Well this was a fun gig. Once per year my friend Troy asks me to photograph his choir kids for a year of marketing for them. We spend about 4 hours and shoot a gazillion images. Neat part… he lets me do what I want. I can be as ‘creative’ as I want – as long as we get it done in 4-5 hours.

This time Troy wanted to do a poster of the kids to introduce the choir program to the school. He wanted to make it fun and exciting – not the normal ‘choir robes’ type of static shot. In this, as in many other inner-city schools, getting kids interested in choir takes a commitment to marketing. We started by sketching up a grid poster idea, then looked in the room for a place to shoot it. In Troy’s classroom, there are very few blank walls… it is a haven for music lovers. Posters, charts and more on every square foot.

We found a spot, took down a few posters and set it for our shoot space. This would be a place I would return to every moment I wasn’t shooting the choirs and the seniors. (I told you we shoot about a gazillion images, didn’t I?) To do that, I had to keep my ‘MOJO’ in play. That little thing inside us that keeps us centered or crazy (depending on need) for extended time. Mojo is an old, out of date term… I’m old and out of date… seems apropos. More after the jump below.

Before we take that jump, let’s take a quick look at some very cool posts from the web.

ProFotoResource.com has an article about the single portraits I did of the seniors. Check it out.
Hamburger Eyes from Chase Jarvis. You just gotta watch it.
Kirk Tuck stirs thing up with this post on the Flickr-ization of Photography. Leave a comment!
Bruce DeBoer has an interesting interview with Dominek Rella, Creative Director, at Permission to Suck.
Workin’ hard to get those Social Media numbers up? Seth Godin has some insight.
Good advice from Gary Vaynerchuk… as always.

And some popular posts here as well.
8 Essential Sites for Photographers.
Branding Your Photography Business: A Practical Approach.
10 Nifty, Excellent Excuses for Failing at Photography

If you are looking for a workshop, take a look at Learn to Light for our schedule and sign-up pages.

Jan 16, 17 : Phoenix (first one of the year… woohoo!)
Jan 30, 31 : Seattle (This workshop rocks… great studio and incredible talent)
Feb 6, 7 : San Diego (Last years San Diego workshop was amazing.)
Feb 27, 28 : Houston (Three-peat for Houston. Great town for us)
March 13, 14 : Santa Cruz (First time in Santa Cruz. Excited about that.)
March 27, 28 : New Orleans (Never even been to NO… very cool!)
April 17, 18 : Philadelphia (Philly is one of my favorite towns.)
April 24, 25 : Omaha (We had a ball in Omaha last time… probably have one again this time!)

Look for an announcement about Austin coming soon. we hope. Heh.

We have had some pretty interesting discussions at the LE FLickr Forum lately. Marketing, introducing your work to potential clients, lighting information and more. Join us, it’s free and fun.

And if you are looking for gear… MPEX has a little icon on the upper right of this page. Clicking on that will take you to the Lighting Essentials page (stuff I like) and you can save 10% on your first order. As long as you enter through this link, you can then go anywhere on the site and the 10% will be in effect. Save $180-$200 on Dynalite and Profoto Lighting kits… That’s cool. Thanks MPEX.

You can also save 50% ($100) on Selina Maitreya’s incredible audio program “The View From Here”… Just use the code FOSLE at checkout. I bought a little iPod shuffle and loaded this on it. Walking, flying, relaxing in the yard… that little iPod is clipped to my shirt.

Now let’s take a look at how to keep the shoot moving, under pressure, without losing the enthusiasm of the subjects.

I arrived before dawn to get the gear unloaded. I had an assistant for carrying stuff, but not a true ‘photographic’ assistant for this gig. I was going to be moving too fast and without an assistant who knows how I work (LOL… seriously… my assistants simply have to hang on for a few months before they totally understand the manic and furious way I think and work), I would spend more time telling them what to do than doing what I had to do. A sherpa was all I needed.

Kit:
Lenses: 20-35MM 2.8 L, 80-200MM 2.8 L
Lighting:
Speedlights: 580 EX, 430 EZ, Lumo Pro.
Studio lighting: 2 600WS ProFoto mono’s in a travel kit.
Modifiers:
2 43″ Bounce Umbrellas Satin
2 33″ Shoot Thru Umbrellas
1 60″ Bounce Umbella (Satin)
1 36″ Zebra Umbrella
1 SuperBounce with Stand
Honl Kit (snoot, flag, grids)
Speedlight ProKit: 1 Small Box, Beauty Dish, Accessories
Shower Curtain (goes everywhere with me)
Gels for Color Correction
Additonal Gear:
Elinchrome Wireless Triggers
Cybercync Kit
4 12′ stands
Tripod
Small Boom
Clamp Kit
Shoot Kit
Stand Bagger for carrying gear.

After locating and cleaning the wall, I set up the Canon 430EX in a shoot thru umbrella and did my lighting tests. We both liked the shadows as it added dimension. I like shadows… just do, so we placed the umbrella to give us a nice dramatic shadow on the wall to camera right. The shoot-thru umbrella worked well with all the white walls and the SuperBounce was brought into the shot in front of the subjects and just out of camera view. This kept some fill on them without filling in the shadows.

Against the white wall, skin tones and colors really pop!

I like the gritty look to the images. We could have blown out the background and had them floating on white… but the shadows and the texture just felt right. These kids love this room… it is a safe haven for them. Music and friends and memories abound. I didn’t want to remove all of that and make it so sterile that it could be anywhere. I wanted the reality of the room and the light. I think a lot about this stuff when I am preparing and shooting. The choices we make as photographers are based in contextual thought.

I placed a piece of tape under the center part of the stand to keep it in the same place for each student.

EDIT: I was asked about a setup shot. I forgot that I did one, so I am adding it here. I took this setup shot just before I added the fill card so I added it in with photoshop.

I had to add the fill card in with photoshop. It is in front of the subject about 20 inches... I wanted no fill on the shadow, but a little wrap back on the face.

That was the easy part.

We had over 200 kids to shoot if possible. I was also shooting the full group shots of the different choirs. so we would return to this shoot whenever time permitted. I would have nearly no time to work with each of the kids… a few shots – 3-6 and next kid.

These kids are sometimes into it and sometimes not. The key for me is to engage them in the shoot. Make them get out of their comfort zone and lose the inhibitions of ‘people are looking at me’ and they will really perform for you. It is really fun to see what they will do.

In order to do that, I have to be a little more crazy than they are.

Keeping the kids relaxed in a hectic shoot means not letting them see you going crazy.

Just not crazy with stress.

Of course things are moving fast and furious. A battery change means that the kids start to line up and more stress is introduced to the shoot. I handle those things with mock fury and real smiles. The kids get the sense of urgency, but also a sense of fun and the knowledge that it is OK to be in a hurry… we make it part of the process. If the kids get the sense that you are rushing them, uninterested in each one of them… they become uninterested in the project. Drifting off to chat instead of being excited to be photographed. I photographed every kid who was in line at lunch. If they were willing to stand there, I shot them.

I talk with the kid in front of me, and the kids around me. Joking and being somewhat irreverent to the situation brings them to my side. You have to be careful and know the limits of irreverence though. No ‘dissing’, no making fun or even sounding like you are making fun, and no off-color humor at all. Safe and fun.

I do it by making myself the point of the ‘joke’ not the subject in front of me.

I can't tell you how hard it can be to get a teenage kid to smile. I get them to laugh by bringing them into the experience and making it safe.

Getting kids to smile, let alone get goofy, is a challenge. I let their friends laugh at them with the knowledge that they would get to laugh back at their buds when it was their turn. I make them part of the experience. I chimp and share. I laugh and exclaim loudly that it was great… do it again… again… more. Always upbeat and always ‘with’ them, not aloof from them. I see that aloofness so often with photographers who are not able to identify with the subjects. Aloofness may be cool for hanging at the Starbucks, but it doesn’t cut it when shooting people in stressful situations.

I love working with kids. Getting these big, fun smiles makes the shoot successful. And the kids love the images.

We shot 136 kids against the wall. I didn’t have to choose, the choir director did that. He narrowed it down to the 24 on the poster and sent me the image numbers. Are there ones that I would have picked in the set he didn’t choose? Of course. But I am not the client, that is their job… mine was to give them as many to choose from as possible. I think we could have made at least 70 of them… but, that would be a different type of poster and require a lot more computer time. Which also isn’t free.

In the end I designed the poster with four different type treatments. He can choose the one he wants and we will wait for next year’s call and another chance to work with great kids, listen to great music (the A Cappella Choir sings all the time… beautiful), and explore portraiture… something I love to do.

Here is one of the type treatments for the poster.

I think the colors and the 'realistic' approach to lighting makes the poster accessible to the students. It let's them shine

Just gotta keep smilin’ and workin’ and never, ever let the Mojo go. You stay on top of all that is around you. It is YOUR shoot and you OWN the space. Bringing people into it and letting them have fun is one way to extend the power of your portraiture.

Please share this post if you found it interesting. Follow me on Twitter, and visit my website at dongiannatti.com to find out what is going on with me. My 365 Photoblog is at Posterous (I love those guys) and I hope you take a moment to see what is there from time to time. See you soon.

SHARE/SAVE

I get a lot of questions about gear at the workshops and by email. I have lots to say about gear, but I am not a gear-head. I love gear that helps make my work easier, and couldn’t care less about cost or prestige. If something works well I like it. And if it isn’t worth a premium price, I wont spend a premium price. Period.

There are lots of camera manufacturers, lots of lighting manufacturers and lots of gear manufacturers to choose from. And this article is in no way stating that other peoples choices are wrong. These are the tools I use and like a lot. I do not do negative reviews, so if I talk about it, it is because I like it.

Before we get to the specific items, I want to let everyone know that the workshops are going to be offered again next year and we will have the schedule up soon at Learn to Light. They have been very successful for us, and we are kicking them up a notch with a lot of interesting learning tools for next year. Everything will go up but the price. We are holding at our current price and still keeping to our very small 10-12 participants. If you are thinking about a workshop for your photography, I hope that you take a look at our schedule and mark one you like.

I want to link back to a few other gear articles we have done before getting going here.

Simple Setups for Dramatic Lighting
Mini Workshop: Location Portraits and Glamour
Speedlights: Unleash Their Creative Power
ON LOCATION: with Jerry OConnor, Jim Vigileos and Christina
Enough Modifiers to Keep It Interesting
Shoot Thru Umbrella and Bounce Umbrella – A Comparison
Twenty+ Non-Photographic Essentials For Location Photography

And a few recent articles you should be aware of:
Still Life Shot for a Magazine Ad
Modifying Natural Light with Simple Tools
And this 10 post long series on Going Pro. We are adding more to the Going Pro real soon.

Some new blogs and sites that I love are also something I want to share.

Heather Morton is an Art Buyer in Canada. Her blog is so damn interesting I cannot recommend it more. Absolutely amazing look at the real world of advertising photography. Also there is the wonderful blog by Nick Onken. Nick is one of my favorite shooters and his blog is very insightful. Rodney Smith is also one of my all-time favorite shooters. He now has a blog and it is fascinating reading.

I hope to meet more of you next year, and we are sure loving the fact that so many of you are telling your friends about Lighting Essentials. Thanks so much for your support.

And we still have a few openings in Pittsburgh and Boise. One spot left in Boston and one in Detroit. Florida is full. We will be starting next year with San Diego and Houston. See Learn to Light for more information.

So let’s get going on the gear post.

Let’s start with the Honl Gear that I have been carrying and using for several months now. Excellent build, and incredibly easy to carry in a small camera bag. I use the Flag, Snoot, Grid and Color Correction Gels.

What I like about them:
1. They go on all my speedlights no matter what brand or model.
2. The strap system is rugged, and powerful enough to handle wind and heat.
3. Quality of the light. From the snoot and the grid-spot, it is clean and easy to manipulate
4. They travel so well. A very small footprint for travel. I usually pack them in the front of my small travel camera bag.
5. After being taken to at least 12 workshops and passed all around in all kinds of weather and circumstances they still look and work like brand new. And that is really impressive.

How I use them:
The Honl System works so well for my work these days. I use the Snoot tool as a way to gently highlight a small area. And I can modify it to be a bounce fill for my speedlight if I need one. Versatility and build quality makes this Snoot exceptional. I use this thing for so many little nuances in shots that I would really not like to get on location without it.

In addition to the traditional snoot, I also like to use it as a very controlled bounce for my speedlight. In the shot below you can see how I will fold it to give me a little wink of fill from the flash. I do this to taste and not as a formula.

Snoots are used to bring a controlled light with a tight fall off to an area that a photographer wants. I have also used the snooted light as a main. It can be very dramatic. You should experiment with these tools to find out how much you can actually do with them. That is what makes them so cool, and being able to carry it in your bag is a huge reason for not having excuses for less creative light… ya know.

The Honl Flag is quite versatile as well. I use it to block light from spilling over onto areas I don’t want it to. This traditional tool is so powerful as there are places you may not want the spill to light. It also works really well to block potential spill from a backlight speedlight on your lens.

The Flag (Gobo) has a white and black side to it, so the white can be used as a smart bounce card above the camera, and I also use it to add a bit of rim light when needed. To block the light from spilling over on the background or other areas, I use the black side.

Grid Spots are amazing little tools to bring tightly controlled light with a soft edge to to it. Unlike the snoot, the light falls off a bit more gently from the honeycomb Grid Spot. Grids do kill a bit of the power, but there are so many uses for them that I have several.

The Honl color-correction gels are so easily handled with the Velcro system that it lets me be creative and exact with my light… fast. There are times when you really need to get that light right. The ability to quickly add a color-correcting Gel to any of the Honl tools is a real selling point to me.

Creative lighting sometimes calls for these special tools. And having them be so portable makes them very powerful. I have Grids, Snoots and Flags in the studio, but they really do NOT travel well. The Honl gear does what it says it will do and gives photographers the freedoom to take these creative lighting tools with them easily.

For more information on the incredibly powerful Honl gear see Expo Imaging.

A note about DIY:
I suck at it really bad. I have no time to develop the artistry that it would take to make these tools to the specs and presentation that I require. A Pringles Can snoot will only go so far before it is no longer a snoot, but a beat-to-hell Pringles can.

I work with people who expect the best from me. I expect the best from me… and my equipment. I want it to work well and look good. Look professional. That is so important for my work and my client’s clients. So I spend a little money to get what I think will do the job and get stuff done.

Honl Gear can be found here.

Two shots from a recent workshop showing the Honl and SpeedLightProKit tools being used for a beauty shot:

Another shot from that setup:

Next up is the Kacey Beauty Dish from Kacey Enterprises.

I love this thing so much. It is very light, and very easy to use. But lightness and ease of use is not the most important thing to me. To me it is the quality of the light. And this thing rocks. It has a Mola look to the design. That makes it look quite attractive and the light is really beautiful falling on the three dimensional faces I shoot.

Beauty dishes are quite large and most are pretty heavy. It adds a bit of a challenge to using them. My studio currently has three beauty dishes… two for my large studio kits and this Kacey Beauty Reflector for the speedlight work that I do. I recommend that you get it with the dual speedlight adapter as there are times when you need a bit more power (DBL Speedlight Configuration).

As I said, the light is really sweet from this Dish, and I love how I can dial down the power and get a true Beauty Dish look with an aperture of 2.8 or 4. Limited Depth of Field with the look of a powerful lighting tool. My other large strobe Beauty Dishes will not go much below f-11 or f-8 within the distance that I like to use a beauty dish (18″ – 42″) from the subject. That close proximity of the light means that my ProFotos – even when dialed all the way down – are still too powerful to use wide open apertures. It comes with a mirrored diffuser for the speedlights efficiency, but the Kacey can be ordered with an optional non-mirror diffuser for more powerful lights.

I use the Kacey Location Bag as well, and it makes carrying the Dish, attachments, and speedlight mounts so easy.

Here are three shots by Bill Millios of the Kacey Beauty Dish in action at the Lighting Essentials Workshop, Fredrick, Maryland. There was a fairly stiff wind on the bridge shots, but the Kacey with the painter pole really held its own.

This shot shows the Kacey working to provide a beautiful light in an overcast situation.

In this shot, also by Bill Millios, the Kacey is paired with an Alien Bee for a somewhat surreal image. It helps to have exceptional talent as well as a concept that makes it work.

Kacey also makes grids and softlight covers for the beauty dish, but I rarely use them. They are also high quality tools, but I prefer an open face beauty dish. However, the Pole Adapter is simply an amazing little tool for adding your Beauty Dish to a long painting pole. Available at most any Home Depot or Lowes painting departments, the extension pole can be adapted to holding your beauty dish with one of these little devices.

The Kacey Dual Mount Speedlight Mount:

The Back of the Kacey Beauty Dish with one Light Bracket:

For me, this light and totally modifiable reflector makes perfect sense. I can get an adapter made for my other, more powerful units, or simply choose to use it as is with an assortment of speedlights, my choice. For now, it is my go-to light on the speedlight front whenever I can get it there.

However, sometimes I cannot take my Kacey Beauty Reflector because of space or if I am flying and I cannot get another piece of luggage on. For that, I use the SpeedLightProKit Beauty Dish. It folds up so easily and packs in the lid of my suitcase. While it is not quite a beauty dish, lacking the sharp edge, the light is really fantastic.

Here is a shot of it in use in Mexico. This shot is by Bill Millios:

This simple technique is one I have discussed on ProPhotoResource.com. The article is here.

Images courtesy Hopeland Studios.

The beauty dish comes in a neatly packaged box which can be used for travel. I have the beauty dish, a large softbox and a small softbox in it with some barndoors and gel pack. I reinforced the sides of my kit box with a small amount of perfectly cut Gaffers tape so it is both rugged and attractive. The beauty dish itself is in three parts: the two that snap together to make the large dish and a diffuser that fits inside the opening. It was a little tricky the first time I set it up, but now it goes together real quick.

As I stated, there is no ‘lip’ or tight edge to this beauty dish, something that traditional beauty dishes have, so it doesn’t have that ‘snap’ at the edges. I don’t think that is a bad thing… it is actually pretty good. The flash seems to fade pretty fast at the distances I use it, and I love the fall off from this thing. So while it may not be ‘exactly’ as a beauty dish would perform, I love what it does do a lot.

The SpeedLightProKit Beauty Dish will be available soon. Check their website for more information.

Some words about the SpeedLightProKit products that I use. I particularly like these units for a lot of reasons:

1. They are solid and very well made.
2. The footprint for travel is nearly nothing. I can take a bunch of modifiers in my luggage whenever I need.
3. The light is smooth, well defined and color correct.
4. The units deliver a lot of light for small tools.
5. I cannot tell the ones that have traveled all over the country, been used hundreds of times, and packed/repacked over and over again from the absolutely brand new ones I just received.

My personal kit for the SpeedLightProKit tools is as follows:

1 Beauty Dish
2 Large Softboxes
2 Medium Softboxes
2 Medium Box Grids
And an assortment of grid-spots, gels and diffusers.
That is equal to two ProKit Pro Sets, two ProKit 6 Reflector kits and most of their other modifiers.

I usually tell my students at the workshop that if you are going to buy a lighting modifier – umbrella, softbox, reflector, grid etc… – to get two of each. There are times when having two lights that totally match will be important. That may not be true with beauty dishes or the larger umbrellas or parabolics, but it is definitely something I press on the smaller to medium tools. Two that match. Important.

For those of you who may already be familiar with the SpeedLightProKit tools, I would like to point out a few changes. They have created a new mount for the Large Softbox (ProKit 6) that works extremely well. Here is a look at the ProKit 6 Large Softbox and New Mounting Ring.

Another New Item is the PR4-T tool. These are a pair of diffused panels to match the ones for the ProKit Pro and ProKit 6 modifiers. They can be mixed and matched to make a traditional ‘event shooter’ speedlight top, or something more esoteric… like a softbox with a diffusion panel to add light to a bounce card below. Or a Large softbox with some diffused light to escape and fill in ambient… the uses for this set of tools is limitless.

Here I use a small ProKit Softbox to light Frank against the sun over his shoulder camera left. Speedlight is a 430EX on half power.

The shot after removing the light in Photoshop.

For a look at the SpeedLightProKit tools I reviewed earlier this year, see this page:
Enough Modifiers to Keep It Interesting

In the end, the tools above are simply tools. You must make them work for you. I hope you consider them in your gear purchases. Most can be found at MPEX or at their own sites to which I have linked. I hope you found this article informative and useful. Please join me on Twitter or Facebook or any of the other Social Media sites listed top right of this page. Thanks.

Next Gear Review will be on Flash Units for studio and travel.

SHARE/SAVE

I get asked a lot about how my methodology works. What am I thinking about when setting the light? How do I know what the settings should be.

For this post I have pulled some shots from last years workshop tour. I will explain the exposure planning as we go along. From mixing the ambient with the speedlights or overriding the ambient altogether, the knowledge of what the image should look like will help you decide.

And what should the image look like? Well, that is up to you. In photography there seems to be an endless amount of possibilities and you can pretty much do what you want. Stylistically and artistically, you can make the image you want by working with the light your way.

The neat thing is that the light works the same way, every time. So you can “learn” the light and its abilities and controls and be comfortable that the light will do what you expect it to.

I always carry a little book with me to sketch ideas in and also to document how I do something for later review. I decided to scan those extemporaneous drawings so you can see how simple it is to do the shots, and how important it can be to carry a small notebook for making notes. You don’t have to be an artist, but it sure helps to LEARN what you are doing by writing it down. I don’t do every shot, but sometimes I like to just sketch it quick and then see if there is anything else I could do.

Before we get going on this post, I want to remind you about the upcoming workshops: Akron, Omaha, Montana and Chicago. These workshops are intense and full of information that goes even beyond lighting. From professional working methods to using social media to gain exposure, we talk about photography all day long. For two full days. Visit the Learn to Light website for more information.

If you are currently looking for a new way to present your work, take a look at our Professional Photographer Websites built on the power of WordPress. Just click the Essentials link on the menu bar for more information.

Now lets look at five different portrait setups that use speedlights and ambient light.

You may want to take a look at this post for some information on calibrating your lights and learning exactly what the power is going to be at the distances you choose. My 430 and 550 are both right at f-8 at 1/8 power at about 5.5 feet. That knowledge means I have total control by power setting and distance

The shot above represents a neat ambient blend of speedlight and soft ambient light that wraps all around the subject. After getting the exposure with my Minolta meter I could begin to plan the lighting and what it should be. I usually take an ambient light shot without strobes so I can see how the light is falling and get an idea of the image as it will be presented.

The shot on the left shows the ambient only photograph. You can see that it isn’t bad at all, but the one on the right has a little more snap to it. F-4 at 1/160 was the meter setting and I took several shots with the ambient only before adding the strobes. The ambient shot isn’t bad, and we shot several shots with the ambient as it has a nice, soft look to it.

When it came time to add the strobes I knew exactly what I wanted to achieve. I wanted the ambient look but with a little pop from the strobes to open the shadows on her face and give the skin a brighter look. I didn’t want the strobes to overpower the ambient, just to add a little bit to the shadows. I did not change the exposure of the image with the strobes, as I knew they were so close to the ambient exposure.

Here is the diagram for the light:

Below I have the shot of Briana after some minor Photoshop work.

You can see how gentle the light is here. We didn't want to overpower the ambient, just add a little spark to the image.

Here is a shot of Briana on the sand bridge heading over the hill. It was very cold and blustery at this time. We were both cold, so we wanted to make the shot and get it in the can before we both froze…

The shot with the ambient is terrible. To open the shot with the ambient would have meant that the sky would have gone white and the shot would be very flat.

I needed then to add some strobe to it to bring the shot up in value and leave the sky dark. To add light to the subject and not change the shutterspeed was the goal. That allowed the shutterspeed to control the background (the dark gray sky) and the strobe to fill in the light up front and the subject.

Looking at the shot now, I realize I should have used a flag on the front part of the image to darken it a bit. I had to lower the values in Photoshop, as I didn’t want the image to look flashlit so much. Below is the shot at ambient and with the flash. I used a 430 on a stand, bare with no modification.

Here is the diagram for the above shot:

And here is the final shot. I brought the values down a bit in the front with photoshop and some layer blends. Creating a more even transition of light from the foreground to the background keeps the shot from looking too “over lit.”

Next up is this shot of Briana in Nova Scotia:

I like the look of the light and background matching.

This shot shows what the background looks like without the strobe. I generally make a few shots to see what the background is going to do before I start to add the strobe. I want to see how the light would look without my added lights. What happens to the leaves and the shadow that is being thrown forward? Will there be any issues with the bench?

I find it very important to “build” a shot. Starting with the ambient exposures gives me a great starting point. I new that 1/160 was within my strobe sync speed on the Canon, so all I really had to do was add my strobe at the position I wanted and at the power I need to get f-14. Since I know that at 1/8 power at 5.5 feet it would be f-8, I simply had to change the power to get to f-14. 1/4 power would give us f-11 and 1/2 power would give f-16. I simply moved the light back about 6-7″ and it would give me f-14.

Lighting Diagram:

I made sure that the flash would not throw any shadows across the face or create any difficult lighting problems. I do that by making sure that the axis of the light was straight onto Bri, not too far to the side or too high. At the level I have the light, it throws a shadow under her chin, but it is nearly straight back. It is one of only a few flash “tells’ Making the light seem natural was my goal.

In Photoshop, I was able to make sure that the light was nice and smooth and I added a bit of contrast with Tony Kuyper’s Luminance masks, and painted some gentle highlights on the arms and dress. Overall, there was a little Photoshop, but not too much.

Here is the shot after the Photoshop:

I wanted to match the background: after a shot with no strobe, I knew that it would be easy to add a strobe.

It is so important to make some shots first and to see what the light is going to do before you add some of your own. Knowing what the strobe output at specific distances makes this rather quick. At that point it is angle to subject, the angle to the camera and camera angle to the subject… the triangle that is the basis of lighting.

There are two more in PDF form if you would like to download them. Thanks for stopping by. And please let your friends know about Lighting Essentials – a place for photographers.

SHARE/SAVE

I thought I would break down another shot I did that involved pre-visualization, overcoming a challenge and using small lights for a big light look.

The shot was for a dance Calendar for Briana. In the calendar images she presents 12 different types and styles of dance. for the last shot I wanted to harken back to the film “Flashdance” for a water/splash fun shot.

Before we get going, I would like to remind everyone that the workshops in Omaha, NE and Missoula, MT are still open, but down to only one shooter each. We are so pleased to be able to bring the workshop to some of these smaller markets. If you are thinking about attending a workshop this summer, take a look at the Omaha, Nebraska, Chicago, El Paso, Memphis and Minnesota dates. More to come, so stay tuned.

Here are a few other posts you may enjoy:
Shooting on the Beach with Two Speedlights and the Sun
Deconstruction: Briana on the Pier (Speedlights and the Sun)
Tech Sheet: Beating the Sun with Speedlights
Tech Sheet: Creating an Ambient Look with Speedlights on Location

Also to remind you all that to check out the Essentials page. We have added full-featured websites to our offering as well as some very cool WordPress themes expressly designed for photographers.

So let’s go on and take a look at the steps we took to do the fun “Flashdance” shot for Briana’s Calendar.

We tried to set it up with a black background, but there seemed to be this wind

Well, it seemed like a perfect day to set up the seamless outside so we could do the water shot. As soon as we set the paper up, a small breeze started rustling the trees – and totally destroying the seamless. We tried to get it right for a few minutes, but the falling sun meant we had to change gears really quick.

I wanted a dark background, and the seamless seemed to be the best way. I knew there would be some Photoshop work needed, but I wanted to minimalize it as far as the background.

But the wind had other ideas. I turned around and realized that with shutterspeed and some blending in Photoshop, I could get this right, and knew I had only a few minutes to go until the sun got too low to make the shot. We had no time left to do this again (schedules for three busy people) so we wanted to at least say we gave it a heck of a try.

GEAR: we had three speedlights with fresh batteries, Cybersyncs tested and ready, camera – cleaned and with fresh flash card, three stands, a boom and all the clamps and bungees and stuff we could need. We had it with us… at the ready. We got to work on the shot and the challenge at hand.

Lorri had Briana in makeup and we decided to use the shadow side of the building for the background. I figured if I couldn’t save that black background in Photoshop, I would have to find another shot to use for the last month. “Let’s just give it a shot” was the group response.

Setting the chair up in the sun, we added a speedlight on a stand behind her and dialed it in to match the sunlight. I had an exposure of f-5.6 at 1/125 at ISO 100. That was perfect for what I wanted. I knew the edges of the water would have some motion blur from the ambient, and would also be frozen due to the strobe. But it would also not last too long.

“Briana… we have some good news and some bad news. Good news: We have a water source. Bad news: It isn’t heated.”

Briana: “Grrrrrrrrr…. brrrrrrrrrr”

Filling the buckets as fast as we could we knew that we could only get about 10-15 shots before the light went too far down and killed the light on her face.

I took a few shots of her in position to make sure I really thought I could do this… Looked pretty good.

We added a backlight coming straight to the camera in order to backlight the water as it hit Briana

You can see how we added a second light to the back of the shot. Aimed straight at the camera, the light would backlight the water and create a bright background, almost specular, as the water splashed around her.

We tried the shot many times. Briana was a trooper and Lorri and James Alan would fill the buckets as fast as possible and we would count 1-2-3 and “splash”. I was not shooting tethered on this shot due to the amazing amount of water everywhere, so I would be checking out the image with a loupe as the gang was loading the buckets and Briana was shivering.

As you can see… we had to do it several times to get the angle, amount and thrust of the water just right.

Well... we tried to get it right, but that required practice. That's our story and we are sticking to it...

We definitely wore her out, so as soon as I got one that I knew would work, Lorri wrapped her in a warm towel and we took her inside to warm up.

I now had a shot I could work with.

Moving it into Photoshop, I first added a black background to the layers and started to blend back with a mask. Then adding the layer again with the blend mode to “Multiply” I could then blend back the dancer against the dark, black background. It took some careful masking and blending, but it was doable.

Highlight painting is also used here to add some contrast to those areas that seemed a little flat. Increased contrast was added with Tony Kuyper’s Luminance masks and the entire image was warmed a bit for a more natural feel.

I then added a little spray from one area to another area to make the splash seem like it was coming from behind her. Carefully cutting and blending, I cloned the spray from the front of her legs to the place behind her back. You can see the added areas here:

After the background was blended out, I was able to add some additional water to the areas that needed it.

And that was it. Planning the shot was so important, and being able to switch gears when the weather turned windy allowed us to switch course and still get the shot. I was able to get that shot with the quickly lowering light by not focusing on what was going wrong, but focusing instead on how to get it right.

Here is the final image as it appeared in the Calendar… which you can still buy, by the way. Visit Briana’s site for a link to the purchase page.

Final image as it was used.

Special thanks to Briana, Lorri and James for their help in this image.

SHARE/SAVE

Mexico was an absolute blast this year. We had about 14 models who were there for the “Girls of Rocky Point” calendar shoot. Weather was amazing, and the resort made us feel right at home. I had a chance to shoot a couple of shots with the guys and decided to share a few with you all.

We still have some room at the Cleveland workshop, and the June workshops have some space as well. Come on out and enjoy a really intense, incredibly fun and real-time-hand-on-see-do-learn workshop. Your photography will improve by several times no matter what your level.

Special thanks BTW to my wonderful sponsors BorrowLenses.com, SmugMugPro and the Las Palmas Resort in Rocky Point Mexico. All the attendees to any workshop will receive a 10% discount for any vacation rental at that incredible place. Don’t let the media hype scare you off… it is a pretty incredible place and easy and safe to get to.

I also should publicly thank my friends Megan, James, Jerry, JimmyV, Evan, Alex and Jesse for coming down and working with us. Some were there only to shoot the calendar, but spent time shooting with the guys and having an all out great time. Special kudos to Jesika (who came all the way from Houston for this workshop) and Christine and Laura, from Phoenix. They came with the calendar but spent a heck of a lot of time with the workshop guys and that was wonderful.

Well, let’s look at this first image. It is one I did on Sunday and features Laura. I rarely get to shoot at the workshops, but the guys were all shooting some shots of the calendar models and I had a moment to set something up. Dan helped Jerry and I make this shot. We used a Dynalite 400WS Monobloc with a Vagabond for power. Light modifier is a 22″ beauty dish and it was on a stand that we improvised into a boom for the carbon-based-voice-activated light stands.

I loved the little ledge with the water behind and wanted to feature the graphical nature of the shot. Laura had this incredible green scarf thing that was driving her crazy in the wind. I liked that too… so the shot was hatched.

Laura on the wall with the green scarf blowing. All was set except the light. It was coming at Laura at a nearly oblique angle and barring her looking right at the sun, there was no light on her front at all. I wanted to have light filling her face and form. I knew a reflector wasn’t going to be enough so that left only the strobe alternative.

I chose a wide angle Canon 20-35MM zoom so I could grab a lot of the location behind her and make the shot have a feeling of ‘place’ to it. A tripod was next and since mine was all the way back at the casita, I just grabbed Jesse’s video tripod and made it work.

How to shoot this shot with the strobe in it was an easy decision. It was obvious that I could shoot the light in the shot and simply take it out with drag and drop ease. Simply by shooting the image without the light in it provided the right hand side of the shot with no light. Easy to cut, drag and drop that right side onto the shot with the light and be done with it.

Well… it was a little more complex than that… but not much.

Here is the shot with the light in it:

As soon as I was finished with the shots, I had Jerry take the light out and I shot one frame with Laura in place and no lighting gear. This is the shot I used for the right side of the image. There would be a few things to deal with in the post work, but it would be rather easy. One thing that made it easier was shooting on a tripod. It gave me a set of images that matched and that is what I needed.

I had to fix the horizon a bit, and then carefully made a cut on the lightless shot and moved it over to the shot with the light in it. A little finessing and it slipped right in. I then had to do a little shadow repair on the grass, remove the flashmeter that was inadvertently left in the shot and make sure that the sky had no line in it. I also had to take out the corner of the lightless shot that had a little light in it as well as that creepy thing that got on my sensor sometime Sunday morning. Hmmm… if that sucker is a flu virus I am gonna be soooo mad.

The final shot was then worked with luminance masks and sharpened. And that was it.

I visualized the shot and then made it happen… that is the way to do it as far as I am concerned.

I wasn’t done yet though… I had another shot to do, and it was done the same way.

Above is the contact sheet with the images I shot of Jazmin on the zero edge pool. I did the final shot much the same way. Below is the shot without Jerry holding the light. I have the notes I made on it as well.

Here is the shot with the Photoshop tweaks and the added contrast and saturation. I also used some masks to bring out the contrast in certain image luminance ranges, and added a touch of grain to rough it up a bit.

SHARE/SAVE

I have had some great workshops over the past few weeks. This weekend it is Mexico, then some recharge time. Shooting a lot of workshop images and images for the book in Mexico as we are working on the workshop itself. I have Megan, Jerry and Evan going down for some extra shooters to cover the workshop and finalize the workbook.

Kansas City was awesome, as was Dallas. We are still collecting from those workshops. The Nashville workshop got some great images out to me right away so they are being posted now.

I am very proud of this workshop. It combines visual learning, lecture/demonstrations and hands-on, real world shooting. We are booking as we go on through the summer, so make sure you check back and see where we are going to be for the next few months.

If you are new to the site, you should check out the archive pages for lots and lots of posts on light and photographic lighting. Just hit the “Tag List” on the right side for a great introduction to the works here.

Look what is coming up:
May
Cleveland 30, 31

June
Omaha, Nebraska 6, 7
Missoula, Montana 20, 21
Chicago, Illinois 27, 28

July
El Paso , Texas, 10, 11
Memphis , Tennessee, 18, 19

Let’s look at a few images and deconstruct the lighting, shall we.

First Image is the group shot from the cover:

Photo by Todd Hibbs.

This was the last shot of the day on Sunday. We had dealt with rain and wind and cold. But everyone was in great spirits so we took the four models for one more shot in the ‘ruins.’ We decided they looked like a rock band so that was kind of the theme.

An ambient light reading was made and shots were done at that setting to find out what the ambient looked like without any additional work. It was dull and lifeless, so we tried a few underexposed shots to get a feeling of that look ad settled on a 1.5 stop underexposure for the shot to have interesting color and sky.

I ‘sketch’ with the camera. Take a few shots at different exposures to see where the light falls at different exposures. Check out the DOF and the resulting color/contrast of the overall image.

We then positioned the models in a line that would allow us to light them with different speedlights. You can see the staggered line that lets us aim the lights and not cause any shadows to affect the models. We focused one of the strobes to give us a more tightly focused light on the third model from the left. We then added strobes all around the group aimed to not create any shadows. All are positioned with ‘carbon-based light stands’ and they were charged with keeping the lights focused on a straight axis of their noses. This keeps the faces from having shadows on them that would possibly detract from the overall look.

The photographers positioned themselves at a low angle to add interest to the background. Keeping the bricks and the little patch of sky gives the shot a reference point and keeps the lit models more dramatic.

Here’s a little lighting diagram to help you see how the lights played on the subjects.

Up next is a group shot by Martin Howard… same image, a different take.

Martin decided on a more contrasty post, and a closer shot of the group. You can see how the same shot can look so totally different when cropped a little tighter. The darker image shows how beautifully the light plays on the highlights of the subjects jeans and faces.

Stormy Sky and Two Speedlights for a Dramatic portrait

Photo by Todd Hibbs.

This shot was created to show off the incredibly stormy sky. Todd set his strobes to deliver the lit part at two stops brighter than the ambient and background. He knew that the sky would be very dramatically presented if it was dark and moody. We all loved the telephone pole and the lines as well – they gave it a gritty, urban look.

Shooting with strobes overpowering the ambient can sometimes be problematic in where the shadows fall. We used two speedlights here and they were very carefully aimed to not throw discernible shadows where they could be seen and possibly make the shot look “flash lit”.

You can see that we kept the strobe to camera left high and aimed at the model on the left. This threw here shadow against the other model. She in turn was lit by a strobe to camera right and slightly off axis. This provided a smooth light on both women and the shadow from the camera right strobe got thrown beyond on the wall we cannot see.

There is a interesting psychological effect when we overpower the sun, and create a shot without it making sense to our intrinsic ideas of what light does. Dramatic lighting like this can be a wonderful way to mix it up a bit… but make sure the end image looks just as you want it to.

I think ‘comping’ or ‘sketching’ with the camera can really open your eyes to how the image is going to look. When Todd shot this initially without strobe we saw immediately that there would be a problem on the wall if a shadow was introduced too high in the image.

One more by Todd… Rees jumps in the middle of the street – and we make a pretty dramatic shot.

Wanting to do an editorial looking shot, we chose the middle of the street for a totally urban and mundane set and the dramatic sky for a background. Placing two speedlights on the same side of her – one on a boom and one hand held (both carbon-based units), we were able to show her leaping against the sun. Todd underexposed the sky with the shutter speed and used the speedlights to provide the correct exposure for Rees.

When shooting dancers it is important to remember to light where they will be and not where they are. Three steps into the leap and then 18″ or so above the spot where her head would be if she were simply standing. The guys with the lights worked very hard to keep the lights on her and she was amazingly precise leaping in the same spot so Todd could stay in the shadow of her head during the leap.

A quick, and clearly precise trigger-finger is necessary. Dancers move really quickly. And DSLR’s have a slight, but noticeable shutter lag. You have to be ready for it when they leap. And – anticipate. It takes a while to get it right, but concentration makes it far less likely that the dancer will have to do it over and over to get it right for you. I don’t use a motor drive on these things… I cannot trust the motor to catch that precise moment.

I thank you for dropping by. Keep Lighting Essentials in your bookmarks and let others know about it.

Thanks for

SHARE/SAVE

This is a cover shot that we did for the fragrance company. We wanted a larger space and a more natural looking scene for the cover so we sought out a warm environment. Our AD found a beautiful home that fit the bill.

I knew the item that I would be shooting was small, and knowing that the idea was for a natural looking space, I didn’t need the big guns, I took a small, traveling kit we had at the studio and was off.

The space was a very pretty, large living room with 18′ of north light coming through floor to ceiling louvered windows. The room was simply awash in gorgeous, ambient light.

Before I get started, apologies for slow posting… I have been crazywickedbusy… and working on a book for final publication (although private) is taking every spare minute. I would like to thank SmugMug Professional for coming on as a sponsor. Every workshop attendee for the rest of the year will receive a free one year Pro Account at SmugMug. We also welcome Midwest Photo Exchange to the LE family. A big shout out to BorrowLenses.com and MightyImaging.com for their continued support.

Upcoming workshops are Atlanta and Mexico. I have openings for a few at both. The lineup for the summer is looking great. All attendees receive the workbook, a new DVD for the workshop attendees only, a copy of my book on PDF, the SmugMugPro account and more. We are currently doing weekly webcasts on New Media Marketing. As soon as we have the bugs worked out, that free weekly workshop will be available to all workshop attendees.

Well, let’s go on and take a look at how simple tools can be used to make a natural looking still life.

This is the room as we entered it:

I will often pull the camera out and simply shoot in either Aperture Priority, or take a reading and shoot in manual to get a feeling of how the light is falling within the scene. This is very important when I want the ambient light to be included in the shot. Here you can see how it is falling across the background.

I made the choice to obviously keep the light at the same angle on the glassware. But as you can see in the shot above, there is no finesse to the light falling on the glass vase.

Bringing in a small softbox with a monolight at very little power added both, the rim light of the reeds and the large, white shape on the vase. I kept the light in as close as I could to give the larger shape. Knowing what the ambient was able to produce meant that I had to match it with the box.

We wanted very little depth of field, so I knew I would be shooting as wide open as possible. Using the 20-35mm 2.8 L Canon at 20mm gave me a very sharp foreground and some softened background textures. Getting in close to the subject fills the frame, and adds some more softness to the background.

Coni, the AD, wanted the light from the lamp to be included in the image, so that was a parameter that helped me define the shot as well. We had to move a lot of furniture around to get the shot we wanted. The background can be very distracting if there are gaping holes or something that stands out too much. The shot looks natural in the background because we set the background to the shot – moving things in at various angles till it looked good from camera. They may look askew in the real world… I only care about what they look like through the viewfinder.

Here are a few shots that we did as we were setting up the shot.

The glassware was looking better, and we had some nice color and light in the background. But the far side of the glassware – that side away from the light – was simply dying. I had Alisha, the client, holding a white card to the camera right side, and way back behind the glassware to add the little highlight you see on the right side of the vase. This adds a separation edge and also looks natural. The reason I had her hold it way back was to create a very small highlight, not a wide stripe that bringing it closer to camera would provide. Keeping the lamp in the shot also added a little warmth from the tungsten and the red lampshade.

We also decided that a little bit of flare from the side would create a more natural look. We shot it with both a little flare and with no flare. Blocking the lens from the light makes the shot very sharp, but the flare adds a little warmth to it.

You can see the setup in this shoot shot that Coni did. Here we are checking the light and the highlight placement to get the look to the glassware we want.

Here is the setup shot. You can see the small softbox, boomed in from the left, and the tethered computer showing what we are doing instantly and keeping the client and AD informed of what we are doing. These shots require placement of typography, and sometimes other considerations. The Art Director knew exactly where she wanted her negative space for adding the copy and headlines for the cover. The tethered shooting gave her a lot of confidence that we were shooting the shot she needed.

The final shot, sans headline and type.

Thanks for coming by. I will be making more updates in the following weeks – I promise.

SHARE/SAVE

I use my speedlights frequently when on location, but truth be told I would rather have a more robust selection of tools to modify the light. I will admit to sucking pretty bad at the DYI approach. I will simply not go into a shoot with grubby or ‘home-made’ equipment unless it really looks compelling.

That all changed with the tools that I am telling you all about on this post. There are softboxes, softlighters, grid-spots, bounces, color filters, barn doors and even some little softlight tops similar to the Stofen. The Speed Light Pro Kit is an amazing set of tools and modifiers at a price that anyone can work with.

Here’s the cool thing, at least one of the cool things, they all fit flat into a tiny space. I can throw them into a small bag or my suitcase and be off knowing I have enough modifiers to do the job. From small softbox, to tightly contained grid-spots, I have enough gear to be effective with my lighting for most challenges.

This will be an bit different post. I will run it until this weekend, updating as I go along with new images taken with the different tools. Saturday will culminate in a webcast where you can ask questions and I can show you how I use them. We are scheduling the webcast for 11AM on Saturday, Phoenix, Arizona… we are on Pacific Time here, so mark your calendars appropriately.

There will be a link here on Saturday morning, March 21, and you will be able to click and visit the webcast.

Some items before we begin. Upcoming workshops are filling, so get signed up. We are very small in our groups, and that gives us lots of shooting time as well as learning the tools and techniques that will lead to more control in your lighting.

Let’s start with what is in the package:

The kit comes well packaged in protective sleeves. On the above illustration we have:
1 Medium Grid Spot
2Tight Grid Spot
3 Medium Soft Box (2 included)
4 Medium Soft Grid
5 Medium Soft Box two pieces

The Grid Spots are well made, and very smooth with the spot effect. There is a very tight beam and a medium beam included so you can have both in one shot if you have enough speedlights. The light is clean and the build is solid.

The two medium softboxes have a soft panel and a grid pattern. The interior of the boxes are covered with a silver, slightly studded material that really bounces the light in and around the box. The diffused softbox has a double layer of diffusion built in to the unit that gives the light a very nice effect. The medium grid spot has a wider throw than the smaller grids, but there is a softness that is added from the interior silver material.

I put my 430 in the shot to give you a sense of scale. You can see that the softboxes are fairly good size for the small light tools.

Continuing:

The second image shows a speedlight bounce tool (6) that fits on top of the strobe and has versatile mounting for changing how it works. You can choose to use it as a diffuser or a bounce tool, and you can shoot through it or have it above your strobe for a lighting modifier.

7 shows a set of color filters for the medium softboxes. They work really well and are great for effect lighting. Pop one behind the medium grid and get spot color effects. 8 shows the barndoors (2 sets) that can be used with the medium softboxes to control the throw of the light or flag off any unwanted spill.

9 is an assortment of colored strobe toppers to soften and color the strobe light. They attach very quickly and do a nice job with the softening of the direct flash. 10 is some extra softeners that come with the kit. You have enough soft lighters to handle a half a dozen speedlights.

But wait, there’s more:

Group three shows the larger softbox that is included, as well as the different fastening tools to keep it on the flash. Setting this light up takes about 30 seconds, and the light is really smooth. They have included a silver cover in the center of the softbox to keep the highlight from being too center weighted. The 430 shows how large the softbox is in relation to the strobe.

I very much like the shape of this large light. While not a square, it gives a slightly more rounded catch light in the eyes. The unit is solid, with a good build. The light is clean, and open and the softness is wide and bright.

Below you will see the light assembled and its size in relation to the speedlight.

With this high quality, widely diverse and easily packed set of tools, you can go into a lot of situations with some confidence that you can have the main and effect light that you want. It is a well designed set of tools that can modify any speedlight. There is no compatibility issues and the tools look professional enough to go on a pro shoot.

The durability and build seems to be very strong. I can imagine that they will take some punishment, but they are not indestructible. As with most things, care and proper use / storage will increase their longevity. The snaps are brisk and the material is very sturdy. They lay flat in most cases, only the grid-spots wont lay flat.

You can visit the Speed Light Pro Kit site here. They are offered in the US at MPEX, and are available now in other parts of the world. See the website for more information.

EDIT: The products shown here came to me as a single unit. They are sold as groups and individually in different ‘packages’. I do not sell these items, but I do recommend them at this point. You can buy the full set of tools, or just the tools you need. The great folks at MPEX can help you configure the right set of tools for your needs.

SHARE/SAVE

Sorry for the long absence. A stolen laptop put me back a lot farther than expected. Add to that the traveling and being without internet, well, reliable internet anyway, in some of the locations. Whew… Hey, enough whining. We will make it up to you really quick with some great tutorials and lighting focused posts coming up soon.

The Monday after the recent Florida workshop was one of fun and relaxation. For me that means running all over the place making pictures and working with some of the attendees who decided to take a day from work to hang out. I wanted to do something a little different, so I decided to focus on portraiture for the day. We had some models come in from Miami (long drive – thanks girls) and one of our models from Sunday took the morning off to come along. Let’s take a look at some simple techniques to make portraits on location with minimal tools.

First some housekeeping: Kansas City is the next workshop. I have some openings. We have a place and will be notifying everyone of the address. This KC workshop is really going to be a lot of fun. See the Learn to Light page for more information.

We have our February Contest winners announced and the new contest is underway. See the contest page for all the details.

I have a lot of requests for the workshop, so we will be setting up some more dates this week as well. Filling out the summer and entering fall.

April 2009

Dallas 4, 5
Nashville 11, 12
Atlanta 18, 19
Mexico 24, 25, 26

May 2009

New York 2, 3
Washington DC 9, 10
Detroit 16, 17
Cleveland 30, 31

Let’s look at some pictures and talk a little about the art of portraiture.

The shot on the cover was a guy we met on the beach. He had an interesting face and a great hat so I asked if I could make a shot of him. He laughed and I persisted. As we walked to the boat, I made a few test shots to get the exposure for the background. Placing him on the boat, I knew I was only going to get a few shots – 5 to be exact – so I tried to make everyone count. My handheld speedlight did the trick as I kept it facing the subject to keep the light clean and shadowless across his face.

Next up is this shot of Maria. Taken outside with a single light in a softbox, the shot was made against a bright, slightly hazy sky.

Bringing the softbox in close to Maria let me bring the white sky (shooting almost directly into the sun) into a darker range. I used shutter speed to drop the sky (taking it 1.5 stops under the exposure) and the strobe to bring up the tones on Maria. The large, flat light source created a wonderful patina to the skin, and the backlight added a tiny bit of rim and accent. We kept the box about 2.5 feet from her and I crept in under it a bit to shoot up and into the sky. Using a Canon 20-35MML let me crop quickly and I made sure to get her expressive arms into the frame.

I had seen the power lines and when she started doing some posing I thought about a puppet on a wire. Two versions exist: one with the power lines taken out in Photoshop and this one with them left in. I liked this one better, at least for now, so I left them in for the faint reflection of the ‘puppet’ pose.

This shot of Jessica on Bean Point is all natural light.

There was a lot of fill coming off the white sand, so I placed Jessica in the sun and made my exposures. I wanted the feel of the beach and when I saw her skirt, I loved how it mirrored the color of the beach grass.

Portraiture on location for me means showing the location. I decided again on the wide lens to include the elements of the location that were special to me. The deep blue sky, white sand, beach grass and model. Placing her on the sand kept my fill good, and getting low for a good amount of sky let the image place the viewer there. I used a polarizing filter on the 20-35MM L to give more depth to the sky. It also let a lot of color come out of the grass.

Jessica was told to not pose ‘for me’ but to be self-absorbed in the scene. I had her look off toward the sun, and also a bit over my head, but I didn’t want a lot of ‘into the camera’ looks. The portrait shows the blend of the subject in the landscape.

Here we have a shot of Vanessa jumping on the edge of the water at Bean Point on Anna Maria Island. Behind her is the meeting point of Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. It is a very interesting and beautiful, place.

There was a lot of light filling in from the sand, but there was still a very bright sun to deal with. I didn’t want her looking into the sun, but rather into the camera. I knew that would add some side shadows to the image. You can see the shadow behind her and note that the sun was very high, not an optimal time for a portrait. But, hey… that’s what we like… a challenge.

I took my meter readings in the sun and in the shaded side of her outfit. I wanted the shady side to be much brighter as there was a little over 2 stop difference. Setting my flash to almost equal the sun (f-16) I was able to open the shadows very well without losing the highlights on the white outfit. I will be doing a post soon to show you exactly how to use your flash as an adjunct to full sun, not just a fill or a tool to beat the sun.

Working with Vanessa, I had her roll the pants legs up a little and walk at the edge of the surf a ways down before exiting to the sand in front of me. This kept the sand clean and free of footprints. A 1-2-3 count let me anticipate her jump and I was careful to check the shot to make sure I had something without making her do it over and over. We got it on frame 6, and shot two more for safety. Anticipating the apex of the jump is very important. Even though it is a DSLR, there is still a lag time from click to capture.

Erin was shot in the evening with a strobe for a dramatically lit shot.

Erin was standing just to the right of the sun from my position. I loved the little sun in the background… almost hitting the edge of the sea. I decided to underexpose the background by nearly two stops with my shutter speed. Rendering the sun and sky that deep orange/red would make Erin’s blonde hair and black dress really stand out.

Using the wide angle again, I took a few images to quickly find my shutterspeed / f-stop combination for the dark background. My meter was all the way over there, and the sun was going down, so yes, I chimped. Once I found the good exposure for the background and set the strobe distance to give me an exposure that would be two stops under on the background, I moved in and took a few frames. This one worked the best.

Keeping the aperture / shutterspeed relationships in your head can be the quickest way to get some of these kind of shots. For instance… background is f-8 at 1/120 of a second. If I want to underexpose the background, I can close the aperture to f-16. That is two stops underexposed on the background if I shoot the subject at f-16 with the strobe at the same shutterspeed.

We were shooting at the beach when I turned around and saw our MUA sitting and basking in the very low sun. What a shot! I moved in and positioned her head where I wanted it and let the natural sunlight fill the frame with soft, warm light.

This kind of light can be very flattering and warm. It is one of my most favorite lighting tools, but it only happens for a few minutes each day. Yeah, rarefied light for sure. Quick and clean, the light gave me a most flattering shot of a wonderful lady.

Next up was Vanessa again in the surf.

Similar to the shot of Erin, I added some subject motion to the image. I had Vanessa pull her hair over to one side and she flipped her hair on my three-count. These shots are very scary cause you can’t see her face in the viewfinder. You must rely on the model to make sure she has a good face when she hits that spot.

Shutterspeed was not fast enough to freeze her hair, but it added a cool effect to the hair with the back-shadow from the long shutter/flash combination. Vanessa was a great sport on this shot as it can be a little tricky doing that whip thing over and over.

Thanks so much for visiting, and I will make sure I get some more updates up right away. See the workshop page for workshop schedules and I hope to see you at one soon.

SHARE/SAVE

There is so much talk on some forums about the ‘softness’ of shoot-thru umbrellas and how much it works to provide a soft light. And there is certainly some truth to that statement… especially with umbrellas at a distance.

But finessed lighting that is done close to the subject finds that the shoot-thru umbrella has no ‘wrap’ to it, instead it scatters the light from the source instead of focusing the light. And those of you who know me, know that I don’t usually run in a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ mode on lighting. I only want the lighting to be what you want it to be… and learning lighting from someone who tells you to always do ‘a’ to get ‘b’ will do you no good.

You must get out and work with the tools, see the results, tweak and repeat. And repeat. Learn what the light does, then reconstruct it to provide the light you want.

We are going to examine a couple of shots we did with both in the same light. I also shot the setup so you can see how simple it is, and what I am referring to with the light.

NOW: Workshop News.
We are so excited about the workshops coming up. Please let me know if there are places you want to see Lighting Essentials Workshops. I am looking to book July and August now. And, of course we have all the workshop signups working so you can get signed up and ready for the workshops in your area… from San Diego to Montana to Washington DC… even Nashville!

I hope you are aware of our new Lighting Diagram tool. It is awesome and really can help with sharing the diagrams with friends. Treat the grid as 1 foot square and be precise about placement.

Now, let’s go look at some shots with shoot-thru and bounce umbrellas.

First I took a reading of the ambient bright light by walking over to camera right to get some sunlight on the meter. I wanted around 1/1oo of a second for ambient sharpness, and it is well within the sync-speed of the camera. At 1/100, the ambient light was around f-8. I moved it to f-6.3 for the exposure because the f-8 rendered the background light too dark. I wanted a feeling of sky back there and I wanted the feeling that Bri was being lit by that sky light.

I set the flash to a distance of about 6feet from Briana and changed the power from my starting point of 1/8 power to 1/16 power, then moved the stand in toward her about a foot. At 6ft, 1/16 power I would have gotten f-8. I wanted it to match so lowering the power took the light down one full stop – f-5.6. That is not enough light, so I moved the light toward Briana a foot or so and that would increase the power of the light by 1/3 stop – f-6.3.

Now my backlight and my strobe created backlight match. NOTE: the sun is actually behind the building and setting much farther south – we are looking West here.

Here is the shot we did without the front light firing:

You can see that the backlight is even all around her. Speedlight is matched to the ambient backlight from the lit sky.

Here is the shot with a bounced umbrella:

You can see how the light wraps all around her and creates a lot of light on her arm. That is because the light from the edge of the umbrella is lighting her arm farthest away… it is the wrap effect.

Here is the set-up shot:

Notice how much light is hitting that bounce card on the stand next to her.

Now, compare that shot with this one with a shoot-thru umbrella. Here’s the setup shot.

Here is the shot:

You can see that the image is more contrasty, with her arm going darker and the shadows under her neck and the dark side of her face being more defined.

Let’s get one thing straight, though. Neither one is better or not so good. They are both good representiations of the subject. It becomes a matter of choice… what do you want YOUR shots to look like. I can certainly see me using the shoot-thru umbrella and get the slightly deeper shadow when I want it. It is all about you creating the light you want and now you have another way of doing the shots.

A couple of things to see:
The diagram shows a couple of things. The light from a shoot thru falls away from the subject. And although it creates a soft light from size and diffusion, there is a dispersion AWAY from the subject.

Additionally you will see that the sides of the face and arms are not visible to that light source, so there is no light being thrown on them. There is some ambient, but in contrasty scenes, it will be less than what we see with naked eye.

The bounce umbrella, a parabolic in shape, keeps the light closer to the same distance from the subject. It also forms a light that can be seen from the side of the subject (wrap). While it is less diffused than the shoot thru umbrella, the bounce creates a more even light with the added wrap for cutting contrast.

I will point out though, that lighting for me happens close to the subject. Finessed lighting anyway. I want my lights to be as close to the subject as I can get them because there I can manipulate to results that can range from subtle to dramatic. Finesse.

Once the light moves out farther from the subject, it becomes a little less possible to finesse on that level, instead the addition of spots, grids and such are more useful for creating finesse.

Here is one last setup shot. I wanted to create something that seemed backlit by the sun, but in actuality was lit by a speedlight behind Bri.

I wanted the backlight to very much match the front light and set them so. The difference is that the backlight is a hard light, and creating speculars as it hits shoulders and hair, and the front light is an umbrella giving soft, all over light. The resulting portrait is natural looking and inviting.

I love the look of this shot. It seems natural, and yet has a contemporary look to it that makes it a little sexy.

Look for our contests to be announced soon, with some great prizes and fun awards. For now, I am off to help pull wardrobe for a large shoot on Monday. See you on this Friday for another tutorial.

And remember to get our RSS feeds for automatic notifications of new content.

SHARE/SAVE