Category Archives: Technique

Add a splash

Posted on by
Reply

I recommended recently that you might want to add a  splash of colour every now and then. So here’s an example.

Our Christmas “tree”, lit with just a bounce flash. The background is exposed properly (I used -1.3 stops exposure compensation in Av mode). But still: kinda bland, no?

So let’s add a dash of colour. A pocketwizard connected to the camera, and one behind the tree connected via a hotshoe cable to a 430EX flash. The flash was on manual at 1/16th power, and on the flash I had a Honl Photo speed strap with a Honl Bright Red gel conveniently velcro’d on. Now we’re talking!

If I had had more cables (I am awaiting a shipment of hotshoe cables…) I would have added a green one as well. But this is already much better thwanwhat I had before.

Oh and just to show what the flash alone would have done: if I disable the bounce flash, here’s what that same shot would look like:

Bit overly dramatic, but add some more light and it has potential!

Here’s the setup:

(Small note: I have, I must admit, found the X-sync to Pocketwizard contact unreliable and I am not entirely sure why: Maybe the connector itself? But the hotshoe contact is flawless.)

And finally. I wanted red and green, but had only one working flash I could drive with a pocketwizard.

Solution?

Which, after a bit of back and forth with manual exposure, flash compensation, and remote flash power, gives me this:

Or, if you prefer a brighter room, this:

You see how much fun playing with colour and light can be?

Family snapshot tip

Posted on by
Reply

If you are new to cameras, let me give you a quick tip for the holidays.

When you shoot pictures of your family, use “slow flash” (enable “slow” on Nikon, or use Av mode on Canon)  and an ISO of 400 or even more if it is dark indoors. That allows the background light to show, as well.

You will need flash, too, around the tree. But rather than the popup flash, use an external flash. And above all, do not do this with that flash:

Instead, do this:

That’s right – point the flash backward above you. Your happy snaps (photojournalists call them “grip and grins”)  will be infinitely better.

Nick

Posted on by
Reply

OK, so I spent the day photographing St Nicholas, i.e. Santa Claus, in the mall. The real one (pull his beard, it’s the genuine thing).

So how do you do this? See yesterday for the tethering article, but I thought it might be useful for you to see how this is done in other equipment terms.

I used, and with the help of my assistant Daniel set up, the following in this order:

  • Lights:
  1. Two 400 Ws strobes (Bowen) on light stands, firing into umbrellas.
  2. A pocket wizard on each light to fire it.
  3. Power set to 4/5 as a starting point
  • Camera:
  1. Canon 1Ds MkIII, with power supplied by mains adapter.
  2. A tripod
  3. Wire release for the camera.
  4. 50mm f/1.4 lens (any lens would have done)
  5. Pocket wizard (to fire the other two)
  • USB cable to the computer.
  • Computer, tethered as per yesterday’s article

First, I set my camera to manual exposure, 100 ISO, 1/125th second, f/8. Then I set the lights to that, using a light meter.

Then I tried a test shot without  flash:

This is very important. I wanted the ambient light in the mall, which varied due to a large skylight, to not affect exposure. So that picture above should look dark. Else variance in the sunlight will affect my pictures. One lovely thing about studio lighting is that it is consistent.

Then I did a custom white balance (I had to shoot JPG for the printing company, so this was very important). So I shot a grey card on Santa’s seat, and set my custom WB to that exposure.

Then I set the camera “style” settings to extra saturation by one click. (I am shooting JPG and we have bright Santa- and kid-colours).

And then I was ready. Here’s me:

Having tuned a bit (set my aperture to f/9 instead of f/8 to reduce exposure a bit), I am now ready for shots. And for Santa!

And the great thing is that I was able to stay at these settings all day. And every picture was sharp as a tack, exposed perfectly, and the right neutral colour. This is what I love about studio light. Even in a mall, with a portable studio. Of course it is important to check every now and then that you are still set right – JPG, 1/125th sec, 100 ISO, f/9. But if you make no mistakes, you get the same great light all day.

And Jolly Old Nick will be happy, as will the kids – and more importantly, their parents.

Lights… camera… action!

Posted on by
Reply

A quick reminder for those of you who shoot action shots: shots where the subject is moving.

For anything where the subject is moving, you may want to:

  1. Use Tv/S or manual mode (or Av/A mode with a large aperture) to set the exposure time to 1/200th sec or faster – the faster, the better, typically..
  2. Use a high ISO (in hockey arenas and wedding dance halls, you may well need 1600 ISO).
  3. Use the center focus point
  4. Set the focus mode (the “how does the camera focus) to “Continuous” (AF-C/AI Servo).
  5. Set the drive mode to continuous.
  6. If you are moving with the subject,  turn off your lens’s stabiliser, unless you have a “mode 2” for panning.
  7. You may want to try JPG shots for these.

And finally, do think about how you want to show or freeze motion. It is not a given that all motion must be frozen. A hint of motion blur can show the viewer that something was actually happening, and that they are not staring at a statue.

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!

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.

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 →

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).

Outdoors Tip

Posted on by
4

You should definitely get one of these:

A Hoodman Hood Loupe. With it, you can see your LCD even in bright outdoors daylight. It adjusts to your eyes and it magnifies, as well. Invaluable, and I would not go anywhere without mine.

I am so glad I had mine in Arizona last week. Otherwise I would not have seen what I was getting in bright “creative light” like this:

Or this:

Without a Hood Loupe, you are guessing. A sin “I think they’re OK, and when I get indoors I’ll see for sure” – if you can even see the display at all.

Glass

Posted on by
Reply

When photographing glass, please make sure that reflections of flash or window light are either absent or neutral.

With giant wine glasses, this is not easy:

But as you see in this studio picture, it is not impossible either. Although it took me a while, just being attentive to the reflections helps move them out of the way.