Monthly Archives: July 2010

Portrait Weekend

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It’s been a weekend of portrait shooting and I really put my DIY Strip Lights through the paces. On Saturday I had the pleasure of working with the lovely Megumi (Mayhem #1594582). I’d requested that she wear something black, or at least dark, because I wanted to work on lighting dark clothing against a dark background. She also brought along a dress she had made in Vietnam, which turned out to be much more interesting than my black-on-black idea. I’m quite pleased with how these came out.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 70mm-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

Background: black cloth, stretched and taped to remove wrinkles

Lighting info:
- Key: 430EX Speedlite with omnibounce, 1/2 power, fired through DIY Strip Light
- Hair: 430EX Speedlite with omnibounce, 1/1 power, fired through DIY Strip Light
- Background: 420EX Speedlite, gelled blue, fired through DIY food container diffuser w/ cardboard gobo on the camera side
- 100cm silver reflector at left and slightly in front of the model

On Sunday, I did a shoot with Valeria (Mayhem #1235542). Continue reading →

DIY Strip Light Softbox

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I recently made the switch to remotely triggered hot shoe flashes for my studio stuff. For years I’d been using a set of 650W quartz lights. They are great lights, but super hot, and a lot of work to set up and tear down. And because of the heat, there’s a limit to what you can do in the DIY modifier department – anything placed too close to those lights is likely to burst into flames.

Hot shoe flashes are light, battery operated, and easy to whip out on a whim. This flexibility has ignited my creativity, and I’ve caught the DIY bug (again).

Last weekend I went to my local 100yen shop (like the dollar store but way cooler) and bought 2 plastic tubs for storing food. I cut flash-shaped holes in the bottom of them and made some simple diffusers. I covered the outside in gaffers tape to prevent light from spilling out the sides so the light would be somewhat directional. These are fun and easy to make, but I wanted more. Enter the DIY Strip Light. Continue reading →