Funny thing on Kauai, the golden light for photography fades very very fast in the evening. In this case, I had about 10 minutes to get set up and get Paul and Coogan in place. Once in place and a short discussion about angles and where to look, I had less than 15 minutes to do this shoot before the sun went from horrible to perfect to totally lost. It still amazes me just how fast the light falls. I placed Coogan in about 4 inches of water in a small bed of sand with the SUN directly to her back creating a nice rim light on her hair. To her right (camera left), off about 30 degrees was a Nikon SB900 (in swimming mode) in a Lastolite 24″ EZ Hotshoe Soft Box on a light stand. The stand was pushed hard into the sand to avoid accidental activation of the swimming mode on the SB900. SB900 was used remotely and set from +1.3 EV to +3 EV and uniform coverage with no diffuser. SB900 was controlled from the CLS manager within the Nikon D300. D300 with 70-200 or 17-55 was used for all images. D300 was set to -0.3 to -0.7 EV to increase the background saturation. For those images with both Paul and Coogan, an additional 30″ reflector was used mid to high camera right alternating between the sliver and gold sides. The reflector allows a small amount of fill light to be bounced back onto Paul or the side of Coogan depending upon its position. Throughout this shoot, my goal was to use the light shaping tools to create some dramatic shots that they could use for their anniversary celebration. All processing was done in lightroom, what little there was.
Here is a general shot of the beach area with Paul and Coogan kicking around while I started putting things together.
This shot is using only direct sunlight and was done for the sole purposes of demonstrating what unfiltered and unmanaged sunlight will provide. In this particular shot, I have them facing directly into the sun. The harshness is mitigated only be the warmth of the evening light.
OK, now on with the light show using the light shaping tools previously mentioned. BTW, I also had a SB800 at the ready just in case I needed additional fill light. Enjoy
Nikon D300, 17-55mm @55, 1/400 sec, f9.0
Nikon D300, 17-55mm @55, 1/250 sec, f9
Nikon D300, 17-55mm @ 38mm, 1/200 sec f9
I’ll post additional images in a couple of days. Meanwhile, enjoy and happy photo’ing
Randy
Thanks for stopping by Samm, Christy, and Shaun. Christy: We will get to the cheese and wine event as soon as I finish my photos from Namibia as a contributing photographer for a book that is being published in support of the travel.
Randy!! I had no idea you were a photographer! And a safari bwana? We really must catch up! These are fantastic. Coogs–you’re beautiful! I miss you! It’s been ages. These remind me of our spontaneous trip to Hawaii. Fun times. I’ll most definitely be a regular reader of this blog, Randy. Just ask Christy–I’m a stalker.
Fantastic photos!! I went to school with Coogan and had to see your work. It’s amazing what natural light can do.
YEAHHH! i love these randy! coog and paul look amazing! absolutely priceless captures. when are we going to have our wine and photography extravaganza? great work! can’t wait to see more!