The Shoot
This is Viki Gomez, considered by many to be the world’s greatest BMX Flatlander. The portrait was taken after German action photographer Richard Walch had spent a whole day shooting Viki doing all sorts of crazy tricks in the Carrara marble quarry in Italy. Needless to say, both of them were tired, so Richard decided to use a well-proven setup for his final shot for the day. “I call it the hero setup, because it makes the subject look strong and powerful,” says Richard. Keep reading to learn how to do it.
The Challenge
“You need three lights for this setup,” says Richard. “We had a B1 with a Beauty Dish as our main light, and one B1 with a Softbox RFi 1×4’ with Softgrids on each side. This setup gives you a quite soft and flattering main light, while the rim light defines the muscles and the face bones and makes you look strong and powerful … like a hero.” The lighting setup Richard used can, of course, be done with any flash. It is just a matter of positioning the lights and using the right Light Shaping Tools. But getting the shot in only five minutes is very difficult to do with any other solution than the one Richard used. Keep reading to learn why.
The Solution
“So, what I did was that I quickly placed the lights and asked Viki to pose for me,” says Richard. “I then set the Air Remote TTL-C to automatic mode and pushed the release button to get the right exposure. Finally, I switched to manual mode and dialed down the main light two stops and increased the rim light two stops. Click! Bam! I had my shot. It literally only took me a couple of minutes.” The possibility to switch from TTL mode to manual mode with the same settings is a unique feature of the Profoto Off-Camera Flash system. “It brings you a whole new workflow,” says Richard. “Once you try it, it changes everything.”
The Gear
3 x B1 Off-Camera Flash
2 x Softbox RFi 1x4’ + Softgrids
1 x Softlight Reflector White (Beauty Dish)
1 x Air Remote TTL-C