articles/Fashion/rollingwiththebigdog9-page2

Rolling with the BIG Dog Part 9 - part 2 of 1 2 3 4 5

by Damian McGillicuddy Published 01/02/2011

It carried not only my D3 but my Sekonic meter, my 24mm f2.8, 35mm f2, 50mm f1.4, 85mm f1.8, all internally and my Elinchrom Skyport kits and TWO speedlights in the belt packs...simply superb and oh so comfortable and amazingly compact. I'll be taking this bag out way more with me in 2011. For comfort and ease it's simply a no brainer, I'd urge everybody to have a look at the Think Tank range.

Team McGillicuddy also used Think Tank's Airport International rolling case to bring the rather sumptuous Ranger Quadra to the party. A LOT of kit, very easily transported but more importantly, kit ready for and capable of anything!

Of course I don't go anywhere or shoot anything without having my 'Classic' 19-inch McGillicuddy beauty dish to hand. This shoot was a little different through because this was the first time my regular beauty dish was joined by one of its bigger, more versatile brothers, namely its 36-inch sibling! As a quick side note the 19-inch 'Classic' dish was just awarded the title of 'Best in test' in a round-up review of small (ish) light modifiers in the Advanced Photographer magazine... woooooot!!! As soon as we have permission, and have figured out the best way to do it, we will post the whole review on the blog at www.damianmcgillicuddy.com as a reference for those 'on the fence' and as a thank-you to the hundreds who had faith, took the plunge and now use one every day...cheers ;0)

OK, what do you do once you've de-bused with 22 delegates and your assistants, only to find you can't get inside the venue? Simple you make the best of the situation and shoot, educate and entertain right there on the street. In my world one just never knows what to expect or what challenge you'll need to overcome every time I pick up a camera. To me this is part of the 'professional' bit of photography; I need top-class results whatever, or indeed, despite the conditions.

Now in truth the big metal concertina door into the station made the dilemma of 'where to shoot' a very easy choice as it was a prime architectural piece, screaming out to be a part of our first composition. I just loved the architectural solidity and linearity inherent in its form and could see just how that would make a great contrast with the feminine curves of our subject - Game On!

I selected an 85mm lens for this first image as I wanted to compress the perspective slightly and give an ever-decreasing feel of focus fall-off behind the subject that the appropriate shallow(ish) depth of field would evoke.

The key light was the stalwart 19-inch dish powered by a speedlight above and to camera-left, set to and feathered to give a psuedo 'loop' light pattern. I added a full-cut CTO gel to the key light to significantly warm up the quality of light from the 'key'.

A second speedlight was positioned behind the subject to cameraright and was angled back towards the door and subject, to act as an accent light and 'rake' back over the contours to give the illusion of three dimensions to our photography.

• Rolling with the BIG Dog Part 9 page 1
  
• Rolling with the BIG Dog Part 9 page 2
  
• Rolling with the BIG Dog Part 9 page 3
  
• Rolling with the BIG Dog Part 9 page 4
  
• Rolling with the BIG Dog Part 9 page 5
  

There are 52 days to get ready for The Society of Photographers Convention and Trade Show at The Novotel London West, Hammersmith ...
which starts on Wednesday 15th January 2025