This past week, I had the opportunity to take some lifestyle photos as part of a concept for Pelle Pelle’s web presence. The session were done in my role at Media Genesis. The model featured here is Don Williams, IT dude and local performer. A little plug for Don’s project: http://collectiveforum.com

Shooting in Michigan in January can be challenging due to the cold alone. You can just scroll down a bit to read my thoughts on that. For the Pelle concept art, we ended up opting to shoot in a vacant parking when we found out that Media Genesis President Antoine Dubeauclard was getting his hand on a late 70’s model Rolls Royce. Because it was cold and windy, I opted for a two-light set up comprising of Canon Speedlights, a 30″ shoot-through umbrella and a Lastolite Ezybox. I prefer smaller, battery powered flashes whenever possible. They are easy to handle, cheap flexible. Even with an easy-to-manage kit like the ones used in the parking lot shots below, I gathered up a little help to manage light stands and mind the lights when the wind came whipping through the lot. Friends, other shooters, assistants, anyone can be a godsend if you need a grip or just someone to stop your setup from blowing over. For the majority of the parking lot shots, I am using a 30″ brolly to light up the car and the Ezybox to give Done a nice soft, narrow light. Since it was still pretty bright outside, I kept the light as close to him as possible to get the maximum amount modeling that I could given the amount of ambient light that I was contending with. Between that and the constant need to warm up, we had a pretty limiting session. Overall, I am happy with the results, but it seemed like the elements were against us, at moments. The cops even gave us a long gaze, at one point, but elected to let us continue to monopolize the vacant lot.

For the indoor shots, Don and went sans a crew down to the Leland Hotel in Detroit. All of these shots are taken with Canon Speedlights, as well. I used a combination of the Ezybox, bare flash and some homemade snoots. (Snoot shots resulted in the image I used in the banner for this post) The Leland is an old building with a fairly dim ambiance that allowed me to easily play my flash output and window light. While the atmosphere was vintage and cool, there were a lot of patch work decorations and finishings  in the background. Thusly, I decided to shoot at higher shutter speeds to keep the ambient light low, thereby reducing the details of the non-subject elements. This technique draws attention to your light, as well hides any unsightly items within a scene. Nice muted lights make this approach a lot easier. In the ballroom shot, there are literally multiple tables leaned against the walls, along with cords boxes and other materials. It just takes a nice low ISO setting and a high shutter speed to make them disappear.

Camera used: EOS 7D (thoughts on this cam coming soon)

Lights: Canon 430Ex

Triggers: Elinchrom Skyport Universals

Lenses: Canon EF 24 f1.4 L, Canon EF 85 f/1.2 L MKII