Nifty Lighting Trick: Invisible Light Stand

Strobist reader Patrick Smith, a college student who shoots for The Towerlight at Towson University, had a devil of a time hiding all of his light stand in the background while shooting a football feature for the paper.

His solution was just the kind of trick we like: Cheap, something you could not do with big strobes, and cheap.

And no, it wasn't Photoshop, ya lighting wuss. Take a guess, then read about how he did it after the jump.

Says Patrick, on his photo shoot of four Towson linemen and their "hitsticks":

"... Who ever thought lighting four football players dramatically would be hard? Getting them all evenly lit is tough, and all I have to say is gaffers tape is smarter than a 22-year-old.

I struggled to hide light stands in the background before I just taped an SB to the wall to get a desired effect. I also must thank my buddy, assistant and the one who will replace my shoes, Kris. I think I showed him how bossy I can be when low on sleep and stressed out. Hopefully he learned a think or two from my mistakes. ..."

Yeah, like how to spell "thing," for instance.

And while we're at it, "the one who will replace my shoes?" What's up with that? Are they messed up? You made a nice photo. Now get some sleep, bud.

(You'd never catch me making typos and brain farts like that when working on no sleep.)

What? What?

Okay, maybe once or twice.
________________________

More, at Patrick's Blog
See Patrick's precarious tape job here. (Thanks, Kris!)
And, most important: "Arrrrrrrr!"

Any other Strobist readers rocking their college papers like this? Hit us with some URL's in the comments.


__________

New to Strobist? Start here | Or jump right to Lighting 101
Got a question? Hit me on Twitter: @Strobist
Have a passport? Join me in Hanoi: X-Peditions Location Workshops



Permalink