Hey, people! I really really need some help on this.
I'm a photography student and I would like to create a similar lighting environment to the YSL campaign as a learncase (http://www.showstudio.com/campaigns/ysl/portfolio).
So what I know is that it's clearly a pretty high ISO (i'd say 100) shot digital, on a tripod, long exposure for the city lights and a hard light on the model. Only thing I was wondering, what type of light. I still can't figure out if a standard hot-shoe flash unit (apox 80watts) would be strong enough for that effect or if they used 400Watts systems like Normans or a Qflash or even mobile 1600Watt Broncolor setups.
A regular hot-shoe mounted flash unit would finacially be my best option because they're only 200€, I could also buy some old Normans from eBay for 300-400€ but a Broncolor setup just isn't in my budget;
Depending on the replies I'll make my purchase so, please help me out!
I made some calculations, correct me if i'm wrong:
The furthest the model seems to be away is 5 meters and I think the f doesn't go much higher than f8 which would mean a flash with a 40 guide number would cut it, so the Nikon hot-shoe mounted flash with a 38gn should be able to do the job.
Does this seem logical or should I still get some Normans?
Normans? Jesus, you're more likely to arc the thing and go out with a heart attack. Your best bet would be to rent a single Profoto Pro-7B battery pack, one head, one stand. When shooting location like this, you don't want to be dragging Gennies [generators] around.
I don't know what this shot looks like big, but from what I gather you can use either a large softbox or an umbrella to get the look. Single light source, about three meters to the left of the photographer. I don't know if he's dragging the shutter, doesn't look like it, but I can't be sure.
This could also be HMI with a nice high ISO and a good lens. The reason is with cold flash the falloff is quite shallow.
Teller shot this right? For a lot of his stuff he just uses a simple hot shoe flash. But with regards to investing in equipment I would personally suggest some 7B's. The key to good lighting is being able to do many different things with only a simple kit. Hot shoe flashes are very limited.
