Shooting it: Shining Stars

Post Views: 7,092
Here is the lighting information of another self-portrait I did some time ago! That was a cold spring rainy night in Kobe, and I had just been back home from school, wet and pissed at myself why I went out without the umbrella! But after I was back home, that rain was really tempting me to go out and do something, why try to use that rain in some photograph! So I did some small preparation in my home, as I wouldn’t have a lot of time to set up lights in the rain, and went to “shoot myself” in the rain!
Strobist info:

Canon 580EXII in my hands pointed up at the umbrella;

Nude Nikon SB-26 Lower left to freeze some more water drops on the left side of the frame;

Nude Nikon SB-26 Lower right to freeze some more water drops on the right side of the frame;

580EXII & is triggered by Pocket Wizard II Plus and both Nikon SB-26s are triggered by Optical Slave

Background

as I already mentioned in the introduction, that night was raining quite a lot, and that’s why I decided to go out and “freeze” some water drops! The main light I’m using in this shot is in my hand pointed up at the umbrella, which is the reason for the water drops around me to be frozen pretty good, and also to underline my silhouette in the dark. As obviously only one light wouldn’t be able to create that white “stars” all over the frame I decided to set up 2 more lights, so I used my Optical slave triggered old Nikon SB-26s on my both sides which helped me get that even spread of the white dots around me.

It was fun here that I had been noticed by a couple of policeman, who actually came to me, but they just said hello, as I was not doing anything bad, well I understand them, it was after midnight, it was raining as hell, and some crazy guy was flashing on the streets with flashes making strange poses! Also there were some people passing around, and I was so happy that they were all very friendly, and we even took photos together with some of them!

So, back to the setup, I’m triggering my 580EXII with a Pocket Wizard II Plus, and the both Nikon SB-26s are triggered by Optical slave. I’m using my Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM attached on a 50D camera. As I am alone, and I didn’t have a remote triggers I was using the 10 seconds self timer, so I had to run for every shot I was taking!

In the end…
Last but not least, I want to talk about the measures I’m using to protect my gear in most of the cases I’m shooting in the rain, and I actually love doing it! Many people might actually not go out shooting because it’s raining, but I believe that if you do that you actually miss good chances to do things that other people would not do! And also the reason that I buy my camera is to use it, not to put it in my bag anytime something happens! So, the Canon flash is protected I would say, as it’s under the umbrella, but the Nikons are just on the floor, so I put them in transparent plastic bags, so they don’t get wet! Well, flashes just never get along with water, so you have to be careful! lol Also for my camera, in this case I have attached an umbrella on my tripod, using bungee balls, so it keeps my camera safe from the big rain!

Comments

comments

/1 Comment/by
1 reply

Trackbacks & Pingbacks

  1. 这些照片背后的光位图，你想知道吗？ | 摄影学习网 says:
    August 20, 2014 at 00:33

    […] 这是一幅「雨中的自拍照」，是较为常见的手法，不过也值得看看，详情按此。 […]

    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 *