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Ice Climbing

February 24, 2011 • Blog, Tech Tips

We are in the best part of winter in Colorado right now.  Daylight is increasing, temps are warming up, and conditions are great for skiing and ice climbing.  I broke out the crampons and ice tools the other day for an ice climbing shoot with a lighting twist.

We found a climb that had a ice cave created by the ice curtain in front and the cliff behind.  Why not put a light back there to project through the ice?  The Elinchrom Quadra is perfect for this task, lightweight yet powerful enough and controlled by a radio wireless system, no line of sight needed.  We used ice screws to attach the pack and keep it off the wet ice below.

I decided to choose a white balance of incandscent to make the daylight go blue, including the flash since it has a daylight balance.  After adjusting the power a few times we got a nice glow.  Now all I had to do was light the ice climber.

Out came a second Quadra, also attached to the ice using an ice screw and lightstand.  We added a full CTO gel to render this light daylight balanced, countering the incandescent white balance set in-camera.  The top image was our final shot for the day.

I often use my Quadras on ice and in the snow.  Since output is controlled at the camera by the Elinchrom Skyport, I can put the Quadras in waterproof bags in a blizzard or hang them out of sight as done here.  This works great shooting in harsh weather and nasty conditions.

Tech: Nikon D300s, 14-24mm lens, ISO 100, 1/200 at f16.  Two Elincrhom Quadra packs used for flash, trigger by a Skyport at the camera.

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