When I shot advertising for the local paper, (which, BTW, paid much less than editorial) I often brought my own studio strobes for the photos that warranted that approach. The rest of the time I shot with a single flash often off camera on a bracket or did the old Statue of Liberty pose (a wedding photog. taught me that one) to get the flash high enough to drive the shadow down out of the close up. I was using my own 8008s so I had TTL flash metering, great for the occasional macro product shot, too. Many times I would put an amber or green piece of Rosco gel from their sample book over my flash to match the ambient light. The I would color balance the images when I scanned them into Photoshop. Since there was little mismatch between subject flash illumination and ambient background it was a snap. I often used a tripod and slow shutter speed (same wedding photog called it "dragging" the shutter) to get enough background light and the strobe would still do a pretty good job of freezing the subject. Another useful technique is to keep your other eye open as you shoot, you'll catch most strange expressions and blinks (since you are not looking through the viewfinder) so you'll know then whether to shoot another frame or if you "nailed it" in one. You have a clear unobstructed view especially with the camera vertical for head shots. (One of the reasons I still use TLR's for portraits and weddings-no mirror blackout.) I did 90 headshots in 120 minutes with that setup one day and 200 on another occasion in about 4 hours (I had to shoot in 4 separate buildings). That's a lot less than 4 minutes per. I did a count one week, my output equaled that of three full time staff editorial photographers, not in content certainly, hard to get much emotional content from cans of vegetables, head shots, or used cars but I had the three of them beat on sheer volume. darkroommike ---------- ----- Original Message ----- From: "Les Baldwin" <fotofx@ix.netcom.com> To: "List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students" <photoforum@listserver.isc.rit.edu> Sent: Saturday, September 06, 2003 5:50 AM Subject: Re: do newpaper phojos carry lights > Hi All, > > I really think the type of publication and the subject matter dictate the > gear as well as the photographers style. > > Many photographers can mix both daylight/ambient light and flash and you > will not be the wiser. Ususally you can tell, but it can be done. If your > particular rag is B&W only with medium screen counts then you can get away > with whatever as long as you come back w/ a good image. > > However if you run color or even worse coated papers within the newspaper, > than skill with a wide variety of equipment including hot lights, strobes, > reflectors and diffusers is called for. Oddly enough many of my clients in > the last few years have asked for a more "journilistic" approach to image > creation. HUH? Then why did i buy all this %&&*$$$ gear? No matter what they > always want what they see somewhere else... > > I use strobes alot outdoors, for fill. But I also use flags for negitive > fill as well. Diffusers were all the rage sometime ago and now I see stuff > that looks like it was shot w/ a P&S with shadows on the wall behind and > everything!! > > thanks I feel better now <vbg> > > Les Baldwin >
