Photo Plus - UK (2019-09)

The Canon Magazine 79

IN BRENDAN’S BAG

Canon 600EX

II-RT Speedlite
WEB: http://www.canon.co.uk

WHEN travelling
overseas for my shoots
I opt for the portability
of Canon’s Speedlite
flashguns rather than
dedicated flash heads.
I have three Speedlites
at my disposal, a Canon
Speedlite 600EX II-RT,
a 580EX II and also a
580EX. I power these
with my Bowens Gemini
Travelpak to get faster
recycle rates. How
many flashguns I use
will depend on the
set-up of my light tent
and how much natural
light I want to
incorporate into the
portrait image.

Bowens

Gemini

Travelpak

WEB: http://www.wexphotovideo.com

FOR location work I

often use the Bowens

Gemini Travelpak which

I sometimes pair up

with studio lights, but

in this scenario it was

impractical to carry

those in addition to

all of the gear I was

already taking. I have

an adapter that lets me

use the Travelpak with

my Canon Speedlites

for consistent power

output without having

to worry about

changing batteries

in the flashguns.

Canon EOS 5D

Mark III body

WEB: http://www.canon.co.uk

CANON’S legendary

5D Mark III body is

perfect for portrait

shoots. Even though

it’s not the latest

model, it has a

full-frame sensor for

wonderful depth-of-

field and 22.3Mp of

resolution so the file

sizes aren’t too large.

Putting too many

megapixels on a sensor

can make noise

handling worse anyway

and I love the clean Raw

files that the Mark III

produces. It’s also fully

weather-sealed making

it ideal for beach shoots

like this one in Spain.

Canon EF

24-105mm

f/4L IS USM

WEB: http://www.canon.co.uk

WITH all of the gear

already in my kit bag I

like to keep things

simple when it comes

to lenses. Canon’s

24-105mm f/4L IS USM

is my go-to lens for

portraits because as an

L-series optic it’s super

sharp and very fast to

focus. It also has the

perfect zoom range

• the wide 24mm end is
  great for full length or
  mid length portraits,
  while zooming in to
  50mm, 85mm or the
  maximum 105mm is
  ideal for tight head
  and shoulders shots.

Grey White

Balance Colour

Card 2-in-1

WEB: http://www.greywhitebalance-

colourcard.co.uk

COLOURS and skin

tones are massively

important with

portraits and you can’t

take any chances when

you’re shooting for

commercial clients.

When I’ve got my lights

set up just as I want

them I’ll ask my model

to hold this Grey White

Balance Colour Card

before I start taking my

‘proper’ pictures. I can

then sample those

specific colours and

tones in software later

on to get the colours

spot-on.

Neewer

beauty dish

WEB: http://www.neewer.com

A BEAUTY dish is

key for portrait shoots

as it can give you a soft

wonderful diffused light

creating less harsh

shadows and also

produce catch lights in

the eyes. This Neewer

comes in three foldable

models: 70cm, 85cm

and 100cm, but the one

I used was the smallest

70cm variation. It was

good, though didn’t

provide quite the same

results as a metal dish.

But as I had exceeded

my maximum weight

allowance for the plane,

this was a great

lightweight alternative.

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CANON PROS & THEIR KIT