bounce flash photography & the inverse square law

After you’re done noticing the decorated candles that the bride is holding while dancing with the groom (a tradition in Palestinian weddings), you may well notice how evenly lit this photograph is – from foreground to background.

The people visible in the background seen there between the bride and the groom, are nearly as well lit as the bride and groom. Because this was on-camera bounce flash, the background will be brighter than may have been anticipated. If I had used direct flash, or flash with a diffuser cup or bounce card, my background would’ve been much darker. This is because when we bounce flash behind us, the Inverse Square Law works for us.

This gets interesting, but hopefully we can make it less complicated than the topic often appears. So hang in there …

As comparison, here is an image taken shortly before, where I shot too fast for my on-camera flash to keep up. So this misfire will give you an idea of the effect the single flash had.

My camera settings:
the image without flash:  1/100 @ f3.5 @ 3200 ISO
the image with flash: 1/80 @ f3.2 @ 3200 ISO … TTL flash set to 0 FEC; gelled with 1/2 CTS
Nikon D3S  (B&H); Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G ED AF-S  (B&H)
Nikon SB-910 Speedlight (B&H);  Nikon SD-9 battery pack (B&H)

Looking at this image again compared to the image where the flash didn’t go off, we can see just how much the flash lit up the entire room. Now, it helps to keep in mind that it was the flash riding ‘on top of’ ambient light, and not quite the flash doing all the work here in getting to the final correct exposure.

Even though this reception venue is quite large, I was able to use only an on-camera bounce flash. I bounced it over my shoulder, using a black foamie thing to flag it so I don’t hurt people behind me with the blindingly powerful flash. I was able to do it because of the incredible high-ISO performance of the Nikon D3S  (B&H) which allowed me to comfortably shoot at 3200 ISO.

Now, when we bounce flash like this without a plastic diffuser or bounce card, we don’t think of our flash as our light source anymore. Instead, the surface that we bounce off, becomes our light source. In this case it was the ceiling and walls above and behind me. The walls behind me were about as far away as the walls there in the back of the photograph. In other words, the de facto light source is now quite some distance away.  And this is where the Inverse Square Law kicks in to help explain why the background is relatively bright in comparison to the subject.

Inverse Square Law

The Inverse Square Law implies that as we move away from a light source, the light becomes less bright in proportion to the square of the distance.

This video clip by Mark Wallace as posted on the Fstoppers site, is the best explanation of the Inverse Square Law that I’ve seen to date. Mark Wallace really breaks the daunting topic down to something which can be visually understood, and those 12 minutes will be a solid investment in your photography.

In a similar way, I want to make it visually understandable why bouncing flash behind you would open up the background of the image.  It might sound counter-intuitive, but here is what happens. And it relates directly to the Inverse Square Law.

Let’s work through an example:

If we measure a (manual) flash at 12 feet and let’s say we measure f8
then if we measure the same flash at twice that distance (24 feet),
we will lose 2 stops of light. Our light will measure now measure as f4

If we double our distance from the light, then we will lose another 2 stops of light.
So if we move from 24 feet, ie, where we measure f4.0
then at 48 feet, we will measure f2.0

Every halving or doubling of distance means a 2 stop difference in light.

This is where the gradient of light fall off becomes important.

If you move from 6 feet (which would measure f16 in this scenario)
to only 12 feet away (where we measured f8)
then a mere 6 feet change in distance implied a massive 2 stops drop in light.

But moving from 24 feet to 48 feet – a huge jump in distance,
would mean the same drop in light levels … 2 stops.

Those are the numbers. And the theory works in practice too.

The clear implication is that the gradient of light fall-off is less steep, the further we move from the light source. This is hugely important!

How it all adds up with bounce flash photography on location:

In a real shooting situation, we might not get as technical as that. We just need an innate understanding of what is going on.  The further our subject+background moves from the light source, the brighter our background will appear, relative to when our subject+background is much closer to the light source.

Now if we look at the image at the top … the people in the background are not twice the distance from my light source compared to the bride and groom. They are closer than that. Therefore, they will be only a stop or so darker than my subjects. Or even less than a stop. The fall-off becomes much slower now at this distance from our light.

If I had used direct flash, then the people in the background would comparatively have been much further from my light source than the bride and groom .. hence, the people in the background would’ve been much more under-exposed with direct flash …. than they would’ve been with flash bounced over our shoulder behind us.

Here is another example that I have used in the article on flash photography during the wedding ceremony in church.

1/125 @ f3.5 @ 1600 ISO
on-camera TTL bounce flash (gelled with 1/2 CTS)

The shot without flash is uniformly dark. The shot with flash bounced behind me into the front of the church … the background brightens up considerably more than we might’ve anticipated. People behind the bride and her parents, are well lit by the on-camera bounce flash.

Again, it happens this way because the people in the background are not that much further from my light source, than the bride and her parents are from the light source.  The Inverse Square Law implies that the further our subject+background is from our light source, the less dramatic the light fall-off between our subject and background.

Hopefully this article helps easing in a subject which can be daunting from the outset.  And hopefully this article helps with the “feel” if not the immediate math. The part we need to intuitively grasp here is that if we bounce our flash behind us, our background opens up.

And for those already familiar with the top of the Inverse Square Law, I hope that this article brings it in again from a different direction.

Let me know if there are any questions, and let’s work through this. Understanding all of this (to some degree at least), will help our understanding of flash photography.

related articles:
- photographing the wedding processional
- flash photography during the wedding ceremony in church
- bounce flash examples – wedding receptions

practical tutorial: controls for manual flash exposure

more articles about wedding photography …

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!

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a simple lighting setup for photographing the wedding formals

Photographing a wedding can be pretty hectic at times, especially as it so often becomes the photographer’s de facto responsibility to keep everything on track. The formal photo session specifically is a part of the day that many photographers find challenging. (The other is photographing the wedding processional.)

When photographing the family portraits, you can really help yourself by nailing your lighting. Get it down.  Then you can concentrate on getting the groups together, and concentrate on posing the groups. But your lighting works! Much less stress.

I mostly work with the Quantum flashes since they are workhorses and don’t melt when used hard. They also have a bit more power than a speedlight. But quite often, I like working with a speedlight setup …

and if you need to see a similar image with the exposure pulled down to give a bit more detail of the flash set-up.

But here’s a proper close-up of what’s been used.

the equipment you’d need:

Two speedlights.
Here I used two Nikon SB-900 speedlights.
They’ve now been updated as the even better  Nikon SB-910 Speedlight (B&H)

If you’re a Canon shooter, then the  Canon 580EX II Speedlite (B&H) is a great choice. But any speedlights would’ve worked. There are good reasons to use cheaper manual-only speedlights, but I prefer having only the top-end speedlights which offer the flexibility and features I need, such as TTL flash and high-speed flash sync.

Radio triggers
I like the PocketWizard TT5 units, but since we’ll be using manual flash only here, there’s a wide variety of radio triggers for flash that would’ve worked well.

45? white satin umbrella (B&H)
This single shoot-through umbrella disperses the light surprisingly evenly.

Umbrella Bracket (B&H)
You need something to hook the umbrella up to the light-stand, and be able to swivel the umbrella into a specific direction.

Battery packs
For faster recycling, I’d strongly recommend battery packs.  The proprietary battery packs make a lot of sense:
- Nikon SD-9 battery pack (B&H)
- Canon CP-E4  Compact Battery Pack (B&H)

Dual Speedlite Bracket
I use the IDC double mount as shown in the photograph above, but it’s been updated by the Triple Threat. There are numerous options here, and a Google search will show many choices. There’s the Morris Umbrella Tilt Head (B&H); the Interfit Strobies Triple Flash bracket (B&H). Lightware offers the FourSquare. There’s the WizardBracket. There are also DIY dual flash brackets.  A wide choice.

But it does make sense to get two speedlights in there for extra power, or for faster recycling. Besides, you have at least two speedlights anyway.

Lightstand
I like the Manfrotto 1004BAC (B&H), but a lower priced lightstand like the Impact Heavy Duty 13′ LightStand (B&H) is a good option.

That about covers the gear you’d need.

Oh, currently my standard camera and lens for formals:
Nikon D3S  (B&H);
Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G ED AF-S  (B&H)

Exposure metering

I don’t use a lightmeter here, since I can rely on the histogram method of getting accurate exposure with manual flash.

Since the family members will be in a fixed position in relation to the light (on a light-stand), it just makes the most sense to use manual flash. TTL flash will cause too much variation in exposure.  What you need for a faster workflow afterwards, is consistent and accurate exposure. Every frame with exactly the same exposure.

Manual flash exposure is controlled by these 4 factors:
- distance between the light source and subjects (which is fixed)
- power  …  the power / output of your speedlights. You need to figure this out, for your chosen aperture and ISO
- ISO  …  select a reasonable ISO. I often go as high as 800 ISO with the family photos with a suitable camera. 
 - aperture  …  pick a suitable aperture. f5.6 makes sense. f8 makes sense. f2.8 is kinda risky for a group because the depth-of-field is so shallow. Stay with a medium aperture.

My settings for the image at the top were:
1/160 @ 4.5 @ 400 ISO
There was a lot of available light streaming in, so I chose my settings accordingly, and added enough manual flash to give me good exposure for the brides dress.  All other tones fell into place along with this.

related article:
- exposure metering for the bride & the bride’s dress

For this wedding, in a darker church, I chose:
1/60 @ f5 @ 800 ISO … using exactly the same setup.

A quick note about focal length – use as long a focal length as you comfortably and practically can. Really resist the urge to zoom wider on a group of people .. really try to rather step back and keep to a longer focal length.

And this is how it comes together for the lighting – using a lighting gear that is easy to use, and gives surprisingly great light for a medium sized umbrella. This way you can take stress off you by having great light with the family formals session.

more articles about wedding photography
and specifically:
- lighting and photographing the wedding formals
- lighting the wedding formals

other articles on off-camera flash photography

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.

wedding photography – using bounce flash outside

When working with a couple during the romantic portrait session, there’s the need to bring variety to the images – not just in posing and composition, but also in terms of light & lighting. For this reason I use a variety – available light; video light; off-camera flash and on-camera bounce flash. I really like using on-camera bounce flash since it is such an easy light source to use, always at hand. There was a recent article on using bounce flash outdoors, but I’d like to add another example where I used bounce flash outside a wedding venue. Let’s look at the sequence of images …

Photographing the bride, Justine, against a Tungsten-lit background, I positioned her and myself so that I could get that warm halo around her. Bounce flash. Dead easy. Of course I used the black foamie thing to make sure the light from the flash was indirect, yet directional. It’s a simple but effective way to work with on-camera flash indoors.

I chose my camera settings such that the ambient light in the background registered, and then added TTL flash. The flash picked up the exposure to where it needed to be. I had to dial a positive FEC to compensate for the brighter tonal values dominating the center of the image.

camera settings: 1/60 @ f/2.8 @ 1000 ISO .. TTL flash @ +1.33 FEC
Nikon D3S  (B&H);  Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II  (B&H) … used at 145mm
Nikon SB-900 (B&H);  Nikon SD-9 battery pack (B&H)

Then we moved outdoors …

.. the soft evening light was just perfect. Nothing extra needed. The light was fairly low, so I used 1600 ISO. Not a problem with the Nikon D3s.

camera settings: 1/250 @ f/4 @ 1600 ISO
Nikon D3S  (B&H);  Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G ED AF-S  (B&H) … used at 28mm

The light was getting low, but working with the direction of the light, there was enough light to comfortably get by.

Then I had the idea of shooting from an elevated point of view and using the lines there as a compositional device. Standing on a chair, I was able to get that point of view … but I also made sure that were I placed myself, I would be able to bounce flash up against the walls and ceiling of the entrance way.

Here you can get a better idea of how high the ceiling was, and where I bounced my flash off.

Since the light was too low shooting in that direction, I didn’t particularly meter for the ambient light, but rather chose my settings so that they made sense … ie, enough depth-of-field and a not-too-low shutter speed. I needed to hand-hold a non-stabilized lens, and flash might not entirely freeze my movement there, standing on the cushioned chair.

Here is one of the final images in this sequence … and another as a comparison where I disabled the flash so that you can see what the ambient levels where at.

camera settings: 1/200 @ f/4 @ 1600 ISO .. TTL flash @ +1.00 FEC
Nikon D3S  (B&H);  Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G ED AF-S  (B&H)  … used at 30mm
Nikon SB-900 (B&H);  Nikon SD-9 battery pack (B&H)

Since the couple had no idea of what I was aiming for, it helps in showing the result. I do this during the session – it helps reinforce their confidence in me. But I don’t do this with such frequency that it holds up the flow of the photography. It is important to keep the energy level up.

The image at the top of the page then is one of a sequence … which is one of a number of sequences I took.  All of this with the motive to give the couple an interesting variety to their photographs. Using different lighting sources and styles definitely helps with that. It keeps it interesting for the couple, and it keeps it interesting for me as a photographer.

more articles on bounce flash photography
more articles about wedding photography

more images from this wedding can be seen in the album on Facebook,
and in previous articles here:
- wedding photography – tips on posing – asymmetry
- back-lighting with flash for silhouetted wedding portraits

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.

observing & using the available light, and maybe adding a little bit of flash (model – Alex)

When working with available light or flash or video light or any kind of additional light, the most important aspect of the light is the direction of the light. We need to take a moment and observe the light. Where do the light sources come from? What is the quality of the light?

This motif of looking at the available light has been a recurring theme here with various articles on the topic. Using this simple portrait of Alex, our model with a recent individual workshop, let’s look at a sequence of photos showing some of the thought process ..

Working under part of the Highline in Manhattan, we “forced” the available light to come from two directions.

Facing Alex, to my left (and slightly behind me), I had the main source of available light. This was the brightest part of the sky,which was slightly overcast. This now acts like a massive softbox that we might have in a studio scenario.

To my right (and slightly behind me), there was another large light source – also the sky – but less bright in comparison.

Now, looking closely at Alex’s face, you can see the way the light is distributed. One side of her face is more brightly lit than the other. For this photo, I posed Alex so that  she was facing towards the brightest light source (the open sky to my left).  I wanted to get the light positioned on her as short lighting, although the light here is quite even and not that dramatic.  (With “short lighting”, the side of her face turned away from the camera is better lit than the part of her face turned towards the camera.)

You can definitely see how the interplay of the two light sources there.

The light looks good, and the background is a complementary warm color. To give some separation from the background, we decided to add a bit of flash as a kind of “hair light”. Since we already had great light on Alex, we could use the flash and softbox to give that bit of rim lighting there.

I asked that the softbox be feathered away from me so that just the edge of light from the softbox spilled on Alex’s beret and shoulders.

Here we used a Quantum flash in a Photoflex softbox, with the power turned all the way down to 1/32 power.

Camera settings: 1/100 @ f3.5 @ 800 ISO

equipment used during this photo session:

Nikon D3S  (B&H);  Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S (B&H)

Quantum Q-flash T5D-R   (B&H)
medium Photoflex Litedome Q39 (24×32) softbox  (B&H)
Westcott Magic Slipper  (B&H),  Sekonic L-358 (B&H)
(2x) Pocket-Wizard Plus II Tranceiver (B&H)

description of the softbox setup used during this photo session

related articles:
- flash photography tip: find your background, then your settings
- off-camera flash – adding dimension with back-lighting (model: Lea)
- observing and using the available light (model – Anelisa)
- direction of light & choice of background
- “using the available light” is not random
- exposure metering & observing the available light (model: Aleona)
- flash photography tip: find your background, then your settings (model: Alex)
- flash photography essentials
- off camera flash articles
- balancing flash with ambient light – where do we even start?

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.

off-camera flash photography tip – find your background, then your settings

With flash photography on location, we nearly always start off by figuring out what we want to do in relation to our available light. We might just need fill-flash, or or flash might need to do the “heavy lifting” and expose correctly for our subject in relation to the available light.

When we have our subject in (relative) shade, and need to figure out our flash exposure, we also need to decide exactly what our background is. It usually works best to be specific about our background … and how we position ourselves and our subject in relation to that.

So let’s run through that thought-process, using the image at the top.  Alex was our delightful model today during an individual workshop in Manhattan.

A point that I often underline here, is that we can’t expose correctly for all the areas in our background. We have to choose which part of our background is important, and base our exposure on that.

For example, here is a street scene in Manhattan. Exposing for the sky, the street goes completely dark.

1/250 @ f11 @ 200 ISO

This is to illustrate that I can’t expose correctly for the sky and the street scene. I have to decide.

Adding flash to this to expose correctly for Alex, still leaves us with an image that doesn’t make sense. She’s lost in a pool of black surroundings.

Positioning myself so that I can shoot up and use the sky as my background, makes much more sense.

At this point, I had changed my exposure to 1/250 @ f16 @ 200 ISO to really saturate the sky.  There is no specific correct exposure here for the sky. I can choose how I want to have the background / the sky appear.

Adding manual off-camera flash to this mix, immediately gives a dramatic look.

The vertical shot looks good, but half the frame is dark. It would need additional flashes, or something there to help delineate her legs against the background.

The composition just makes more sense as a horizontal photo, with Alex placed against the sky.

The final image again …

.. but with the image sweetened a bit using Topaz Adjust in an Adjustment Layer in Photoshop to give the photograph a bit more snap, as described in that article.

Here is the pull-back shot:

To get any kind of detail in the surrounding areas, and not have it appear black, I dragged my shutter to 1/15 of a second. Not a sensible shutter speed here when hand-holding the camera. It was just to illustrate where we were.

Since we were shooting with manual flash here, I couldn’t as easily change my aperture and ISO as I might have if TTL flash was an option with our setup. Therefore my shutter speed was the easiest to change and affect my ambient light only.  (It’s my independent control for available light when shooting with manual flash.)

FInally, here is the image as I preferred it to be cropped. It was sweetened a bit in Photoshop with using Topaz Adjust, but the sky was not dodged and burnt or manipulated. It appears that saturated and dramatic because that is how we exposed for it.

1/250 @ f16 @ 200 ISO … 24-70mm lens zoomed to 35mm (but image cropped square)

the metering technique used here for the manual flash:

- we decided on the aperture and ISO we want to use, based on what we wanted to do with our background.
- since we’re shooting in bright light, our lowest ISO is our best option.
- we’re shooting at maximum sync speed, since that is the most sensible shutter speed choice now.
- since manual flash was used, that means aperture and ISO has now been fixed for us.
- that leaves distance and power of our flash, as the other two controls.
- knowing we need to dump f16 @ 200 ISO worth of light from the Q-flash in a softbox with a single baffle, the flash was set to full manual output.  Everything the flash could give.
- that means our power was decided for us.  (Due to bright sky)
- then we  just had to use a lightmeter to measure our output (in f-stop readings). Holding the monopod and softbox up, I moved forward until the other photographer read f/16 on the lightmeter. Remember, the distance here is the distance from the light-source to the subject, not the photographer’s distance to the subject.
- now all our settings for flash is correct … in relation to our chosen background.

related articles:
- so, what are your camera settings?
- flash photography essentials
- effective on-location portraits
- off camera flash articles
 - balancing flash with ambient light – where do we even start?

Dec 21 – Jan 11 - online workshop: off-camera flash essentials

equipment used during this photo session:

Nikon D3S  (B&H);  Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S (B&H)

Quantum Q-flash T5D-R   (B&H)
medium Photoflex Litedome Q39 (24×32) softbox  (B&H)
Westcott Magic Slipper  (B&H),  Sekonic L-358 (B&H)
(2x) Pocket-Wizard Plus II Tranceiver (B&H)

description of the softbox setup used during this photo session

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.

back-lighting with flash for dramatic silhouetted wedding portraits

One of the easiest ways to create dramatic light for a silhouette when photographing the wedding portraits, is to add a flash behind the couple. The beauty of this is that there is a fair amount of leeway as to what would work. We need not be all that exact, but there are some a few things we should check …

1. The distance of the flash behind the couple – a few feet.

2. Set the flash to a wide zoom angle for the flash-head. Flipping the diffuser panel down, or using a diffuser cup, would also help spread the light.

3. Tilt the flash up by about 45 degrees.

4. It is best we don’t put the flash on the ground directly behind the couple, because if the flash comes from below them, the light tends to over-expose large areas of the underside of their faces and chins. Not ideal.  So it helps in elevating the flash off the ground. A small tripod is best.

There is more to this. I was using the PocketWizard TT5 units, and they don’t respond well if the receiving unit is on the ground. The receiver needs to be elevated to receive the entire radio wave from the sender. So I knew from experience (and one or two test shots here), that I had best elevate the flash anyway.

In the example above, I told my assistant to crouch down behind them wile holding the flash (and wireless receiver) in her hand. My instruction was to “be small” as she crouched so that she wouldn’t appear in the frame.

5. Manual flash settings make the most sense. TTL flash metering isn’t really of help here, since your camera won’t be directly metering the area lit by the flash. The flash exposure will mostly be rim-lighting, and not lighting your subjects from the front. The manual flash settings – try 1/4 power or 1/8th power or even 1/16 power, depending on your aperture and ISO.

My settings for the photo above:
1/30 @ f4 @ 1600 ISO  … lens zoomed to 30mm
My settings were based on the need to have some detail in the wedding reception venue behind the couple.  Then I added flash. Simple.

My flash was gelled with a 1/2 CTS gel.

Since the building is well-lit, there was also the option to not use flash, and just have the natural silhouette, without the flash adding the rim-light.

My settings for the photo above:
1/40 @ f2.8 @ 2500 ISO  - hand-held, lens zoomed to 24mm

And just for comparison, here is the same setup, but lit from the front.

My settings for the photo above:
1/40 @ f2.8 @ 2500 ISO  - hand-held, lens zoomed to 24mm
My flash was gelled with a 1/2 CTS gel.

Here I had my assistant hold a white umbrella aloft, with the shaft of the umbrella pointing at the couple. She also held the flash aloft in her other hand, bouncing into the umbrella. While this image works, for me, it just lacks the dramatic impact of the image at the top. However, it is a photo I would include to show the couple, just to give them the option.

more articles about wedding photography

more images from this wedding can be seen in the album on Facebook.

equipment used during this photo session:

Nikon D3S  (B&H);  Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S (B&H)
(2x) Nikon SB-900 (B&H);  Nikon SD-9 battery pack (B&H)
PocketWizard FlexTT5 transceiver (B&H)
45″ white satin umbrella (B&H)

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.

Stephanie Zettl, (who should by now be a familiar name here), recently showed me a photograph she shot of kids jumping on the bed. The photo was crisp and evenly lit. The lighting strongly reminded me of the way I lit the recent posted photo of Ulorin Vex, where I used off-camera bounce flash. And it turned out I was right.

And that is the beauty of this – clean, crisp lighting that is easily achieved.

off-camera bounce flash – photographing kids in their room

by: Stephanie Zettl (St Louis wedding photographer)

When I photograph kids my main goal is to capture the things that make them kids: their laugh, their desire to play, their sense of curiosity, their innocence. I want to create photographs that they will look at 20, 30, 50 years from now and cherish because I was able to captures moments that represent their childhood.

For me, to truly be able to do this, I like to just let the kids play and be kids. Generally I like to work with the available light because that allows me to take multiple shots quickly to get the perfect expression. Window light and open shade are my friends. However, sometimes the quality and the quantity of available light is just not there. But there should not be an excuse for bad lighting. As a professional photographer, we need to have the ability to see, shape and create the light as needed. When the quality of available natural light is poor, there is no excuse for not bringing out and using our flashes.

For this photo of two adorable happy sisters and their dog, I was faced with some difficult lighting conditions. There was a nice large window in the girls’ room, but grey nasty weather made both the quality and the quantity of the light dismal. Bounced light from my flash came to the rescue. Bounced light allowed me to create soft natural looking light and still freely capture the kids at play.

I knew the kids would probably end up bouncing on the bed, so I wanted to set a higher shutter speed of 1/125 to freeze the action in the low ambient light. I also knew that since they would probably be bouncing all around the bed I wanted a medium aperture to make sure both of them were in focus. I choose an aperture of f/4

I could have used on-camera bounce flash for these photos, but since I was going to keep the lighting in one location, I chose to put my SB-900 flash with a Pocket Wizard TT5 on a stand and trigger it from the camera using the pocket wizard TT1 mini and AC3. This allowed me to move around and not have to worry about adjusting the direction of my on camera flash.

At first I bounced the flash off the wall and ceiling to my right, but I noticed that the light was very pink due to the color of the wall. I decided to completely close the white blinds in the room and bounce my flash off them so that it had a very clean, neutral color cast. I took a couple of test shots to make sure my direction of light was good and then told the kids to have fun.

I love this photo. I love how the kids are loving life and even the dog is in on the fun of bouncing on the bed. I believe I was able to get this photo because I didn’t have to worry about the quality of my light or fight with the quantity of it. I had a reliable consistent set up that just let me shoot and pay attention to my subjects.

Stephanie Zettl (St Louis wedding photographer)

Equipment used with this photo session:

Nikon D3;  Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S (B&H)
Nikon SB-900 (B&H);  Nikon SD-9 battery pack (B&H)
PocketWizard MiniTT1 transmitter (B&H)
PocketWizard FlexTT5 transceiver (B&H)
PocketWizard AC3 Zone Controller (B&H)
Manfrotto 1051BAC light-stand (B&H)

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The Hudson Valley Click is a group of photographers in New York who arrange photo shoots for photographers who are interested in learning more or who would like to build their portfolios. I’ve mentioned them a few times in the past - photo shoot / haunted fashion / pin-up photography. With these photo sessions, they arrange for models and hair stylists and make-up artists, and for a small entry fee, you get to play. They are also pretty cool bunch of people to hang out with.

At the most recent shoot-out, the one organizer, Nuby DeLeon, showed me an image that he had set up, and my jaw dropped. With great pre-visualization of the intended shot, Nuby had set this dramatic scene up. Even the color image on the back of his camera looked perfect! Nuby was gracious enough to allow me to share this with everyone, including the lighting diagram …

Film Noir Fight Scene
by Nuby DeLeon
portrait, wedding & commercial photographer – New York

Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to explore dramatic lighting when Hudson Valley Click did their monthly themed shoot at Mountain View Manor in Glen Spey, NY. The theme for the month was Film Noir so having a beautiful Victorian mansion to shoot in was a treat. There were a number of models, all dressed in period costume.

My inspiration for the shot is Frank Miller. I wanted to match the dramatic lighting with some dramatic, almost over the top action.

The first thing I had to figure out was the lighting. I knew the action was going to be at the point of contact and the spray of spit as the gangster, played by J.J. Oracz, was hit. For the main light I used a 22” Kacey Beauty Reflector with a Grid  attached to an Alien Bee 1600. I put the main light 8 feet up on a boom from behind the gangster. I put it behind the model for two reasons – one is to highlight the spray of water and the other is to create an interesting light pattern on the wall.

Next, I added a SaberStrip with an SB-600 inside to fill in the front of the gangster and also act as a rim light for the cop, played by Jose Flores. That’s what I love about the SaberStrip – it’s very versatile and lightweight. It can serve multiple purposes just by how you place it. Almost every shot I do I end up using the Saberstrip either as a main light, rim light, background light or accent light.

I added a third light to accent the gun because the shadows created by the main light ended up hiding it. For this I used an SB-800 in a Strobies Bracket (B&H), which came with a 7” reflector. This was perfect for focusing the light in one area while eliminating lens flare.

Finally, I decided to add a spot of blue light to mimic a police car parked off camera. Even though I knew the final image would be in black and white I still wanted to light it as authentic as I could get it. Having worked as a still photographer in a feature film cop drama I saw them using alternating blue and red lights off camera to suggest a cop car on scene. I took this same idea and added the blue gelled bare flash off camera right.

Here is the lighting diagram:

Now about posing – I put the cop in a static pose and told him to convey the action through his face because that is what was going to sell the realism. The gangster got ready with a mouthful of water and flipped his head back on cue. I tilted the camera slightly to add even more motion to the image.

For post processing, I used NIK Software - Color Efex 4.0 and Silver Efex 2.
If you’re ever in the New York area, check out Hudson Valley Click Portfolio Building Group. Hudson Valley Click is an organization dedicated to providing unique opportunities for photographers, models, makeup artists, hairstylists, and designers of all skill levels to network and build a portfolio of images that will stand out. We do this by partnering with local Hudson Valley venues and businesses in a joint marketing effort to provide a place to shoot that would otherwise be difficult or expensive to do alone.

Nuby DeLeon  - portrait, wedding and commercial photographer, New York & Connecticut 

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off-camera bounce flash – my guest spot on Frank Doorhof’s blog

I was fortunate to make the acquaintance of a phenomenal Fashion photographer last year when Frank Doorhof visited New York. He was gracious enough to be featured on the Tangents blog with a guest spot - on learning the essentials of photography.  And it is my turn to reciprocate. The topic of my post is off-camera bounce flash.

Showing a sequence of images that I shot of Ulorin Vex earlier this year, I explain the thought-process in the lighting that I used. The lighting technique itself was quite simple, but there were some steps in finessing the final result.

And it’s all there on Frank’s blog - off-camera bounce flash.

More photo sessions with Ulorin Vex:

• model – Ulorin Vex
• Ulorin Vex in red  (photo session 2)
• Ulorin Vex – window light  (photo session 3)
• Ulorin Vex – Monaco foyer  (photo session 4)
• example: direct off-camera flash vs softbox

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these affiliate links to order equipment & other goodies.   Thank you!

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flash photography technique – turning day into night

During the photo session with a couple, Laura & Todd, I wanted to add some variety to the images from the urban setting we were in. The sky had been overcast, but started to clear later on, leaving wispy clouds. Just perfect for a dramatic sky as the background. Of course, it is impossible to get your subject AND a bright sky equally well exposed without resorting to graduated filters or additional lighting, ie, flash. The technique with off-camera flash is quite straight-forward …

The first thing I did was get my basic exposure for the sky.  Zeroing out the needle works fairly well unless the sun is in the frame.

A test shot at 1/250 @ f11 @ 200 ISO showed that I had detail in the sky. Of course, there was a reason I was at max sync speed – it is our sweet spot when using flash in bright light.

The sky had a nice pattern to it, but the colors were too neutral. It needed something more. So I checked what the sky would look like if I set my WB to 3850K (knowing I could gel my speedlight with a 1/2 CTS gel).

Aah, now we’re getting somewhere.

Still working at 1/250 @ f11 @ 200 ISO, I knew that the single speedlight wouldn’t be able to push enough light out if diffused with a softbox. It had to be direct, undiffused, off-camera flash.

I had my assistant hold the light nearly above me, but to my right and behind me. The reason was so that the light on Laura’s face wouldn’t leave a hard shadow of her nose across her cheek or mouth.

Since my exposure settings was chosen for me, by how I wanted the background exposed, I had to add f11 @ 200 ISO worth of flash on my subjects.

The simplest would be to use manual flash, and to use it at full power.

Using the distance shown on the back of the Nikon SB-900, I had my assistant hold the speedlight (up on a monopod) at about that distance. If I had used a Canon 580EX II, I would’ve placed the speedlight on my camera to see the distance scale. Slightly more cumbersome route, but the distance I need to hold the flash away from my subject, will be revealed.

For more on this: a tutorial on how manual flash exposure is affected by distance, and choice of settings.

Finally, I used the PocketWizard TT5 units and AC3 controller, to trigger the off-camera flash. I had the AC3 set to manual and full power.)

With the off-camera speedlight gelled with a 1/2 CTS gel, and my WB set to 3850K, the color balance for my couple was just fine, but the sky shifted to a more dramatic shade of blue.

A few easy & logical steps to get to the final sequence of images.

more images from this photo session in New York

equipment used during this photo session:

Nikon D3S  (B&H);  Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR (B&H)
Nikon SB-900 (B&H);  Nikon SD-9 battery pack (B&H)
(2x) PocketWizard FlexTT5 transceiver (B&H)
PocketWizard AC3 Zone Controller (B&H)

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!

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Also join us on the Tangents forum for further discussions.