Using the Lumiquest Softbox III and HONL grids for wedding photography

As much a I love my Alien Bees strobes, when it comes to weddings I always try to pack light. Don't get me wrong, I always bring the ABs with me, just in case, it's just not practical at all to carry them around with you. For that reason, I try to resolve most of my lighting situations with SB-800/900s. In addition, if I can get away with not using an umbrella, I will and the Lumiquest Softbox III has become a permanent resident in my camera bag for those occasions. Another item that has found a permanent spot in my camera bag is David Honl's Speed Grid. I have both versions, the 1/4 and the 1/8. If you want to add a new level of dramatic lighting to your photography, then you definitely need to get these and keep them in your bag!

In this particular example below, I used an SB-800 with a HONL 1/4 speed grid behind the couple and pointing at the wall to get some detail on the brick wall. I lit the couple using an SB-900 with the diffuser cap on and the Lumiquest Softbox III attached to it. I triggered both lights with an on-camera SB-800.

Classic Black & White Portraits in Toronto

The countdown is on for our own wedding next Friday, July 10. This past Sunday I had the chance to take a few shots of my future bride, Miriam, and her family. Thanks to the amazing features found in Nik's Silver Efex Pro I was able to process the RAW file for this image to get the initial B&W tones, which was culminated with good old dodging and burning in Photoshop CS4 to give the various gradations of light on Miriam's face.

Downtown Toronto at Twilight, Dusk and Darkness

I went on a photowalk last night (Thursday) with fellow photographer Zeekid from TPMG. We were pretty much wondering aimlessly along Queen St. West trying to find inspiration but we found ourselves struggling to find good angles, subject, etc. It was fun nonetheless, as I had not been out taking pictures in awhile and I was itching to just go out and shoot.

Most of the shoots were taken along Queen St. West, with a little turn on Spadina just to return and walk back to Yonge and Queen St.

Have a great weekend!

Scotiabank Theatre


Triumph Bike Rider on Queen St. and Bay


Queen St. West walking east from Spadina


Strobist portrait taken by Zeekid with my camera. Strobist info: One (1) SB-800 as commander on camera, One (1) SB-800 to camera right with CTO gel with diffuser cap and Lumiquest Softbox III. Fired via Nikon's CLS on TTL mode.


Same setup as above but this time it was me taking a picture of Zeekid


Rush Hour Human Traffic in front of Osgoode Hall on Queen St. West

Studying Light

Today I decided to add a few more speedlights into the mix. The following frames were shot using a couple of variations of the following setup:



The post-processing for this picture involved a little bit of everything. Converting the NEF file to TIFF using Capture NX, adding a couple of color control points to bump up the saturation of the blue background and add a bit of brightness to the eyes. The TIFF file was brought into Adobe Lightroom and then edited using Photoshop CS4, where a couple of filters (Glamour Glow and High Key) from Color Efex Pro 3.0 were applied. The processed TIFF was then brought back into Lightroom where a variation of Matt K's Nostalgia preset was applied.

Silliness with the Lumiquest Softbox III

This is pretty much what happens when it's -20C outside and you just don't feel like braving the weather to grab a few shots. I set up one (1) SB-800 with the Lumiquest Softbox III at a 90 degree angle above and slightly in front of me. I tried initially to set it up right above me but it kept producing a very pronounced hot spot on my forehead. I finally decided to move the softbox slightly in front and I bounced the light back to my face with a gold reflector held at chest level. The speedlight was set to manual at 1/32 power and triggered via Pocket Wizards. The few shots that have a blue background were shot using another SB-800 with two (2) blue gels and aimed at the curtains of my condo. The yellow lines in the background were provided courtesy of the sun coming through the curtains. The background SB-800 was also set to 1/32 power and also triggered via PWIIs.