I took the light kit on the road with me the last few days to try out the new technique. It was definitely a lot trickier in practice than in the comfort of my own home.
For example, this picture of Tom, the manager/part-owner of Runner's High in Belmont Shore. I basically had 3 lights to trigger but only 2 pocket wizards. That meant one of the lights had to be triggered using a light slave. This was no problem in my small apartment because the light bounced around and was easy for a light slave to pick up. However, in this store there was a lot of ambient light and a high ceiling so the slave was popping 1 out of 4 times.
This shot of Debbie, the assistant coach of the women's volleyball team at CSULB was a little easier technically. This was another three light set up. 2 Nikons on either side as rim lights. One was on a PW the other was on a lightslave. Since the lights were practically pointing straight at each other it wasn't a problem. The main light, a nikon popping into a silver brolly, was on a PW.
I first dialed in an exposure that let some ambient light seep in so you can make out the arena and the stadium lights. Then I set up my lights and balanced it so it was 2 stops above the ambient.
It worked out pretty well. The stadium lights could have been bigger and that would have made for a more dramatic composition.
And yes...i carried it all on my bike. The funny thing with all this experimentation is that I'm carrying more gear now on shoots. I use to just bring one pelican case and a lightstand. Now I'm carrying 2 pelican cases and a bag with 3 stands, 2 umbrellas and a softbox. Ack!
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