The 5 Minute Portrait

on


I was asked to photograph a two person portrait at work this past week, however: I never bring my gear with me. I ran home and grabbed my camera bag, that has been pared down to:
  • D700
  • 85mm lens
  • SB-900 flash
  • Cold shoe with mono cord
  • HONL SpeedStraps, grids, snoot, and gels
  • Spare AA batteries
  • Foldable Gray card
  • L-358 Flash Meter
  • 2 Pocket Wizards
  • Dust Blower and lens cleaner
I also grabbed my traveling light kit. The kit is composed of:
  • Manfrotto combi-boom
  • 43" Westcott collapsible white shoot-thru with black cover
  • 43" RPS Studio Brolly
  • Umbrella swivel
  • Bungee ball cords to keep all the goodies cinched together
I remember after my beach shoot with Darnah that I needed to travel light, so this setup has enough flexibility for quick portrait shoots and total weight is about 20lbs.

While waiting for the Executives to prep themselves for the shoot, I decided I would time myself to see how long it would take to do a portrait. I had to leave the lights on since the light switch controls more than the room.

Five Minute Time Breakdown:

  • 90 seconds - to setup the light stand, modifier, and mount the speed light.
  • 120 seconds - to shoot the portrait. I started at 1/4 power for the speed light and set the camera to f/5.6, 1/250 at ISO 100. Close, but still there was some ambient light. Closed down 1/3rd stop and moved the model and modifier away from the back wall. One more shot and the flash power was a bit to low. This is where I like Nikon CLS, I didn't need to leave my spot, just changed the flash power from the camera and I achieved the exposure I wanted.
  • 90 seconds - to transfer the image to my desktop, quick levels and curves adjustment, dodge a part of the image, and upload to the Internet.

As an aside, the Executives didn't like their appearance, so the shoot was postponed for the following day. Bad Hair Day?, WTH!!! I called them Divas and asked them to be camera-ready the following day.

- Posted using BlogPress from my Illusive iPad

Comments

Post a Comment