What do photography enthusiasts do early in the morning on one of their free Sundays? They meet in a loveless place in the Hafencity, chat and try things out...
Last Sunday I met with Bjorn, To and Josh met, we threw together our experience and equipment (pictured above) and played a little with light. For example, I've never had a Sun-Swatter from Sunbounce in my hand and Josh - who came especially from Bremen - had kindly brought his with him. A Sunswatter You can see it in use in many making of professional fashion shoots when the sun beats down mercilessly from above. Because of the Sunswatter you suddenly find yourself in the shadows. Depending on the density of the Sunswatter fabric, you will lose one or two panels. We had a loss of a stop. That doesn't sound dramatic, but it's enough to keep your eyes open even when the sun is shining. Of course you know what it's like when the sun is shining and you can only take pictures with sunglasses or the person you're talking to is squinting their eyes. Good pictures in good weather can only be achieved with good equipment...
However, the sun swatter also ensures that the face appears completely contourless. It's actually logical, because any contrasts caused by the harsh sunlight are balanced out by the sunswatter.
My job was then to take a photo of Josh's new Facebook profile picture. And for about a day, Josh also used my picture as his profile picture...
To do this, I placed Josh in front of a neutral background that could still show a little bit of bokeh. I chose the construction fence that stands around the Elphie.
In order to give some contour to the face, I asked Till to hold the Sun-Swatter so that some sunlight falls on the hair and shoulders. I positioned Björn to the side behind Josh with a zebra reflector to cast the sun onto the left side of Josh's face. Because of Josh's posture, his right arm and the left side of his body also received some of the reflected sun, thus modeling his arm and face. In addition, the image result does not appear as aseptic and clean due to these small, deliberately installed errors. I like that and I thought it would suit Josh too. After all, we don’t take photos in an operating room.
I helped transform the ugly construction fence my little 200 When the aperture is open it creates a beautiful bokeh. You can enlarge the result by clicking on it. Further data about the image: photographed with Nikon D800e with 1/1250s at aperture f/2 and 200mm, and ISO 100, RAW development with Capture One and final image look with the brand new one FilmPack4 from DxO (now in version 6) (it's currently €30 cheaper).
Conclusion: with the Sun-Swatter from Sunbounce you are no longer dependent on existing shade and therefore have more flexibility when choosing a location. However, working with the Sunswatter is not possible without a helping hand.
PS: By the way, Josh took a nice picture of me – he points to Phasebook, I write like this because it was photographed with a Phase One...
... but that you always fall to your knees in front of MF, tz tz tz 😉
Swatter: if you don't want to spend a whopping three figures just to try it out, the cheap parts that the market has available in 150x110 in the notorious 5in1 might be enough. It also takes up around one aperture.
However, helpers are also required. As is well known, the prices also vary, héhé 😉
(It was anything but sunny here yesterday, so I had the umbrellas with 6000 Ws each...)
Grin greetings from the most beautiful city in the world west of the Elbe 🙂
Yesterday ? Sunday. Somehow I'm missing a day... 😛
Yes, of course I have used the cheap parts and even used them before 🙂 It works too, but rarely good when the sun comes from above. The solution with the swatter on the boom is really convenient.
... the mouse doesn't bite through any cables. It starts with internal stability...
A few hundred euros for a piece of linen fabric with an aluminum pole. And the helper isn't even included.
Some of your articles always make me shake my ears in disbelief, but you already know that. :O)
Yes, I know: a lot of money. However, these things last forever. And work. That can be worth a few euros :)
Small correction,
The Sunswatter is available in 1/3 to 3/3, so you lose a maximum of one aperture with the thing.
Thanks for your correction. I know the name of the Sun-Swatter, but I've never believed them. Maybe I should have just measured it on Sunday...