evening lighting

we were on our way back from dinner with the kids and the sun was behind the clouds before sunset... so i had to grab the camera, a flash, and the reflector.
i am not fond of light backgrounds outdoors... just a personal taste i have developed... especially around the head of my subjects
so i chose the tree as the background... that means getting lower than my subjects because the tree is fairly close (say 15-20 feet away from subject)

i grab my 70-200mm lens... i have really learned to enjoy this lens for personal portrait work

i have my wife grab the reflector and my SB800, which is incidentally triggered by the cactus v5
i find the cactus just right for my needs with the SB800

since i am shooting A mode and my fstop is around f3.2 and ISO 200, so i guess at 1/4 power.  my wife is holding the flash in one hand in front of the reflector (which is on the silver/gold mixed side) to match the warmth of the almost-sunset.   she stands about 6 feet away from the subject

here's the shot...

the sun is coming in from the subjects left side and my light is popping from subjects right side

i am trying to match the sunlight in intensity (a nice thing is about using strobes with sunlight is that they match color value quite well versus the mixed lighting you get with indoor lights)

also important to note here is that my exposure value is at -1 2/3 and i am on pattern or matrix metering

this exposure value allows me to pop my subject in brightness by decreasing the ambient light (the items not influenced by the flash) and then correctly exposing the subject

---we have to be careful of the shadows on the subject brought by the flash... the sun is a softer light source than the bounced flash -as evidenced by the softer shadows on the subjects left cheek/neck

next image... 

no flash... only ambient light

settings --- keep the ISO at 200, still bright enough for that, even with 135mm zoom

also keep the A priority and then set the EV up to -2/3  because it's all natural light now and i don't have that fill flash to compensate for the decreased EV

shooting now at f2.8, which it could be argued is giving me too short of a focal length (as evidenced by baby in focus while mommy is out of focus (slightly))

i am still not placing the light directly behind me... instead i am adding some depth by having it at about 5pm if 12 noon is at the subject

in this case, we can add some vignette around the edges to enhance the light on our subject and potentially even use some gradients with exposure decreased (here i went to LR and used 3 gradient filters with decreased exposure values of about -1.2

pic of the day

Reference

you can almost see the setting sun in the eyes of the subjects here

that evening light combined with the reflected sunlight behind them off of the grain creates a very soft  and warm light

silhouette

I have a challenge for you.  Try a silhouette.  I haven't done much with silhouettes.
But a few things that are fun about the silhouette is that it forces you to simplify.  The subject is simplified to an outline.  The lighting is simplified to simply underexpose your subject.

Put your camera in M mode, if it's not already.  Let's go with ISO 200, f4 and shutter speed of 8000.
Get your subject between you and the sun.  And you may find the focusing is a little difficult.  The focus on the camera works best with contrast.  So if it is only seeing the dark (underexposed) subject, it can struggle to focus.  Manual focus may be necessary.
Play around with the shutter speed, maybe go down to 4000.
Even play around with the f stop.  If you hit an fstop of f16 you could get subject and your background in focus.  Remember to slow down your shutter if you do that.
Another important note is to keep the background fairly well lit.  You can really lose your subject, as in my example here, if the background has a similar light (or dark) value.

ISO 200, f4 at 1/8000 95mm

Here is another attempt but with better composition with my background... or as Cliff likes to say, juxtaposing the subject with the background.

ISO 200 f4 at 1/4000 116mm

Remember that your background really speaks in a silhouette.

Happy shooting... would love to see some links in the comments to you silhouette shots.

PIC of the Day: This shot at ISO 100, f5.6 at 1/2000  300mm

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quick tip

When shooting skies, make sure you try a few with a really wide angle lens.

I find that when I shoot wide angle, it accentuates the drama and movement in the sky.

This was shot at 11mm from my front porch. (Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 lens with a D300s)

manual exposure

Have you been shooting in Program or Auto mode for quite some time now?  And you've been afraid to try manual mode.  Skies are a great subject to experiment with Manual exposure mode.  Point your lens at the part of the sky you want to meter for and play around with the fstop and shutter speed, keeping your ISO set between 200 and 400.  I have found that oftentimes skies look more dramatic when they are under exposed.  This shot was taken in South Dakota at ISO 400, f4.0 and 1/750 sec.  I thought to crop the trees out, but then I like the balance they give to the dark part of the sky.  In addition, the shapes of the clouds are similar to the shapes of the tree branches.

This was taken at the same time but more to the East

And one more...

Pic of the day: I took the liberty of running a little noise reduction on it.  But I really like the inclusion of the multiple layers and the great choice of foreground .  Notice the thin line of black at the bottom contrasting with the white on the top of the image.  Great shot!

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available light and backgrounds

I like to study the works of others.  I find that I learn a lot about what I like and don't like, and it definitely has an influence on how I shoot.  One thing that I have noticed lately is backgrounds.  Try this:  choose a few blogs that you follow or at your favorites on flickr or the like and instead of noticing the subject, look at the background.  Notice how the background either adds to or distracts from the subject.  Is it too busy, too light, too dark, some of both?

I have found when taking portraits, I really prefer to not have the sky be in the background.  So often the sky contrasts with the ground in a very distracting way.  Are there exceptions, sure.  But generally speaking, I like to leave the sky out.

Although it has been said "we are our own worst critic"... i don't know if that means we aren't good at critiquing our own work or that we critique ourselves too much.  At any rate... I will be my own critic here.  I like the background on the left of this image because it allows some context and is underexposed and doesn't fight for my attention.  The part that doesn't work so well for me is the wall on the right side of the image.  It grabs my eye both with its exposure value and it has the drastic contrasting light and dark which paints a line right down my image, leading me away from the subject.  If I must leave in the lines, as in this picture, I like to line those lines up with the edge of the image, like a straightened hanging photo. 

One more word.  I am not a pro with black and whites, but a few things I try to maintain when choosing an image to be black and white are:  keep it simple, have the brightest highlights be on my main subject, and use the spectrum of light and dark. When I originally published this shot it was too dark... the background was too dark and the subject was not well lit either (not enough highlights).  So in LR, I upped the highlight value to about +26 and increased the fill light a bit.  That gave me a better range of exposure.

Here was the original processing...

I didn't like that my subject was a drab gray.  I wanted his face to have the highlights on it. And for those highlights to be more white than gray.

Pic of the day:  This image contains such great range of light and darks... and simple background. And I like the light.  The light moves from high right to lower left in a diagonal through the image.  I find that having a diagonal directive through an image lends to its aesthetics.

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ISO, fstop, EV from a different perspective

more light please...

there are lots of entries/articles out there explaining fstop, ISO, shutter speed, and the like. They all are speaking from the camera's perspective. Well, today I want to allude to these from the photographers perspective.

The scenario... My boy is in the dining room having breakfast, alone. The rest of the kids are asleep or otherwise occupied.  I grab the camera for some shots because the light from the window (no other ambient light source) is inviting.

I am using the 70-200mm lens... because it's attached and I really like it for portraits.  I try to compose the shot with mainly his face and his breakfast.  I also want to get some darks just behind his head because I want his exposed face to really stand out. I want to contrast with focus as well, hence the long zoom and wide aperture (more to come).

And mind you, I am not thinking all of the following items prior to first shot. I am thinking, shooting, looking at image, then repeating the process until I start to see what I want... often called "chimping".

First, I put the camera in A mode (aperture priority)- this way I can adjust the fstop, the ISO, and the EV. So ISO first. I have recently set my ISO to full stops... This means when I move my ISO selector, it moves in these increments 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600. If I had a cropped sensor, I would be a little more conservative and put 1/2 steps. This is because the full size sensor looks just fine at ISO 1600. So, ISO 800 is what I choose... [could have gone 1600 in retrospect to allow for faster shutter speed, because about half of my images weren't crisp clear.]  By the way, I have also changed my fstop to full stops too.  This is because when I am working with my Manual powered flashes, it's simpler math.  So ISO 800

Next, fstop. When I adjust fstop in A mode, I am wanting to see what the camera gives my in shutter speed. So I choose f2.8 (wide open). This will give me a really narrow depth of focus, but I may be willing to take it. I try 2.8 and I try 4. I end up using 4 because it gives me a little more playing room of focus distance. See previous blog of depth of field, or depth of focus  If I chose f2.8,  point my camera at my subject, then it gives a shutter speed of 1/125 - that's ok. But I want deeper focus, so I change to f4 and figure the 1/60 will work out.

I end up shooting my subject at 160mm so that my subject more fully fills the frame.
***The rule of thumb to avoid blur due to large zoom is to have the shutter speed match the zoom. So my shutter speed should be around 1/160***   Having said that, vibration reduction allows me to use slower speeds and not get the blur.

So, I've set my ISO to 800 and my fstop to 4.  I turn on the VR (vibration reduction) - don't use this if you are on a tripod.  I shoot off a couple of shots, and my subject is too bright for my taste.  What can I do to underexpose the picture a little, yet not have to change to manual mode and dial in f4 and 1/60th?  The answer:  adjust the EV.  Exposure value (EV) is a nice little tool.  I find I use it when my camera is trying to expose for the darker part of the image, and my subject is overexposed.  This usually occurs when the majority of the frame is dark and I am using matrix metering.
IE:  yesterday I was scouting out a place for some engagement shots I am doing for a neighbor and I had a barn in the semi-shade and the cloudy/blue sky as well.  It appeared that I was overexposing the sky to get the barn in correct exposure.  So I dialed my EV down 1 full stop (to -1.0) and those highlights were no longer blown out.  I can easily go back and add highlights in post-processing.

To recap... ISO 800 due to low lighting
f4 to maintain large aperture but still have good depth of focus
EV -1.0 to allow a slightly underexposed image
Result:  good lighting, not so good composition.

What did the subject think of the image?  --"I am really small... I have volcano hair."
Analysis... my subject is smack in the middle... fix: crop
Also, I am not liking the blue chair in the background... it is distracting.  fix: bw or desaturate just the blue
if bw, then increase the contrast to pop the whites

So, the blue chair becomes gray and is still distracting... bummer.  But I like the image other than that.

Pic of the day:  I really like this pose and composition... in fact most all of her images are impeccable.

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off-camera flash

I have been using off camera flash for sometime... I have been using Nikon's commander mode which allows me to fire my off-camera flash using my camera.  A nifty system, but has some shortfalls:

1) you have to have an on-camera flash to trigger the off camera flash - the problem is when you don't want an on-camera flash to be firing.  Sure you can set it down to it's lowest setting, but you are still introducing a front light source. 

2) you have to make sure the infrared receiver on the off-camera flash is 'visible' to the on-camera flash.  This limits your range and makes using that flash more complicated and less reliable.

So, I was at my cousins wedding and her photographer was using the Cactus Triggers, which are one of the least expensive triggers on the market.  I had read about these, but had heard mixed reviews on their reliability.  But this photographer had nothing but good to say about them. 

I looked more into them and they had some problems with one of the versions (v4).  Now they have the v5's.  So I ordered a pair and have been trying them out.  

Overall, I really like them.  This is not a review of these wireless triggers per se, so I won't elaborate too much.  Briefly:  they work on manual setting, so you don't get to use Nikon's TTL technology (which is basically Auto Flash mode).  They are very reliable thus far.  And I love not having to line up the old infra-red sensors.  The only problem I have found thus far is that they didn't work with my SB-600 flashes until I put some duct tape covering one of the pins on the bottom of the SB-600s.  Thanks flickr.com forums for pointing me that direction.

The newer triggers are nice because they claim to work up to 1/1000 shutter speed. They worked at 1/500 for me, but not so well at 1/1000. Further testing may reveal otherwise.

One more shot:   settings:  70mm ISO 800 f4, 1/125 -off-camera flash powered at 1/128 M (SB800)

By the way, here was my set-up for this shot.

And don't worry, the goblet is empty.

Pic of the Day:  

Reference

Picture came from the photographer, Amanda, who was so kind to entertain my questions regarding the cactus triggers...  I think she really nails this shot:  great evening light with equally subdued pose and colors; great contrast with her depth of focus, and superb lines/curves take me through the whole of the subjects.  I don't think she uses any reflectors, diffusers, or fill flash... just good natural lighting.