,

Shooting it: Autumn shoot in Japanese red leaves (strobist video)

Intro

Japanese red leaves season is in it’s most beautiful stage now, so I can’t hold myself uploading an article with some photos taken in that beautiful time of the year! I’m having also the lighting setups below as well as couple of strobist videos from that photoshoot! I’m also using some really interesting lens, the manual focus Helios 40-2, which is making some impressive bokeh! 

日本の紅葉が見ごろなところに、紅葉ストロビスト記事をアップします!今年のもみじではやっとゆっくりたくさんポートレート撮れたので、満足です!そして、今回はライティングセッティングだけではなく、メイキングビデオもあるので、ぜひ見てくださいね!この撮影では結構面白いふるいロシアのレンズ使ってるので、背景のぼけ方は普通とは違います!モデルはAko Mihoで、奈良で撮影しています!

Behind the scenes Video

[youtube id=”gHZmORZU9xY” align=”center” mode=”normal” autoplay=”no” maxwidth=”1000″]

Getting the gear ready Video

[youtube id=”4BQ11bMYugw” align=”center” mode=”normal” autoplay=”no” maxwidth=”1000″]

Gear

Camera for this shot is Canon 1Dx! And the lenses I’m using are Helios 40-20 85mm f/1.5 and Canon 135mm F/2! 

My strobes are   Nissin MG8000 and for the past few months I’ve been a hard Nissin user, since the MG8000 never overheats during photoshoot, no matter how much I shoot at high power settings, and believe me I do it a lot!

My triggers are Cactus V6, recently I switched to them from Pocket Wizard, and that was a great decision to make! Using them I can control the flash power of my manual flashes without the need to go and even touch them! 

RoundFlash – RingLight & SoftBox is a really cool modifier, I’ve been using as a main light quite a lot for my recent photoshoots! It’s very handy easy to setup, and has really beautiful light especially for closeups! I also use it just as a softbox when I’m outside! 

機材

カメラは Canon 1Dx です!このセットで使ってたレンズはHelios 40-20 85mm f/1.5 & Canon 135mm F/2, です!

ストロボはNissin MG8000 です!マシンガンストロボはパワーが必要なときにとても大事です!ストロボも結構フル発光で使うことが多いので、純正のストロボだったらオーバーヒートして、しばらく使えなくなることがあります!MG8000は一切暑くなることがないので、撮影に集中できます!

ラジオスレーブはCactus V6です!たった一つのどんなストロボでも、カメラについてるラジオスレーブで、すべてのストロボのパワーを調整できるトリガーです!もうすぐ日本でも発売します!

RoundFlash – RingLight & SoftBox はソフトボックスとして使うことがよくあります!非常に撤収が早くで、運びやすいので、ロケでは不可欠です!そして、光が綺麗で、特にヘアメイク作品などではよく使っています!

Setting shots

setup00 - Copy

setup0 - Copy

setup2 - Copy

setup1 - Copy

setup4 - Copy

setup3 - Copy

Lighting

For this shot I am mainly using only one light, the Nissin MG8000 strobe, and a RoundFlash Ring modifier, which is one of my favorite light shaping tools for location photoshoots! You can see in the strobist video above how easy it is to fold it and get it ready to use, take literally seconds! Only for a few of the shots I have couple of them, since I wanted to overpower the sun! I’m using 2 lenses here, the Canon 135/2 and this time a bit rare lens, Helios 40-2 85mm f/1.5, which is making some really interesting bokeh effect! I’m triggering my strobe by Cactus V6 triggers, which are really handy if you want to be ale to control your flash power remotely! 

ライティング

この撮影はほとんど1ライトだけで撮影しています!アクセサリーが、最近一番よく使ってる「ラウンド・フラッシュ」で、ロケなどでとても便利なライティングツールです!ラウンドフラッシュの設定はどれだけ早いは上のビデオにあるので、ぜひ見てくださいね!何枚かだけにはもうひとつストロボはいってるけど、その理由が太陽と直接「戦ってた」からです 笑 機材リストに書いてるように、使ってるレンズはHeliosの85mm f/1.5レンズと一番よく使ってるCanon 135mm F/2です!でも、この撮影はHeliosのほうが使ってたと思います!完全に開放、感度50~200ぐらいで撮影しています。ラジオスレーブはCactus V6で、無線でストロボのパワーをコントロールできます!ストロボはもちろん、Nissin MG8000です!

Final Results

Here are some of of the final images from that day, as you see I have shot a few different locations with the model Ako Miho, well basically most of them are one light setup with the RoundFlash Ring, and for just a few I have another strobe so I can overpower the sun! 
miho-nara-5

miho-nara-1

ILKO5232

miho-nara-2

ILKO5126

miho-nara-3
miho-nara-6

ILKO5344

miho-nara-4

In the end

Now, I am preparing a series of new articles on some general topics, let me know which one of them you want to see first, so I get it ready earlier! Also other ideas are welcome too! Here are some of them: Portraits at night / Lens article (I guess 135/2) / Portraits in the rain / Use of gels / Using backlight / One light setups / Shoots with just one umbrella / General shooting portraits / Can cheap lenses make good photos / Swing the camera shots / Using snoots / Shaped bokeh / … or any other idea welcome, post it in the comments, and I will see if I am able to write about it! Also stay tuned for my new blog section starting soon called “Strobist Diary” There I will talk about many of my off-camera flash techniques from basic things to some advanced stuff! 

Comments

comments

2 replies
  1. JW
    JW says:

    Hi! Lovely photos, really good job and nice interaction with the model. 🙂
    I have also bought the RoundFlash Ring & Dish and Manfrotto Nano stand since before and I was just wondering what swivels/”umbrella adapters” are you using on the top? Even if it’s just a random cheap model I’d like to see the shape of it please. 🙂

    Also, with the Ring, do you attach the bottom of it to the stand somehow for when the stand is leaning? To make it not hang straight vertically?

    Thanks for any answers
    Awesome photos 🙂

    Reply
    • Ilko Allexandroff
      Ilko Allexandroff says:

      Hey thanks for your comment!

      For the adapter quite often I’m using some adapters I got from DX.com, check that website, they are having some cheap things that are useful!

      Also check out the Frio hot shoe adapter here:

      https://enlightphotopro.com/gear/frio-v2-coldshoe/

      Yeah, I do attach the round flash to the umbrella bracket thing so it doesn’t change the direction!

      I will make some article about it soon, it was a good idea!

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *