Shooting With David Cuerdon and Friends
Here’s a shot (top) taken after a location shoot set up by my buddy Dave Cuerdon this past Monday (that’s me on the left, then our wonderful model Marliese, that’s David in the middle, and our award-winning Make Up Artist and Stylist Lisa, who also happens to be Dave’s wife.
The shoot was in an old abandoned Ice Factory, and in the shot of Marliese shown directly above, I used just a single Nikon SB-800 off-camera flash on a lightstand shooting through an umbrella to diffuse the light, set to the right of my camera and positioned close to her, but about a foot or so above her head, aiming down at her (as I said during my Lighting Gear week; if I’m going to use an umbrella, I want to be shooting through it—otherwise it acts more like a light grenade). The advantage of this set-up is—it’s so darn compact and light as a feather.
The image was taken with a Nikon D3 (400 ISO, at 1/60 of a sec at f/4), using the new 24-70mm f/2.8 lens that’s matched to the full frame D3.
Anyway, just thought I’d share this one before I head to the airport for the flight to Dubai. I have no idea what my blogging schedule will be, so I’ll either post pretty shortly, or not for a day or so. See you then (whenever that is). 
And it was shot at 70mm
obviously (and i checked with the meta data 
).
But other than that … an awesome shot. Never thought an umbrella from that close would diffuse the light THAT much.
Great Make-Up as well.
I have to agree with you about Marliese being all kinds of wonderful. It really is a fantastic shot you captured of her.
Thanks for the description of your light setup. That was one of the questions I asked her when I saw the shot, lol.
All kinds of jealous about your gear and the trip to Dubai. Check out the ski slopes while you are there.
- J
What brand was that umbrella? And did you use a reflection panel on the left?
How much post processing was done to the image? I love the performance of the D3 coupled with the new 24-70mm lens. Stock is hard to get in Malaysia.
I’ve gotta a question, which has nothing to do with this post. Anyway.
I’m thinking about joining either Kelby Training or NAPP. Which one would you guys recommend more? My main interests are of course photography and photoshop.
If you can, join both. They both rock. The magazine is awesome and the online training is the best there is. Scott, at least you left us something pretty to look at if you are going to be away for awhile.
@ Ivan,
Do both (NAPP first, so you get the discount at KT).
Think of KT as a zoom lens, focused on and zoomed in on training. Then think of NAPP as that same lens, on the same tripod, zoomed out a bit. You’re still centered on training, but there are some other things on the sides that are now (but weren’t previously) in the frame.
Steve
Scott,
My last trip to Dubai they blocked a lot of site access. Can’t remember if your’s was one of them, but usually anything ending in blog is hard to connect to. Each hotel has a different policy.
Enjoy the city.
Mike
Oh… and Ivan… both, that’s an easy no-brainer.
I suppose you could get the same effect using a lastolite trigrip diffuser instead of an umbrella, right?
Am I missing something.. Who cares what the camera/lens/umbrella is.. What is her telephone number. She is beautiful, and would love to date her..
Geez….
great shot…wonderful stuff. hey would it be possible (next time) to take a wide shot of the lighting set up like you did with some of your other stuff. I always learn so much by actually “seeing” where the lights are placed and how they are diffused. just a thought. keep up the great work.
Leo, Get in line – behind me.
Now that is an amazing shot. No more excuses, bringing out the flash and either umbrella or diffuser next time.
Going to try to shoot sb800 off camera and through a huge diffuser or maybe the smaller one, holding it close to the subject. Scott, would that work?
That shot is inspiring. thanks so much. have fun in dubai.
Scott, I couldn’t help butt notice your left arm goes behind Marliese, but doesn’t seem to come out the other side. Just where, exactly, are you resting your hand??? You sly dog you.
Oh yeah, nice shot too.
Great gag on Matt on the episode of PSU TV that aired yesterday. I don’t know if it was the trick or his reaction to it … but that had me laughing for about 5 minutes strait! He tried to pull one over on you and I love how you got even!
“We can edit that out, right?”
“Nope.”
Great shot. I hope somebody gave her a sandwich afterwards though.
Hi Scott,
Have fun and don’t buy any 2 million dollar cameras while you’re away.
See ya,
Mike
Great lighting control for the left side, too. I would have expected to see you mention a reflector. Wish I could get that kind of dramatic shot with people but then again I rarely shoot people.
Scott, I really appreciate you sharing your lighting set up. I’m ready to buy studio lighting but knowing that for portability that i can just bring my SB800, a lightstand, and a shoot-through umbrella is great!!
It looks to me like there is a significant back light behind and to the right of her. Also, is the light really that diffused, or was there a reflector (or something natural acting as a reflector) to her left?
Great shot!
JD
Great shot. Did he use any strobe?
Hi Scott! I actually just talked to Marliese on DeviantArt about this shoot, yesterday. She nothing but good things to say
I really liked the final output.
Guess I can pop in and say hi… =) Scott, it was absolutely wonderful working with you. Enjoy your trip!
Hey Scott!
Just wanted to tell you how much fun we all had working with you!
Not only did we all get to take part in producing beautiful shots, we all had cramps in our sides from laughing so much through the day!
Anytime, anywhere, you want to do another shoot, Lisa and I are so there!
Safe travels my friend!
Cheers,
Dave
Thanks for shareing photo and the camera stats. What was the light output? Was it manually set or TTL?
Mike
Beautiful model and great composition!
You mentioned you used the 24-70 f/2.8, WHERE DID YOU GET IT? I have been searching for that lens for over 4 months and nobody ever has it in stock other than Amazon at ridiculous prices. If you have any “connections” with people that have it in stock that you can help me out with I am ready to buy it today
.
Thanks,
Jason
I have your book The Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers. I can not “Turn your signature into a brush” as you have outlined on page 417. After following your instructions about scanning my signature I can not go to “edit” and “define Brush preset” as it is grayed out. Any suggestions? I think you should have used a little Q.A. prior to publishing your book, as I’d list your book as just okay when it comes to being user friendly. I’ve found a few errors or very difficult instructions in it like you were not thinking things thru clearly. Luckily I got your book on 20% off….I wonder why? Dah!
What’s with the “sandwich” comment? Always someone who has to be immature.
These are fantastic shots! I just discovered your books recently — they’re incredibly helpful and I’m recommending them to everyone who’ll listen.
Thanks for all you do!
Great post Scott and just in the nick of time, I shoot part time and have a location session in a lawyer’s office coming up soon. Pictures of him and his employees for his web site. I have been experimenting in the evenings with various lighting set ups to decide on what I want to bring along. I’m going to try this setup one night this week with one of my on-staff models (wife/kids/visitors/dog) and see what happens. I really like the idea of traveling light, getting in and out, and yet getting professional results.
Paul
Hendersonville, TN