Author Archives: Michael Willems

Don’t overlight

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A very common mistake of a less experienced photographer is to “over light” the subject of the image. Sometimes less is better. Like here:

Michael Willems, Self-portrait

So for many portraits and creative shots I recommend you do not start with throwing light everywhere. Start with dark. Then add light -and colour- where you want it, bit by bit.

So that is why…

  • We avoid white studios and backdrops.
  • Or we use black reflectors to eat up light.
  • And we set our ISO/Aperture/Shutter to kill ambient light.
  • And we use softboxes, grids, snoots, and gobos, not just umbrellas.

If you think about these things, your creative images will be better – I guarantee it.

 

TTL Flash and Batteries

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A couple of days ago, a reader asked me this:

I did your flash course about a month ago and enjoyed it so much, I actually bought a flash 😀  I got the 430EX II.  I do have a question about it.  I used it this past weekend doing some Christmas photos and I found that I just ran through batteries REALLY fast.  I’m wondering why.  I thought that the battery life would be longer than an hour or so (continuous shooting but I had it set to ETTL which I thought would adjust for my lighting).  Do I need to set the flash in some way?  Am I firing too high?  I just pulled it out of the box and started using it and made no adjustments and I am wondering if that is my problem.  I used Energizer rechargeable batteries, that were fully charged.  In total I took about 650 photos (was doing shoots for different families) and went through three changes of batteries.

Well… I would say that is roughly about the expected battery life for a shoot where you use the flash at high power. An hour of non-stop shooting takes a lot of power, so you need to carry lots of batteries.

If you had a 580EX, it has twice the power, if you should need it – but it can take an optional battery pack. Whether this warrants the price difference I am not sure: this is a decision only you can make.

You are using your flash right. And the mode you use your flash in makes no difference to battery life: after all, whether you set the flash power level (“M” on the back of the flash) or whether you let the camera do it (“ETTL” on the back of the flash), it’s still going to be the same power level!

So what does affect the power level the flash needs to emit? Factors include:

  1. The size and reflectivity of the room, if you are bouncing your flash. A dark high ceiling eats power; a small room with white ceilings and walls reflects more, so needs less flash power.
  2. Or if you are shooting direct, which I hope you are not, then the zoom angle of your lens and the proximity to the subject determine power needed.
  3. ISO. The higher the ISO, the less power the flash needs. (Set it to at least 400 for indoors flash – often, you may need 800).
  4. Aperture – the smaller the “f-number”, the longer your flash will last. Shoot at f/4 if you can, and if your subjects are in one plane).

So you can help the flash along by bouncing wisely, increasing ISO, and decreasing the “F-number”. But in essence, yes, a flash will use batteries – which is why you (a) use rechargeables, and (b) carry many of them.

 

Give the gift…

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….of learning.

Wherever you do it, learn, and encourage others around you to learn also. In photography more than in any other endeavour, you have to keep learning. And I can help.

Here’s one way: buy a Seasonal Gift for a loved one. You can do this at the special December discounted price – 10% off the normal $95 hourly rate. Two or three hours, or a ten-pack or twenty-pack. Whatever you need.

You get a personalized certificate emailed to you, like this:

…which you then print and put under the tree, or whatever your gift-giving tradition may be. Done – and bonus: you avoid the mall.

 

Lightroom 3.6 is out

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…and I think that if you are a Lightroom user, you should upgrade now. New cameras supported and a number of bugs fixed – Adobe has details on this blog.

If you are not a Lightroom user, I hope you are at least an Aperture user.

And if you are neither, then you probably should be. Lightroom has saved me up to 80% of my previous post-production time. ‘Nuff said.

 

To keep in mind these festive days:

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Lights are cool, especially when you throw them out of focus.

Like in this snap from the other night – most people’s nightmare, my happiness:

Microphone (Photo: Michael Willems)

Look at the out-of-focus lights in the background. Nice?

Surely for this kind of shot you need an f/1.4 lens?

Nope. I shot that at f/4 (you can see the shapes are not quite round: with a wide-open lens they would have been).  The reason I got the blur is that I was close – very close.

So – open your lens, put lights in the background, and get close.

 

The Eyes Have It

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Look:

This photographer is doing what I do – she, like me, is left-eyed.

Did you know we are all left- or right eyed, and left- or right-eared, just like we are left- or right-handed?

For photographers this means we either have to close our left eye, if we use our right eye to look through the viewfinder, or we use our left eye in which case the right eye is behind the camera (and our nose is against the LCD screen).

It’s not a big deal, but it pays to realize what we are. Next time you pick up your camera and your phone, observe which eye (and ear) is dominant.

 

Environment

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I like people in their environment, and I like to picture them in it. A short word about that, today.

Last night, I made kid and family portraits of a very nice family. Mostly straight four-light portraits against a backdrop, like this:

But at the end, I did some family photos. For which I chose a more “real” backdrop.

No, I do not mean a “bursting through the reality envelope” setting like this (although in a strange way I do like it):

Family photo (Photo: Michael Willems)

But I mean this: a shot of the family in their home, with real items that make it home (the books, the window):

Family photo (Photo: Michael Willems)

I would call this a semi-environmental image. It is environmental in the sense that this is their home, and that I am balancing available light with flash light from my strobes. It is, however, also a studio shot, in the sense that it is posed, and this is the living room (which is never used in most home – a decorative room), and that I set it up and used it as a studio. I used lots of studio techniques – like strobes, and I flashed small speedlites at the ceiling in order to create the catchlights in the subjects’ eyes.

This image also needed a small amount of post work:

  • A little vignetting around the group
  • A part of one of my umbrellas showed as a reflection.
  • I increased exposure a little, also.

In a shoot like this, it is perfectly OK to do such post-work in Photoshop or Lightroom or in what software you choose to use. Don’t sweat it: shoot a competetnt image, then finish it in post.

 

 

What does Exposure Compensation do?

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I get the following question a lot:

What exactly does exposure compensation do? Can I do the same myself in manual mode, or does it do some magic using amplification or something?

Good question.

Exposure Compensation (the “plus/minus button” on your camera) simply lets the camera do its usual thing – it sets whatever it is setting – except more (or less) so.

As you know, if you are in Aperture Priority mode (A/Av), the camera sets the shutter. In Shutter Priority mode (S/Tv), the camera sets the aperture. In Program Mode (P), it sets both.

An example. Assume that you are, say, in aperture mode and the camera decides on 1/125th second for a given shot, after metering. If you now set exposure compensation to -1 (minus one), the camera chooses 1/250th sec instead. Selecting +1 (plus one) would make it choose 1/60th. And so on.

Similarly, in Shutter Priority mode the camera would change to a different aperture, and in program mode, it can choose to alter either, according to its exposure program algorithms.

And to make it more complex – exposure compensation can even change the ISO if you are in auto ISO.  This too is up to the camera’s logic algorithms.

So in you are in manual mode, YOU are the exposure compensation. If 1/125th second shows your meter at “zero”, then setting the speed to 1/250th would show the meter at -1 stop. You have set “exposure compensation” of -1 stop, i.e. you exposed to a meter reading of -1 stop below what the camera thinks is normal.

So.. no magic. The camera is just doing what you can perfectly well do yourself too, if you use Manual exposure mode.

Solved?


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Tip of the day: Events

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When shooting “camera-aware” pictures at events, here’s a tip:

Shoot every picture twice.

You should tell your subjects “we’ll do it twice”, and then do two shots.

Why?

  • People blink. But not twice.
  • You may get focus wrong in one shot – but not in both.
  • One or both subjects may relax after shot 1 – or stiffen.

Either way – there is a very good chance that one image will be markedly better than the other. And the better image is the only one you show.

That’s why you do this: it makes you a more successful photographer. Pros cannot fail!

 

Manual, again

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Another skill you may want to practice when using flash is to set the flash power to manual (instead of TTL), and see how you do. Push the “Mode” button on the back of the flash to “M”, and try various power levels.

Of course in a studio you always do this. But in an event shoot it is not usually practical. TTL is better. But still, knowing what kind of power level would work for you is a great skill, since it helps you know the possibilities.

And it is fun when you get it right. The other day during a class at Sheridan College, I guessed that 1/4 power would be the right level when bouncing the flash behind me, for this image of the class’s star student:

Star Student, shot with manual flash (Photo: Michael Willems)

Pretty much aced that huh? So having an idea is good… it’s like being at the supermarket, where you need to have some idea of whether the bill will be $7, $70, or $700. Makes you a better shopper.