LIGHTING TECHNIQUES IN PHOTOGRAPHY

¡Euforia!

Euforia is a musical talent competition that aims to find the best new singer in Catalonia, Spain. It was first broadcast on March 3, 2022, on TV3, with an initial planned participation of 15 singers in the first season, which eventually became 16 in the second and third seasons.

I had the privilege of doing the photo campaigns for the contestants, presenters, coaches, and judges for all three seasons. As the result is very “euphoric” each year, I decided to make a post about this “shooting”.

The idea behind the photos was for them to express euphoria, but the boys and girls participating have no acting experience, which could be a problem. I remembered the fantastic series “Jumpology” by Philippe Halsmann and suggested to the television channel that we have the kids jump on a trampoline. HalsmannHalsmann believed that the act of jumping caused the subject to lose their inhibitions, as they had to focus solely on the jump.

I set up a shoot with the trampoline and a white background placed a bit away from the trampoline. The resulting photos were going to be used against a fictional background, and the white backdrop would help to cut out the models’ silhouettes. As the background colors would be varied and striking, the contrast with the white backdrop would facilitate editing and give a more impactful effect to the final images.

between magenta and deep blue, I set up two “effect” lights to outline the contestants’ bodies with gelatins of these colors.

As main light I used a Godox UB 105 S umbrella on a Godox AD600 Pro flash, also from Godox. The umbrella is just over 1 mt. in diameter so it covers a wide area of illumination and although it is somewhat contrasted, having a front diffuser, the light is softened, while remaining wide.

Godox AD 600 Pro

Regarding the AD 600 Pro flash, it recycles its maximum power The light can be used in less than one second, has color stability throughout the entire power range and has a powerful 38W LED modeling light. It is the first flash with 600w battery that is able to reduce the recharge time to less than one second thanks to its 28.8V and 2600 mAh battery. And it is capable of firing 360 shots at full power!

The benefits do not end there. The front of the AD600 Pro has a large metal heat sink so that the LED and its internal integrated circuit can always deliver high performance, without overheating. It has an internal radio receiver compatible with Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus-Panasonic and Fuji. And it can operate in TTL auto, Manual Mode and has 1st, 2nd sync. In HSS the flash duration can be up to 1/8000 of a second!

Something that I also really like, compared to other brands, is that it has a removable cap that is placed on the front protecting the pyrex tube and the flash lamp. In this situation it directs the light by restricting the light beam caused by the flash lamp. But what I like is the possibility of being able to remove it because when I use light boxes, I prefer the flash lamp to be more open and thus spread the light more evenly inside the box.

Another interesting point is the possibility of using the flash as a battery and attaching a separate torch to the flash, which makes it much lighter in weight. This is ideal in outdoor sessions, where the diversity of situations makes it more practical to hold the flash in hand with a boom that can be carried by our assistant.

Finally, I love the possibility of replacing the battery with a mains power supply, so the versatility of this flash is amazing.

It has been a very fun and surprising job, as we could not control the gestures and the results have been fantastic thanks to the willingness of the contestants, presenters and technical support team.

Lighthing scheme 1

Lighthing scheme 1

All rights reserved. © Marcelo Isarrualde
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written consent of the author.

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