I started a new holiday portrait series over the Halloween weekend.  My goal is to cover all the major Holidays so I started with Halloween and next up will be Thanksgiving. The following three portraits were of the scariest actors I could find. I also like the top hat on the first guy because top hats are awesome. The second actor will give you nightmares and the 3rd actor, a Voodoo witch looks like she is out of a Halloween edition of National Geographic. I had very little time this weekend to make these portraits as I was booked with client work. The scare actors I used also did not have much time so I had to be quick with making the frames. I wanted to share a little bit on how to make a quick portrait using the "One and Done" approach. I didn't have the actors long so I had to be done before they knew what hit them using one light...Wham, bam and thank you ma'am! 

                                                                          Camera Settings: 1/13th at F4 ISO 1600

                                                                          Flash Power: 1/2                                               

For this shoot I traveled pretty light. I took a Paul buff light stand with me and an impact boom arm so I could angle the light how I wanted it. I used an SB-900 with Dome diffuser stuffed inside of a 43inch Westcott Apollo orb creating some nice soft light. Now that I had that taken care of the next thing to do was give it some shape. After all, these are pretty scary actors so I didn't want to light them like a fashion model. For an edgier effect I threw on the Westcott 40 degree grid. This gave a really nice edgy feel to the whole scene. I use the Westcott Apollo Orb a lot because it folds down small, it's lite weight and it gives a beautiful quality of light. The Apollo Orb can be used directly on a light stand or with a mini boom arm. I like to use it on a boom are so I have better control. I should also note that it was so dark behind the scare zone that I had to have someone hold a flash light so the camera could focus. As photographers we are not always in ideal environments. Because it was dark my camera settings were shutter speed 1/13th of a second at F4 and ISO 1600. My flash power on my SB-900 was set to 1/2. The entire shoot took about 15 minutes and I made just over 30 frames....DONE! 

Below is a diagram of the lighting set up. I used www.lightingdiagram.com  to create this diagram. 

Here is a list of links for the products I used in this shoot. I am in no way affiliated with Westcott or Adorama. I just really believe in there businesses and products. 

Apollo Orb - http://fjwestcott.com/product/43-octagonal-apollo-orb

Apollo Orb Grid - http://fjwestcott.com/product/40-degree-grid-for-43-apollo-orb

SB-900(SB-910 is now out) - http://www.adorama.com/NKSB910AFU.html

Nikon D4 - http://www.adorama.com/INKD4.html

Please let me know if this post has helped you and if you would like to see more technical blogs like this in the future.