New video online: Photoshoot on water after sunset

I have been somewhat creative this weekend and uploaded another video of the politicians series for the newspaper ;-)

In this short clip you can see me taking photos of Thomas Iseke. I wanted to show the politicians not typically but more private. So Steffi and I met him in his hometown at the “Lake Steinhude”, the biggest lake in northern Germany, right before sunset.

I had a picture in mind with him sitting on a landing stage right above the water right after the sunset when the sky is glowing in all variations of red, orange and yellow – inspired by a shooting Joe McNally did for a kelbytraining video. But when we arrived at the meeting point we saw a fantastic wooden row-boat and asked the owner if we were allowed to use it. Much better than the landing stage ;-)

Okay, first the link for the video:

(Direct link for RSS-Readers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fCceeu1s6Q)

The really cool thing about water is the reflection on it. Please imagine you’re photographing someone standing on a meadow right after sunset. While the sky would be full of exploding colours, the meadow would be dark, because the disappeared sun only hits the sky but has no direct pointing to the meadow anymore.

But If you change the meadow with a big sea the water would reflect the glowing spectacle from the sky and if you photograph it right, you can achieve great looking photographs.

The sky is reflected by the lake - a meadow would be dark at this moment after sunset

And the best of all, you don’t need a lot of stuff. Just one SB-800 and the internal flash of a Nikon to trigger it (I used a SB-800 on camera too) is enough. To make the light softer I only used an additional EzyBox 60x60cm (24×24″) from Lastolite mounted on an extension arm.

Please read the description under the pictures to get more information:

first shot without a flash. You can see how seemless the politician is surrounded by the reflections on the water

plus a SB-800 in a Lastolite EzyBox from above right and you have a great looking picture. This was the FIRST FRAME I SHOT !!!

I started with ISO 400 and f/8, first exposed with 1/250s in manual mode - only the flash was controlled by the camera in iTTL

The whole shooting from the first test frame to the last one lasted only 12 minutes - plus three for the setup. At least the sun had dissapeared fast and I had to use 1/100s instead of 1/250s

same setup - only one quick portrait before we were done

Steffi with the main- and only light: EzyBox with a SB-800

closer view to the EzyBox