A few months ago, I was approached by Broncolor to create some content for the launch of a new product of theirs, Stelos, as the studio photographer in their line up of less than 10 creatives around Europe.
This was such a massive honour for me, Broncolor has been a key brand in my kit for a number of years now and they are, in my opinion, the best lighting brand for photographers. I chose them for their consistent light output and their attachment options that allow for such precise lighting - and Stelos was no different.
As I was demonstrating the light, I wanted to push the lights hard - with Broncolor they have their T1 setting that allows you to really freeze motion, so I decided to do something that included using that. I figured that there is a lot of water photography where people have used flash to freeze motion, so I wanted to use another medium and then I remembered the Christopher Ward Aeolian, a watch which used sand patterns as the inspiration for the face. Perfect.
I set up a laser trigger with my Miops trigger. This trigger was connected to my lights and triggered those when the laser was broken. I was then able to set a long(ish) exposure on my camera, throw the sand, and trigger the lights within that exposure.
It was a tricky shoot, especially in my studio that isn’t a blackout studio - that made the timings a little more difficult, but eventually I got a shot I was able to edit to where I wanted.
The background was created with 2 lights with different gels on, the colours were boosted across the whole image but apart from editing out the arm holding the watch and some bits of sand to help the composition, this was shot in camera.
I was hugely impressed with Stelos. They were lightweight yet reliable and they integrated seamlessly into my studio setup. The batteries lasted the entire shoot and I’d have full confidence using them on location with clients too.
Stelos deliver the exceptional and consistent output that Broncolor is renowned for, both in colour and power - even at the t01 setting required to capture motion in the sand. I’m excited to be inspired by the possibilities Stelos open up.
Obviously, I took some more images while I had
