The 32-year-old photographer Johannes Krebs comes from the capital Berlin. In his work he wants to show the beauty of people. On his Instagram account#john.cancer he shows fascinating portrait, lingerie, nude and dance photographs. For his creative works he uses the portable studio flashRollei HS Freeze 6. He now gives an insight into his experiences with the flash outside and in the studio.
The scope of delivery
Of theHS Freeze 6 comes well packaged in a solid box on which all important data can be found. When you open the box, the first thing you see is a very well made bag that also offers stable protection. It has a handle at the top and a small pocket on the front, in which you can easily store contracts or other documents. You will also find the familiar Rollei logo at the bottom right. There are eyelets on the side to attach the supplied carrying strap.
HS Freeze 6 bag and accessories
When you turn on the flash, a large, easy-to-read color display grins at you. The operation is self-explanatory. Depending on the menu item, the function is above the four selection keys. There is of course a test flash button, an on/off switch, which also switches on the modeling light, and a large control dial. If you turn this, you adjust the power in 0.1 increments. If you press the rotary knob, the power display turns green and you can adjust it in whole steps by turning it.
What really pleased me was the fact that I found a Pyrex glass bell jar under the plastic cap that protects the flash tube. This protects the sensitive tube from touching and bumping light shapers when changing. There is also a bright 20 watt LED modeling light, which you can easily switch on due to its low power consumption. On the positive side, the bayonet is made of stainless steel and you can easily attach large oneslight shaper can flange.
The power source
Let's get to the power source. This is a lightweight 14.8V lithium polymer battery with an enormous capacity of 6Ah for its size. Even during long shoots with the modeling light permanently on, I didn't manage to shoot it empty. And with a charging time of around 2.5 hours, it is quickly fit again. The check button on the battery reveals how full it is.
I have been using the devices for about 4 weeks and have used them in a wide variety of situations. In combination with the very light and robust light shapers from Rollei, they can be set up and dismantled quickly. They do their job in the studio or even in the forest in light rain. Of theHS Freeze 6 According to the manufacturer, it is protected against sand, dust and spray water and I think so too.
The foldablebeauty dish delivers a high-contrast yet soft light without a hotspot. I used the small one for the contour on the rightParabolic soft boxused. Thanks to HSS, I was able to set the exposure time of the camera (Fujifilm x-T2) so high (1/8000) that the sunny autumn afternoon looks more like an evening and I don't even see one with an aperture of 1.6gray filter needed. Due to the short shutter speed, the hair and dress are completely free of motion blur.
High Speed Sync (HSS)
A flash is enough to provide fantastic light. Due to the bright sunlight, my model stands out well from the background and thanks to HSS I can do without in this situationgray filter work with an aperture of f/1.2. My model Verena is razor sharp even when she is in full motion. If I had just placed them in the sun without a flash, hard shadows would distort the photo. I used that here toobeauty dish by Rollei.
After that I wanted to know. I put Verena in full sunlight and brightened it up again with just a flash. And that at aperture 2. If you combine three light sources, you can develop a great picture look.
From the front left onebeauty dish for the high-contrast yet soft main light. A slightly harder light from the parabola from the back right to emphasize Katja's contours and make her hair shine. For the background, the warm sunlight of the afternoon. This gives depth to the image.
The same light setup. On the stomach and arm you can see that abeauty dish soft and yet very high-contrast light. The hard light from the right conjures up a nice emphasis on the contour.
On site, I set the camera so that the background is well exposed, i.e. a little darker than my planned subject. Next I have my main light (beauty dish) set up and with the remote trigger regulated in such a way that Katja stands out well from the background and few shadows land on her. The contour light came last. Here it was most important to find the right position. In the final photo, only Katja's contour should be flashed. The contour light was of course made much brighter. Set up like this, Katja could just let off steam and all I had to do was press the shutter button.
Let's go to the studio
Here he leavesHS Freeze 6 also flex its muscles and, thanks to its effective power management, enables long-term work with the modeling light. This makes it extremely easy to assess the lighting effect.
I was able to judge the progression of the shadow before I pressed the shutter button. The goal was to keep the photo anonymous with the hat shadow. It's a very simple light setup. Of theHS Freeze 6 hung on a boom stand frontally above the model. I wasn't sure if my little gallows would do it. But the flash was light enough and now I know I don't have to worry about that anymore.
TTL mode
Let's get to the TTL. Giving up control Of course, you spend thousands of euros on high-tech cameras and then don't rely on their sophisticated automatic functions If the flash can handle the TTL automatic functions of my camera, then I have to test that too.n.
The best way to do this is with mixed light. I set the camera to aperture priority and chose a nice wide aperture. I left the ISO at 200. I positioned two floor lamps to the right and left of the bed, which gave off a nice, warm light. I positioned the flash right next to me and aimed it at the model at a 45 degree angle from above. I created the very soft light with the 90cmOctabox. TTL set and click. Woow: the light is on!
The model changes position and thus comes much closer to the light source. click. Thanks to TTL I don't have to change anything. This makes work fun.
delay function
Now I wanted to test the delay function.
That's a single exposure. I put the camera on a tripod and thought about the composition of the picture. Due to lack of space, all positions had to be fairly close together. By using honeycombs, I avoided stray light on the black background.
The black top ensured that Verena cleared away from the right position in the middle position. Standing on the rightHS Freeze 6, which flashed right at the beginning of the exposure. Then Verena had 2.5 seconds to take the main position in the middle. Then it flashed thereHS Freeze 6, who hung on the gallows in front of her and was set a little stronger. After another 2.5 seconds, the left flash fired. So Verena had enough time to get into position. All the fun took a few tries as I had no experience with delay flashing.
I have to say, the function is a lot of fun and allows super creative work.
Conclusion
It doesn't take much for a good photo. A great subject and perfect light. Again a guide light obliquely frontal and a very subtle contour light from onestriplight from the right.
A single flash is enough to conjure up a fantastic light. Here it was againbeauty dish and the HSS function in use. The camera, flash and lamp tripod fit well in my photo backpack and the folded dish was easy to hold. So grab one RolleiHS Freeze 6, your favorite light shaper, a simplelamp tripod and then let's get some fresh air. With the right light, the diversity that Mother Nature bestows on us can be perfectly captured to share with others.
All shots were taken exclusively with Rollei flashes and light shapers and a Fujifilm X-T2.