It’s been an eventful Spring and Summer. I have a new condition that has caused exhaustion, which has caused naps, which has caused guilt, which has caused hunger, which has caused chocolate. And when there’s no more chocolate and I’m out trying to party hard, I’ve been hitting up some Shirley Temples.
I’m serious about Shirley Temples. They are probably the best drink of all time, and I can drink a lot of them. Except not too many or I will have diabetes.
Recently I came out of my haze long enough to have a photographic adventure in beautiful Cape May, New Jersey. It was exciting, because they have lots of Shirley Temples there! Here were my three favorite.
the prettiest.
The refreshingest. (Don't call the cops, the Corona wasn't for me.)
The overall tastiest (crushed ice!)
I am a natural light kinda gal, but lately I’ve been realizing I need a portable lighting situation for backup and for portraits. Has anyone out there tried the portable Profoto Pro Acute B 600R Kit? My buddy Kate recommended it and I may take it for a spin. Lugging lights in NYC is never fun, but I need to have a versatile off-camera strobe plan sooner than later. I’d love any tips.
Ok, speaking of this condition, fellow photographer Jennifer Becker has it too. Here she is, being adorable. Jennifer wrote me with a conundrum that I too am about to face: how do you take a not horrible pregnant picture? Can anyone pull it off?
J writes:
You are always pulling really cool photos together for stuff and I wasn’t sure if you ever came across any other photographers that did self portraits of themselves pregnant or a cool series a photographer did? I feel like it’s been so hard to find interesting stuff just as inspiration cause I want to try and shoot more. Anyways thought it might be something to throw out there as I imagine other people would want to see?
Help us! and we’re not talking about things like this:
Cause that’s not how our parasites roll.
PROFOTO! That’s a lot of cash, girlfriend, and also, wow, ain’t easy to schlep.
You can do AMAZING things with little lights, and I mean little — like the Canon 580EX — or three — not inexpensive, either, when you get three — but you can get any generic used flash and make em work — we’re talking the STROBIST mentality — little lights fired using pocket wizards — some times you only need to open something up a “tad bit,” and a 580EX off camera is just the ticket —
also look at LUMEDYNEs
also look at the QUANTUM TURBO batteries for the Canon flashes
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the lights are not so heavy, it’s the battery packs for all of these. i mean — YIPES!
if you don’t need battery powered, consider the el cheapo ALIEN BEES… quite remarkable, pretty small, totally affordable, check ‘em.
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pregnancy pictures? do we need more of those?
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Yesss, the Acute B600R kit is pretty awesome. Granted you can only fit one flash head, but it’s much lighter than the 7B.
It’s powerful enough for the oomph factor but can be turn down for that subtle fill. I’d get one or two extra batteries, however. I believe profoto spec’d them at 160 pops at full power but it always seems less than that. If you get one of those new lithium batteries it’ll last longer and even lighter.
Sweet Shirley Temples by the way =)
It’s a big jump from ambient light to 600WS strobes. You might consider off-camera speedlights first. There’s a lot that can be done with them. Strobist (http://strobist.com) is a great resource. He’s actually recently branched out into large strobes. Here’s what it thought of that AcuteB 600: http://strobist.blogspot.com/2010/05/follow-up-choosing-big-lights.html
It’s all about the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra packs.. bonkers portability with bananas power.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/632657-REG/Elinchrom_EL_10291_1_Ranger_Quadra_Head_A.html
I only answered because the Mamiya 7 is the coolest camera ever, and your photo of the light up globe made me get a light up globe (and maybe contributed to my Mam7 purchase.. maybe.)
Check out the Elinchrom Quadra kit as well. Much lighter and better design for getting around with.
I’ve used the Acute 600 a bit. It’s kind of cute compared to it’s bigger brothers and sisters. I know a guy who keeps the pack in one of those soft 6-pack cooler-bags. It’s very portable and packs a decent punch. I would consider checking out the Elinchrom Ranger set-up as well: http://www.elinchrom.com/products.php?cat=96 …reasonably priced and you are able to use two heads. One of our rental shops just got one in but I have yet to give it a try.
I second the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra, the lights and pack are incredibly small and versatile. With the lights being smaller than speedlights I’m constantly finding new creative ways to place the lights. I’d look at the Acute if you need the extra 200 w/s or if you find yourself renting additional gear since Profoto is universal in just about every rental house.
Here’s another vote for some 580EX II’s. Pair them with Pocketwizard Mini + Flex’s and you have a pretty flexible system. You can shoot at 1/8000 if you want to shoot wide open.
I’m kinda in the same boat, I’m just starting to use some off camera lighting. Right now I usually just use one flash in an umbrella, or bare.
I love the drink shots, the look yummy. Especially the top one with sun rays shining through – i wish i was there with that drink in my hand!!!
and i thought you had hypothyroidism! Congratulations! I agree with the first writer that you don’t want to be schlepping big lights over the city w/o nubile assistants. I like the QFlash. Lot of punch with little batteries. Not cheap. Neither is my chiropractor and I”m seeing her a lot less!
I am craving maraschinos now.
I had to stare at the last picture for 5 minutes before I could decide which pair of hands belonged to the belly. I suppose it’s obvious to most, but that’s 5 minutes of horror I will never have back.
I think I need a Shirley Temple now to soothe my brain nerves.
CONGRATULATIONS!! No worries. When the time is right you’ll no doubt pull a Demi as pretty as that Shirley with the three cherries.
Add another vote for the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra.
The 580EX II is a great flash but looking at your work I don’t think its quite the right fit.