Mono Light » Outdoors

Caersws MTB downhill

Graham Law — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:27:13 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I went along to a local Downhill mountain bike track to practice some action shots using my new pocket wizards. I left it a little late in the day to move around the hill and experiment with different locations and flash positions, so I pretty much stuck to one location and tried different settings to control the ambient light levels. As you will see if you look at the full set (Link) some riders are over exposed and some under. Although PW’s have full TTL capability I was using them almost exclusively in manual. This was because I wanted to get used to using the AC3 zone controller and work out how I could balance the power of each flash. I have attached Day-Glo tape to the zones and to the flashes so that I can quickly see which channel to adjust if the power level is not just right.

One thing I tried not to do is to put the flash where the riders would be looking as they charged down the hill. If they get a full power zap, and are blinded I would hate to be held in anyway responsible for the ensuing crash! The event was the ‘Halo BDS Round 5 Caersws‘. Lots of write ups on the series to be found at southerndownhill.

These shots were taken late in the day on Saturday during practice. I did drop by on Sunday but just as I set out I could see the weather was looking rough towards Caersws so decided to leave my camera at home in the dry.

If you have come across these photos and would like the full resolution files please leave a message and I’ll get back to you. Please browse the full set of images here to see if you are amongst my set. (Link)

All the following shots were taken at the same jump, just as the riders come off the side of the hill, and entered the section through the trees. (See the above text for a link to all the photos)

I wanted the flash in the background to be hidden by the rider, and produce a rim light. Sometimes it shone through in just the right place to be believable?

And sometimes I was a little late on the shutter button!!

Almost killed the ambient altogether here

My colour coded Pocket wizards. The Red and Orange are a bit too close in colour to tell the difference easily at a distance - I'm going to look out for Blue if I can find one

Low resolution images are here if you are looking for a shot of yourself or a mate…. (Link) Please contact me if you want a full res version.

Speedlight Mastery workshop

Graham Law — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 20:09:17 +0000

What a simply awesome day? I was lucky enough to be able to book on a Damien Lovegrove (link) workshop held in Manchester during August. Damien’s style just blows me away! During the day we shot at about 9-10 locations, and at each one we were shown how the lights were rigged, and adjusted to get the look being aiming for. Most importantly, for me, Damien would help all the delegates to look for and capture the moment of each shot. The fantastic Chloe Jasmine Whichello was our model for the day, and what an inspiration she was? Always on the move, just pose after pose after pose – a real delight to work with.

I was shattered at the end of the day, but my head was spinning with inspiration and enthusiasm for more photography.

First location of the day - The worlds biggest pebble - When Chloe heard this she said 'If thats a pebble, I'd love to see the beach' A shot into the sun, with Flash at full power from the right hand side. 1/250th f22 iso200

Black and white works here too.

A fantastic tiled pub provided the location for a series of shots. Some flash lit, like this one, some natural light reflected form the building opposite, and others with the Orbis ring flash.

A beautiful fine art shot. Just after I took this, Damien noticed thet Chloe's leg was not lit well and adjusted the speedlight. Unfortunatly I didn't have the opertunity to re-shoot.

Natural light shot using a beam of sunlight bouncing off an office block window behind me.

Two point flash lighting. 200/200 f8 - Simples?

This was shot under the Meto Link rail line in Manchester. 60x60 Softbox from the front, and two speedlights with CTB gels proved the blue kick lights. Fashion Magazine front cover? – very nearly? It is great to have locations like this where it doesn’t matter if its raining.

Kick light provided by the sun, and Chloe's desire to climb made this shot.

Single gelled key flash, and the camera stopped right down to almost cut out the daylight. Colour temp was set on the camera to give the cold blue look to the railings. The Gel corrected the colour falling on Chloe.

I can’t wait for my next Lovegrove workshop. Saving hard, and worth evey penny.

Portrait shoot with Hannah, Colin and Family friend Ken

Graham Law — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:10:45 +0000

A week last Saturday Gwyn (blog link) and I hooked up with Hannah, Colin and their friend of the family Kenny. The five of us had good fun shooting round Newtown and getting some good frames. Gwyn and I have shot with Hannah and Colin before, but this time it was much warmer so shivering in the street wasn’t necessary! Some of my better frames are below:

Our three cheerful models for the day, Colin, Hannah and on the right Ken.

Beautiful richness of the blue sky mixed with flash under the bridge. 1/200, f11, iso200

Went for B/W here. It was taken under the trees in shade to soften the normal hard shadows from direct sunlight. Also using Gwyn's big refletor to bounce light back into Hannah's eyes.

Almost the same place as the last shot, but look at the harder shadows. I like this frame too because of the sparkle in Hannah's eyes.

Another frame mixing Flash and sunlight. The flash lighting the walls, + Hannah and Colin. The sunlight baklighting the leaves. We had problems here getting all three flashes to fire using the infra red system. But when they did - the shot worked!

Sunlight from the left, a warmed up flash to light the wall in the middle, and another flash in the alley behind Hannah. It works for me!