{"id":1694,"date":"2009-10-18T13:58:16","date_gmt":"2009-10-18T17:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.planetneil.com\/tangents\/?p=1694"},"modified":"2018-01-03T19:12:41","modified_gmt":"2018-01-03T23:12:41","slug":"why-i-love-off-camera-lighting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/why-i-love-off-camera-lighting\/","title":{"rendered":"here’s why I love off-camera lighting .."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

why I love off-camera flash<\/h1>\n

There are a few reasons why I love off-camera lighting, and I want to show some images from a recent photo session with one of my couples, Jill & Mike, as an example.<\/p>\n

The main reason for me, is that you can have perfect lighting on your subject’s face with much more freedom than if you just relied on the available light. I am usually quite particular about the backgrounds to my photos, where it is in my control. The backgrounds need to be complementary, or add something to the image. I have a preference for an out-of-focus background. The defocused backgrounds create separation that helps my subjects pop out.<\/p>\n

When I only use available light with a photo session, I am reliant on finding both a good background, AND great light on my subjects’ features. However, when using supplementary lighting, (such as flash with a softbox<\/a><\/strong>), the pressure is off. I pretty much just have to find a nice background, add my subject, and then use off-camera lighting to light them properly. Dead easy.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The image at the straight-forward portrait of the couple against a background which I knew would work – the sun-soaked leaves in the back would create a golden glow behind them.<\/p>\n

However, where I wanted to position them in this wooden archway overgrown with plants, the light on them wouldn’t have been flattering. The light would’ve been top-heavy and given dark shadows under their eyes.\u00a0 Therefore I needed additional lighting.\u00a0\u00a0In my opinion, that\u00a0intersection between “best light” and “simplicity” is around the point where you use an off-camera flash in a softbox.<\/p>\n

camera settings:\u00a0 \u00a01\/250th @ f4 @ 400 ISO<\/p>\n

My flash (Quantum\u00a0T5D-R), was in TTL mode, and in a softbox.\u00a0\u00a0 My settings were chosen for the background.\u00a0 I wanted it to appear exactly like that. I then positioned the couple, and added light from the softbox to camera left, with the softbox held up\u00a0by my assistant,\u00a0about 2 or 3 feet higher than the couple.\u00a0\u00a0 You nearly always want the light to come from a higher point with simple portrait lighting.<\/p>\n

The key here for me would be the simplicity of using the flash like this with a softbox.<\/p>\n

Another image, where I moved\u00a0so that I was viewing my couple through some leaves.\u00a0 This creates a more intimate look, and the leaves create a kind of border as well, highlighting her expression.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, you have to realize that with this kind of image, if I had used flash on<\/strong> my camera, the leaves in front of the camera would’ve been over-exposed.\u00a0 The only<\/strong> way to get light on my subjects without lighting my foreground, is with off-camera lighting.<\/p>\n

.<\/span>
\nAnother image, where I was in love with the way the background appeared.\u00a0 I\u00a0wanted to photograph the couple in front of it, but shaded by trees, they would’ve been completely under-exposed without flash.\u00a0 Or else, if I had decided not\u00a0to use flash, but\u00a0set my camera’s exposure\u00a0settings for them … I would’ve lost the background entirely.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Therefore the only way to use *that* background, and get great light on them .. is with off-camera lighting.\u00a0 This time my assistant walked with them, holding the softbox up to camera right.<\/p>\n

camera settings:\u00a0 \u00a01\/250th @ f4 @ 400 ISO<\/p>\n

.<\/span>
\nIn short, the\u00a0benefits of using off-camera flash:
\n– you can have perfect lighting nearly anywhere,
\n– on a grey day, you can make colors pop, and bring in some necessary contrast,
\n– you can control your background exposure, and therefore the way you position the background.<\/p>\n

And as an extra, one of the images where I didn’t use (or need) additional lighting:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

More articles on off-camera flash … <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

why I love off-camera flash There are a few reasons why I love off-camera lighting, and I want to show some images from a recent photo session with one of my couples, Jill & Mike, as an example. The main reason for me, is that you can have perfect lighting on your subject’s face with Read more inside…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,22,110,31,1],"tags":[871,54,880,67],"yst_prominent_words":[6288,6276,8821,5350,5150,8826,8822,8829,8823,8819,8837,8832,8827,8838,1580,1587,8830,8825,8820,8835],"class_list":{"0":"post-1694","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-flash-photography","8":"category-lighting","9":"category-off-camera-flash","10":"category-photo-shoot","11":"category-uncategorized","12":"tag-flash-photography","13":"tag-flash-photography-technique","14":"tag-off-camera-flash","15":"tag-off-camera-lighting-for-portraits","16":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1694"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1694"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41015,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1694\/revisions\/41015"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1694"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}