Category Archives: Light

Fun with Gels 3

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I shot a night club yesterday.

Dark (black) walls, low light, stark modern furniture, not easy to shoot.

First, I used a wide angle lens (16-35 on a full frame camera). That got me the ability to get it all in, as well as freedom from focus and shake worries (the wider a lens, the easier it is to shoot at low speeds and the easier it is to focus on everything). I used a tripod, so the low speeds did not matter, but the focus all the more.

Available light was dull. Like this:

Berlin Night Club in Oakville, using simple light

Night Club using simple light

So I got out my bag of tricks:

  • A Pocketwizard on the camera
  • Four small flashes with pocketwizards: for the next shot I used one 430EX through a white umbrella and one direct, equipped with a red Honl Photo gel.
  • I set the flashes’ power levels manually, using simple trial and error and the histogram.

Now I got this:

Berlon Nightclib using two flashes

Nightclub using speedlights and gels

Isn’t that much more interesting?

Same here in the following picture. First, with just the flash in the umbrella:

Not bad, but a bit like a furniture catalog. How about with a nice red gelled flash also:

More like a club where things are happening.

The following shows part of my setup for another part of the room, with alcoves:

Light setup with multiple=

Which, when properly positioned, got me pictures like this:

Nightclub lit with multiple=

Look at the stool’s legs: do you see how much difference that red accent makes?

Later still I used a white umbrella plus a red gelled 430, a Honl Folies Purple gelled 430EX in the dance cubicle upstairs, and a red plus an egg-yellow gelled 430 as well. All of this done with Honl gels and Honl speedstraps.

Before:

..and after:

Of course some scenery needed no gels to pretty it up, just one bounce flash:

I did have to move her to the right where the bar had a small ceiling area to bounce off.

Flash Modifiers, when to use: 1 – The Fong Thing

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Some photographers love the Gary Fong lightsphere because it throws light everywhere and makes it simple to shoot. Others hate it because it throws non-directional light, meaning “no art”.

They are both right. Every modifier has a range of situations where you use it, and a range where you do not use it. The key is not just to learn how to use a modifier, but it is to learn when to use it in the first place, and when not to.

So the Fong Lightsphere is a modifier that:

    1. You put on your flash
    2. Aim upward
    3. Use without the dome if you have a white ceiling; else use with the dome (the round side down).
    4. And which then throws the light everywhere.

      And I mean everywhere. Left, right, up, down, front, behind: photons bathe the room. And reflect off anything that can reflect. Which is the Lightsphere’s benefit.

      It is therefore good to use in situations where:

      1. It is dark.
      2. It is impossible to find a good bounce wall/ceiling behind you. A good wall/ceiling is almost always preferable if you can find it.
      3. You are looking for anything to get light into the room: you are not interested in artistically shaping light.

      Like in this unedited image of the Wendel Clark restaurant I shot yesterday:

      Using a Gary Fong Lightsphere

      Using a Gary Fong Lightsphere to light a restaurant

      Note that I was using my Gary Fong Lightsphere on a separate flash in my left hand, aimed at the ceiling. I was using TTL to fire that flash from the one on my 1Ds camera. Yes, you develop strong hands as a photographer – that, and arthritis.

      That off-camera use is a key technique for me: I often like to use the Fong off-camera to give me at least a little bit of shaping.

      Here’s another picture from that shoot:

      Wendel Clark Restaurant lit with an off-camera Lightsphere

      Using a Lightsphere

      So while as you all know I normally much prefer the Honl lightshapers – they allow me artistic control over where the light goes – “trendy venues” is a prime case where I use the Fong Lightsphere.Because Trendy Venues have no simple walls or ceilings, and those that there are tend to be black. So you need to bounce those photons off anything that wiull reflect them, anywhere in the room. Enter the Fong Thing.

      What does the Fong Thing look like: Here’s me with one on the camera.

      Manual redux

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      When do you shoot manual – remember that question?

      One example of a case: when the light is constant (cloudy day), and when you need to shoot things that vary in brightness, and some of which are dark or bright, like monument and people in black uniforms.

      Navy Commemoration

      A solemn moment at a Burlington, Ont. Navy Commemoration Service

      In other words, like in the shoot I did for The Burlington Post Sunday.

      See  yesterday: you would have to change exposure all the time by varying exposure compensation constantly. “manual” means I can concentrate on what to shoot, not on technical details.

      Black and white

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      And this time I do not mean “as opposed to colour”. I am repeating myself here, but it is worth doing: a few words about metering light and how your camera does it, and how to fix it when it does a less than stellar job. I get so many questions abut this, it seems worth going over it again.

      Let’s analyze this exposure puzzle. It has three elements.

      ONE. Your camera’s light meter is a reflective meter. It measures light reflected off your subject. So it does not know how much light is hitting your subject – it only knows how much is reflected. That is one part of the puzzle.

      TWO. Your camera also does not know what the subject is. That is the second part of the puzzle.

      THREE. Your camera’s job is to:

      1. See how much light there is
      2. Then set aperture, shutter, ISO (or some of those – depending on what exposure mode you are in) to ensure that that observed quantity of light gives you a well-exposed picture: not too bright, not too dark. This is a narrow range of acceptable light on your sensor: a bit too little and it’s underexposed; a tad too much and it’s overexposed. Your camera’s job is to keep the light on your sensor within that range.

      That is the third part of the puzzle.

      So let’s put them together.

      Usually, they go together well and you get a nice picture of whatever you are aiming at. Done.

      But when does this not work? When your subject is meant to be dark – because it is. Or when your subject is meant to be bright – because it is.

      Exercise. in Program mode “P”), and using no flash, and taking care to fully fill your viewfinder with it, shoot a ski hill. Or a white sheet of paper made to look like one:

      Looks grey! Because that is the camera’s job.

      Now shoot a coal mine. Or a coat that is as black as one:

      What the… that also looks grey!

      That is because the camera does not know it is meant to be black. By default, your camera makes everything “in between” in terms of brightness.

      Solution. Now find the Exposure Compensation button on your camera. It looks like a “+” and a “-” with a diagonal line separating them. Plus means “turn up the brightness”, minus means “turn down the brightness”. (It does this by varying whatever it is varying of shutter speed, aperture or ISO, but only “more so”). You may have to hold the button while turning a wheel, and you can see what you are doing as a number or as a graph on the top of back of your camera, depending on which camera you have.

      Find the control and turn the value up to +2 and re-shoot the ski hill. Now you get:

      That’s better. Check the histogram to ensure it is not stuck against the right side (“overexposed”).

      Now set the Exposure Compensation to -2 (minus two). Re-shoot the black coat. You get this:

      Finally. A black coat!

      So now you know:

      • When your picture looks too dark, use +/- set to plus and retake the picture
      • When your picture looks too bright, use +/- set to minus and retake the picture
      • This is most likely to be needed when your subject is very dark (coal mine, black coat, dark night) or very bright (beach, snow, white marble room, piece of paper, person against a white wall).

      That is actually quite simple!

      Notes:

      • Do not use flash – that’s a separate subject (and it has a separate adjustment)
      • You can also spot meter to a grey subject to avoid the need for exp comp
      • You can use manual and use the displayed meter in the same way (minus mens darker, plus means brighter).

      Try it and you should, from now on, have no problem exposing right.

      See the light!

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      Tip of the day:

      To see the colour of the light you are shooting in, to really see it, take a first test-shot in every shoot with the white balance set to daylight (the sun symbol). That will show you the real colour of the light. Then you can take it from there.

      You can judge by yourself, by looking at the back of  your camera, or you can look at the colour histogram, if your camera supports that.

      Off-camera flash kept simple

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      Sometimes it can be simple: off-camera flash can be really easy. Like in this student’s recent portrait:

      Off-camera flash portrait

      Off-camera flash portrait

      You can also see how nice the splash of colour is in the background, right?

      A matter of choosing manual mode with just the right combination of aperture and shutter speed and ISO to get enough light into the background. And Flash White Balance makes the tungsten light look nice and orange.

      My message today: although flash can be done in a very sophisticated manner, it is not always necessary to make it complicated. Often, very simple is all you need. “Off camera” is often enough to just make it work. And an off-camera flash cable, while not cheap, is the simplest way to achieve this.

      Why would you use flash outdoors?

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      So why would you use flash outdoors during the day?

      Sometimes it is obvious: to fill in shadows on backlit subjects. Or to soften hard shadows. But sometimes you do it for more artistic reasons.

      Let me illustrate this with a shot taken during the Get Out and Shoot run we did in Toronto early this week – the workshop I wrote recently.

      Imagine you are shooting someone – me, say – on a bright day, but in a spot where I am in the shade against the shady side of a grey building. Before you know it you get a dull picture: grey and low-contrast on all counts: blaah.

      So that’s when you bring out the flashes. Say, two remote “slave” flashes, fired by a “master” flash on the camera. One slave to the camera’s left, shining into a Honl reflector, and aimed at the subject’s face, to add bright light to the subject. The second flash is equipped with a Honl Speedstrap and on it, a green gel, and this flash is aimed at the grey wall behind the subject to make it less grey.

      Now you get this:

      Outdoors Flash

      Outdoors Flash Used During the Day

      You will agree, I hope, that this is a lot better than it would have been without the help of flash. Even, no, especially, on this bright day.

      Want to learn about all this stuff: read here of course, but also: join me for training.

      (Thanks to colleague photographer Rob Corrado for the picture)

      A reader asks: Manual? Why?

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      A reader asks:

      “Question: I understand why you would use most of the modes ( av, tv, etc.) but what are the main applications where one would/should use the manual mode? Thks”

      Great question.Why use manual? Here’s why you want to use manual (“M”) exposure mode (the dial on top of your camera).

      • Predictability. If you set the camera to manual exposure mode, your settings are, well, set. Turning your camera a little to the right or left will not now change your exposure. Imaging you are shooting in a room with predictable light, but your subjects walk in wearing white suits, then black suits, then white suits again.
      • Hard to measure subjects. How are you going to measure fireworks? It cannot be done in any automatic mode since when the metering is done, it’s all over.

      That means you will want to use manual exposure mode in the following circumstamces:

      Some photographers say “always, and use a meter”, but for me, the above captures it nicely.

      PS: be careful: there are many types of manual. See here: http://blog.michaelwillems.ca/2010/03/11/manual/

      Tip time: studio setup

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      A few quick setup tips – for portable studios like mine, here today for a corporate shoot:

      Portable Photo Studio Setup Tips

      Portable Photo Studio Setup

      In no particular order:

      • Roll the paper the way I am showing here. Like a toilet roll: roll from the top. That way you get more available height.
      • The backdrop stand goes in a bag. Ensure that when you put it back in the bag, the large holes show. That way you can see which sidebar is the middle one – you may not need it (like me here).
      • Ensure cables are out of the way. Wrap them around light stands to avoid them hanging out too far where people can trip over them.
      • Always bring a power bar.
      • Use tape or something large on the floor to tell models where to stand and how to orient themselves.
      • Tell subjects “baby steps only when I ask for adjustments”. Else they always turn too far.
      • Start with the body. Then the head. Then the eyes.
      • Arrange to have a test subject available. Else your first client is the test, and that looks unpfofessional.
      • Use a tripod. Adjust height as needed.
      • Camera to 100 ISO and auto ISO off.
      • Camera on manual, 1/125th second, f/8, and use a meter to adjust the lights to that.
      • Test shot one: no flash. It has to be dark!
      • Test shot two: flash, but no subject (focus manually). It has to be white!

      That is, I trust, helpful. Efficiency is all, or a two-hour shoot can turn into four hours with setup and takedown.

      A studio like this one, the one I built this morning, took me half an hour to build and 15 minutes to take down.

      A quick product shot

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      Today, I am sharing a quick product shot.

      Here’s the shot, of my “nifty fifty”, a 50mm f/1.4 lens:

      And here’s how I shot it:

      • I used a Canon 5D camera on manual at 100 ISO, f/4 and 1/125th second.
      • The lens was on a table with a white sheet of Bristol Board underneath.
      • The background was an improvised white background (I used a reflector).
      • I used a 430EX flash with a Honl grid, diagonally above the lens, as the main light. The grid causes the dropoff from the centre.
      • I used a 430EX flash with a Honl blue gel and a Speed Gobo to illuminate the background.
      • I used e-TTL to fire the flashes, from my 7D’s pop-up flash (the 7D will support this, like Nikon cameras. On other Canon cameras I need to use a 580 EX flash on the camera to drive the remote flashes).
      • I set a flash ratio of 8:1 a:b, where A was the main flash and B was the product flash.

      All of which looked like this:

      Simple. It only took a few minutes to set up, which is good since I was tired.

      One tip: when shooting this type of product clean it well using a soft brush, or else you will spend hours in Photoshop or Lightroom aftereard, cleaning dust.