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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 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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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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January 23, 2012
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 …
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January 12, 2012
Hanging out with my friend Brooke, (NYC boudoir photographer), at a recent workshop, I noticed some of the images on her iPad that she was showing to explain her lighting techniques. The photographs had an interesting mix of gold and blue tones, and I thought the way she achieved it would be of interest to everyone. It might be familiar to regular followers of the Tangents blog. (Oh, Brooke is co-presenting a workshop on boudoir photography, and there’s a discount for Tangents readers.)
inspired boudoir lighting
by Brooke Ismach, New York boudoir photographer
Since launching Inspired Boudoir, a joint photography venture with fellow photographer Laura Eaton, I have been lucky enough to speak quite a bit about boudoir photography. Which means I’m showing boudoir images to photography groups. Consistently, I am asked one question more than any other: How did I achieve the “blue” background lighting in the attached photo. Most photographers guess using gels, but the answer is actually simpler than that …
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December 5, 2011
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
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.
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December 4, 2011
gelling your flash for effect
The idea of gelling your flash for effect has been a topic here a few times. I most often use gels on my flash to correct my flash when working with tungsten / incandescent light. There are times though when I gel my flash just for effect, creating a shift between my foreground (lit by gelled flash) and my background.
In the examples shown in the several articles here, there wasn’t the type of background where the effect can clearly be seen on easily recognizable “neutral” background. In the article turning day into night, we turned the sky a dark shade of blue. With the sequence of photos of a model, Bethany, there was a reflective mirrored wall as background that we changed the color of. The effect looks stunning, but the mirrored wall might not be something that makes the color shift obvious to the casual visitor here.
With that, during a recent individual workshop in Manhattan, while working with Anelisa again, I took the opportunity to specifically take this sequence of images. They will hopefully clearly show how we can create a more dramatic effect by shifting the color balance of our flash in relation to the available light …
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December 1, 2011
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.
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November 23, 2011
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 …
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October 30, 2011
simple lighting setup for studio for studio photography
This photo of Anelisa and Aleona, two of my favorite models, were taken towards the end of the evening of the most recent flash photography and lighting workshop here in New York. The studio that the workshop was held in, had a white cyclorama that was just inviting to be used.
As a recap of manual flash photography, I wanted to show how simple and easy a basic studio lighting setup was … and that it was quite within the reach of every photographer. Well, not the studio itself, but the lighting setup and equipment, as well as the technique, is well within the reach of any photographer …
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