Tangents

photography tutorials, reviews & workshops

tangents photography blog
learn : discuss : share
subscribe today
  • Tangents
  • Tutorials
    • Flash Photography
    • Wedding Photography
    • Studio Photography
    • Posing People
    • Understanding Your Camera
    • Exposure metering
    • BFT
    • Best Photo Books
  • Workshops
    • Info: Workshops
    • In-person
      tutoring sessions
    • Online
      tutoring sessions
    • Video tutorials
    • Workshops in
      New Jersey (NJ)
    • Workshops in
      New York (NYC)
    • Studio Workshop
    • Workshop results
  • Books
    • On-Camera Flash (revised ed.)
    • Direction & Quality of Light
    • Off-Camera Flash Photography
    • Lighting & Design
    • On-Camera Flash (1st ed.)
  • Reviews
    • Nikon
    • Sony
    • Canon
    • Fuji
    • Profoto
    • lighting gear
  • Projects
    • Two Perspectives
    • B&W Infrared
    • Vintage lenses
    • Time-lapse photography
  • Info
    • About
    • Contact
    • My Photo Gear
    • Books by NvN
    • Newsletter
    • Join us on Facebook
    • Acclaim
    • Success Stories
    • Photoshop Actions
  • Forum

Vintage photo session and Off-camera flash

October 12, 2012 Neil vN 16 Comments

Vintage photo session and Off-camera flash

Anyone who regularly follows the Tangents blog or has my 2nd book, off-camera flash photography, might recognize Sarah. When she told me she was visiting New York, I made sure that I squeezed in a photo session with her in my schedule. The weather on the day was grey and drizzly … enough reason to juice it up with some off-camera flash. And then play with the images in post-processing a bit.

On this rainy day there were random pools of water in the street, and it took just a few minutes to find a viewpoint where we could get Sarah’s reflection in the water. My favorite image is this one though, where her reflection is only partly shown. I wanted that compressed perspective that a 70-200mm f/2.8 can give you. So for this sequence, I used the Canon 70-200mm f2.8L IS II (affiliate), at its widest aperture. The wide aperture helped give some separation from the background.

 

Camera settings and decisions

Since it was early evening, the color balance had gone very blue compared to Daylight. With this final image, I warmed up the tones for my subject considerably in post-processing. Even then, the background remains with the colder blue hues. Despite what the image appears like, I did not gel my flash for effect here, like I sometimes do.  The available light really had that cold a color balance compared to the flash’s color balance.

I loved using the Canon 600EX-RT speedlite (affiliate) and ST-E3-RT Speedlite Transmitter (affiliate) during the entire day’s shooting.

My enthusiasm for the amazing flexibility of the current Canon flash system is still undiminished since my review of the Canon ST-E3-RT and Canon 600EX-RT speedlites (with Molly K as a model), and my review of the Canon 600EX-RT speedlite, (with Karyn as the model).

The lighting here was quite straight-forward again, as my lighting setups tend to be. It was my regular Lastolite EZYBOX 24×24″ softbox (affiliate), with the speedlight, to camera left.

Sarah took multiple passes until we had a few shots in the bag where I caught her stride perfectly, and the movements of her arms and body fit the image too. For this reason, I wanted to shoot more than one image per pass. I had the flash in manual output, and had figured out my settings so that the flash would emit slightly more than than 1/4 full power per shot. This way I made sure I could fire off two shots every time she walked across that part of the puddle.

camera settings: 1/200 @ f/2.8 @ 640 ISO

With that decision made … my flash output had to be balanced with the ambient light to some extent at least. And this is where I ended up.  1/200 was max sync speed. I couldn’t risk going into HSS mode. Now, with the Canon 5D markII and the Canon 600EX-RT, there is a warning sign on the speedlight or controller that will come up, warning the shutter speed is too high. Despite that, as reported in my previous review, the flash worked perfectly well.

 

Post-processing the photo

For this initial retouch of the photo, I used the Healing Tool in Photoshop for any skin blemishes and marks. Then I used two essential Photoshop plug-ins – Shine-Off and Imagenomic Portraiture – as described in this article: Photoshop filters – retouching for portraits. That gives me a basic file that looks good and I can work on a little bit

To enhance this selected image, I used a Photoshop filter to give it a warmer, brighter tone.

 

Photo gear used during this photo session

  • Canon 5D mark II;
  • Canon 70-200mm f2.8L IS II
  • Canon 600EX-RT speedlite
  • ST-E3-RT Speedlite Transmitter
  • Canon CP-E4 battery pack
  • Lastolite EZYBOX 24×24″ softbox

 

Related articles featuring Sarah

  • The progression of an idea (photo session with Sarah & Mark)
  • Overpowering the sun with flash (models: Sarah & Mark)
  • NYC photo sessions – Sarah & Mark  (Vimeo clip)
  • What you see might not quite what was there

 

Filed Under: Canon, digital imaging, flash photography, off-camera flash, photo shoot, Sarah Raley Tagged With: vintage post-processing Photoshop


 

Help support this website

If you find these articles of value, please help support this website by using these B&H and Amazon affiliate links to order your photo gear.

I also offer photography workshops and tutoring sessions, whether in person, or via online video tutoring sessions.

Stay informed via the monthly newsletter.

Please follow me on Instagram for more.

You can also join our thriving photo community in the Tangents group on Facebook, where we show our photos and discuss all things photography.

Thank you,

Neil vN

Books by Neil van Niekerk


 




16 Comments, Add Your Own

  1. 1Theresa Potgieter says

    October 13, 2012 at 6:05 am

    Great article

    Reply
  2. 2Pete Mayes says

    October 13, 2012 at 9:04 am

    Nice. How far away from the subject was the Lastolite? For a small softbox, it easily covers a full body shot. Didn’t think it could do this.

    Reply
  3. 3Neil vN says

    October 13, 2012 at 9:27 am

    Around 8 – 12 ft, depending on how far she as stepped towards the softbox as I tripped the shutter.

    Reply
  4. 4Vale says

    October 13, 2012 at 9:33 am

    How did you focus with f2.8 while she was walking?

    Reply
  5. 5Neil vN says

    October 13, 2012 at 10:12 am

    Sarah moved parallel to me, so I was able to pre-focus and lock / hold the focus.

    Reply
  6. 6Ann Steward says

    October 14, 2012 at 6:34 pm

    Rockin’!!!

    Reply
  7. 7David says

    October 14, 2012 at 6:42 pm

    Great article as always Neil. Thank you.

    Reply
  8. 8photomatte says

    October 14, 2012 at 6:55 pm

    Aren’t those 600EX-RT units great?? I love mine, too. I haven’t used my ST-E3 much, since I can use any of my three 600EX-RT units as a master, but I have noticed that “Tv!” warning that pops up on the flash’s LCD whenever my shutter speed is over 1/125th. I’ve never had an issue with that, nor have I had any problem using HSS (High Speed Sync) with these new flashes and a Canon 5D2, despite what the manual says. Just great, consistent OCF. The batteries seem to deplete much faster than on my 580EXII speedlights, and the 600EX-RT also seems to overheat much faster as well, but I’ve taken all that into account now.

    Reply
  9. 9Cathy says

    October 15, 2012 at 12:12 pm

    Neil…..I have a 580Exll and a set of JrX Radio Poppers. I was looking into upgrading to the PX line of poppers so I can shoot ETTL. Now seeing this shot I am inclined to try manual with my little Jr poppers. I confess I am a remedial flash student. Gorgeous colors!

    Reply
  10. 10Rick Lewis says

    October 18, 2012 at 10:44 pm

    Hey Neil,

    Great post!! I enjoyed the post so much I posted a link on my guild’s FB page. Very good stuff!!

    Reply
  11. 11Sheryl W says

    October 30, 2012 at 3:57 pm

    Hey Neil, I’ve been looking everywhere in my Nikon manual and can’t seem to find it and I know you know both Nikon and Canon so well! How can I prefocus (and lock) with my Nikon D700 other than using manual?

    Reply
  12. 12Trev says

    October 30, 2012 at 8:42 pm

    Sheryl,

    2 ways.

    1: You merely place your focus point on the spot you wish to pre-focus on, then depress the shutter halfway which will keep it locked then recompose and wait until subject comes in range, then fully depress the shutter to fire it.

    2: The better way. Your AF/ON button on back of camera, you should be able to lock onto the pre-focus spot, use your thumb on that and keep it depressed, then recompose, and when subject comes into range fire the shutter, keeping your thumb depressed on the AF-ON button, keeps the focus locked until you release it, then you can fire more than just the one shot, as you follow the subject.

    Of course this depends on the direction of subject if coming towards you a bit harder to fire more then 2 shots, but if panning you probably will get 3-5 depends on shutter frame rate.

    Trev.

    Reply
  13. 13Trev says

    October 30, 2012 at 10:35 pm

    Actually also there is also a 3rd way, using follow/continuous focusing [AF-C Nikon; A1 Servo Canon] on subject, just pan with subject with your shutter half depressed which will continuously focus and as you pan with the subject and he/she reaches the correct spot, fully depress the shutter to fire it.

    Trev.

    Reply
  14. 14Sheryl W says

    November 1, 2012 at 9:26 am

    Thanks Trev!

    Reply
  15. 15Agung Semara Putra says

    November 9, 2012 at 12:29 pm

    Great post,

    I wonder have you had any thoughts about using film for vintage shots? As far as I have tried, the yellowish tint on the image looks similar when using Kodak ColorPlus negative film.

    Agung

    Reply
  16. 16Neil vN says

    November 9, 2012 at 12:36 pm

    Nope, I have no desire to inflict that on myself again.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

categories

Articles & Tutorials

  • • About myself & this site
    • Books by Neil vN
    • Best photography books
    • Black foamie thing
    • Spinlight 360
    • Photographers’ success stories
    • email newsletter
  • • Flash Photography Techniques
    • Natural looking flash
    • Flash + Ambient light
    • Dragging the shutter
    • Bouncing your flash
    • On-camera flash outdoors
    • Exposure metering
    • Flash exposure compensation
    • Bounce flash examples
    • Which is the best flashgun?
    • Flash brackets
    • Off-camera flash photography
    • Flash photography basics
    • Using video lights
    • Flash photography tips
    • Photography books
  • • Photography workshops NJ / NYC
    • Models @ photography workshops
tutorials:
flash photography
Photography
Workshops

Recent Comments

  • Pat: Right up front, I’ll say I would NEVER buy a Sigma lens. That out of the way, and referring to these...
  • Stuard Santana: Poor Garret Shaw! he should know better, lol I got another one today with the same exact wording and...
  • Mohd Zamri Mohd Zan: In my country are even worst, most guest asking professional photographer to take their photo...
  • HenkW: Thanks for this review – one of the very few I could find on this most interesting topic. So, the...
  • Rachel Abi: Thank you so much for this guide!! There are some many options and you made this really clear :D

All rights reserved. Copyright © Neil van Niekerk 2023 · Customization by The Traveling Designer

Copyright © 2023 · NvN on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in