You can use the hard light of speedlights to underline action in glamour photos

After seeing the Pretty Flash Kit post here on SmokingStrobes, some of our cousins have asked me various questions regarding the use of hard light. Well, let me give myself a little caveat: hard light is most of the time NOT what you want to have in beauty photography.

minimalist lighting using a door as DIY softbox

Are you one of the photographers who love the soft and charming light that a large softbox throws onto a model? I absolutely am. And I forked out quite some money in order to get me some of these. But then again I found, that I hardly ever use them because most of my photo shoots happen on location. Call me lazy, but I shy away from the hassle to carry softboxes with me and set them up on location.

It’s Thursday again so I’d like to share with you a little treasure that I discovered this week. If you are using Speedlights then you wil want to know how to use them 100% reliable.  And I found a little eBook that masterfully answeres exactly that need. As good as this is for you, for me that’s a tradgedy,

Sasha and Linxi posing for bodyscapes, lightened with speedlights. We wrapped the Chinese models in christmassy, kitchy red giftwrap. That caters for a strong contrast in many respects and a sort of crossover between the eastern and the western culture.

If I got the chance to shoot some awesome bodyscapes but I don’t have a striplight with me – should I let this chance just pass? Dude, no way!

When I was young, I’ve seen MacGyver on TV. Give that dude a ballpoint pen and a chewing gum and he will manufactor the wildest things out of it. A bomb, a laser or whatever he needs on his quest. So in situtation where I need a striplight but I just don’t have one I will ask myself: What would MacGyver do?