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