tutorial: Balancing flash with ambient exposure
tutorial: Balancing flash with available light / ambient exposure
Many of the questions I get on the Tangents blog relate to balancing flash with available light, and I want to pull it all together into a single article. The questions often revolve around metering for the ambient light, and how to balance flash with the ambient light. Tied in with this, is how to make the decision about which camera settings are the best. It's a juggling act, balancing all the factors quickly enough ... and still being able to deliver solid photos. The answer to the questions about how to Read more inside...favorite image from the weekend …
using additional off-camera lighting at events
With the Bar Mitzvah boy lifted on the shoulders of his friends at his party, I ducked and weaved to make sure that I kept one of the additional flashes behind him as the group moved. I purposely shot faster than my flash could recycle, so that I could get images with my on-camera flash, and without. It's easier to do it this way and ensure I have both options to choose from in the edit - rather than trying to switch my on-camera flash on & off while shooting fast. The colored spots are from the DJ's lights. The white specs in Read more inside...Boudoir photography – an intimate photo session
Style in boudoir photography - intimate photo sessions
I did a recent photo shoot with a model, Carly Erin, to expand my boudoir portfolio. Sometimes you get to work in large spacious rooms or studios. Sometimes you work in smaller more intimate locations. When you work in a tighter, more intimate setting, the choice to include the surroundings or not will greatly affect how you shoot. I made the decision that I didn't want the location to be identifiable and this affected how I shot, so I used a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens for most of the photo session to compress the perspective, and Read more inside...Effective on-location portraits
Effective on-location portraits, with off-camera flash
When I photograph someone on location, I rely on a simple, yet effective method that will ensure that at the very least, I will get portraits that work. Let's have a look at this method, step-by-step: Read more inside...Catchlights in the eyes with bounce flash
Catchlights in the eyes with bounce flash
I'm often asked about how I get those catch-lights in the eyes of my subjects. My answer is - if you bounce your flash properly, the catchlights have to be there! When working indoors with surfaces that I can easily bounce my flash off, the question that I always ask myself is: If this had been a studio shoot, where would I place my softbox? In a studio-type setup, you'd rarely place a softbox directly over someone's head as a single light-source. There are two places to commonly place a softbox in the studio .. to left (and slightly Read more inside...Bounce flash & direction of light
Bounce flash & direction of light
An aspect to flash photography that I frequently underline in the articles on this site, is that we need to carefully consider the direction of light from our flash when we bounce our flash. Sometimes we just need to bounce the flash behind us into the room to get soft light. But when we have multiple walls / surfaces we can bounce the flash off, then our choices become more interesting ... especially when we do portraits. This is Carly Erin, a delightful model that I photographed for my own portfolio: an intimate photo session. What I Read more inside...off-camera flash portrait of a show dog, Chanel
off-camera wireless TTL flash setup for a portrait of a show dog
A friend of mine, Carol Beuchat, is a photographer who specializes in dog portraits and dog shows. She was at the recent Westminster Dog Show, and needed to photograph this beautiful whippet, Chanel, for a magazine cover. Since it was in Manhattan and it was ice cold freezing outside, we had to photograph the dog indoors. The hotel lobby where the attendees to the dog show stayed would have to be the setting. And would have to make a great setting. The one foyer of the hotel had these gleaming metal elevator Read more inside...Flagging bounce flash for directional light – vs – simple bounce flash
Flagging the speedlite for directional light
Bouncing your flash of various surfaces will give you a larger light source, and hence, softer light. But in bouncing it at a sideways angle compared to where your subject is, will give you directional light from my on-camera flash. Even better, if you have a scenario as in the photo at the top, where there is a row of people, you can get nearly an equal amount of light on them. Since you can bounce your flash off a surface equidistant to them, they will all be lit about the same amount. This means less dodging and burning in Read more inside...simple on-location lighting techniques – reflector & flash
Chuck Arlund is a Fashion photographer based in Nashville whose work constantly impresses me. As a friend, I occasionally have the privilege of getting to interrogate him on his technique. What surprises me every time then, is the simplicity of his lighting. His setups are rarely complex, but always effective. I feel quite fortunate that he agreed to a guest spot this week to explain more about his approach to on-location lighting. (Chuck also offers workshops and mentoring sessions.)
simple and effective on-location lighting techniques
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