My photographer friend, Megan Case, got a gig to make promotional portraits of Brian Collins of the Brian Collins Band. He is a talented singer-songerwriter on the verge of hitting it big. I had been dying to try out my new Einstein flash equipment in the field and this seemed like a perfect chance to test the gear so I volunteered as her assistant.
The Einstein studio flash system can become a versatile portable light source when paired with a small lithium-ion battery pack good for 300 full power pops. The advantage is that a photographer can put way more light onto a subject in an outside environment compared to using hot shoe flashes.
We used the Einstein system outside in several locations and then headed to a local bar that Brian had secured for us. As an assistant, I do not usually shoot, but I had an idea that Megan liked and she said to try it.
I set Brian at the bar and put one flash with a large umbrella on him. The concept was to blend the flash with the ambient lights in the room which were very dull. The exposure was about 1.5 seconds so he had to remain still. I had his band mates walk backwards in some of the frames to create a cool motion blur affect seen in the photo above.
A different photo that I helped to finish was what I call “the floating musician”. Real magic was used to make Brian levitate several feet off the ground.
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| Photo by Megan Case. Retouching by Andrew Hughes. |
I love working with Megan because she has a fantastic eye for composition and is one of the nicest photographers you will ever meet. We make a good team because we can bounce ideas off of each other without egos. Our top priority is to get good photos… period. Check out her blog and prepared to be wowed.
