If you did not attend any of David Hobby seminars what are you waiting for?!To Master the Light techniques you need a Wizard and who better than David himself to show how to do it ;)
One of the tricks that bang me out from David's bag was the Clamshell.
I saw him performing this trick first at the London seminar and later on in Paris, and I felt in Love with it, the trick of course (what were you thinking?), this setup kicks, rocks and could make any model, you put in front of it, shine on.
Good, simple and easy Strobist studio portrait light.
As you can see in the picture you just need 2 white shoot through umbrellas, one on top of the other.
Start with a different ratio of 1 or 2 stops between the umbrellas and adjust at taste so this way you can make any adjustments to shadows and highlights apart from each other and now shoot between both of them :)
And to complement the setup you just kick a background light (simple or with a color gel), towards the background to get some background color or separation.
If you prefer to control the spill you can do it like David, look at the initial image, and you get that by using a silver umbrella or snoot to avoid some spill.
Either way you will get astonish results with this portable Strobist kit, just give it a try and will never wanna shoot with another thing.
Let me rephrase it (2 White umbrellas, 3 portable strobes, 3 remote triggers and 3 stands) got it?
Take a look at some of the images you can achieve with it in here.
Now let me show you something...
I got this video on YouTube on how to learn Studio Portrait Lighting Technique by Master Photographer Steven Tan from Penang, Malaysia using Visatec studio flash, Manfrotto light stands, tripods, Flash meters, assistants and all that expensive gear.
Enjoy it...
After you watch it doesn't the setup looks familiar to something?
Did the gear on the video seamed expensive and could be replaced for something cheaper?
And were the results better than the ones made with small strobes?
I think you've got the answers to all this questions so stop complaining and go make yourself a Strobist Clamshell ;)
Miss the Hair Light and do not know how to build a Honey Comb or Grid?
Take a look at my tutorials DIY: Black Straws Snoot Grid (Part 1), DIY: Black Straws Snoot Grid (Part 2) and DIY: Black Straws Snoot Grid (Colored).
LESS GEAR, MORE BRAIN, BETTER LIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!
4 comments:
This is a great setup.
Just Fab also has a one strobe mod for it.
I also took my shots with it.
- udi
That's a great setup indeed. I wanted to comment on how ludicrous the mixing of the music was on that video. Hilarious!
Also, what was the deal with them showing "kind of" the images that were taken (near the end), but not really - they just take the headshot on the video and transitioned it out with a frame effect! Again - hilarious!
Although you made some good points, I would still prefer using two softboxes because it creates a much more pleasing (subjectively) catchlights in the eyes making them sparkle. But yeah, I can't afford that them anyway...
The clamshell is great!
I just wonder if there is a way to attach both umbrellas to one light stand - maybe Manfrotto has some clamp to join a second swivel head to the bottom of a lightstand?
Would save some space in my bag :)
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