This is JT Dettman, a Sr. on the local high school basketball team. I needed a “Sports Shot” for this week’s Project 52 assignment. JT is the only athlete that I personally know, so I called him last weekend, and he agreed to meet me at 9:00 AM on Saturday morning.
I was going to use a stripbox, with velcro grid on each side of him as a rim light on his arms, shoulders, and side of his head. I was going to use a beauty dish in front of him for a “hard, edgy” look.
I say “was”, because after I got it all set up, one of my Einstein lights refused to flash. I would respond to the Cyber Commander remote control for setting the power level and for turning the modeling light on and off, but the dang light simply would not fire!
Sooo.. for Plan B, I positioned him in front of his family’s wooden garage door. The main light was the sun, which was coming from behind is right shoulder. For fill, I used the beauty dish above and to the right of the camera, about 5 feet from JT. Finally, a white reflector was held right in front of JT’s legs to help illuminate the lower portions of his uniform, and to make the “Wildcats” stand out more (needed for the first shot, not so much the second shot).
Although JT is a really nice guy, I asked him to give me his best “tough guy” look. I’m not sure if that’s the reason for the wrinkles in his forehead, or if the white reflector in front of him was blinding him…..
JT suggested the following shot, and I’m glad that he did! Yes, he can palm the ball and hold his arm out straight while he’s doing it.
Nice job on both Gregg, and good thinking on your feet with regards to the failure. Engaging your subject is also part of the battle. Nice win 😉
The bad part about the failure is that you’ll be a little gun shy for awhile if you continue with that setup (that is if things are back to normal now). The great part is that you recovered.
Libby, I set up my 3 Einstein lights on Monday evening and was able to determine that there were 2 problems. First, the two AA batteries in the CyberCommander controller needed to be replaced, and also that the flash tube on Light #1 needed to be replaced. That light fell over in a parking lot just over a month ago and shattered the Pyrex diffusion dome. I replaced that, and used these lights twice since that. I guess the flash tube was somehow also damaged, but not to the point of failure. When that same light malfunctioned while at JT’s home, I was taken by surprise.
Luckily, I had a replacement flash tube on hand Monday evening to determine that is what the problem really was. Wednesday morning I ordered a new replacement flash tube and a whole ‘nother Einstein light – just so I can swap out a malfunctioning light when on location.