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May 20, 2012
lighting for on-location photo sessions – pick your battles
When doing a photo session with a couple on location, I mix up the lighting often. With some photo sessions I may:
- shoot available light only;
- or I may decide with a photo session to use direct on-camera flash,
with some sequences available light only; or
- with some photo sessions I use off-camera flash with a softbox,
with some sequences just the available light.
Even in varying the way I may use the available light and flash, I still aim to have a consistent look to it all. My specific style has to be apparent. Or perhaps, in the way that I work, my style becomes apparent. The one way that I help make things easier for myself, and remain consistent, is that in working with the available light; or working with the available light and flash (both on-camera and off-camera) … I pick my battles. I don’t try and make *everything* work. Rather, I specifically choose where I pose a couple, or what I have as the background. All of this in relation to the existing light and my flash.
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May 10, 2012
TTL flash for the simplicity and speed
Okay, true strobists might recoil in horror, but I often prefer using TTL flash to sweeten an image when shooting on location. I just get to the final image faster than if I had gone the more methodical route of manual flash.
For some situations, manual flash is the only way to go. For example, when your subject is static in relation to your lights and you have to get consistent lighting, image after image, then manual flash makes the most sense. But for times where you want to shoot faster, and shoot on the run, I find that TTL flash is the easiest and most fun option for me.
This image of Aleona was from a recent individual photography workshop in New York. As a starting point in explaining how to balance flash and ambient light, we initially work with an easy scenario where the available light isn’t harsh, but also not all that exciting. Now we can easily finesse it with a bit of flash from a softbox …
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May 6, 2012
Fashion photography lighting and styling
A shout-out for my good friend Chuck Arlund – one of the most innovative photographers that I know of when it comes to lighting. His styling with Fashion photography is also outstanding.
Chuck is presenting a 3-day long photo retreat planned for Aug 6-8 at the Lake of The Ozarks in Missouri. Details on Chuck Arlund’s blog. (The code: BEFEARLESS gets you $300 off.)
Now you may well wonder about the techie details for these images ….
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May 1, 2012
review: Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT
Summary: Right off the bat, let me say it – this speedlite, the Canon 600EX-RT (B&H), is going to change the industry. Nothing is going to be the same again.
A speedlite that has radio transmitters built in, has been anticipated for quite some time now. It just makes sense. So it was just a matter of time before one of the big camera manufacturers did this … and Canon is the first. And they didn’t drop the ball on the rest of the speedlite’s features, or with the functionality of this piece of gear. It’s easy to use, with an obvious menu – even for a complex flashgun like this.
Before the Canon 600EX-RT, we had various options how we could trigger our Canon Speedlites, but right now our option is clear – it’s the the Canon 600EX-RT (B&H)
About the photo at the top …
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April 26, 2012
exploring the spinlight – a new video
A new video on how to use the Spinlight, has been put online by the maker of the Spinlight. (You can view the higher-resolution clip here.) To order the SpinLight 360, here is the discount code for readers of the Tangents blog.
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March 15, 2012
I’m always very happy to feature Chuck Arlund as a guest on Tangents. Anyone who knows Chuck in person will tell you about the crazy energy he has, (a good kinda crazy), and how inspiring and innovative he is in his lighting.
Check his work on his website, and on his Facebook page for senior photography.
Chuck is presenting an intensive 2-day workshop in New York – Don’t Be Afraid Of The Light. (There’s even mention of a bonus 3rd day!) The fee for the workshop is $750 … but for photographers following the Tangents blog, there is an incredible $250 discount code: NEILVN which brings the fee for the workshop down to $500. Incredible value for anyone wanting to learn more about lighting.
lighting patterns in photography
by Chuck Arlund, Kansas City photographer
Back to basics. When shooting a portrait or any person for that matter it is good to understand some light patterns to help determine what kind of mood you would like to create.
Basically there are 6 light patterns.
- Butterfly / Paramount
- Loop
- Rembrandt
- Split
- Monster
- Profile
So why do I need to know these? It’s not necessarily knowing them but being able to recognize them will help educate yourself on how a photograph was lit if you are trying to learn lighting. It also can help to know exactly what you are looking to create in your own photograph.
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March 12, 2012
more still about flash photography
I presented another Master-Class this year at WPPI in Las Vegas. I rather audaciously chose the title of my talk to be:
Flash Photography – The Truth, The Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth
As a photographer, there are certain inescapable essentials we absolutely have to know before we can progress in understanding light and lighting. In this presentation, Neil barrels through the conflicting advice you’ve received, offering the essential building blocks to help you truly grasp the power of flash and lighting done right.
That does seem rather bold now! Very ambitious. With the presentation I pulled together a number of key concepts which are essential to understanding flash photography. So there wasn’t an overall theme in this case – just ten different concepts which I think are important.
The presentation over-ran by about 45 minutes, with all of the questions that had to be answered. The response to my presentation was very good. One of the emails I received afterwards said: “I took your platform class at the WPPI this year and I have to say, it was my favourite by far!!” And that is so good to hear!
With this, I have decided to add the material to the flagship articles here on flash photography.
flash photography concepts
It is mostly links to the related articles – but all the information is there. Time to explore!
If you find these articles interesting and of value, then you can help by using
these affiliate links to order equipment & other goodies. Thank you!
Stay informed of new articles via the monthly newsletter.
Also join us on the Tangents forum for further discussions.
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March 8, 2012
using the guide number of your flash to determine flash exposure
GN = distance * f-stop
Your flash’s Guide Number (GN) is determined at 100 ISO, when it gives correct exposure at a certain distance, multiplied by the f-stop
The idea that we can figure out the manual flash exposure by the combination of distance and aperture (for a given ISO setting), was covered in these recent topics:
- getting the most out of your flash / speedlite / speedlight
- practical tutorial: controls for manual flash exposure
In these articles, we relied on the display on the back of the speedlight to show us the distance we need to hold the flash from our subject. A flashmeter / lightmeter would’ve given us a similar answer. (There might be a discrepancy, since the manufacturers tend to be a little bit optimistic about what the flashgun is capable of.)
Now, the question is, what do we do if our speedlights don’t show the distance / aperture relationship on its display, or if we don’t have a lightmeter on hand?
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March 4, 2012
getting the most power from of your flash / speedlite / speedlight
This might be obvious, but the most power (or light) that you’re going to get from your flash, is at full output in manual. Then the flash dumps everything it has. Full power. You could of course zoom your flash-head a little tighter and get more power / range, but essentially, you’re at the limit.
This is useful to know when you’re balancing flash with bright sunlight. With this portrait of Shawna, out on the Las Vegas strip, I wanted that sun-flare look … but I also wanted to balance the super-bright background with flash.
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March 3, 2012
update: Spinlight 360 – new how-to videos added
Just to let everyone know that the creator of the Spinlight 360 has added five more how-to video clips to the site. This should answer many of the questions on how to use it and how to assemble it.
There is a discount code for readers of the Tangents blog.
More info on the Spinlight 360, and info on how to order one
I’ve recently been using the Spinlight 360 at the weddings that I’ve photographed.
Now onto something … more … um … I have no words really …
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