I've been photographing conventions for about seven years now, and while I still love everything about it, I've been itching to bump up my game. Every con I get home, download my pics, and grouse about how terrible they are. Blurry faces, bad lighting, photobombing Deadpools - there's always SOMETHING, and it takes a lot of work in Lightroom to salvage most of my shots.
I've known for some time that using flash was the answer, but figuring out HOW was another story. John and I've chatted with lots of pros over the years, but most have heavy equipment or tripods and umbrellas to lug around. We were especially awed by one guy who set up two big flash strips in the shape of an L, because his photos had a completely blacked-out background,
without the use of a backdrop. He wasn't mobile, though; he had to set up the lights and then get cosplayers to come to him, which is definitely not my style. (I like the hunt, chasing 'em down.)
I follow a few convention photographers online (you can't beat
David Ngo for sheer quantity, btw, if you're looking), and one of the greats,
Tristan Dudine, also has blacked-out backgrounds, like this:
Gorgeous, right?
I first thought he did these in a studio, so when a mutual friend told me nope, Tristan shoots AT the convention, it kind of blew my mind. Newly inspired, John and I began searching online for answers. We discovered there's a whole subset of photographers who do this,
called "strobists." Again, though, most seem to use fairly cumbersome equipment, while we were determined to be
completely mobile: no tripods, no umbrellas, no bulky or heavy gear.
Two days and dozens of photography boards, reviews, and tutorials later, John ordered these
flashes from Amazon along with
these diffusers. Next he moved to the garage to build some custom handles, and within three days we were taking practice shots of our Jawa. (Not the most cooperative model, but hey, she works for free.)
As luck would have it,
MetroCon was happening that weekend in Tampa, so we packed up the crew, got a grip, came quick, grabbed the proton packs on our backs, and we
split. (Bobby Brown is my jam. WHAT.)
John and I spent a deliriously wonderful day at MetroCon. We were running on about 3 hours sleep, but DANG was Metro a great con! I had no idea! There were Disney and Hamilton sing-alongs in the lobby, every other vendor had adorable plushies and chibi cuteness, and man oh man, sooo many great costumes! I could go on for pages about how MetroCon has single-handedly turned me on to anime conventions, but you're here for photography stuff, I know, so let's get back to that.
First, let me show you some of the successful shots we took that day, all on the vendor floor in the middle of the crowd:
[Rage Cosplay]
(I'm trying to play it cool, but this is like
magic to me, you guys. I'M A LITTLE EXCITED.)
I like that we were able to light most - if not all - of the body sometimes. Most strobist photos are from the waist up, and with good reason, which I'll get to in a sec.
