Industrial Photo Shoot: Final Image & Self-Assessment

ISO 400, 28mm, f/5.0, 1/125sec

ISO 400, 105mm, f/4.0, 1/40sec

This past Wednesday, November 28th, I had the pleasure of meeting and photographing Jeffrey Samson, one of Dawson's Mech Tech graduating students. I worked using two softboxes: one, on the left, lighting the machine; and a second strip softbox on the right, lighting my subject. 

Overall, the photo shoot went quite smoothly. No major challenges, just minor adjustments like eliminating hot spots and flare as well as distracting background elements, such as power cords, boxes, people, other classmates' lighting equipment, a big brown rust spot on the ground, etc. As usual, I had to experiment a little to find a good pose and angle, but this was one of those shoots where I could have kept shooting a long time before running dry.   

What worked well for me on this assignment? 
I was fortunate to have a great subject, and I was well-prepared. I actually found that the physical constraints of the space helped me to focus and structure the shoot effectively. 

What would I change in my preparation if I had the opportunity to go back and do it again? 
I would have checked that the battery of the camera I borrowed from the equipment room was completely charged. After testing my lights, I would have lowered the ISO to eliminate some noise, especially since I had the wiggle room. 

Corporate Industrial Session: Lighting Diagram & Pre-Production Notes

Here are my lighting diagram and pre-production notes for an indoor photo session taking place this Wednesday, December 28th at Dawson's Mech Tech Department. The objective of this assignment is to execute a full-length portrait of an machinery operator in his workspace to be used on a company website or the like. My subject for this assignment is a graduating student from the program. 

Pre-Production Notes:

• What type of available light will I be encountering? What is my intention in terms of how I plan to use the available light? I will be shooting indoors under fluorescent lighting.
• What is the reason for my lens choice? I will be using a wide angle lens in order to capture the subject full-length, as well as some of the background elements. 
• What aperture do I plan to use and why? Explain! I will use a wide aperture to maximize the amount of light coming in the camera.
• What shutter speed do I plan to use and why? Explain! As slow as I can without getting blur (probably approx. 1/60sec).
• Do I have enough available light to achieve these camera settings? Yes.
• Do I have enough strobe to achieve these settings? Yes, in fact, I may have to be careful that my strobes are not too strong. 
• Are there any technical problems that will need to be addressed at the shoot or in post-production? I will definitely need to address and control the color of the fluorescent lights by using green gel filters.   
• What equipment will I need for the shoot?

• camera + lens
• tripod
• light meter
• external drive
• radio slave
• synch cord for tethered shooting
• laptop
• 2 flash heads
• extension cords
• 2 softboxes
• 1 reflector
• 2 stands
• grey card
• green gel filters
• neutral density filters
• sandbags