New additonal lighting setup

[Goat Roper]

With all of the news month and a half wrapped up in senior photos and weddings I thought I would get with it and get some more portrait lighting and portable power, as finding an outlet out in the middle of nowhere is a bit tough.

I already had a pair of Travelite 750's which are great at lighting everything up but I needed something to really get my portriats to pop without going with beauty dishes and such. So I went with the AlienBee ABR800 ring light (http://alienbees.com/abr800.html). After browsing so many lighting setups I really liked what it did for how portable it was and the variety of options I could get with it. It's price point was really good to. I added on the 20% grid to which should really make for some dramatic lighting.

For the portable power I picked up the Paul Buff Vagabond II power system and an extra battery (http://alienbees.com/VIIsystem.html). It allows me to run my current Travelites PLUS the ABR800. between the two I can get a minimum of a couple hundred full power shots out of the system, assuming I keep the modeling lights off. Running just the ABR800 I can get way more shots than I will ever need remotely.

So of course I was like a kid at Christmas, I had to open the light up and try it. I grabbed my somewhat willing 4 year old model and snapped off a couple shots. Not ever have used one of these ring lights before I was amazed by how light it was. That, and the lens hood to my main 24-70 lens fights snug into the shoot-thru hole to the point that the light no longer needs to be held on to. I had some minimal space to shoot where I cornered her in :) so excuse how close they are.

My first impressions were that the light is very soft and makes for some great shadowing or the lack thereof shadowing (if that makes any sense). The catchlight in the eyes is as amazing as I thought it would be. And like I said, this was out of the box and onto the camera, play playing around with setup. I will probably shoot a few more later with one of the boys.

http://www.webtrendsguy.com/images/kids/jorja/jorjaring1.jpg

http://www.webtrendsguy.com/images/kids/jorja/jorjaring2.jpg

This shot was WAY overexposed (was very first shot), I corrected it a bit.

http://www.webtrendsguy.com/images/kids/jorja/jorjaring3.jpg

[Holeshot]

Cant we get another pic of her giving the finger? I LOLed at that one.

[Goat Roper]

Cant we get another pic of her giving the finger? I LOLed at that one.

I should make that a standard picture of hers, she does it quite well.

[Holeshot]

Perhaps part of the Scott Sweeny Photography brochure ?

[Goat Roper]

lol, can you imagine

[DirtyMax]

Sweet setup. I could power my trail cams for 3 years with that bugger.

I have been picking up misc odds and ends too lately but not on that scale...

your daughter is such a ham... :thumbsup

[SSScottSS]

I like the lighting, but the eyes actually look a bit freaky to me. I think it's the ring in the eye rather then a "sparkle" if that makes any sense.

[Goat Roper]

I like the lighting, but the eyes actually look a bit freaky to me. I think it's the ring in the eye rather then a "sparkle" if that makes any sense.

Thats a valid point, not everyone likes the catchlight or "that ring that shows up in the eyes". If used point on that effect can be fairly dramatic like this was. I was literally maybe 2 feet from her when I took those so it was bound to really show up.

[JohnnyT]

Super cool! I have been eyeing up that ring light now for a bit... Did you get the "moonunit" and any of the crazy masks that they have for it too??? Those things are a bit over the top, but I like the catchlight from the basic setup.

[Goat Roper]

The 30" or 50" moonunits, no, those are a bit odd for location work. Those masks are only good for creating odd catchlights, not something thats worth $20 or whatever to me, unless they pay for them then so be it :)