Look at this recent sunburst picture:
Sunburst, Toronto
For a picture like this, a few things may help:
Oh…. and can you see that I used a speedlight to light up the tree?
A repeat from a previous post – not the same post but I shot the same picture of the Quartier Des Spectacles again in the Montreal Hyatt Regency hotel the other day:
Montreal-Framed
The framing did it for me, and the shadows.
We talk about framing as a useful device to draw attention to our subject. We frame pictures with whatever we can frame them with. Walls. Branches of a tree. Or a window frame, like in this picture.
Or indeed by branches:
St James Cathedral, Toronto
Can you see how I used a very wide angle lens, and I used my flash to light up the tree? I am known as the speedlighter for a reason!
In Montréal. Last night!
Montreal, 8 Oct 2010
Taken at 800 ISO, 1/30th sec, f/1.7.
Because of the fast (f/1.7) 20mm lens on the Lunix camera I was able to shoot at 800 ISO. Had I had a regular point and shoot, I would have had to shoot at a higher ISO speed, much higher.
Here’s another one:
Montreal at night, 8 Oct 2010
So the tips for today are:
And above all: bring the camera. And have fun.
Just a quick note today, since I am travelling to Montreal and Quebec City.
White balance is the process your camera uses to make white white.
But you can also use it to distort an image’s colours to your liking.
To turn white yellow, for instance. This shot is Tungsten light, but shot with the camera’s white balance set to flash:
White or orange?
You can, and should, experiment with white balance! Turn images blue or orange. Play a little!
Of course if you are only using one light source and you shoot RAW, this makes no actual difference, but it is still worth setting, if only (as I have pointed out here before) because you save timelater – and becasue you get to see an idea of what the image will look like in the end.
After last Sunday’s Creative Lighting workshop, and working up to next week’s Henry’s Digital Imaging show, at which I will be presenting for three days, I am thinking about light. As I always do.
Look at this shot from last weekend: model and friend:
Model and horse
Lit by natural light?
Not on your life.
Here is what they look like in available light:
Horse and model - available light
Now you see why we use softboxes, kicker lights, and so on.
Used in the first shot:
Simple, innit?
Well, maybe not that simple, until you are shown. Come take a full-day lighting workshop and I will teach you this, and come see me at the upcoming Henry’s show also, where I will do tethered portrait shooting to demonstrate all this.
One more from Sunday’s course.
This time, a portrait of model Tara that I made to help explain multiple flash TTL. Straight out of the camera it is:
Multiple-flash TTL lighting
How was this made?
With a small Traveller 8 softbox on the main light, a gridded gelled flash for the background, a snooted flash for the fill light, and a gridded gelled flash for the edge light.
Four speedlights, and all using TTL.
A few things to remember in such portraits:
Keep those in mind and your portraits will be well lit.
At the Mono “Creative Light” workshop, we do different portfolio shots every time.
So imagine our delighted on Sunday when a student turned up in a Hummer. This was immediately put to use by model Tara:
Tara Elizabeth and Hummer
That was lit how?
This is how: with a softbox, to our left. And a small speedlight to our left aimed straight at the car – with a blue Honl gel. Both were fired using pocketwizards (the speedlite using a Flashzebra cable). Metered using a light meter, of course.
Here is an alternate take:
Angry Tara, with Hummer
That was taken just a few minutes before. Can you see how every minute counts when shooting in beautiful late day light?
Okay, one more. Just to show that lens flare – which should normally be avoided – can sometimes be OK:
Angry with tire iron
You avoid flare by:
Have fun!
Today, I have a quick starting point for food photography for you.
Food Photography
And do not forget to eat the food, afterward.
Indian Food Photography
(Although you would be surprised how many food shoots use fake food. Ouch!)
One more, for good measure (I shot these for West of the City magazine early this year).
Indian Food Photography
A quick note for you today (and this is the kind of thing my students learn at length in my advanced courses, like the one tomorrow in Mono – there’s still some space).
Every had your camera react unpredictably when using flash? Yeah, I thought so. You flash and then the shutter stays open for a second and it’s all a blur. Or you flash and the background is dark black.
Why?
When you shoot indoors, say, and use your flash, your camera behaves differently in different modes – and this behaviour varies per camera.
Aperture mode (A/Av):
Program mode (P):
So
So what is the best mode when using flash indoors?
Ah, that would be Manual. That way the camera does exactly what you want. But we will get to this again another day.
TIP: if you want to try Manual indoors flash, start at 400 ISO, 1/30th second, f/4. And bounce your flash off the ceiling/wall behind you.
As photographers, we sometimes get stuck in ruts. Like the rut that all exposures have to be “natural”, and show the world like it is.
And this is a misconception. When we use fl;ash, we are showing it in an unnatural way, aren’t we?
And even when not using flash, you can create interesting effects by exposing more, or less, than you normally would. Less, like in this shot:
Royal Show, Crowd
Or more, like in in this high-key portrait of model Lyndsay:
Lyndsay Biernat, High Key portrait
To do this you simply either:
As an assignment, today, take a few pictures darker or lighter than your meter would normally make them.