Guys how do you manage your modifiers on location. I have converted my home studio back to its normal spare bedroom and do not plan to shoot anymore portraits at home. I have 2 x Profoto B1 heads and the following modifiers.
1 x Beauty dish
1 x 7” Reflector with grids
1 x 5 ft Strip Box
1 x 3 ft parabolic umbrella
1 x 7 ft parabolic umbrella
2 x regular modifier stands
1 x heavy duty boom stand
When me and my Fiancé shoot portraits we are 100% of the time just the two of us and do not plan to use an assistant, I am guessing the umbrellas and strip box will need to stay at home and I will need to get creative just using the beauty dish and 7” reflector.
Any advice/tips would be much appreciated
This is something that also bugs me and a trusty assistant or two is by far the best case scenario you could have. If there is any wind they should be in a seriously good shape. It is fun watching them cope with 160cm parabolic umbrella in the wind. But at least it is doable.
If you got some ultra heavy duty video riser stands you may also get away with it just like that. You may need somebody carrying these for you if any further than a few meters from the car.
As a last resort you can just zip tie or chain your stands to a tree or a pole. You will be pretty much stuck with that configuration for the whole shoot but at least you will have some peace of mind that you won't lose your expensive lights.
on the flip side you get one free very bright light and a vast choice of great backdrops. Enjoy
As a last resort you can just zip tie or chain your stands to a tree or a pole. You will be pretty much stuck with that configuration for the whole shoot but at least you will have some peace of mind that you won't lose your expensive lights.
You don't need assistants, their muscle makes life easier but you can manage without them - apart from their muscle, they save time - that's important for pro shoots but not for you.
Here are the challenges:
Uneven ground. Avoid it if at all possible, but if the ground is uneven you'll want big, heavy-duty lightstands that have a large footprint. My personal hate (in the studio at least) is C-stands, partly because they have a small footprint and are inherently unstable and partly because, for some odd reason, most are chrome-plated, which is the worst possible choice, with unwanted light reflected from them. BUT, the better ones, which have one leg that can be adjusted for height, are a very good choice on uneven ground outdoors. Whichever stands you use, weigh them down by putting heavy weights on them, as low as possible. 5-litre cans filled with water work well. If you can't position these weights really low, suspend them on string. Secondly, use thin but very strong paracord, with tent pegs, to secure them, usually 3 per stand. Those measures should ensure stand safety in all normal weather conditions. The video below shows these paracord stays in action at 1.43, and maybe elsewhere.
Wind. If the wind is too strong, choose another day - as an amateur, you have that choice. When I was with Lencarta I designed softboxes etc with a D-ring at each corner, great for use with paracord and tent pegs, but sadly most people won't spend on decent gear today, and I don't think that they're available now. But you may be able to cobble something up - I did, before we had that option.
Power. Improvements to technology have made power pretty meaningless indoors, but power still rules outdoors in bright sun. I think you're in Thailand? Never shot there professionally but I've done a lot of outdoor fashion shoots in Malaysia, and the power of the sun can be a real problem there. Even in this country, I've always found that a MINIMUM of 400 W/s is needed in bright sunlight to make any real contribution, and maybe 1200 W/s is needed if we want the flash power to overwhelm the sun. Your lights have nowhere near the amount of power needed if you want your lighting to be creative. However, if you have a clever mirrorless camera with an electronic shutter that can be set to a high s/s then that will help, you will just have to have a play and see for yourself.
The Inverse Square Law. This really can be a big problem outdoors, because of the low power, so always get your lighting as close as you possibly can. If it isn't in the way then it's too far away.
Choice of modifiers. Silver reflective umbrellas are good, shoot-through umbrellas are useless outdoors. Apart from anything else, about half of the power is wasted. Beauty dishes are fine, so are small softboxes and strip softboxes, those are my normal tools of choice.
Size of modifiers. Really big ones just add to the challenges, and as bright sun hugely mitigates the benefits of big modifiers, they're unnecessary. Here's a very old video - I'm sure there are some others, and I vaguely think that I have some stepback shots somewhere that may be useful. This was a promotional video, so the emphasis was on the gear. There was lots of gear too, because I always used a van or my 4x4 to get it to the right place, and there were lots of assistants too. This was because it wasn't a commercial shoot, so I invited TP members to come along and see how we worked, see https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/t...n-style-shoot-who-is-going-to-join-in.424004/ but although the conditions will be different to your own, the video may still help.
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