Soon to be published author and good mate of mine John Wesson, was in need of a shot for his upcoming book (more details to follow).
I’d bought a couple of extra flashguns recently along with, umbrellas, softbox, snoots, grids and gels, and this was the first opportunity I’d had to give them an outing.
The setup consisted of a softbox front right, and a flashgun with a grid attached to the rear left. The softbox provided a large soft light for the face; whist the rear light threw a narrow beam of light to highlight the side of the face.
They were taken in a garden on an overcast day, so the flash helped lift the shots. Using the Nissin commander unit on my camera I could adjust the power individually until I achieved the result I was looking for. It took a bit of trial and error, but that’s flash photography. I was using a Nikon 105mm macro lens, super sharp and at 105mm focal length gives a pleasing effect for portrait shots.
Bella (that’s the dog) definitely benefited from the added flash, which helped add a little shine to her coat. John held a treat on the back of the camera so she appeared to be interested in the pictures he’d taken … of course, a bribe wouldn’t have been needed if they were my pictures! but then again, I’m not the one with the book deal.
Kit used:
Nikon D800
Nikon 105mm macro lens
Nissin Di700A flashguns x 2, one with softbox and one with grid
Nissin Air 1 Commander unit
Doggy treats x 10!
All processed in Adobe Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro 2
