Stephanie and I both wanted to do a portrait project at the Umbrella Sky Project in Pensacola, Florida. To make it an extra challenge I wanted to do it late evening just before sunset to well after dark. The challenge comes with preserving the detail of the umbrellas against a bright sky and then highlighting the detail of the umbrellas when there is little to no light on them after sunset. 

Using my portable lights I was able to overcome both challenges. Most of the shots I used at least one light, and many times two or three. Before sunset I used most of the lights to illuminate Stephanie. After sunset, I started to place a set of lights under the umbrellas and lighting them up from underneath while keeping at least on light on Stephanie. One particular photograph I had to use about 15 photographs and combine into one. I didn't have enough lights for the entire street, so I walked up and down the street with my strobe. Stephanie would trigger the camera and I would light up a specific area of the street. In post processing I just combined the different pictures making it look like I lighted the entire street.

This was a challenging project and one that was truly a collaborative effort with Stephanie. She came up with the styling and poses so I could concentrate on the photography. 

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