This week’s post was a first for me. I’ve been slowly working on improving and expanding my photography knowledge and skills, and this was the first time I’ve asked someone to specifically model for me. My friend and co-worker Cam, an amazing teacher and runner, agreed to be my subject for this shoot.
For this shoot, I took a basic lighting case, containing 3 flashes and my radio trigger system, plus a couple of odds and ends (a roll of gaff tape, a clamp, my DIY softbox, etc).
Along with the lighting case, I also took a couple of my mic stands. I made converters for them to allow me to use them as tripods/light stands (see my DIY photo gear post), and they work great for situations like this since they have a boom arm.
Since Cam is a runner and nature enthusiast, I wanted to put him in a setting that would reflect that. Here’s the setup for one of the looks (a portrait with the woods & sky in the background). I ended up using one Vivitar 285 flash, and one Vivitar 283 flash for these. I experimented with using a softbox on the 283 at times, but left the 285 as a bare flash.
Here are a few of the resulting shots:
We also went into the woods for a different feel. Here’s one setup, designed to capture Cam mid-stride in the woods.
The finished product:
