› ›kelbyone.com075shooting tethered in the field and studio. Great wireless and wired
solutions such as CamRanger (http://camranger.com) and Man-
frotto’s Digital Director (http://www.manfrotto.com) allow
you to easily use your iPad as a large field monitor for real-time
proofing and camera control. [For more on shooting tethered to
Lightroom, see “Maximum Workflow,” p. 104.—Ed.]DO A LOT WITH A LITTLE
I’ve covered a lot of gear, but keep in mind you don’t need a
king’s ransom’s worth of equipment to get started with mobile
lighting; quite the contrary, you can accomplish a ton with one
light and one modifier. In fact, I recommend starting this way.
Working with one light keeps things simple and allows you to
really get to know each piece of equipment and what it’s capa-
ble of before you add the next. Build your lighting kit slowly and
deliberately, picking up new pieces only as needed. When you
do, make it your business to explore all the ways to use your new
acquisition. This way you’ll be able to squeeze every last bit of
utility out of each of your tools. ■››LIGHT ITone catchall modifier, make it a convertible umbrella such as the
Lastolite 8-in-1 Umbrella.
One quick tip with modifiers: Most softboxes and octabanks
have a central hot spot. This is where the light is the strongest
and arguably the least pleasing. Working with the light at the
edges of these modifiers, you’ll get a much more pleasing result.
This is called “feathering,” and I recommend it.
Reflectors and diffusers: These are easily the least expensive but
most useful pieces of gear you’re likely to get your hands on.
Pick up a 30" Lastolite TriFlip 8-in-1 Reflector Kit and a 30"
Silver/White Lastolite TriGrip Reflector. With these you’ll be able
to diffuse sunlight, soften and broaden flash, and bounce light
wherever you need it.
MOBILE TETHERING
Everything looks great on your camera’s small LCD screen; it’s
only later when viewed on a larger monitor that unseen mistakes
become painfully visible. For this reason, I’m a huge proponent of
Combining bare and modified flash is a great way to
vary the quality of light used in an image. Here I’m using a
Canon 600EX-RT modified with a Chimera Octa 30”
Collapsible Beauty Dish for a soft yet contrasty key light
and another 600EX-RT, bare and zoomed to 200mm, to
eliver a punchy accent light on my model’s hair. Michael Corsentino