HERE COMES THE SUN

TREC outfitted us with two Joker 400s and two Joker 800s along with a set of Profoto adapters. We also used a Softlight White Profoto reflector, a Softlight Silver Profoto Reflector and two 50-degree Magnum Profoto reflectors.

"The Profoto adapters are great," Jason noted. "You can go out and buy two Jokers and use them with your Profoto stuff to compliment your studio lighting."

Set-up was simple. Jason, who used Jokers in his former life as a food and product photographer, noted that the entire kit was a lot less cumbersome than in the past. In particular, the ballasts, which regulate the current so it does not burn out the light, have gotten a lot smaller and lighter. Even the 800w ballast weighed only a few pounds and everything packs up neatly into a metal trunk that's small enough to stow on an airline.

The beauty of HMIs is that you can use them seamlessly with available light as opposed to tungsten lighting which doesn't mix as easily. We worked with a model as part of a photography class Jason was leading and he positioned Jokers on either side to demonstrate his Rocker Rim lighting. Basically, it's a two light set-up to produce a dramatic halo-effect behind the subject. Because the HMI light is continuous, what you see is what you get unlike strobes which, as Jason put it, are more like "hunting and pecking."

Jason's assistant, Lindsey Thorne, was also able to use the Jokers for a portrait session and noted the difference from shooting with strobes. "There's more guesswork with strobes," she said. "[With the Jokers], the quality of the light was amazing. It was so crisp and color-balanced that no post work was necessary."

She added that the constant light source, coupled with natural light from the studio's window, allowed her to shoot at f/2.0 or faster, ISO 50, 1/500th of second to achieve beautiful fall-off of the lighting and background blur.

"They're also good for shooting in a smaller studio if, for instance, you need the subject to sit closer to the wall because of space limitations. (With the Jokers) you can still have a lower aperture and keep the background completely blurred."