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Photography News | Issue 50 | photographynews.co.uk
Technique
Remote control
end of the bath. At the default exposure it pumped out far too much light, thus burning out Em’s hair and also catching the top of her right leg. It needed turning down, and after a couple of tests I settled on two for the speedlight and left the other two lights set at zero. after various test shots using the PRO ST-III radio transmitter. Being perched up a stepladder, the wireless control certainly made life much more convenient for this shot. Images End light: A Li-ION 360Mk II on a stand was placed far end of the bath at Em’s head height. No modifier was used. Left side light: This was a PIKA200 fitted with 48cm octagonal softbox. Right side light: On a robust stand was mounted a CITI600 with 120cm octagonal softbox. This gave a big, soft light. The three lights were used in TTL mode and output modified
End light
Left side light
Right side light
fire, deactivating the other two so I could see the effect of each on its own. I left each unit in TTL metering mode for the time being, knowing there would be fine- tuning to be done once all three lights were firing. In fact, the only light that needed tinkering with was the speedlight at the head
bath on a stepladder and used a 24-120mm zoom set to 40mm on a Nikon D810 for the capture. By using the wireless control skills of the PRO ST-III, I could fire each light in turn without having to get down from the stepladder. With the transmitter, I could choose which flash to
For this three-light shoot, the Pixapro CITI600 was fitted with a large, round softbox and this was positioned to the right of the bath. To the left was the PIKA200 with octagonal softbox, and the Li-ION360 speedlight aimed from the top of the bath gave Em’s hair some light. I was at the foot of the
Controlling shadows
The kit we used
introduced light is unusual in that it’smodular, so the flash-head can be swapped; while not much larger than a top-end speedlight it is not designed for on-camera use. Two heads are currently available and the unit can be directly attached to a lighting stand and a modifier fitted, or it can mounted in an optional bracket that accepts S-bayonet modifiers. The third Pixapro head used is a CITI600 TTL. This looks like a typical studio flash unit but in this case it’s battery powered, and with 600Ws at your disposal offers plenty of power and shooting capacity when needed. The CITI has some interesting features, too. For example, if you need to get a light high, a remote head is available for £59.99 or you can get a 1200Ws head for £220, if you have two CITI600 heads to power it. All three units in this instance were used in TTL mode, controlled by the PRO ST-III trigger that was fitted onto a Nikon D850. The shoot took place at Natural Light Spaces (naturallightspaces.co.uk) based in Weedon Bec near Northampton. There are two studios available for hire and you can use natural windowlight, the supplied flash or continuous light units. Our model, Em Theresa, is an aerialist as well as part-owner of the studio (emtheresamodel.com). Two heads are currently available and the unit can be directly attached to a lighting stand and modifier fitted, or it can be mounted in an optional bracket
Essential Photo is a leading specialist in marketing studio equipment to the photographic, film and video industries. Pixapro is its lighting brand and a full range of competitively priced products is available, from speedlights and portable flash through to mains heads and generators.
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I wanted an even lighting effect, with shadows not playing too much of a part in the shot. I had the PIKA200 with octagonal softbox positioned camera left, while the CITI600 fitted with a stripbox was right of the camera position. The shot was taken on a Nikon D850 with an 85mm f/1.8 lens set to f/5.6. With both units set to 0 and TTL still being used, I took a few steps back to get the whole scene in shot so I could see what the lights were doing. This showed that the CITI600 and stripbox were the senior partners here, as it was this light producing the shadow on the wall (image left). Using the PRO ST-III transmitter I increased the output of the PIKA200 on the left to +1 to fill the shadow (image above). The extra light had the added benefit of giving Em’s flesh tones a lift and revealed more detail in the costume, too.
Above The Pixapro Li-ION580II (above left) is a top spec speedlight, while the CITI600 (above top)i s a full-size monobloc. The innovative PIKA200 (above) offers power and versatility.
Next month: On the move with the latest portable lighting kit
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