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I like these Al…take one more and you've got yourself a triptych (sorry Jack…couldn't resist) 🙂 I recently acquired the same lens. It's a bit of a beast but it renders beautifully and the focal length fits in nicely between the 35mm and 70mm Leica offerings.
Shooting a moving target with the Noct wide open and nailing focus is like winning Powerball 🙂
Jack, to my eye that shot lends itself to the triptych treatment very well. Nicely done!!!
melantye,
I hadn't heard of the Priolites but I do like the concept. If I didn't already have a substantial investment in Broncolor lighting I'd certainly look at them more closely.
Here's one from a shoot away from the water. Used my Hasselblad 110/2 for this shot…a lens I like quite a bit. I know it was stopped down…I'm guessing f/5.6 or f/8 but there's no exif data to confirm that. But I think the colors are nice.
Using a cooler to transport the battery pack is a good idea. All of my Nikon lenses are classified by Nikon as weather resistant and I've read that means they have special coatings applied to the front and rear elements. More than that I really don't know. Being a boater and living in Florida has given me a healthy respect for just how corrosive salt water is. Maybe I'd be braver if it were fresh water but the idea of my S2 getting sloshed with ocean water makes me cringe. When I got back from the beach after the Nikon took a dunking I sponged if off with fresh water and patted it dry.
Jack, I keep the battery pack well behind me on a towel or sheet. I'll typically look to see where the wet sand stops, past where the waves have reached and put it there. Despite having done this countless times I am still occasionally surprised just how fast the tide can come in and how far a mini rogue wave can wash past where others have stopped. One of these days i'll get smart and put my battery packs in some kind of waterproof container. The other trick is to suspend the battery pack from the light stand using a bungee cord. This works well as long as it's not one of the big, really heavy packs. I don't much care if the light stands get wet. I've dedicated a few of them for beach use. They're corroded and ugly but still get the job done. One other trick I've learned from my friend Andre is to extend the lowest leg of my tripod at least one hands width to minimize the amount of sand that gets in the legs. I then extend the legs from the top down for better support. But the real key to getting good shots for this type of work is to get really, really low. For me this means wearing a bathing suit, peeling off my shirt and laying in the sand/surf. At least I don't have to worry about getting sand in my hair 🙂
Here's the last shot with the Nikon before it got swamped. As you can see I get pretty low and close to the water. Hope I don't get censured for posting an off brand image 🙂
Jack, I sure hope those CS lenses show up before November. Got my 70mm and am waiting patiently for the 120mm. Those are pretty much the only ones I use with lights.
Mark, most of the time I shoot my Nikon D4 for this kind of stuff even though I like the images from the S2 better. I started this shoot down by the surf with the Leica and got a bit nervous with the splashing waves…unlike Jack 🙂 So I switched to the Nikon and sure enough…the camera took a hit. While it was drying out I switched back to the Leica and moved back a bit to drier ground.
Mark, just give me a heads up when you're headed down and I'll arrange for some fun shooting. Just make sure to bring your new zoom lens along so I can try it out 🙂
It looks like you guys had a great workshop. Unfortunately, it just wasn't in the cards for me to join you this time.
And for those who prefer landscape shots 🙂
Great stuff…all of them really well done. Hope to see more from some of the workshop participants.
Nice shot with one of my favorite models 🙂 Catchlights from a ring flash?
Marc, I did not know that Profoto made an AIR receiver unit. I see that B&H has a transceiver for Hensel units…but nothing specifically for Broncolor. I will have to look into this further but if they work like Pocket Wizards it should do the trick. Thanks for the heads-up.
I recently looked into the same issue and was told that only the Profoto Air Sync radio trigger will do the trick. Most radio triggers send a signal that needs to be coded, sent and uncoded. The Air Sync apparently sends a constant signal which is interrupted to trigger the flash. I shoot Broncolor so this isn't a viable solution for me. If I need faster than 1/500th sync speed I have to hard wire the camera to the pack. Wish it were otherwise…
