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Nanlite PavoTube Moody Portraits

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Check out this how-to lighting tutorial for photographers using LED continuous lighting setups. The Nanlite Pavo Tubes are cost effective and magnetic as you will see in this portrait lighting video.

Equipment Used:

Camera: Canon EOS R5
Lens: Canon RF15-35 f2.8
Light: Nanlite PavoTube II 6C

Team:

Photographer: Sal Cincotta 
Model: Lauren Middleton
Hair & Makeup: Brandi Patton, ReFine Beauty

Ready to create some moody portraits using the Nanlite PavoTubes? Let’s get to it. What’s up, everyone? My name is Sal Cincotta, and today I am here with the fan favorite Lauren Smiles. 

So we’re going to do some really cool stuff here. We’ve got access to a freight elevator. As you can see behind me, pitch black. And so if you come into this with strobes, you’re just going to be firing light everywhere. And so this is the perfect use case for something like these Nanlite PavoTubes. These are not expensive. I believe they’re $89. I’ll throw a link up for you. They’re magnetic, which makes them incredibly versatile. In fact, we’re using one of these to light me up directly right now. So very, very versatile light.

So here’s our vision. Want to use some orange, blue, orange, teal color combination in the elevator and then light her from the front with one of these lights just to create a kind of a moody portrait. We thought it’d be fun to have this kind of roller skater look.

We’ll see how it photographs, then I’ll determine if I like it or not. Jury’s still out. So this is orange. Again, they are magnetic, which again, this is the perfect use case for a light setup like this. So as we come in here, you can see if I were firing strobe into here, it’s just going everywhere. You’re not going to be able to create mood. I take that back. You can, but you’re going to have to have flats. You’re going to have to have snoots. You’re going to have to have a lot of light control.

Here, now, because this is magnetic, I can just put this up here and now that’s shining that orange light over here, right? So I’m really able to create a look and feel that I want. And so for this, these are now the teal colors. They’re all RGB. Put that up there. And now put this here. And depending on your light power, these will last two, three, four hours. If you’re firing them at full power, you’re probably only going to get about 30 minutes out of it. So move quickly if you’re going to do full power. But in here, to give you perspective, these lights are only at about 30, 40% power.

moody portraits with the nanlite pavo tubes 5
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/200, ISO 1000

And so just so you guys see on and off, so with no light hitting her, she’s just got some really dark shadows, which could look cool, but I just want a little bit of fill here. And we do have to come in from underneath just to get that fill. So let’s work with this. And I’m shooting a Cannon 15-35. So I just felt like for this, it should be wide angle to give it that kind of funky feel. What I’m going to do here, so I’m going to turn up these lights just a little bit. So they’re at about 45% power. I’m going to go up to about 65%. So again, super easy to use. Put a little more power on this one. I’m going to go up to… Let’s push this up to 75. And it does tell you on the back at the power setting how much time you have. So this one just told me at 80%, got an hour 25.

moody portraits with the nanlite pavo tubes 1
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/80, ISO 800
moody portraits 2 1
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/160, ISO 1000
moody portraits with the nanlite pavo tubes 2
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/160, ISO 1000

So I’m really just watching exposure on her face. I can always enhance color later, but I want to make sure I got good exposure on her face.

And again, I chose this wide angle lens. it’s a lot of fun. I’m sure you’re seeing what we’re doing. I’m moving around. And this is what I love about these lights. I would not be able to move this quickly with strobes. It’d be like a 15, 20 minute reset every time. So I’m kind of getting the feel. I want orange and teal, and I’m trying to find that balance. So I’ve put one orange light here and I’ve got two teal lights to my left, just kind of illuminating her there with some orange shadow.

moody portraits 1
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/160, ISO 1000
nanlite pavotube moody portraits 1
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/125, ISO 1000
photography with the nanlite pavo tubes 1
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/125, ISO 1000
moody portraits 3
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/160, ISO 1000
Now, what I want to do, Lauren, is I want to keep these lights here. I think I want to go all orange. And again, guys, this is how easy it is to just switch, start switching everything up. So I’m going to make everything orange, and it’s just simple as changing the hue. So the hue for orange is 25, and I think I’m going to go with everything orange in here. I think it’s going to look pretty cool. We’re just shooting through the slats here.
mood lighting techniques 3
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/100, ISO 1600
mood lighting techniques 4
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/100, ISO 1600
creative photography 5
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/200, ISO 3200
So anyway, that was a lot of fun. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Let us know which one in the comments was your favorite. But the point is, how cool are these lights to be able to put them up magnetically? Very inexpensive. I’ve got four or five in my kit at all times just for this moment. And it was super cool. I hope you enjoyed watching us progress through the shot to get it perfect. If you love it, let us know. Give us a like, comment, subscribe, and we’ll see you in the next video. You’re out of here. See you later.
nanlite pavo tube review 1
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/100, ISO 3200
nanlite pavo tube review 2
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/100, ISO 3200
nanlite pavotube moody portraits 2
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/125, ISO 1000
mood lighting techniques 2
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/125, ISO 1000
mood lighting techniques 5
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/50, ISO 1600
moody portraits 5
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/125, ISO 1000
moody portraits 4 1
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/125, ISO 1000
nanlite pavo tube review 3
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/160, ISO 3200
nanlite pavo tube review 4
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/160, ISO 3200
nanlite pavo tube review 5
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/125, ISO 3200
photography with the nanlite pavo tubes 2 1
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/160, ISO 1000
creative photography 1
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/200, ISO 3200
creative photography 2
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/160, ISO 3200
creative photography 3
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/200, ISO 3200
nanlite pavotube moody portraits 3
Settings: f/2.8 @ 1/200, ISO 3200

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