I was invited to photograph the wonderful Lechuga family, Fabian Lechuga, his lovely wife Shawna and his daughter, along with fellow photographer Roger Gong. It’s always interesting when you have no idea what the location will look like. In this instance, the location was for students to learn grappling in an academy setting consisting of wrestling matts in only two primary colors which won’t matter too much as we are using the available light for focus. We plant to use speed lights with the LASTAND and a StripBox LTP for our main light and, for our secondary light, we will be using the Snoot XTR, alternating with the Mini SoftBox. Two different photographers photographing the same thing and with slightly different angles plus, here’s the twist, Roger is using Canon and I’ve got my trusty Nikon. First things first, it really does not matter which camera you use because we are using the speed lights to create a high key, detailed look. So, it’s our flashes doing the job (2-SB-700).
I’m in my comfort zone using my 50mm and filling the frame so that the speed lights work for me and balance out with the modifiers I’m using. As I have said before, all you need is to simplify what’s is in your bag and that includes your lighting modifiers. In one bag I always have the Pocket Bouncer and a Quick Bounce. In my main camera bag (with all my gear) is the SoftBox 3, Mini SoftBox, Snoot XTR, FXtra (gels) and the two most important modifiers (also the newest in the family), the StripBox LTP and the STR Kit. It’s truly amazing what you can do with any or all of them and the results are outstanding.
Back to these grappling academy images which are high key and for which we used only 2 speed lights. The only thing I can say is, where has this product been for the past 5 years? The LASTAND alone is the best bang for your dollar. It’s small enough that you will never notice the weight of it at all. As for the StripBox LTP, well this flash moodier from LumiQuest will be the only thing you need to do portraits as it will fill all your needs in a room that is not bright to a room that is just perfect, and you want to give soft light to your subject. When you set up the new gear from LumiQuest you will realize how easy the gear is to use and that is what photographers need in the field to shoot without having to think of what our next image is or how our next shoot needs to be set up.