Today I present an excerpt from my book, “Lighting Essentials: A Subject-Centric Approach for Photographers” now available from Amazon and fine book retailers all over the world! Whew!

It is really interesting that yesterday I got a knock on the door and was handed the ‘galleys’ to book number two, while I furiously finish writing/shooting book number 3.

To those of you in America, Happy Thanksgiving. I am taking some family time this weekend and I wanted to have something on the blog that would be fun for you all to read. I am including a chapter from my book, and then heading out for some holiday adventure.

Before we jump over to that chapter, I would like to remind you all of ongoing things and contests and other ideas coming your way.

As many of you know, I will not be teaching as many workshops next year as I have done previously. Lots of reasons, but mostly it has become quite difficult to fill the classes without people on the ground doing the booking. I know that may change next year… especially after the first weekend in April (heh), but for now I am planning some very special, quite interesting new workshops – one for beginners, and a few for more advanced shooters.

The website that is currently housing the workshop scheduling will continue to do so, but it will also become a resource for learning to light (the name of it is “LearnToLight” so that is what I am working on. Loosely based on the Project 52 idea, it will have weekly teaching, weekly assignments and more.

Project 52 starts again fresh on January 1, and we will have two tiers to it… the current free model and a premium that will only be available to a few students. Keeping the number down will ensure more one-on-one work.

I hope you are thinking about entering the “Wacky, Winner Gets ME” contest. I will fly to you or fly you here for a one-on-one workshop tailored especially to what you want to learn. You can even bring three buds (sorry, I only pay for you) to my studio, or you can have them join you in your town. See this page for more details.

If you have ever attended a Lighting Essentials workshop, or are participating in the current Project 52, you are invited to Phoenix for the Lighting Essentials Appreciation Weekend and BBQ. It is the last weekend of January. We have some small workshops, a few local trips to do and photograph, but mostly it is a social event here in my studio. More information here.

So Happy Thanksgiving to my American followers, and have a great weekend to those of you not in the states. Enjoy the excerpt of the book after the jump. I will have dinner and then start proofing book two.

Take the jump for the article.

Designing The Image You Want.

Previsualizing an image that conveys the intended message about your subject is the beginning. This process, and its fundamental importance, was covered in chapters 1 and 2. Knowing what type of lighting tools you are going to need is the next step; this was covered in chapters 3 through 7. With these concepts in mind, we can now move forward and see how everything comes together in actually designing a shot.

SKETCHING

Many variables come into play as we transform our three-dimensional world into two-dimensional images. In and of itself, the process will change the apparent relationships between the space, the light, and the subject. If natural light is being used, this can change from minute to minute. In the days of film, we could only preview these relationships using Polaroid film. Today, we can capture test images for review. I call this process “sketching.”

Sketching reveals the subject and scene as they will appear in your final photograph. More importantly, it allows you to make sure that the tonalities, relationships, and values you saw in your head are all represented in that final image. You can shoot from different angles and with different lenses. Add a light, then add another—or maybe a fill board or a shiny reflector. As you adjust the highlights and shadows, you’ll be creating a “road map” to the actual exposure.

I often work with the sketching to find an angle that I want to explore or to evaluate how the foreground works in relationship to the background. When shooting outdoors, I will also see where my exposure choices will place the sky within the limits of the capture.

SAMPLE SHOOT: Portrait of Katlyn. For this shot, I found a cool place to work and knew I wanted to shoot Katlyn here with her gray wardrobe. Although it was a sunny day, I knew the light would be around f/4 on the shady side of this building. That meant I started at f/4 and ISO 100 at 1/100 second. I shot an initial “sketch” image to see the ambient exposure.

This is the first shot I did of Katelyn: Exposure is right on - and it is boring.

I decided to place the ambient light at a stop under, so the light I was adding would be more interesting. I used the shutter speed (rather than the aperture) to make this adjustment so I would still have plenty of flash power and recycle time if I needed it. If I had decided to lower the aperture to f/5.6, I could have accomplished the same one-stop-under look, but I would have had to increase the flash power (maintaining the distance I wanted) to bring the flash up to f/5.6.

Underexposing by one stop made the background more dramatic—and would provide better contrast with the light I planned to add on the model.

I placed Katlyn in the position I liked and added the strobes. In front of her, I placed a small softbox with a speedlight. One bare speedlight was added behind her. Because the ambient was not very bright, the power of the lights was very low for this shot. I matched the back and the front speedlights to f/4 and did the next sketch. I noticed the reflection in the window behind her caused by the back speedlight. The easiest way to hide that was to put her in front of it. I also noticed that the light was very gradient in its presentation and quite bright in front. I moved the light away from the building and angled it away from the wall to get less light spill on it.

By underexposing the ambient by a stop, I ended up with a much more grittier looking scene. I now had the exposure for my image.

After adding the speedlights, my text sketch revealed a reflection of the backlight in the window. The easiest way to correct this was by repositioning the model.

For the final image, you can see that I chose to do a horizontal composition instead of a vertical shot. This allowed me to include more of the wall and the texture. You can also see that I got down a bit lower to add some height to the subject.

You can see that the exposure of the strobe was set to reveal the subject in a brighter light than the ambient exposure had rendered.

The final image was achieved after shooting several sketch images.

SAMPLE SHOOT: Portrait of Stephanie.

I found this cool little place where they use chainsaws to cut artistic things out of palm tree trunks. I wanted to put Stephanie in the mix of it, so I began to sketch the scene. I don’t worry about exposure on the subject at this point in the sketching. I want to simply see the shapes and items as they play out through the lens. I already knew that I wanted her near the tall sculpture, so I played with the foreground approaches.

The light was fairly flat and uninteresting on this overcast day in Florida - I knew we had to do something cool with the set, so lighting was the way to go.

I knew I wanted to place Stephanie near the tall sculpture, so I began the sketching process by experimenting with this relationship.

I had my friend Bill step into the shot to get an idea of the lighting and decided to underexpose the ambient light by one stop. Adding the speedlight in a small softbox gave me a good idea of the exposure and how Stephanie would look when the flash lit her.

The shot with the added lighting was much more interesting.

The sketching process helped me to determine how I wanted to record the ambient light and how much light was needed on my subject.

For the final shot, I added a bare strobe from camera right aimed at her midsection and set to expose at 1/2 stop over the ambient. This light, a 1/2 stop under the main light, added a little fill and highlight on her camera-right side. The sunlight added backlight and kept the foreground interesting.

SAMPLE SHOOT: Desean in the Lobby.

Every time I come into the lobby of my studio, I admire the lighting from the clear skylight and bright white ceiling. For this portrait of Desean, I sketched the image out with my camera to find the ambient level that made sense to me. The ambient was very important; I didn’t want to change the ambiance in the lobby, I wanted to capture it.

You can see the placement of the light for this shot of Dasaun. A single shoot thru umbrella flooded the hallway with light.

Once I had the ambient setting, I knew what I needed to add to the subject. I placed a single head into a shoot-through umbrella and set the power 2/3 stop brighter than the ambient. I shot at the ambient exposure, letting the light from the hallway glow brighter than the lobby.

The resulting image precisely captured what I saw in my head, with light from the hallway flooding in subtly to provide some depth.

The final shot of Dasaun matched exactly what I had seen in my mind's eye - visualizing the shot makes the process go much easier

This is the final image of Desean. You can see the feeling of the light from the hallway, which was a little brighter than the light from the skylight.

START WITH ONE LIGHT

I have a method that has served me very well for over thirty years: I build each shot one light at a time. In the studio, I get the main light ready, and then add the secondary. If I’m working outdoors or in a daylight studio, I find the placement of the ambient light and decide what I want to do with it. Perhaps the image calls for the background to be a bit overexposed. Or maybe dropping the ambient light down a couple of stops will add a dramatic flair to the image.

When making these fundamental decisions about ambient light, there are some important settings that must be taken into consideration, of course. If you are going to use only the ambient light and fill cards, you must remember that there is no way to overcome the ambient light—no way to make any kind of light that will be stronger than the direct sun. You also have choices to make about your aperture and shutter speed. Why? Because they can be whatever you want. With natural light, you are not limited by anything other than your lens’s widest aperture and your camera’s fastest shutter speed.

If you will be augmenting the ambient light with strobes, you’ll need to have an idea of what you want to do before you begin to sketch. For example, if I know that I am going to be bringing in my large strobes, I will set my camera to aperture priority (Av on my Canons) and choose the aperture I want to work with. My first consideration is aperture, but there is a real concern about the shutter speed, as well; I know that I cannot sync at shutter speeds faster than 1/200 second. If I chose f/8, then saw that the shutter speed dropped to 1/400 second, I would need to rethink my aperture—so the exposure might be made at f/11 at 1/200 second. Most of the time I will walk the scene with my meter (set within the required parameters of the camera and sync speed) and make notes of the highlights, shadows, and midtones in the scene.

SAMPLE SHOOT: Stephanie on the Docks.

I saw this image as I walked up onto the covered dock. I loved the incredible sky, the boats, the way the light was playing off the water, and the different shapes of the buildings around the background. I wanted to do something dramatic, so I sketched in a shot while we were setting up the boomed softbox.

This shot in ambient light shows where the lights were being placed to create the shot of Stephanie on the docks.

I started by considering the ambient light. This seemed to be sufficient for the background feel I wanted. However, I needed more light on Stephanie, so I added a softbox on a boom to illuminate her face and jacket. With the ambient light on the background and the main light on Stephanie in place, I determined that the light from camera left was a little lacking. Adding some light from that side would create a more dramatic, three-dimensional feel in the shot. Therefore, I placed a bare strobe at a low angle to camera left. I wanted the light to seem like a reflection on her, not a “full light” as from an instrument.

The final shot shows how the ambient was blended with the strobe for a much more interesting photograph.

The direct strobe from the left adds some nice highlights and the softbox from the right gives her face the soft light I wanted. The sun gave me some wonderful shadows coming in from behind, and the look was what I saw in my head when I walked up to the scene.

SAMPLE SHOOT: Jazmin and Column.

Jazmin was posed on a column at a beach house we used during a workshop in Mexico. The sun was on her face and I knew the light would be a perfect “Sunny 16″ on her. But that also meant that the shadows would be too dark for what I saw in my head.

Knowing this about the ambient light, I added a speedlight at f/11. This was aimed it at the shadow side of her. I immediately saw that I needed another light to add something to the ceiling; it was going far too dark. I aimed this speedlight at the ceiling but away from the camera. I wanted it to produce an “open shadow” feel, not look lit, so I settled on getting an f/8 on the ceiling—two stops away from the f/16 ambient level. The resulting image has a nice feeling of light to it, with just a little drama. Jazmin added the wonderful pose and I got the shot in only a few exposures.

Adding some pop to this image of Jazmin in Mexico was achieved with speedlights

Building one light at a time allowed me to design the image of Jazmin I envisioned when I saw this location.

The point is this: Don’t try to get it all at one time. Building the image one light at a time lets you see the possibilities—and alerts you to places to improve. After you do this for a while, it becomes second nature; while you may be building the setup one light at a time, you are thinking so far ahead that it feels seamless to those around you.

“KNOWING” THE EXPOSURE IN AMBIENT LIGHT

I have a method that works pretty well for me. It is based on the Sunny 16 Rule that we looked at in chapter 5. These values are based on shooting at ISO 100 (and, accordingly, a shutter speed of 1/100 second). (Note: What is in the scene all around can make a difference as well. Lots of bright buildings and a bright sky can open up the shadow exposures by 2/3 to 1 stop in some conditions, but these values offer a pretty darn good starting point in most situations.)

in direct sun: f/16
side light in direct sun: f/11
backlight in direct sun: f/8
on the shadow line (within 2 feet of edge): f/5.6
5 to 7 feet into the shadow: f/4
8 to 12 feet into the shadow: f/2.8

From here, it is a process of elimination. Looking into a shadow scene you know that at ISO 100 and a 1/100 second shutter speed, the exposure will be somewhere around f/4 or f/2.8. You know for sure it isn’t going to be f/11. If you are in the sun, you also know for sure it isn’t going to be f/4 or f/5.6. You know not to even start there as you’re sketching the image. It helps to know that stuff. You can achieve your vision so much more quickly when you know where to start.

A FINAL NOTE ABOUT SERENDIPITY

When asked why I chose a specific light modifier for a shot, I can answer with all kinds of technical and artistic reasons about 70 percent of the time. The other 30 percent of the time, the selection was the result of me playing—mixing up the vision I have in my head with newer visions that pop in while I am working. (That “what if?” voice can be a true pest or incredible muse depending on how you hear it.)

Lynne with the Graffiti behind my studio in Phoenix. I love the light and the colors.

Shooting in the alley behind my studio, the sun was very low on the horizon. While it was not directly on this little nook in the wall, it was plenty to bring in soft lighting for the shoot. I used a long lens and a shallow depth of field to allow for the fastest shutter speed I could get. Handholding a long lens is something that I was able to do with complete confidence for a long time. Lately, though, I am more often seeking the control of a tripod.

Sometimes I grab a beauty dish just to see what it will do. Sure I can imagine it, but occasionally I want to see it—I want to play and let the fun lead me to new things. What would it look like to have the beauty dish as a bright sphere in the background? Let’s try it. What about a grid spot on the hair? Sounds cool. Do one.

Certainly I want you to be able to visualize the image in your head before you go to create it, but at the same time I encourage you to take advantage of serendipitous moments and whimsical fun. The results can be pure magic.

© Don Giannatti

I hope you enjoyed that little bit of the book. There is, as they say, a lot more where that came from.

Twitter / Facebook / Workshops / About.Me / My Book, Lighting Essentials on Amazon

And if you like the articles here, LIKE them on FB or click the little G+ thingy. I appreciate your kindness.

Related posts:

1. Nick Onken’s New Travel Photography Book, “Photo Trekking” I discovered Nick’s work a couple of years ago. Surfin’...
2. September 08 Desktops from Lighting Essentials We continue on with our free themes for your desktops....
3. Images from the Lighting Essentials Flickr Pool I love to go through the Lighting Essentials Group on...

The Seattle workshop was amazing. We had a great time and made some amazing images. Using the facilities of SPA, we were able to do several setups. And the models, stylists and hair artists were off the chart. Incredible styling, hair that was spectacular and a dozen models a day for the attendees to work with. Seattle simply rocks.

I rarely get a chance to shoot at the workshops as I like to keep all attention on the attendees. And while Seattle was no exception, on Sunday there were moments when the models were waiting for the photographers to get their gear or find a location. I grabbed these 5 talented people and made natural light portraits for fun. I made only a few exposures and didn’t make a lot of variations. I wanted portraits and I wanted them to be accessible… not too overly ‘stylzed’.

If you are thinking about a workshop for this Fall, please take a look at the Learn to Light site and consider a Lighting Essentials workshop. We have added a Friday evening “Business Essentials” for all attendees who want it. In Seattle we ran about 3 hours and it was a hell of a discussion.

September
Minneapolis, Minnesota, September 12, 13
Phoenix, AZ, September 19, 20
Saint Louis, MO, September 26, 27

October 2009
Mexico (Puerto Penasco)
2, 3, 4, 5 – Special Three Day Workshop
Detroit, Michigan 10, 11
Boston, MA, 17, 18
Boise, ID 24, 25

Thursday, August 20, will find me speaking at the local ASMP chapter. Penny Dolin (ASU) and I are discussing social media, new media and how it can be leveraged into a commercial photographer’s business.

A few from the Archives you may like:

Natural Light for Natural, Subtle Beauty
Using the Sun for A Hairlight: Some Variations
Natural Light Headshots: Keeping it Simple
Serendipitous Light
Deconstructing a Portrait on Location

Now let’s take a look at the 5 portraits from the Seattle workshop… all natural light.

Here is our first portrait.

Kim in the Floppy Hat
Kim was wearing this cool hat for one of the shots and I loved how it formed around her face. Finding an edge of the gazebo we were all sharing, I was able to find some backlight from the sun and some front light from a large, single story building behind me at 18 feet away. The side of that building was white siding and it was totally in the sun. This became my source, with the sun as my background. Kim is at the edge of the gazebo, with the mid afternoon sun coming over her shoulders. I use the bright sunny sky as a backdrop. Because of my shade exposure, the sky blew out and created a flare situation that I kinda liked.

Here is part of the contact sheet from this hat shot of Kim:

You can see how I work with models when you see my contact sheets. The top row shows Kim working with an off camera look. I then begin to pull her back to my camera slowly bringing in smiles and lowering the chin to create a very accessible look. The last image seemed to be the one I love the most. I wanted a shot that looked natural, and drew the viewer into Kim’s youthful beauty.

I then moved the shot into Photoshop and cleaned up the skin. This is the layer pallet I had for the image.

I cloned the image and blended it at softlight, blurred at 7% and then backed it off to 65%. Cloning the bottom layer again, I moved above the blur layer and again blended it to softlight. This layer can be tweaked any way you want. I then used a layer of 50% gray at softlight to slightly burn and dodge for creating more contrast.

I merged those three layers in to a flattened layer called Merge Layer, cloned it and added 10% contrast and backed that layer off to 60%. Another clone and we applied Hue and Saturation, colorized to a slight sepia and then that layer is lowered to 40% opacity. Mama Shan’s Powder action added for some matting of the skin and then Tony Kuyper’s Luminosity Masks were applied to draw out a bit more local contrast.

The final shot.

Sam in the Shade.
Sam was a lot of fun to shoot. He brought a quiet maturity to the shots and I liked his sense of humor. By shooting down on him, I created a situation where he could look intense, and change the angle from the normal straight on to a more dramatic, theatrical look. I had a lot of flare coming back on Sam from the very light concrete that is int he sun behind him. Using the same spot as Kim, the same building behind me was the light source. No other lighting modifications were used.

The contact sheet:

I worked with Sam with his focus down and behind me, and I like a few of those shots. I had him look up at me just as we were completing the shoot and snagged the shot at the end. His penetrating stare was a dramatic look and I like it a lot. Cropping in this tight prevents the viewer’s eyes from escaping the image and drives them right back to the subjects gaze.

Photoshop:

You can see how simple this was. Similar to the first image of Kim, I used two layers above the original. One at softlight blend, and one at multiply blend, backed off to 40% opacity. A color balance layer and Hue/Saturation layer were used to correct and subdue the color. A final layer of 60% Gray at Softlight blend mode was used to dodge and burn a little to create a more local contrast on the image.

The Shot:

Icee is up next:
Beautiful Icee was wearing this amazing gold and bold necklace. Placing her a little closer to the edge allowed a bit more spill of daylight to add some directional light. It is subtle, but you can see how it wraps the face with a soft light. In the top row you can see that I was getting way too much sidelight on her face. I moved her forward just a bit, then took another shot to see whether the light was working out right. It was.

Contact sheet:

This shot required no Photoshop other than simple skin editing.

Kayla is in the sun in this simple, but evocative portrait. Full sun to her back, I had a pretty nice look going, but the green grass she is standing on was creating too much darkness under her chin. Spencer held a medium 5-in-one feflector down and to the side of her for a nice fill. Kayla is standing on the edge of shadow, but the hair and shoulders are in the sun. I kept the reflector in the shade otherwise the fill would have nearly blinded her.

She is kneeling and that let me keep my camera a little high and down on her, and that let me showcase her elegant chin line and eyes. That also let me keep the grass behind her and match the green cloth draped by one of the stylists.

Photoshop.

You can see how I kept to one pose and gentle, subtle changes in posing. I want my models to be fluid and smooth, not all wild throwing themselves around like crazy. Kayla worked this pose to great effect, providing me with some subtle and fun changes. You can see how subtle changes can make big differences. Working those little differences can help deliver the shot. Models who are too scattered can come close, but maybe not close enough before the pose gets changed. I love to let the models come up with things, then when I see something I love, I begin to develop it slowly. Till I get what I want.

Photoshop.

Another simple layer blend mode group. After I got the image to where I wanted it with the two blend layers, I made a composite layer and then retouched the skin a little and added some highlights with a 50% gray layer set to softlight and very soft brushes at 8%.

Kayla.

Bri was leaning up against a column with a little sun sliding around her to provide some nice flare and edge light. A breeze was kicking up and blowing her hair around every once in a while. I love that. It keeps the shot natural and when it frames the face, it is a huge plus. I kept her in a tight area and worked the face through a lot of different angles to explore the pose. You can see how Bri and I worked that angle to finally get to the shot I liked.

The light was playing beautifully off of her face. And the subtle movement still kept her in the soft light of the reflected building in the shade. I liked how the catchlights really spark the shot.

Bri.

I do love natural light, and how it looked on these folks. It also was very fast. Most of these shots took less than a few minutes to shoot as they were waiting for photographers. If you would like to share some natural light shots with us, let us see them on the Lighting Essentials Flickr Forum.

If you liked this post, please let other know. We have made it simple for you, just go up to the top right of the page and add it to any social networking sites you belong to or just Twitter it by clicking the twitter icon below.

Thanks and see you next time.

Related posts:

1. Working on the Edge of the Light: A Natural Light Assignment Our Natural Light Assignment this week is a lot of...
2. Natural Light for Natural, Subtle Beauty We are going to take a look at how we...
3. Using a Flash to Add a Little Snap with Natural Light I love natural light. It has a quality that is...

Briana is back with part two of her article, “Trust the Model” and I am sure it will be of high interest to many of you who are starting down the road of fashion, beauty and editorial photography. Briana’s take on the other side of the lens is kinda fun and brings some insight into that perspective.

This weekend is Seattle. I am here as I write this, with gray clouds outside and no real knowledge of what this day will bring. Working from the road has become so much easier with the tools that we have available. I do all my writing in Google Docs, and use Box.net for my online storage. With my 4GB thumb drive and my 500GB smart drive, I can move files and bring files from the office on the road.

Of course that means I must keep working even when I am not in the office. Tradeoff I guess.

I have so many things to review, that August may turn out to be Review Month. Lighting modifiers, an incredible beauty dish modifier, some wonderful books and a very clever set of free online tools that can help get the up and coming photographer more organized and productive. And, there will be an editorial shoot dissected as well.

I am hoping to meet many of you as I continue the workshops. In response to many, many requests, we are modifying them to include some real, no-nonsense business discussions as well. Whether you are interested in going into photography as a business or not, some of these insights will help you get focused on what needs to be done. In what order. And how to do them. More on the workshops at the Learn to Light page.

Well, I am turning it over to Briana now. So take the plunge, trust the model and read what this model has to say on that subject – trust.

Model Behavior
Trust the Model
By Briana Shaker

Part II:

It’s been written that trust equals suffering. Yet a great poet once said that to create great art one must suffer. If such is true, then I can’t imagine not suffering a little to create great art. Like wearing heels for an 8 hour shoot. Like dancing and gaining an assortment of new and complimentary bruises. Or even like listening to another’s ideas regardless of their experience or lifestyle or job. In the end, it may create something phenomenal. Then again… you may just want to lose the footage in the recycling bin.

Try following these steps:

1. Preparation – simple enough. Set the stage. Get what you need ready, choose backgrounds, wardrobes, etc. You know the drill. It’s the most natural thing in the world for you now.
2. Focused direction – talk to your talent. Explain what you want out of the shoot. Then shoot it. Trust your model and just focus on the shot you’re looking for.
3. Free for all – let the model set the pace now. React to his or her changes in bearing and composition.
4. Edit what you wanted – simple too. You’re already a master here… right?
5. Experiment with the new – kind of self-explanatory… just be a kid. Try new things. Break the rules. The end result might get your name in the next cool method, like the “Dave Hill.” I’m looking forward to the “Briana Shaker Method”
6. Greatness or flop – it doesn’t matter which, it’s all about experience. And that… makes all the difference.

Boldly Going Where You Never Went Before

Letting go of control and picking what to focus on, or what is wanted, may net results beyond your expectations. For instance, on a shoot in Florida (Anna Maria Island – I miss that place), the photogs had taken their shots of me, model in a swimsuit, on the beach, with the waves, and the sun (great stuff) and then I decided to…. Jump. And they shot. The result has become sort of my thing. I use my dance skills to jump. And in so doing there have been a number of spectacular shots that I’m quite proud of having been a part. I’ve even added a few kicks and punches to my repertoire. Nothing like a model that can figuratively and literally… knock you out

The Good the Bad and the Inexperienced.

Models? Trust them? What if they have little experience?

Often the inexperienced can offer the most new opportunities. Similarly to children, the inexperienced are not burdened with the norms and conventions of a field. It’s easier for them to break free. That doesn’t guarantee that their break will be original or even good, but it does guarantee a new perspective, and, like betting on a 50 to 1 horse, it’s a chance at a great win fall.

Yet what about client based photography? Take a chance there?

Well… that’s different. As the photographer you can offer all the advice in the world, but in the end it’s up to the client and in his or her ability to trust you. But it doesn’t hurt to suggest. It doesn’t hurt to ask if they want to try a few things. They may. But like anything, you have to go by the feel of the situation and the desired outcome. When you’re a pro you have to make pro decisions.

What if the client is only paying for a set time and you have to ensure you get the results you want? In such an instance there is no time for “free for all.”

True. But art is usually (not always) that work we do when we’re not working for a client. This is your passion and your art. Some of it is about pleasing the clients and the rest is about pleasing yourself. I did a shoot with Sexy-Rid and I gave my all… professionally. In the end, I love the results. I didn’t jump. I didn’t dance. And I didn’t punch anyone. I still made art.

Conclusion

Trust. It’s a simple monosyllabic word. Yet, this simple word is one complex and problematic concept. From poor foreign relations between neighboring countries to the artist and his or her subject, trust is the basis for change and subsequent potential greatness. By just “letting go” and giving the model a “shot”, a photog can then draw on his or her wealth of experience and interests to maybe… just maybe… create something new. Now whether that “new” is ready for prime-time, that common hour we all tune in our flat-screens… well, what artist really wants to be known as being commonly accepted? None I know. So little kitty, hanging off a branch on that poster on the dentist’s ceiling, just let go… it doesn’t matter where you land, you’ll always land on your feet

– — – —
Thanks Bri, well done. For more of Briana’s articles, click the “Model Behavior” category on the category menu. And watch for her upcoming book. We will announce it here first!

Monday we feature an interview with a photographer from England, and Wednesday will be a feature on small strobe modifiers for creating subtle, and very controlled light.

Related posts:

1. Model Behavior: Trust the Model She’s back – due to popular request. Briana has a...
2. One model? No worries, it’s called Range! (Part One) Range beyond the ordinary: All the world’s a stage, and...
3. Muse and Inspiration: The Model’s Role A Two Part Article By Briana Shaker Part I What...

We haven’t done a lot of Photoshop tutorials on LE, but I plan on doing more. The amount of requests I have been getting tell me that there is a lot of interest. And we will be responding.

This tutorial shows you a simple way to add a texture to an image. As with almost anything dealing with Photoshop, there are a lot of ways to get to the same end. This way is mine and it works very well for me. I hope you enjoy the tutorial and have some creative ideas in mind.

Before we get going, here are a few websites where you can get some great textures.

DesignFeed
100+ Textures for Design
And here is a great collection of texture tutorials.

And here is a great list of Photoshop Beauty Tutorials courtesy Smashing Magazine.

There are a lot more out there, try Deviant Art for one, and even Flickr has a couple of forums where textures of larger size are offered free. Look around for some cool ones you like.

This week will find us in Omaha (June 6, 7, 2009), and then we will be heading to Missoula and Chicago for workshops. If you are interested in taking a workshop, consider the Lighting Essentials workshops for a fantastic weekend experience.

Check out our previous posts:
An Interview with Kirk Tuck, an Austin based commercial photographer.
Shooting an Ad from a Sketchy Layout.
Mixing Ambient with Strobe: Seeking Balance.

The photograph of Vanessa on the beach was shot during the Anna Maria Island workshop this winter. We were at the tip of the island, and it was mid-day. I liked that little passage of sand and grass so I placed Vanessa in the middle. Lighting was added with a 430EX on 1/2 power on a pole over my camera and just out of the frame. The strobe and the white sand helped open up the shadows a bit. I had Vanessa throw her hair for a dramatic gesture. Working with a wide angle lens, the sense of “place” was brought into the portrait. I knew when I shot this image that I wanted a textured, desaturated look to the final print.

Now let’s take a look at how I added texture to the image above.

First we have the original file of Vanessa on the beach, straight out of the camera.

It is not a bad shot, but it isn’t the shot I saw in my head when I was shooting. Digital is flat, and that needed to be corrected. I wanted the surreal look of her pose and gesture to be heightened by the presentation with texture and a desaturated, muted color look. I knew that I was going to do some post processing on the image and add some texture to give the shot some context. I knew what the shot was going to look like before I started shooting it.

First I duped the layer and set the blend mode to softlight. This enriches the color and adds some saturation, but it also makes Vanessa too dark. (Drag the background to the new layer icon at the bottom of the layers pallet. Blend mode is found at the top of the layers pallet.)

Wanting to get Vanessa the subject back to a more natural exposures, I added a layer mask to the top layer, and painted her back with a black brush at 30%. It took some time, but with careful work, it reveals the lighter color below. I worked the image until I got it the way I wanted it. You could choose to use other tools to bring her back, this masking is the one I use. I am slow and deliberate. If I reveal too much, I can undo my work with a white brush.

At this point I did the editing on the face and body. Using a clone brush with blending mode set to lighten and the healing brush, I was able to clear the face of anomalies and open the shadow a little bit. I wanted the face to look great without destroying the cool look that the sun had added. Shadows are important for this shot. You can do this on a layer above the shot for a non-destructive working method, but I sometimes skip this part when going for a texture look. This was minor work and didn’t take long. We will be doing a Photoshop tutorial on face retouching soon.

Thinking that the skin still looked a little flat to me, I added a new layer above, filled it with 50% gray and set the Blend Mode to “Soft Light”. With a soft white brush set to an opacity of 8% I gently lightened the arms and shoulder areas, and opened up the shadow area. Be very careful and work slowly to build the look you want. I normally use between 6 and 8% and build the highlights up gently.

I then created a new composited layer to keep working (control / alt / shift / e). This lets me go back to the highlight layer and make adjustments and replace the composite layer if needed. You may not need to do this, and can continue with the layers as is. It is something I chose to do at this point.

I added some highlights to the reeds, clouds, sand and other small areas with the white brush. Changing the color to black we added some darkness to the sky. Remember to keep that opacity low and use a large and soft brush. Work slowly and diligently. It is better to add the highlights with several passes than with one big gesture.

Open a texture that you like. You have some choices to make at this point. You can leave it as full color or change it to black and white. You can work with it any way you like, and you should experiment with the different ways to use the color in your textures. For this shot, I am using it as a monochrome image. After you have the texture where you want it, drag it over to your image, adding it to the top layer of the file.

Size the texture layer down to fit or do what you need to do to make sure it covers the entire image. When you have it ready, double click it to apply the resize and move to the next step. You could resize it before bringing it to your image file, it is up to you.

Set the Blend Mode of this layer to Softlight. This blends the texture into the image. It is not looking all that good to me at that point, seeming rather harsh and over the top. We can control that with our next move.

We then add an Adjustment Layer / Levels and adjust it to taste. I like to keep the midtones depressed a bit and lower the highlight adjustment as well. I want the texture, but I don’t want it to be too overwhelming. Flattening the dynamic range seems to work well for my work.

At this point I add a color layer. I used a very faint orange/yellow color and then lowered the opacity down to about 30%. Try different colors and opacity settings to find what looks good to you. I shifted the layer down for effect. You should experiment with the layer placement of the color. Don’t be locked in to where it is placed in the layers, try different places for a different look.

I added another mask to the texture layer and with a black, soft brush, painted the texture back to reveal non-texture in those areas that seemed to much for me. I also lowered the opacity of the texture layer down to about 60%. This reduces the amount of texture and makes it seem more a part of the image.

I readjusted the adjustment layer Levels at that point. You may or may not choose to do this, but I did. Many times I will readjust at this point after adding the color and doing the reveal. Slight tweaks, but important as well.

Adding a Hue and Layer Adjustment Layer, I created a sepia look to drain some of the color from the image. I wanted a more subtle hue to the image. On Hue and Saturation, check ‘colorize’ and adjust the sliders to get the sepia look you like. You can desaturate a little here if you want.

The image looks like Now it is time to lower the opacity of the sepia layer until the image looks like you want it to. I dropped mine to about 55% for this look. I added another layer filled with 50% gray and with a soft brush added a bit more highlight / shadow. This is optional, but it is something I like to do… just tweak it up a little.

Here is the final Photoshop file. You can see the layers and how it was assembled.

And this is the final image.

Hope you enjoyed the Texture tutorial. See you next time on Lighting Essentials.

Related posts:

1. Subtractive Lighting: Creating Drama with Contrast There are times when you want to create more contrast...
2. Tech Sheet 2, November 2008: Two Light Portrait This weeks Tech Sheet features one of my favorite portrait...
3. Make Your Own Reality to Add Drama There are times when the light you have doesn’t match...

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.

Related posts:

1. Using Ambient Light and Strobe for a Natural Looking Still Life This is a cover shot that we did for the...
2. Single Small Strobe Portrait Directly Into the Sun This shot of Megan was done for my portrait book....
3. Blending Strobe and Daylight for a Natural Look This shot of Briana was taken at the New York...

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.

Related posts:

1. Simple Setups For Dramatic Lighting Making dramatic headshots isn’t hard if you know some simple...
2. Using a Speedlight for Environmental Images that Pop I have been working on a personal project, shooting some...
3. “Make the Shot.” A Pool Player in a Rainstorm In keeping with this months major tutorial on using speedlights...

This post is about portrait lighting and some of the things I think about when shooting a portrait… whether in the studio or on location.

The shot above was done in Mexico at the Workshop in April. Christine had been walking with me and when she turned to talk to me I saw this shot. I pre-visualized the image as being somewhat illustrative… some heavy Photoshop was planned and I wanted the colors to be muted. The feeling was one of mystery, and the color palette and post would show a portrait that was modern, but also seemingly candid.

I liked the symmetry of the background, but also knew that putting her there would rob the image of the candid aspects. I wanted her to be moving into the middle of the poles… not be there already.

The sun was over my right shoulder and when she looked away toward the beach, her face was in shadow. I wanted to light her independently from the background and knew that a split lighting would work to show off the shot.

A handheld 430EX on a tethered cable was aimed right at her face… on the axis of her nose. I wanted no nose shadow or face sculpting at all. (Secretly I wished I had a beauty dish at the time, but – well, I didn’t.) I had Christine look over toward the water – and the light – and carefully framed the shot. She did a great job of posing and looking like she was distracted and NOT being the subject of a photo. I loved the hair coming into the face and we did a dozen or so exposures. The light on her coming from camera left while the backgorund is presented in light that is camera right adds a bit of whimsy or mystery to the shot. Christine’s excellent acting for the camera cinched the look I wanted.

Later in Photoshop I made the shot into what I had seen by adding some texture, muting the colors and presenting it within a very slight vignette.

Before we go ahead, I want to remind everyone that there is a ton of information on this site. Hit the archives button and grab a cold one. You can spend a lot of time here. And please tell your friends about us, we want a ton of people to learn to light and have fun with photography, but most of all we want to help photographers reach their goals. We offer this site as well as workshops all over the country.

See these recent posts for some more cool reading.

Claire Curran Corbett Interview
Eduardo Francis Interview
Our WordPress Themes for Photographers

Now lets look at a few more portraits and discuss the making of them, shall we.

Please remember to visit our sponsors. Links are on the sidebar, and they have some great offers for you.

Soft Window Light (Somer in the Shower)

This photograph came about as a test. We were looking around for a place to do some soft headshots and I remembered the great light that was in the shower in the master of the casita. Somer went in and I went on the other side of the room to use a long lens. I remember thinking that the light was so warm in there due to the brown tiles, that it made her skin tone lovely.

The soft directional light gives the face shape and shows off her beautiful eyes. Using a long lens with this kind of light also brings a flatness to the features from the shortening effect of the telephoto. That shortening effect, added to the very shallow DOF of the aperture (2.8) helps to sculpt the subject from the background.

I used no fill cards or strobes for this shot, preferring to let the light do its thing. I turned her head slightly toward the light to get a full half face lit. I don’t like the light to be ‘patchy’ on the shadow side of the face. The pose, soft and natural light, and DOF combine to make a lovely, understated portrait.

Jesika on the Yellow Sofa in Dallas

This shot is from the workshop in Dallas. We were taking a bit of a break when I noticed Jesika sitting in the light in the corner. The window light is coming from over her left shoulder (camera right) and was creating a wonderfully soft shadow on the couch. It was a very large window and had a wonderful soft feel to the light coming in. I needed to add a little light from the front to open the shadows and gain some texture in her wardrobe.

Bringing the medium octabox in, I set the light by making it slightly less than the sunlight. Taking the light reading with a meter and then metering the strobed Octabox to about 2/3 less exposure. I then exposed for the face, and let the back light go 2/3 over. The point was to make the light seem as though it was coming from the window, but also that she was the subject and she was lit a bit oddly to bring her out of the background. The eye knows when something is added, even subconsciously. Looking into the shadow area at her feet you will see the shadow created by the strobe and octabox. This is because this area was in total shadow, not getting any sunlight from the window. There is no shadow on the lit area behind her because the octa is less light than the window, but there is at her feet because it is more light than what was there.

I wanted a feeling of isolation and vulnerability, so I chose the wide angle lens and placed Jesika at the bottom of the image. The formidable brick wall rising above her, added with the symmetry of the couch and angles, gave her frame a ‘place’ against the ground. Her pose and the angle of her back and legs break the symmetry, and her face adds to the feeling of vulnerability.

The light, while seemingly natural, adds to the drama by keeping the figure so well ‘placed’ within the background and the set.

Blonde model in studio.

I used a large (60″) soft-white umbella in very close for this shot. I needed the light to be soft and even to show off her delicate features and Lorri’s great makeup work. Adding a large white fill below her at chest height filled in any shadows and opened her eyes beautifully.

The first shots were fine, but there was something missing… a sense of mystery or ‘interestingness’… So I added a speedlight in close for a hair light, letting the hair get quite lit from an off stage source. Bringing a fill card in at an angle to catch some of the direct hairlight gave me a bright poppy hairlight to camera right as well. This little bit of lighting made the image more interesting and drives the viewer to her eyes.

The pose was the last little bit of work I did. I wanted to make a statement other than “look at me I’m pretty”… I wanted drama. Having her avert her eyes was a simple way to pull the image from the “seen before” to the “interesting.” As she worked this pose she would slightly tilt her face… I wanted her to actually do the tilting and look away from me so there would be some reality to the image. Catching it was my job. We did it until I thought we had it right.

Adding the backlight to the soft front light gave the glancing away a little context… a little drama.

Edyta with a very “direct” pose.

Sometimes a very direct look can be dramatic as well. Edyta was piercing me with those eyes and I needed something to offset the hardness of the portrait. Although I liked the hard, symmetrical look to it, I wanted to beak the image up with some angles and whimsy.

She was wearing a tube-top and with the bare shoulders and well toned muscles she looked too strong to me. I wanted the light to add to the strength, but not to make her look over the top, so I worked it a bit more. The main light was brought in quite close and again it is my 60″ umbrella. A shiny fill board was added for bottom fill and it is just out of sight of the camera. This light gave her a well lit face as well as some beautiful liquidy highlights on the shoulders and muscles in the chest.

A few shots told me that it was still too “flat” so I needed to add some dimension. I did that with a small reflector against the back wall (10 feet behind her) and positioning it to give me a small circle of light behind her shoulders and neck. The closer the light gets to the back, the tighter the ring of light becomes. Working that light to the correct amount of power can be a bit daunting, but a few sheets of spun glass from the local video house can dampen the strong light and give a little softness to the edges.

Doing this gave me some depth, and the addition of a speedlight in close on the top of her head gave me just a bit of hairlight and another reason to drive the eyes back to the face. Big strobes with speedlights are a great combination… I love it.

The angularity and the directness achieved with the lighting, I now turned my attention to the pose. I wanted something else other than the bare shoulders. We added the flowers and it immediately worked for me. The hard, direct look of Edyta is offset by the seemingly random shapes of the flowers. They add whimsy where symmetry prevailed.

Laura in the shade in Mexico.

The last shot is of Laura and it is taken in the shade with a small fill card in close. I wanted something to catch the youthfulness and grace of a lovely young lady. Choosing natural light was instant… the long lens gave me a tight crop and I added a small card to the shadow side of her face to even out the exposure across her face.

I had taken her hair (after she messily put it ‘up’ on top of her head) and pulled some strands out to let them frame her face. I love that look and it adds to the natural effect of the shot. Pull out fewer than you need, you can always get more…pulling out too many and you gotta start over. They were kind of blowing and moving around her face in the very faint breeze.

I moved her forward to catch the edge of the sun on her head, but not far enough forward to cause a ‘backlight’ look to it. I wanted the sun to catch little strands of hair and add contrast to the shot.

The very flat light across her face, and the tiny bits of sunlight catching her hair, give the shot a natural, almost candid look. Choosing the long lens and bringing it in tight also added to the vulnerability of the image and her beauty put right in front of our faces to view. I have a 20×30 of this shot in the studio and it really is striking. The combination of a natural look with a tight crop makes it irresistible.

I hope you enjoyed this post on portraits with some of my favorite portraits of the recent few months. Lighting Essentials is growing and I hope to take it to some new places in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

See you next time.

Related posts:

1. The Rigorous World of Macro Beauty Shots Coming in this close can be a nightmare for the...
2. A Beauty Dish and Cheyenne A beauty dish is one of the most fun, and...
3. Mini Workshop: Location Portraits and Glamour: 9/1/07 I didn’t realize until too late that I had chosen...

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.

Related posts:

1. Scenes From a Workshop: Detroit, April 6, 2008 The Detroit workshop was a smashing success. The students all...
2. Mexico Spring Workshop is Enrolling Now I don’t use this site to overly promote the workshops,...
3. Welcome to April: A March Review March was a tough month for us as we moved...

I don’t use this site to overly promote the workshops, but this Mexico workshop is rather special. We have people from all over the country coming to these Rocky Point Workshops.

Location: Las Palmas Resort in Rocky Point, Mexico

Flying in to Phoenix International? Let me know and we will get you down to Rocky Point with our caravan. Rocky Point is a safe trip into a safe area of Mexico. We do, however, travel as a caravan.

This is a full participation workshop.

We do more shooting on this workshop, and focus on environmental portraiture and beauty portraits. It is everything the other workshops are, with a more intense schedule. We are all staying at the Las Palmas so we start really early and we work until folks want to turn in.

The main casita (3000 SQ FT) serves as our base, with projectors, lighting gear, tutorials. a swipe file and more. We meet there mornings, midday, and at night. We process and edit, while working with each other to raise the bar. I do recommend you have a laptop. We do have a wireless access, so you can check email as you are working.

Special for this workshop:

The Girls of Rocky Point Calendar is being shot during the workshop and you have the opportunity to be involved. The shoots are early morning and late afternoon – before and after the workshop – and are totally voluntary. If you want the experience of working with models in a professional shooting atmosphere, this will be an outstanding experience. There are 5 shooters involved, and you can work with them on the shoots. You will be able to make some shots of your own at these shoots.

We eat, drink and speak photography the whole weekend. And we shoot, edit and print as well.

Related posts:

1. Model Behavior: Shooting in Mexico. Some Thoughts Bri takes us on a look at some of the...
2. Announcing the Portland, Maine Workshop I am very excited to announce that we are doing...
3. Bermuda Workshop: August 2008… What’s Happenin’ Two weekends in a row I have had workshops… three...

This is a post from the old site, and I thought I would redo it for the new one. There are many things you can do when you find a great location. When Bri and I stumbled upon this one, I thought it would be fun to work out several different ideas.

We used flash, natural light, natural bounce, strobe and direct sunlight. It was a very cool place… just an empty lot with a graffiti wall and the sun setting in the West. Tucson has a lot of colorful places to shoot, and we just parked the car on the street and set up.

NEWS:
We have opened the Cleveland and Detroit Workshops and are taking enrollments. I have had some interest from Memphis, Little Rock and Modesto (Central Valley, CA). I would love to set those up. Let me know if there is interest there.

Our contest is up and running (info here) and we are seeing some very nice images in the pool. Be sure to enter and get your image up on the site. And please take a moment to visit the sponsors, maybe let them know if you appreciate their stepping up to give you all the awards for winning.

Posts you may enjoy along with this one:
Sometimes The Location is Not As Good As Promised.
Make Your Own Reality to Add Drama
Shooting With Megan and Raymond on Location
On Location: Anatomy of a Shoot
On Location with Gerry, Jim and Christina

And if you haven’t checked out our Tech Sheets, you should grab them and get started on your collection. We have them coming two per month. That will be a really nice collection when you get them printed out and in a notebook.

It was late in the day and we saw this very colorful, hand painted wall. I grabbed the camera while Briana changed into an outfit that we thought would look good against this very unique backdrop. Setting the bag where I wanted to start, Briana took her place against the wall for some side light with little fill. The sun is coming from a very, very low angle to camera left and the wall faces south, so the light is just scraping along giving texture and heavy side light.

Here are the contacts from the fast moving shots. (Individual images follow.)

Starting out with the side lighting, I worked Briana through a variety of poses that showed the location very well and gave her a sense of place. I centered the figure in the frame and gave it a formal look. Getting a good feel for the shot, I then had Briana turn a bit and I started to shoot some 3/4 shots.

At this point, I noticed how the light was playing on her face. I moved to a position where I am shooting directly from the sun position. Importantl to note, Briana was able to look straight into a dark area behind me, and that minimized the squinting that could ensue if she were looking directly into the sun. The direct light is very, flattering – even with an already beautiful face

As it got later and later, I grabbed the strobe and started doing some fill. I shot with the sun as a split light, back light and side light. I shot fast and furious and at one point I moved her to a position in the field where there was nothing behind her but the sun. I didn’t really like the shot, so I quickly looked for another viewpoint. That is when I saw the two chimneys and realized that we could “Beat the Sun” with the strobe and have a very interesting background. I told Briana to do something different… well, you’ll see what she did. Within seconds of those shots, the sun was gone and the whole look of the set was completely different.

Side Light
Let’s take a look at how we did the shots. I will show larger images from the contact sheets above. Side Light from the setting sun draws well defined shadows and gives a very dramatic light to the model. I like the way it sculpts the body, adds form to the image and creates a cool shadow on the wall. The shadow acts as a part of the composition and adds a design element.

Working with the model, be sure not to turn her head away from the light. Putting her face in the shadow may not be flattering. Not to say you cannot, just make sure you see what is happening on the face. Watching the face as it turns toward and away from the light will help determine the best angles to make the image. Heavy shadows from the nose and cheeks can be very unflattering.

At this point, I moved Briana away from the background so the light could sculpt the face and body. Now there is no shadow on the background and there is a feeling of separation. Since she is no longer next to the wall, the light just fills in and her shadow is no longer a part of the image. The stark contrast is now played out against the even light on the background.

Direct Light
I moved around to start shooting some 3/4 shots and noticed how incredible the light was coming straight over my right shoulder. Since I love direct sunlight, it was striking to me. I will walk around the set looking at how the light works – especially how it sculpts things, creates shadows, adds highlights and let the drama be revealed.

Direct light can also be a challenge if it is too bright. Some models have trained themselves to look into the sun, but a certain amount of squinting is natural. As the sun gets lower on the horizon, the model can look into the dark areas in front of her, not necessarily the sun itself. In these shots, low mountains are behind me and they create a very dark (backlit) area for her to look into. I kept the sun over my right shoulder and worked from the axis of the light.

The shot above was taken with a medium telephoto. Even at a wide aperture, the background is too much in focus for me. Quickly I moved the zoom all the way to 200mm at 2.8 and started shooting a head/shoulders kind of look. I had Briana keep moving and shot rapidly: Result.. lots of different looks. Moving from side-to-side with little movements, you can control the sculpting of the light/shadow and how the light plays on her face.

Strobe
I reached for the strobe, turned it on and fired up the wireless remotes in about 30 seconds. Keeping that gear in easy reach and ready to go helps when the sun is moving this fast. I did several shots of back and split lighting against the wall. There were lots of good shots, and I included this one as an example of split with strobe and sun nearly equal.

It helps to know what the power of your strobe is when doing this kind of work. I know that my speedlights put out about f-8 at 1/8 power at ISO 100 at about 6 feet. As long as I am working within the acceptable sync ranges, I can place my strobe at 6 feet and be fairly sure of the exposure. I can either dial the power down or up, or move the light in and out by small amounts. See this post for one way to learn your light and quickly make your exposures.

We moved on to a set where we are using ambient light with a little strobe for pop. I turned and noticed the old wall – then the cool double chimney and decided to use that as my background. It was being softly, but directionally lit with the sun, so I beat the sun by a stop and lit Briana with my strobe. The resulting image is quite striking as the light seems to be coming from different locations… cause it is.

I have a speedlight to camera left and on a stand high. It is set to 2/3 stop over the ambient light exposure. When I make the shot at the correct exposure for the flash, the ambient light will be 2/3 underexposed. Still enough light to show the feeling, texture, and warmth of the ambient on the building and chimneys, and deepening the sky color. There is an additional speedlight to far camera right. It is matching the ambient for exposure so all it does is keep the dark side of Briana from going dark. It sets her in front of the background and keeps the feeling of separation very strong.

Here is a second shot from the strobe and ambient mix.

I simply took the ambient light reading and set the strobe to give me about 3/4 stop more light than the ambient alone. That lit Bri up, threw a little shadow on the back, and still left the ambient light to expose the sky and the little building.

The sun is just at the horizon and before the strobe could recycle, the sun was gone. The whole scene changed and we decided to head for another location to capture the bright western sky and light Briana with strobe. Downtown was next.

See you next time for more Lighting Essentials fun. Be sure to visit Borrowlenses.com if you need a special lens, and Mighty Images if you need some great large prints.

Related posts:

1. Deconstructing a Portrait on Location A direct contrast to the previous image with two strobes...
2. On Location with Small Strobes and a Model Who Can Fly? Let’s look at a way to create some interesting, and...
3. Legacy Article: A model in the surf – the full shoot. NOTE: This is a legacy article. Please click the “home”...