I bought a book not long ago; OneLight Field Guide by Zack Arias. I’d been meaning to buy it for some time, and when I finally did, I was far from disappointed.
So after reading it, I went to the train tracks nearby to see if I had actually learned something. I took a camera, two lenses, a tripod, a stepladder, an umbrella, a monopod, a flash, a swivel head for the flash and the umbrella, an infrared transmitter, a model (my son) and an assistant (my wife).
I haven’t done a lot of shooting with off-camera flash on location, so it’s about time I did something for real. I need the practice, and my family is more than willing to help me out. I stuck the flash on the monopod and attached the umbrella to it, shooting through the umbrella the whole time, my wife holding it for me at various angles.
The flash strength was a bit of trial-and-error, but I finally got what I wanted. Now I’ll just have to analyze the photos, read the book again and try once more. It’s all a matter of practice, practice, practice. Without it, I’ll fill up with rust.
My son loves acting, so he was more than willing to fool around in front of the camera for me. I will probably take him out to the train tracks again, to shoot some publicity style photos with him and his ukulele.
Here are a few pictures from the shoot. I had a tough time picking out the ones to show you – I guess it comes with being a camera-wielding dad.
