Comments on: [Video] Shooting The Ad Campaign For Discovery’s River Monsters

By: Blair Bunting

Blair Bunting — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 21:26:00 +0000

Overall SB900 thrown into high speed sync mode would have been fastest, but not near enough power. We had 9 SB900′s on set, but only as backups in case the lighting with the Tritons went to hell. With distance to subject and modifiers in the equation the Tritons had enough power at a short enough duration to use the octas and still freeze the water. With the SB900′s we would have had too small a light source and the angle of attack would have dropped the shadows out of the D3x’s sensor/noise ratio key spot (around 3.5 stops) which is another reason I brought the D3s. To have the speed from the SB900′s is nice, but at the end of the day with B=L/4πD² and when B is so damn small with the camera’s shutter speed faux amping it, more power is needed. Some might argue that the color temp shift from the small heads would offer it hand to shooting Profotos to a screen, but the color throw with have taken the fish out with the lack of speculars and rendered the speed moot to the texture killed. But something tells me yet another person will try to teach me that I did it all in Photoshop ;-)

By: Matthew Coughlin

Matthew Coughlin — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 21:15:00 +0000

Forgot to mention in comment below that I think the trade off was power. Yes, speedlites will have a shorter duration but the power is lacking if you really want to close down your aperture. Hopefully Blair will chime in with his explanation of light choice.

By: Matthew Coughlin

Matthew Coughlin — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 21:01:00 +0000

Patrick, If Blair chimed in I’m sure he would clear this up. He explained to me in his testing before the shoot, he got the shortest duration from the Tritons as compared to SB-900′s which he was considering. That is what jogs my memory best from the conversation. I’ll try and touch base with him to get a clear answer. Thanks for the props on the vid. It was just a little footage I shot whipped together quickly just to give some insight into the set and equipment. Music choice was more a comical selection :)

By: Patrick Hall

Patrick Hall — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 19:04:00 +0000

Hey Matt, great video! Just curious, do the speedlights not have the fastest duration of anything at really low power settings?

By: foggodyssey

foggodyssey — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 02:30:00 +0000

yeah agree, Matt’s got some great set-up shots on his Flickr page, check them out here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewcoughlin/sets/72157625726581113/with/5379430499/

By: Matthew Coughlin

Matthew Coughlin — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:36:00 +0000

I assisted on the shoot along with shooting the actual video. Speedlites were considered but flash duration was the most important factor in stopping the action for the water splashes.

By: BoudewijnBerends

BoudewijnBerends — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:15:00 +0000

Don’t forget the man who filmed this. http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/ A great photographer and has some amazing setups for his speed lights on his flickr! account. Go check it out!

By: ValentinoAntonio

ValentinoAntonio — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:43:00 +0000

Yes, I agree. That goes without saying, but my last premise ^ was about the intricate steps in such a shoot, not presented in the video. . . . and there are MANY ways of lighting the scene too. Lastly, I knew it was not a real fish because he would NEVER put his hands in that species of fish with razor sharp teeth when it is swirving and fighting . . . I guess they forgot one bit of detail ;) The power of that fish would’ve torn his hand off. If you use a fake fish, at least put some reality in the scene ;)

By: Robert

Robert — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:06:00 +0000

Simple idea with good results but the softbox reflection below the fish’s eye is very distracting they should have PS’d that one out.

By: THE GREAT ZEEE

THE GREAT ZEEE — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:59:00 +0000

a video like this is not for the folks who cant read between the lines. spot on on everything Lee