My buddy Tommy "The Talent" Metthe was gracious enough to pose as my model for a lighting demo I gave at the Southern Short Course in News Photography a few weeks ago in Charlotte, NC.
I tried to keep everything simple, from the lighting setups to the equipment I used. As a travel photographer for Journal Communications, I have to pack very light. For my lighting kit, I carry three strobes, two light stands, a couple of umbrellas, a modified ttl cord, some gels, a couple of David Honl grids and snoots, a couple of small ballheads with hotshoe adapters, a couple of umbrella adapters, three omnibounces and four pocket wizards. The umbrellas, lightstands and umbrella adapters fit snugly into a small tripod bag.
Here's a little "Monster Light" on "The Talent" in the elevator. I used a snooted strobe positioned low under Tommy's chin to light his face. I had him lean in just a little to get the light just hitting his face and not falling on his shirt. I also positioned a light behind him to light up the back of the elevator.
The hotel has some really cool high-backed chairs. I used one snooted strobe overhead to light "The Talent" and a strobe behind the chair to light the wall.
Here, I lit "The Talent" with an umbrella and placed a strobe behind him with an omnibounce to light the area behind him, just slightly overpowering the ambient light.
Again, we went back to the high-backed chairs and used a snooted light on "The Talent's" face and a zoomed-in strobe with a red gel to hit him from the side.
