A few months ago I had an opportunity to participate in a group photo along with some good friends of mine. Usually, I participate in the type of photography that I know well and been doing for several years—landscape, urban or inanimate things (examples here). But this time I decided to get on a relatively new ground for me—portrait/people photography—that also fascinates me.

Idea
Once I had the concept ready, the questions were whether to shoot on location or in studio; whether to use flashes, or natural, ambient light. I decided to blend all of the options together and the photoshoot was on location, using studio equipment and flashes.

Although I know how it works in theory, I must admit that before this, my experience with the use of any artificial lighting was almost non-existent and to make things even more interesting I decided to go, for the "first" time, with Nikon CLS (creative lighting system). I used 2 new Nikon SB-600 flashes, that had just arrived from B/H and were looking forward to the opportunity to be used. :)

The photoshoot
Before shooting at the "Departamento de Bomberos de Guadalajara", I made several test-shots in my house, filed some bureaucratic paperwork and obtained needed permissions. The photoshoot was then scheduled to start at 6:00 in the afternoon—to allow the warm light of dusk to complement the rest of the light from the flashes. I used 3 small speedlights—two Nikon SB-600s and one Nikon SB-800.

To increase the impact of the photo I decided to shoot with an aperture of f/14 and to set my two SB-600s in such a way that they light the men from behind, from both sides—creating the lit outlines. The SB-800 was used as a Key light, through an umbrella.

In total, I made about 60 shots in RAW, with different configurations. Make-up, preparations and lights (flashes) setup took about 45 minuts. And the shoot itself (including changes of uniform and equipment) took about the same time. You can see more photos from the shoot on my Flickr page.

Post-process in Photoshop
To achieve the final result, I had to use a shot of the solitary truck I additionaly shoot with natural ambient light. The original three-firefighters' photo lacked a little light on the vehicle, so I had to "cut" the firefighters from an original photo and "paste" them in front of a properly lit truck. The rest was a little unsharp mask, saturation, dodge and burn, color balance. At the very end I added some clouds and vignetting.

Conclusion
All in all, I think that the "experiment" went well and I can say that Nikon's creative lighting system (CLS) works wonderfully, after you discover some of its secrets.


Loosely translated from spanish with Ben Olivares's permission.

Sources:
http://www.benolivares.com/blog/2008/10/23/fotografia-de-bomberos-ilumin...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/benolivares/sets/72157608317158158/