NYC photo shoot-out
An exotic model in a bridal dress; manual off-camera flash with a softbox; some Photoshop fairy dust ... and there's an image I really like. Earlier today, a group of about 50 photographers, (along with 5 models), converged on the Meat-Packing District in New York - another of the photo shoot-out / get-togethers / super-fun events that Rob Nicholson arranged. I helped rotating groups of photographers, showing the essentials of using a single off-camera softbox with manual flash. The techniques included balancing the flash with ambient light, and also looking at the direction of Read more inside...
Shutter speed controls background exposure?
Shutter speed controls background exposure? Usually ...
Something I kick against when I try to teach others about flash photography, is the use of short-cut phrases. Those axioms that are supposed to help the understanding of how to mix flash with ambient light, can often mislead you since they don't give you all the information. Two of those phrases were recently discussed here: aperture controls flash exposure, shutter speed controls available light. These are merely reductions of the way that shutter speed, aperture and ISO inter-relate with available light and Read more inside...exposure metering for manual flash and softbox
exposure metering for manual flash and softbox
Valerie is the striking model I used for a flash photography workshop held in Nashville. The lighting is simple - the softbox is held to the my left-hand side in this instance. As you can see in the ambient-only image below, I let the available light under-expose by a stop. I metered for the available light with a hand-held meter.If you're unfamiliar with using a light meter, check out this first-steps guide to using a light meter with manual flash. You could just as well have used the histogram method .. and then take the Read more inside...high ISO is no substitute for good light
The light on Valerie here is from the evening sky, some city lights, and some of the parking lot's lights. All of this added up to give me enough light to use for a lovely impromptu available-light portrait of her, right there in the middle of the parking lot. My settings were: 1/160th @ f1.4 @ 1250 ISO My equipment: Nikon D3 and Nikon 85mm f1.4 The light was soft, but wasn't necessarily the best for a portrait where she is simply looking at the camera. Because of the surrounding buildings, the light was fairly top-heavy. So I asked Valerie to lift her gaze slightly - and in this way Read more inside...
fluorescent lighting .. I give in! (model – Priscilla)
[ Nikon D3; Nikon 200mm f2 AF-S VR .. 1/100th @ f2 @ 1250 ISO ] click on the image to see a larger version My friend Steve Z from Colorado was around for a few days, visiting friends and family here in NJ. So we got together to do a photo shoot, and I arranged to meet up with Priscilla, a model with whom I've worked before. I also was fortunate in getting permission to photograph inside the Paterson museum - an interesting historic building. Steve Z is also into photographic lighting, so we packed up a bunch of gear - a beauty dish, softboxes, speedlights and video lights. We were Read more inside...
video light & boudoir photography
using a video light for boudoir photography
An image from a boudoir photo session today. I ended up mostly using a video light (or two) for the directional and dramatic quality of the light. I tried on-camera bounce flash a few times, but even when I carefully flagged and bounced the flash, there were a number of times where I found that the bounce flash just evened out the light too much. Sometimes it is soft light, and sometimes it just becomes flat light. With the video light (held up by my assistant), I was able to ask my assistant to flag the light and drop the light off Read more inside...common wisdom – Canon’s TTL flash vs Nikon’s TTL flash
Canon's TTL flash vs Nikon's TTL flash
One of the frequent topics on the various forums is the Canon vs Nikon debate ... and one of the usual replies is that Nikon is better in certain ways, and Canon is better in other ways. And the common wisdom that Nikon's flash system is superior to Canon. And this seems to be accepted as one of those general truths. Now, having shot primarily Nikon for a few years (D100 / D2H / D2x), and then Canon (mk2 / mk2N / 5D / mk3), and now Nikon again (D3) ... I have this observation about Canon's flash system vs Nikon's flash system ... they are Read more inside...more subtle fill-flash with your Nikon speedlight
In blending flash with available light, I am often after that delicate balance where the flash is just barely perceptible. This can be with flash as an equal partner to the available light, or with flash as a subtle fill-flash. But what I've found with my Nikon D3 bodies, when used with the SB-900, that the fill-flash flash is still too much, even when turned down -3EV on the flash exposure compensation. I've found similar with the various Nikon D300 and Nikon D700 bodies that attendees to my workshops use. In other words, this isn't just my cameras - this is repeatable with other Read more inside...
