So I went to bed early, hoping to feel propelled to wake up early so I could vote early thinking it would be a reasonably light lined situation [boy was I wrong] Got up early, so that worked well off to a good start.... got to the polling place at about 6:10am. But a full parking lot did not bode well. Sure enough after a winding walk thru the building, a massive horde of people in queues according to some arbitrary alpha selection was encountered. I did my thing and a mere 45 minutes later I was back in my truck.
BACK Home for breakfast and a cup of coffee.
Then a studio shoot that Kate might be using to make some lighting decisions for the Monday Veterans photo shoot. I set up a Westcott Appollo ORB with my JTL J-160 strobe, my model WANDA, a Nikon D7000 and two different lenses. A couple of Pocket Wizards and a reflector completed the set up. Did my thing, set them up in my web site and forwarded the link to KS.
Then started sifting thru my plethora of photos for a Student Exhibit choice. Found one that I had just taken this past weekend, it looked really good on the screen, so I sized it for a large print and submitted thru my channels to get a large poster and poster board set of prints. Will ponder them on Wednesday. Will still go thru other photos for potential candidates. another job done....
A stop at the eye doctor to pick up two pairs of reading glasses I had taken in yesterday for repair. Another job done.....
Went to the Library to get a reserved book, TRUMAN. Should be a good read. Another job done.
Got some lead shot to use for my light stand weight bags, I have the shells, but they are void of weight. Now I have 75 lbs of lead in my garage, and will have to break it down into usable pods to insert into my sleeves to hold my lights stands down. Yet another job done.......
The ORB nearly tipped over today, I really need these things. BTW, lead is not cheap, in fact I thought they were charging me for GOLD at the prices it was rung up as. I did NOT check the price at the rack. OUCH!
But it was needed. Sand was just NOT going to do it in terms of heavy in small space.
Though I should have done this next mentioned job, I did NOT, FILL THE TRUCK UP........
gas was $ 2.99 ....I should have filled up. But I thought it could be lower tomorrow, and I was pretty tired of the all the running around....
so before class, I will check, if not at $ 2.99 or below, that is fine with me.....
it is still way low and will get petro at some point while it is hovering near the $ 3.00 gal level. I remember paying $ 3.67 recently, so this is a bit of heaven.
BACK to the WANDA shoot.......Oh, I included the color checker in some of my Wanda shots.
This shot has the ORB as the main on the camera high left and a reflector on the right. Full power on the little J-160 [which produces a solid 160ws] I got a f/11 with ss at 1/250 for iso 200 hand held, using a Pocket Wizard trigger set up.
The ORB was set up as high as I could in this space, and the center was at 84 inches, approx 48 inches from Wanda's face, and the reflector was about 24 inches from Wanda on her left, camera right. Wanda was in front of a black muslin background, but only 29 inches of separation.
The ORB did a fine job at this height with the hair, so no hair spot was employed.
A simple and effect set up. The ORB is a collapsible unit that attaches as an umbrella would. The strobe slips inside. So large mono-block units might struggle with such a modifier. The JTL J-160 is a tiny unit, so it fit nicely, its umbrella slot does not have a lock down screw though, so a bit of slippage was seen.
The coverage from the ORB though was stellar, more directed than a square or rectangle shaped soft box, and still a soft and gentle high quality light source. The catch light is large [the ORB is 42 inches I believe] and pleasant in my opinion.
Due to the directional light pattern, there is fall off, which might hinder a full body shot if no other lighting is used. Half body shots appeared acceptable.
You see fine detail on the close side arm, but the arm in the back side is there but shaded.
Due to the black on black nature of the clothing [Wanda has a limited wardrobe, its this black outfit, nude or a robe, I went with the black dress] we do get a bit of bleeding into the background, the reflector positioning might be altered to fix that or a fill light could do the trick as well if available. Ambient light at the sight could fill this void also.
The facial shading is noticeable but shows high details in most all areas. The ORB fills under the chin nicely as well. Overall this modifier is a very good option as a single unit for portraits.
I have owned it for just a short time and had not really used it at all, as I got it at the same time as I got my Beauty Dish and this is even more appealing when dealing with the human form. So it has been my weapon of choice til now.
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