Rain and Flash

[Pichead]

It rained tonight, here in Missouri and I wanted to somehow take advantage. I wanted to try an umbrella/flash shot which I'd previously seen but wanted to add something to it and the rain gave me an opportunity to do so...

I first asked my wife to 'stand in' while I set my focus. Once she was in the right spot, I focused on her face, then switched the camera to Manual Focus Mode to lock in that focus point. From then on, all I had to do was press the shutter and as long as I stood on my mark, the focus was correct.

I tied my Nikon SB-600 to the inside of my umbrella (with black cover on) and positioned my D700 on a tripod just inside my house, facing out. I set the shutter speed to 2 seconds to blur the rain and make it more impactful and dialed my aperture to f/8 to increase the sharpness depth of field. I played around with the flash settings but eventually had it set on TTL with a +1.0 EV.

I stood in the rain and the extended exposure, coupled with the freezing action of the flash, produced an image with some rain blur but with the subject (me) sharp.

I grabbed a book off the shelf and some glasses from Halloween to add something unusual - and to ensure that my wife called me a 'big dork' as she so often does when I'm experimenting...

[Jamie Hickey]

Great shot Ryan and very creative. My wife says the same thing to me when i start doing different things in my office/studio. Like this shot alot. TFS

[Pichead]

Originally Posted by Jamie Hickey

Great shot Ryan and very creative. My wife says the same thing to me when i start doing different things in my office/studio. Like this shot alot. TFS

Thanks. She makes fun of me while I'm doing it, but loves the photos. It's the price we pay...

[Jamie Hickey]

Originally Posted by Pichead

Thanks. She makes fun of me while I'm doing it, but loves the photos. It's the price we pay...

That is the same here bro. Just saw the shot with the cigarette, That was pretty cool as well. I remember when I got my studio lights and started grabbing all sorts of stuff from around the house, including the frig, to shoot. She that I had gone crazy. What comes out of it is what matters. Later man!

[Digidave]

We should all be so dorky. A job well done for certain.

[Neil UK]

Ryan this is a fantastic shot, very inspirational infact!!

[wulf]

The only downside of this shot is that it appears that the rain is falling from inside the umbrella. It might have been best to have another light picking up the raindrops near the top. However, that said it is still an excellent and striking result (and perhaps the rain from inside the umbrella effect was intentional or could benefit from being made more distinct?).

Wulf

[Pichead]

Originally Posted by wulf

The only downside of this shot is that it appears that the rain is falling from inside the umbrella. It might have been best to have another light picking up the raindrops near the top. However, that said it is still an excellent and striking result (and perhaps the rain from inside the umbrella effect was intentional or could benefit from being made more distinct?).

Wulf

As much as I'd like to say that the rain 'inside' the umbrella was some play on life and that the book by Nietzsche I'm reading enhances that...I can't. I probably should have thrown another light to pick up all the rain, but there were two issues. First, I had things all around me that would have also (most likely) been revealed, along with the rain, detracting from the 'middle of nowhere' feel I was going for. And...I didn't think about it...

Thanks.

[MrBeta]

I love the shot. Very interesting. I especially like the glasses and the book. How did you mount the flash? Did you tie it in a fashion where it was firing upwards?

[Pichead]

Originally Posted by MrBeta

I love the shot. Very interesting. I especially like the glasses and the book. How did you mount the flash? Did you tie it in a fashion where it was firing upwards?

Thanks. The flash just sat nicely in the webbing of the umbrella. I faced the sensor downward to pick up the D700's pulse and faced the flash up into the umbrella...