Utah Salt Flats: Photographing Capoeira With Natural Light And Strobe

Last time we featured a video from Mike Tittel, he was showcasing his edgy lighting look on some female tennis players. This time he has taken his photography team to the salt flats of Utah to photography the Brazilian sport Capoeira. For this shoot, Mike pulls out a few Profoto 7Bs with 2×3′ gridded softboxes for many of the shots. However it’s his natural lit shots that really grabbed my attention which he lit using the very helpful 4×6 California Sunbounce to fill his subjects. After the video, head over to Mike Tittel’s Website to check out more of his work and then read how Mike lit these shots in his own words below.

I’m a huge believer in shooting personal work and this was one of the largest self-funded portfolio shots I’ve done. We used the 4×6 California Sunbouce quite a bit on this shoot. I am a huge fan of the standard silver/white–especially the silver side since it is punchier and enables us to throw light quite a ways. For some of the pulled back, elevated shots I used only natural light as I was really drawn to the shadows on the salt. The other set-ups were virtually the same – 2 Profoto 7Bs with 2×3′ gridded softboxes behind the subject with a 3rd head on a combo stand with a soft white beauty dish up front for fill. This is a favorite technique of mine and I love using battery packs like the 7B for the freedom they allow. For a few of the shots earlier in the day we did use a 12′x12′ with 1-stop silk to help control the light. Here are a few of the shots that show different lighting techniques below.