PocketWizard Wonders!

I've have been asked to blog more frequently than I have been. Honesty, I don't know how David Hobby at Strobist.com finds the time to post. It seems that I am always working, either for a client or for the business. Actually, I should stop this post and get back to work... you know what I mean.

This photograph was done for Arch Coal, Inc., a St. Louis based coal company. I was shooting on the western slope of Colorado at their West Elk mine, near the town of Paonia. I had spent most the day underground shooting and at the end of the day I was able to set up a quick shot at sundown. If you look closely at the bottom left corner of the photo, you will see to workers dressed in yellow slickers. One of those workers is my assistant Erik Lawrence who has worked with me for about 8 years. I had Erik place a small strobe on a pipe fitting in order to light both he and the other worker.

The use of a PocketWizard was ideal for this situation. The PocketWizard is a small radio slave which allows me the ability to fire my strobes at great distances. This was the first time I had used this product, I have sense purchased 5 more. I'm not certain how far I was from the strobe but based on the fact that I was shooting with a Nikon 80-200mm zoom, I'd guess I was about 300-500 feet. Needless to say, I was impressed. You just can't make pictures like this with a tools sure as the PocketWizard.

In the office

I shot recently in Houston, Texas for an engineering client of mine. I spent the day shooting their employees working on projects and generally doing what they do daily.

I found a lighted drafting table tucked into an employees cubical. I arranged the table to allow me to see back into another cubical, this helps to show depth in the image. I used the lighted drafting table as the light source for the main subject. I also used 2 SB-800 strobes to add color in the foreground-blue- And to light the worker in the background. The strobe in the foreground has a full CTB gel over the strobe head and the rear strobe has a CTO on it.

My client also wanted general "Happy Employee" shots for their files. I set up a location that had a long hallway behind my subject. I set up a large softbox 24"X36" on a stand to the left of the subject(camera right). The softbox was powered with an SB-800 and a PocketWizard to fire it. Down the hall was another SB-800 on a stand with a purple gel and a LightBreak gobo to project a pattern on the rear wall. With the image below, the purple gel was replaced with a sepia color gel. I this photograph you can see the LightBreak pattern projected on the rear wall. These are very common portraits I have to do while on location.

I was also asked to photography a certain employee "Noe" with the Houston skyline in the background. The weather was very overcast and lightly misting off and on. Here is one of the photos of Noe using a wide angle lens. The subject was lit using a large softbox camera left. The softbox had a SB-800 strobe in it and it was fired by my PocketWizard and another SB-800 held by my assistant Erik camera right in order to put light on the railing further down past Noe. I than used a longer lens to compress the background. I hope you like them.

Chemical Weapons

The public address system screamed Dawn your MASK, Dawn your MASK. These are the words that greeted me as I was headed out to my car after a full day shooting at the Pine Bluff Chemical Weapons Dismantling Facility in Arkansas.

I was shooting for an engineering client of mine based in Boise, Idaho. One of the images my client wanted me to get was a cool looking control room shot. I was able to get two images in a short 25 minutes.

This first one was lit using 4 portable flash units, 3 SB-800's fired with pocket wizards and one Vivitar 283 with a grid over the flash head. One strobe pointed at the ceiling with a blue gel on it. Another mounted to the ceiling using a ceiling clamp, the strobe was set to a zoom setting of 105. The strobe is lighting the two individuals at the back control panels. There is another strobe behind the back console.

With this image I moved back a bit and put on my 80-400mm lens. I used a small Morris Mini Slave to lite the subject.

Hope you enjoy the post. My web site is http://www.tejadaphoto.com

Granite Construction I-15

This photography was just done the other day. I was contracted to shoot the I-15 Corridor near Ogden, Utah.

I lit this shot using 3 SB-800's strobes fired with Pocket Wizards. On the right side, Omni dome on strobe and set to 1/2 power.

On the left side, 2 strobes. The closest strobe to the camera has the omni dome on it set at full power and the second strobe has the flash head zoomed to 105 and set at 3/4 power.

The temp was real cold.

Renaissance Center

I shot this photo for an engineering client of mine. They engineered and constructed the "Detroit People Mover" which circles the downtown business center.

I used 2 SB-800 strobes placed on the parking garage level below where I was photographing from. Both strobes where zoom out to the 105 position and set to full power. They where slaved using Pocket Wizards.

I placed my camera flash sync to "rear curtain". By doing so, I am able to capture the start of the blur and than freeze the action with the firing of the strobes.

Hope you like it.

Brooks Institute of Photography Speech

Later this month, I'll have the pleasure to speak to the students at Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, Calif. I have been asked to share my business experience with the students.

I've been shooting corporate assignments for Fortune 500 companies for the past 24 years. Specializing in location work for corporate annual reports and other business collateral. I enjoy the opportunity to share my experiences with young people who want to peruse a profession in the world of commercial photography. I have been very fortunate to have had a wonderful career in photography, expressing myself visually and traveling the world on assignment.

Over the past several weeks I have been putting together images and topic slides for that speech. I'll be discussing such topics as how to build a photography business, what to do before and after graduation, how to be an effective assistant, and how to market your services. I have given this type of speech to many different schools and every time, students want to know about the type of equipment I travel with.

For an assignment when I am traveling alone without an assistant, I'll travel with the following lighting equipment. This is the same kit I traveled with last month to South America. I find that I can handle most any lighting challenges with this kit. This lighting kit fits into the small case which you see in the following photo. The contents of the case include: (3) Nikon SB-800 strobes, 2 small stands, 42 inch folding umbrella, gels, bogan clamps which hold the strobes, Pocket Wizards, Cinefoil- used for flagging or shaping the light,

The key composite to this kit would be the Nikon SB-800 strobe system. I carry 4 SB-800's as well as the SU-800 command unit. The command unit allows me to fire my 4 strobes wirelessly. Sometimes when the limits of the SU-800 come into play, I'll pull out my trusty PocketWizards for remote distances beyond the reach of the Nikon CLS (creative lighting system)

Here are a few photos of those SB-800 strobes, one with and one without the PocketWizard set-up.

I have found these strobes to be remarkable! For years I have traveled "with studio type lighting" meaning, power packs, multiple heads with modifiers, stands, booms and other various grip equipment. type equipment. I have several lighting kits I use, depended upon the assignment requirements.

When I travel with a small lighting kit like this, I feel like an old fashioned wing walker on a bi-plane. There is a certain amount of excitement about traveling with a smaller lighting kit, particularly when you are use to the multiple cases of lighting equipment. I actually enjoy the thrill of it all, being free of the large amounts of equipment is rather liberating!