Chris McLennan

Visit Chris’s blog site for his latest shots using RadioPopper and Honl products.

GRIDS

Grids for many years have been placed in front of light sources, even soft boxes, to make the light more directional. A grid will soften the light towards the edges. Can be ideal for portraits, even hair light.

When a grid is fastened to the front of a strobe (speedlight), leave a small gap between the surface of the grid and the lens of the speedlight, to prevent overheating. The Honl grid will fasten to a speedstrap.

The following 2 images show you the fall-off you get with a grid compared to a snoot.

snoot image

Snoot Image

grid image

Grid image

SHOOTING FOOD

You want to shoot a dish your wife cooked. It is as good as anything from a master chef. How do you do it?

Step 1:  place a white (or other color) sheet of cloth or paper on the kitchen bench, preferably where the background is open.

Step 2. place a white background, perhaps hang a white sheet or muslin, or paper as background a meter or so away.

Step 3. place a speedlight set to wide, low between the bench and the background, and cover it with a color filter of choice.

Step 4. place the dish in position and hang a shoot-through brollie or softbox over the dish and slightly to one side.

Step 5. fire away and adjust strobe power from your dslr command center or pocket wizard (if you have the extra cash).