Poker Face

So, I just got my new Yongnuo speed lights in the mail and I needed to break them in.  Well, I got that chance on Sunday when I attended a weekly Redeye event.  This is the same type of even that I did the photo booth and silhouette wall.  However we wanted to do something different this time and then I saw the poker table.  Perfect, lets do it!











For this shoot I originally set up 3 speed lights.  One camera left and one camera right, then one behind the camera.  This last light behind me was unnecessary and it was also giving me some lens flare on some of the shots.  So I took the last light out and it turned out that it wasn't even necessary.  Sometimes you just don't need all the lights that you have to get the shot.



The cross lighting done on this shoot is a really great technique in my opinion.  it lights up the backs op the people on the sides of the table as well as getting to light the faces.  If you missed any of my previous blogs, I use a strobist setup.












I prefer using these speed-lights because they are ultra portable and I dont need to have a huge and heavy battery packs.  I like using them for on location shoots and yes, if you do it right you can over power the sun.  Im using Cowboystudio syncs which are very inexpensive and I have never had any major problems.  Honestly, why do you need a range of 1600 ft?  So these speed-lights are on a light stand just like a regular studio setup.

These Yongnuo 560 flashes have three modes: Manual, s1 and s2.  The "S" stands for slave mode.  When I ordered all this equipment, I also ordered two more receivers and they did not come in with the strobes.  So I was glad that I had these slave modes available.  I put the YN 560's on S1 mode.  What happens in slave mode on flashes that have TTL technology is when the flash sees a light, like from your other strobe, then it fires.  So I only needed one sync with my main light and that main light will act as the "Master" and fires the other flashes.  Very cool.

Here are the rest of the images.  I had two people throwing chips and cards in from the left and right to get these cool bits to add to the picture.  It also worked out when I had the players themselves throw the chips and cards.

There is a famous photographer from way back when that used to photograph people jumping.  He believed that human expression was pure when you capture someone jumping.  This works on the same principal with throwing the cards, you get to see real emotion.  This always helps out the picture as it keeps your photograph real instead of posed.  

This type of shoot brings up an important principal you want to use in all of your shoots.  You have to have a good relationship with your subjects.  Having fun is a great way to make the atmosphere lighten up and allows your model to gain a better sense of trust with you.  Its all about the relationship.  These guys are having fun and then its just smooth sailing from there on.

Ok, so the best shot in my opinion, also the last shot taken.  Notice that all the cards are frozen in air.  Yet I had a shutter speed of 160th of a second.  If you have been shooting for a while, you will know that when you are shooting a moving subject, you need to have a higher shutter speed.  This is another cool feature of using speed-lights.  If I took a picture without the lights, even at 160th of a second, the picture would come out black, or nearly black.  So when I have the speed-lights fire, it lights up for that real quick flash, then all that is caught on your sensor or film is what was lit up.  So you dont need to worry about movement in these situations.