On Camera Fill Flash

On camera flash is generally not considered to be the most flattering light source - especially when photographing people. There are times however when on camera flash can make a big difference in an image.

Many photographers love to use available light because it can create a very beautiful light on your subject.  Sometimes however, the light can be very contrasty, creating detailless shadows on the shadow side of your subject.  The natural reaction is to find some sort of reflector to fill light in to the shadow side.  Well here is another possible solution that when executed well, will give you excellent results.

It is well known that a soft, wrap around light source, needs to be large relative to the subject.  the problem with a speedlight or on camera flash is that it is a very small light source, which will create a very harsh or hard light. When handled properly though, this is OK for fill light. Lets see how that works out.



Figure 1

Take a look at this image. It is a Styrofoam ball photographed with a speedlight inside of a 2 ft soft box. Most definitely a soft light source or this object. Notice that the ball is virtually shadowless except for a little around the edges (this is because the object is round), making it an excellent fill light.
Why is this an excellent fill light?  The purpose of a fill light is to reduce the contrast in an image. A fill light should bring the exposure level up in the shadow side of your subject. Most of the time because you want to have detail in the shadows. a good fill light will create no shadow of its own. If it does, you can start to get very unnatural looking double shadows on your subject. A soft box (or any other larger light modifier) is one way to help prevent this from happening. Another is placement of the fill light.

A light source that is on the same axis as your lens will not produce a shadow that your lens can see. In figure one, the light source was place as close to the lens axis as it could be without putting the camera directly in front of the light source. This further helped to create the shadowless lighting.



Figure 2

 Now take a look at figure 2.This was taken with a bare speedlight or flash. Even though it is a hard light source, it created a shadowless light on the Styrofoam ball. To achieve this shadowless light, the flash was also place as close to the camera axis as possible without having the camera in front of it. The fact that the two light sources created a nearly identical light can be put to use.

Consider the next time you are out creating a portrait and you have very contrasty light. Instead of grabbing a reflector, try using a flash to fill in the shadows. Here's how you can do it. Determine the exposure of your subject so that you get detail in the highlights. Put your flash as close to the camera axis as you can - this will usually be on the hot shoe. With your flash on E-TTL or I-TTL if you use Nikon, set the flash exposure compensation around -1.5 to -2. Take your image then readjust exposure to achieve the results you want.

Here are a couple of pitfalls to watch for

1. Do not overpower the flash. this will create an unflattering, flashed looking image.
2. Keep the flash above the camera, even if it means always shooting horizontally then cropping to vertical later. Because the flash will not be exactly on axis, it will create some shadow and it looks more natural when it is going downward.
3. Have your subject far enough from the background so that any shadow will fall behind the subject and not show up on the background.

Go out and have fun with this technique. Once you master it you'll love it.

Idea books

Next week starts my next group of flash photography students and one of the things that I tell all my students is that they need to create an idea book.  In a nutshell, an idea book is a collection of your own images that you have put together along with information on how you photographed them. It is one of the best long term learning aides that I have ever discovered.

The concept of the idea book is to create a collection of your own images that you can use to spark your creativity and as a source of images that you can build and improve upon.  So how does this idea book work?

Building and idea book.

1. Find yourself an album that can hold 4x6 prints.  The large the album, the better.
2. Get a bunch of 4x6 index cards

When you take an image that you like, make a 4x6 print of it and put it in the album.  Write down every detail of how you photographed the image; lighting, exposure, location, time of day etc.  Even if the image isn't perfect, but you like the concept, put it in the book. As you get more and more images in the book, you will be building a source of ideas that can trigger your memory.  It will also help you become a better photographer because you can go back to an image you like and work on it and make it better.

Its awesome.  Many photographers on the lecture circuit sell there idea books.  If you want, you can pick one or two of these up as starting points, but ultimately you need to be the one taking the images or you will never understand how they were created.

Summer Light

Vancnouver is being hit with a late summer this year.  It never really warmed up over the summer months and we never really saw much blue sky.  Now that has changed and it is awesome.

During the main summer months the light is direcectly over head. And when it is clear sky's you get a lighting that wedding photographers love to hate - harsh, strong, and unflattering.  But, cloudy summers change all that.  Why? The suns harsh light is diffused by this giant soft box called cloud cover.  The light is soft and beautiful.  As photographers, all we have to do is give it some direction.

Sunny weather this time of the year also makes for great light because the light is no longer directly over head.  Now the light is coming at an angle pretty much all day.  Awesome!  Now I have directional, punchy light - outdoors. I'm looking out the window right now and seeing the sun is starting to go down. Absolutely beautiful.  Want some real fun - try shooting after the sun goes down and use the penumbra as your light source.  Light direction is from the west but the sky acts as a giant reflector now, giving you a soft but none the less punchy light.  You gotta love it.  Don't forget to do a custom white balance though.

Compositional Balance

This image was taken Sunday morning in downtown Vancouver.  I was a beautiful sunny morning, well before the crowds had started to come out.  Compositionally, I wanted to balance the green of the young mans shirt with the green of the sign in the background.  The sign was not in direct sunlight, bit was none the less significantly brighter than the subject.  Had I taken the shot with the existing light, the sigh would have been burnt out and the value of the color would of been lost. Instead, I chose to slightly underexpose my background by dialing up my shutter speed..  I lite the subject with a Canon 580 EX speedlight in a 32" umbrella.  A white reflector was used to fill in the shadow side.  The image that came out of the camera is what you see here.



Camera Clubs

Looking for a fun way to improve your photography.  Check out your local camera club.  I recently joined the North Shore Photographic Society here in North Vancouver and am enjoying my experience very much.

One of the challenges to improving your photography is knowing if what you are doing is working.  Asking friends and family their opinion on you images is a start but very often they won't tell you the whole truth.  They are your friends after all, and they don't want to hurt your feelings.  It is also likely that they are not artists or photographers, so they are unsure what to tell you.

A camera club is a group of like minded people who want to practice and share their photography.  As such, they are a great source of subjective feedback - especially the folks who have been there for a while. Clubs will have monthly slide and print critiques, making feedback is a huge component of what they do.

Another fun aspect of a camera club is that they arrange field trips and guest speakers to come in and share their knowledge or special technique.  So, you get a chance to photograph things that you may not otherwise get a chance to photograph and hear about different ideas, all on a regular basis.

Camera clubs can not replace professional photography organizations, and I will always recommend that you belong to them.  Nor will they replace professional print competitions. But I do recommend them non the less.

Photolen

Portraits in Bright Sunlight

Well my Commercial Portrait Photography course at Focal Point is well under way. The one problem I have though is that the course runs in the evenings, making it difficult to demonstrate many of the techniques I want to show the students. Solution - field trip.

This past Sunday we went out during the day to make some portraits.  It was a bright sunny day with harsh lighting.  Perfect, at least for what I wanted to show them.  Most times we do not have a choice as to the time of the day we have to shoot or the lighting conditions that we work in.  A large part of the course is about learning to manage and control all types of light to get the image we want. Bright sunny days are one of the most difficult situations to work with requiring an implicit understanding of your gear as well as the nature of light.

The first situation we set up was in the middle of a field.  The sun is harsh and direct.  For folks like me who are "follicular-ly challenged", one of the most important pieces of gear to have is a hat.  I had misplaced mine and was starting to feel the sun on my scalp within minutes of being there. Today is Tuesday, I still feel the sun.

When creating a portrait, this type of lighting is considered to be the worst. Sunburn aside, the lighting on the face is harsh and unflattering, but, we were able to work through two techniques that got us reasonable portrait images.

For both techniques, the first thing we did was place the subject between the camera and the sun. This did three things

1. It got the harsh light off the subjects face and created separation by back lighting the subject.
2. It created very flat lighting on the subjects face
3. Created lens flare in our camera

Perfect, now we just need to light the subjects face so we get a nice wrap around lighting.

Our first technique was to use a combination of scrims, reflectors, and gobo's. First we set up a white reflector to use a key light on our subject.  The reflector was large enough to create a soft light source giving us the gentle shadow edge transfer that we like.  The shadow side of the face was still very light so do darken it down we used a black gobo.  We had the look we wanted on the face but the back light from the sun was burning out the hair and shoulders.  A white scrim between the sun and the subject solved this problem.

Our second technique was to use a flash.  The downside to using a flash in this situation is that you need one powerful enough to overpower the sun.  The advantage is that you can control the exposure of your background relative to your subject by changing the shutter.  In terms of flash placement, it needs to be off camera in order to get that wrap around look. In bright sunlight, shutter speeds will be high, so will need to place your flash on high speed sync.  David Ziser on his blog, Digital Pro Talk, has some fantastic examples and explanations for this technique that you can check out here.

Open shade is often a more desirable place to take portraits and will be the topic of my next blog.

Focal Point Course Begins

Last thursday was the opening night for my Focal Point class. We have a great bunch of talented photographers in the class so it's going to be a great one for everybody involved.

The first night is always about finding out where eveyone is at (photographically speaking) and finding a common point to jump in at.  I always try insure that everyone gets the most out of every class, so doing this review gets everyone to the same place and helps to refine the materials for each class.  If you are interested in joining my Focal Point class, I could still fit you in. Log on to http://www.focalpoint.bc.ca/ for all the info.  Next week we are going to start exploring light. It's a real eye opener.

Don't forget that I am also running a flash workshop on May 7th in the Ann MacDonald Hall at the North Vancouver Presentation House.  Contact me directly at 604-307-4566 to sign up for this program.  It will be a great opportunity to learn pro techniques with hand held flashes.

5 tips to improve on camera flash

Coming up on May 7th, I will be giving a workshop on flash photography.  Here is a primer for the workshop.

5 tips to improve on camera flash

1. Avoid pointing the flash directly at your subject. This creates a very harsh, unattractive light. Try using a diffuser like the ones made by Gary Fong. 
2. Bouncing the flash off the ceiling is an effective way of improving the light quality.  The idea behind this is that ceiling are usually white so there won't be any colour shift issues and it will increase the size of the light significantly, giving it a softer look.  The problem here is that the light is top down and will create unflattering shadows in the eyes. Putting a white card on the flash to reflect some of the light into the eyes will help.
3. To get a wrap around feel to the light, try bouncing it of the wall.  This will give it a wrap around look and be very soft.  Downside here is that the light will take on the colour of the wall. Make sure to do a custom white balance - but you should be doing this for every lighting situation.
4. If the wall or the ceiling are just too far away to bounce from, use some sort of reflector.  If you have a reflector in your kit, awesome.  If you don't, try bouncing off a person wearing a white shirt or find a towel, table cloth, sheet, or anything that will reflect a neutral light colour.
5. Flash exposure, within the limits of the camera sync speed, are not affected by shutter speed. Adjust the shutter speed, leaving the aperture set for flash exposure, to balance the ambient light with the flash to gain a more balanced looking image.

These tips and many more will be discussed and practices at length at the flash workshop on May 7th.  To reserve you spot at the workshop, please call Len at 604-307-4566. See you there.

Medicine Hat to Nelson then home

We had a really nice stop over in Medicine hat and were well rested for the long drive in front of us.  We were hoping to meet up with my wife, Shauna, who was in Nelson giving a seminar.  To do that, we were looking at about a nine hour driving day.  Not too bad if the weather held out.

Spring was coming earlier to the  western provinces than it was to the eastern provinces.  We left Muncton in several feet of snow, holed up in Winnipeg because of a snow storm, and practically skated to Regina. After Medicine Hat the snow became scarce, replaced with flooding.  In the eastern provinces, the threat of flooding once the snow starts to melt is high.  Essential services such as hospitals are making plans as to how to handle things if and when this occurs. In Vancouver all we have to worry about is a potential radiation cloud.

The drive proved to be very pleasant. A little overcast but no percipitation and the roads, with the execption of the occasional flooded spot, were bare and dry.  I was struck by how the mountains just rose up from the praries.  Your driving along this flat, flat road for a few days and then all of a sudden, their they are. Huge and snow covered.  Ok, we had been through lots snow and ice up to this point, but now we have some mountains thrown in. The truck downshifted as we started to climb into the pass.

Within 15 minutes we were deep in snow country again.  The snow at the side of the road was often higher than the van (which is 6ft 6in high).  In another 10 minutes, it started to snow.  We got through it without incident.  As we descended down the moutain into Nelson the snow stopped coming down and the snow on the ground return to normal levels. We got to the hotel in Nelson and met up with Shauna.  A really nice dinner, a good nights sleep and it was off to Vancouver.

We arrived home at 6:15pm.  Our epic journey complete.

Winnipeg to Regina to Medicine Hat

The stop over in Winnipeg gave us an opportunity to visit with relatives. It was unexpected, unplanned, and lots of fun. It's always great to catch up with folks that are very close to you but you never are able to spend time with them. We also got a solid workout  in at the Winter Club and attended a guitar/recording workshop lead by Murry Pulver, a studio guitarist who had just returned to Winnipeg after working in Doc Walker and touring with the Crash Test Dummies. All in all, a great stop over.

The storm passed through Winnipeg and the highway opened on Sunday morning so we decided it was time to hit the road - in spite of the warning of slippery roads. Just outside of Winnipeg we stopped for gas. We where the only ones filling up a automobile, everyone else was filling up a snow mobile. This should have been a warning. Stay another day. But with a full tank of gas we headed out for the open road.

The drive started out fine.  The roads were clearish and traction as not a problem.  The sky was blue and the forecast showed no signs of further precipitation.  We drove for a while - until I saw a great opportunity for an image.  We pulled down a side road and parked at the edge of the road.  Unfortunately, the edged of the road was a ditch filled with snow and our right front tire slipped in.  We dug and we pulled and we pulled and we dug but could not move the truck.  Next thing we know a red 4x4 pulls up and hooks on to the back of the truck with a special towing strap.  Another vehicle pulls up and 2 more folks jump out and start pushing.  In no time theses friendly prairie folks have us out of the ditch and we are ready to be on are way, but first, I have to take that shot.  I grab my trusty Canon, loaded with a 75-200mm lens, and head towards the shot.  Stepping in the ditch filled with snow I find myself up to my knees in snow - and sinking.  I don't care anymore. I'm going to get my shot, and get it I did.

With the shot in the can we pointed the van west and were on our way. What a beautiful day.  The sun was shinning, the roads were clear and the winds were blowing lightly, at first.  It wasn't long before the wind picked up and started really blowing.  We found out later this is considered to be one of the most dangerous stretches of road in Canada.  With miles of flat land on either side of the highway the wind is able to blow at very high speeds making the steering of vehicles tricky.  It also makes the already cold temperature much much colder.  The the wind blows the snow across the highway creating a sheet of ice underneath it and turns the road into a skating rink.  No wonder the guys at the gas station looked at us like we were, well, from Vancouver.  This part of the ride was total white knuckle. The van slipped from time to time as we crossed the ice patches. We passed 4 cars that had left the road and one 18 wheeler that had done a 180 degree spin on the ice.  We made it through without incident thanks to Joel's driving skills. We got to our hotel room later than planned but in on piece. Played guitars for a while then went to sleep.

The next morning it was off to Medicine Hat.  A short driving day - that's all we had the energy for.  The wind had died down and the drive was easy.  We checked into a hotel called the Medicine Hat Lodge.  What a great find out there in the middle of the prairies.  Nice room with a balcony overlooking the indoor pool, hot tube and water slide. Two restaurants, shops and a casino.  It was a good night that left us ready for the long drive to Nelson BC. the next day.

Winnipeg here we come

Cell tower access as been unavailable for the most recent leg of our journey so I have not been able to make my blog entries. Here is the catch up.

The drive to Thunder Bay was very scenic. We drove up the shore of Lake Superior from Sault St. Marie enjoying some very nice weather and some beautiful scenery. I was surprised at how little there was in terms of towns and rest stops along the way.  Everything we came across was closed for the season - "see you in May".  Did find this 2 story with basement fixer upper though.

The shoreline of Lake Superior reminded me very much of the drive down the pacific coast.  Very rocky with a few small beaches, at least I assume them to be beaches and not just piles of ice and snow.  There are also many small islands rock outcrops  just a little ways of shore.

We were excited to get to Thunder Bay because a friend of Joel's was in a play at the Magnus Theater.  The play was called Hanna's Suitcase and is an interesting story about a Japanese historical Museum tracing the story of a 13 year old girl who was killed in the Holocaust. The show was very well written and performed excellently, receiving a standing ovation at the end of the performance.  After the show we went out with the cast to the Mad House and visited - a very nice evening.

Tim Horton's are everywhere in Ontario.  Which is good because I enjoy their coffee and who can resist their donuts.  However, at the recommendation of the cast members we checked out this restaurant located in the basement of the Finish community hall (Thunder Bay has a very large Finish community) called the Hoito Restaurant. Nothing fancy here. Basically a room with tables and chairs, fluorescent light, and a kitchen. But the food was amazing, and very, very reasonable.  If this place franchises, look out Tim's, McDonald's, Robins Doughnuts, and anyplace else that wants to compete for the breakfast market.

We left Thunder Bay in the morning and headed for Winnipeg.  It was another long travel day because there is really no place to stay in between.  The weather was still good but there had been a storm chasing us for the last couple of days.  We have been lucky enough to stay in front of it but the long term weather forecast is not in our favour.  I have found it interesting that during the stretch from Sault St. Marie and Winnipeg, cell reception  has been poor.

The road to Winnipeg was fairly uneventful.  We listened to podcasts and played guitar while we made our way along the highway.  The damage from this winter is evident in the number of collapsed buildings we saw. They collapsed from the weight of the snow on their roofs.  We have also been tracking a storm that is supposed to happen on Friday.  Winnipeg as warmed up to 0 degrees.  The expectation is that starting Friday afternoon it will start to snow - up to 30cm.  If it warms up a little more, the snow will turn to rain. On Saturday the temperature is expected to drop to -12 degrees which will make this place a giant skating rink, and most likely covered in snow.  This means that the Trans Canada Highway will be closed so we have decided to play it safe a stay in Winnipeg for at least one day while the storm passes.

Well that's it for today.

Kingston to Sudbury

The leg from Kingston to Sudbury was beautiful. The poor weather went away and the sun shone all day. Originally, our plan was to stop in North Bay but it was such a nice day that we decided to travel a little longer and made it to Sudbury.

About an hour into the ride, the GPS took us off the main highway and took us north west on a secondary highway. We passed by many beautiful farms which I had to stop and photograph. Saw the usual, cow staring over the fence as you drive by, horses huddled under a leafless tree trying to stay warm. What I wasn't expecting to see was a herd of Buffalo and a pen filled with Llama.

Farther down the road we stopped in a small town called Eganville. Had a wonderful Schnitzel sandwich. Could go for one of those right now - so good.

Beginning to think that we are in the bible belt of Canada. No matter how small the town, we just went through one with a population of 600, there is always a church, usually very nice. In Eganville, we lost count, but there was lots of them. And they where all very beautiful. After lunch we took some time to photograph them.

Eventually we got back to a main highway and made our way to North Bay. Sudbury was calling so we continued drive. Researching hotels from the van with the IPad, we found one with a gym, pool and Italian restaurant.

Perfect.

Quebec to Kingston

Yesterday we made our way to Kingston.  Wonderful place.  The drive there was off and on snow but we made it without incident.  I'm getting really good at framing quickly as we drive by at 100km/hr.  You have to think way ahead and forget about using live view.  Essentially, if you see the shot in your viewfinder, you have missed it.

Lone tree in blizzard outside of Quebec

Government building in Kingston



Ice breaking ferry in Kingston Harbour

Oh yeh, Last night we went and saw comedian Norm MacDonald.  Great show.

The Journey

The journey has begun. Actually, it began two days ago when I flew from Vancouver BC to Moncton New Brunswick. The goal being to drive across Canada, taking photographs along the way - from a moving vehicle.



House outside of Moncton


Spent the first night in Moncton. Lots of snow there. The next day we drove to Quebec city. Spent the night in an amazing 200 year old hotel and Feasted On one of the best beef tenderloins I have ever experienced while my road trip buddy Joel enjoyed an outstanding rack of Lamb. I must return here when I can spend a week and truly enjoy all that this historic city has to offer.


The weather was very odd yesterday. We left Moncton in a snow storm. Near Quebec it started to rain. No problems driving until we got to our hotel. The parking lot was a sheet of ice and the the sidewalks were treacherous. It stared snowing again overnight and it is still snowing as we make our way to Kingston, no not Jamaica, Ontario.

Just looked up from my IPad to see the run off from the windshield is freezing on my passenger window. Oh, and there is a truck in the ditch.

This is so cool!





Snow drifts in park in Quebec





200 year old hotel we stayed at. Very cool.



Car went off roading



Ice forming on passanger window



New Studio Space

I have recently come across a wonderful studio space for shooting in.  It is called the Anne MacDonald hall and it is part of the Presentation House theatre in North Vancouver.  Originally a church, it was moved to its current location, yes, the entire building was moved, and set up as a rehearsal space.  The original Church of the building is in tact - large stain glass window, hardwood floors, wood wainscoting.  Very charming inside and out.

Primarily I am a location photographer. I have very few times when I actually "need" a studio.  For the times that I do, this is the place.  I can use it for a few hours and have none of the worries of ownership.  Rental is very reasonable.  For more info go to www.phtheatre.org .

Here is a sample of images that I did the on the weekend.


Inside building using natural light coming in through the large window





Outside using natural light





Outside using natural light





Inside building using natural light



Visiting Mr. Green

The Presentation House in North Vancouver has long been known for giving excellent theatrical entertainment at an outstanding value. There current production, Visiting Mr. Green, is no exception.  I have uploaded some images of the play so you can see can a taste for it but I am not going to be a spoiler.  To find out what the show is about you will have go see the show.  You only have until February 27th so you need to do it soon.  Check out the dinner and play special The Presentation House has arranged with Chez Michel.  Tried it myself on the weekend and it was great.

Like I said, you won't be disappointed.

January.  A time for planning.  A time to look forward and decide where you want to be this time next year.  This year, I want to do more teaching. 

Last year I started teaching at Focal Point.  I designed and taught a course on commercial portraiture.  I also developed as one day workshop on using hand held strobes. I am looking forward to continuing both of these courses.

New programs that I will be developing this year will be on lighting and posing, and another on using window light to create outstanding portraits.  This blog will continue to have posts on composition and lighting, as well as information on how you can attend my seminars.

Last year I also had growth my photography business.  In a flat economy, this is a huge win. I am continuing with my current business plan over the next year.

Looking forward to a big year.