Fighting for light

When shooting outdoors in sunlight, it is better to turn people away from the sun, so they do not squint.

So you do it as in this recent shot (with the Hon. Minister Harinder Takhar of Ontario in the centre):

As you see, you now need a flash to light up the subjects. Else, they would become silhouettes.

And the constraining factors are:

  1. First, the power of the flash. If it is not as bright as the sun, roughly, then you will get an insufficiently exposed image.
  2. Second, metering. To check if this is an issue, turn the flash to manual, full power, and check if you are now getting an overexposed image.

In this image I used 1/250th second (the fastest I could do with the 1Ds) and f/11 at 200 ISO. Why?

  • 1/250th, since higher speeds would have meant high-speed flash would be needed, which would reduce flash power.
  • f/11, to get a dark enough background.
  • 200 ISO, since higher ISO would not have worked: lighter backgrounds would have resulted, necessitating smaller apertures

That last part is important: raising ISO is not a solution to the need to “nuke the sun”. Only more flash power is.

 

Filter question

A reader asked me this in an email, the other day:

hello , i was wondering how can you know how to get the right filter for your camera ?!

So that is an interesting question.

First, it is for the lens, not the camera. Each lens takes different filters.

There are two types of filters:

  • A UV filter is just for protection. I leave mine off, and only put them on when I am on the beach (as I hope to be as you read this), or when I am in a rainstorm, sandstorm or snowstorm. So I do have them, but do nto uyse much.
  • A polarizer – as you saw yesterday – is for turning skies blue and eliminating reflections.

But if you do not know what filter you need.. perhaps you do not need one at all. I don’t usually use any filters except a protection filter when I am in bad weather, as said above. Or a polarizer when I am shooting at mid day and want the skies to turn blue, or when I want water reflections to minimise.

As for how expensive a filter should be: Between $50 and $150, generally. Thin filters, used for wide angle lenses, cost more.

 

Traveling

As of today, I plan to be traveling for a week, so if posts are repeats, or delayed, you will know why.

Aircraft Landing (Photo: Michael Willems)

Aircraft Landing (Photo: Michael Willems)

Of course upon my return I hope to be able to show you some nice pictures.

In the mean time, a travel tip – and there will be a few more I should think.

TIP: when skies are blue, and you want contrast, use a polarizer. This is a filter that, when you turn it just the right way, removes non-metallic reflections and does this to the sky (especially at right angles to the sun):

Meaning a super-contrasty look between sky and clouds (even when shooting B&W).

 

As a reminder to travellers…

… since I am travelling tomorrow, I think there may be others… and hence, it occurs to me that this may be a good time to remind you of a recent article I wrote for Photo News Canada:

Michael Willems’s Top Ten Travel Tips for ‘Togs

In the next few days I shall probably post a few travel tips as well. But first – packing.


Tip: look for an all-new version of Travel Photography 101 at Henry’s soon. I am finalizing it now!

Haze as a benefit

When a shot of a distant scene is hazy, foggy, or smokey, this can be a bad thing. Low contrast can destroy that ice image of the distant scene.

But you can also make it into a benefit. By putting sharp objects large in the foreground. Now the haze helps to accentuate and apparently sharpen the close object.

Fire scene (Photo: Michael Willems)

So now the disadvantage becomes an advantage.

Fire scene (Photo: Michael Willems)

Fire scene (Photo: Michael Willems)

So whether it is a fire you are photographing, or the Grand Canyon, or London: try to get a sharp object large in the foreground if the background is hazy.

 

 

Outdoor flash

Summer is still here, so I think it might be a good time to repeat a couple of flash tips for the summer. Especially as I plan to disappear into the sun for a week, Friday.

Outdoors you often need flash. Sunlight is harsh: so you need to fill in the shadows.

Outdoors you need max power. So keep your speed below the synch speed – 1/250th second on my 1Ds camera. Else you need to use high-speed flash, which loses power. Which you can ill afford on those sunny days.

Outdoors you can use direct flash, aimed at your subject. It is better to have studios and umbrellas and such – but outdoors you do not have that luxury, and you do not want to lose light.

So use a direct flash, and really, it can look very good. Especially if you take the flash intensity down a little (that’s what we call “fill flash” – 1-2 stops below ambient).

For a recent example of fill flash, see this image I shot at Minister Takhar’s Golf Open the other day.

Golfers (Photo: Michael Willems)

Not high art – but you can see the faces, and they are not half black. And often, that is all we want from a picture.

 

Size matters

Size – of your lens – matters. Like for travel, where you want a wide angle lens (10-20mm on a crop camera). Or on a portrait shoot, where you want the longest possible lens.

Why? Well, just look what happens when you use a wide angle lens for a portrait. To do thijs, you need to get close. Getting close means that what is cloer to you looks larger (hold your thumb in front of the moon: is your thumb really larger than the entire moon?)

So you get this:

Not bad, you say. Sure – but look whant happens when you use a longer lens; say, a 135mm lens:

See how much more neutral, “normal” that looks? So that is why you use a long, long lens for these “headshots” close-up portraits, when you can.

And the limiting factor? Simple – the size of your studio. A long lens means “stand back far”.

But if you have the space, that is exaclty what you should do.

 

 

 

On-camera softbox outdoors

When taking a picture outdoors on a sunny day, you may, as said many times here, want to use flash. Else you get this:

Sunlight bad. Shadows, brrr.

So instead, you use a flash.

But you all know that on-camera flash is bad. It has three major drawbacks:

  1. Harsh light.
  2. Non-directed – flat light.
  3. And the speedlite is not powerful enough.

True. But you can solve these three problems – as follows:

Harshness: use a softbox on the on-camera flash. Like the Honl Photo Traveller 8 softbox. Flash on camera; softbox on flash; aim straight ahead.

Non-directionality: a-ha. So if your model is looking to the right, say, then you turn the camera to the right, so the light is coming from the right and hitting her in the face from there. Yes, that is contrary to the way you normally hold a camera in vertical orientation! The shutter is now below, instead of on top. Bad technique normally; but here, necessary!

Power: if you want a dark background on a sunny day, you need to shoot at 1/200th second (stay below your sync speed!), 200 ISO, f/16. the only way to use a flash with that small an aperture is to be close. So you get very close!

So that is:

  1. 1/200th second, 200 ISO, f/16
  2. flash on camera
  3. softbox on flash
  4. flash aimed straigh ahead
  5. camera turned so that the flash is on the side of your subject’s face
  6. get close

And that gives you:

Jenna Fawcett, model (Photo: Michael Willems)

Not bad for an on-camera flash snap, huh? I used a Honl Photo Traveller 8 softbox, which was essential in this shot. It also gives you those wonderful round catchlights. Beautiful.

(I took this shot as a demo for students in the all-day Creative Light workshop we did Saturday. Stand by for more dates soon. ou can do this – it’s a matter of knowing the technique!)

 

 

Hay there girl!

Here is model Jenna Fawcett, as I photographed her in yesterday’s Creative lighting workshop:

Model Jenna Fawcwtt (Photo: Michael Willems)

To make a picture like this, several things must come together.

Namely:

  1. A location. Simple, beautiful, with red and green and blue together. You have heard me before: red, green and blue in one shot, especially if saturated, make for a good picture.
  2. A subject. In this case a model, and clothing-make-up, props.
  3. The right equipment – camera and lens.
  4. Now, first of all, exposure set to expose the background properly.  Meaning nice and dark – “saturated” means “not overexposed; not mixed with white light”. The camera’s meter points at, say, -2.
  5. Light to light up the subject. Meaning flashes-  in the case of a sunny day – biiig flashes, with octoboxes, umbrellas or softboxes. Battery-powered if you are in a field in Ontario. One on the right; one on the left.
  6. Proper exposure of this flash light (this may need a light meter). Becasue you underexposed the background, your subject, if exposed “normally”, will now stand out wonderfully.

And that’s the story. This setup looks like this:

Model Jenna Fawcwtt (Photo: Michael Willems)

Is a sunny day better for these shots? No – a sunny day is much more difficult. Nasty shadows, and you need very high power to be able to “nuke the sun”. So for a sunny day you need strobes, and power.

Why did I call this post “Hay there”? Here’s why:

Model Jenna Fawcwtt (Photo: Michael Willems)

Can I learn this? Yes. Easy – follow the rules above.

Yes, you need to learn lots of finicky stuff about aperture, shutter, and ISO – but it’s worth it. Read this blog daily. Try. Take a course. And take one of the workshops Joseph and I do – they are quite the experience, and include beer and wine and portfolio shots – and great images to take home!