Very often when I use off-camera lighting on location, I'm not among for dramatic lighting, but rather using the off-camera lighting to enhance the existing light. I want to get a cleaner, slightly more punchy look - but one where the use of flash might not be that immediately obvious. To this end, I love using light-weight portable off-camera lighting. Something compact that is easy to carry, and easy for my assistant to hold up. When working in Manhattan, the use of a light-stand might get you in trouble in Read more inside...
With many of the tutorial articles on this website that deal with off-camera flash photography, I have attempted to make the explanation not only as straight-forward as possible, but also repeatable. When it comes to camera and flash settings, there is often a specific science at work here - a specific method , which should deliver similar results time and again. The artistic side to photography is open to interpretation, and that is what makes photography continually fascinating - there are always further things to explore. However, when it Read more inside...
Outdoor photo session with kids, using off-camera flash
When I posted photos from this session on FB, there were questions about the lighting (and whether I had used off-camera flash), as well as camera settings. There were also questions about which lens I had used for this sequence - whether it was perhaps an 85mm lens. The surprise perhaps might be that this isn't out of the ordinary from how I usually approach a photo session - Checklist for portrait photography on location. A systematic way to make sure I get images that look really good.
With kids being their Read more inside...
One of the best tips I can give you when photographing a professional model - wait for your model to "give" you the photo. Time your photos - don't just arbitrarily fire the shutter.
Most models need a moment to settle into position. Watch their movements and pose. At some point they are likely to go through a little mental routine where they might breathe out a bit and then look at the camera. That's the moment. Not the inbetween settling-into-the-pose moments.
Photographing a model, Adrienne, for her Daily Fashionista blog, I could again quickly Read more inside...
Off-camera flash: Rim-lighting and the intentional use of flare
For these promotional photos for aspiring model twins, Carina and Carolina, we went to a park. There are certain things I look for when working on an location, that I know will immediately give me a better chance at successful portraits. My book, Lighting and Design for Portrait Photography, looks at exactly that thought-process throughout the 60 chapters in the book.
The technique here should be quite obvious by now:
A long lens (a 70-200 used closer to the longer end), compressing the perspective.
Shooting Read more inside...
off-camera flash photography: distance between softbox and subject
There are all kinds of formulas for how to figure out the optimal distance between the softbox and the subject. One of the most common suggestions is to use the diagonal of the softbox. While I believe this might something you can play around with in the studio, I do think it is an overly technical way to approach it when shooting on-location.
Working on-location am usually concerned with:
- getting my composition,
- direction of the light from the softbox (in relation to my subject's positioning),
- my shooting Read more inside...
