All due respect to David Hobby, who called this technique Strobe on a Rope, I shoot wireless infra-red via Nikon’s CLS (Creative Lighting System).
If I had a dime for every time I’ve described how I handle light on nightlife shoots, I’d never need to shoot again. In case you are not one of the 17,000 people I’ve told… here’s a photo for you (thanks to Salt Lake After Dark for the photo). Mount your strobe to the end of a tripod or monopod (I prefer the tripod because I can set it down and trust it to be stable if I want different light angels), aim the light where you want it, and shoot. It’s that easy. That funky thing on the end is a Gary Fong Lightsphere Cloud Diffuser. There are a lot of pundits on Flickr who make fun of Gary Fong and his products, but diffusers work. They scatter and spread the light around, make everything a bit more evenly lit, and having one on a tilt/swivel flash makes it really easy to tweak your exposure by shining more or less light on your subject with a twist of the flash head. It takes some practice, but eventually becomes second nature.
Nice photo showing your lighting technique. I am amazed that even with it being on a tripod that it survives the club scene!
As for the Gary Fong diffuser, I have one as well. They do in fact work as you say!
Useful too for prodding feminist god botherers.
Thanks for the tip.
Have you had any problems with it being unwieldly?
Like accidentally hitting someone with it?
Or, missing shots because you haven’t got it ready?
Is that a tripod coming out of your pants, or are you just on a paid gig?
jeremysalejr, Now that’s funny! Sorry Eric. Are you using a SU-800 or onboard flash to trigger it?
@Steve: Don’t I know it!
hahahaha
iainisbald: It took a while to get used to, but now that I’ve been using the technique consistently for nearly a year, it’s second nature, and I hardly even notice I’m carrying it. It’s like an extension of me, just like the camera. Just another tool in my arsenal. I also frequently strap strobes to lighting trusses and monitor stands, but this is my primary lighting weapon at the parties. =)
jeremysalejr: haha!
jim: built-in pop-up commander my d80. Usually in manual. That diffuser sucks about 3 stops! (tiny drawback) I shoot at half power for close shots, and full power if the flash is more than about 8-12 feet from the subject. Of course, that varies depending on the other lighting conditions. I usually have my ISO set in the 100 - 260 range, and exposures are relatively long, because the flash is able to freeze most of the action if it’s overpowering the ambient on the subject, and the long exposures let the background lights saturate the frame and create some really rich colors.
People ask me all the time what sort of camera I’m using because my photos look “detailed”, “high res” and “way colorful”. At a recent party somebody wanted to take my picture, and my lights were set up for something else, so I flipped it to auto, slipped the strap over his neck, and the result looked like it came from a $100 p&s.
We all know this, but it bears repeating. It’s not the camera!
- Eric
It is always good to go strobist
Great “setup” shot, thanks.
- udi