Karl Leopold at ImagesForever.net used the lighting setup described here to create this award winning shot
If you’ve ever seen a wedding photographer with a single flash mounted on the hot shoe of the camera, you can guess that lighting arrangement isn’t going to give them much latitude or a lot of creativity, regardless of how good the camera and flash combination may be. In some situations there is no alternative but to spend the money to do it right.
To get an idea how the pros do it, I took a trip to Melbourne Beach, Florida to visit one of the top wedding photographers in the state to see how he manages his lighting. Karl Leopold at ImagesForever.net has been shooting wedding longer than many photographers in the field today have been alive. He’s got a gallery to envy and has won more awards than I can count, besides being the president of the Atlantic Professional Photographers Association. That’s the guy you want shooting your wedding if you’re getting married in Florida, and the guy I wanted to see for an article on portable lighting.
Karl builds his portable lighting kit around two Canon 580 EX ii Speedlites, pairing those with a PocketWizard FlexTT5 for Canon. The trigger on the camera is combination of the MiniTT1 matched up with an AC3 Zone Controller for changing the power settings on any of the flash units on the fly wirelessly.
How it all comes together with PocketWizard wireless e-TTL system
The combination of the MiniTT1 and AC3 Zone Controller allows Karl to have a remote fill light, or second flash for really large groups, and change the power settings on the fly from the top of the camera. I watched Karl run through a three stop series, barely pausing between shots.
This kind of wireless e-TTL system gives Karl the ability to have an assistant with the fill flash on a monopod moving around the subject to achieve different effects, or, if he’s working alone, to put the remote flash on a light stand instead. Because the whole system is wireless instead of depending on a slave to fire off the key light, if he needs to move the main flash away from the camera, that can easily be accomplished. The key light on the camera bracket is just as mobile as the remote, providing for maximum flexibility.
It also gives Karl the freedom to light creatively. The wireless system works around corners and behind foreground objects, so he can use his remote flash to provide lighting of distant background objects, or even behind the subject to provide highlights and a halo effect.
Yes, this kind of setup is really expensive but, if you want to shoot weddings for a living, that’s the kind of lighting system you should be building a little at a time as you can afford it.
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That’s a really stunning photo and something I strive to be able to do one day. Thanks a lot for posting the info as this will give me something to play around with. My problem is my triggers don’t allow ETTL so will have to set things by hand.
Loving the whole blog by the way, already spent too much of this morning (UK time) looking and reading…. won’t tell the wife!