On To Light Shaping: Over the River & Through the Woods with Tamara Lackey

10 March, 2015

Written by: Harley Anderson

On to Light Shaping is a new video series in which get to see 18 renowned portrait and wedding photographer create magic with Profoto Off-Camera Flash. In this video we join photographer Tamara Lackey on a two and a half hour photo shoot through Eno River State Park. When you are done watching, click here to see the rest of the series.

Tamara Lackey is a portrait photographer whose reputation goes well beyond the borders of her hometown, Durham, North Carolina.

Tamara’s portrait of this young lady was captured during a two and a half hour romp through Eno River State Park, a park known for its varied landscapes. Having been there before she knew it would be an excellent location to test-drive Profoto’s smallest and lightest solution to date: the Off-Camera Flash system.

On this particular day it was both cold and overcast, and while there was little they could do about the air temperature, improving the lighting conditions was another story. Tamara had her assistants set up two B2 Off-Camera Flashes. Depending on the image, Tamara used a Profoto Umbrella Deep Silver S or the new Profoto OCF Softbox 2×3’ as her main light. The other flash, which was used as a rim-light, was equipped with a Profoto OCF Barndoor to better control light spill.

To reduce weight Tamara and her team had left the lights stands at home. Instead Tamara’s assistants hand-held one of the B2 Head’s, which not only made it easier to finesse the modeling effects of each light, but greatly cut down on the amount of time it took to capture photographs at each of the locations.

“It’s ridiculously awesome to have a lighting system that’s so easy to literally run around with,” says Tamara. “Even with spare batteries and a bag full of Light Shaping Tools, including OCF Barndoors, OCF Softboxes, OCF Grids, and umbrellas, crossing fields, wooded areas, and suspension bridges proved to be easy work.

A big fan of wireless flash, Tamara found the exposure accuracy of her new flashes to be all-but-foolproof. “All of my exposures were 100% TTL. I was focused on keep things simple, portable, and really easy to use. And it was”.

The final selected image was captured with a Nikon D4s and a Nikon AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm/f2.8G IF-ED. The exposure was 1/160th-second at f/3.0, with the ISO set to 640. A Profoto Air Remote TTL-N provided TTL exposure communication.