M Carter
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Man, I've wanted one of these forever - sometimes packs and heads are just too much, especially for editorial gigs. But my favorite light-shaper is the Speedo 11" grid head, it's like a tiny beauty dish. Killer when the subject has good skin.
Basically I tore up an old beater speedo head, saved the front panel, cut a big hole in it, and mounted it to plywood, along with the stand adapter. Vivtar 285 and a radio trigger. Hot-glued a little tupperwear container with a dash of white spray paint to spread the flash into the reflector, emulating the bare tube that would be in the reflector.
This shot was at a popular bar (my favorite hangout in fact), we could only shoot during happy hour, so I didn't want a bunch of stands. Screwed a baby nail plate to a ceiling joist (could have used a super clamp but the nail plate is more secure), hung the 11" head with a 1/2 CTO gel, set the Vivitar for 1/4 power, and threw a 300 tungsten fresnel on the background. I wanted to shoot at 1/4 to blur the BG and isolate the bartender with the strobe. Flagged off a couple bar lights with black paper and tape so only the customers were lit. Worked like a charm, one stand behind the bar, no cables, from setup to wrap was one hour. Then me & the Mrs. got free drinks and dinner all night (bartender's a great friend and needed a pic for a "10 best" article).
I want another one of these but don't want to trash another head - anyone seen a speedo adapter like this? The don't sell the just reflector mounting hardware.
Frankenspeedo and the result - digital pic but the only retouch was some levels - this look is great with film and this will be great for some upcoming B&W stuff where the Speedo packs are too much oomph for some uses:
Basically I tore up an old beater speedo head, saved the front panel, cut a big hole in it, and mounted it to plywood, along with the stand adapter. Vivtar 285 and a radio trigger. Hot-glued a little tupperwear container with a dash of white spray paint to spread the flash into the reflector, emulating the bare tube that would be in the reflector.
This shot was at a popular bar (my favorite hangout in fact), we could only shoot during happy hour, so I didn't want a bunch of stands. Screwed a baby nail plate to a ceiling joist (could have used a super clamp but the nail plate is more secure), hung the 11" head with a 1/2 CTO gel, set the Vivitar for 1/4 power, and threw a 300 tungsten fresnel on the background. I wanted to shoot at 1/4 to blur the BG and isolate the bartender with the strobe. Flagged off a couple bar lights with black paper and tape so only the customers were lit. Worked like a charm, one stand behind the bar, no cables, from setup to wrap was one hour. Then me & the Mrs. got free drinks and dinner all night (bartender's a great friend and needed a pic for a "10 best" article).
I want another one of these but don't want to trash another head - anyone seen a speedo adapter like this? The don't sell the just reflector mounting hardware.
Frankenspeedo and the result - digital pic but the only retouch was some levels - this look is great with film and this will be great for some upcoming B&W stuff where the Speedo packs are too much oomph for some uses:
