's arrived this week. First concern was to get a working solution with my Quadra.
I drilled out the umbrella hole to 8mm. It is an all plastic construction, great for keeping the unit
light, but not so for robustness. The smallest PLM works fine, not to much strain on the head.
The two larger ones are a different story. First I tried the adapter, but it still puts all the strain on
the small plastic umbrella receptacle.
My solution is a Manfrotto swivel umbrella mount, usually used with speedlights. It actually works quite well. The Quadra is as close to the shaft as possible. I can very easily adjust it's position
for efficient focussing of the combination.
As for the modifiers themselves, I did a very quick test with a lightmeter, and I must say they are very focussed and efficient. No time yet to de extensive testing.
I added some shots of the setup - I hope this works, I don't have an image upload subscription.
If not, this a link to a flickr page :http://www.flickr.com/photos/image-ex/
A lot of shooters don't understand "beam spread". Technically, beam width is stated as the point that the output falls by 50% (one f) relative to the center, as measured in an arc with the light source as the point of the arc.
On narrow beam reflectors, the difference between the stated angle and what is seen on a flat wall is pretty close. But on a wide angle reflector, the edges seen on a flat wall will be dimmer than the angle might imply, because the light to wall distance if much greater at the edges than at the center.
In practical use you rarely want an absolutely flat coverage with an instant cutoff at the edges - very unnatural. So most good reflectors will have a smooth feathering from center to the edges.
As for the overexposure mentioned . . . I hate that modern cameras don't go down to ISO 50 or 25 like they used to. My D300 drives me nuts because I have to use ISO 200 and a 1f under exposure setting to get ISO 100. The display ends up saying ISO 200 even then . . . very confusing.
Good adaptation. I wouldn't worry about the side spill - it won't be visible in 99% of the shots.
As soon as LEDs get good and cheap enough for modeling lights maybe we'll make flash units with a center umbrella hole. We use eight tiny 20W halogens in the Ringflash - a decent solution but these little lamps aren't that great in terms of reliability and consistency.
I hate that modern cameras don't go down to ISO 50 or 25 like they used to.
Most MFB's still do.
I use ND's quite a lot for outdoor shooting to get the F stop I want to use. I just ordered the
Vari-ND Filter from Singh-Ray, I hope/expect it will give me more flexibility.
