Making Something Out Of Nothing: The Boardroom Shot

There is nothing more challenging that trying to make an interesting photograph in a boardroom….
On this particular day, I had to photograph William Stanley of Atlantic Hydrogen at the office as he was coming through town. Normally we would have gotten him with some of the company’s technology, but all that is in Fredericton and it wasn’t possible.
So, I get to shoot him in our board room. Great.

So at the very least I pull out the flash umbrella kit, and do a nice simple portrait.

Since he had a few minutes, I decided to see what else I could come up with, so I threw a flash on a chair behind him and pointed it at the wall and voila!

Hey, that’s a funky background that works! The glow behind him sort of ties in to the idea of power, and the arms of the chair provided those interesting shadow lines. So now I need to add some light to his face to bring him out. So I throw a snoot on my main flash, and do a test.

Okay, so I need to bring the flash in closer! But wait, where did my background light go?
Oh yeah, I’m trying to do this using the Canon wireless system, which needs line of sight between the flashes so they will fire! I try lots of different options,

including bouncing the flash(above) but even that doesn’t work! Of course the only way it will fire is if I point the flash directly him, which ruins the entire effect!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!

So what do I do?

Run to my desk and pull out my trusting NIKON SB-800 to save the day! (sorry, too lazy to do a funny illustration with a cape…)

It’s built in OPTICAL SLAVE will pick up ANY FLASH firing, so the Canon flash gets the heave-ho(not really, it’s the Telegraph’s of course…) and I set my Nikon SB-800 to SU4 mode and it works perfect!

The moral of the story? Buy a Nikon SB-800 as an secondary flash and life will be good! Unfortunately Nikon has discontinued the SB-800 and replaced it with the just as good, but more expensive SB-900.

Want to make sure you get all the latest posts and info? Subscribe!

Noel Chenier
———-
Photographer and teacher
Connect with Noel on INSTAGRAM or TWITTER or via EMAIL
Photography Assignment Generator Apps now available on the app store!
Noel’s Portfolio
Work Done by My Students!

`More Photo Tips`

How To Take Great Photos Of Snowblowing and Shovelling January 2, 2016Snow. It’s a fact of life in Canada. Each winter, Canadians are subjected to hundreds of inches of white stuff that needs to be moved out of the way. And with each snowstorm, we get all bundled up, trudge out into the winter wasteland, and fire up the snowblower/pick up …
“Unicorn” Meteor Storm Alert! November 21, 2019For a short period on Thursday night/early Friday morning we might be treated to a METEOR STORM know as the Alpha Monocerotids. For a very short window, you might be able to see almost 100 meteors in the 15 minute peak! So get out your tripods, bring a mug of …
What the #$%^ Did the Photo Lab Do To My Picture?!?!?! August 8, 2016 Ever take a photograph to get printed at the photo lab, and it comes back squished(image above) or cropped completely different from how you cropped it? I’m going to help you prevent that from ever happening again! (420)
Tips for great Halloween Photographs October 26, 2015Since Halloween is upon us, here are some tips on how to get some great photographs of pumpkins, costumes, and trick or treating! (449)
Best of Canadian Photojournalism 2015 January 6, 2016Photojournalism still matters. Witness some prime examples of that with these links to great best of 2015 images from photojournalists from across Canada. Will add more as I come across them, if you have any suggestions, email me. (655)