Finding interesting available light & White Balance options
It's always a feel-good moment to discover interesting available light while out on a photo shoot. Something unusual to add a new flavor to a different sequence of images.
While photographing a model with Tilo Gockel and Mike Silberreis (both from Germany on a visit to NYC), we started off with off-camera flash to help with the strong sunlight. (You might remember Tilo from a recent guest article on product photography on a budget.)
Then, while positioning Olena, I saw part of her dress had a patch of bright light Read more inside...
In previous articles we could see how a fast 85mm can be used for shallow depth-of-field to shoot nearly anywhere by melting away the background. There's another aspect to this - the bokeh of the lens. The bokeh is a reference to how the quality of the background blur is rendered by a lens. It can be smooth, or have "jittery" patterns to the edges of objects, and the highlights.
Do note though that bokeh and shallow depth-of-field are not quite the same thing. While the DoF / choice of aperture does affect the appearance of the bokeh of Read more inside...
Bounce flash vs. Available light vs. Using the videographer's light
The expressive trumpet player in the band at a wedding - a simple portrait of this musician, sweetened with some bounce flash. The light on his face, is by now perhaps predictably, on-camera bounce flash with the black foamie thing. Looking at the light pattern on his face, you'll see there was no direct flash of any kind.
camera settings: 1/60 @ f2.8 @ 2000 ISO // TTL flash
Nikon D3; Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II; Nikon SB-910 Speedlight
In comparison, here are a few other images. One with no flash, Read more inside...
Under-exposure / Over-exposure vs. exposing correctly
When I posted this photograph of Peiwen & Eric's wedding in Melbourne, Australia, on Facebook, someone asked the question: how much did I over-expose this photo by?
We have to be very clear with our terminology regarding over-exposure and under-exposure. This photograph is not over-exposed. It is exposed correctly! Did my camera's light-meter jump all the way to the right-hand side? Yes, it surely did. Does it matter? No, it does not. Why not? Because I exposed correctly. Not under, not over, but correctly.
This Read more inside...
Wedding photography - Dealing with the DJ's lights
As wedding reception venues and DJs are becoming more sophisticated in their lighting, there's now the added challenge of spotlights and lasers and other lighting effects that compete with the simplicity of just using flash.
So how do you deal with this? You just deal with this. One way or another.
You can either embrace the colors (as in the example above),
or you can use flash to neutralize some of the wild color casts.
Just how do you do that? Well, there's a little bit of homework at the end of this.
Very often, I Read more inside...
Any parent will know that the kiddo has a distinct personality from the moment it is born. For the photographer then, the ideal is to capture some of this personality.
My own take on photographing babies, is that I want to forego all the props and accoutrements associated with baby photography you often see - the hats and such. While the toys are often necessary to keep the child's attention, I still like to photograph just the baby.
Liam's parents were close by, getting his attention. I prefer that if anyone calls to him, that they do Read more inside...
Over time I noticed that my style in photographing portraits have gravitated to a specific look where everything is quite simplified - the lighting, the background and the framing of the shot. Whether I use the available light, or video light, or off-camera flash, or even on-camera bounce flash, there's a certain uncomplicated look. I'd like to think of it as elegant unfussy simplicity.
Analyzing this, it is easy to see there's a specific method here. It's a method which helps especially when under pressure. Here, even allowing Read more inside...
a favorite image - before & after (and the how to)
There's something about this photograph that I really like ... aside from Anelisa being one of my favorite models. It is slightly surreal with Anelisa's apparent levitation. The dress and hat is reminiscent of a 1950's Fashion, and Anelisa's mid-air pose is also reminiscent of Philippe Halsman's iconic jumping images. All that, combined with the sun flaring across her face and the washed-out background, all adds to this wonderfully nostalgic mood. Read more inside...
available light photo session in the studio - Elle
During the same photo session with Elle where the aim was for Hollywood Glamor lighting style with video lights, I also wanted to change it up completely with an entirely different look and lighting - an available light photo series in the studio. With so much light flooding into the studio, it was just a matter of positioning Elle into the light. To get away from a blank wall, the background was a backdrop.
And yes, the studio needs more furniture. We'll revisit this territory with future shoots. But even with such a minimalist Read more inside...
With this background, I liked the way the dots were repeated in Olena's dress in reverse - white dots on black, instead of black dots / holds on silver. I liked the repetition, and decided to work with the composition of this photograph a bit. For the final sequence of images - of which the image at the top is one - I asked Olena to really exaggerate the curve of her body to create an S-shaped, which in turn contrasted boldly with the rigid pattern of the background.
This article's original title was going to be: Off-camera flash vs the Read more inside...
