Hey everyone, it's Thu from Hypop here
and today we'll show you how we use the AD200
in a low light portrait situation.
We're going to take the AD200 with us on location
for Roaring 20s themed photoshoot
at a bar
where there was basically no ambient light available.
And of course, we'll also share the final result images.
So if you're interested to see how it went,
stay until the end of the video.
Let's get into it.
So this is the location we shot at.
The Bar features stylish interior such
as a painted ceiling,
a piano, red light and velvet curtains.
But there was no way we could have gotten a decent photo
with just ambient light
because we basically have no ambient light available.
We were planning on using the AD200 as an off camera flash.
So the first thing we did was setting up the AD200
on its own light stand using the Godox S2 bracket.
The cool thing about this flash bracket
is that it features of Bowens mount,
which means you can set up the AD200 on the light stand
and at the same time,
you can attach a soft box to it,
which is exactly what we did here.
If you want to know more about flash brackets,
check out our flash bracket range
comparison video linked here.
Once the light is set up
and the flash is connected to the flash trigger on the camera,
it's time for some test shots.
Here I asked my colleague to sit at the bar for me
while I was playing around with the flash settings
and position of the light.
If you're a beginner you want to schedule in some time
for this process
because it's a lot of trial and error.
We had to figure out where to position the light
and how to angle it
so that the subject would be well lit,
but there would be no reflection showing in the background.
We ended up positioning the light at a 45 degree angle
so that the image wouldn't look too flat or boring
because we were still able to maintain some of the shadows.
We also decided we were going to add a red highlight
because the flash was actually neutralizing
a lot of the red hues
that made the room so charming.
For the highlight, we had another AD200 on a light stand
and paired it with the red gel from the Godox BD-07 kit,
which is a kit specifically designed for the AD200.
By the way, all the products we use are from hypop.com.au,
links are down below.
The headlight was positioned behind the models back at us
45 degree angle.
And this way, we will not only able to bring back
some of the red color to the image,
but create a rim light around the model's body
to make us stand out from the background.
For our next shot, we wanted to create a dance scene
reminiscent of the roaring 20s.
The goal was to make it look like she was dancing on stage.
As this was going to be a full body shot,
first we had to figure out
how to light the model from head to toe.
One possibility would be to use AD200 without a softbox.
And instead of the fresnel head,
use the bell bolt that comes with it
because this way the light would split everywhere.
However, that would have given us a very harsh light
which wouldn't be very flattering.
Using the AD200 with a softbox,
however, would have limited light spread
because the softbox would direct the light
to go to one direction.
So her head would probably be well lit,
but her feet would be in the dark
unless you move the light source further away from the model.
But to do that, you would need more space which we didn't have.
And probably you would also need a stronger light source.
Apart from that, you would probably light up
the whole scene which we didn't want.
We only wanted to light up the model from head to toe
but still keep the background dark.
I'll explain why in a minute.
What we ended up doing is setting up two AD200s,
each on its own light stand and with its own soft box,
and stack them above one another so that we will be able
to light up the model from head to toe.
If you don't have the possibility to do that,
another way of achieving a similar result
would be to use a strip box
instead of an octagon softbox.
Now that we've managed to light her up evenly,
let's take care of the background.
At this stage, she's nicely separated from the background
and the image looks good,
but it doesn't look like she's performing on stage
because the background is still dark.
Remember how I said earlier
that we wanted to keep the background dark.
That's because now we can add in a spot of light
creating the illusion of her performing on stage.
So we placed another spotlight in the background on the floor
pointing it up to make it look like there
was a spotlight in the curtains.
Last but not least, we wanted to capture the model dancing
to show off the fringes of her dress.
But how do we capture movement with AD200?
The key is to shoot with a fast shutter speed
and at a focal length
where everything stays sharp and in focus.
It also helps to have the camera set on manual focus
so that your focus point doesn't move while shooting.
We played around with the camera settings and the flash settings
until we found a combination that worked.
For our last shot, we are going after something more dramatic.
We wanted to tell the story of her performing on stage
playing the piano.
And we envision something elegant and dramatic
at the same time.
We asked her to sit down at the piano
so that we could figure out
where to position our key light to light up her face.
We ended up positioning an AD200 with a soft box
right in front of her to keep half of her body
in the shadows for more dramatic effect.
To make her stand out from the background,
we were going to place a rim light right behind her.
But we also wanted to keep what looked like a spotlight
on the curtains from the previous shots.
So we needed two more light sources,
but there wasn't enough space behind her
to set up to my backlights.
After some testing around,
we ended up having one of our team members hide
underneath the piano,
hand holding the rim light and the backlight.
One light was then pointed at the model
while the other light was pointed at the curtains.
Here the final results.
So my final thoughts on how the AD200 performed
in low light situations
is that you can actually achieve pretty decent results
considering its size and how affordable it is.
It's actually one of the most affordable off camera flashes that we sell,
and it was still powerful enough to light up our scene
while fitting in our backpack.
The only thing I noticed that might be an issue is that
we had a handful of shots
where the flash didn't fire when shooting the dance scene.
So if your wedding photographer, for example,
who needs something portable enough to bring on location,
but also fast enough to capture movement shots all the time,
you might want to consider using the AD200 Pro instead,
as the recycle time is significantly shorter.
If you're interested in seeing a comparison
between the AD200 and AD200 Pro,
please check out our comparison video linked here.
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Thanks for watching.