Because it is all about light

Lighting is a wide subject matter. The available options are nothing but intimidating to the less experienced. The available options also range in price from very cheap or free to very expensive.

Why do I say free? Very simple. A sheet of white paper on your desk or a white board in you workshop might be the perfect tool. Use it to bounce light onto your subject matter. You might also need a very complex lighting solution with many lights.

I have two photographer role models from whom I have learned a huge lot. I respect them very much and I can recommend anyone to learn from them.

They are Neil van Niekerk and Zack Arias. Zack for one is not ashamed to share about his previous failures and preaches low tech whenever he can.

Today I did a quick shoot with a beautiful child and I started using one or two of my LumeCube lights on dry land for the first time. Once our lady model settled in a suitable room in our house I started shooting some test images to get to my required settings. With loads of daylight coming in from one side I needed to balance it to avoid the shadows.

Now I could use an off-camera flash but these little ones move around much faster than I can shoot and move a light stand. Even when they remain in one spot, getting that expression simply is not possible if I have to wait a second or two between shots for the flash to cycle.

Cameras shooting 8 to 10 images per second are now at the order of the day. Most flash systems out there simply can't match that.

Finding a huge and powerful flash is easy and we often think that bigger (more expensive!) must be better.

The problem comes in when you discover that you need less light. Yes, you read that right! That fancy high street 1200 Watt flash is often too powerful. It often gives more light than the camera and lens can compensate for.

As I write here I start remembering how many potential fixes one would think can solve that problem. I am sure that about five or six articles could flow forth from the chaos in my mind right now.

Let me try and focus.

Yes, sure, you can slap a neutral-density filter on the front of the flash. This way you get to carry even more bits and bobs with you. Bits and bobs go missing. They fall and they break. I don't like that one bit.

Move the lights further away? Sure, we all know the law of inverse square, right? By all means do so. Now you run the risk of changing the quality of your lighting to such an extent that you might as well shoot a bare flash. That too is a story for another day.

So how did I make these images?

The short answer is: ridiculously simple!

Two lumecubes at different angles from the left covered all of what I needed and at 40% power they were good to go long after the model decided the shoot was over.

Yes, I played a bit to get the colour temperature balanced closer to the truth. It is still a bit cooler on the left but I will take that over the nasty shadows any day of the week.

The good folks at LumeCube also have a comprehensive range of modifiers for the cubes available any day now.

To me, personally, the bottom line is this.

Use what you need to use to get the shot. It is quite OK if the solution is simple and it is even more OK to have fun making the images.

Happy shooting and have some fun doing it!

Anton