observing and using the available light (model – Anelisa)

With a few top-end point & shoot cameras to test, I met up with Anelisa on this crisp late-Fall afternoon in New York. Similar to how I often work, the idea was to walk around and explore and find interesting places and interesting light to take photographs in. So when at this particular spot in Bryant Park, and I saw the light was just incredible, I ditched the point & shoot cameras, and grabbed my Nikon D3 with the  Nikon 35mm f/1.4G  (B&H) lens on it.

Since the idea with today’s photo shoot was to *find* interesting and flattering light – as opposed to creating it with off-camera flash – I had no additional lighting with me. Not even a speedlight. It was all about observing and using the available light.  And this is how we found ourselves here in this particular spot …

The photograph above was taken in this spot with the light from the sun coming from behind. The spotlight effect on Anelisa’s face is from the sun reflecting off a building behind me. That hard reflection of the sun created this fantastic light on her.

camera settings: 1/1000 @ f2 @ 200 ISO
Nikon D3;  Nikon 35mm f/1.4G  (B&H)

Turning Anelisa around, the photograph looks very different as that sun’s reflection in the building creates a hot-spot in the image that just blows out completely.

The light falling on Anelisa now is the light filtering through the leaves. I positioned her so that there were no splotchy highlights on her face.

camera settings: 1/500 @ f2 @ 200 ISO
Nikon D3;  Nikon 35mm f/1.4G  (B&H)

So with both those images, it was a careful observation where the light was coming from – and in this instance we had two light sources – the sunlight, and the reflection in the building’s glass facade. When we moved away for other photos, the light just looked bland and undramatic.

And here I am, showing Anelisa what we’re getting. And don’t laugh at the woolen hat. It was cold!  Comfort trumps style when it becomes cold. And I just know I’m going to be asked about the pointy tip – I had to pull the hat up so that it doesn’t cover my ears, otherwise I couldn’t hear Anelisa while shooting there.

Another example from earlier on in the day. Having Anelisa step away from the sidewalk into this entrance area outside a building, I was able to “force” the light to come from a direction that I wanted … in addition to getting a pretty awesome background. The idea here in how I positioned Anelisa is quite similar to that described in the article, “using the available light” is not random.

camera settings: 1/1000 @ f2 @ 200 ISO
Nikon D3;  Nikon 35mm f/1.4G  (B&H)

This article is a continuation in the theme of specifically working with the available light in how we photograph our subjects. Observing and using the available light is also reliant on how we position and direct our subjects.

other related articles:
- “using the available light” is not random
- exposure metering & observing the available light (model: Aleona)
- finding interesting available light
- looking at the available light
- direction of light & choice of background (part 1)

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.

example: direct off-camera flash vs softbox (model: Ulorin Vex)

Ulorin Vex posing for us during part of the on-location session of the flash photography workshops which I presented in San Francisco earlier this year. Ulorin Vex is of course absolutely stunning, as always. While I often direct models how they should pose, this one is all her doing . Not even I can improve on that.

The image here at the top was shot with an off-camera softbox – my usual preferred Lastolite Ezybox softbox. The direction of the light here should immediately reveal the approximate position where the light was positioned. Just as comparison, we removed the two baffles of the Lastolite, to see how direct off-camera flash would compare. We kept the softbox hull in place, so it did help contain the spread of light a bit. As you’d expect, the results look more dramatic.

With this image, I did some additional processing of the image in Photoshop, using the Radlab action sets.  Here is the pull-back shot. As you’d immediately notice as well, I cloned out the intercom box, and cleaned up some distracting spots and marks on the metallic areas.

With the two comparative images, I wanted to help give an idea of how different the results can be. While my own preference is for soft light, direct off-camera flash is always an option. A softbox (or large umbrella) is a more forgiving light source though than direct flash. You have more leeway in placing your light in relation to your subject if you make it a large light source and diffuse it.

camera settings and details for both images:
1/200 @ f5.6 @ 200 ISO
The 2nd image was over-exposed by around 1.5 stops.
This is due to the light being more concentrated to the center of the image, which will affect the TTL metering compared to the image at the top where the entire area is evenly lit. Since the setting is metallic, that had to affect the TTL exposure metering as well.
Canon 5D mark II (B&H);  Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS  (B&H)
The camera was hand-held with the lens zoomed to 28mm and 40mm respectively.

Lastolite EZYBOX Softbox Kit (24″x24″) (B&H)
FlexTT5 transceiver (B&H);  AC3 ZoneController (B&H)
set-up as explained in this article on wireless TTL triggers for Canon

image processing done with the RadLab action sets
(the discount code 1086NEILVN will save you 15%)

other articles on Tangents, featuring Ulorin:

model – Ulorin Vex
Ulorin Vex in red (photo session 2)
Ulorin Vex – window light (photo session 3)
Ulorin Vex – Monaco foyer (photo session 4)
manual off-camera fill-flash (model – Ulorin Vex)

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.

photo session: urban ballerina – Oktavia

Oktavia is the stunning model on the cover of my book on off-camera flash. We’ve intended to do another photo shoot ever since then, but busy schedules kept us from that until recently. A theme that Oktavia wanted to explore, was that of the Urban Ballerina. The idea with the urban ballerina is the contextual dissonance of having a graceful dancer in the middle of some urban setting. There’s no real meaning to it other than contrasting art & beauty against the harsher urban setting.

With this grand view of the GW bridge leading in to Manhattan, we had Oktavia pose on this narrow ledge. But we had to forego ballerina shoes since the ledge was just too precarious to have someone balance on the tips of her toes right there.

We were working in a shaded area compared to the background, so I had to use off-camera flash to light her. The lighting setup was simple. A speedlight in a softbox to the camera left, and a bare speedlight to the right. I flagged the speedlight on the right with a black foamie thing to minimize lens flare.

At the distance I placed the speedlights, I had both of them set to full manual output. This gave me:
1/250 @ f8 @ 200 ISO

Ideally, I would’ve liked more light on her from the softbox, since the background is slightly brighter than I would’ve liked. A larger lighting setup like a Profoto kit would’ve been better, or perhaps a dual (or even triple) speedlight setup with a softbox on camera left.

The Urban Ballerina is definitely a theme with an interesting premise, and one I’d like to explore more in future.

Post-processing was done with layered actions via the RadLab filters / actions palette. I used this Photoshop plugin recently with the vintage photo session as well.

You can order the RadLab or the Totally Rad action sets via this affiliate link:
the discount code 1086NEILVN will save you 15%

other articles featuring Oktavia:
- Photoshop tips – retouching for portraits
- sequence of photos – posing a model – Oktavia

Equipment used with this photo session:

Nikon D3;  Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S (B&H)
(2x) Nikon SB-900 (B&H);  (2x) Nikon SD-9 battery pack (B&H)
(3x) PocketWizard FlexTT5 transceiver (B&H)
PocketWizard AC3 Zone Controller (B&H)
Lastolite EZYBOX Softbox Kit (24″x24″) (B&H)
black foamie thing
(2x) Manfrotto 1004BAC light-stand (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.

Lea – moving portrait – Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II

Canon just released the Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II (B&H), an update to an already highly-regarded lens, and I was able to get a review copy courtesy of B&H. I tried this lens out during a photo session with a model, Lea. Instead of just photographs, I decided to shoot video and create a “moving portrait” of her.

The video footage was shot in Times Square a few evenings ago, just using the flood of light from the billboards.

The initial portion of the clip is just a series of glimpses of Lea through the crowd in Times Square. It was a bit of a battle to get a decent sequence, since people would often stop in their tracks right in front of the camera. Which is okay; I’m just one more person there. An amusing moment was when someone came up to Lea while I was photographing her at a distance, to ask her where she bought her clothes. “Hey lady, we’re working here!” I did actually say that, but just under my breath.

This video clip was edited with iMovie ’11. I slowed the video footage down to 50% speed to make it more dream-like. The soundtrack is a royalty-free track from Triple-Scoop Music.

This first section of the video clip is just with the Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II (B&H)
With the second section (where you can see the cars), I added the Canon 1.4x III extender (B&H) to turn this into an impressive 420mm f4 lens. This placed Lea so far from me that she couldn’t quite see my hand gestures as I was directing her … so she had to wear her glasses. (You can’t politely shout over that distance.)

Even though this short video clip has even less of a story than your average music video, it will show you the compression that this focal length creates for portraits, and how dreamily out-of-focus the background is at f2.8 All sections were shot with the lens wide open. And yes, it’s a “holy macaroni!” impressive kind of a lens. The video footage was shot with a tripod, but I also took some photos hand-held … and the aggressive Image Stabilisation is just as impressive. The images were sharp, even hand-held at 1/100 shutter speed.

Regarding my camera settings for shooting the video footage:

I stayed around 1600 ISO for the most part, but for some sections (not shown here), I dropped it by a 1/3rd and even 2/3rds of a stop. For the section at the end of this clip where Lea is standing at the cars, my ISO was at 2000. But there is more to this …

• With Canon DSLRs, multiples of 160 ISO give the best noise performance. However, I didn’t keep to that guide because:

• I needed to shoot at f2.8 and didn’t want to vary my aperture to get the appropriate multiple-of-160-ISO setting. I wanted to show the look the lens gives wide open. So I kept to f2.8 through-out.

• I wanted to keep the camera at 1/50th off a second shutter speed through-out.There are many articles online which will describe why 24fps gives a film-like appearance. And for specific reasons, it means we need to shoot at 1/50th shutter speed to maintain the 180 degree shutter rule, if we are shooting video at 24fps. So I kept my shutter to 1/50th shooting the video footage.

• Therefore, since I wanted to keep to a 1/50th shutter speed, and wanted to shoot at f2.8 it meant that I had to change my ISO to suit, even though my specific ISO setting might not match the ideal.

equipment used during this shoot:
Canon 5D mk II (B&H)
Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II (B&H)
Canon 1.4x III extender (B&H)

Manfrotto 458B tripod with NeoTec Pro Photo tripod legs (B&H)
Manfrotto 701HDV fluid head (B&H)

More about this tripod:
It features a unique quick-release and lock system for the legs which makes it incredibly easy to set up and collapse again. You simply pull on the legs to extend them, and they automatically lock in position. It is heavier than a carbon-fiber tripod, but the ease of setup made it an easy choice for me as my video tripod.

other articles featuring Lea:
- using direct, bare (un-modified) off-camera flash
- off-camera flash – adding dimension with back-lighting
- NYC photo-shootout redux

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.

exposure metering & observing the available light

As a photographer you’ll often hear instruction to just “look at the available light”. Great. But this advice is also often given without clear examples of what we’re actually supposed to be looking at. So let’s explore that a little bit using a sequence of images of our model, Aleona, photographed during a recent individual photography workshop.

This is also keeping with the loose theme over the past few weeks, that for a photographer “using the available light” is not a random thing or just a meaningless catch-phrase.

As an example, here is the pull-back shot of the image above. (I did some editing and image sweetening to it, but more about that later.) The light on Aleona is all available light.

Two things to take note of here:

1. we need to be aware of how the available light changes with our position … or not

The wall behind her is painted black, but doesn’t necessarily appear as black. At our angle that we’re viewing it at here, it becomes reflective and blows out to a golden bright color. Or, as we change position, it becomes more grey.  And finally, a head-on shot shows that the wall is indeed black.

It is the same light. All that changed was *our* position. So in that sense, this relates directly again to the article where I described my lighting setup in photographing a model, Ulorin Vex. By changing *my* position, I entirely changed the way the light appears in the images. A change in *my* position changed the resulting images.

Changing my position didn’t change my exposure metering settings for my subject, since the light was coming from a 180 degree sweep around her. But it did change how my background appeared. And this is something we can actually see while on location by actually *looking* at the light, and realizing that the black wall isn’t black anymore from certain angles.

2. exposure metering

The second thing to be aware of here, is that since it is the same light falling on Aleona, my exposure settings don’t change. My camera’s meter will show wildly different readings … but that doesn’t affect me, since I am metering for my subject.

And this comes right around again to a previous article where I photographed Anelisa with the Fuji X100. In that instance as well, by exposing for my subject, I let my background blow out. It gives a specific (and perhaps unexpected) look. But the central idea is that we need to expose for our subjects. Or, decide *how* we want to expose for our subjects.

So, with these three images of Aleona, I can’t let my background affect my exposure metering. I have to shoot in manual exposure mode to keep things simple, and keep my background (which varies from deep-black to super-bright) from affecting my exposures.

Here is the final image where I cloned out the extraneous distracting elements like the pulley system in the ceiling there. (Aleona is too tall for me to get the angle of view that I wanted, so I had to do some tweaking in Photoshop to get the image I wanted – a simpler image.

Then I used the RadLab filters / actions palette  to spice up the image. I used this Photoshop plugin recently with the vintage photo session as well.

You can order the RadLab or the Totally Rad action sets via this affiliate link:
the discount code 1086NEILVN will save you 15%

camera settings: 1/250 @ f3.5 @ 400 ISO
Nikon D3;  Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II (B&H) … hand-held

related articles:
- “using the available light” is not random
- direction of the light … any light (model – Shawna)
- tips on posing people / working with a model
- photographic composition – look at your background!
- direction of light & choice of background (part 1)

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.

photo session (available light) – Ekaterina

Ekaterina, (or Kate, if your tongue trips over her name), was the model at the top of my recent review of the Canon 8-15mm f/4L fisheye zoom lens. Since the fisheye makes everything bendy, and it must be the least flattering of lenses for portraits, I wanted to show a handful of images from the rest of the photo session with her. These should portray her graceful beauty much better.

The images here were all shot with available light only. The approach was exactly the same as described in the article, “using the available light” is not random. In that article I described how I photographed a bride using available light only, by positioning her such that the light just had to come in at a flattering angle. Predictably so. Similar here with these two photos of Ekaterina – I had her against the doorway which was deep enough under the canopy of the buildings. So the soft light was coming in mostly from 30-45 degrees from above – that natural softbox effect. Very flattering.

camera settings: 1/320 @ f3.2 @ 400 ISO
Nikon D3;  Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II (B&H)

camera settings: 1/500 @ f3.2 @ 320 ISO
Nikon D3;  Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II (B&H)

Working on the shadow side of a building with this bright yellow wall, I noticed there was this splash of glare from the sun being reflected off glass.

This created a natural spot-light effect which I then Ekaterina position her face towards. Here is the comparison image where I asked her to just look at the camera – no regard for the direction of light. It just creates a messy pattern of light. This just underlines the idea that “using the available light” isn’t random.

This idea ties in with two other related articles:
- direction of the light … any light  (model – Shawna)
- available light vs fill-flash  (Jessica & Michael)
-  finding interesting available light

Back to the final image:

Being so intent on checking how the light fell on her face, I didn’t note the shadow that her shoulder was casting. I should’ve caught that at the time and asked her to gently roll her shoulder back until the shadow isn’t as distinct. The learning curve is never-ending.

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.

Ulorin Vex – Hotel Monaco foyer (photo session 4)

During the same afternoon that I had the opportunity to photograph Ulorin Vex, I took several other sequences of images of her in other costume. Here we worked in the foyer area of the Hotel Monaco in San Francisco. (If only all other hotels had such a diversity of immediately photogenic areas!)  With this image, I wanted a near-symmetrical image, with just Ulorin Vex’s posture slightly breaking the symmetry up. Just enough to make a stunning subject even more eye-catching.

A little more about the train-of-thought to getting to this image …

When I saw that bench in the foyer area, I knew that it would work as a simple backdrop, and that the colors would pop. The pose is mostly Ulorin Vex’s … she is supremely professional and easy to photograph, bringing so much to the photo session. Then all it needed was gentle fine-tuning of the positioning of her hands and legs by telling her how I’d like her to place her hands and feet.

In lighting this, I went for a simplistic set-up again – just bouncing an off-camera flash into the ceiling and away from her. The pull-back shot will explain this better:

The off-camera speedlight was controlled with a  PocketWizard FlexTT5 transceiver (B&H) which allows me, with the PocketWizard AC3 Zone Controller (B&H), to change easily from manual flash to TTL flash, and control the power of the flash, from my camera. In the end, I shot with full manual power, since bouncing flash this way lost a lot of light.

camera settings: 1/80 @ f3.2 @ 640 ISO

In the larger image of that pull-back shot, you can see that I had gelled my flash. The light in there was predominantly incandescent, so I just used a gel on my flash. In the end, looking at the comparison shot without flash, so little ambient light registers, that it most likely wouldn’t have made much difference.

Yet, the shadows of the diagonal beams do show up in the final image. In the end, I’d gel my flash again if I had to shoot in a similar situation. It just makes more sense to have my flash be close to the color balance of the predominant ambient light source.

For the two images shown here, I took my post-processing a few steps further than I usually do.

Instead of my usual post-processing workflow for retouching portraits, I changed things up a bit:

• I used Neat Image to smooth the image a bit;
• then ran a Nik Color Efex filter – Glamor Glow – at reduced opacity;
• an adjustment layer which I set to a Soft Light blending mode, also at reduced opacity;
• and what gave this image a grittier but glowing look, was the Gradient Map layer, set to Soft Light blending mode, again at reduced opacity.

And that’s all it took – a fantastic model, a photogenic spot, simple but effective lighting and some Photoshop fairy dust. Simple really.

other articles on Tangents, featuring Ulorin Vex:

model – Ulorin Vex
Ulorin Vex in red - photo session 2
Ulorin Vex – window light - photo session 3

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)
(2x) PocketWizard FlexTT5 transceiver (B&H)
PocketWizard AC3 Zone Controller (B&H)
Manfrotto 1051BAC light-stand (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.

off-camera flash – creating separation with back-lighting

Another image from the photo session with Bethany, when I was in San Francisco earlier this year. This interesting background is part of the lobby area of a San Francisco night-club. I knew the wooden panelling and subdued incandescent lighting would make an interesting background because of the repetitive pattern and glow. A slow shutter speed brought the background light in … and then I used flash to light her. I didn’t gel my flash – specifically so that the background light would go that warm. The pull-back shot will show the simplicity of the lighting …

The main light was a speed light in the Lastolite softbox. To separate Bethany from the background, I used another speed light as backlighting.

The main light was set to TTL originally, but as she moved, the exposures varied a bit. This is because the amount of darker tones vs lighter tones (such as her dress), changed in the overall image.  As I zoomed in and out, my TTL exposures would also change, since my composition affected the TTL exposure for the same reason – more darker tones / less darker tones. So I had to change my main flash to manual exposure for better consistency.

The speedlight in the softbox was mounted on a PocketWizard FlexTT5 transceiver (B&H) which allowed me to control it via the FlexTT5 (and master speedlight) on my camera.  I started at 1/16 power on the main light, and adjusted it from there via the Master speedlight on my camera.

The background light was also set to manual. (Probably around 1/32 manual output since it was direct flash.) Any back-light like this is best controlled as a manual flash. Since the backlight doesn’t actually contribute to the overall exposure (and only adds that rim-light), it doesn’t make much sense to have it as TTL flash. The back-light speedlight was also triggered via a PocketWizard FlexTT5 transceiver (B&H).

I used a speedlight on the camera’s FlexTT5 instead of the PocketWizard AC3 Zone Controller (B&H), since I needed the infra-red AF assist of the flashgun in that dark lobby area.

camera settings: 1/10 @ f4 @ 400 ISO

In terms of posing – I left this mostly up to Bethany, since she is an experienced professional model. I did ask her to direct her gaze towards the softbox, so that the light would fall on her face from a flattering angle … and hence give that gradient across her cheek closest to the camera. I also had her angle her body slightly away from the light, so that the light came in over her shoulder, and not hit her directly on the front of her body.

Equipment used with this photo session:

Nikon D3;  Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S (B&H)
(3x) Nikon SB-900 (B&H);  (2x) Nikon SD-9 battery pack (B&H)
(3x) PocketWizard FlexTT5 transceiver (B&H)
Lastolite EZYBOX Softbox Kit (24″x24″) (B&H)
(1x) Manfrotto 1051BAC light-stand (B&H)

another article on Tangents, featuring Bethany:
- gelling your flash for effect (model – Bethany)
- mixing the white balance of different light sources
- available light portrait

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.

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 …

Available light only: 1/125 @ f6.3 @ 200 ISO

I posed Lea so that her gaze was upwards. This meant that the available light was falling more evenly on her face, largely avoiding shadows under her eyebrows.

It looks interesting, but needs something more to give it some snap. The next step was to add soft light from the front (via a speedlight in a softbox), and some back-lighting via a direct flash on a light-stand behind her. (The pull-back shot will show the positioning.)

The flash behind her also lit up the framework of the gate, and I like how this creates more of a grid pattern behind her.  The concave glass elements in the wall behind her also picked up the reflection of the flash in the gate, so those high-lights also help giving the image more sparkle. An accidental benefit. I’ll take it!

Here is the placement of the lights.

I had Jessica stand right behind me with the softbox, since any position to my side had the softbox appear as a reflection in the glass. So the light on Lea (our model), is quite even.

The SB-900 (pointed out by the red arrow) was fired with a PocketWizard FlexTT5 transceiver (B&H). The speedlight was unmodified, pointed directly at Lea from behind. It was mounted on the light-weight Manfrotto 1051BAC light-stand. I didn’t even edit it out in the top photograph, since I don’t think the light-stand’s legs are that obvious in the image unless pointed out.

The (main) flash in the softbox was set to TTL and had the FEC dialed down to -1EV. The flash behind Lea was set to manual (via the PocketWizard AC3 zone controller), and was set to around 1/16th full power.

Both the flashes were controlled by my on-camera PocketWizard FlexTT5 transceiver (B&H)

With the final sequence of images (of which the photo at the top was my favorite), I dropped much to my knees and shot upwards, and was able to get the sun flaring into the image. More drama to the light! I love it. The image was processed with my usual method for retouching portraits, although Lea’s flawless skin needed no retouching. I did push the contrast and saturation more than usual, for some extra punch to the image.

With the final image, I do believe the back-lighting added that extra depth to the image, helping to separate her from the scene.

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)
(3x) PocketWizard FlexTT5 transceiver (B&H)
PocketWizard AC3 Zone Controller (B&H)
Lastolite EZYBOX Softbox Kit (24″x24″) (B&H)
Manfrotto 1051BAC light-stand (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.

photography exposure metering – expose for your subject

In preparation for my upcoming review of the Fuji X-100 camera, I met up with Anelisa to see how this little camera performed during an actual photo shoot. The image above was one of the photographs we ended up with. Now, there is something specific about it that I wanted to explain in a separate article, instead of it being glossed over deeper inside a camera review.

The composition is simple – I do like my compositions fairly central, it seems. Similarly, the lighting is simplicity itself – all available light. There were two main sources of light – the light inside the shopping mall entrance; and some very strong back-lighting flooding the place.

While the technique here hinged on specific exposure for the available light, there are a few crucial ideas here that I’d like to underline:

1. Expose for your subject, not the scene. I had to decide on my camera settings, and couldn’t just leave this to the camera. Therefore it was imperative that I shoot in manual exposure mode.

Since I was only using available light, I didn’t have the option of exposing for my background and then using flash to lift my subject to the correct exposure.

2. With ambient light only, you have to consider the ambient light carefully, and decide how you want to position your subject in relation to the available light. (For a related article on this topic: direction of the light; any light)

3. You have to recognize the tonal values of the entire scene – this will allow you to pre-vizualise the image.

Here is a reference image, where I brought the exposure down so that the background showed more.

It will also give you an idea of the truly bland setting we were working in. But there was distinct potential here!

In this instance, I knew that if I had Anelisa turned with her back to the bright background – then the light on her face and body would be quite even. I saw that the light coming in from the back was so bright in comparison, that I immediately knew it would blow out, creating that halo effect around her. A first test shot showed that I was on my way to  what I wanted.

Two or three images later, I had what I wanted in terms of exposure – now it was just a matter of directing Anelisa in how I wanted her to pose. The video clip on how I work with LED video light, will give you some insight in how I would normally direct a model in a studio setting. In this case though, we were trying to shoot surreptitiously in a shopping mall, so we shot just a few images before we moved on.

Back to the image that I wanted  - here is the un-edited image, straight out of the RAW converter. I only adjusted the WB a bit, and also straightened the image a touch. I wanted the image that warm.

To sweeten the final image a bit more, I did a quick edit and removed the part of the door frames that were still visible. Just for comparison, here is the final image again. It should be clear just how little part Photoshop played in the final image. I just erased a few spots in the background. The halo effect existed because of the available light, and how I posed Anelisa in relation to the available light.

Finally, this photograph hinges entirely on recognizing the potential in a place, and pre-visualizing what the light would do, depending on your exposure metering and camera settings.

related articles on available light photography:
- photographic composition – look at your background!
- available light vs fill-flash
- looking at the available light- direction of the light … any light (using found light)
- direction of light & choice of background (part 1)

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