Flash photography: Recreating Hollywood Glamor style portraits
Flash photography: Recreating Hollywood Glamor style portraits
With this portrait of my friends Natalie and Chris, I wanted to portray something dramatic, reminiscent of the old Hollywood Style Glamor portraits. While the classic Hollywood portraits, as done by the masters were lit with Fresnel spotlights (which are continuous lights), I wanted to create some of that mood with a few speedlights ... Read more inside...photo session – Shawna – with the PocketWizard AC3 ZoneController
photo session - Shawna - using the PocketWizard AC3 Zone Controller
While in Las Vegas for WPPI 2011, the team at PocketWizard asked me if I would be interested in them shooting a short video clip of me using the new PocketWizards for Nikon. I didn't hesitate in saying yes! Here is the description of the setup of the one photo sessions I did. There was another one, which I will post in a day or so. I will post a link to the PocketWizard video clip as soon as it is up. For this demonstration of the PocketWizard FlexTT5 and AC3 ZoneController, I relied on Shawna, a favorite model, Read more inside...video light vs bounce flash
video light vs bounce flash
It's easy enough getting nice clean open light with a single on-camera speedlight when shooting indoors. By bouncing your flash with the idea of getting directional light from your flash, you can effortlessly get portraits like this. As usual, I used the black foamie thing to flag my flash and get more light on the one side of my subject's face. In this case, more subtly so than some other examples on this site. We were working in the same location here as shown in the previous article where I photographed Shawna using only the available light that was Read more inside...Photography: Direction of the light – using available light
Photography: Direction of the light - using available light
This striking photo of Shawna illustrates something that I want to underline: at some level, our consideration of the light that we're using remains the same, whether we're using available light, or flash, or video light or some other continuous light source. We need to consider the direction and quality of the light we have or are creating. We then either need to adapt our lighting, or adapt our way of shooting our subject, to complement our subject. So let's look closer at the light / lighting used for this photo ... Read more inside...using the PocketWizard AC3 Zone Controller
using the PocketWizard AC3 Zone Controller
This portrait of musician, Josh Adams, was a fairly quick set-up. I deliberately chose an area in a large hotel conference room to shoot this. A bit of a challenge to see how quickly I could get a simple but dramatic portrait out of a 'nothing' scenario. Here's the pull-back shot that will show you the area, as well as the placement of the lights: The light came from three speedlights, all controlled with the PocketWizard FlexTT5 transceivers. They in turn were controlled via an on-camera FlexTT5 (for Nikon), with an AC3 Zone Read more inside...photography: looking at the available light
photography - looking for, and using the available light
Let me say this out straight – I hate gazebos. I hate gazebos and fountains and I especially hate having to photograph a couple at whatever landmark/feature that a reception venue has, where every other couple from the last five years has been photographed. There, I’ve said it. I feel better now, with that weight off my shoulders. Wedding portaits should be about capturing the romance, and capturing the relationship between the couple. I want to show how much they are in love with each other, rather than the wooden structure Read more inside...photography: telling the story with selective focus
using selective focus to overcome lack of depth of field
When you don't have enough depth-of-field, to get all the essential elements in focus, there is always the option to use a sequence of images and selective focus. In this case, a cute story in two images. This little flowergirl was especially enamored of her digital camera, and would snap everything, and immediately chimp. But instead of keeping my focus on her, I immediately refocused on the little boy to show his querying expression. If I had kept my focus for on her for the next shot as she looked at her camera, there Read more inside...Keegan – photo session w/ PocketWizard MiniTT1 & FlexTT5 & AC3
photo session w/ PocketWizard MiniTT1 & FlexTT5 & AC3 ZoneController
My friend Carol Beuchat, who works as a professional dog photographer, is back in New York for this year's Westminster Dog Show. Some of you may remember the portrait we did last year of Chanel, a champion whippet. Carol asked me to help her again with portraits of Keegan, an Irish Water Spaniel, who will be competing at the Westminster Dog Show. Keegan's owners wanted some photographs with New York as a backdrop. I immediately thought of doing this on the Jersey side, with a grand view of Manhattan Read more inside...Available light vs Fill-flash
Available light vs Fill-flash
A question that popped up in my web stats was interestingly phrased: Do natural light photographers always use fill flash? The question curiously implies that you might not find natural light which is perfect. However, as photographers, that is something we're constantly searching for: perfect light. It is out there, somewhere. So, resisting the temptation to just answer with a cheeky "no", let's consider an example of when you would not want or need fill-flash. The thing with natural light, is that you have to look at it. You have to look at Read more inside...- « Previous Page
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