Photographing BB-8

Just a bit of fun seeing what the potential was with some of the more photogenic kids toys from Christmas ...(Since I didn't get any for me!)

Little BB-8 from Star Wars was a good candidate, along with a couple of castle & Knight characters

K7, DFA 28-105, 2x Cactus RF60, Pentax AF-540FGZII, Cactus V6II Tx
ISO100, F9.5, 1/180th




















For those curious, (and you definately SHOULD try this at home folks!), I took some to show the set up ... trying to make use of a single high bookshelf to give the low perspective, and the patch of grey wallpaper behind. I used one flash with a "powersnoot" to light the wall with blue gels, a main flash in softbox and a fill light on umbrella .... you can see my beautiful studio













Because the Pentax flash with the snoot was facing the main softbox light, I didn't bother using a radio receiver with it, but just used the Slave 2 mode, which is very reliable.Working so close the direct manualpower adjustments were not a problem. But the Radio control over the highly placed softbox and umberella flashes was very convenient.

A big thumbs up from me, on this one.

Me too.
Excellent setup and great to see the bts as well.
You done really well to control the reflections off bb8
Nicely done, as ever

Thanks Stuart and Derek. I can see this becoming a sort of a 'thing' ..... There's no shortage of suitable subject matter in this house!!

I like the first Knight pic. Looks a bit like John Riley.

Maybe it does Peter, and certainly an apt representation don't you think .... you know, standing guard, ever watchful, ready to react to any spamming attack or to defend the forum terms and conditions!

Great thread Nigel, your information and tuition on the use of flash are fantastic and I think are much appreciated on here by a lot of people.

Regarding the images, they are great, the only comment I would make on possible improvement is the distance of the subject from the back-lit wall. Because the wall is not quite blurred out (especially on the 3rd and 4th images), you can see the square pattern in the wall covering.

Nevertheless, I think you were illustrating the use of flash for good lighting effects rather than trying to take perfect images and you have succeeded in spades.

Regards
David

You do have this flash and lighting thing pretty sussed Nigel. Thanks for sharing.

You're welcome Andy, thanks! David, I'm glad you saw the thread, and yes the main point is to encourage and show some possibilities in a simple setting, an alternative to the usual portraits we associate with flash photography.

I enjoyed viewing these, Nigel - but quite a bit different to a model shoot at the local photo club.

Cheers.
Philip

Nice behind the scene shots and the finished article is lit lovely

Thanks Philip, I would rather like to do model shoots, but I can't get out to a camera club and the consequences should I bring any models into the house don't bear thinking about!

Thanks also Gareth, I'm glad you saw the shots