Archive for the ‘Fundamentals’ Category

BRIDAL REFLECTIONS

Friday, May 28th, 2010

A week ago I posted this image on Facebook along with an announcement that Elizabeth & Michael’s wedding images could be seen on my blog.  Over the next few days emails poured in from other photographers asking many different questions regarding how I made this image.  I’ve decided to share, here on The Pro Spot, the techniques I used creating this image.

I want to start by saying I saw this image in my mind’s eye before I ever placed this beautiful bride into position.  When I entered the magnificent Garden City Hotel on Long Island my eye immediately went across the lobby to where I saw a wedding gown on display in one of the windows of the myriad boutiques in this world class hotel.  I knew right away that I would be posing my bride there for this fashion style image.  I wanted to isolate the bridal gown display from the other displays adjacent to it and eliminate, as much as possible, the handrail on the right side of the frame.  I chose a Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 lens for my Nikon D3 camera and positioned myself at a relatively long distance to my subject.  The narrow angle of view enabled me to crop the image tight and the long focal length made it easier to keep the vertical lines in the picture straight.  When shooting straight into vertical lines (like the ornate frame around this window display) make sure that your camera height is as close to bisecting the vertical plane of the image as possible.  This will keep the vertical lines in the picture straight with no skewing inward or outward.

A quick meter reading gave me the proper exposure for the illuminated background of this image.  Then a single Lowel iD video light was used to illuminate my subject.  There are many different video lights on the market but the Lowel iD light is the most diverse of the offerings giving me three distinct ways to adjust light output to match the ambient light in the scene.  For starters the light has an infinitely adjustable dimmer to dial in the right amount of light to match the ambient exposure.  The light also has the ability to focus from a wide flood pattern to a more intense concentrated spot.  Finally the light output can be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the distance of the light to the subject.  True, there are LED based lights on the market that offer a more compact, convenient solution but none of those lights can match the quality, consistency and flexibility of the Lowel iD light.

My assistant positioned herself 90 degrees off camera to the right, focusing the light in a tight spot illuminating the bride’s face and the top half of her gown.  I had her dial the light output up to where it was just the right intensity.  The bride’s face was turned towards the light to avoid any unsightly shadows on her face.  Keeping the bride’s dress perpendicular to the light source insured that all of the detail of her gown would come out.  The manual exposure was 1/50th second at  f3.2 with my ISO set at 800.  The vibration reduction feature in the lens enabled me to confidently hand hold this shot with this long, heavy telephoto zoom lens at a relatively slow shutter speed.  Only some minor editing was done in Photoshop to remove a few distracting reflections in the glass and to burn down the lower left corner of the image.

Posted in Camera Techniques, Fundamentals, Lighting Techniques, Nikon, Photoshop, Posing, Video Lights | 1 Comment »

YOUR GUIDE (NUMBER) TO EXQUISITE SUNSET IMAGES

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

In this post I am going to share a fundamental technique that enables you to create dramatic sunset images in your camera with little or no Photoshop enhancement. To get started you must know the manual guide number of your flash unit and how to use it creatively to achieve predictable results. I have found that nearly all guide number ratings are exaggerated by the manufacturers and suggest that you determine an accurate guide number for your particular flash unit and commit it to memory. A good flash meter is helpful in determining the guide number of your flash, but it is not essential. A few test shots in a darkened room will serve the same purpose.

Start by placing both your camera and flash unit in the manual mode. The guide number of your flash unit, at any given ISO value, is determined by multiplying the flash-to-subject distance by the aperture value required to make the correct exposure. As a simple algebraic equation: Guide Number = f stop X Distance. At ISO 400 my flash unit, a Nikon SB900, delivers a proper exposure of f22 at a distance of 10 feet. The guide number of my flash therefore is 220. It is important for you to understand that in a darkened room, with no ambient light affecting your exposure, your exposure will be f22 at 10 feet regardless of your shutter speed. When I teach Guide Number to my students I demonstrate this by making a series of exposures, in a totally dark room, from 1/8 second to 1/250 second at f22 with my flash 10 feet from the subject. In that darkened room all of the exposures are identical. In manual mode your flash output will be the same on every single shot, and, in the absence of any ambient light, all of your exposures will be identical, regardless of the manual shutter speed chosen.

Now the fun starts. Take your camera and flash out of that darkened room and point them at your subjects who are standing against the sky at sunset. In this image I have my assistant positioned 20 feet from my subjects. My Guide Number tells me that a proper exposure will require an aperture value of f11. Remember, Guide Number = f stop X distance or, in this case, 220 = f11 X 20 feet. (11 X 20 = 220…Simple). In this image I set my camera in aperture priority mode and the camera determined that a proper exposure, based upon the ambient light, would be 1/60 second at f11. The camera returned this image in which the background is properly exposed and accurately rendered. My subjects are properly exposed by my off camera flash unit positioned 20 feet away from them.

Knowing that my subjects will be properly exposed by my flash unit, regardless of the shutter speed, I am free to alter the ambient light in this scene to my liking. I put my Nikon D3 camera in manual exposure mode and select a shutter speed of 1/250 second. The shorter shutter speed underexposes the background by two full f stops while my flash unit still properly exposes my subjects with it’s predictable, constant manual output. This time my camera returns this dramatic image with a deep saturated (underexposed) sky!

I have employed this fundamental technique for more than 30 years. It worked with film and it still works in today’s digital environment. The digital technology we enjoy today has opened up new creative possibilities that we only dreamed of in the past, but they can only be fully exploited by those photographers that have a thorough understanding of the fundamentals. I encourage you to take your cameras and flash units out of the automatic exposure modes and practice some of the basics that will enable you to predictably create stunning imagery on a consistent basis. Guide Number is a great place to start…I’ll be sharing some more “secrets” in future posts.

Posted in Camera Techniques, Fundamentals, Guide Number, Lighting Techniques, Nikon, Photoshop | 18 Comments »