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June 30, 2011
multiple off-camera flash – adding some pop with back-lighting
Lea is a model I’ve worked with on previous occasions. With her striking looks and easy demeanor, she is just a pleasure to photograph. We spent some time this afternoon in down-town Manhattan, looking for interesting spots as backdrops. Jessica, (my infamous assistant with an attitude), spotted this dramatic gate and interesting glass front. It seemed like the perfect place to start the photo session, but it needed something extra to give the photos some drama.
The final image is shown here at the top, but let’s look at how we got there …
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June 29, 2011
using on-camera bounce flash outdoors
With wedding photography, when doing the night-time romantic portraits of the couple, the pressure is usually on. The only opportunity to whisk the couple away for a few minutes, is during dinner time, when the party is at a lull. The pressure is on because you have even less time than you had during the earlier part of the day, and you also don’t want to lose the attention of your couple who wants to get back to their guests at the reception.
I usually scout a few places before-hand, getting a clear idea of what I want. When setting out with the couple, I rely on bounce flash and on video light. There is rarely time for carrying around a soft-box. You need to move fast, set up fast … and still come up with the goods.
With this wedding from the past weekend, I wanted to capture two specific portraits of the couple with the outside of the venue as a backdrop. I would normally have used video light here, but I had the idea that I wanted the compression from a longer lens … the 70-200mm f2.8 … and then the person holding the video light would be in shot. So the solution was to get flash in there. Where we were working outside there, I fortunately had part of the building to bounce my flash off.
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June 28, 2011
light modifiers: shoot-through umbrella vs bounce flash
With the contest where the light modifier had to be matched with the specific light pattern, there were clues in the images as to which modifier was used. The clues were in how the light was dispersed. Some were obvious, such as the hard side-ways shadow of direct flash with the camera held vertically. A dead give-away. But others were subtle .. but there.
For example, the image above shows the result, (used indoors in a studio situation) between the white shoot-through umbrella, and bounce flash with the Black Foamie Thing. (Click through the image to get to a larger version.)
A cursory glance at the two images will say they look the same. With more careful consideration, it will be apparent that the white shoot-through umbrella has a more contrasty image, and there is more pronounced light-fall-off across the background.
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contest results: comparison between different flash modifiers
There was a huge response to last week’s contest where the type of light modifier had to be matched up to the result. (Click on the images to make them appear as a slideshow.)
Here they are again at the top, but with the light modifiers in the correct order. I’ll discuss some of this in follow-up posts, where we’ll look at the light pattern and how it would or would not match certain light modifiers.
And of course, the winner is announced …
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June 25, 2011
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Two South African Photographers, Hannelie Elliot and Kat Forsyth, recently started an online resource for photographers called Photographer Mojo. Featuring posts by top photographers, there are articles dealing with the business side of photography, client relations, workflow, general photography, and motivational material. A bunch of stuff, with something for everyone. Definitely worth checking out regularly.
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The contributors (at this point), are all South African or ex-pats, so when Hannelie asked me if I’d like to be a contributor, I agreed. As an introduction to the group, every contributor is doing an interview, where all mysteries are revealed. Well, not quite. But in my interview, you can (amongst other things), read about my opinion on making it as a photographer in an ever-more competitive field.
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June 23, 2011
Video & photo fusion is something I’ve started working with recently. The idea with fusion is to create a vibrant blend of selected photographs with short video sections, to give a 5 or 6 minute overview of the wedding day.
As with the previous fusion clips I created with Jessica, my assistant with an attitude, I shot with the Nikon D3 bodies and she shot the HD video sections with the Canon 5D mk II (B&H). It’s a lot of work putting this together, for I think that adding stills and video is more involved than just doing either. But I like the result, and hopefully clients and prospective clients will also be taken with it.
While we’re on the topic of photographing weddings and showing new work to clients – this would be a good time to mention (or even announce! with fanfare!) that the Latest Work blog has been revamped and active again. With 900px wide images, it will hopefully show a selection of my latest work off to best advantage.
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June 22, 2011
photo session with the Fuji X100 – camera review
First of all, for those who haven’t heard of the Fuji X100 (B&H) yet, it is a beautiful retro-looking rangefinder-mimicking 12 megapixel digital point & shoot camera (with a fixed 35mm equivalent f2.0 lens), that gives remarkable image quality. That about sums it up.
For all those reasons, quite a buzz developed around this camera. Quite unlike anything since … oh, the Leica X1. Or the Olympus Pen EP-2. Or the Sony NEX-5. There was greater excitement building up around the Fuji X100 though than other cameras, specifically for its looks initially. And then when news hit about the incredible image quality, the excitement and interest became more substantial. It’s a hot item right now, and for good reason.
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June 20, 2011
by: Stephanie Zettl
Have you ever tried to connect your very expensive speedlight to a light stand or flash modifier with a coldshoe? Have you tightened the coldshoe around your very expensive speedlight and had that bad feeling in the back of your mind that with a little bump, the coldshoe would loosen and your very expensive speedlight would go crashing to the ground? I know I have.
Ten years ago, I did not have many problems with coldshoes. Part of the reason was because the coldshoe tightened around the flash foot and the flash itself had a rotating locking wheel that tightened the flash to the shoe. Since speedlights have gone to a pin and lock system, coldshoes have become much more unreliable. Most coldshoes are not built to have a pin lock into them.
Then came along the Frio (B&H). I have never been so excited about a $15 piece of plastic. If you use off camera flash or any coldshoes mounts, this is a product you might be interested in.
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June 19, 2011
a RAW workflow – the first step – changing your default settings
As a bit of a forward nudge to those who are entirely new to a RAW workflow, or who hesitantly moved to shooting in RAW – here’s the next step forward – changing the defaults for your RAW file.
Before we even get there, shooting in RAW is very much part of the serious photographer’s environment. Shooting just in JPG is rarely an option. As I have mentioned, there are few occasions where shooting in JPG might be an advantage. So with that in mind … RAW it is. And has to be.
Now, some notes for the newcomers to shooting in RAW.
There are a few things you have to keep in mind:
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June 18, 2011
RAW vs JPG – the final discussion
The RAW vs JPG debate has raged on to the point where pretty much every photographer has been worn down, or left confused. It’s been done. But bear with me on this one. It’ll be quick. And convincing. Then we really are done with this. Here it is:
There is NO photographer on this planet who is good enough to get:
- correct white balance,
- correct exposure,
- correct brightness level,
- correct overall and local contrast,
- correct saturation,
- a good black point,
- or anything else you’d like to add,
DURING the moment of capture, for EVERY situation they are likely to encounter.
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