February 29, 2008
1/100 @ f1.6 @ 1000 iso
“Dragging the Shutter” is a term used to describe the technique of using a slow enough shutter speed to allow a measure of ambient light to register when using flash.
This term originates from an era when photographers would determine correct flash exposure for on-location photography by :
- setting the ISO speed according to the film used,
- setting the aperture according to subject distance (depends on flashgun’s guide number),
- then using the shutter speed as the ONLY way of independently allowing more ambient light in, slowing the shutter speed far lower than max sync speed when shooting in low light.
(This worked fairly well for colour negative film, because the labs took up the slack in exposure miscalculation when printing the images.)
However, with TTL flash on a D-SLR, you have more flexibility than this. And I’m of the opinion that the phrase “dragging the shutter” is archaic in the era of TTL flash photography.
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February 27, 2008
It was an honor to be invited to be a presenter at the convention held this past weekend by the Professional Photographers’ Association of Massachussets (PPAM). The 4 day convention was held in Natick, a city just outside of Boston, and I had a 3 hour segment on Sunday afternoon. My presentation was a scaled down version of my workshops on flash photography techniques.
The response afterwards was tremendous; numerous people thanked me and congratulated me, and I even got several “best presentation of the convention” comments. Not only was that gratifying to hear these comments, but also to see that there were actually more people at the end than when I started the presentation.
Here’s a compilation of a few images, mostly of the time during the break when I was chatting to people in the front. It seems I can’t keep my hands still when I talk.
I was sponsored by Ultra Color Lab in Boston, who created a sample album of my work.
The design of the album can be seen on my wedding photography blog.
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February 22, 2008
(1/20th @ f2.8 @ 1250 iso)
using slow shutter speeds
I am frequently asked whether I use a tripod at all to help overcome the slow shutter speeds that I often shoot at. The question also often relates to shooting handheld, below the arbitrary value of 1/60th of a second.
The choice of shutter speed at which you will get a sharp (enough) image will depend on a number of factors, such as how fast your subject is moving and at what angle compared to your camera, and whether you are panning with your subject. And also choice of lens, and camera’s sensor size, and your own ability to hold a camera steady. And luck. And also on how large you want to display the image.
I’m not going to attempt a broad explanation covering every possibility that we’ll encounter as photographers, but answer the question in terms of the work that I do – which is primarily as a wedding and on-location portrait photographere here in New Jersey.
My own preference is for ‘sharp’. I like crisp images, and don’t much like too much motion blur. But this is a personal artistic choice. So I tend to shoot at higher shutter speeds where I can. Part of this is simply because I am not that steady in hand-holding a camera.
And in attaining higher shutter speeds, I tend to use fast optics, or shoot at higher iso settings. Or I just use flash at times to stop motion blur. But there are times when I am shooting in low light, and have to use a slow shutter speed …
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February 20, 2008
It was quite mesmerising to stand on the front porch tonight, and watch the complete lunar eclipse. It was visible here on the East Coast and fortunately we didn’t have too much of a cloudy night. My daughter, Janine, had her telescope out, and I just had to take some photos. This is my best image of the nearly full eclipse.
That was the best I could squeeze out of the 1Dmk3 with the 70-200mm f2.8 IS zoom,
and the 1.4x converter. It’s a 100% crop … so there isn’t anymore detail there than that.
(There was also light cloud cover.)
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February 10, 2008
I’ve received some questions about why I chose this particular image as
the represent the kind of technique I cover during the flash photography workshops.
Most people looking at this image wouldn’t immediately realize that there is flash involved. This image however, is typical of the way I work, and how I use flash to sweeten a scene. The thought process of how I got to this result, was explained on a previous blog posting – how I got from here …
…. to the image you see at the top.
This is only part of what I teach in my workshops – to simultaneously seamlessly blend available light with flash, and do so fluidly, adapting your technique to any scenario. This image and the way I achieved it then represents what I hope people will come away with from their experience with me: How to use flash to help you achieve the images you visualized.
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February 2, 2008
Two years ago I attended a small get together for photographers in Mystic, CT. That meeting drew 28 people and was the catalyst for the main pages on this blog – the flash photography techniques. It was also the very first presentation I did in front of other photographers, and as such was the actual kick-start to the workshops that I present.
So it was with real pride that I was invited to do a presentation again this week in Mystic – the third such get together. By now the event had grown to 120 photographers meeting up! The subject of my presentation this time was how to use flash for some quick scene sweetening. (A description that Bruce Dorn kindly allowed me to appropriate for myself.)
The get together had evolved into a 12 hour program with top-notch speakers. And it was a real honour to do a presentation along with top photographers like David Mielcarek, Monika Broz, Michelle Turner, Steven Frischling, Walter van Dusen, Joseph Prezioso, Ben Chrisman, Michael Cody and Doug Boutwell.
Walter my friend, you did yourself proud with this event, really upping the standard to a new high!
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