Flash, Gels, and Baby Powder: A High-Speed Shoot You Can Do at Home

Who says you need a huge studio to shoot high-speed special effects? 

For any photographer who likes to shoot portraits, the use of off-camera flash and speedlights offers a world of infinite creativity. The portability of speedlights allows you to strategically place and focus your lights, and the use of modifiers allows for unique visual effects. 

In this video from portrait and wedding photographer Jiggie Alejandrino, he reviews and dissects a shoot that he did with his wife in 2013, where he used speedlights, color gels, and baby powder to create dynamic portraits of her while dancing. By setting up his shooting space in their driveway at night, the use of multiple speedlights while shooting at high speed created a black backdrop without having to set up an actual one. The use of a relatively larger outdoor space allows for the focused lighting to eliminate any darker details in the background and as a bonus, spares the studio equipment from all the mess. Using color gels that would, later on, create vibrant splashes of color in the frame, and lots of baby powder to create texture and depth, this quick project can lead to such stunning results.