My "two stops" technique

Here’s a quick start tip for using flash indoors.

First, set your camera to:

  • Manual mode
  • f/4
  • 1/60th second
  • 400 ISO

Now check the light meter in your viewfinder. You want it to read about minus two if you point at a representative part of the room.If it reads higher or lower, adjust aperture and shutter speed until it reads -2. If possible, try to keep the shutter between 1/30th and 1/200th second.

By using this method, your ambient lights shows (avoiding black backgrounds), and it becomes your “fill light”, two stops below the key light. And of course while your ambient is set manually, the flash is still automatic.

And finally: bounce that flash off a wall or ceiling behind you!

Is it the end?

Photography done as a profession? The New York Times seems to think so in this article today.

They are right that the triple whammy of microstock, cheap digital cameras, and the end of magazines and newspapers are bad news for photographers. They are also right that quality is not recognized: the quote at the end of the article is telling (and galling).

I think there is hope, however. For several reasons.

  • Quality, in the end, wins out sometimes. In a McDonalds world, there are still bistros and Chateaubriand.
  • Much business is gained by word of mouth, not advertising.
  • Some events are too important to have Uncle Fred shoot (think “weddings”).
  • The model will change. More pros are becoming microstock photographers. Any industry changes – this is inevitable. But “change” does not have to mean “vanish”.
  • If everyone shoots, everyone needs to learn. This means pros who can teach will find a larger market waiting for them.
  • News will continue to need coverage.
  • There are other opportunities – facebook profiles, online magazines, albums, large prints: I see no waning in the popularity of photos per se.

Spot News

This is all complex and fraught with uncertainty, but we can be sure, I think, that some photographers will survive, even thrive. Many more will go part time. Amateurs will be earning more too. Either way, photos will be taken and some people will continue make money.

But I agree with the New York Times: It’s definitely not the same business. We’re not in Kansas anymore.

Searches on this blog

Today so far, these have included:

annie leibovitz aperture 2
can you shoot in black and white with th 1
street light site:.ca language:en 1
24-70 2.8l 1
turning off the beep on canon 7d 1
7d and monolights 1
canon leibovitz 1
kodiak gallery in the distillery distric 1

——

Well, in short:

Annie shoots Canon but I am not sure at what aperture, or whether she uses Aperture or Lightroom. Yes you can shoot B/W with any camera – but best to convert from colour on the computer.The 24-70 2.8L is a very good standard pro lens. Yes you can turn off the beep and yes you can use any camera with monolights, just use pocketwizards or a cable.

"IV - Intravenous", Kodiak Gallery, Toronto

And my “IV” exhibit at The Kodiak Gallery in The Distillery District (55 Mill St, Building 47, Toronto) finishes today – last chance to see this shocking but ultimately triumphant exhibit.

Light direction tip

Here’s a “quick start” for lighting a face:

  • For a man, start with having the main light come from 45 degrees above, at an angle of 45 degrees left or right (“Rembrandt lighting”)
  • For a woman, start with having the main light come from 45 degrees above, straight in front (“Butterfly lighting:)

The latter looks somewhat like this:

I took that snap at last Tuesday’s Phoenix “Advanced Flash” workshop. And you can see how: another course participant is holding a 430EX flash off camera, which I am firing from the main camera using TTL light control. Aperture and shutter speed, and ISO, are set so that available light is two stops darker (i.e. it provides the fill light).

Why this rule-of-thumb of “from straight in front” for women? Because it minimizes texture and features, and hence best shows beauty.

Please do not be hung up on these “rules” – they are merely good start points.

To some extent this snap is also an example of “short lighting”: I am lighting the side of the face that is narrower to the camera. This thins, which in the case of this beautiful woman is not necessary, but in case of larger people, or people with very round faces, can be a useful technique.

Light is fun

..and there are still a couple of spots left for the small two-day intense light workshop that Joseph Marranca and I are organising two weeks from now, on 10+11 April at my country home in Mono, an hour north of Toronto. Details here.

If you use an SLR and already know all the basics but you have always wanted to learn how to “do” all manner of lighting, this is not to be missed. Studio srobes, speedlites, reflectors, modifiers; fill, ambient and flash: you will learn many cool techniques. Including how to do shots like this:

That used three off-camera speedlites.

See you in Mono!

MBA RIP

Uh oh: my laptop, an old Macbook Air, just broke – the hinge. This means that Ill need to shell out $2k for another one tomorrow. Painful, very painful. But life without a good laptop is impossible to imagine, now.

Accessorize.. accessorise.

Especially when it’s useful. Like in this case: the Honl Photo light modifiers’ carrying case. If you don’t have one yet, get one:

Very handy bag to keep all your modifiers, like bounce cards, gels, and snoots in one convenient place. And it attaches to a light stand, camera bag, etc, with a convenient clip.

Mine carries things like the reflector you see David Honl himself aiming at Studio Moirae’s Christie, when he joined me for my flash workshop in Phoenix a few days ago:

These small modifiers really have made a tremendous difference to the utility of small speedlites in professional lighting. If you do not yet have the range of Dave’s bounce cards, reflectors, gels, grids and more, then get them now.

Joe McNally is rumoured to have said that “if your subject is interesting, don’t light all of it”. That would be right if he had, and it is there that Dave’s range of modifiers shine: there and in being small, affordable, light and especially, durable, so that I can use them on the road.

That’s not all. There’s more exciting news coming soon from David Honl soon. Stay tuned until I can reveal the latest modifier.