Shooting it: Rock Me!
This is a photograph of a friend of mine and a classmate in school, Mo! He is really cool bro, and we’ve been thinking to shoot him with his bike, and we’ve been thinking of that for almost an year I guess… so finally here it is! We shoot in the evening close to Osaka with the night lights of the big city! Yodogawa is the perfect location for such shoots as Osaka is a bit far in the background, and there is nothing in between, so the night lights are well visible!
Strobist info:
Canon 580EXII in a 80×60 Gridded Softbox – Camera Left;
Nude Nikon SB-26 with a Blue Filter camera right;
Nude Nikon SB-26 with a Blue Filter camera right;
Nude Sunpak AF5000 @Full Power
580EXII Triggered by Pocket Wizard II Plus, all other flashes are triggered by Optical Slave
Background
So, the idea with the location I had was something in the night with beautiful lights in the background, but in this case we couldn’t go anywhere we want because if the bike, so the only cool location that could be easily accessed even with a bike I though was the riverbank if Yodogawa river, and we shoot with the night view of Osaka! Well… not as easy as I thought lol It was quite of a pain in the ass to get the bike there, as the area seemed to be closed for any vehicles! Anyway with some effort we managed to do it, and do the shoot there!
Setup here, main light comes from my 80×60 Softbox with a Canon 580EXII Flash in it. I also put a grid an the softbox, because I thought having some cool and dramatic light on him should be better for this shoot! I got 2 blue gelled SB-26s and one more flash behind him, the old and powerful Sunpak AF5000! It was a little raining when we started the shoot, and it would be so cool if we did that shot in the rain, but unfortunately it didn’t last very long!
I’m triggering the main flash here, Canon 580EXII with a Pocket Wizard, and all the others are triggered by optical slave, I’ll always say it but I love the old SB-26s, they have built-in optical slave unit, and they are cheap. Also I’m using the LEE Filters, to gel my flashes, in this case I’m using blue filter for both SB-26s, and I think I should have used a bit more power on the left one, but that’s what I got now!
Oh, and also straight from the United States for this shot we got my friend Adam, here you can check his Flickr Profile: CLICK! Well, actually that was the first time I met him at that day, as he was just visiting Japan, we had some mails and I’m really happy to meet that bro! We had some cool shootings for the few days he was in Japan! He is also quite interested in strobist stuff!
So this is the result of when 3 guys are having fun with cameras and bikes! lol If you wanna chat with Mo, here is his Facebook account, say him hello! He will be especially happy if some chicks send him message! lol
Hi Ilko, I’m wanting to learn more about flash photography, but much of what you are doing is far advanced for me. I have 2 strobes (Nikon SB600 and Yongnuo), umbrella, softbox, on flash deflector and on flash portable softbox, 2 light stands, and Nikon D7100. Can you give me some ideas for practicing that will achieve good results (for my own encouragement)? We have beautiful scenery here in Idaho as well as a nice downtown with lights. We have mountains that look down on the city as well. Thank you,
Hi, there! I’m sorry for ate reply!
You are having pretty much enough gear to do many interesting things! Just try using your locations to their maximum, explore them, and try to do completely different things even on the same location, thinking about the Natural Light vs. Strobe Light Vario! For example in many cases I use the strobes to just enhance a but and add something to the natural light, but in other shoots I would love to create drama with the strobes and change it all to my taste! Get some subjects that are patient and also willing to experiment while you play with your lights!
And most of all, shoot, shoot, shoot!
Let me know if there is anything else I could be helpful with!