Patrick And I go to Las Vegas/Shoot In A $15,000 Per Night Penthouse

So here’s the story; Patrick and I had the idea for FStoppers and we knew that we had to create a bunch of videos to get others excited about creating their own. We had some free time and some money in the bank after a solid wedding season so we decided to go to Vegas. We did not do a good enough job planning anything. We had some ideas but we never really set anything in stone so by the time we got to Vegas we had a couple of models lined up but nothing else. We only brought 3 cameras, 3 lenses, and 3 flashes, and the flycam.

One night we go out with one of our model friends (Tatiana) in Vegas and she introduces us to some guys from NYC that happen to be staying in one of the most expensive rooms in all of Vegas. Long story short, these guys leave the next day but buy their room for one more night so that we can stay there and shoot in it the following day. Being able to stay and shoot in this amazing $15,000 per night room was the highlight of my trip. If the incredibly generous New Yorkers who bought us this room are reading this I want to thank you once again for this amazing opportunity. We really really owe you one.

Behind the scenes of our Las Vegas penthouse photo shoot from FStoppers on Vimeo.

Since this shoot was so last minute and we didn’t have enough gear or assistants and we had to do everything ourselves. We didn’t get the coverage of the shoot that we wanted and we didn’t have enough time to do more interviews. Before we came back home Patrick and I went snowboarding and while we had some time on the long lift ride we decided to talk about the shoot while it was still fresh in our minds.

Vegas Recap: Discussing a Photoshoot from FStoppers on Vimeo.

You can view the same videos on youtube here:

View more photos by charleston wedding photographer Patrick Hall at www.patrickhallweddings.com and Lee Morris at www.rlmorrisweddings.com

Here is some of the gear we used for this photoshoot:

Glidecam 4000 Pro Stabilizer: Great for steady moving shots like the tour of the hotel room

Nikon SB-900 AF Speedlight Flash for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras: We had a few of these to light many of these shots; they are great for general portable light on location

Lastolite 24″ x 24″ Ezybox Hot Shoe Softbox Kit with Mark II Bracket or CowboyStudio 24″ Portable Softbox: Simple modifier to create soft light and fits in your suitcase

Manfrotto 680B Monopod : This our favorite monopod because it’s so small. Great with softbox above

PocketWizard PLUS II Transceiver: Pocket Wizards, you gotta have them

Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 Best Wide Angle Lens for Nikon IMO. 2.8 for low light

Tamron AF 17-50mm F/2.8 Vibration CompensationBest lens for video! VC and 2.8 are a must. Great video lens!

Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Nikkor Wide Angle Zoom LensProbably the best lens Nikon has ever made!

Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II AF-S NIKKOR Probably my favorite lens for portraits.

Nikon D300s Camera: You gotta have these to film video; I think we used 3 or 4 of them.

Written by Patrick Hall. Patrick Hall is the cofounder of Fstoppers.com and a wedding photographer in Charleston, South Carolina