John Fantastic Photography

10/19/2021

The first photo was taken in broad daylight. Exposure was 1/250 Sec. ISO200 F1.6 with a Huawei P30 Pro. I underexposed my shot by more than 3 stops to darken the background. 3 CPFlash 550W was used to take this shot.

Second photo is a day for night effect. It was achieved by underexposing the ambient light by more than 3 stops and placing blue filter gels in the flash.

I did slight editing in photoshop using burning and dodging only. :)

09/29/2021

Here is an example where a nice but ordinary snapshot can be transformed into a dramatic lighting with off camera flash. It would be very hard to achieve dramatic lighting if you don't use off camera flashes except of course when shooting nature. :)

See 4th photo for the photo diagram. From the photo diagram you noticed that I used 2 CPFlash 550W. One was located outside the window, which was very accessible because there was a ledge. And I added another CPFlash 550W in the background with blue filter . Again blue usually means night time shot and added more drama to the shot. The CPFlash app made it very easy to control the power of both the master and slave CPFlash units that it only took me less than 10 minutes to set-up this shot.

09/22/2021

I bought a light modifier from MagMod from Adorama recently geared for xenon tube speedlites and it also fits my CPFlash perfectly. Here is an effect as provided by the Magmod. I used the Orb pattern. Some of my friends like the effect very much, some don't so it depends on the taste of the photographer :)

Make : HUAWEI
Model : VOG-L29
Focal length : 27mm (equivalent to 35mm)
Shutter speed : 1/30 sec
Aperture : f/1.6
ISO : 100

See first comment for the schematic diagram of the shoot.

09/16/2021

Hello guys. I hope you are all doing well :)
Here is another example of a single off camera flash to produce dramatic results. This picture was taken just after sundown.

Make : HUAWEI
Model : VOG-L29
Focal length : 27mm (equivalent to 35mm)
Shutter speed : 1/50 sec
Aperture : f/1.6
ISO : 100

See first comment for the schematic diagram of the shoot. 🙂

09/01/2021

I have always been fascinated with basements or attics even when I was a child. I have always pretend that I would discover treasures, monsters, historical records in the basement. So I this shot is about that. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐦𝐚'𝐬 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦. :)

𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 (𝐒𝐞𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭). From the photo diagram you can see that I used 4 CPFlash 550W. The 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐏𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐡 located at the left side of the photo was used to light the hair of the model. because a snoot drastically reduces the power output of any speedlite connected to it, I have to increase the power of the CPFlash to 50%. The snoot also makes the output limited to a very small portion, if i don't use the snoot, it will light up the whole image. The snoot makes selective lighting possible.

𝐒𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏 is placed inside the treasure chest and to emphasize the subject and light the face of the model. It is set at 10% power. Anything from 5% to 15% would have been acceptable and depends on the photographer.

𝐒𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐 was positioned outside the window and add mood the photo. The use of a double blue filter reduced the output a little bit but it increased the mood and the color of the photo. It also conveys the message that it is night time. I have to increased the power of this light to 100% or full power.

𝐒𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟑 was added to put front detail as there was almost no detail on the pile of junk on the right side which sends the message that this might be an old stockroom with a lot of household junk. It also give detail to the legs of the model as it was very dark it that area. It was set at very little power of 2% just to give a minute amount of light on the photo.

BTW If you have any questions on off camera flash photography, not necessarily with a smartphone, I will be very happy to answer it to the best of my ability. :)

Make : HUAWEI
Model : VOG-L29
Shutter speed : 1/100 sec
Aperture : f/1.6
ISO : 100

This is an all artificial light shoot. The exposure without the flash being triggered would be too dark even if the fluorescent lights were on.

08/12/2021

I am not a professional photographer, neither do I do a lot of Wildlife or Sports Photography and I don't print images larger than A3+ (13"x19"). So instead of spending more than 4000$ on a new mirrorless and a variety of lenses I decided to use my smartphone. For my needs a smartphone is better for me than an ILC as I can carry it anytime without the bulk. :)

Here is my basic Gear for my Smartphone OCF Photography
1. Huawei P30 Smartphone ( It has a built-in Manual mode- no need to download any camera app)
2. CPFlash 550W (I have 4 units of these)
3. A snoot ( to limit the focus of the light)
4. A Softbox
5. Godox Bowens Adaptors
6. 2 light stands (Generic)
7. A Tripod or a smartphone camera mount adaptor.

08/11/2021

My photography styles involves a lot of low power off camera flash to enhance the lighting.

Here is a shot I took way back 2010 . I used an EOS400D .
technical specs: 1/30 sec. f/7.1 10mm with 4 Yongnuo OCF speedlites

08/11/2021

Another set of photos using my CPFlash with MagMod MagBeam Kit. See photos for more details :)

Photo diagram for this shoot is in the comment section.

08/06/2021

Here is another shot I took. SOOC shoot except for a reduction in resolution for faster downloading. In this shoot, I used 2 CPFLash 550W. One is at very miniscule power to bring more detail of the models feet, while the other one is on a light stand with a snoot to focus on the face of the model.

Make : HUAWEI
Model : VOG-L29
Focal length : 27mm (equivalent to 35mm)
Shutter speed : 1/100 sec
Aperture : f/1.6
ISO : 100

See first comment for the schematic diagram of the shoot. :)

08/05/2021

I bought a MagMod for speedlites. I wanted to test if I will be able to get good results with the MagMod system with my smartphone external flash. Here is the unit that I bought for 100$+.

It comes with orb and spot and slit modifier. I preferred to use the slit modifier. I will posting my photos the next days :)

08/04/2021

I used 2 Off camera Flash here. One flash is on the left side of the photo and uses a magmod magbeam kit using spot. The CPFlash was adjusted at 60% Flash power. The second CPFlash is on the right side. hidden from the camera with a reflector bowl at 20% power output. all other lights are normal led and fluorescent light sources.

Please see first comment for the schematic diagram of the shoot. 🙂

I will continue to post more pictures next time. Thank you very much.

08/03/2021

Here is a photo taken under shade of a screened barn during a bright sunny day. The photo was intentionally under exposed by my estimate by more than 4 stops or else the background will all be wash out. To get details in the foreground specially the chickens, I placed a CPFlash in front and set its power to just 2 % . Just to get the detail of the chickens.

See 2nd photo for the diagram :)