Flash on a Pole (to light-paint a house)

I am a fan of the Mike Kelley style of architectural photography and have finally decided to try it out. Mike has a number of YouTube videos. He basically sets his camera on a tripod tethered to his laptop and shoots a number of images during the 'Golden Hour' of the overall scene. He then takes his 'Flash on a Pole' and shots the architectural details with it by walking around with the pole and a trigger in his hand. He triggers the camera from whatever his location and the camera triggers the flash. He uses TT5s and a TT1. He then merges all the images in Photoshop with extensive masking. I wanted to share what I am doing so this first section is the basic flash hardware setup.

I am currently planning on doing a shoot of my own house exterior tonight. I need to learn how much flash to use. It may take several tests. I will also be testing a 1/2 CTO gel to warm the flash to be more consistent with the overall lighting ... I have a little kit for that which I'll post on here when I get to it.

But for now. the basic stuff:

#1 This is the beauty dish I want to try ... I don't think Mike uses a modifier so I may also try just the straight flash. I bought it at Samy's but it has not identification that I can see and I have forgotten the manufacturer.

Here is the camera setup:

Looking forward to seeing your results, Dwight. Maybe you can work Team Dazzle into the shots.

Might that little BD be the RPS Studio RS-3700?

Dave F.

tetrode wrote in post #13615562
Looking forward to seeing your results, Dwight. Maybe you can work Team Dazzle into the shots.

Might that little BD be the RPS Studio RS-3700?

Dave F.

I would love to work Team Dazzle into the shots but it is way unlikely! LOL. [It's only a 1% chance at the moment, but I am hoping to establish a relationship with a local gym with a lot of space where I can shoot in return for providing publicity images. If that works out, I will try to setup a "Workout with the Team" shoot ... but it could take a year to get there, if at all.]

The BD could be anything!

At the moment, I'll be happy just to get a few BTS images showing the setup in use.

Interested to see how this turns out, you have an interesting set up here.

Dwight

Good post.

I'm curious about your endeavor. Is that AC7 working well?

windpig wrote in post #13615930
Dwight

Good post.

I'm curious about your endeavor. Is that AC7 working well?

Thank you. I don't know about the AC7 in this application. I've used them at the casino at about 70' feet. I think this first experiment will be about the same. But since it will be outside and since I'll immediate feedback if it is firing I may just walk up the block and see what soft of distance I get. Again, I'll get BTS pictures as I go along.

looking forward to seeing the results.. thanks for making me aware of this technique!

So I did my first quick test ... and did I learn a lot! First, my fancy gaming/video laptop only lasts about an hour, which really reduced the ability to learn ... I just took some flash shots at 1/4 power and hoped for the best. Next time I will wait until much closer to sundown and bring a portable power pack to extend the life of the battery. I also learned that it is hard to see the screen outdoors so I need to make a shade for it. Anyway, here's the BTS of the setup:

Looking forward to the next steps, thanks for sharing.

FWIW: I'd change the light bulbs and move the hose too. Center that flower pot on the 2nd floor. I wonder if you might get a better silhouette by shooting from further to your right, to cover the house behind. This would also help with the slight obscuring of the window by the front door, and highlight the landscaping on that end of the house vs. the boring garage doors and driveway. To your right is also downhill, so you'll probably have to raise the tripod to stay above the entry sidewalk. Just a thought -- you might see what it looks like from over there.

waterrockets wrote in post #13619729
Looking forward to the next steps, thanks for sharing.

FWIW: I'd change the light bulbs and move the hose too. Center that flower pot on the 2nd floor. I wonder if you might get a better silhouette by shooting from further to your right, to cover the house behind. This would also help with the slight obscuring of the window by the front door, and highlight the landscaping on that end of the house vs. the boring garage doors and driveway. To your right is also downhill, so you'll probably have to raise the tripod to stay above the entry sidewalk. Just a thought -- you might see what it looks like from over there.

WONDERFUL suggestions that I will implement ... but at the moment I just trying to get the lighting technique!

Seems like a good first effort I'm missing why the laptop is so important ? Are you trying to compose/mask these in real time? I think you already mentioned the next steps of progression.. wait till it's darker, you're still fighting the sun too muchj Turn lights on inside or flash inside. Craziest part is how when you use the light on a stick you can suddenly see the car in the garage!

jro wrote in post #13621227
Seems like a good first effort I'm missing why the laptop is so important ? Are you trying to compose/mask these in real time? I think you already mentioned the next steps of progression.. wait till it's darker, you're still fighting the sun too muchj Turn lights on inside or flash inside. Craziest part is how when you use the light on a stick you can suddenly see the car in the garage!

Yes, yes! The laptop is important because I don't know how much flash to use. Yes, I need to wait for darker to use flash but want to capture some Golden Hour house shots, too.

I figured this would be a steep learning curve ... particularly since I've not been a big location shooter. But I have time, plenty of time to work it out. Although at this point it will likely wait until after the new year as I have paying commitments and my day job for two more months.

Did you look at the video on his blog site?
He uses the tethered MacBook Pro to confirm lighting as he goes along. It looks like the flash is manual which it seems would be required for this kind of "painting".
Also, he says that a single shoot will be 90 minutes to 2 hours and as many as 300 images.

Back in the film days, when I had to shoot a building I would read the light in the building with a meter, then start the shoot when the light outside was the same with an incident meter. Then do additional shots as it got darker.

The light painting with the speedlite is an added benefit.

Einstein or other monolight would probably work as well not sure if its necessary for power maybe coverage though.

Slightly off topic, but instead of the Mr. LongArm, have you considered going something like this?

http://www.amazon.com …7&creativeASIN=​B00192AAC6

I saw it here, and am building mine now. The only thing is, I only say the small one at Home Depot.
http://pixsylated.com …05/longarm-and-metalhead/