Rainy Wedding

Fall in Vancouver means rain.  A fall wedding in Vanocover means a mountain of challenges for a photographer.  Last weekend it happened.  A rainy Saturday wedding.  But, with the help of a very kind Minister who let us use her church as a studio and the basic off camera techniques we have been talking about in the last two entries, we were able to pull it off.

This first image was taken with a single strobe and a reflector.  The strobe was on the Brides left (your right) and was aimed into a 32" umbrella. A white reflector was to the brides right (your left) to fill in the shadow.  The background was lite with ambient light and balanced to the strobe light by dragging the shutter.  Lightroom was used to desaturate the photograph and to put a vignette around the image.

This Second image was taken using exactly the same technique except without the desaturation.

Of course its alway fun to see what you can do with the light that exists.  I am always on the lookout for interest light pockets.  One part of the church was an art gallery with spot lights intended to light the artwork. To create this image I positioned the bride so that the lights would shine on the dress and bring out the detail in its design. I then had the bride look up to the light to create a pleasing light pattern on her face.  Lightroom was used to desaturate the image and put a vignette around the edge.

Examples of hand held stobe photography

In my last entry, I discussed the lighting equipement that I used for location photography.  In this post, I am going to show some examples of the results that I get from it.

In this image, I used two strobes in 32" reflective umbbrellas. The flashes were set on manual.  The main (or key light) was placed to the subject's right. A white reflector was placed to the subject's left. I am very particular on how I set up the key light. It is crucial to the success of this type of portrait. Firstly, set the height of the light. It needs to be high enough to create shadow under the nose and chin yet low enough to light up the eye sockets and put a catch light in the eyes. Next, ensure that the light is pointing in the right direction: any light is brighter (or hotter) in the center than it is at the edges.  You DO NOT want the brightest part of the light hitting your subject directly.  Instead, feather the light across your subject so that the brightest part of the light actually passes in front of them.  This will give the light a softer feel and a more natural wrap-around effect. Next step is the placement of the reflector.  For this type of portrait I prefer to use a white reflector to avoid having speculars in the shadow of the face. The reflector should be slightly in front of your subjct and around the same height as your key or main light. The reflector bounces the light from the center of your stobe back into the shadow side of our subject. To control the brightness of the shadow, move the reflector closer (for brighter) or farther away ( for darker).  The second light is placed on the same side of the subject as the main light but it is high and behind the subject.  I will usually colapse the umbrella around the flash to give it some directional control.  This light will give some life to the hair and separate the subject from the background. (If the subject has no hair, you may not want to use this light.)

I set my exposre to around f4 on the highlight side of the subject.  I control the exposure on the shadow side visually using the reflector.  The exposure from the hair light will be the same as the main light is the subject has dark hair.  I the subject has light hair, I will set the output at one stop less than the key light.  The background light is just the ambeint light and is controled by changing the shutter speed.  I then make a test shot and adjust the exposures to get the final effect.

This shot was made in exactly the same way. The only difference is that it was taken outdoors. The versatility of this setup is wonderful. Once it has been practiced a couple of times, it becomes very easy to repeat, making it a great starting point for a location portrait.

Hand Held Flashes

As a portrait photographer working primarily on location, I am constantly faced with the challenge of creating studio lighting on the go.  Of course the obvious solution is to bring studio lighting with you and set up when you get there.  But who wants to do that.  I drive a sports care, not a moving van, and I don't really want to spend my day setting up and breaking down all that gear.  The solution that I use is to combine existing or ambient light with off camera flashes to create the effect I want.

A typical assignment for me is to go on location and photograph a business portrait.  The lighting gear I would take with me would be 2-580 EX, 1-430 ex,a STE2 to trigger them, a reflector  2-32" umbrellas and 2 stands. (I use Canon gear but the technique can be used with any stobes set up to be fired remotely.)  The only things that add extra bulk to my camera kit are the stands so I make sure to use the lightest ones I can get away with.

Here's how I put it all together.

The 2 580 ex flashes are put on the stands with the umbrella's. If needed, the 430 ex is used for background seperation but it is seldom used.  For a portrait, one strobe is used as the key light, the other is used as a hair light.  Fill is from a reflector.

To get the exposure, use the camera meter to get a ambient light reading.  Set the strobes to put out the same exposure.  I prefer to use manual settings bit ETTL can work as well.  This is the basic setup.  What is really cool about this is that by changing the shutter speed, you can lighten or darken the background and shadow areas.  Increasing the shutter speed will darken the background.  Decreasing the shutter speed will lightenthe background.

Getting use to this technique takes some practice but is well worth the effort to learn.  Not only will it save time, it will also save your back. David Ziser is a master of this technique and a visit to his blog http://www.digitalprotalk.blogspot.com/ is well worth it. Another great place to get info this technique is at the http://www.strobist.com/

Try Somethng out of your comfort zone

In all the years that I have been photographing people, runway photography is one area that I have not had a lot of experince in. So, when a friend of mine offered me the opportunity to take some runway shots at a workshop that her company, FigureB, was producing, I jumped at the chance.The workshop was for new models looking into the industry so my being there was more to add to their experince than it was to create some fashion shots. What a perfect environment to experiment in!!! Great atmospher, exciting music, high energy, beautiful models, and no expectations.

The workshop was held at Suki's Hair Salon in Vancouver, and when I arrived with gear in hand the salon was already alive with activity. I put my gear bags down and pulled out a a 24-70 f2.8 lens, attached it to a body, and went to work. In the back, models were learning about hair and makeup preparation. A few shots there and it was upstairs to where other students were being coached by an expert trainer on how to walk on a runway. On the lower level, there were even more students learning how to change there clothes quickly. At the end of the workshop, the students were going to practice there skills with a mock fashion show with freinds and family watching. So after about 45 minutes of photographing the "getting ready" I headed to the main part of the salon were show was to take place and set up my lighting

I set up 2 flashes in white 32" umbrellas and controlled them wirelessly from the camera. One flash was set at the far end of the salon, or what was to be the runway, and the other near camera position. This allowed me to have two spots were I could photograph the models without changing my camera position. It also created an even light throughout the Salon. The far end of the salon was all glass. Fortunately it was curved so that reflections from the flashes did not present much of a problem. This lighting setup was typical of the setup that I would use at an event or a wedding. Very often at events, you are restricted to using only a single on camera flash which gives you a very arsh and unflattering look. A single on camera flash would have also made the background go very dark. I am able to avoid both of these issues with the two lights off camera as well as pick up some of the ambience of the location in the pictures.

One off the issue with using strobes is recycle time. If you have to use your strobes at full power, recycle can take several seconds. When photographing moving subjects, it means the difference between getting the shot and not getting the shot. To help get around this problem, I use high ISO speeds and optically fast lens's. It is not unusual for me to use ISO 1600. I find that with the new DSLR's, the grain is totally acceptable. My favourite lens for this sesion was the 24-70 f2.8 L series.

The folks at FigureB Model Management put on a great workshop and Suki's on Granville did a wonderful job of hosting it. Thanks for letting me be a part of it

A group shot of my new friends

Stay Tuned

I have just returned from a week at the lake. Spent a lot of time just relaxing and spent some time photographing.

The light in the interior is always interesting to work with. This time it was especially interesting to work with. The lake is very near Lilloette where the big fire is. The air was filled with smoke creating some very interesting light. The light was always difussed and soft and often had some very warm colouration to it. At one point, it looked very much like sunset except that it was 3:00 in the afternoon.

My next post, which I hope to make later today, will have some images that I took.

The nice weather has hit Vancouver and it has been great to be getting outside and enjoying the BBQ. The other evening, I was over at some friends enjoying some wine and company. The conversation moved to photography and one of the folks asked if I could take a look at their camera. They were planning on taking it to the repair center because it was no longer exposing the pictures properly.



I took a look at the camera and everything seemed fine so I asked what the symptoms were. According to my friend, the camera had started to have really bright areas in the picture where they could not make out any detail or sometimes the subject would be really dark. The camera had just started doing this but up until now it has been a great camera. After talking a little further I discovred that they had never used the camera outside until now. It turns out that there really was no problem with the camera other than the inherent limitations of the cameras sensor.



Camera sensors have a limited dynamic range. That means that they can only record a limited difference in brightness between highlight and shadow. If the range between the highlight and the shadow is greater than the camera can record, then the highlight will be burned out (white without detail) and the shadows will block up (black without detail).



So, instead of taking the camera in to be fixed, I showed my friend a couple of techniques that would let them photograph within the dynamic range so that the cameras sensor could handle it. The first technique was to look for open shade and stay out of the bright sunlight. The second was to turn on the flash to put light in the shadow area.



Photographing outside on a bright sunny day does create some problems. Keep in mind the limitations of your camera so that youdon't get burn out. Also, try not to let the sun shine directly on the front of the lens when taking your picture. If this happens, the quality of the picture will be greatly reduced.

Salt Water Moon

One of the great things about being a photographer, (and there are many great things), is that you get to be places and do things that many people do not. Two nights ago I had the amazing job of photographing the the production stills for Salt Water Moon, a production by Horse Raven. I got to see something very special, something I could only call magic. Joel Grinke and Abbey Creek, got on stage and did the final tech before opening the next evening. The two performers were outstanding. One hour and twenty two minutes later they took their bows. The performance was brilliant and I got to capture it with my camera.

Often, when doing production stills, you are so absorbed in creating the images, looking for angles, watching exposures, trying to stay quite, that at the end of the show you don't really have a sense of how it was. Not with this show. I was totally absorbed. The script by David French is brilliant (he did win awards for it) and was beautifully interpreted by the actors under the direction of Vancouver Icon, Michael Ferra.



The Show runs until August 1 at the Jericho Arts Centre. For show times and ticket prices, go to their web site http://www.jerichoartscentre.com/ . If you can get the chance, go



If you would like to check out the production still, log on to Len Grinke Photography at http://www.photolen.ca/ click on client sites on the bottom left then Salt water moon.