Six Days of Speedlite Tips: Day 4

© Rick Sammon

It's Day 4 of my Six Days of Speedlite Shooting tips.

Today's tip: Create Dramatic and Colorful Silhouettes.

Concept: Set up a speedlite behind the subject and out of the camera's view. Use a grid on the speedlite to concentrate the light, and use a colored gel to change the color of the background. 

I took the images for this post at Photo Plus Expo in the Canon booth. See! You don't need a fancy studio to get cool shots.

Gear

Canon 5D Mark II

Canon 24-105mm IS Lens

Westcott Apollo Softbox

Canon STE-2 

Honl Reda and Blue Gels

Honl Grid

For more detailed lighting tips, see my apps.

For hand-on learning, check out my workshops. We have a blast. Below are two images from my Master Your Flash workshop in Croton on Hudson, NY.

Bonus tip: When you think you need two lights, use one light. Above: one of my workshop participants is holding a reflector to bounce the light from the softbox onto the shadow side of the model's face.

Explore the light,

Rick

P.S. Here is a link to a post on Plug-ins for Portraits. Check it out.