Gallery Opening

Hi Folks

Many of you know that I have been working on putting together a gallery that will show the work of local artists. Well that gallery has now come together. The first opening is on October 12, 2012 and it promises to be a great evening. Here is some information on the show. Hope to see you all there.

Focal Point

I believe that education in photography is essential if we want to keep up with the ever changing technology and still maintain photography as a viable art form. Today there are many non traditional ways to learn about photography, particularly on line. A quick search on the internet will show literally millions of sites that are dedicated to teaching you how to photograph. Some of them, like the New York Institute of Photography, can prove to be a viable way to learn photography as an art. However, most of them fall well short.

The best way to get a photography education is to work with a instructor in a structured program that has well defined learning outcomes so that at the end of the process you walk away with a well rounded foundation in photography. Places that do this well are hard to find. 

Focal Point Visual Arts Centre has been providing this level of quality education in Vancouver for 39 years. This month, we will be loosing Focal Point. As an alumnae of Focal Point as well as one of its instructors, I know that it will be missed.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Focal Point for being a big part of my photography career and to wish all the best to my students and the staff.

Mid August Already

Wow, I can't believe that we are already in the middle of August. It's been a busy summer filled with weddings, portraits, and teaching. Starting to prepare for the fall season now. Here's what's happening.

Now is the time that I start photographing students who are graduating in 2013. I know it seems a bit early, but it is the best time. This way we can still catch the nice weather of summer or the fall colours in about 6 weeks. If you know anyone who is graduating in 2013, get them to call me now. Last year there were many who left it too late.

Wedding season is in full swing right now.It's been a great season and it has been a lot of fun. Mid September is when the wedding shooting will start dying down and the album production will be in full force. This is also the time when I start putting together next years promotional wedding materials. I looking forward to presenting some exciting new offerings including an album on an iPad.

There is 4 weeks left in the wedding photography class that I am teaching at Focal Point. The students have been doing some excellent work. The fall semester starts in September and I will be teaching wedding photography, flash photography, Commercial Portraiture, and practical studio lighting. The fall course schedule will be posted soon on the Focal Point web site. These course fill up fast so sign up early.

That's it for todays update.

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Flash For Accents

I am a huge fan of using speedlights. In fact, one of the courses I teach a course at a local school, Focal Point, is on speedlight and small flash photography. Uses flashes could to light the subject is the obvious use for these units. But flashes can also be used to highlight certain areas in the image or be used to place light where there actually was none.


The Image that I want to share today was taken a couple of weeks ago on a ranch. The weather was nice but it was still quite cold so we went into the barn to warm up. The light coming through the barn door created this beautiful light on the model. A little light reflected back onto her completed the lighting on the model.


The background was a different story. the background is a vacant horse stall that rendered almost black in the image. To compensate, I needed to bring in some artificial light. A single, off camera flash placed in the stall and to camera right was all that was needed to complete this image.

Photo Challenge #9

Create an image that has three definable layers - a foreground, background and subject or middle ground.

Forground

Composition of a photograph plays a crucial role in how successful the image is. I have talk about the rule of thirds and the golden rectangle in other posts. In this post I want to talk a little about adding depth to an image by adding a foreground.


Most images have a middle ground and a background.  The middle ground is typically the subject, and the background is what is behind the subject. we know that the eye will tend to move towards the sharpest part of the image, so to draw attention to the subject you can take the background slightly  out of focus using selective depth of field, causing the subject to become the main point of interest.


This technique works great when the subject is close, as in a head and shoulders shot, but what happens when you want to show more of the environment in the image. Does it all become background? Sometimes, but a more effective technique is to have a foreground in the image.


Having a foreground will create a space in which the subject resides. Effective use of the foreground will help give the image a more pictorial feel, giving the viewer more information about the subject and the environment it is in. It can also be helpful in directing the viewers attention toward the subject, helping it stand out even more inside the image. 


This image was designed to show the area in where this family liked to spend time together. It is a beautiful area in North Vancouver. with some of the family moving away, this image gave them a way to stay connected by showing them together as well is showing off the environment. Notice how the leading lines of the railing and the grate work in the foreground bring your attention to the group while the river gives your eye a chance to explore the rest of the image before bringing your eye back top the group.


Some techniques used in creating an effective foreground include depth of field, leading lines, repeating patterns and congruity with the background. The goal when deciding on your foreground is to make it add to your image without it being overpowering.

Photo challenge #8

Photograph a tree. It can be abstract - just photograph a tree.

Skateboarder

This image was taken during a lifestyle session that I did over spring break. This young man was in to all the high energy sports - skateboarding, snowboarding, BMX, mountain biking. We spent the day going to numerous locations to capture him "in action".

I captured this image right at the beginning of the session, before we really got into the action. It was captured with a 10mm lens so the skateboard was just inches from the lens. The perspective of the lens gave the image this interesting look. I had a single 580EX flash to camera right with it zoomed to 105mm to add an extra punch of light to the face. The balance of the image was lit by ambient light reflected off the building  Black and white conversion was done using Nik's Silver Effects Pro 2.

Photo Challenge #7

This weeks challenge is to photograph somebody doing their thing. It could be some kids skateboarding, snow skiing, bowling - whatever it is that they do for recreations. As an added challenge, try using a strobe to increase the impact of the image.

Photo Challenge #6

Photo challenge #6 is to create a still life using off camera flash. Try lighting from the sides and the top. Experiment with using a diffuser and without using a diffuser. The goal is to give the still life shape and dimension by bringing the light in from an angle instead of straight on.

My Challenge #5 Image

It was fun to work with a model who is easily motivated by a cookie. This is an image of my dog Maxx. As you can tell, he is no puppy - in fact, he is almost 14 years old.

I took this image with a speed light to camera left. It was diffused through a panel to give a softer light on the dog. A second light was pace above and behind to give separation of the black dog from the black background.

Both the flash and the camera are on manual. Camera, Canon 7D with a 70 - 200 mm lens at 145mm, f8 at ISO 400.

Photo Challenge #5

This weeks photo challenge is your pet. Create a portrait of your pet using your flash to create directional light.

Granville Island Alley

Las t week it poured rain here in Vancouver. I had planned to take my students down to Granville Island to practice balancing flash and ambient light. That morning the weather cleared and we had fantastic conditions for photographing. Only problem was that it was really cold - for Vancouver anyways. The coldest of the group were the models, but they persevered and we came back with some great images.

This image was taken on a Canon 7D with a 24-105 lens.  To keep out of the wind, and to try and stay a little warmer, we were working in very narrow alleys. The natural light was very top sown and proved to be port lighting for the models. By placing a 580 EX II flash on camera right, we were able to create directional light on the model. Exposure was 1/60th at f5.6, ISO 400. All other light was ambient.

Flash Challenge #4

Lets play with the zoom function of our flash this week. This weeks challenge is to use your flash zoomed out to max. This will create a smaller beam of light that can be used to highlight certain features in your image. Try it - it's great for black and white glamour shots.

Flash Challenge #3

This weeks challenge is to create an image that combines existing light, known as ambient light, and on camera bounce flash.

Try to balance the exposure of the flash and the ambient light to create a natural looking image.

Forward your images to photochallenge@photolen.ca if you would like me to review them.

Bouncing Off The Walls

Last weeks challenge was to create an image using bounce flash. The goal was to create an image that had directional lighting.

On camera Direct Flash

Very often, photographers will dismiss using on camera flash because of the harsh, specular light it creates on the subject. Two weeks ago I was discussing on camera flash techniques to my students at Focal Point. The first image, shown here, was taken with direct on camera flash. Notice the small, bright specular's, the harsh shadows, and even though the wall was some distance away, the very obvious shadow on it.

So how do you have an on camera flash and still create directional lighting. The answer is in bouncing the flash. But from where? The first thing that comes to mind is to bounce it off the ceiling. the problem here is that you wind up with office lighting and racoon eyes. The better option is to try and bounce it from the side. The easiest is to get side lighting is to bounce the flash off a wall. If one isn't within range, try a reflector or a white shirt. Anything that will bring the light from the side.

On Camera bounced from wall

In the class, we bounced the light off the wall, the results are shown here. Some great information about flash photography can be found on Digital ProTalk. This link, David Ziser - Digital Pro-Talk , will take you to a video on his site that speaks directly to this topic. If you want to learn more about flash photography, I would encourage you to check out this link.

Have fun and great shooting. Come back tomorrow for next weeks challenge

Bounce flash

Last weeks challenge was to use on camera flash as fill. This week, the challenge is to use on camera flash as the main light.

In order to do this, bounce flash is the way to go. But instead of bouncing it off the ceiling, try bouncing off the walls. This will give a very nice directional look to the light. Be carful of your colours though. The light will take on the colour of the wall that you bounce off of.

Looking forward to seeing your images

Fill Flash Challenge Image

Last weeks photo challenge was to photograph a portrait using on camera fill flash.  The real challenge with fill flash is not allowing it to overtake the image.

Very often yo can find yourself in a situation where you have nice directional light but the shadow density is to much to allow you to make a print with detailing both the shadow and the highlight. The on camera fill flash, when used correctly, will let you reduce the shadow density of the image yet maintain the directional light. When it is really well done, the use of on camera fill flash is barely noticeable.

When photographing this image, I found myself with a very strong and high directional lighting.  the first thing I did was lower the light angle by putting a gobo above the subject. I found that the shadow on the subject face was too dark.

To fix this, I put a speedlite on camera, set the mode to ttl, and set the flash exposure compensation to minus 2.  this gave me just enough light to open up the shadow without giving the image a flashed look. The only real give away in this image that it is flashed is the catchlight generated by the flash.

Come back tomorrow for the next photo challenge.

Photo challenge #1

This is the first of 52 photo challenges. The goal is to present one new technique each week and then produce an image that incorporates that technique. You can submit your image to photochallenge@photolen.ca . I will post 2 to 3 images that I receive.  There is no prize for the best image for the week, best overall image, or anything else. But, you will have the chance to learn and practice 52 photographic techniques over the course of 2012.

So here it is, the first challenge.

On camera flash gives you very flat lighting. Refer back to my post on December 7, 2011, On Camera Fill Flash. For this weeks challenge, use on camera fill flash to reduce contrast in an image. Very often, light on a subject can be very harsh. Super bright on the lite side and really dark on the shadow side. By using fill flash, you can reduce the contrast by putting light into the shadow area.  The trick here is to not overdo the fill flash. As soon as the image starts to look flat, you have overfilled.

This week, create an image that uses on camera fill flash to reduce shadows yet remains natural looking.