"Stepping Out"
©David A. Ziser
This is an image I made yesterday during my Early Bird photography session. Jenna was a very beautiful young lady who filled the bill nicely as our model. She wasn’t dressed as a bride but her attire suited the scene and the shoot perfectly. Her look of elegance against the majestic Canadian Rockies in the beautiful Banff Springs Fairmont Hotel produced what appears to be a magazine shoot at first glance.
Here was the challenge – I needed to balance the brightness of the mountains in the distance with the lighting on her. It was almost like shooting her outside since the outside scene figured prominently in my composition.
I needed faster shutter speeds, lower ISO’s and smaller apertures to pull it off. I decided to “cheat the sync” up to 1/400 second so I could use a larger aperture and not stress my strobe too badly. I was using my Canon 580 EX II shooting through my Zumbrella, but the Zumbrella was soaking up just a bit too much light for this image so I had to lose the Zumbrella and shoot direct flash. That in effect, gave me two more stops of light to work with.
Compositionally I wanted Jenna figure in a pleasing and flattering “C” curve line. From the top of her head to the tip of her toes you can trace a “C” line throughout her body. I also wanted her positioned between the two mountain valleys you see in the distance. Her centered symmetry in the scene accentuated with her placement against the background gave a very striking image.
Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with 18-200mm IS lens at 40mm, F8.0 @ 1/400 second, ISO 200. Enjoy! -David
Thanks,David. I really enjoy your blog for giving many on-location demonstration.
ReplyDeleteAs usual this is a beautiful photo.
ReplyDeleteLovely shot! Looks like a Maxfield Parrish painting.
ReplyDeleteAs always David, you pick great leading lines and backgrounds and then position the model with the arms to form your triangles.
ReplyDeleteI am greatly surprised that the 580 EX II at this short distance could not fill the umbrella?
So you are saying at 200 ISO at less than 10 feet at 100% power not enough? Canon better then come out with their answer to the Nikon SB900. I only use the 580 and can mount two of them at one time. It is my understanding that the Canon puts out 76 W/s (some say 55 W/s) and the other 150 W/s. That would be 1/2 of your more powerful flash at less than 10 feet when you are using 5 times this power to shoot a large group at say 25 feet( distance squared-ie 4x) in doors. I am just trying to get a handle on the power settings and its limitations.
kaptnk51 makes a good point. f/8, ISO200, close distance seems like it should be easy to master for a 580.
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