Commercial photography is always an interesting challenge. The very lovely people at The Radiation Oncology Institute needed some new photos for their website at both their Gosford and Sydney clinics. The difficulties with a shoot like this are pretty common in that the available lighting is a mix of fluorescent and halogen light sources (not so hot when you need great skin tones) and that this is a functioning business so you have to be quick and you have to not get in the way as much as possible. So while it might be preferable for me to bring along the big studio strobes it’s just not practical. Fortunately the Institute walls were fairly neutral so we could use them to effectively increase the light source size and subtly overpower the available light.
For both days we used a couple of small flashes, off camera and fired via infra-red. We didn’t want to use radio triggers in a medical building, just in case. We mixed bouncing the light off neutral coloured walls and using small modifiers to get the “big light” look. All battery powered. So there were no cables to get in the way and the whole set up was small, simple to set up and quick to get out of the way.
The end result was that we were able to do each set-up in a few minutes and take the shot in a few seconds so no staff or patients were adversely impacted. Apart from the crazy guy with the cameras the clinic ran as it always does and we still managed to get the shots we needed without impacting on the patients and their treatment.
Thanks to the staff and management at The radiation Oncology Institute. They were the models as well. It’s not easy being a model when it’s not what you normally do. But they handled it with grace and good humour.
Flash Gordon Photography handles location commercial photography and video anywhere on the Central Coast, Hunter Valley, Newcastle and Sydney at really reasonable rates. If you need any commercial work done feel free to give us a call.
