Glow Light • Flashback to June 2010

A flashback to 12 years ago this month when a photograph I took of my friend Vanessa was published in Popular Photography with a little 2-page feature on how we lit her and what gear was used.

I just saw this in my Facebook flashbacks, and it’s crazy that it’s been 12 years since this came out.

To see a super big scanned version of this article, click here.

Photo Talk Friday: May 13, 2021

Photo Talk Friday’s are still going strong!

Last year Arizona Don Giannatti and I started weekly photography discussions on Friday’s where we talk about anything related to the craft of creating visuals and photographs. Sometimes we talk about specific photographer’s work, or we’ll talk about gear, or the business side of photography or … anything, really.

And YOU can be part of it (if you want). Just head over to Don’s Lighting Essentials website and visit the Photo Talk Friday page which gives you the Zoom link. We meet every Friday at 4pm EST (1pm for those of you out near Arizona) and we’d LOVE to have you join in.

Makeshift ceiling mount for studio strobe

Back in my old studio in the old Picker Building I had mounted a studio strobe upside down hanging from the ceiling for my headshot sessions. My headshot style is fairly minimal; one light up and over the subject to create a shadow under the chin and then two lights blasting the background to make it super white.

I’m always tripping over cables and wires because I’m a klutz. I get so involved in the shoot that I don’t particularly pay attention to what my feet are doing. So I wanted something that kept the shooting area as clean as possible. Hoisting the light up from the ceiling eliminates the c-stand holding the light and the cords and stuff surrounding the stand.

I started over from scratch to try to figure out how to get the light to hang down but I also wanted it to be adjustable and to move up/down if I needed to fine tune anything. Headshot clients come in all different sizes so having something I could slide up and down would be great.

The one challenge is that my existing studio in the Picker Artists building doesn’t really have a ceiling. Our studios are all in this giant open space that has walls, but the ceiling is left open and we have two huge fans way up high that help circulate the are. It’s awesome because I‘ve got about 25-30 feet in height if I ever need it. But it’s also difficult because I don’t have a ceiling in my studio.

After poking around the studio and going through all my gear I came up with a solution that I think works fantastic. I attached a Matthews F805 baby wall plate to the side of a wood beam that runs down the center of my studio. Rather than have it mounted facing down towards the floor, I mounted it on the side of the beam horizontally.

Matthews F805 Baby Wall Plate 6”

With the plate attached to the beam, I then took one of my studio c-stand complete grip arms and attached the arm’s knuckle to the baby plate. Grip arms are fantastic grabbers, and it has a death grip on the baby plate.

I made sure I positioned the c-stand arm and it’s column attachment so that it was aiming directly upward/downward. With the arm positioned up/down, I have a vertical column that can hold a studio strobe on one end. The tightening handle that is on the arm can then be lightly unscrewed to allow the arm pole to move/slide up and down. When I find the desired height, I just tighten the screw and it holds nicely in place.

C-stand grip arm complete

I have an extension cord attached to the beam that is plugged into a wall outlet. I already have other types of lights and projectors hanging from the beam, so it was easy to just plug the studio strobe’s power cord into the extension cord and it allows me to keep the power cable up high and out of the way. These two pieces of grip equipment allow me to hang the light downward but I can raise or lower the light depending on the height of the headshot client.

Easy peasy. And clean. There are no cords on the floor. Nothing to trip over. Once a client comes in I can have them stand on the marker and I can adjust the height and we’re off to the races.

A clutter-free floor is a happy floor!

Genera costs associated with hanging a light this way:

• Avenger F508 6” Baby Wall Plate: $15.88

• C-stand grip arm complete: $60 (make sure you get an arm that has two moveable knuckles on it like the one in the link)

Not a bad total cost to get a strobe up and hanging from above that frees up the floor and makes things less intrusive for the client.