Todays Tech Tuesday is all about lighting.

Let me start by saying that there are some travel photographers that won’t go near artificial lighting – I am not one of those.  I’m not discriminating between those who use artificial light and those who don’t.  I don’t really draw a strong distinction between the two, other than to say I love natural light just as much as I love lighting setups in many ways – it just happens to be the lighting setups that get my blood rushing and make me excited about being a photographer.  If you are one of the strictly natural light guys, no worries – unfortunately you might not get much out of this post other than maybe some information you can store away for when you do pick up a strobe,.

Moving on…

Over the last month I’ve been asked several times about what lighting setups I use while I’m on the field.

Here is my typical field setup.

Just a quick list of what you see above

1. 2x Westcott 43″ convertible umbrellas (here)
2. 2x multiclamps w/ shoe mounts (here)
3. 2x Nikon sb-24’s (here)
4. 2x Manfrotto Nano Portable light stands (here)
5. 1x Paul C. Buff CyberSync Trigger Controller (here)
6. 2x Paul C. Buff CyberSync Trigger Receiver (here)
7. 1/8th gridspot (here)
8. Lightsphere, rechargeable batteries, red bungie things, tape

The real beauty of this setup is in the fact that it takes up very little space in my bag and it was super cheap compared to most setups.  I’ve taken this exact setup all over SE Asia without thinking twice.  If you’re setup is too big or you have the mental conversation about “should I take it or not” , you probably wont take it, and in my opinion, the setup is too big for you to easily get out, set up, and capture a killer shot if the situation arises.  Food for thought:  It took me less than 3 minutes to get this shot from having nothing setup – here’s what I got. The setup can be seen here.

A closer look after the break…

1. 2x Westcott 43″ convertible umbrellas

First, this is no octabank, softbox, or even a large light modifier.  You aren’t going to get that super super soft and flattering light from these little guys, but hey, we are going for transportability and the 43″ seems to be the middle road between quality and size – and honestly, the qualities really not that bad.  These pack down very small and will fit in any decent sized camera bag and will even fit into some satchels.  One thing about the convertibles – you will noticed I’ve gotten rid of the cover that makes it into a bounce umbrella.  Why?  I lost them on the field.  I prefer the shoot through because it’s one less thing to put on, forget, or break – remember, the ability to get this thing setup asap is going to play a lot into being able to pull of these kinds of shots on the field.

2.  2x multiclamps w/ shoe mounts

You just have to have these.  This is actually maybe the most awkward part of the setup as far as packing goes.  The reason for that lies in the fact that these material used on these is small but because of the levers it actually ends up taking a bit of space and being just bulky.  Nonetheless, you have to have these unless you plan on taping the light to the stand – which is not advised.

3. 2x Nikon sb-24’s – The actual flashes

I already know what a few of you are thinking – “Why is he using those old flashes?!”  Lot’s of reasons.  Firstly, I paid $80 USD for these killer flashes just over a year ago.  They get awesome reviews.  They are cheap, strong as a rock, easy to rebuild, have easily accessible pc sync port(s) and are incredibly easy to use.  Plus, they have been around forever  The full manual controls force someone who is just starting off to learn their flash rules rather than just relying on iTTL right out of the gate – which is important.  Plus my buddy Zack would kill me.  Most of all, if I break both of them in one day, I’m out $200 USD rather than breaking one sb0-900 that would cost me over twice as much.  Simplicity is key here. **the sb-24’s are actually difficult to find now, thanks to The Strobist blog review – your best bet is second hand through Adorama or B&H

4. 2x Manfrotto Nano Portable light stands

I can’t give these stands enough praise.  They are light and tough as nails.  I’ve had these stepped on, trampled by yaks, and consistently thrown around and they have taken the beating w/o any problems at all.  A drawback is that these will definitely have to be held up in any sort of wind and their max height is about 1.9 meters.  I can get it to around 2.2 meters, but it’s pretty unstable at that point.  Nonetheless, these things are amazing for what they do and how easy they are to transport and setup.  Manfrotto knows what’s going on and they made an incredible light stand for travelling photographers.

5.  Paul C. Buff CyberSync Triggers and Controllers

I’m going to cover the Paul C. Buff products together.  Let me start on this one by saying that there are just about a billion triggers and controller systems out there – I’m not saying these are the best by any stretch of the imagination.  However, I knowingly chose the CyberSyncs for a few reasons.  Anyone familiar with Paul C. Buff products can vouch for their exceptional customer service.  In short, I needed a company that wouldn’t give me fits about replacing something (most of the time for free) and shipping it overseas.  In addition, these things are cheap, small, and incredibly reliable.  For the price of one Pocket Wizard item (receiver or transmitter) you could buy an entire remote setup from good ol’ Paul C.  Granted Pocket Wizards are truly awesome, it would be hard to justify taking them where I go and replacing them would put a serious dent in my budget.

6.  1/8th gridspot

This product is a nice little gridspot with velcro that you can attach to the head of your strobe.  Small, light, made of plastic so it won’t break.  Great to have in the bag and one that goes with me just about everywhere.  If you aren’t familiar with why you should have a gridspot, check out these links:

• Strobist on gridspots
• How to use a gridspot

7.  Fong Dong, tape, rechargeable batteries, bungies, etc

• Gary Fong Light Sphere – Everyone is probably familiar with the Fong Dong – creates beautiful soft light from an on camera flash (here)
• Tape – Always gotta have it.  That’s all.
• Batteries – I take tons of Chinese batteries along with me, but these seem to actually last longer.  Pretty generic.
• Bungee cords – These rock.  I use them to attach just about everything to just about everything else (here)

I hope that helps answer some of the questions that have been coming in lately.  I took just a few reference shots for you guys – they are all listed below.  Basically all my lit work is with a similar setup, so you can see the versatility that comes with it – not all of these are “travel photog” shots – but you get the point.  The great thing about this is that it’s light, fast, and cheap.

]]> http://www.brianhirschy.com/mobile-lighting-for-travel-photography/feed/ 8 http://www.brianhirschy.com/china-hong-kong-and-malaysia-3-of-3/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=china-hong-kong-and-malaysia-3-of-3 http://www.brianhirschy.com/china-hong-kong-and-malaysia-3-of-3/#comments Sat, 12 Jun 2010 13:27:25 +0000 bhirschy http://www.brianhirschy.com/?p=911 Last weekend I got the chance to shoot a Malaysian wedding w/ Matt (see his shots here).  It was quite an experience full of customs that frankly I was somewhat ignorant about other than my desperate night before wikipedia cram.  A Malaysian muslim wedding is an extremely colorful thing which made it a lot of fun to shoot and somewhat more fun than your average ‘all white’ wedding – no offense!

Some of these shots were with a shoot through umbrella while others were using a standard diffuser and bounce – I even broke out the Fong Dong.

It was fun to work with a local photographer as well and to see what shots the locals are actually requesting (see the silhouette against the window).  It’s always a learning experience to shoot w/ a photographer from another culture that sees the wedding as an insider.

Take a look.

Last Tuesday I had a meeting in Hong Kong to research possibilities for a future lighting/fashion/city-based workshop there with some awesome instructor(s).  Was an amazing trip filled with good food, some new friends, and just a whole lot of doing what I love – spending time behind a camera.  That being said I had 5 meetings in 7 days discussing some exciting things going photographically in Asia as well as the opportunity to do a quick scouting shoot in Hong Kong for this future workshop that we will help run later this year (stay tuned!)

Some shots from my 3 days in HK last week with Penang Clan Houses and Mosques coming tomorrow!

On Thursday I threw up a post about scouting out our local Tibetan market. I was excited to find that these markets have these old plexiglass roofs that have changes to all sorts of interesting colors.  I wanted to shoot the modernizing Tibetan culture in a place surrounded by the ancient.

Things rarely, if ever, go the way you want them to here.  The streets that I wanted to shoot on were blocked off by cars that hadn’t been there the day before.  The guys we had found turned out to be awesome – I’ll elaborate on that in a second.  Anyways, they all showed up 45 minutes late and then everyone had to leave 20 minutes after we started.  To top things off I had a flash completely bite the dust on me.  For those of you keeping track – that’s the setting, the setup, and the timeframe all shot.  Nonetheless, it was an awesome rushed 20 minute shoot.

Over a very quick Tibetan-style breakfast I learned quiet a bit about our models.  One of them is a law student with one year left until he graduates.  He also spoke fluent english.  The other is a striving business man and also a part-time student at one of the high-level colleges in our city.  Is that what you think of when you think of a Tibetan?

Here’s the contrast: Less than 10 years ago both of these guys were nomads.

NGO, humanitarian, and travel photographers everywhere undoubtedly deal with this routinely.  We go off to get the “exotic” shot in some place that we are certain hasn’t been touched by modernization only to find a monastery that owns it’s own gas station (click here & here), a generations-old workshop with a plasma screen tv and a Nintendo Wii setup inside, or a nomad with an iPhone.

What now?  What is our response supposed to be in the face of inevitable modernization?

I fear that our immediate response is to reject modernization outright rather than seeing how it’s adapted into the culture and no harm is done and how modernization has actually helped a society.  How often do we put on the self-righteous mask and end up doing more harm than good?  Am I going to refuse to teach my neighbor how to use his carbon monoxide detector simply because it represents modernization?

I know many people in western cultures that actually takes more offense to this than the changing culture does.  We as humans seem to be creatures of habit – we don’t like change.  As soon as we seen change we throw on the brakes, cry foul, and start picketing the nearest Wal-Mart.  Don’t hear me saying that modernization doesn’t have the ability to erode culture – I believe it does have that ability.  My question is simply how do we as people, often times trying to help and do the right thing, interact with this.

In most societies the machine is in motion and we can’t stop it whether we deem it good or bad.  With that in mind I think we must consider our response

• How can we effectively document the change?
• Do we carry a bias that actually prevents us from documenting what is actually happening
• Do we have the right as a cultural outsider to decide for a culture if modernization is in it’s best interest?
• If we are seeking to help, is complaining about the change rather than actually helping within the change really a good idea?
• Are we just miffed because it’s not what we expected?  Does the monk playing the Wii ruin the shot we made in our mind?

I’m an advocate for cultural preservation, but I’m more of an advocate for actually helping rather than fighting the wind.

Some food for thought, these guys that I photographed this morning – every bit Tibetan and every bit business men, students, and future leaders.  They embrace both their culture and the change (notice those suit pants on underneath the traditional cloak). I didn’t plan the shoot this way – I was envisioning something completely different.  The fact that this is what I got should say something about the changing nomadic society.  Honestly, I love what I got.

I intentionally left this post open ended – mostly because I doubt there is an exact answer.

As photographers, what should our response to modernization be?

So I love portraits.

Since I’ve moved into a new complex and the locals are getting used to us, the culturally relevant and respectful portrait opps have been sparse.  So what do you do when there is no one to shoot and your creative juices are flowing?  In my case, the self portrait.

I love the self portrait.

Around 3 months ago I had the idea to do a 30 day self portrait series with a certain amount of creative resctrictions.  The restrictions were as following:

• I could use two strobes, but they must be in the same position and power settings.
• I had to take the shot at the same time of day
• At that time, I had to stop what I was doing and incorporate what I was doing into the shot
• If I wasn’t home, then no worries
• I had three exposures to play with
• Same focal length, camera settings, etc

The setup

• 35mm 1.8 Nikkor
• Taped off: Tripod Location, Camera mount on RRS head & L Plate, taped off tripod head settings, Taped off my position
• Wireless Remote Shutter release
• Shot against a white, concrete, bland, cold, Chinese plastered wall

So take a look at these next 14(hardly 30, we will address that) images from a 30 day self portrait series and then we will discuss what you can learn about photography, lighting, and yourself after these images.

Congrats.  You made it through 14-some-odd pictures of one ugly guy.  For that, you deserve some application.

Things I learned

1. Make sure your restrictions actually help. If you will notice, towards the end of my self-portrait series lots of other stuff other than me ended up in the pictures.  Truth be told, I was bored with the same focal length, distance, setup, etc.  Though the idea was good, I was tired of having gaffers (consistency, remember) tape on my camera, my tripod, my floor, my wall, etc.

2. It’s a series; make the pictures connect somehow. Talk about balance.  First I say loosen the rules and now I say figure out a way to make it all connect.  Naturally there is a bit of coherency since YOU are the subject. However, a bunch of pictures of yourself that you took is not necessarily a self portrait series.

3.Plan Ahead – If you are planning on getting 30 pictures in 30 days, you need to do some planning – especially if you want them to be interesting.  Much like a 365 project, it’s really difficult to do if you aren’t ready for it.

4.Learn - Man, do I just sound like a Jr. High Basketball Coach now?  Seriously.  Do it with the point of learning, EVEN if its learning how one lens reacts to certain conditions or how a white wall with two strobes in a 10ft x 10ft room will react at 6pm.  Be conscious of what it is you are doing and what effects that has on the outcome of your capture.  I now that sounds like pretty obvious advice – and it is to some degree – but I guarantee you that the more conscious you are during those 30 days the better photographer you will end up being.  Be aware… and expose right(kidding, kinda)

5. Notice what variables might be changing – Same setup, same strobe powers, same lens, camera, position – different exposures.  Why.  Well, I moved alot and that has an affect on strobe placement results.  How will that work with a future client when you have everything set the way you want it and then all the sudden they, like people tend to do, move.  For you LOST watchers out there, as Daniel Faraday would say “We are the variables, Jack! We change the equation!”

Also, I live near mountains and on the 4th floor of a big apartment complex.  The seasons were changing and the ambient light in my office/studio changed very rapidly from one week to the next which in turn changed the effects on the later shots.  My rules were set – I inadvertently, through my rules to maintain consistency, cause inconsistency.

One last thing that I won’t include in the “What I learned” section.  Just find a way to shoot.  For me this was inspired out of moving to a different location that to eventually get the kinds of shots I want, is going to take time.  Not picking up your camera does NOTHING to help progress towards that end goal.  I am a people person – I love shooting people, however, I live in a very culturally paranoid place.  Don’t stand still – if you know the shot you want to get but don’t have the subject, figure out how can create that shot with YOU in it instead.  All that being said, don’t settle for the self portrait.

It’s like fasting – people do it for a reason.