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I have posted here before on how to solve lighting challenges with the Ice Light by Westcott and now I am back to visit the topic one more time. Here in Michigan, I think my favorite season may be Fall. The excitement of back to school, the changing colors on the trees, college football and the best thing ever – cider mills!
Last Autumn, one of our high school senior spokesmodels decided that she wanted her photo session to be at the Franklin Cider Mill. It’s a very old, very historic cider mill here in the suburbs of Detroit and it arguably has the best cider around.
One of the main attractions of the mill is the big, red water wheel that still functions today. It’s always a hot spot for families with kids and was a natural choice for our senior, too. The only problem with photographing by the water wheel is that it’s in a dark tunnel. And when I say “dark tunnel”, I mean it is a REALLY dark tunnel. Thankfully, the Ice Light came to the rescue!
By bringing Erin close to the front of the tunnel and holding the light at a 45 degree angle in front of her, I was able to have her face and body lit beautifully and still manage to get some of the natural light in to show the red water wheel. You can see the Ice Light in the before image. It’s in the very upper right hand corner. After some minor retouching in Lightroom and Photoshop, this image was a winner for Erin, her family AND us! We just love the results!!
The Ice Light is perfect for indoor images, as well! We were contacted to photograph some food for a new catering company. By this time, it was early December and we were in the thick of the snowy winter (it started really early this year) and we were photographing in a darker kitchen with some incandescent ambient lighting. There was a big window that did provide a little bit of light and reflection from the snow on the ground outside, but we really needed more. We grabbed our Ice Light before we left the studio. It’s significantly more portable than our soft boxes and studio lights and it was perfect for this job!
I had Doug hold the Ice Light over the food, and voila! Amazing results! The beauty of this fantastic light is the ability to see exactly where the light is going. Its direction and strength can be very easily controlled by the user by moving it closer or further from the subject and also by changing the controls on the light itself. I knew that I was going to need a decent amount of light to be thrown onto the granite table where the food was, so I had it on full power and very close to the top of the plate. BAM! That’s some very yummy looking Beef Stroganoff.
Overall, the Ice Light has added so much more functionality to our lighting set up. We’re able to photograph in some otherwise very difficult situations – nighttime and dark tunnels among other less than ideal scenarios. If you’re looking for a great portable light to add dimension, ease and some pretty great functionality to your current lighting repertoire, check out the Westcott Ice Light. It’s a pretty awesome tool!
Ally Cohen is a co-owner of Frameable Faces Photography with her husband Doug in the Orchard Mall in West Bloomfield, MI. Ally is the photographer and Doug handles the sales and marketing. Ally and Doug have been in their retail studio space for almost 5 years and you can follow their blog here. She lives in suburban Detroit with Doug, their two awesome kids, and their two cats.
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