I had the absolute fortune to work with the lovely Toosje Delaney on a fantastic evening on the Ottawa River. I was writing a review for the Canon 200-400 f/4 L IS 1.4 (in laymen terms: really big expensive lens), and wanted to take the unique opportunity to get outside and really work some portraits. In all honesty, taking a $13,000 lens out for some portraits is a bit of overkill – it’s probably best used as a sports and wildlife lens – it, and Toosje, certainly did not disappoint.

I’ve had a few people comment on the effect in the bokeh of the above photo. You can see leaf patterns clearly in the circles of light that are in the background. Those are created from the actual leaves I was shooting through when taking this image. You see, when you’re shooting at 200-400mm on a cliff, you can’t really ask your subject to back up much, so it’s up to you to go further… in my case right into the bushes. Anything to get the shot!

At the same time as the lens review, I was working with some remote light triggers. Pocket Wizard Plus III’s have range of up to 1600ft which, thanks to some of my friends, we were able to put to the test. I have a post on this shoot over on the Pocket Wizard blog. You can also check out my review of the Plus III’s little sister the “Plus X.” All told, if you want to work with off-camera lighting you will need these, or triggers like them at some point. In my case, I think I have 4 different types of ways to remotely trigger my lights… gotta have backups!