The Flash Bus 2011 - Portland

When Chris, Eric and I heard that Strobist (David Hobby) and Joe McNally were going to do a joint seminar, we purchased our tickets as soon as they became available. If you're interested in lighting, I highly recommend snagging a ticket if one is available. The whole day was very informative, entertaining and went by in a flash. ;)

David Hobby discussed how he approaches lighting during the morning session. He starts off by assessing the available light, and then adds light starting with those that are generally run at lower power and works his way on up. This approach allows you to see the the effect of each light instead of cavalierly setting up all of your lights and crossing your fingers.

Building from the bottom up

• Ambient
• It's important to know the quality and amount of available light, even if you decide not to use it.
• To determine the direction of the light, underexpose it.
• Fill
• Fill allows you to set a "floor" for the image and set contrast range.
• Fill can "create an ambient" light if you choose to decide not to use the existing ambient.
• David Hobby often uses a ring flash to provide shadowless fill.
• For highly reflective subjects, increase the size of the light source to reduce specularity.  You can bounce or fire the light through a large sheet to achieve this. Another alternative is to move the fill light to a better position.
• Key
• With the fill as a safety net, you have more freedom to experiment with your key.
• Accent
• Adding a background light, hair, rim , etc. 

Photo by David Hobby shown at The Flash Bus tour to demonstrate lighting from the bottom up.

Setup shot for the image above. I took photos of the slides, hence the heads in the shots as well as the horrible color casts.

A few thoughts from David Hobby and Joe McNally

• Shoot a photo from the perspective of the light source to see how the light falls (to compensate for modeling lights).
• Use a light meter for repeatability and to determine relative power levels of lights.
• One light for shape, one light for detail. Stated another way: One light for controlled fill, one light for character.
• When you're happy with the shot, push yourself some more. You've spent the time setting up the light, so make sure you've gotten some good subject interaction. Think of it as the last wind sprint at the end of a race.
• Flickr is a great way to do location scouting.

McNally showing how it's done

Memorable Quotes from The FlashBus 2011 - Portland

Joe McNally

• "The miracle of small flash: It fits in your bag; You just need 5 people to help you."
• Spoken when McNally had multiple assistants hand holding 3 or 4 reflectors.
• "I do trust the equipment to the point that it screws me over - then I go to manual."
• Regarding using strobes in TTL mode
• "I never met anyone that I couldn't overlight."
• "I don't get too fussy on location - You can't afford to be."
• "David and I constructed the 'Tree of Woe'."

David Hobby

• "This is light that really doesn't look like light. This is where I am trying to go lately."
• "When I was 22 I tried to solve every problem, but I tended to beat the interesting out of the picture."
• "We define dark subjects with specular highlights. We define light subjects with shadows."
• "Digital giveth and digital taketh away."

David Hobby's mother:

• "Did I just see you on national television in your underwear?"