This image was made at Rafael Vineyards on the east end of Long Island. As with most weddings, there was not much time, yet I really wanted to capture the essence of this location without taking the typical photo of the bride and groom standing in middle of the grapes. The solution: the wine cellar filled with barrels would create the perfect ambiance for the photo. I am a true believer that today's bride wants to be sexy - that is why they wear sleeveless , strapless gowns. I try to always exude that sensuality and romance in my photographs. This was the ideal location for posing. Lighting was a different story. The room was dark and cold. It was important to me that no shadows exist, therefore the light needed to be extremely soft and natural. There was only about a minute during which the photograph could be taken, so being quick and accurate was key.

I used a single bare bulb QFlash. The flash was set on automatic at F4, iso 800. Minimal light was necessary - even less than the f4 - so wrapping a white handkerchief around the bulb created an ideal way to further diffuse the light. The light was off camera and coming in from a 45 degree angle to camera right above the subject. The light, because of the bare bulb, was very omni-directional . It was all over the place & filling lightly. The actual intensity of the strobe was roughly f2.8 with the diffusion from the handkerchief. It was perfect for the camera exposure of f4.0. I try to usually have my strobe at 1 to 2 stops under my ambient. This is the perfect way to avoid shadows and, more importantly, have the light look very natural. That is the main thing I love about my Qflash, it is very diverse. It is small enough to work in a tight situation and powerful enough to handle big groups.

QFlash
Camera: Canon 1ds mk II Lens: Canon 70-200 zoom @ 200 mm
Exposure is: 1/2 sec at f4 iso: 800

This image was made at the United States Military Academy at West Point April, 2005, as part of a cover story for TIME Magazine. The three cadets (about to graduate from the academy) are pictured standing within the Great Chain (at Trophy Point) with a view of the Hudson River beyond. The links in the photo were actually part of The Great Chain which stretched across the Hudson River at West Point during the Revolutionary War to act as a barrier to enemy ships.

The photograph was set up in about ten minutes and executed in less than five! (The young cadets were constrained by their rigorous schedule.) A single QFlash with the telephoto (parabolic) reflector was mounted on a high overhead boom just to the right of the camera.

This photograph was part of an assignment for the New Yorker magazine. It was taken at a high school prom in a Manhattan hotel about a year ago.

Whenever I photograph nightclubs, bars, or dances I always work with two flash units. One is shoe-mounted on the camera and the other is mounted on a long arm or a monopod and triggered by a radio slave. It's essential to use radio slaves especially at events where other people have flash units. The second unit is a background and an effect light. I also use it as a rim light for my foreground subjects.

The second unit is the key light and must be the more powerful of the two strobes (The shoe-mounted flash is the fill). I always use the Quantum QFlash for this second unit. I work with the QFlash because it is reliable, light, powerful, and it allows me to move more freely.

If I were to light the entire room with several powerful strobe units, I would have to be very careful about not getting the strobes in my frame. This way, my assistant and myself can wander freely around the room.

QFlash
Mamiya 7 50mm lens, Tri-X film

This image was created as part of a photo session for a girl's Bat Mitzvah. The father is an avid car collector and insisted on having a picture of the family with his newest toy. Unfortunately, there was a typical suburban neighborhood to contend with, such as trees, trash cans, houses and traffic. The goal was to create an image that captured the car, in all it's glory, as well as the family, while minimizing the distractions and not getting run over in the process!

To add to the pressure, it was October and the women were complaining of the cold. So we literally had less than 5 minutes to create the shot. The image was captured using a Nikon D1X, three Quantum QFlash T4d's, all triggered by FreeXWire Radios. The QFlashes each had one diffusion panel and were used to fill in the daylight exposure and kill shadows. In order to do this without creating speculars all over the car, two remote QFlash units were placed at extreme angles to the car. The third flash was on-camera and was tilted up toward the subjects to act as a center fill light, without reflecting off the car. The portability of the QFlash and the wireless freedom of the FreeXwires make working in a hurry on location a breeze. Impact was added to the picture in post-production, using Adobe Photoshop to blur the background and turn the image to black and white. The car was kept in color to increase it's impact and turn the image into a real conversation piece.

QFlash
Camera: Nikon D1X Lens: 24-85 zoom @ 34mm
Exposure: 1/15th sec. @ f/8 ISO: 160 Color temperature setting: 4800K

I was "Dragging" the shutter to pick up the little ambient light there was, the red "Mood" lighting was quite cool. One Qflash was on a stand camera left bounced out of an umbrella box as the main light. The second Qflash was positioned out of view behind the glass column on a second light weight stand. I had the wide angle diffuser on that and taped a blue gel over the front. This unit was 3 stops brighter than the main light. Everything was triggered using two FreeXWire units. ALL flash was metered.

Unit A: QFlash with standard reflector metered at F8 fired through a blue gel situated down the corridor from the subject placed on a stand triggered with freewire

Unit B: The Key light. QFlash with the Quantum softbox metered at F5.6 and left to run a little "Hot" over the camera settings to "Clear out" the subjects skin. The unit was placed at an oblique angle to allow the light to be feathered across the subject allowing for better modelling. The wall to the right of the unit was used as a gobo to further exagerate the illusion of a more restricted "Point" light source giving me far greater control of where the light was allowed to fall on the subject. The unit was placed on a light stand and raised above the model and allowed to light her from anelevated position. Light triggered by freewire.

Accessory A: A gobo used to further the control of where the key light was allowed toilluminate the subject. The unit was used to restrict the light on the models legs to allow the eye to be drawn to the garment.