sony a7iii — BLOG — Jason Lanier Photography

Join me for a shoot in the Florida Everglades where my Godox AD600 Pro Battery was FRIED and quit working on me. This was a crazy shoot where my muse Emily Rinaldo and I found ourselves shooting for a short time before the sun set on a dilapidated boardwalk in the swamp. This was also a shoot that resulted in me getting my legs eaten alive by chiggers that necessitated a visit to Urgent Care.

In this shoot I was using the Sony A7iii with the Sony 12-24mm, 24-70mm G Master, and Sony Zeiss 50mm f./1.4 lenses.

**Links to Gear:

*Sony A7iii- https://bhpho.to/30TJbej

*Sony 12-24mm- https://bhpho.to/30V4R9W

*Sony 24-70mm G Master- https://bhpho.to/30VO0E6

*Sony Zeiss 50mm- https://bhpho.to/312J6oY

*Godox AD600 Pro Flash- https://bhpho.to/30XUcv4

I was using the Godox AD600 Pro for only the second time with the Westcott Rapid Box XL. I placed the light in some bushes in the swamp area as he didn't have a c stand or lightstand with me. If the light had indeed gotten wet, or the battery was impacted by the environment I certainly would mention it and show it as I have done so in the past with other videos where I have broken gear. This wasn’t the case this time around. Below are the images taken during the shoot. Some with flash, the latter shots with natural light after the light failed.

During the shoot the light started beeping repeatedly and the fully charged battery completely died. Upon returning back to the hotel that night I left the battery charging overnight. Typically it takes about 2-3 hours to fully charge a battery like this one. The battery never took a charge.

Upon asking other users about this issue it appears to be a bigger issue not related to just my experience. I contacted Godox and asked for a replacement battery which they quickly sent.

I plan on trying the light and batteries out again to see if my experience is the same or better than what I experienced on this shoot.

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Thanks!

Jason

Comment

Most experienced photographers know that when you use artificial light you should place it above your subject. That’s because when you do so, you are creating a lighting pattern that casts shadows down on your subject.

But there is a lighting technique called Feathering Light. That technique is utilized by having the edges of your light paint light onto your subject. This is done to minimize the effect of using light with your subject and even more importantly on the canvas of your image.

For example, if you want to do a shoot and don’t want there to be light spill or shadows on the ground coming from the flash, you would feather the light. This technique can also include facing the light up or even placing it on the ground so the light is shooting up.

Check out the video above of the shoot that I did in the Everglades which shows exactly what I’m talking about. This was a crazy shoot with my Model Emily who painted herself up and used palm fronds on the ground to create an amazing outfit.

This was done using the Godox AD 600 Pro flash inside of the Westcott Rapid Box XXL modifier with three layers of diffusion; the deflector plate, the inner baffle and outer sock.

As you’ll see in the video I use the edges of the light modifier to cast light onto Emily vs. what I’d normally do which is use the center of the light source. Below are the resulting images from the shoot. I’m breaking them into categories based upon the lens used.

Shots using the Sony Zeiss 50mm:

Shots using the Sony G 12-24mm lens:

Shots using the Sony Zeiss 35mm:

I really hope this helps some of you out there to explore some alternative ways of lighting. The pros to lighting like this include creating some dynamic shots in a way that allows your ground area to remain dark. The cons are that you have to be careful of where and how your shadows fall on your subject.

Immediately following this shoot we did a live video blog/podcast. To check that out click below:

Thanks for visiting my blog. I really appreciate your support and thank you in advance for your comments and for sharing the content with someone you think can benefit from it. To learn more with us online please visit www.patreon.com/jasonlanierphotography.

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The Shoot that FRIED my Godox AD600 Pro Battery- Sony A7iii by Jason Lanier

Feathering Your Lighting- How to shoot your flash from the ground up by Jason Lanier