Jason Christopher, LA Commercial & Fashion Photographer Bio

So I recently shot  a fashion shoot advertising campaign out in Las Vegas and on one of the days we had to go find a long strip of road with very little traffic.  I had five models and about an hour before the sun went down.  Instead of setting up a really complicated lighting scheme I just worked with the sun and my Metz 54mz on camera flash.  I had my assistants park the car so the sun would be behind the model or at least coming from the side of her.  Taking out the Metz I had so much going on in my head, how should I pose her, expression, how much longer til I lose my light etc., I said screw it !  Let’s just shoot !  I was up close, about 4 feet from the subject on a wide lens, this creates a grand look.   It took about 3 shots to dial in my exposure and this is what I ended up with.  The client loved it !

Fashion Shot for Deliverance Poker

Ok I want to share these shots with you because this is a great example of how one can achieve very nice lighting that looks like it was shot with a very expensive set up like Profoto or the likes thereof. The reality is that I used my Metz 55 mz-4 attached to my Canon off camera shoe cord. So let’s go over how I accomplished this look.

First of all I was alone. Yes I had a make up person but this was an experiment that I wanted to do and I purposely did not get an assistant. Many times we can’t afford an assistant when we are just starting out. So we are left with having to be resourceful, otherwise the shoot cannot happen.

1. Attach your off camera shoe cord to your hot shoe on your camera then attach the other end to your flash unit. The underside of the end that you attach your flash to will have a threaded hole that will screw onto either a light stand or tripod.

2. Now you place the flash where ever you like and adjust your exposure accordingly. With these shots I back lit the model with the sun and used my Metz as my key light. I wanted to achieve a bright crisp look so I over exposed with the flash. I did use my lens hood as I was pretty much shooting straight into the sun. My camera settings were: 250th @ F/11.

Ok so at this point I am going to split this post into two separate lessons. I am still feeling this whole instructional blog thing out. If you would like to learn more about this shoot please say so. Without your feedback I can’t give you what you want or need.