Alexandria the Great

After our Boudoir shoot, Alex and I decided we needed to do another shoot, but this time with Alex clothed.  I shot downtown the previous week with Mary against a brushed metal wall, but I just didn't like my lighting.  I had the key light and the rim light on the same side of the model, which didn't really add enough depth for my taste.  This time I decided to use my Beauty Dish and SABER STRIP on opposing sides of the model. The flashes used were Nikon SB-600s and triggered with Pocket Wizards.

Earlier in the day, I posted on our Facebook group that I would be downtown and a few photographers showed up to see how I light during my shoots.  We originally intended on shooting at two locales, the brushed metal facade and the AT&T office with the green walls.  I asked Alex to bring two dresses, one red and one black.

There were a total of five photographers that ended up coming out and we all took turns photographing Alex.  I showed them how I set my lights and how I use my light meter (Sekonic L-358) to determine the percentage of Flash to Ambient. We played around for an hour and half and then digital artist David Karnowski showed up on his motorcycle.  As I was letting the other photographers shoot, Brian said we should use the Motorcycle as a prop.  Across the street was an open parking lot, so David graciously moved his motorcycle and we moved our gear.  It was only 7:00 PM, but Alex had to leave by 7:30PM.

How could we light the motorcycle and make it look interesting.  The parking lot had two white walls adjacent to each other and the sun was setting behind us.  The light was pretty flat and the sky was cloudless.  I could go "Natural" and maybe overexpose the image for a dreamy and soft mood, but this is a motorcycle and a model in a red dress.  Dramatic lighting!!! 

I suspended my SABER STRIP over the model and feathered it toward the camera.  I took a shot and liked it, but the lower half of the bike was blocked up, I took two speedlights and set them 45 degrees camera right and left, and pointed them towards the wheels of the bike.  I also stepped up the shutter speed to minimize the amount of ambient light.  I took a couple test shots and wished that I had set-up one more light, but it was 7:20 PM and Alex had to get going.  This was probably the best exposed image, still a little blocked up, but overall I was nominally satisfied. 

Big thanks to Alex for being a patient and fun model to shoot, the guys for helping with the lights and gear, and David for letting us use his bike.