Monthly Archives: October 2012

No direct flash

Posted on by
Reply

You have heard me say it many times: do not use direct flash (like your popup flash), especially when that direct flash is right on top of your camera (like your popup flash).

But what if you have no choice? Can you do it if you have to? Of course you can. The better the camera, the better. The better your control of that flash, the better. The farther the flash from the camera. And the better-looking the subject, the better.

Here’s an example from my class on Monday at Sheridan College. An example of what I would normally not do: unmodified straight-on flash.

I would normally not do this. Shadows. Reflections. Catchlights in the centre of the eye instead of high, where they belong.

Now to be fair, I did have to slightly lower the reflections on her face, especially on the nose. But other than that slight adjusting, not much done, and so you see – if you must do it, you can. In fact for young women, straight light can work well – it makes skin look very smooth. So remember to take everything I say as a guideline. A serious guideline – but one you can break if you must.

One caution. TTL flash will often (depending on your flash, your camera and your lens) take into account where you focus, and will expose for that. So if you focus wrong, your picture will be exposed wrong. As in this example of what not to do:

See? I focused on the background, so the TTL system exposed for that background. Keep this in mind. (And with this in mind, can you work out why you should keep recomposing to a minimum also?)

It’s all very logical, really.

 

A Couple Of Composition Tips

Posted on by
Reply

A few things work very well in composing images. I shall reiterate a few of them here, using recent photos:

First, framing. It is often a good idea to frame the object you are shooting. Use overhanging trees. A window frame. Or get even more creative, like here:

Not that every frame leads to a good picture – but some do, so learn to spot them.

Another technique that we often like: use reflections. Like here, since water is often a good source.

What did I use in the picture above? Yes, my speedlight. On camera, and zoomed in to 125mm, even though the lens is wide. And as you see, I did not use the rule of thirds in the vertical sense: because I wanted to get the reflection in.

There there’s “close-far”. Use a wide lens and get close to something in order to show depth:

And one more picture just for fun:

That images uses the above, plus it uses the background in order to tell a story.

There’s more – like the use of colour, and simplifying. A bit of thinking goes a long way in composing your shots!

 

Why Primes?

Posted on by
Reply

As many of you have seen, I shoot with prime lenses as often as I can. Here’s why:

Primes are smaller, lighter, sharper, less likely to exhibit distortion, and above all: faster. The ability to go down to f/1.8, f/1.4 or even f/1.2 is often a life-saver.

I have four primes:

  • 100mm macro f/2.8
  • 35 mm f/1.4
  • 50mm f/1.2
  • 45mm f/2.8 tilt-shift

The 85mm f/1.2 is the sharpest lens I have ever seen, but alas, I do not own it. Yet!

One advantage that I also need to point out again: primes are consistent. In terms of your compositions, but also -especially when you are learning – in terms of behaviour. Why? Let’s look at what changes with focal length:

  1. Depth of field
  2. Minimum shutter speed you can use handheld
  3. Perception of depth

With a zoom, all these change with every shot. With a prime they do not.

So if you do not have one yet, get a prime – like a 50mm f.1.8, which casn be had very affordably. And go play with it. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how good you get!

 

The Flash Power Challenge

Posted on by
Reply

So from my posts, you have seen that in using flash outdoors, the big challenge is:

To make the background darker without also affecting the flash power to the point that it is no longer sufficient.

To make an outdoors background darker, other than actually making it darker (sometimes the simplest option is the obvious one: wait for a solar eclipse, shoot later in the day, or use scrims), you can do four things:

  1. Use ND filters
  2. Decrease aperture (use a higher “F-number”)
  3. Decrease ISO
  4. Increase the shutter speed

Unfortunately, the first three of those also affect the flash: every use of those will negatively affect your flashes’ available range too. So you want to avoid them if possible.

And what about the shutter speed?

That does not affect your flash range. So it is the obvious one to use to make the background darker. But… only up to your camera’s synch speed (depending on your camera, this is normally around 1/250th sec). Beyond that, you cannot use flash.

“Yes you can, Michael, you can use Hi-Speed (Auto FP) flash”, I hear you say.  That is true – but that too negatively affects your flash range. Catch-22! So no, it does not help with your flash power. (Then why do we have it? Ah.. to allow outdoors shots with the blurry backgrounds that only large apertures will give you.. apertures that need fast shutter speeds!)

So. Again, as said yesterday, a nicely balanced outdoors flash picture (i.e one in which the background is darker), needs you to first of all use method 4 above, up to your flash sync speed.

After that, you must do one or more of of the folowing to still have enough flash power:

  1. Bring the flash closer.
  2. Forego the use of modifiers and use direct flash.
  3. Add more flashes.
  4. Use more powerful flashes (strobes instead of speedlights).
  5. Zoom in your flashes to concentrate the light (giving you more intensity over a smaller area).

Work though the logic of this post very carefully. Step by step – the logic is important, and it is important that you thoroughly understand it. This is not esoteric theory: this directs you in every day shooting, every single day!

One more time… flash outdoors

Posted on by
Reply

Even experienced photographers ask me how to use speedlights outdoors. So let me give you one more step-by-step for pics like this:

A method:

  1. Set your ISO to 100
  2. Set your shutter speed to your fastest sync speed (typically, 1/25oth sec)
  3. Now, ignoring any flash, select the aperture you need for a good background exposure. Probably something like f/8 to f/16 (the lower the number, the better, for your flash’s sake).
  4. Now set your flash to manual, full power.
  5. With that setting, try to see how close the flash needs to be to light up your close-by subject effectively. If that is too close for you, use it without modifiers and/or zoom it in manually. Or add  more flashes.
  6. Then, once you know what you are working with, you can choose to use TTL or manual, keeping the flash at that distance or closer.

That kind of methodical thinking will get you going quickly.

Typically, on a cloudy day it’s easy; on a sunny day. you will struggle with a speedlight, meaning you need to be close and/or unmodified.

Try it and ask here if you have questions, or do some coaching: I’m here to teach you this stuff quickly.

 

Engagement

Posted on by
Reply

An engagement shoot, this morning. It was cold, but the young lovers, Kristen and Dan, aren’t showing it:

In a shoot like this, you may want to keep in mind a few things.

  • There is bright stuff – the sky and directly sunlit areas – and dark stuff – the rest. It is impossible to get both in a shot well exposed (unless, of course, you use flash to light up whatever darker areas are important to you. Like your subjects.).
  • The White Balance of both areas are different. Shady areas look very blue if you white balance for the sunny areas (or for your flash, which is equivalent).
  • You need to simplify. Take out annoying branches, cigarette butts, and so on.
  • Do not pose. Position, instead.
  • Spontaneity is good. But sometimes you need to direct. Take a detached view.
  • Use the Rule of Thirds.
  • You can shoot a little wide and then crop later, if you wish.
  • However nice the wide angle shots are, also shoot some close-ups. Or vice versa.

Here’s a couple more samples of this wonderful couple – with minimal adjustments made in post. It is good to shoot it in camera if you can.

Technical details: I shot with the camera on manual, set for the right background. For light, I used an off-camera flash on TTL (using light-driven remote TTL).

So what do I do for a shot like this, which needs slow shutter?

Tricky. To get the slow shutter, I need a small aperture. But that kills my flash power. So I compromise:

  • I use the flash with no modifier (which also steals light).
  • I manually zoom the flash in to 200mm. This concentrates the beam, leading to higher available power.
  • Then go to the smallest aperture that gives me acceptable flash output.

Note that “just use an ND filter” is the wrong answer. Unless you have lots and lots of flash power to get through that filter. Which brings me to my last suggestion: use multiple flashes. Each doubling of the number of flashes gives you an extra stop of flash power!

___

Michael teaches these techniques and many others. Contact him to see how he can help you through a course, some coaching, or through a number of other methods all designed to increase your state-of-the-art speedlighting knowledge quickly.

 

Digital!!

Posted on by
1

Digital. Means “new”. “hi-tech”. And “need new stuff”, “short lifecycle”.

I have seen “digital” filters in stores. And I have seen digital lens cleaners, digital everything else.

Well, to this I have two notes.

First: “digital” is often used just to get you to buy things. Digital sounds new, and new, in Don Draper’s words, is an itch you desire to scratch. A way to get you to buy. The reality: if you use a protective filter on your camera, an “analog” filter will do just as well. There’s no difference. A filter is a filter.

The same goes for many other “digital” items: digital lens cloths? Really?? Caveat emptor: buyer beware; Careful what you pay for; or rather, careful that you really need it.

Second note… I do not use filters. As regular readers will have seen here, few pros put filters on their lenses in normal use. Yes, I do own the filters: when it is raining, snowing, I am in a sandstorm, at the beach: that is when I will put on a filter to protect my glass. Otherwise, it just adds flare and unsharpness (see my post in June).

 

Challenging Shots

Posted on by
1

Some shots can be a little tricky. Like this one, from Sunday’s shoot:

Tricky why? Because the model is jumping, making it hard to focus.

The solution? You could try AF-C/AI-Servo, i.e. continuous focus. But often in these cases a better solution is this (and that is what I did): pre-focus, then hold that focus while he jumps. So I had the model stand where he would be when I take the shot; then focused there and held that focus while he moved back and jumped; then I shot when he was once again in the same place.

Why is he not blurry? Because he is substantially lit by the flash, which fires faster than 1/1000th second.

Another, different challenge was presented by this shot:

Why? Because the original plan was to light the aquarium in part from behind. But I was shooting TTL, and guess what? I found out on Sunday that the light-driven TTL does not work through an aquarium. Fancy that. You learn something new every day, even when you have been doing it forever.

The solution was to light it from the sides instead, after removing the aquarium side doors. Sometimes you just have to change your plans a little bit!

Enjoy your speedlighting, everyone. I am off to sleep – finally, at 3AM.

More from Sunday

Posted on by
Reply

From Sunday’s shoot, here is another shot:

The scene was to be urban, so after we walked into the park I settled quickly on the concrete wall and stairs. Stairs are good; concrete is good; leading lines are good.

Now, a shot like this needs the same care and attention as the previously discussed shots. The same people – jewellery people, hair stylist, make-up artist, wardrobe people, model, assistant, and so on.

It was cold – very cold. So, fortunately, a shot like this can be done with relatively simple equipment. You can see some of it here:

Two umbrellas with speedlights, driven by one speedlight on my camera.

Of course that means line-of-sight is necessary (unless you can afford all radio-driven flashes). This needs some athletic moves on the part of the photographers.

Also, if you are using umbrellas, use sandbags or get someone to hold on to them: they will be blown over constantly.

The light, you say? Why flash outside?

Here’s why. I want the background darker. The camera is on manual, of course: I used 200 ISO, 1/125th second. f/5.0. Look what happened when the flash did not fire:

Nice – for the background. And with flash that becomes:

So my subject is now the “bright pixels”. Remember Willems’s Dictum: Bright Pixels are Sharp Pixels. I lit with two flashes: one from the left at higher power, and one on our right at lower power (to get modelling in the face).

I like colour for these, but a black and white version with grain added can also work well. Compare these two versions:

Which one do you prefer?

The lesson here? Light is good. Speedlights rock. And photos take some thought. The final click is just the culmination of experience, people, preparation and thought.

And the good news: there is virtually no post work on these pictures. If you prepare well, you can often get results in the camera, not on the computer.

 

Further to that shoot…

Posted on by
Reply

…here’s just part of the crew for that shoot yesterday (see my prior post today):

As you see, a simple shot for an ad takes a lot of people pulling together. Think about that the next time you are asked to pay a commercial rate for a commercial shoot – or the next time you are asking for a commercial rate.