Jenn LeBlanc

Every year I try to take my kids to the Denver Zoo for Wild Lights.

Thing is, when I was a fine art major I did a slide show (um, old school, actual slides, title slides, programmed tape deck, Wollensak programming unit) on the Denver Zoo for a final. Got an A+. It was fun. I photographed the animals during the day and went back for wildlights, but the first night I forgot my tripod, so I winged it, and flinged it, and rolled it and painted my images with light.

I never took my tripod with me again, and those images were by far my favorite, so I go back every year conveniently forgetting my tripod.

Last year I decided to combine the fliging and winging with strobe to create portraits, of course I decided this after we arrived, so the only strobe I had was my on-camera flash. Canon has a great on-camera flash on their X0D series of cameras, works in a pinch, but it doesn’t like my lens if I am too close and that caused the shadow at the bottom of the frame.

It only means this year we go back and do it again, with my big strobe. I’ll post those later on.

This is what we got:

@Jenn LeBlanc

©Jenn LeBlanc

©Jenn LeBlanc

©Jenn LeBlanc

As far as exposure goes, without a spot meter the best bet is to slow down the shutter as far as you can go at a high f-stop, then as soon as you pop the strobe the auto will take over and expose the flesh tones. You just have to count the exposure and be sure you are pointed at the person when the strobe fires.