Curated Lighting

Salwan Georges for The New York Times. 2026-04027

I took this image from a New York Times article. I don't remember the event, but it caught my attention because of the care the camera crew took in creating lighting suitable for a television spot on the evening news. Amid the forest of light stands I can see two "spot" lights and two "broad" light sources. They appear to be in a cross-light configuration. What really caught my eye was the large translucent umbrella that minimizes the effects of direct sunlight on our reporter's head. I also noticed the cord that was used to help counter-balance the boom holding the umbrella. In the past I would have used a sandbag to carefully counterbalance whatever was mounted on the far end of the boom, but this method could make it much easier. This doesn't eliminate all the problems associated with hanging an accent light on the boom, but makes them more manageable. 

 A light modifier that I haven't used often enough is the Lumiquest Softbox III, although I often had one neatly folded and stored in my camera bags. I preferred to use a shoot-through umbrella, but I have had them damaged when the wind decided to blow them over. The Softbox III has a  much smaller cross section and is less likely to be carried away. I did have some problems keeping it mounted on the flash head, and finally added adhesive Velcro strips directly to the flash, and finally securing it with a Velcro strip that cinched around the mounting tabs like a belt. 

I was invited to photograph a shooting event sponsored by an18th century historical reenacting club and decided to experiment with a portable lighting setup. Instead of my usual translucent umbrella, I went with the Lumiquest because its small profile was less likely to be blown over by the wind. I mounted it on a Manfrotto compact light stand and went to find some action.

This photo gives you an idea of how the lights tand was positioned. Once a proper exposure was determined, I could position the light in a variety of positions as long as I maintained the seven-foot distance between the light and the subject. The height was set just below my subject's eye level so I could get some light under the brim of his hat. The flash was angled upwards so it wouldn't cast a second shadow on the ground. Once the light stand had been positioned, I had plenty of time to position/reposition the light, so I frequently made quick test exposures. I started out with the sun behind my subject, hoping to highlight the smoke that followed the shot. Because the distance between the flash and the subject was unchanged, I was able to make a variety of photos without further adjustment.

I started with a backlit shot with the hopes of highlighting the smoke. It did work, but the depth of the shadows on my subject's shirt betrays my flash's presence. Another flash could have been added to brighten up the shadows on my subject's back, but that's getting to be a bit much, even for me.

One shortcoming of this photo came in the form of a bright highlight on the side of the rifle. It happens that the barrel had its flat side reflected the light from the flash with mirror-line precision. It could have been eliminated by a different light stand location, but that's something to keep in mind for a future shot.

While the shooter was preparing his equipment for his next shot, I took the light stand and placed it on the same side of my subject as the sun. Here the light was used to brighten up the shadows a bit, and if you look at the shadow cast by his right wrist, you can see that the light was again set at my subject's eye level, and positioned beyond the right edge of the frame. It is more natural looking, almost even, but the shadow regions have a little more detail in them.

Two variations on the technique were selected for used as the club's website banner. If you look at the first image, you can see there are some consequences to pointing the softbox a little too high, while in the lower image it was probably pointed too low. I did get the dramatic lighting on the smoke set off by the dark trees in the background in both shots, which was my intent all along.