Recently some of the South Atlanta Flickr folks gathered for a model shoot out.  With many photographers comes many talents, specialties, ideas, and equipment.  Through these meet-ups and shoot outs, I have met many people and try to take away elements here and there to build it into what I would like to do personally.  This past shoot really opened my eyes to lighting.  Not just lighting in general, but creatively using light to totally change the environment you are working in.  All of that was made possible by Matthew Miller.A tireless worker, Matthew knows what he is doing and seems to approach each take as if it is a puzzle to solve.  He works and works, changing lighting positions, settings, etc, to bring the solution to the forefront resulting in an amazing image.

What do I mean, exactly?

Here is a behind the scene shot from the location.

We were outside, using a ’56 Belair (thank you Jay & Allison), and you can see what natural light was available.  However, Matthew’s ability to creatively approach the situation with his lighting abilities, completely changed the shot for everyone.  Using an array of Alien Bee lighting products, flash head units, and a Vagabond, Matthew was able to alter the environment and drastically enhance the mood of the shot.

Granted, I processed the shot a bit in Photoshop (using Nik Color Efex 3.0), but the overall environment was totally changed just by the lighting. You can see from the first photo that Canon flash units were used along with an Alien Bee light, shot through an umbrella, powered by a Vagabond.  Another flash unit was placed in the back seat of the car facing up to light the interior of the car.

Another great example, and probably my favorite use of the lighting that day, was again from Matthew. Check this shot out and while you can see some subtle post-process, the knock-out punch is delivered by the lighting.

Mary was positioned, reaching for the gun, make-up running with a frightened expression on her face.  We were shooting inside of an old strip mall where the roof had caved in not too long ago which provides an excellent place to shoot with texture and grit.  So was the shadow on the wall done in post?  Absolutely not.  Matthew positioned Mary’s fiancé to Mary’s right and an Alien Bee light behind him.  (Here is a behind the scenes shot.) When the lights fired, the creepy shadow was cast on the wall, offering only a glimpse of the pending doom, which is far more frightening than actually seeing it.

It is amazing the control over a shoot you can have when you control the lights.