It’s All About Light

I am really drawn to portraits that are lit in such a way that the light doesn’t draw a whole lot of attention to itself.  In other words, I like photos that are well lit but not over-lit.  In the photo above, the quality of the light is nice but you have to look around for a moment to really “see” how it was lit.  There was a good balance between ambient and flash and they blended together well.

Once you learn some of the basics of lighting and you have a good handle on the technical side of it, you should challenge yourself to step up your game a bit.  Learn to light a photo so that it looks naturally lit.  The old “key light with two kickers at a 45 on either side of the subject” has been played out.

When you put a little thought into how you’re going to light a photo so that it looks like something you just walked upon you will be amazed at the results you can achieve.  After all, it is all about the light.

Style and Photographic Simplicity

Alright, today’s post is completely a rant but I think it’s a very relevant one.  Lately there has been lots of talk about vision and style on the interwebs, both of which are excellent subjects that are very important to photography.  But what’s bothering me is that I think there are a lot of folks (especially newer photographers) that get caught up in what they think is style, but actually isn’t.

Photoshop and Actions
Photographic style is so much more than a way that you process a photo in Photoshop or run a particular Action.  Those two have nothing to do with style.  As my fellow photographer Don Giannatti said, “If you’re buying [Photoshop] Actions, you’re buying a ‘look’ in a box.”  He couldn’t be more right.

People go on Flickr and they chase around the latest trend or current lighting technique or processing style and then set out to emulate it.  While that’s a good way to learn how to do something, it’s not something you want to put in your book.  In the technical age that we live in, there are plenty of smart folks out there who can pick up technique quickly.  Again, it’s a very good ability to have in order to learn.

There are even particular photographers whose work has been aped more than I care to talk about.  Everyone wanted to make their work look like his or hers because it was what was really hot at the moment.  (The operative word there being ‘moment’.)

There is so much work out there that is so heavily processed (and often by someone else other than the photographer) that by the time the image is finished, they can barely call the work their own.  Some commercial photographers take the shot and then don’t touch the image again.  Some don’t set up their own lighting.  Hmmm….

Getting Back to Basics
So whatever happened to the simple, well-lit portrait?  You know, with the kind of soft light you would find from a North-facing window.  It’s the kind of light that people crave and a lot of photographers covet.  It’s soft, pleasing, and really makes your subject look their best.  Where are the portraits that draw out emotion in the viewer?  And I’m not talking about the “hey that lighting looks badass” kind of emotion either.  If you look at some of the work of photographic masters like Richard Avedon or Annie Leibovitz you’ll see those kind of portraits.  If you have no idea who I’m talking about, you need to head to the library and do some studying!

My Own Style
I’m really drawn to portraits – it’s a large part of why I love to photograph people.  I like to shoot other subjects for fun, but people are it for me.  I enjoy the interaction and bringing out personality in my subject.  It’s what makes me tick as a photographer.

As far as my own lighting, you will typically find me putting one light into a 60″ shoot through (sometimes reflective) umbrella.  I will also use a 24″x24″ softbox, but it’s almost always one light on my subject.  One of the reasons that I think I prefer to shoot this way is because I don’t really pay attention to the gear.  I really just need a camera, a subject, and good light.  I love light.

Is my own style complete?  Ha!  Hardly.  I’m still working on it every. single. day.  My goal is cohesiveness and consistency in my work and it can become awfully hard to repeat something perfectly every time you press the shutter release.  Nonetheless, that’s what I’m after.

Rant Over

Thanks for joining me on my little rant, and please feel free to leave comments and thoughts below.  Constructive comments are always welcome.  SPAM and other BS won’t be tolerated.

Also, don’t forget that The DSLR Workshop kicks off on October 1st and you can follow the show on Facebook and Twitter, as well as subscribe to the podcast in iTunes as well.  It’s a free photography show to teach folks how to use DSLR cameras and make better pictures.  Join us, won’t you?

I hope you’re week is going well!  Get out and shoot!

Wanna Learn Lighting? Take This Workshop!

Light.  It’s the language of photography.  It’s how we speak through our images.  It adds drama and emotion to pictures.  It creates mood.

So, you wanna learn lighting for photography?  Then I highly recommend that you take one of the workshops available from Don Giannatti at Lighting Essentials.  Don is a great photographer and teacher and you will learn a ton about light and photography.

I had the pleasure of being a local host for Don’s workshop in San Diego back in February of this year.  I had heard a lot of great things about his workshops and I am a regular reader of his blog – Lighting Essentials.  I also sat in on both days and assisted some of the students who had questions or who were working on some of the techniques that Don was teaching.

It was immediately obvious to his students that Don loves photography and loves teaching about both light and photography.  Even at the mixer the night before the workshop started, he was already diving into photography and gauging what the students knew (and didn’t know) in order to prepare for the next day.  The mixers aren’t required, but are very helpful because everyone gets to know each other prior to ramping up on Day 1.

All types of light were covered – ambient, studio strobe, speedlights and flash.  He covered modifiers like umbrellas, softboxes, snoots, grids, gobos, beauty dishes, and pretty much the entire gamut of objects that can shape or modify light.

The students got to work through each of these and find out for themselves how they worked while shooting images both in the studio and outside.  The “See and Do” approach is far more effective than the “Show and Tell” approach which is one of the reasons that the Lighting Essentials workshops are so successful at teaching photographers how to light.  At the end of each day, he also talks about business and going pro with your photography.  He’s got a lot of great insight that he willingly shares with his students.

Don now has several workshops available for all skill levels from beginning amateurs to emerging and professional photographers.  His advanced workshop is geared more toward the working photographer and he even offers a one-on-one workshop for emerging pros.  All of them are excellent.

The standard 2-day workshop is priced very affordably at $450.00 for two days of instruction and shooting, a DVD packed with lots of great information, and a workbook.  At that price, you can’t go wrong when you see what other workshops cost.

 

The Ground Truth

Some of you are probably wondering why I am talking about someone else’s workshop here on the blog.  I’ll try and answer most of the questions that will likely come up in an effort to clear any doubt about my motive for this post.

Q: Is Don paying you to write this?
A: No.

Q: Are you getting any sort of kickbacks?
A: No.

Q: Then why bother with writing about his workshops?
A: Because I believe in spreading the word about products and services that I believe in and know to be worthwhile.

Q: Don’t you teach workshops?
A: Yes.

Q: Then why are you promoting this workshop and not your own?
A: Even though I teach an occasional workshop, I teach something completely different.  In my workshop, I teach about portrait photography workflow and Don teaches about light.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about this workshop over other lighting workshops? 
A: In Don’s workshops, it’s all about “See and Do”. You see it, then you do it.  Other workshops are “Show and Tell”.  The photographer gets up in front of a large audience and shows and tells about the setup and techniques and all you get to do is watch and listen.

If you want to take a workshop on lighting, THIS is the one to take.  Not only will you see and hear, you will set up and shoot.  You’ll take away a lot of knowledge that you can apply to your photography.  It’s an excellent tool to help you take your work to the next level.

For more information, be sure to check out Lighting Essentials and the Lighting Essentials Workshops.  You can also follow Don on Twitter.

Tools of the Trade: A Test Shoot

While I was out at sea for the past three weeks, I had several projects that I was working on for the ship.  One of which is a cruise book for their upcoming deployment.  Cruise books are typically filled with lots of photojournalistic-style shots and traditional portraits of each member of the crew.  For this book, I want to create some incredible photography that will help the book sell and also display the impressiveness of the entire crew for their friends and families.

I had an idea to create very cool environmental portraits for each division on the ship.  In order to do this, I would want to capture each division in their element – with the tools of their trades.  To test my idea I decided to do a test shoot on our recent trip to sea.  The shot above is a little rough, but it will project the idea of what I want to try and do for each division.

As you can see from the diagram above, I didn’t have a whole lot of room to work with.  I had about 10 feet from the bench I was up against to the curtain, which would be our backdrop.  I set up the 24″ x 24″ Lastolite Ezybox at camera right with an SB800 at 1/2 power.  This was my key light.  I then set up an SB80DX at 1/16th power with a 43″ Westcott shoot-through umbrella for some on-axis fill.  As steep as the angle was between my key light and my subjects, there was no doubt that I would need some fill to pull it off.  I set up a third flash (another SB80DX) at 1/16th power hanging from pipe hangar with a Justin Clamp.  I gelled it blue to give some separation from the curtain and add some color.

I ran into a few problems that I will need to work out for the final version.  There is a bad reflection from the Ezybox in the safety glasses of the gentleman at far camera right.  There are also reflections of both my key and fill in the firefighter’s helmet.  The reflection in the SCBA mask needs to be taken care of as well.  The good news is that they will be fairly simple to fix with some small adjustments to their position and the position of the lights.  Could I fix them in Photoshop?  Sure I could.  But I would rather get it right in the camera.

The guys in the photo are Hull Technicians – responsible for things like the ship’s plumbing, firefighting, hull repair, damage control, welding and manufacturing.  You can think of them as the “handymen” of the ship because of their diversity in work.  What made it even more fun is that they were more than willing to get all dressed up in their gear in order for me to do a test shoot.

As you can see, there are often many challenges that must be faced when shooting on location.  Space constraints, time constraints, and general photographic problems are bound to rear their ugly head at some point or another.  It’s our job to combat them with patience, technique, and vision in order to make a great picture.  This test shoot was another learning experience for me and I look forward to getting the final frame for the book.

More Flash For Your Cash?

WARNING: THIS IS A RANT – NOT A COMPARISON REVIEW!

The other day I had a conversation with someone who was mentioning that he and his crew now only use the SB900 and they have all but thrown out their SB800 flashes.  I mentioned the fact that the SB900 was not worth the cost cost difference for the few added benefits.  He disagreed.

First off, both flashes are excellent folks.  But I have a hard time shelling out an extra hundred bucks over the price of a new SB800 to get a fresnel that zooms to 200mm, a fancy selector switch, 3 selectable light patterns, a flash head that rotates 270 degrees and a little more light output.

Now, the above my sound like a lot and some of you may even think I’m nuts for arguing that they aren’t worth the money.  Why would I say that?

1. 200mm fresnel zoom – if you’re using 200mm glass and throwing light that far from on camera then you deserve the horrible pictures that will follow.
2. The selector switch is nice, but it’s fluff.  It’s a thing of convenience.
3. 3 selectable light patterns – If you want to change the light coming from your flash, there are a great many options out there to change the shape of your light.  Most of them can be made for less than a cup of Starbucks.
4. 270 rotating flash head – Designed for CLS users, this feature allows you position the flash to more easily be able to get it to see the signal coming from your Commander flash.  I hardly ever use CLS, so this is useless to me.
5. More light output – the difference in light output isn’t even equal to one whole stop of light.  This would be the most important of the key features and the thing I would be willing to pay money for.  But for $450.00 (B&H pricing) I can buy a Calumet Genesis 200 and an Alienbees Vagabond II battery pack and have a battery-powered strobe that puts out FAR more light than an SB900.

I’m not saying the SB900 isn’t a great flash.  It is.  It’s just not worth the cost difference to me since I use manual flash and trigger them with CyberSyncs.

So which is better?  In my opinion, the SB800 is.  It’s got almost all the same features and just about as much light output for $100.00 less new.  They are still a really popular flash and I see them all the time going for $350.00 used and that was their new price at B&H.  I’ll probably have to wait another 8 years or so to be able to pick them up used for $150.00 like my SB-80DX flashes.

Yes, It’s OK To Blow Out The Background

I’ve talked to several photographers who struggle with foreground and background exposure.  They get frustrated because they want  a particular shot and want to have the whole photo properly exposed.  In certain situations that can be tough to pull off in the camera – especially when the subject of your photograph is a person or people.

Even if your subject is in shade, the scene might be backlit and that will wash out any background on bright sunny day.  Photographers don’t always have the luxury of picking the time of day that we shoot.  Clients may have a specific time and date in mind and they are likely not going to be what we would consider to be ‘ideal’.

This brings me to the point of this post: it’s OK to let your background blow out.  Doing so can sometimes serve double-duty.  First, having the background blown out adds drama to your photo.  Second, it could possibly help to hide distracting elements in the background of your photo.

For instance, the photo above I shot in the middle of the afternoon on a cloudless day.  The available light was bright and harsh so I put my subjects in front of the pillars which provided shade.  I exposed for my subject (the couple) and let the background blow out.  If I had let my camera make the exposure decision for me, it would have exposed for the sky in the background and my subjects would have been very underexposed.

Sure, I could have double-processed in the image in Photoshop to get a properly exposed foreground and background, but where’s the fun in that?  Rules are meant to be broken.  So challenge yourself and go out and try something new.  Get out of your comfort zone.  You will likely surprise yourself with what you learn.

Lighting Essentials Workshop in San Diego

I’ve got some pretty cool news for all the photographers in the Southern California area! Don Giannatti is bringing his Lighting Essentials workshop to town on February 6th and 7th, 2010! If you have always wanted to learn about lighting, are just starting out, or even if you have a good bit of experience working with lighting you will benefit greatly by attending!

The workshop is two days long, with the first day shooting in the studio and the second day working on location. And when I say, “shooting” I really mean it. There is not a lot of show and tell to be had, it’s more like shoot and shoot!

The lighting topics will range from reflectors to studio flashes, and not to worry… there will be plenty of gear to go around. Even if you’ve never put your hands on an actual studio flash before, you will feel pretty well-versed by the time you finish with the workshop.

On the second day, you will be out shooting on location. Here’s where small flash really comes into play. They are so easy and portable that they are a go-to light for lots of location shooters. This part of the workshop will bring you out of the dark, and into the light (pun completely intended).

I’ve spent all this time talking about shooting and by now you’re probably wondering who you’re going to be shooting? Models. Real, live, models. The other benefit of this workshop is learning how to interact with your subjects and provide direction in order to achieve your vision.

As great as I’ve made this workshop sound, it’s got to be expensive right? Wrong. The price tag is $450.00 and that’s less than half of what some other people charge for a workshop of this caliber. I’m here to tell you that this is a small investment for what you will gain. There are only a few spots left, so be sure to head on over and sign up! I’ll be there myself, so I hope to see you there!

Screenshot above courtesy of Lighting Essentials Workshops.

Suicide Poster Contest News and a Big Thank You!

Happy Friday out there to the 3 people who read this blog. I wanted to pass along my sincere thanks and appreciation for all who voted for my team’s poster in the Navy’s Suicide Prevention Poster Contest. We were voted #1, thanks to your votes and support!

As the selected winners, our poster will be featured in the November issue of All Hands magazine. All Hands is a very popular Navy publication that is circulated to all Navy commands. As a Sailor who isn’t a Mass Communication Specialist, it’s a big honor to have our work published there.

Our CO gave us the day off because of a couple of recent certifications our ship has passed, so I’m spending the day working photography stuff, drinking coffee, and hanging out with my kids. We’re having a big birthday party for my youngest and his friend tomorrow and expect around 60 people between parents and kids… nuts.

Have a great weekend, get out and shoot, and don’t forget to back up your photos! I’ll see you back here on Monday!

High Speed Sync using CyberSyncs

So I get an e-mail from my buddy and fellow D90 shooter Levi, and his e-mail contains a link to a photo that he took of a couple of flashes, triggered by CyberSyncs, f11 @ 1/4000th of a second! I was blown away! I had to go and test it out for myself and low and behold… it worked! I shot the photo above with my D90, SB800 on camera @ 1/128th power with the CyberSync CST transmitter plugged in via included mini plug to PC Sync cable, SB80DX flashes @ full power triggered with CyberSync CSRB receivers, f11 @ 1/4000th of a second, ISO200!!! WOW! Wanna learn how? Read on.

What? No hack?
No. There’s no hack that you have to perform. You need a couple of things to even think about doing this. First, you need a Nikon SB800 or SB900 and a camera that’s capable of the Auto FP High Speed Sync mode. In this day and age, that means a D80, D90, D200, D300(s), D700, or a D3. (Some older Nikon bodies are capable, but I’m not going to list them all.) Of course you’ll need the CyberSyncs (CST transmitter and CSRB receiver). Lastly, you’ll need the included mini plug to PC Sync cable that comes with the CyberSyncs. This is how you’ll connect your SB800/900 to the CyberSync CST. See the photo below:

And this is what your flash will look like with the CST connected to it before you place it in your camera’s hot shoe:

Once your flash is mounted in your camera’s hot shoe, you’ll need to make sure that the Auto FP mode is turned on. (For D90 users, go to Menu > Custom Settings Menu > Bracketing/flash > Auto FP (e5) and turn it On. Once you’ve turned Auto FP on, then you can power on your flash. I then set my SB800 to Manual mode @ 1/128th power and positioned the flash head at 90 degrees (straight up). FYI, you could set the power higher and point it towards your subject for a little on-axis fill if desired. Then, as long as your other flashes and CyberSync CSRB receivers are powered on, you’ll be good to go and flashing away at ridiculously high shutter speeds that you never thought you could have with your CyberSyncs!

Got Power?
Look at the above test shot of Benjamin that I lit with 1 – SB80DX through a Lastolite Ezybox at f4, 1/4000th, ISO200. I had the 24″ x 24″ softbox in nice and close and you can see how quickly the light will fall off with a shutter speed of 1/4000th of second! Keep in mind that the SB80DX was at full power. To pull this kind of thing off with speedlights, you’re going to need more than one in most cases. If you can shoot really wide open, you might be able to get away with it… however you will need to have your light(s) in nice and close. This is where a Lastolite Triflash would come in REAL handy. To really do this right, you could use a high powered studio strobe like an AB1600 or the like.

Further Testing Needed
I only played around with this in the house tonight because it was already dark when I got the chance to have some fun with it. I want to test this outside in full daylight with a few more speedlights to see what I can come up with. I also ran into one small issue while testing this: if I put the camera down and it went into “sleep mode”, my SB800 would sort of “lock up” and my camera would default back to the max flash sync speed of 1/200th of a second. Not really sure why this was happening. I couldn’t use the power button to shut of the flash, but a quick opening of the battery door and closing it again did the trick.

So there you have it folks… High Speed Sync without using Nikon’s Creative Lighting System. RadioPoppers have been doing this for quite awhile now, but they are most well-known for extending the range of your flashes when using CLS. With the CyberSyncs, you have to do everything manually still, which is what I prefer. I’ll have more to follow later on this week, which will include testing this outside… in full daylight. Stay tuned!

Review: The Hot Shoe Diaries – Big Light From Small Flashes by Joe McNally

I had mentioned several days ago that I had bought and was reading Joe McNally’s new book, “The Hot Shoe Diaries – Big Light From Small Flashes” and now that I’m finished reading it, it’s time for a review! This is Joe’s second book, following “The Moment It Clicks” which was a huge success. Let’s take a closer look at what is one of the hottest photography books this year.

The Hot Shoe Diaries starts off with the usual tribute and acknowledgements. I mention this because of the way Joe writes, I recommend reading this book cover-to-cover. It’s worth it. There isn’t a single piece of text in this book that I consider useless.

The book is broken down into four parts and each part has several texts, each of which tie back to the broader subject of the part. For example, Part I is titled, “Nuts ‘n’ Bolts” and it breaks down what gear McNally uses and why he uses it. It’s a basic run down of how he works, right down to how he holds his camera. He talks about camera bodies, glass (lenses), speedlights, grip gear and more. What an incredible insight into the gear bag of an A-List shooter.

Part II covers all sorts of lighting scenarios that Joe has been in where he has only used one single light. He talks about the many ways you can make one small light seem like a bigger light. Couple his detailed setup descriptions with his amazing images and you have a clear, complete, mutual understanding of how to re-create his setups. This is a springboard for your own shoot ideas and I have personally gotten a lot of inspiration from this book.

Part III expands on Part II and as you might have guess, now McNally’s using two (or more) lights. The content is more of the same, but now he’s building on the foundation he laid in Part II by adding and shooting with a second light source.

Part IV is where Joe really shows off. It’s titled “Lotsa Lights” and he writes about a setup in which he used 47 speedlights! This is the part of the book where you can see how Joe works down to the very smallest of details. This is the level in which we all strive for as photographers.

Throughout the book, McNally’s casual and straight-up style of writing kept me intrigued, smiling, laughing, and interested. I didn’t want to put down the book and I picked it up every chance I could until I had read it all. Joe doesn’t get too far into the weeds with tech talk, but instead explains the details in a simple and easy-to-understand method. He credits his ability to do this to his wife, Annie, whom he said kept him reeled in when it came to the technical details. Even the back of the book has a guide where Joe illustrates how to operate Nikon’s SB800 and SB900 flashes.

Not only does he talk about Nikon flashes and Nikon’s Creative Lighting System (CLS), but he also talks about lenses, light modifiers, grip gear, locations, models, and more. I really got the feeling that I was sitting and talking with him rather than reading a book.

In short, if you have any interest whatsoever in using small hot shoe flashes to light your subjects then you certainly should read this book. Now, Joe is a Nikon shooter and therefore everything in this book is about Nikon equipment. That’s not to say that the techniques don’t cross over, but you won’t see or read ANYTHING about the 5D MkII, a 580EX II, or an L Series lens. If you want to learn how to light like Joe McNally, read this book!

The image above was inspired by this book and it was a self-portrait that I created using 3 Nikon speedlights and a Nikon D90. It’s a lot easier than it may seem. The image below was from the perspective of where I was sitting when I took the shot. My youngest son Daniel wanted me to snap a shot of him, so here you go Danny!

I hope you have a great week and I’ll have the Lastolite Ezybox review up this week too!