Editorial Portrait Photography IMPROVISE Wick Beavers Photographer

bare bulb hard light makes it happen!

photo of a rockin' power couple, where the hard light rocks with them

Bare Bulb Editorial Portrait Photographer Wick Beavers Photography --- keywords but more importantly, USE it all, even the stuff you forgot. The cliches, the rain, the skies, the weather,

the mood all add up to collaborating with you POSITIVELY if you USE it.

It all adds up to inspiration , redirection and new horizons.Sheesh, times are busy busy so I move stuff I like to keep handy and suddenly along comes the call. The nod outta nowhere: "I have a deadline and need some great pictures of a power couple in YOUR town today..." well, that's not true, closer to a paraphrase. But I rush to get the gear and sometimes a battery tests low, a modeling bulb gives out or the ladder just doesn't make it into the SUV. So

IMPROVISE.

That's really what we do all the time anyways.

No reflectors, no softboxes, no aa batteries, no remote triggers/pocket wizards? No worries.

Just don't forget the camera or the sensor!

For this reason, my editorial pack is always loaded with charged battery grips and handy cam batteries for the digital back and camera power, the camera body and 2 lenses. The image bank, the cable...

1) No reflectors? Feather the bare bulbs away untl you get just a small crescent visible to the model, use the major light source as a bounce back mostly, the small crescent as a hard edge.

Remember to place the other lights in the same way. Closer is softer so get them in tight.

You may never bring another reflector with you once you get this dialed!

2) No wizards? Use the dinky little and heretofore ne'er used on camera flash set at -2 under so it puts nice little catchlights in the eyeballs AND so it triggers your strobes set as SLAVEs.

Little tiny pop = BIG POP! You're back in business w/o triggers. Yeah, you might have to move the packs so they're out in front of you so they "see" the little pop...

3) No softboxes? If you haven't figured out how to soften hard light you might ought to not be playing with cameras, but here are 3 quickies: a) get the barebulbs right up tight (closer is softer), b) place another light set down at -1.5 or -2 below the main light close for fill and to calm the gradient from light to dark, c) bounce your hard light at a big wall. Sometimes, a colorful wall can kick things up, often a white wall is more better! I've used the sides of cars,

buildings across the street, and even a line of green leaves such as a hedge row. Obviously, remember the darker a color the MORE it absorbs light (so the LESS it reflects). Darker bounce surfaces need more light!

hard light is great and usually handled beautifully by young people

Finally, if you forgot the background, thanks be to Allah and Jesus! DO!!

Those things ought to all be burned at the stake for holy sacrelige!

Try this: Put a bare bulb strobe right in the subject's small of the back and aim it straight up. Dial it up to starting +2.5. You can make yourself a real nice white background with the subject stepping out of a "white closet" just like That!

You want a black background on a bright day in the jungle? Use full power strobes (pro ones, please) and shoot at highest shutter speeds possible. You can make night time happen midday with strong enough lights. Oh and that might require minimum 2400 watts. Minimum!

To drive the packs out in the wild, get yourself a Honda EU2000i or better, 2 to wire up in series.

Now you're lighting!

Gotta go but check the hard bulb pics out- you'll like the look (the little old lady from Lincoln, NE might be a little irked with the brutal honesty, though!).

Best Wick

author Erik Calonius, hard light lit editorial portrait