Author Archives: Michael Willems

Kodiak

Posted on by
Reply

As of today, you can see and buy some of my prints (some of the nudes) at the Kodiak Gallery, in Toronto’s historic (and artistic) Distillery district. Ask Gregory Talas, the gallery’s owner, to show you my work.

I must say I highly recommend Gregory as the consummate pro. He is not just a gallery owner: he is a very experienced award-winning photographer and artist himself. And a nice guy.

So a trip to this gallery is worth it not just for my prints, but for three other reasons. One is to chat with Gregory. One is to see the distillery district – you’ll see a lot of artistic things and people, and many photographers. And the final reason is to see Gregory’s own work. For instance, his series of the Jewish ghetto in Vilnius, some of which is now being restored (post Nazi- and post Soviet-era), is outstanding.

Red Green

Posted on by
Reply

Here is my Canon 7D with a few of my speedlights (pro speak for “flashes”), pocketwizards, and cables:

Sometimes I use them for standard lighting. Sometimes I use effects -more often than not colour. Here’s four of them firing at once, with some of those excellent (try them) Honl gels:

I try to add a splash of colour every now and then. Like here in this outtake from a recent shoot (see the slight green on the subject’s left, our right?)

And I recommend that you try this, also. Recommended.

This season, think “red ” and “green”. Seasonal family pictures, but add some splashes of green and red light to the fun.

For this, I would use manual and pocketwizards. But here’s the key: I would still use TTL for the main (bounced-off-the-ceiling-behind-me) flash. So the normal flash is on the camera (or with the 7D, off the camera), while the “effect” flashes are fired with PW’s from the x-synch socket, and set manually to, say, 1/4 – 1/16th power.

That’s what is happening th that “four flashes side by side” shot above: the two left flashes are fired by the 7D’s popup flash using e-TTL, while the right two are fired by Pocketwizards that are driven by the sender PW on the camera’s x-synch contact. Yes, that works fine!

And wide again.

Posted on by
Reply

Wide angles. Have I told you I like those? Here’s a snap taken with 16mm on a full frame camera (equivalent to 10mm on a crop camera):

MVWS0656

Downtown Toronto on November 12, 9AM.

Here, it is the otherworldly light reflections plus the Infiniti’s red LED brake lights that do it for me. Do you agree?

Here’s another one, from a wedding earlier this year:

You can see it is wide, partly by looking at the ceiling lights and at the floor. Gives it that “vast” look.

Bright sun = flash

Posted on by
Reply

The brighter it is, the more you need your flash.

Huh? That sounds counter-intuitive?

Not when you think about it. Bright sunlight means harsh, contrasty sunlight.  Contrast means that part of your picture will be too dark or too bright.

Here is Sedona, AZ, last week:

Not bad. But can you see how dark the foreground is?

“But you can use exposure compensation, Mike, plus one or two stops”, I hear you say.

Yes, but then the entire picture goes brighter, so the background would be all washed out – too bright.

So the only way is to turn your flash on. And now you get this:

And that is why you should always carry a flash – even on the beach, even in Mexico, and even in Arizona. The brighter it is, the more you’ll be likely to occasionally (or more than occasionally!) need it.

Shooting a legend

Posted on by
Reply

Wendel Clark was in town tonight, and I shot him tonight for Oakville.com, delivering a large cheque. Pictures here:

http://www.oakville.com/photos/

One sample here:

©2009 Michael Willems

Credit where credit is due: fellow photog Nikki Wesley of the Oakville Beaver came up with the excellent elevated viewpoint, but I will take credit for spotting the Zamboni and waiting until it was behind the cheque-holding gentlemen!

Beep

Posted on by
Reply

A quick reminder to all of you who shoot events. Make sure, if you would, that you turn off the focus beep in your camera when you are shooting things that like or need silence. Music recitals, weddings, chess: you will be severely dealt with. Turn off the focus beep and you will hardly be noticed.

The same goes for the beep in Nikon i-TTL/CLS flashes.

And the same goes for the shutter: on Canon 1-series bodies you can turn the shutter down to a lower volume “(“silent mode”). It’s not silent but it is less intrusive.

All part of staying out of the way!

Im asking the questions!

Posted on by
Reply

OK, that is, for once, I will ask a question.

I shoot with flash – I even teach the subject. My setups are often like this one I used a few hours ago today:

Tht was to shoot an exec portrait.

In a setup like that (three speedlites, one with a gel) E-TTL (or Nikon’s i-TTL) does not work well. No reflecting surfaces in that big hall,  and no line of sight, what will all those umbrellas. So, I use Pocketwizards and manual metering. Fine – no problem.

In this setup I have two needs:

  1. I need to connect the pocketwizards to 430EX flashes that have no x-synch input. So I need to find a way to connect them so the PW can trigger the flash.
  2. I need to mount all this without dangling things. I note that both the flashes as well as the Pocketwizards have threaded holes for mounting stuff. How do I use those?

So who sells the cables I need, and hwo has mounting hardware that uses those thraeded mount holes? Especially in Canada and of course “now”, not “next year”? My local camera store did not know.

Answers are therefore very welcome, and not just by me, I bet.

Oh and the portraits, for a magazine, were of this type:

Movie night

Posted on by
Reply

Yesterday night I and a few photographer friends watched David Honl’s two-DVD workshop combo, “Light”.

David Honl is a well-known LA-based international photographer whose blog you can see here. His DVD shows him using small flashes to do various professional shots, and he both shows and explains how he gets the excellent results he does.

Disclaimer: I am on David’s Round Table, together with Joe McNally, Lucas Gilman, Ken Cedeno, Cherie Steinberg Coté, and Gavin Blue. I am delighted to be on the Round Table because Dave’s small, light and convenient small flash modifiers have made my life easier, and I am inseparable from them.

Since the roundtable is not a paid position, I feel perfectly qualified to comment objectively on this DVD.

So, the details after the break:

Continue reading →

Calgary

Posted on by
Reply

The other day, as we were landing (on my way back from the recent trip to Phoenix), into the -18C frigidity:

Click for larger.

How to shoot these in the first place: I have recently talked about this. Basically, low ISO but large aperture (low “F-number”), wide angle, and get very close to the window.

As is often the case with aerial shots, this image needed some adjusting in Photoshop: mainly, a levels adjustment; with a bit of noise reduction added, followed by some sharpening after resizing.

Event pic

Posted on by
1

From an event I shot for The Oakville Beaver a few weeks ago:

For something like this I use flash as well as high ISO/wide aperture/slow shutter for the background, and I use a wide, wide angle to introduce depth.

If I can bounce the flash off a wall or ceiling, I will, or else I’ll use a bounce card (in this case a Honl bounce card) or if there is some bounce surface, a Gary Fong lightsphere.

The “slow shutter” thing is called “slow flash” on Nikon. It’s also referred to as “dragging the shutter”. This just means you let the shutter speed get slower than 1/60th second, to allow the background light to do some work too. I do this by shooting manual, but I could also shoot in Av mode (or in Nikon, enable “slow” in A mode).