We did a band shoot the other day Rob of
BLUE WORLD ORDER has been wanting to update their website for some time.We had scouted a few venues looking for
something a little different than the wrecking yard stuff and urban grunge that is the signature of bands that play rock.
Rob found this factory that he said he could rent for a slab
so
Maree ( my prod mgr) and myself loaded the gear and headed out.
We
didn't know what to expect so we needed to pack everything we could.
I use a trolley for my gear that is secured by
tie down straps.The reason I like this is that I can take lots of gear in one trip if
I'm working by myself .I
don't suggest you carry half your gear to the shoot
leave it there and go back for the rest....that
doesn't work.
I also take things like towels,umbrellas and ground sheets.It was
raining really hard so I can load the trolley under the umbrella ,cover the gear with the ground sheet and off we go.
Its a good idea to have a
fluro vest,steel caps ,safety
eye wear and ear plugs on board if you doing stuff like this,with the insurance ( I do hope you have public liability) and OHS stuff if your not prepared..the shoot is over before your started. There is a short video at the next entry , its got no sound but you might get a glimpse of the gear
on the ground sheet, many times I need to packup in the dark..all camera gear is black and hard to find.One of those headlamp LEDs is always in my kit.I carry sandbags for the stands as well.The ground was covered in very sharp metal shavings that M
aree was picking out of her shoes after the shoot so good
footwear is advised.Another important
thing is a change of clothes in the car.Once on a wedding shoot in a rather exclusive
businessman's club I tore that backside out of my trousers setting up some strobes just before the toasts...without a spare pair....there would be much black
gaff tape to start a new fashion...
We were shooting a D300 with a 24-70 2.8.It was firing 2
xsb600 strobes left and right of camera
gobo'd to eliminate lens flare, I think they were at about 1/4 power not gelled.I wanted a clean edge light as I wanted to go mono in the final images with some blue in the shadows....non of these images are finished, this is not about post production , this entry is about the setup.
Maree needed to
gobo the umbrella because the flare was a problem in some images. You can see some flare in the lower colour image, it looks
OK but Id rather have the image clean, you can put the stuff in later.
I fired 2
xSB600 strobes through the umbrella.Its much better to fire 2 strobes at 1/2 power than to struggle with slow recycle times with one at full power.The SB28s have optic triggers but I still fire them all with pocket wizard radio triggers
We were to shoot a few different group shots and a few solo portraits.Its a good Idea I find to shoot a few wide to allow magazine text and remember CD/DVD covers are square.
We created a commercial portrait portfolio for David Bonython of Strategic Sourcing Australia today, it was a rush job for the printer.The images needed to portray David as competent, confident and approachable. Its great when the client brings their outfits on coat hangers, it takes lots of time to either re iron shirts of photo shop wrinkles...and on a striped shirt that is a huge task. 
