Convergence of video and photography: Stop Motion with Strobes.

It's not What You Think from Fabio Governato on Vimeo.

What kind of videos should a photographer make? I feel that where I can have a distinct voice is in product and beauty shots were controlled slow motion allows the viewer a more immersive experience of the product or the look that is being showcased. This is the kind of motion equivalent to holding something in your hand or to the small movements that we have during a normal conversation with another person. These videos should be able to convey a mood, without having to tell a whole story. I envision them to be short, maybe one minute or so...like umm, commercials...but prettier.


So this week I finally finished the test project of what I hope will be the first of a series. I had recently finished a shoot that involved a set of blue glass bottles and I wanted to add a bit of motion to it, so I reproduced the set up. The camera is set on a motorized dolly and it is shooting at 8 frames per second. I am using Alien Bees strobes and some software to control the small amount of flicker in post (Profoto Pro8 next time? Einstein Alien Bees?) . The images are cropped and graded in Lightroom and the video was composed together with Final Cut Pro at 24fps. There is some trickery here and there that I will detail more in future posts. I am interested in this approach instead of shooting directly in video as I can have more control (and light output) with the strobes instead of using tungsten or HMI continous ones and better quality for the individual frames. The motion came out really smooth, so run it a couple of times if it plays jerky at first..

And.. I went to see Jonsi (of icelandic band Sigur Ros). It was a great concert and inspired me with the soundtrack.

On the road again.

Last week I got to shoot the Team Group Health Cycling Team. It's one of the largest "women only" cycling teams in the Pacific North West. They where practicing racing techniques on a closed course. Not for the faint hearted..but it was a fun opportunity to shoot a fast paced
sport event. I went for a "hard lights" look,that is often used on the cover of cycling magazines. I asked my trusted friends David and Judd for help. We took to the road an Elinchrom Ranger pack with a Ranger head and two Alien Bees B800 and set up camp on a straight stretch of warm asphalt.

To overcome the bright sunlight (the metadata says 1120AM) The Ranger is firing at 3/4 power to camera left, one B800 is to camera right (max power!) and another one is right behind camera and about 7 feet high, firing into a Softliter II (again at max power, no diffuser panel). The lights are converging to the spot where the leading cyclist is and the cyclists just a few feet behind are mostly illuminated by ambient light. As the Alien Bees had some trouble keeping up with the ambient light I had to push the shutter speed to ....1/500th of second (ISO 100, f9.0, 24 mm) to darken the sky. Coupled with my trusted Canon 7D the Alien Bees wireless triggers worked great and the loss of flashs light in the lower part of the frame is not visible (in the studio, where the flash 'd be the only light source you can sync up to 1/200th before banding becomes annoying). If I'd do it again I would bring the Alien Bees High Output reflector and get another stop of light from the Bees, but we managed.


In fact, I am quite happy with the final result, it captures the energy of the day! Plus the backstage reminds me..of Doctor Who for some reason...mmm maybe Judd's green sunglasses?

Strobes tests: Alien Bees against Elinchrom. Lumopro against Canon 580x II.

Today I happen to have handy a bunch of different flashes I always wanted to compare. Yes. Which one is more powerful, and by how much? The best way to show this is to use a light meter, put it at ten feet from the flash set at full power and measure what people call the "Guide Number". Basically the required aperture to illuminate a subject as medium gray. This is a useful number for undiffused strobes as for them it turns that:

Guide Number = aperture x distance = constant.

So if we measured f4 at 10 feet, the guide number GN is 40, which means that at 5 feet we will achieve the same exposure at f8 (closer, brighter, and so we can use a narrower aperture).
The higher the GN, the more powerful the flash. This of course at the same ISO.

So here are the numbers, I used ISO100 in all cases. Packs and flashes were all at full power.

Elinchrom Ranger S head with standard reflector + "A" Ranger RX pack. GN 250 $2100
Elinchrom Ranger Ring Flash + "A" Ranger RX GN 220 $1500+$1700
Alien Bees B800 +standard reflector GN 130 $280
Alien Bees B400 + standard reflector GN 90 $225
Canon 580ex II (zoom 80/28mm) GN 130/90 $440
QFlash+standard cone GN 110 $1080
Lumopro GN zoom 85/28mm GN 90/71 $120
Canon 580x II + Coco Ring Flash GN 35 $440+$80

Btw, I have found another test here on Flickr. Results are similar.

So what have I learned?


1) more expensive flashes have more power and the area where they are able to light uniformly is *much* larger (and rounder!) than with the cheaper speedlites (see the image). But greater power comes with a price (and greater responsibilities, but that is another story).
2) The Canon 580x II is good! More powerful than the LumoPro and the QFlash, but *only* if you use the zoom feature. Read the manual..or pay $300 extra bucks compared to the LumoPro, which is a lot easier to use (see and extended review)...mmm.
3) The Canon+ the Coco Ring flash performs well, but the output is not that great, unless you are in studio. The zoom factor makes no difference with the Coco attached.
4) The QFlash is weak sauce for the price $1080 (head+pack)
4) The Speedlites are a tad cooler than the Elinchroms.
5) The Ranger pack has two outputs: A and B. A is 1+2/3 stops brighter.
6) the ABees Long throw reflector increases output by 1 stop! (from the Flickr Strobist group test)

Softlighter II portraits.

Judson and I were asked to give a quick demonstration of the Softliter II (the one Annie Leibovitz uses) for portraits. This set up used a Softliter sl-5000 (the mid sized one) and a profoto head for the top portraits (Hey Paige!) , and a Canon 580x II for the bottom one (Mister Plax Photo trying to get the perfect Rembrandt...). Strobe was high on camera left and bounced on a white board to camera right. We used a 5D Mark II with 24-70 f2.8 USM Canon lens. You can see the Softliter reflected on the window...

Heavy Metal Shoes. Shiny Background. First test with the Canon 7D

I needed a second image of the patent black boots I photographed some weeks ago, so I went for a different, more metallic style. This time I shoot from above (camera was rigged on a boom). Lights: Diffused top flood, two strip lights very (very) low on the table to give edge to the shoes. And a small softbox from below. The difference? I used a metallic, sheer textile over a plexiglass as the surface on which the shoes lay down. The image on the left uses a similar set up, but adds a blue/yellow color palette and the top light is harder.
Small trick: I used a few small plexiglass cubes to angle the shoes the way I wanted. I used photoshop layers to increase the contrast on the background and usual details clean up.
Shot at ISO 100, f11, 1/125th. 35mm, with a Canon 7D.

Updated Photo website.

Check it out at www.fabiogovernato.com

It's a bird! It's chocolate? ... It's books!

My art director (Hi Chelsey!) likes to pick up the camera and needed a cool image of books for a conceptual poster (I think this is how designers 'd call it). So we fussed together with the lighting scheme for a bit, which turned out to be two large softboxes on top of the books and with a little space in between to place the camera, looking down on the table. There you go. Artsy. Shot with a Canon G10, which I really like for those quick.and.dirty.yet.professional jobs.

Check Chelsey Scheffe awesome work here.