Shoot for a Cause (2014-03-15)

</photography jargon>

• This photoshoot marked the first time I used a light stand for the flash.
  
  
  
  
  Compared to the light staff (flash + monopod) technique which I use for conventions, having a stationary light stand allowed me to use both hands for the camera and it also gave me more freedom to move around the subject.
  
  
  
  
  
• Unfortunately, I had to switch to using the bare flash unit later on even though that meant harsher shadows. With the Rogue Flashbender attached, the output of the flash was simply not enough to compete with the ambient light provided by the sun.
  
  
• I also forgot to pack the radio flash triggers for the shoot. Although it was still possible to trigger them using the built-in camera flash, bright daylight and line-of-sight requirements limited the possible lighting positions. High speed sync was also not possible, hence the distracting details in the background due to shooting at f/11.
  
  
• Somebody brought along a rather fancy setup involving a modified electric fan and 3 studio lights with optical triggers.
  
  There were about 4 - 6 photographers shooting simultaneously, yet the strobes kept up with us by charging 1~2 seconds in between each flash. Of course, these were proper studio strobes plugged into AC power; a battery-powered speedlight just couldn't compare.
  
  
  
  
  Fancy wide aperture lenses are nice, but this really showed that decent lighting equipment still provides greater impact despite being the cheaper option.
  

</photography jargon>