How2 Series: WTF, A Winter Challenge, Guest Post by Bob Davis

WTF stands for “What the Flash” and a special guest post thanks to good buddy, Bob Davis. I’m really having fun sharing this guest post this morning, because it’s completely different from anything I’ve ever run on the blog. This couldn’t be more “how2″ and I love the way Bob put it together. 

I first met Bob and Dawn Davis at Photo Plus Expo in New York when I was asked to look at an album they shot for Oprah. They were hired to document Oprah’s recognition of African-American Women Who Changed the World. The event took place at Oprah’s estate outside Chicago.  The images were incredible and the way they told the story of the day in the album was even more impressive.  Over the years the friendship just naturally grew. We’d see each other at various conventions, were involved in some of the same charity events and then Bob joined us last summer, teaching at Skip’s Summer School. 

Okay, so admit it, it was the “WTF” that got you reading this morning, so I’m turning this over to Bob…

The goal: Shoot a twilight portrait in a snowstorm using Speedlights.

The challenge: Photograph Kelly during a winter storm with blistering wind chills and huge snowflakes falling at the rate of one inch per hour.  Who’s crazy enough to do this?  I knew the storm was coming, the weatherman was right this time, called my buddy Ed Weiland, he’s always up for my crazy ideas, we loaded up our gear and headed out into the tundra. 

The Gear: Camera: EOS 1D Mark IV

Lenses: 16 – 35 F/2.8 L & 70 – 200 F/2.8 II L

Lighting: 3 Canon 580 EXII Speedlights & STE2 Wireless Speedlight Transmitter in combination with Radiopopper transmitter & receivers.  Calumet 9′ Light Stands, large Rogue FlashBender & Rogue Diffusion Panel and Westcott Apollo Strip & Orb along with a few plastic bags to keep the Speedlights and Radiopoppers protected from the elements.

The Settings: Manual mode on camera, ETTL mode and forced manual mode on the Speedlights,

ISO ranged from 200 to 1600 as the night grew darker, Aperture f/4, shutter speed varied from 1/160^th to 1/8^th, slowing as the night grew darker to allow for some ambient light.

Note for Canon users: I have found a way to combine ETTL mode and Manual flash mode.  With the Speedlight in slave mode, hold the mode button on the rear of any Canon Speedlight for a good long second, say to yourself “one thousand and one thousand and two”!  Magically the flash drops out of ETTL mode and into Manual mode.  The Speedlight is still dedicated to you, can’t control it from camera, you have to manually dial in the power you want.  I usually start around ¼ power and go from there. 

Remember! Shutter Speed = ambient light     Aperture = flash output

Kelly, our adventurous model, was brave enough to go along with this craziness and keep smiling during the shoot all while the wind chill dipped below zero.  In-between shots she would run to the car to warm up.  It was so cold the rear command dial on Ed’s Mark IV froze from him breathing on it.  I learned a long time during my photojournalism days to hold your breath when your eye is to the viewfinder in extreme cold.  Once while covering a fire I fogged the viewfinder and it frosted over with ice and froze the controls on back of my camera, boy that camera was cold!  I tucked it inside my coat next to my body to thaw it out.

I always say to myself, slow down, breathe and think!  This always helps me during a tough shooting situation.  If I were to use on camera or direct flash (on axis) the light would reflect off of the white snowflakes preventing a clean shot.  This is known as the angel of reflectance.  Getting the flash off camera will sidelight the snowflakes allowing for a clean view of Kelly. 

Using one off camera flash either camera right or left would make a nice portrait, always be careful where that shadow falls, you don’t a long unflattering shadow across your subject’s face.  Good lighting will have the shadow fall right into the crease where the nose meets the cheek.  I chose to use two Speedlights.  One as a back light to separate Kelly from the background and highlight the snow, creating depth and one off camera right, (see lighting diagram). 

Since we were shooting in an open field and the wind was blowing I choose to use small light modifiers.  I didn’t want my Speedlights sailing away like Auntie Em’s house in the Wizard of Oz.  Toto we’re not in Kansas anymore, this feels like the Arctic.  The Light modifiers on this shot were the Rogue FlashBender large as a snoot for the back light and the RogueFlash Bender large with the new Rogue Diffusion Panel for the main light. 

I always like to say the right tool for the right job; in this situation anything bigger would need a team of circus carneys to keep them grounded.  I was totally impressed with the quality of light from the Rogue Diffusion Panel.

In this first image you can see how direct flash, with a back light, lights the snowflakes, very distracting.  The direct flash is on axis with the lens causing the light to reflect off the snowflakes.

Settings: ISO 1250 f/4 @ 1/30^th sec, lens @200mm, main light in ETTL mode, rim light in forced manual 1/16^th power.

Off camera flash, camera right, using large Rogue FlashBender and Diffusion Panel.Settings: ISO 200 f/4 @1/80^th sec, lens @75mm, main in ETTL mode.