Today, Holly and I practiced shots and lighting set ups for her Film Noir shoot. I went to her house in the evening, so that it would be dark outside when we shot. As I mentioned in my previous blog post, the main lighting we used is the snoot. We also used two other lights.
First, we took some shots inside and used a plain black background. We took different types of shots using the external flashes and moved them around for different looks. For example, we used the grid light in one and the normal flash in another. Additionally, we moved a flash behind Gabe and faced it at the background so there was a circle of light behind him, and then flipped it around so it acted as a rim light. To use external flash, you have to have a remote that connects to your camera. Luckily, Holly had an extra Nikon remote so I could take photos. Using the remote, the photographer can change how bright the external flashes are, as well as change your own camera’s settings.
After we shot inside, we moved outside. External flashes are great for outdoor shooting at night because you can decrease your shutter speed to a level that would usually be considered bad for hand-held photography because the flash “freezes” the image. Therefore, you can make the shutter speed slower to take in more light, without completely messing up the quality of your photos. This also helps you be able to get more of the background in the photo.
Alaina's Photography Intensive 