Shooting with the Ranger RX AS Speed

Auki Henry is a photographer based in Darwin, Australia

Ranger RX AS Speed is all the power I need
Sunset bikini shoot at Lee Point Beach 2012

I really enjoy doing sunset beach shoots here in Darwin. Generally in my experience they are an enjoyable, non-stress session and because of the amazing backdrops nature provides you can focus most of your attention on posing your models.

The fantastic ambient lighting at sunset will give beautiful warm colour to your shots, especially in the magic time for about one and a half hours before you lose too much background light and the reddish and orange hues really show through.

I like to make my models really 'pop' from their surroundings, its just the style I like and have become recognised for in a lot of my work.  Whilst in non-direct light most good flash systems will give you reasonable 'fill' during the day this can become difficult to achieve if shooting into direct sun whilst providing natural back light for your model, and remember, I like them to 'pop'!

Shooting with the portable Ranger RX kit from Elinchrom has been an easy solution to such conditions, and whilst not exactly cheap for an enthusiasts budget, if you are thinking of advancing your photography to paid shoots I found these babys will make life a whole lot easier and save you some time!

I use the Ranger RX AS Speed (with "A" Head) and the power on tap available to shoot back against a dominant light source eg the sun is a real bonus for the style I like.  I still use my extra flashes to build more depth into my lighting profiles, but I could get away quite easily with only the Ranger kit and the natural sun backdrop for so many good shots.

  
Being an 1100 w/s kit under normal lighting conditions the actual power settings needed to cope are remarkably low, there is plenty of oomph behind the flash to make your subject stand out from the background.  I have only ever needed to raise the power above half way when shooting into direct sunlight, and that's usually with a diffuse of some sort which drops the amount of light a little.