Category Archives: Light

Colour your season

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The drab dark days of December can get to you – except if you take charge. That is why we put up trees, and icicles – and that is also why you can use gels.

Like these Honl Photo gels, which I use on my speedlights all the time:

Fun with Gels

Red and green are the seasonal colours that can make a boring scene into an appropriately brightly coloured one.

Especially with the remote flash technique I metioned a couple of days ago:

Fun with Gels

So your assignment: today, go take a few pictures with a gelled flash – or preferably with two gelled flashes.

A quick flash tip

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One of the things you may wish to do this festive season is use off-camera TTL flash.

I.e. holding the camera in your right hand and the flash elsewhere – for instance in your left hand (or your other fight hand if you have two – well spotted, Mike).

In any case: away from the camera – this is key to good pictures.

All brands of camera allow this, and if you have a Nikon, or a Canon 7D or 60D, you do not even need additional hardware: just your flash and your camera, with its popup.

The popup (or on other camera, the on-camera flash) now sends commands to the other flash. So you can light a subject – like the student in Thursday’s Flash class – from one side, in this case with a flash in an umbrella on our right side, with a reflector on our left:

Off-camera flash using TTL

Much better than straight flash!

You can even use several flashes, divided into groups. In the next shot, we have an additional flash on our left, rather than a reflector. That flash has a red gel (one of the Honl Photo gels) on it, to see clearly which light is doing what work:

Off-camera flashes, using TTL

But what you must remember is this:

Disable the on-camera flash.

That is, the pop-up or 580EX/SB900 on your camera still sends its commands to the other flashes, but when the actual photo is beingtaken, it does not flash.

If you forget to disable it, it will fire. And then you get this unfortunate effect:

On-and Off-camera flashes, using TTL

Deer in the headlights. Harshness. Shadows. Brrr: baaad.

So your tip: use off-camera flash, and disable the main flash from firing actual flashes. The camera menu (or the flash on your camera) has functions for this.

If you want to learn this and many other techniques before the holiday, take the advanced flash course in Mono (see http://www.cameratraining.ca) next week. Else, take a course with me or at Henry’s early in the year. It is worth learning flash!

The festive season.

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Whether you celebrate the Festival of Lights, or Christmas, or Kwanzaa, or whatever Eid this season has – or whether like me you just like parties and colourful lights, I urge you to shoot some unusual holiday pictures this month. So I will post a few posts in the next week with some ideas.

Idea number one is: detail and out of focus pictures of lights.

Start with the latter. Select a high enough ISO (say, 400 to start). Open your camera all the way (in Aperture Priority mode, select the lowest “F-number” your lens supports, like 3.5) and manually focus as close as possible (turn the lens to “MF”), while the lights are far away:

Out-of-focus tree lights

And then for the second type of image, get close to a subject and autofocus on the close subject. When using flash, use an external flash (not the pop-up), and aim this flash behind you (yes, behind).

Ball

Ensure that you expose right: use exposure compensation (or when using flash, also Flash Exposure Compensation) as needed (minus, when shooting dark objects):

Nutcracker

That way you get pictures of detail that will help you tell the story and that in themselves are visually interesting.

That was tip 1. More later this week.

No tie

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As reader Robert G pointed out, the other day I posted apicture of me without a tie.

Yes, sometimes I catch myself unawares. I am my own frequent model, and today’s image is myself, again without a tie, to demonstrate an illustration of a different lighting technique from the onein the recent posts.

This time I am using two speedlights from the side. Both speedlights are fitted with a Honl Photo Speed Strap and 1/4″ grid to soften the light and to avoid it spilling onto the white wall. This gives you a dramatic light which can be very good when shooting males:

Michael Willems (by Michael Willems)

Yup. No tie.

See what this edge lighting technique provides?

  • Shape (muscles)
  • Texture (you want this for males, not so much for females)
  • Dark backgrounds
  • The ability to make other areas dark.

This latter ability is often useful. Rememer: lighting is not so much about what you light – it is at least as much about what you do not light.

Simpler then.

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You may recall yesterday I asked whether you could do professional lighting with simpler means than this:

Mono Studio (Photo Michael Willems)

And indeed, you can.

The secret is to think about

  1. The background. If not simple, then make an environmental portrait and use the environment.
  2. The number of lights. In the studio above, my lights are doing it all. So I need many lights. So how about using ambient light as one source?

Here’s ambient light in an environmental subject (environment is relevant here – you’d have to know the story):

Ambient light

That’s good for ambient, but how about the subject? So, add one flash in a softbox. This gives you a finished shot. Just one light!

Kitchen Surprise (Ambient and softbox)

The recipe here is simple.

  1. Meter for outside light.
  2. Check what aperture that gives you – set sped to between 1/100th and 1/200th second on manual and aim for, say, f/8
  3. Now use your light meter to adjust the flash to that aperture (use your light meter).

Another light lit with the same technique (and again using just one softbox):

Dress in room

So while all the equipment is nice, by combining ambient and flash, you can do a lot with just one light. Keep that in mind over the holiday period.

If this all sounds complicated, at first glance it is, but once you know how to do it, it is simple. This is the kind of technique I teach at my advanced flash workshops, and at the advanced lighting courses Joseph Marranca and I teach together. The new schedule will be posted soon!

(Home) Studio

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Sometimes I use big lights, not speedlights. Here’s my studio for a shoot Friday:

Mono Studio (Photo Michael Willems)

That is a tad complex:

  • Three and a bit lights. I use Bowens lights – love them.
  • A way to fire them (cable or pocket wizards – I use the latter).
  • Modifiers (softbox for the main light, and umbrella, perhaps also a snoot)
  • A backdrop stand.
  • Paper roll. White, grey or black, depending.
  • Tape to hold the roll down.
  • Clamps to stop the roll from rolling down.
  • A light meter.
  • A tripod.
  • A camera with a lens of the right range (50-150mm)

It takes up to an hour to set that up, and a good half hour to take it down (ask why photography costs money).

And all this results in pictures like this:

Traditional Dress

For a studio like this you need, above all, lots of space. Especially when using powerful studio lights and long lenses like my favourite 70-200. Vertical space (ceiling height) as well as lots and lots of horizontal space. In this case, also space to move the subject away from the backdrop, in order to make it darker. Otherwise, if the subject is close to a white backdrop, the backdrop turns very white:

Michael Willems, self portrait

Michael Willems, self portrait

I like that look a lot, but the dress in the shot above had white, so we needed to create separation between it and the backdrop. Meaning we needed a darker backdrop.

So an important question: can you do anything with less?

Sure you can. Tomorrow I’ll show you some examples from the same shoot.

Black and white

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Black and white is often under-appreciated. You are taking stuff away, after all.

Yes. Colour. Of course. But you are also adding stuff.

Model Lyndsay in Mono (Photo: Michael Willems)

Lyndsay in Mono

As advantages of a black and white image, you get:

  • Shades of grey. Everything becomes shades of grey. So while in a colour image you may have various little groups of shade, in a colour image, all becomes grey. So you automatically get shades all the way from black to white, if you like.
  • Emphasis on texture. Textures, which can be lost in colour photos, are seen clearly in black and white.
  • Emphasis on shape. The same is true of shape. You are not drawn to colour, so now the pure shape is what draws you attention.
  • Emphasis on light. In the absence of colour, it is all light. You can light dramatically, softly: Light is seen clearly, not as colour, but as light.
  • Ability to tweak. You can tweak colours in post (or when using film, by using filters. Like in the example that follows below.
  • Ability to create mood. You can add shade. Drama. Even grain, to create an old film look. I do this a lot nowadays.
  • Simplicity: it is also easier to shoot. No white balance to worry about.

So today, let me show you just one trick: the above-mentioned ability to selectively change colour.

An original image of a student the other day:

Student in colour

Student in colour

Now converted in Lightroom to “neutral” black and white:

Student in B/W (Neutral)

Now, I used the HSL/Color/B&W tool in the Develop module to selectively increase the brightness of her shirt:

Student in B/W (Light shirt)

But of course I want to de-emphasise the shirt, so her face stands out! Here’s the version I prefer, with a darker shirt:

Student in B/W (dark shirt)

Can you see how much more this emphasises the student, while in the original image, the colours stand out instead?

Here is one more example of how colour can distract, and how in the black and white version that distrction disappears.

So: I recommend you try some black and white. (And do it in “post”, not in the camera. Otherwise you lose the ability to tweak. You can set your camera to B/W as long as you shoot RAW, so you retain all the information).

Add a splash

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Further to Thursday’s post, I thought I would brighten your day with some more colour.

You see, sometimes you need to shoot things that are a bit, well, drab. Like this wall – the screen is great but the wall is a bit dull:

Wall with screen

So then, as you also saw two days ago,  I shot it again, this time with two speedlites:

Wall with screen with gels

How was this rainbow effect achieved?

  • These two 430EX flashes were fired with TTL using a 580EX on my 1D MkIII.
  • They were aimed at the wall, one above the other, aimed in the same direction (good idea from my assistant).
  • They were fitted with Honl speedstraps and with a Honl gel each: red for the bottom flash, green for the top one. No other modifiers: other than the gels, they were bare.
  • The ratio between red and green was set on the back of the 580EX until I was happy.

That was simple, and I think you will agree it’s a better shot.

Home Studio Needs

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A reader’s spouse just asked me:

My spouse had a few photography lessons with you and I am considering getting him some equipment to begin setting up a basic photography studio in our home.  Since it’s a Christmas gift, I didn’t want to ask him or her directly what he or she would need and was hoping you could give me some advice regarding the brands and equipment he or she  would need.

Sure, I would be delighted to help. Here’s what I think you need for a home studio.

Always:

  1. A camera, of course.
  2. A suitable lens (maybe a 24-70, or a prime 50mm lens. For available light it needs to be a fast lens, like an f/1.8; for studio, the speed does not matter. For a big studio, get a 70-200 – but at home you are unlikely to have enough space).
  3. Some kind of background. For simple portraits, this can be a white wall. Or an air mattress blown up as a nice patterned background. Or anything else improvised.

Then, if you want a proper background:

  1. A stand kit – these are very affordable at Henry’s: they consist of two stands and  three crossbars. all in one case. Mine is a Cameron kit and I recall I paid somewhere between $100 and $200 for it.
  2. A roll of paper to roll down from the stand kit (I like grey, since you can make it any colour you like). Wider is better but you need space, plus the ability to transport it home, so you may want to choose narrow.
  3. Alternately, you can use a curtain (or two), hung down from a curtain-rod you attach to the wall just below the ceiling.

For available light portraits:

  1. That 50mm prime lens I mentioned. Or a 24 or 35mm prime lens. Now the lens needs to be fast (have a low F-number, like 2.8 or lower).
  2. A reflector (it can be one of those that folds up when not in use).
  3. A stand for the reflector, so you do not have to hold it.
  4. A window that faces away from the sun (e.g. a north-facing window).

For studio portraits:

  1. A backdrop, again, as above.
  2. A main light. Like a Bowens light (avoid Opus, but pretty much all others are great. For a home studio 200 Ws may be enough, though normally I would try to go with 400 Ws just in case.).
  3. These lights come with stands, usually. If not, you need to add a stand.
  4. A reflector, as above.
  5. A way to connect a flash cable to your camera. The light should come with a cable, and if the camera has a PC-type flash connector output, you are set. If not, a small converter from hotshot to flash connector is all you need to add.

That is the minimum. But to do it well, you may want some of the following added:

  1. Preferably, a second light.  Fortunately, many lights come in kits of two, like the excellent Bowens Gemini kits.
  2. A light meter (this needs to be a flash-meter).
  3. Two Pocketwizards to fire a flash (any other flashes can be slave-cell followers).
  4. One or two additional lights. These can even be speedlights, as long as you can fire them. Four lioghts is ideal, but not necessary of course.
  5. Modifiers – like grids, snoots and gels. If you use speedlites (small flashes) you can keep this simple: use the  Honl Photo range of small flash modifiers. That’s what I do.
  6. A tripod.

Here are two previous posts that may be helpful:

Does this help at all? I bet many of you, with Christmas just a month away, will be thinking similar thoughts.

Doing the impossible

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Often, as a photographer I have to do the impossible.

That is, of course, an overstatement. But there is a core of truth in it: photography is problem-solving.

The other night I shot an excellent Digital Signage installation. Innovative screens, powered by EnQii software, in a self-service restaurant.

The problem is: the screens are bright and need to be seen. And the restaurant is dark compared to the screens. Expose for the screens and the restaurant is dark. Expose for the restaurant and the screens overexpose.

There are three potential solutions:

  1. Turn down the screens. Not an option here…
  2. Light the restaurant with flashes. Lot of work, and not practical in a working restaurant.
  3. Shoot RAW and bring bright and dark together in post-processing.

I used a combination of 2 and 3.

More 3 than 2 in this shot:

Digital Signage

Digital Signage

And more 2 than 3 in this shot – with coloured Honl gels on my speedlites:

Digital Signage and gels

Digital Signage and gels

As you see, an impossible-to-shoot scene is possible.

  1. Do a test shot or two, in some automatic mode. Ensure you shoot RAW.
  2. Ensure you use a tripod if necessary (and it will be).
  3. Now first, expose for the screens. Expose to the right, but do not lose detail. Use the histogram and the “blinkies” to gauge this.
  4. Use a tripod if necessary.
  5. Then add light if necessary.
  6. Then in post-production, use “recovery” to decrease brightness in the screens, and “shadows” to increase brightness in the darker areas.

Try it – it is really not all that difficult!