The Gost of Parties Past

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Michael Willems

A persistent question I hear: “what about the unsharpness that occurs when you shoot using your famous recommend 400-40-4 rule“?

As said before. Yes – you may get some unsharpness, especially in the shape of ghosting, like in this shot – look at the hand:

Fair enough. BUT….

Motion blur occurs mainly in the “background” area, where the flash is not lighting your subject. Else it is just a little “ghosting”.
It’s only when there’s movement, really;
Key point: it is still better than a badly lit image!
And especially – it depends on your lens too. Wider is better.

The shot above was 1/40th second (or course) at a recent event shoot with the 70-200mm IS lens. When I use a wide lens, this hardly happens – see here the 35mm (on a full frame camera, so this would be a 24mm lens on a crop sensor camera):

So do not hesistae – you can shoot at slow shutter speeds.

Images taken at f/4, 1/40th second, 800 ISO – it was darker than usual, so an increase to 800 ISO was warranted to keep the background bright enough. This also gave my flash more durability and power.

Don’t overlight

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Michael Willems

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

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.

To keep in mind these festive days:

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Michael Willems

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:

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.

Manual, again

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Michael Willems

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:

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.

So wrong

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Michael Willems

The UK, in my experience, is one of the worst places in the world for photography. Photography on Trafalger Square? forbidden if it is “professional”.

And now this, Aldwych Station, London, UK:

Of course this shows the UK’s obsession with controlling, and the UK’s diametrically-opposed-to-freedom views. It is no suprise that George Irwell was British. And see “Children of Men” for a great dystopia. China is more free than Britain, and this is a sad statement.

So what do you do?

Know the laws and try to stay within them.
But be vocal when you are within your rights.
Smile a lot.
Use a smaller camera and a smaller lens.
Use a wide angle lens and get the action on the side.
Or use long lens and try not to be noticed.
Avoid being male and having a beard.
Be Quick!

These tips should get you by the worst fo the restrictions. Practice at home when it is not important yet.

(And I always carry a Fuji x100, which has a full APS-C sensor and many megapixels, but the silly people who make the rules do not know this).

Beginner’s mistake

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Michael Willems

I don’t make those, right?

Of course I do – but then I fix them.

At a recent talk at Seneca College I shot my “assistant-for-the-evening” Kim in a test shot, using the usual settings (ISO 400, 1/40th sec, f/4; and the flash on TTL, aimed 45 degrees behind me):

Uh oh, too dark. What?

Oh. (Hits forehead)! White or yellow bright walls, a white top: TTL metering will of course get this wrong and will underexpose (just like ambient metering would).

So let’s set FEC (flash exposure compensation) to +1 stop and let’s try that again:

That’s a lot better! (And then you can fine-tune from there). Notice how the ambient is the same (background), but the flashed part of the picture (her) is now brighter.

Often, when people say “TTL flash metering is unpredictable” they mean “I haven’t quite thought it through”, and this was such a case. Problem solved, and I should have done this even before the first test shot – but then, that is why you take test shots!

Interested in lighting? Consider some private coaching, where I explain all, you get to practice and take actual shots, and all will become clear. The December/January special is still on: 10% off during those months.

Michael’s Top Ten Dicta

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Michael Willems

Legally speaking, a Dictum is “a statement of opinion or belief considered authoritative though not binding, because of the authority of the person making it”. More generally, it is “a noteworthy statement: as (a) : a formal pronouncement of a principle, proposition, or opinion; (b) : an observation intended or regarded as authoritative.” Google it if you want.

So, assuming you know me and trust my judgement, you may well be interested in my Top Ten Dicta:

Bright pixels are sharp pixels. The more you make your subject bright pixels, the more it will be sharp and crisp. Noise hides in the darkness, like cockroaches. Light your subject and it becomes sharp.
Go wide and get close. Wide angles combined with proximity to something introduces depth and perspective into y our images.
Indoors flash: point your flash up, 45 degrees behind you. This gives you the correct light angle for close-by portraits, like in events.
Indoors flash: Use the “4-4-4″ rule” as your camera setting starting point: Camera on manual, 400 ISO, 1/40th sec, f/4. Then adjust for brighter or darker rooms, to give average ambient exposure of around -2 stop.
Turn baby turn. Feel free to angle your shots whenever you like. Composition, simplifying, energy: whatever your reasons. It’s cool, it’s allowed.
You, and the lens, make the picture. Cameras are cool – I buy a lot of them – but the picture is made by you – even an iPhone can produce cool shots – and more technically, by the lens. A good lens on a cheap body is great. A cheap lens on a good body, not so much.
Go Prime If You Can. Prime lenses lose on convenience but win in every other way. I love my 35mm f/1.4 lens.
Use off-centre composition and the rule of thirds in your compositions.
Get close: fill the frame. This so often makes your images better, it is worth stressing as a Dictum.
Simplify! Ask yourself: is everything in my image the subject or the supporting background? If not, get rid of it. A circle has 360 degrees.

That’s my wisdom in a nutshell. Do you know, understand, feel, and above all use all ten principles above?

Learn about these and much more in one of my training or private coaching sessions. There is 10% December Discount – this is a great time to consider buying a friend a session with me: buy a Gift Certificate for the holiday season!

Ph(x)=Fn(p)

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Michael Willems

In my nonsense shorthand, this means “photography is problem-solving”. And it always is.

Take the other night, when I shot a classical concert – Händel’s Messiah, by Masterworks of Oakville. Among my challenges were:

Low light!
The required white balance is non-standard.
No flash allowed.
Close-ups and long shots both needed.
You do not want to get in the way of the audience.
Finding the right position – be close.
The organizers had made it known that I was not to move around…
The conductor had asked me not to make clicking sounds! Ouch.

As you see, I had my work cut out for me. So how did I handle all this?

I used the right equipment – only f/2.8 lenses. 16-35 f/2.8, 70-200 f/2.8 and I had primes and a small camera.
I shot everything at 1600 ISO. f/2.8 and 1600 ISO gave me acceptable shutter speeds.
I arrived early, so I was right behind the orchestra, about 30cm from the soloists.
I had three cameras. My main cameras had a 16-36 wide and 70-200 long lens.
I set these two big Canon 1D4/1Ds3 cameras to “silent” shutter (a little quieter than normal).
I also disabled all beeps.
But I shot all shots of quiet passages with my Fuji X100, which is totally silent.
I shot RAW, allowing me to tune white balance afterward.
I angle shots to ensure the size of the crowd is emphasized.
Shoot detail.
Show all angels – choir, soloists, audience, the works.
Fill the frame!
Shoot the right moments. Emotion is good…

A few of the resulting images:

Final note: also shoot “establishing shots”: the venue, the show notes, and so on.

Shooting converts is fun if stressful – and using techniques like these, that stress can be handled.

Slow flash – a misnomer

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Michael Willems

Nikon calls it “slow flash” when you use a slow shutter speed while using flash. You engage this in semi-automatic and automatic camera modes (P and A) by pressing the flash button an turning the wheel until you see the word “slow” on the top LCD display in the flash area.

This is a misnomer. The flash is fast – in the order of 1/1000th second. It is the shutter that is allowed to be slow in this “mode” (really just a technique). That is why another, more correct, term for this technique is “dragging the shutter”.

And you want to do that why? As readers here now, you want that in order to allow enough ambient light in, to avoid those dark backgrounds.

But can you use a slow shutter speed when using flash? Surely a shot at, say, 1/30th second will be all blurry?

Not necessarily. While there may be a little ghosting, if your subject is mainly lit by the flash, it will be as though it was shot at 1/1000th second.

That is why “slow flash” is such an unfortunate misnomer: it is”fast flash in a slow shutter image”. Which is why the Willems 444 Rule for indoors flash (400 ISO, 1/40th sec, f/4) usually results in crisp images. Have you tried it yet?

The Willems Rule for Indoors Flash

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Michael Willems

So.. for indoors flash in a ‘normal’ environment (i.e. a room with not too much, not too little light), here is my new, “restated-as-an-easier-mnemonic” rule of thumb:

The 400-40-4 rule (a.k.a. the “4-4-4-rule”).

As a simple starting point, do the following:

Flash aimed 45 degrees up, behind you
400 ISO
1/40th second
f/4

That will give you an ambient light exposure of around -2 stops. Which looks like this:

Of course if your background is now too dark, you can raise ISO, lower f-number, or slow down shutter. If on the other hand the background is too bright, lower the ISO, select a faster shutter speed, or increase the f-number.

Often, simple rules of thumb are the secret to success. And simplicity is key – “4-4-4” sounds simple enough to remember, no?

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Category Archives: Technique