It's not all night work here (11/23/2009): A friend and former colleague asked if I'd shoot some publicity photos for a duet, The Clear Branch. We met up on the Blue Ridge Parkway and shot for a few minutes at the Cone Manor. The results aren't bad, especially considering the main lights consisted of just two small strobes. Most of my work went into finishing some restoration projects that the Cone Manor had undertaken (see the gap in the white beadboard ceiling).

I was using a Canon 50D with an ST-E2 controller and two Canon Speedlites, a 430EX and a 550EX, aimed into the small, aluminized umbrellas you see above. I wasn't trying to just fill in some missing light. I wanted the subjects to look studio-lit. The duet is called "The Clear Branch" and I didn't know what to do to evoke that ambiguous word "branch," so I wanted to riff on "clear." I wanted an endless depth of field and razor sharp tones and details. I used the just-repaired 10-22mm Canon at 10-12mm and F11-F16. (It was repaired by Advance Camera, Portland, Oregon -- it took over 3 months, but the fix is evidently successful and complete.) Then I moved in close with the camera and the lights. Here's a sample of the take, post post-processing:

We spent less than ten minutes at this location, used no tripods, no light stands, and were careful not to get in the way of the few mid-week guests. Nevertheless, we got hassled a little for not having a filming permit. Give it a rest, people. From here we adjourned to the side of Price Lake where I again used the Canon strobes to overpower available light, making the existing light a feature of the photo but not using it to make the photo. The umbrella reflectors attenuated the light too much to shoot straight into the afternoon sun with water glare for a backdrop, but direct light worked nicely. Here, just go to The Clear Branch's new website and check out the PR photos on the "About" page to see what we got.

I had three dirt-simple slave strobes in my pack just in case they were needed. I only paid $8 each for five of these rudimentary lights (one failed within a dozen flashes while trying them out). More about these when I have a chance to put them through their paces.

This project underlines for me that the Canon Speedlites are immensely capable and that I miss the two of mine that are on the disabled list. My 420EX (damaged when wind blew its stand over a few weeks back) may not be worth repairing, but I want Canon to take a look at my other 550EX (damaged last year at a wedding while using an aftermarket external battery pack). CanonUSA's service site seems to suggest they'll repair it in a week for $120, fixed rate. It's packed up to go. We'll see. [Yes! I sent the 550EX in, paid the the standard fee, waited about ten days, got a call from a nice young man who explained that what they thought was wrong wasn't and they hadn't been able to fix it, would I be happy with a refurbished 580EX-II instead? You bet I would! He offered to overnight it; I said take your time, save some bucks, there's nothing urgent about this repair. So, 4-5 days later, here it is, works great. Good deal. I wonder if the standard service on my 10-22 would have been as satisfying? Next time... dc]

By the way, compared to my recent photos of the Cygnus Milky Way, the exposures on this page were on the order of a million times shorter. They were made with lenses stopped down to admit only 1/64 as much light. The camera was set for iso 400 rather than 1600. So, I can say with some confidence that the Blue Ridge Parkway on a sunny afternoon is about four hundred million times brighter than the deep night sky. Give or take.

:: back to the slow blog ::