Will King Photography

WE MOVED

2011-05-27T07:09:00.001-04:00

We moved the blog to our new website.

http://www.willkingphotography.com/blog2/

Happy New Year

2011-01-03T06:57:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile since I've updated my blog. One of my photography related New Year's Resolutions for 2011 is to update my blog at least once a week. I want to add more images and the details of capturing the images. I plan on featuring some guest bloggers as well as some works of other photographers that I know and admire.

In addition to regularly updating my blog, I want to continue putting on photography and post processing workshops. I plan on doing a few classes on camera techinques, lighting, and Lightroom and Photoshop workflow. I'll announce those classes and dates on my blog as well as my Facebook page, so please check back.

For 2011, I started out the New Year by waking up and shooting the sunrise with some friends, Sherry and Genevieve. We went to Salt Ponds near Buckroe Beach in Hampton. The morning was actually mild for January. Here are a few shots I got from that morning.

That's fearless Sherry on the right in the water shooting the sunrise.

I was able to compose this shot with the moon in the sky. You can barely tell it's the moon since I shot this with a wide angle lens. I also lit the foreground with one speedlight gelled with a 3/4 CTO.

580EXII with 3/4 CTO gel fired remotely with Radio Poppers to add some fill light to the foreground.

I capture this shot of the sun with my 400mm f/2.8L IS w/ 1.4X TC attached to a 7D.

Same gear to capture this beach bird.

.....and we ended the morning by meeting my wife, son, and Gen's daughter at IHOP. One of my son's New Year's Resolutions is to eat more pancakes.

Holiday Photos

2010-11-23T03:17:00.001-05:00

This is a repeat of a blog post I did last year. Also here's a replay of the Fox 43 interview.

The Holidays should be a time of joy and celebration but it often turns stressful for whomever is in charge of taking the pictures. This year, eliminate the stress and take better pictures by following a few basic tips.

Be Prepared
The night before the holiday gathering, make sure you have your gear ready. This means fully charged batteries, and an extra set. Plenty of empty memory cards. Tripod, light stands, reflectors. You may also want to have your camera and flash settings correct prior to the family gathering as well. This will ensure your pictures turn out great without having to fumble with the settings while your family is there.

Use the Right Light
When photographing the Christmas tree, avoid using flash. Flash will overpower the lights on the Christmas tree and create a harsh shadow. Also, try out of focus shots when photographing the tree.

If it's all possible, avoid using the on-camera pop-up flash when photography people. Direct flash is very unflattering and should be avoided. If you do not have the option for remote flashes, using something like a piece paper towel over the flash will help soften and diffuse the light.

Also consider using as much available light as possible. This means opening the windows and letting natural light in. If you're using lights from lamps or other artificial light sources, remember to change the White Balance setting on your camera to avoid strong color shifts.

Getting Great Holiday Family Portraits

Hire me!
But if you want to try yourself, these tips may help.

Have the family wear festive, holiday colors. You want the photo to say the Holidays so greens, reds, and whites are appropriate. Not everyone has to wear the same color, but patterns and busy prints should be avoided.
If you decide to take the photo outdoors, earth toned colors are a safe bet.

Make sure all your camera and lighting settings are correct before the family poses. This will ensure that the task will be stress free and that you keep your subjects looking happy. This is especially true for kids and babies. You'll have a time span of about 2 minutes. Make sure you spend that time getting great smiles and expressions and not fidgeting with your camera settings.

When photographing a group of people, have everyone close their eyes and count to three. On three, have them open their eyes and then take the shot. This will reduce the chances of someone blinking.

Getting Great Holiday Family Candids
Make a list of shots that you don't want to miss. A list will help you remember important shots that you may otherwise forget because of the hectic nature of the day.

When photographing kids and pets, get on their level. Perspective can make a break a photo.

Anticipation is the key. Be ready when kids open their gifts to make sure you capture their expressions.

Take a shot for every gift opened. This will help keep memories alive.

When photographing in the snow, remember that all digital cameras will have a tendency to underexpose. Change the settings on your camera to increase the exposure 1-2 times the norm.

Last but not least.....have fun!

Check me out on James Robinson's blog

2010-11-16T11:06:00.000-05:00

James Robinson was nice enough to feature me on his blog. Check it out HERE.

Huge Light Inspiration from Joe McNally

2010-10-03T17:54:00.000-04:00

I recently watched a video where Joe McNally used a Lastolite Skylite inside of a Irish pub to shoot a band. He used flashes shooting through umbrellas which were shooting through the Lastolite Skylite. I've seen him do this at Photoshop World in Boston about 2 years ago. The setup creates this huge soft light.

This gave me the inspiration to try this on one of my shoots. I used a strobe shooting through an umbrella which was shooting through a California Sunbounce 4x6' frame with a 3/4 diffusion panel. I also had a strobe with a beauty dish from the rear as an accent light.

Here's a shot of the lighting diagram...

...and here are some images I made with it.

Guess whose featured on Hampton Roads Bride's website?

2010-09-18T08:40:00.000-04:00

Me! I was so excited yesterday morning to find out that my work was featured on Hampton Roads Bride's website. Kelsey L. Clayton the Assistant Editor at Hampton Roads Magazine originally contacted me a few weeks ago while I was wrapping up an Outdoor Lighting Workshop that I teach to find out if I was interested in submitting some of my wedding and bridal images to be featured on their site. With enthusiasm I replied "Absolutely!"

I gathered images from my last 5 weddings and bridal shoots and contacted the brides to let them know the exciting news. It seemed like Deja vu yesterday morning. I was wrapping up another Outdoor Lighting Workshop and I got an email from Kelsey stating that the my feature was just posted to their site. Of course I called my wife to share the great news. I also called the brides and my friend Genevieve who has assisted me in creating most of these beautiful images. Here's the link to the feature: HR Bride: Will King Photography and some more great images from recent weddings and bridal shoots.

Jocelyne and Tim's wedding

Tiffany and Stephen's bridal shoot and wedding

Sarah and Kyle's engagement shoot and wedding

Amy Ore's bridal shoot

Brittany Dye's bridal shoot

Photoshoot with Kelly Gaita

2010-09-12T14:46:00.000-04:00

Hampton Roads might recognize Kelly Gaita from Fox 43. She was one of the co-hosts of the Hampton Roads Show. Kelly was also chosen as the Face of Fox 43 a couple of years ago. I initially met Kelly last Fall when she interviewed me for a segment that Fox 43 had on Holiday Photos. (You can view the video here.

Kelly is now pursuing other things and modeling is one of them. We talked about taking some headshots but I thought since she was going to be in the studio, why not get some other looks. Kelly suggested some casual Fall clothing.

I thought she was a natural and the images came out great. Here are 2 shots that I can easily see as a Target ad.
BTW, I used a beauty dish situated behind a 4x6 foot California Sunbounce frame with the 2/3 stop diffusion fabric which created some gorgeous soft light.

We also did something a little edgier with darker wardrobe and with harder light. I had a strobe with a small cone reflector behind Kelly, camera left and a beauty dish in front of her, camera right. The flare was created by the light, no Photoshop tricks. I did however, cross process this image to achieve the colors and tones.

How I made this image

2010-08-30T07:40:00.000-04:00

To my surprise, the image below is now my most popular image on flickr. It has the most views (over 5000), the most comments (26), been marked as a favorite the most times (141) and has been featured in flickr Explore.

I used a Canon EOS 7D paired with the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L
(f/8, 1/160, ISO100)

I lit it with an Einstein 640 inside of a gridded stripbox on each side and a White Lightning X3200 inside of a gridded beauty dish from above, camera right.

Only minor color and contrast corrections were made in post processing.

3rd Installment of the Outdoor Lighting Workshop

2010-08-23T07:42:00.001-04:00

In the 1st Installment of the Outdoor Lighting Workshop , I discussed how to balance the available light with flash. In the 2nd Installment of the Outdoor Lighting Workshop , I discussed how to make some dramatic images when the balance between available light and flash is....well, not so balanced. This 3rd Installment of the Outdoor Lighting Workshop will feature images that were taken with just available light or with a simple reflector.

This image was taken with EOS 5D Mark II with a 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens. Exposure settings were (f/5, 1/250, ISO100)
We used a Lastolite 48" Trigrip Reflector Soft Silver/Sunfire with the Sunfire side on the model.

For this shot, we used the same gear, EOS 5D Mark II with a 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens. Exposure settings were (f/4, 1/400, ISO100)This time we used the Lastolite Tripgrip to block the harsh sun. There was enough light bouncing off of the sand to illuminate her face.

This last image was taken yet again with the EOS 5D Mark II with a 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens combo. Exposure settings were (f/3.5, 1/250, ISO100)
It was taken using just available light. No flash and no reflectors.

Here are some behind the scenes shots courtesy of Eric Carlson:

2nd Installment of the Outdoor Lighting Workshop 8-7-10

2010-08-17T07:08:00.000-04:00

In the the first installment, I wrote about how to balance the ambient exposure and flash exposure. This time I wanted to show images using a technique often referred to as overpowering the sun.

In most cases when using flash outdoors, you're dealing with 2 exposures: Ambient and Flash. A good balance between the two exposures is normally the goal, however, you can do some dramatic things when the balance is severely shifted.

In the image below, I used a Canon EOS 7D paired with the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L. I underexposed the ambient light by at least 2 stops and to be honest, I would have underexposed it even more if I could have. My camera settings were f/22, 1/250, ISO100. f/22 was the smallest aperture I could go to and 1/250 is the fastest shutter speed the 7D can sync with flash. I used two strobes to light this. One on each side.

Here's another example. Canon EOS 7D paired with the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L f/18, 1/250, ISO100. Two strobes.

Outdoor Lighting Workshop 8-7-10

2010-08-11T08:54:00.001-04:00

My Outdoor Lightning Workshops have been a great success these past few weeks. Last Saturday we held the workshop at Virginia Beach ~~bright~~ dark and early. We started shooting and lighting before the sun came up. The goal for the day was to create different looks and from the results we achieved, I'd say we accomplished our goal.

I'm going to be breaking this into 3 different blog entries. This first entry will showcase balancing the ambient exposure with flash exposure. For our first series of shots, we wanted to capture all the dynamic colors of the sunrise and be able to light the subject using off camera flash.

My first shot of the morning was a quick exposure check. We had a gorgeous sunrise and my goal was to capture the bold and vibrant colors. I started with my Canon EOS 7D paired with the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L . (f/4, 1/80, ISO100)

Once I established my base ambient exposure, I had one of our models get in place for another quick exposure check. Same settings.

Now we're ready to add light. Since we were working at sunrise, the light was changing fast. I adjusted my shutter speed to 1/125 to ensure I still retained the same boldness of the sky. I used a White Lightning X3200 gelled with a 1/2 CTO inside Photek 60" Softlighter II camera right. When using large modifiers outdoors, it's a good idea to have your lights on sturdy support. For this setup, we used the Impact Turtle Base Century C StandNow we're ready to add light. Since we were working at sunrise, the light was changing fast. I adjusted my shutter speed to 1/125 to ensure I still retained the same boldness of the sky. I used a White Lightning X3200 gelled with a 1/2 CTO inside Photek 60" Softlighter II camera right. When using large modifiers outdoors, it's a good idea to have your lights on sturdy support. For this setup, we used the Impact Turtle Base Century C Stand
Here is the result.

This is what the setup looked like.

Come back on Friday to see some more shots with a totally different look.
Visit my Facebook page for more images.

How I Made This: Overpowering the Sun

2010-07-04T08:05:00.001-04:00

I'm sure you've all heard the term "Overpowering the sun", but what does it really mean? Simply put, overpowering the sun means producing enough flash power to properly expose for a subject or model while underexposing the ambient light. Typically these types of shots will have the model backlit by the sun and front lit by a flash.
Here's an example:

As you can see the I was able to keep all the detail of the sunrise without overexposing. Without any flash the subject would be in complete shadow. I added flash to properly light the subject. My flash only affects my subject therefore I keep the same vibrant look to the sunrise.

As the sun gets high in the sky and the light from the sun gets brighter, you'll have to increase the power of your flash. Why? Before we answer that, let's talk about just exposing for the ambient or available light. To be able to get the proper exposure of a bright sky, or take it even more dramatic and underexpose the bright sky, your camera has to be able to take in less light in a shorter amount of time. To be able to do this, you'll want your camera's settings to be at the lowest ISO possible, have a small aperture, and a fast shutter speed. The shutter speed has to be fast but it can't be faster than the fastest sync speed that your camera can sync to a flash. This is usually 1/200 -1/250.

I start out by getting my camera's exposure set to achieve the look I want. At this point, I'm just concerned with the available light, not using flash yet. Once I get my base exposure, I'll get the subject in place and introduce flash. I don't use a light meter so I just take a best guess at the flash power, take a test shot and view my results on the back of my camera. I may have to make 1-2 more adjustments in the flash power but at this point I'm off and running.

Here's another expample:

I used a Canon EOS 7D with the Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L II for this shot. My camera exposure settings were f/11 / ISO250 / 1/250.

I lit the subject with an Einstein640 inside of a beauty dish to camera left. The power on the flash was set to somewhere near half power.

Here's another shot from the same day.

As the sun gets higher and the light it produces gets brighter, you'll have to change your camera's exposure settings to reduce the amount of light coming in. Since I was already at the lowest ISO and I was stuck with a 1/250 shutter speed (max sync speed for the 7D), I simply stopped down my aperture to f/18. The thing to keep in mind is, as you change the aperture on your camera, not only will that affect the ambient exposure, it will also affect the flash exposure. For this shot, I had to increase the power on the flash to almost full power.

So "overpowering the sun" means fighting light with light. Just make sure you bring a lot of light!

Outdoor Lighting Class

2010-06-21T09:06:00.000-04:00

We had a great turn out at Buckroe Beach for the outdoor lighting class. 3 models and about 30 photographers got to together to create some stunning images.

B&H Photo was generous enough to allow us to use some of their gear for the class and all the gear came in real handy.

We started our class with the sun still pretty high in the sky. We had the sun behind the model and used a large reflector to get some light back on her. We used the Impact 42" 5 in 1 Reflector seen being used here:

It can be used as a gold reflector, silver reflector, zebra (gold/silver) reflector, white reflector, and a translucent diffuser. Once we got the hang of being able to properly bouce light from the sun into the model's face, it worked quite well. The great aspect of using a reflector is, you're not limited to a certain shutter speed to sync to. Most cameras have a max sync speed of 1/200 or 1/250 of a second when using powered lights. Anyone who has metered an exposure in the bright sun will know that using 1/250 shutter speed will probably require an aperture of f/16 or even f/22 meaning everything will be in focus even the distracting elements behind your subject, not to mention the small aperture will dramatically reduce the relative flash power. This is where a large reflector shines (excuse the pun) I can shoot a wide open aperture of f/2.8, focus only on the subject and blur everything else out, and I'm not limited to 1/250 shutter speed. I was taking shots at f/2.8, 1/2000, ISO100, and getting great light on the model.

I was thoroughly impressed with their Impact Century Stand seen here:

The stand is heavy duty and very sturdy. We were able to mount the stand on the beach without any sand bags. The stand supported two 580EXIIs and a beauty dish in a slight wind without a hint of budge. The stand rises to a maximum height of 9.8 feet and can support up to 22 lbs.

Light stands are not a vital ingredient of making an image like a camera body, lens, or lights, but a good light stand can serve as an essential tool to make your job as a photographer so much easier and stress free. The last thing you want to worry about is having your lights fall because of a weak light stand. After using the Impact Master C Stand on two outdoor shoots, I was pleasantly surprised with the contrcution and sturdiness of them, and they are less than $100 compared to the $140 comparable Avenger C Stand.

We were able to remotely trigger both 580EXIIs using the Impact PowerSync 10 transmitter on the hotshoe of the camera and the Impact PowerSync 10 Receiver connected to the 580EXIIs. Transmitter pictured here:

and receivers pictured here:

The setup worked very reliably and since they are radio triggers, they do not require line of sight to work. Radio triggers also work great in the bright sun where infared triggers would normally fail. We got a consistent pop with this setup from up to about 150 feet away. The range might be longer if used indoors.

All in all it was a fun gathering and hopefully our members learned a lot.

Sarah and Kyle

2010-06-05T15:15:00.001-04:00

I had an awesome engagement shoot with Sarah and Kyle this morning. The weather cooperated had provided us with some nice warm light.

Photographing Sunrises & Sunsets

2010-06-01T07:36:00.001-04:00

Here are a few of my images I have taken this year from various spots in Hampton Roads. All of these images were taken at sunrise. I'll be using these as examples for the class I'm teaching tonight at the Hampton Roads Digital Photography Club.

Most of these images were captured with the following equipment:
5D Mark II ,
Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 L II

Stay tuned and I'll post some notes from the class in the next few days.

The Angry Sea

2010-05-13T10:21:00.002-04:00

My goal was to capture the dramatic, angry, and cold sea this morning.

Camera settings:
ISO100, f/16, 1.6 seconds

Gear used:
5D Mark II with a EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II mounted on a RRS BH-55 Ball Head on a Gitzo GT5541LS Tipod. I also used a Lee .9 Graduated Neutral Density Filter to balance the brighter sky with the darker foreground.

My Gear

2010-05-11T07:25:00.007-04:00

Camera Bodies
5D Mark II
7D

Lenses
Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM

Speedlites
Canon 580EX II
Canon 430EX II

Lighting Support
Avenger A2030D C Stand w/ Detachable Base
Avenger D600 Mini Boom Arm

More to come!

I'm now a B&H Affiliate

2010-05-03T16:11:00.002-04:00

My exciting new for today is that I am now a B&H Affiliate. I guess they recognized how many times they send me packages and thought "This guy must know something about camera gear." ;)
So, look out for exciting new content on my blog. I'll be adding some behind the scenes shots and videos, my gear recommendations, and some more tutorials. Also, join my page.Facebook page.

The new Einsteins

2010-04-23T18:19:00.003-04:00

I got the new Einstein lights from Paul Buff. They're 640WS (comparable to an AB B1600) I got to use them today and they worked great.

They seem better constructed than the Alien Bees though not as well as the White Lightning series. My biggest gripe with Alien Bees are the color of the light was not consistent across the power range. Actually they didn't even seem consistent within a given power setting. This is where the Einsteins shine. I used a gray card to color balance once for each camera I used today (7D & 5D Mark II) and every shot after that looked consistent. The light coming out of these look clean. I don't know how else to describe it. The color that comes out of the Alien Bees seemed to be dingy at times. I haven't played around with all the functions and features of the new lights but I was pleased with their performance today. One huge nitpick that I have is the 4 clips that keep the modifiers on. Let's just say they don't do a great job with keeping them on. The clips need to be a bit longer and bow out more. I found the Alien Bees and White Lightning had the same issue.
Here are 2 shots I took today with the Einsteins.

My recent works

2010-03-15T06:50:00.009-04:00

Here are 3 images I've made recently.

This first image was taken at Buckroe Beach for thedaythat.com. The image was made with a Canon 7D and Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens. I also used a Singh Ray 3 Stop Reverse Graduated Neutral Density filter. (ISO100, f11, 5 seconds)
You can check out all the images taken that morning by clicking March 11th on our calendar.

This second image is of Lisa. She is the current Miss Teen Williamsburg. This image was made with a Canon 5D Mark II and the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS. ((ISO160, f/7.1, 1/125) I placed a bare bulb strobe to camera left. I converted the image to black and white and then added warm tones to it in Lightroom 2.

This last image is of a hall way in the Richmond Convention Center. I was there last week to see Ben Willmore for a Photoshop Seminar sponsored by NAPP.

Two Color or Not to Color

2010-03-02T11:37:00.002-05:00

These were taken off of Colonial Parkway

Snake or Eggs

2010-02-27T10:05:00.003-05:00

I noticed what appeared to be a skeleton of a snake on the beach. I took a few shots of it as the anchor of my composition. I even named it "The Serpent has been Defeated" Several people then tell me that it's a whelk egg case. I had to google it to find out what that was. Nevertheless, it still makes for an interesting image.

Oil of Olay

2010-02-22T19:46:00.003-05:00

Here's a head shot of Jenni. I back lit her with a softbox and lit her from the front with a beauty dish above her.

Shadows

2010-02-18T18:45:00.003-05:00

7D + Tonkina 11-16mm f/2.8
(ISO100, f/14, 1/13)
B&W Circular Polarizer

Wildlife with the 7D and 400mm f/2.8 IS L 1.4xTC

2010-02-05T19:43:00.004-05:00

I decided to take the 7D for a test drive today. I shot some wildlife at Newport News Park to see how fast and accurate the autofocusing system is and I was not disappointed.

Image of the Week

2010-01-27T09:12:00.001-05:00

7D + 10-22mm @ 10mm
(ISO100, f/11, 1/5)
Singh Ray 3 Stop Reverse Grad ND filter

Image of the Week

2010-01-18T20:18:00.005-05:00

7D 24-70mm f/2.8 L
(ISO125, f/3.5, 1/160)
White Lightning 1600 bare bulb with a 1/2 CTO placed outside of my living room window, flashing through my vertical blinds at max power.

Image oif the Week

2010-01-10T06:26:00.003-05:00

5D Mark II 24-70mm f/2.8 L
This image was made at Buckroe Beach. I was shooting the sunrise with a 3 Stop Grad ND filter and I decided to pull it all the way down to turn it into a solid ND filter. It sloweed down the shutter speed to 8 seconds.

Image of the week

2010-01-03T06:37:00.003-05:00

It's a new year so I thought I would revamp my blog. My 2010 Blog Resolutions are to have more articles and more images posted. One idea I have for my blog is to showcase an image, how I captured it, and a brief story behind it.

Here is this week's image:

This was made with my new 7D + 10-22mm. I used a Singh Ray 5 Stop Soft Graudated Neutral Density filter. (ISO100, f/14, 1/125)
I was a bit hestitant about buying a 5 stop grad ND filter but it proved to be helpful in this tough exposure situation.

It was blistering cold the morning I took this shot. I was warm and dry because of the gear I was wearing but I was a bit worried about my new camera and lens. It was extremely windy and it seemed like I was in the middle of a sand storm.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T13:11:00.005-05:00

I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
A group of us (Jerry Kelley, Steven Hoagland, Sherry Boylan, Genevieve Neal, Jim Hansen, and I ) photographed the sunrise this morning at Grandview. It was especially challenging with cloudless sky. Even with a 3 stop graduated neutral density filter, I had to do some exposure blending to even out the contrast.

Cold

2009-12-18T23:26:00.003-05:00

....but it was worth waking up. I was rewarded with these magnificent colors.
Both were mad with a 5D Mark II, 17-40mm f/4 L, and I also borrowed a friend's Sing Ray 3 Stop Reverse Grad ND filter.

Holly Dazzle

2009-12-06T19:36:00.005-05:00

This was taken during Holly Dazzel at City Center

Beauty Lighting

2009-11-14T11:34:00.006-05:00

I did a blog article on beauty lighting a few months ago but I love the results of this lighting setup so much, I wanted to share again. Last time I used one light from above and a reflector at the bottom. This time I used one light from above inside of a beauty dish and one light from the bottom inside of a medium softbox and this is the result.

My lovely wife Michele

Photographing the Holidays

2009-11-10T10:02:00.007-05:00

The Holidays should be a time of joy and celebration but it often turns stressful for whomever is in charge of taking the pictures. This year, eliminate the stress and take better pictures by following a few basic tips.

Be Prepared
The night before the holiday gathering, make sure you have your gear ready. This means fully charged batteries, and an extra set. Plenty of empty memory cards. Tripod, light stands, reflectors. You may also want to have your camera and flash settings correct prior to the family gathering as well. This will ensure your pictures turn out great without having to fumble with the settings while your family is there.

Use the Right Light
When photographing the Christmas tree, avoid using flash. Flash will overpower the lights on the Christmas tree and create a harsh shadow. Also, try out of focus shots when photographing the tree.

If it's all possible, avoid using the on-camera pop-up flash when photography people. Direct flash is very unflattering and should be avoided. If you do not have the option for remote flashes, using something like a piece paper towel over the flash will help soften and diffuse the light.

Also consider using as much available light as possible. This means opening the windows and letting natural light in. If you're using lights from lamps or other artificial light sources, remember to change the White Balance setting on your camera to avoid strong color shifts.

Getting Great Holiday Family Portraits

Hire me!
But if you want to try yourself, these tips may help.

Have the family wear festive, holiday colors. You want the photo to say the Holidays so greens, reds, and whites are appropriate. Not everyone has to wear the same color, but patterns and busy prints should be avoided.
If you decide to take the photo outdoors, earth toned colors are a safe bet.

Make sure all your camera and lighting settings are correct before the family poses. This will ensure that the task will be stress free and that you keep your subjects looking happy. This is especially true for kids and babies. You'll have a time span of about 2 minutes. Make sure you spend that time getting great smiles and expressions and not fidgeting with your camera settings.

When photographing a group of people, have everyone close their eyes and count to three. On three, have them open their eyes and then take the shot. This will reduce the chances of someone blinking.

Getting Great Holiday Family Candids
Make a list of shots that you don't want to miss. A list will help you remember important shots that you may otherwise forget because of the hectic nature of the day.

When photographing kids and pets, get on their level. Perspective can make a break a photo.

Anticipation is the key. Be ready when kids open their gifts to make sure you capture their expressions.

Take a shot for every gift opened. This will help keep memories alive.

When photographing in the snow, remember that all digital cameras will have a tendency to underexpose. Change the settings on your camera to increase the exposure 1-2 times the norm.

Last but not least.....have fun!

A Balloon Festival with no balloons

2009-11-02T08:01:00.006-05:00

I’ve planned a trip to Winchester, VA a few months ago. I booked a hotel for a couple of days and made plans to visit Skyline Drive and the annual Winchester Balloon Festival. We arrived at our hotel on Thursday and visited Skyline Drive after getting checked in. We were hoping to photograph the beautiful fall foliage along Skyline Drive. We were disappointed because there was about 10 feet of visibility due to the thick clouds that were lingering around the mountains so needless to say the photographic opportunities were nil but we had high hopes for Friday.

We woke up at 4AM to be able to get to the mountains in time to catch the sunrise. We were disappointed once again with the thick cloud cover until we got a break in the clouds. It only lasted about 20 minutes, just in time to get this image:

The clouds rolled back in quickly but I wasn’t ready to quit shooting yet. I couldn’t really shoot anything wide because the lack of visibility so I decided to pull out the 400mm and snag these shots:

We later stopped for breakfast at a restaurant off of Skyline Drive. The food was good but the architecture was better. Here is a shot of the restaurant’s ceiling:

We decided to make our way to downtown Winchester. It was a gloomy day but at least we were under the clouds and not literally in them. Here are a few shots I made while in town:

Yummy Thia food.

Saturday morning was the big morning. THE HOT AIR BALLOON LAUNCH! We arrived at the Balloon festival at 7AM ready to capture the big hot air balloons. We left at 8:30AM after they announced the balloon launch was cancelled due to the weather. BUMMER! :-(
I did sang a few non-balloon photos at the festival:

All the aniticipation and planning went down the tubes. It was time to head back home. We drove down Skyline Drive and I managed to get one more decent photo:

There's always next year.

Accent Lighting

2009-10-18T07:41:00.003-04:00

Accent lighting can add a nice three dimensional touch to any shot but it can be challenging to properly execute. The goal is to create a soft light that can be contained to a certain area. Soft light usually spreads everywhere thus making two light sources appear flat. So how do you create soft light that's also controllable? Grids!

For this shot of Heather, I used a Beauty Dish with a grid on it (camera left) as the key light, and a stripbox with a grid (camera right) for the accent light.

Seascape Techniques

2009-10-11T09:05:00.015-04:00

I posted some seascape images in my last Blog post . For this blog entry, I'll list some techniques and equipment I used to capture them.

Exposure
Getting the correct exposure is vital with any type of photography and seascapes are no expcetion. I like photographing the sea when the sun is near the horizon. This is the time when the drama happens. The colors will be vivid and bold and the colors will be reflected off of the water.

Keep in mind that the expsoure will be tricky because the sky will be bright and the foreground will be dark. It will be difficult to show detail in both the sky and foreground because the range of light will often be greater than what the camera can handle. You can overcome this by either using a graduated neutral density filter or braketting the exposure and bledning the exposures in post processing. (I'll post the step on how I do this later in the week) To bracket the exposure, place your camera on manual exposure. I like using a small aperture (f/11-f/22) to increase the depth of field. Use the lowest true ISO your camera can go to. Adjust the shutter speed to get a decent base exposure and then just vary your shutter speed up and down + - 3 stops.

Composition
Rule of thirds! Enough said! Actually I'll expand. Try not to split the horizon and try even harder not to place the sun smack dab in the middle. This will create a bullseye effect and the viewer's eye will focus in the center and stay there.

Keep the horizon level!

Look for an interesting foreground obect(s). (Rocks, drift wood, shells, jetty, or bring your own starfish.)

Try getting low. Avoid having the camera aimed straight and at eye level. Remember that you're creating art and not just recording events.

Focus
Use one focus point and place that focus point on the lower thirds, usually on the interesting foreground object. Once you have the focus locked, set it to manual so it won't refocus as you bracket your shots.

Color
In most cases Auto White Balance will do just fine but try experimenting with different Kelvin values. In most cases Auto White Balance will try to correct color, so if there is a very warm sunset, AWB will overcompensate and add more blue to try to "correct" the color. If accuracy is vital to you, using a calibrated gray card is a good way to make sure the white balance is accurate. Keep in mind that shooting in RAW is extremely beneficial not only for exposure forgiveness but also for nondestructive color adjustments.

Equipment Considerations

Sturdy tripod and ballhead - ensures sharpness
Cable release - ensures sharpness
Graduated ND filter - Balances contrast of bright sky and dark foreground
ND filter - slows shutter speed to capture motion in the water
Lenses - Various focal lenghths for various looks. Typically wide angle works best. Lens with large aperture and IS are not necessary.
Circular Polarizer - boosts saturation, darkens skies without darking white clouds, reduces glare off of water, see underwater objects normally unseen without polarization.

Sand, Sea, & Sky

2009-10-07T14:33:00.002-04:00

Next Tuesday's class (October 13th) will be on the topic of shooting seascapes and fall foilage. Here are some seascapes I've shot in the past. We'll talk technique in the class.

Old Fashion Bubbles

2009-10-01T10:37:00.003-04:00

Here's a shot of Andrew playing with bubbles. I converted the image to sepia.
Remember, when shooting children or pets, get on their level.

Check out Firg's site

2009-09-29T08:16:00.001-04:00

I'm a guest blogger today at Firg's site: CLICK HERE

Light+Color+Fog=Dramatic

2009-09-19T20:46:00.004-04:00

It took my about 30 minutes to finally to get this shot but I think it was well worth it.
I started out with one light. A White Lightning 1600 gelled blur, bare bulb. I had to adjust the power and distance to get it just right. I then added a directional font light. An Alien Bee 800 inside of a gridded softbox, camera right. I got the exposure right on both of them but I thought the image still lacked drama. I then added the home made gobo in front of the backlight which helped a bit but the real drama started when I turned on the fog mahcine. The combination of gelled blue backlight and fog really worked well with the gobo. The light spread into rays, castint through the fog and parts of the bike making for an image I was proud of.

Soccer Dad

2009-09-19T20:45:00.005-04:00

I was the only parent at my son's soccer who had a lens that weighed more than a small child:

But it was worth lugging the BEAST around capturing the action because The Yellow Hammers won their first soccer game.

He's only 6! Andrew (Beckham)

Location Lighting: Answers

2009-08-31T07:40:00.025-04:00

Last week I solicited questions regarding Location Lighting. Here are some of the questions I received and my responses.

Allan said...
"Will,
I am a photographer and have run across this term 1/4 CTO gell or full CTO gell. I have a gel pack that I ordered from the US but the actual gels do not have labels as to 1/4 or full.

First - does this refer to the density of the gel colour on the gel film?
Second - how can you tell which is which?

I have just discovered your website and I think the images are really great."

Thanks Allan. CTO stands for Color Temperature Orange. There are varying degrees of CTO gels ranging from 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and Full CTO. CTO gels are used to change the color temperature of the flash to warm. The stronger the CTO, the warmer the light output will be. Without the labels on the CTO, it is difficult to distinguish what strength CTO gel it is, however it is safe to say that the more orange the CTO is, the stronger it will be to change the color temperature.

Sharon Kearns said...
"Hi Will, I will be doing some shoots on the beach at sunset within the next month & would like to know what kind of equipment/flash accessories i will need? I use a canon 40d & still don't have an external flash! What is the best quality one?
Thanks,
Sharon Kearns"

Great question Sharon. The first thing is to get the flash off of the camera. If you buy an external flash also known as a speedlight and place it on the hotshoe of your camera, you'll just have an extra powerful popup flash. The key to good lighting is to seperate the light from the camera axis. Depending on your budget, Canon has several options to choose from with their flagship speedlight being the 580EXII. It's their most powerful flash and it can act as a master, controlling other flashes. If you decide to get just one speedlite, you may want to consider getting some kind of triggering system that will activate the flash when it's off of your camera. There are several to choose from ranging from around $50-$150. If you're going to be using the flash outdoors, I would recommend using radio triggers. Radio triggers do not rely on "line of sight" and their signal is not effected by harsh sunlight. One other thing to consider is getting something that will soften or diffuse the light coming from the flash. The cheapest and easiest modifier to use is probably an umbrella. It will soften the light and spread it all around making a light that's a few inches big to 40 inches big.

Developing Designs said...
Will, Thanks for giving us the opportunity to ask questions. Off camera flash is something I have been struggling with and would love to try and understand better. Is there any sort of formula to know sync speed or what power settings to use on the flash (1/2 power or full) in certain situations. I mainly do portraits, and interiors.
I am working with a Nikon D80 with 2 SB600s (off camera)
Thank you!

The Max Synch Speed of the D80 is 1/200 but that doesn't mean you have to use that shutter speed everytime. Nikon actually has a really good flash system called CLS. It uses TTL technology to determine flash output. TTL stands for Through The Lens. It sends a quick preflash and in miliseconds determines how much actual flash is needed to properly expose the subject. It works good in most cases but never great in all cases. I prefer using manual settings on the camera and the flash because once I get my exposure right, I know I can rely on consistent results for every shot. The real question is how do I determine the right exposure for a shot. I don't normally use a light meter. For outdoor shots or shots that have some ambient light, you'll have to worry about 2 exposures; ambient and flash. I start by determining what I want my aperture to be. I then choose my shutter speed and ISO. Shutter speed has virtually no effect on flash exposure however it does effect how much ambient light gets into your shot. Determine the balance you want to find between the subject and the background. I start with the flash off. I get my the exposure I want for the background by choosing the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO in manual mode. Once that has been determined and set, I introduce flash. Again, I don't use a light meter so I take a best guess, take a shot with flash, look at my lcd and make changes as needed.

When shooting in a studio, I just keep my shutter speed at 1/160. I only have to worry about one exposure and that's the flash exposure on the subject. Choose the desired aperture, keep your ISO set to the lowest possible, and the shutter speed at max synch or slightly lower. I take a shot and look at the image and adjust my flash power as needed.

Again, I don't use a light meter or try to figure out ratios. If I use more than one light sources, and often I do, I start with one light, get that right and then add more lights.

This question was emailed to me from Bob.

"Will: I have three speedlights (580EXII, 550EX, and 430EX). My light modifiers consist of a Gary Fong universal lightsphere and stofen diffusers. I am interested in what addtional equipment you suggest and how you use it."

Bob, the Gary Fong and Stofen dome diffusers were designed primary for on camera flash as a way to diffuse the light and/or bounce the light off of a wall or ceiling. Since you have the 580EXII which can act as a Master and can control other flashes wirelessly, I would start using off camera flash. I would reccomend getting from light stands and some shoot through umbrellas. A shoot through umbrella can make a small speedlight into a huge light source. Remember that the larger the light, the softer the light.

This question was posted on the NAPP forum by Michael:

"Which lights do you prefer to use on location (outside), your Alien Bees or your Canon Speedlights and why?"

Michael, I prefer using my Speedlights while on location because I don't have to worry about carrying a heavy battery pack and since I do a lot of beach shoots, I don't have to worry about getting fried if water touches my gear.

This question was posted on the NAPP forums as well by sfsherrill:

"I have two questions regarding umbrellas on location. First: How large? Wind can often be an issue in outdoor shooting and a the larger the umbrella, the more it wants to become a sail. Second: If you use a shoot through umbrella, you can get closer to your subject (assuming a portrait) because you can place your flash, umbrella shaft, light stand, etc. away from your subject making it possible to get away with a smaller umbrella - BUT - and here's my question, what is the most obvious difference in the quality of light between a shoot through vs a bounce umbrella?"

You're right. Umbrellas can act as a sail and just a little gust of wind can knock your gear over. This is why I try to work with an assistant as much as possible to hold the light. If I don't have an assistant, I use sand bags and weights to anchor my light stands.

I prefer using a shoot through umbrella when photographing individuals because as you mentioned, I can place the umbrella really close to the subject. I often place a shoot through umbrella right outside the frame of view to get the softest light. I prefer using a bounce or reflective umbrella when shooting groups because I can have the umbrella further away and it spreads the light broader.

This question was asked by joejoebarnes:

joejoebarnes said...
Hi Will and thanks for letting us ask you qusetions here. New first meeting was last night enjoyed it.

"I am tring to learn as much as i can about outside off camera flash. My questions is first is what equitment do you use. What is your starting set up for outdoor small flash if you do have a starting point. Say when you are on location and you have your camera settings at ss 400 f/4 iso 400 the 580exll and do you use FEC and CEC to off set say CEC@-2/3 and FEC@+2/3 and what kind of defuser do you use.

Thanks Joe"

Joe,

I use a Canon 1D Mark III and 5D Mark II for camera bodies and various lenses. I have four 580EXIIs and three 430EXIIs for speedlights. I also have Alien Bees and White Lightning studio strobes. I use various modifiers for both my speedlights and studio strobes.

To answer your second question.......there is really no cookie cutter settings for lighting or exposure for that matter. The settings will or should be determined by how much light is available and what effect you're trying to achieve. Get to the location and then start metering for the ambient light. Each location will call for different settings. Also, you should try to stay within the max synch speed of your camera to flash. In most cases, that will be between 1/160 - 1/250 shutter speed...unless you're using high speed synch. That's a whole another discussion.

I shoot in manual mode for the camera and flash so there is no reason for me to use FEC or EV+-. I get my ambient exposure right with my camera and then set my flash exposure. I may have to make minor adjustments as the ambient light increases or deceases but I find using manual functions renders more consistent results and it puts the decision making in your hands and not the camera's.

I use various modifiers and diffusers. The most common is the shoot through umbrella, softbox, and beauty dish. I sometimes have to go bare bulb with just a dome diffuser if it's extremely windy. I had a shoot this morning and it was extremely windy and my umbrella actually turned inside out due to the strong gusts so I had to put it back in the bag.

This question was asked by Frank (cooksfriend):

Will if I am using CTO 1/4 gel and I double it, is my output the same as 1/2 CTO???

cooksfriend

Frank,
That's right Frank. Doubling a 1/4 CTO will get you the same color temperature as a 1/2 CTO however, you may loose a bit of flash power because the the extra sheet of CTO may eat some light. It's probably a negligible amount though considering the CTO gels are actually really thin.

Well, I hope this has been helpful. If anyone has any follow up questions, please feel free to ask.

Here's Your Chance to Ask Me

2009-08-24T20:30:00.004-04:00

My next blog article will be on Location Lighting. Here's your chance to ask questions. I'll post as many questions and try to answer them all. Post your questions here regarding exposure, camera settings, light settings/output, color balance, exposure balance, synch, triggering, equipment, etc. Ask away!

Don't Be Afraid of the Shadow

2009-08-11T21:22:00.004-04:00

Shadows create depth and dimension but they can also create something artistic like seen here:

This was taken with a single AlienBee B800 inside of a beauty dish.

Beauty Light

2009-08-11T21:21:00.005-04:00

The recipe of beauty light typically calls for two light sources. One light source on top and another on the bottom. This is also called clamshell lighting. The light sources should be large and very close to the subject to provide a nice even, soft radient glow. I added a third light source to this shot of Shawn, an Alien Bee 800 right behind her to add a nice touch to her hair. t
This image was made with a 5D Mark II. Alien Bee B800 inside of a large softbox above and to camera left. A reflector below her which counts as another light source. An Alien Bee B800 right behind her.

Overpowering the Sun

2009-08-08T16:13:00.005-04:00

The sun is a huge ball of fire that's a 100 times larger than the Earth so trying to overpower it is no easy task but if achieved can render some dramatic results.

This image of Cris was made with a 5D Mark II 24-70mm f/2.8 L
(ISO200, f/10, 1/200)

Three 580EXIIs firing through a shoot through umbrella camera left, manual. All full power, all with a 3/4 CTO. All three were connected to a single PocketWizard PlusII.

Adding Props

2009-08-08T14:14:00.004-04:00

I like to do things to mix it up a bit. Whether it's shooting at different angles, unique compositions, or as seen in this image, adding a prop. I found this vintage umbrella on ebay for $15. I think it adds a nice touch.

This shot of Alex was taken with a 5D Mark II 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS. TThree 580EXIIs firing through a shoot through umbrella at 1/4 power. All of them were triggered with on PocketWizard PlusII with a 3/4 CTO on each, camera right.

Cheating the Sync

2009-08-06T17:45:00.004-04:00

Most DSLRs these days have a maximum synch speed with the flash at 1/160 to 1/250. The shutter speed can be faster than the maximum synch speed but the flash will not fill the entire frame. This is problem when shooting in a studio where there's very little ambient light, but not that big of a problem when shooting outdoors where there's plenty of ambient light.

1D Mark III 24-70mm f/2.8 L
(ISO50, f/5, 1/400)

3 Canon 580EXIIs firing through a shoot through umbrella all at full power camera left.

I cheated the native sync speed 0f the 1D Mark III which is 1/250.

What's a good portrait lens?

2009-07-31T19:08:00.007-04:00

What's a good portrait lens? I get asked this question a lot. There is really no such thing as a "portrait lens." Some lenses are better than others for portrait photography because of their focal length but just about any lens can be used for portraits. Typically 80-135mm is a good focal length range for portraits but sometimes I don't like being typical. This shot of Mandy was taken with a 400mm f/2.8 L IS. 400mm is pretty far from the typical 80-135mm range but the results are magnificent.

Lights on / Lights off

2009-07-29T08:35:00.005-04:00

Lighting is as much about what you don't light as what you do light. As photographers, we have the ability to orchestrate the viewer's eye with composition, leading lines, and how we light. Light can put the focus on something specific and the absence of light can remove the focus on what's not important.

With the image above, I light the model's face with directional side lighting to emphasize her hair, eyes, and lips. I also placed a light underneath her dress to give it a glow and the lead the viewer's eye from her face to something almost as important; her wedding dress. I made sure the light didn't contaminate the background so then only thing that's visible is her.

In most cases, defined shadows can be distracting but in this image, the shadows adds a nice artistic element. I used a single strobe inside a beauty dish which puts out light that has a bit more contast that a softbox does.

DreamScapes

2009-07-23T21:58:00.004-04:00

Photographs taken by me in Hawaii and Utah. Enjoy.

Worldwide Photo Walk

2009-07-19T09:43:00.004-04:00

The Second Annual Worldwide Photowalk was yeterday. I decided to participate at two locations; Norfolk & Williamsburg. The Norfolk photo walk started at 10AM. Here's a group photo I took of all us.

The photo looks like it was taken more like 6AM. That's because I purposefuly underexposed the ambient light and used 3 speedlights to light us.

I thought I would do things a little differently this year and incorporate off camera flash in my shots. I spent about two hours with my buddy Mike Preston, just walking through the streets of downtown Norfolk looking for compelling people to photograph.

Here is a man I spotted passing by on his bike who allowed me to photograph him. I used three 580EXIIs mounted on one light stand, gelled with 1/2 CTOs, shooting through an umbrella.

After the photo walk, we had lunch at Gillians in Norfolk; bad food and bad service but getting to meet other photographers was worth it.

I made it home, changed my clothes, and made it to the Williamsburg walk just in time to be late. I eventuallty met up with the other shooters. Here is one of the shots I took in Williamsburg. I took a similar shot a few months ago but this time I added flash to the moving subject. Again, I purposefuly underexposed the ambient light and cranked up the flashes.

All in all, it was a fun day. I didn't get any award winning shots but it was nice to just get out there and strobe.

Ticked Off

2009-07-14T10:52:00.012-04:00

I often go to great lengths to capture a compelling photo. I've been knee deep in fast flowing waters, standing on slippery rocks, trying to balance myself and my tripod/camera at the same time to capture a shot of the Upper Provo River, Utah. Seen here.

I was in a open helicopter (no side windows), leaning out over jagged knife like rocks and cliffs to capture a breathtaking scene of a reflected rainbow in Kauai. Seen here.

But, my scariest moment involving my camera was......
...last night when I found a tick on my back. I was at a local park near dusk photographing Ajike in her wedding dress this past Saturday. There were several times where I placed myself in high grass/weeds, thorn bushes, and layed in the grass to get the right angle and perspective. (She was low, so I got low)

Another shot from the same night

I went home with several mosquito bites all over me. Two days later, after scratching the itchy bites profusely, they turned into scabs. I felt what I thought to be a large scab on my back and checked it in the mirror. I asked my wife to look at it and from her initial reaction I knew it was a tick. ARRRRGGGHHH! I hate ticks! She got the tweezers and safety pin and dug that buried sucker out.

Note to self: Do a thorough check after an outdoor photoshoot
or
stay in the safe confines of a studio!

Photographing Landscapes

2009-07-06T06:36:00.038-04:00

This is the first topic for the newly formed Hampton Roads Digital Photography Club.
Our plan is to cover a different topic in a classroom environment once a month. The class will be held the first Tuesday of every month, with a photo walk to follow on the second Tuesday. The photo walk will be focused around what was covered in the class. The third Tuesday will be a post processing class. It's intended to cover post processing techniques used to edit and process the photos taken during the photowak the week prior. Keep in mind that if people are not able to attend the Tuesday evening photo walk, they are encouraged to shoot on their own or with a group on another day and use those images for the post processing class.

So without further ado, here is my lesson for
Photographing Landscapes

Camera Settings
One of the most frequently asked questions I get when it comes to any type of photography is "What should the camera settings be?" My answer is always "It depends."

Photographing landscapes is no exception. There are a lot of variables that come into play when photographing landscapes, the biggest being how much light is available.

Exposure Triangle (Aperture, ISO, Shutter Speed)

There are always exceptions to the rule, but typically when shooting landscapes you want to maximize the depth of field. The most effective way to maximize the DoF is to use a small aperture. I like to use a range from f/8 to f/22. This will ensure that most of what's in the frame will be in focus.

For this reason, I always consider aperture the most important ingrediant of the exposure triangle (Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO).

The ISO should be set to the lowest possible setting.

The shutter speed only plays a supporting role when photographing landscapes. The shutter speed will vary and ultimately be determined by your aperture, ISO, and of course how much light is available in the scene. The only time the shutter speed plays a major role in making your image is when moving water is in the scene. A slow shutter speed can create the milky water effect look.

Other Camera Settings

White Balance is less critical as an in camera setting than other camera settings when shooting in RAW. The white balance can be adjusted in post processing without any damage being done to the image. I usually set my camera's WB to Auto White Balance and make adjustments in post processing as needed.

The camera's metering mode plays a strong role in determing the all overall exposure of the scene. I find that multizone metering is the best choice for photographing landscapes. (Depending who the manufacturer is of your camera, this meter mode might be called Matrix or Evaluative). Multizone metering looks at several parts of the scene and determines the best overall exposure for the whole scene. If you are shooting in full manual, meter modes will not affect the exposure at all.

I always use a single focus point when photographing anything including landscapes. One common misconception of using the multi-focus point or auto-focus point option is that it can focus on different things in the frame. This is false. Cameras can only place precise focus on one area. The depth of field will determine how much of starts to become out of focus. In multi-focus mode, the camera chooses what it thinks is the most interesting part of the scene and attempts to place the focus on that object. This typically is determined contrast, although new facial recognition technology ie becoming popular. When attempting to focus in multi-focus mode, several focus points will blink. The blinking focus points indicate what the camera is attempting to focus on.

Mirror lockup is helpful to create a tack sharp image. DSLRs have a mirror that flips up and back down when taking a shot. The mirror reflects the image coming in from the lens and displays into your viewfinder. When pressing the shutter button, the mirror flips and allows the camera's sensor to campture the image. The flip up causes a minor vibration may reduce the sharpness of the image. Using mirror lockup eliminates the vibration because it flips the mirror up prior to taking the shot.

Equipment Considerations
Obviously you need a camera but what lens should you choose? I prefer wide angle lenses or even ultra-wide angle lenses for landscape photography. I like to take in as much of the scene as I can so the wider the better. Keep in mind that wide angle focal lenghths will make far away objects to appear smaller and might stretch out the out portions of the scene. Also keep in mind that wide angle lenses will suffer from barrel distortion depending on at what angle you point the lens. The further the lens is from being level, the greater the distortion will be.
Fast lenses (lenses capable of large apertures or small f/#) aren't neccesary for landscape photography. See comments above regarding aperture.
IS / VR or any other image stabilization isn't critical for landscape photography because you shouldn't hand hold your camera when shooting landscapes, which leads me to the next piece of equipment.

A sturdy tripod and a good ball head are a must for photographing landscapes. A good tripod should be adjustable, sturdy and stable yet light. A good ball head should allow you to securely mount the camera but also allow you to make adjustments to the pitch and rotation of the camera. They both work together to minimize any camera movement which ultimately results in maximizing sharpness.

A remote shutter release is a cable that attaches to your camera and allows you to take an exposure without pushing the shutter button on the camera. This is helpful because any contact with the camera while the camera is exposing an image can reduce sharness.

Filters can be beneficial when photographing landscapes depending on the kind of filter and what it is used for.
Circular Polarizers are screw on filters that can be used for more than one purpose. CPs can reduce the impact of reflections in the water and actually allow you to see and capture what's under the water.

Without CP filter

With CP filter

They can darken and increase the vibrancy of the sky. They also can increase the color saturation of the scene. Keep in mind that CP filters will impact the exposure by up to 2 stops. CP filters will vary in strength depending on how you rotate it once fully screwed onto the lens.

Neutral Density filters are used primarily to impede light. Impeding light will allow you to slow down the shutter speed without overexposing the image. This is ideal for photography moving water. ND filters can come in different intensities. For example, a 4 stop ND filter will allow you to slow down the shutter speed by 4 stops and get the same exposure.

Graduated Neutral Density filters are helpful when there is a large contrast of light between the sky and foreground typically found at sunrises and sunsets. Most GND filters are square/rectangular pieces of plastic that are placed in front of the lens. The top portion of the filter is neutral gray and gradually goes to clear. This impedes the bright light coming from the sky yet allows all the light present in the foreground thus creating a more even exposure. GND filters come in 1-5 stops.

Other Considerations
These other bits and pieces are a matter of taste and are subject to artistic opinion.

Composition can make or break a landscape photograph. This is how the photographer gets to orchestrate all the elements in the scene which will determine how the audience will view the image. The composition can either allow the viewer's eye to flow from one element to the other or constrict the viewier's eye to one area of the image. There are no absolute rules when it comes to art however, by following some proven guidlines, you can drastically improve the final presentation.

Keep the horizon completely level. Having an unlevel horizon is just unappealing and shows a lack of attention to detail. Enough said!

Include an interesting foreground element to the image.

When photographing the sea, include all three elements: The sand, the sea, and the sky.

Stick around after the sun goes down. Some of the most intense colors are rendered after the sunsets. There is also less of a contrast of light between sky and foreground after the sunsets which will make it easier to capture all the dynamic range.

Where to place the focus? Typcially I place the focus on the lower 1/3 area of the frame. This is also usually where I like to place my "interesting foreground obeject."

There are no film costs. Digital is free. Take multiple shots. Bracket your exposures. This will not only increase your chances of getting a good exposure, it will also allow you to have multiple exposures to use with HDR or exposure blending.

Try different things. Be creative. Have fun!

McNally, Models, & Modifiers....Oh My!

2009-07-03T19:38:00.005-04:00

My buddy Steve and I took a trip to Dobbs Ferry, NY. Dobbs Ferry is about 30 minutes outside of Manhattan......well more like 2 hours outside of Manhattan with NY rush hour traffic. We drove 8 hours, through 5 states, and through a torrential down pour all to see Joe McNally. Was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY!

Anybody that knows anything about photography, more specifically lighting, knows who Joe McNally is. I saw Joe in action a few months ago in Boston at Photoshop World. I was impressed enough to buy his latest book "The Hot Shoe Diaries." The whole title is actually "The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes." As you might guess the book is about getting the most out of small speedlights. The images in the book are just breathtaking. I also decided to buy his first book "The Moment it Clicks." Another display of imagination, creativity, and inginuity.

When Joe annouced that he was conducting a lighting workshop, I immediately made plans to go and I am so glad that I did. Steve and I arrived at a large white building that Joe rents as studio space but is also used as a warehouse. There were about 16 students there and about 9 or 10 of Joe's staff/friends. We were served a light breakfast with coffee. Joe started out by introducing himself and his friends and the students also made brief introductions. There were actually more than one Canon users :) Joe actually was thoughtful enough to bring in Syl Arena from pixsylated.com . Syl is commercial shooter from Cali who also is an expert with Canon gear.

After intros and a quick inspirational slideshow, we immediately starting absorbing the knowledge Joe was dropping. What I loved about Joe's approach to teaching is he does not come across as a "know it all." He's been shooting and lighting for probably longer than I've been alive but he'll be the first to tell you that light can have a life of its own and often time it's unpredictable. Joe never talked about precise formulas, ratios, or even used a light meter. His approach was more of "Let's try this and see what happens." More often than not, the lighting was spot on but there were a few times where it was way off. Joe explained that stuff like this happens and explained how to troubleshoot your way back to good lighting. He often started out with one light and one modifier and slowly built up to more lights and more modifiers until a masterpiece was made. Throughout that process, we ran into real world issues and learned how to stay calm and work ourselves through them.

Not only did we work with small speedlights, we also worked with big studio strobes with ocatboxes as large as the spot on Jupiter. Seeing Joe's plethora of gear was like browsing through the studio section of B&H (actually more like Adorama in Joe's case) We all got a chance to shoot several different lighting schemes with a different model at each station. He then broke us up into groups and allowed us to pick a model and a location to shoot at. This is where Syl was extremely helpful. He was able to answer Canon specific questions. Before I forget, I must apologize to him again. I nearly blinded him by accidently popping three 580EX IIs off at point blank range. Sorry Syl.

All in all, the experience was great. Joe impressed me in more ways than one. He was knowledgable, humble, nice, and funny. He memorized all 16 of the students' names. His staff and friends were all great. Just a tremendous pleasure to work with. The models were great too. Almost forgot. The food was home made and it was delicious. No cold cuts and stale bread. We had eggplant parmesian, chicken and veggie stir fry, rice and beans, salad, and dessert.

Here is a shot of a model I took. Her name is Bethany and she was extremely nice to work with. I used three of my 580EX IIs bare bulb with a 3/4 CTO on each of them.

Here is a shot of Joe at work:

Oh, almost forgot. I've found a way to set off 3 speedlights with one Pocket Wizard. I bought 2 of Lastolite's Triflashes.

I thought it was a pain to connect 3 Pocket Wizards to each of the speedlights. I found a Y adapter at Radioshack that allowed me to connect 2 speedlights to one Pocket Wizard but I still needed another Pocket Wizard for the 3rd speedlight. After doing a lot of searching online, I found this from Belkin:

It allows me to connect up to 4 speedlights to 1 Pocket Wizard.

Here's my setup:

Does it work? Absolutely!

Trying New Things

2009-06-27T12:14:00.013-04:00

In the past few days, I've tried some new lighting techniques that have rendered some great results. Well, they're not exactly new but they're new to me.

What I have learned:

~ I've learned not to always avoid shadows. Shadows can serve to add depth and dimension. I knew this was true when lighting people to create a sense of depth and dimension, hence the genius of off camera lighting, but the shadow that get casted on the background can also add depth and dimension. I think it also adds a bit more drama and an extra element of style.

Sarah
I used a single beauty dish above her. I started out by lighting the white backdrop as well. I soon discovered that the images were more dramatic when I eliminated the backdrop light and introduced the shadowing.

~ I've learned the benefit of HSS (High Speed Sync). Most DSLR cameras only have the ability to synch with flash at no faster than 1/250 of a second. If the shutter speed exceeds the camera's maximum synch speed, than the image will have a black bar towards the bottom of the frame because the camera's shutter closes before all the burst of light is captured. HSS fires very rapid multiple burst of light so the entire frame gets lit. The benefit of HSS is that it allows you to increase the shutter speed therefore you can keep the sky a deep vibrant blue but also have the subject well lit too.

Joel
Sun in the upper left, three 580EXIIs, one 430EXII. All with a 1/2 CTO, bare bulb, from camera right. Triggered by a 24" ETTL off camera cord.
5D Mark II, 24-70mm f/2.8. ISO250, 1/640, f/10

~ I've learned that contrasting colors can really make a subject stand out.

Lisa
I double processed this file to make the background see cooler and Lisa seem a bit warmer.

Mandy
I used a 1/2 CTO (Color Temperature Orange) gel over my light to create this effect. By choosing the right White Balance in the camera and the right colored gel over your light, you can do some pretty awesome stuff to the subject and the background as seen here where Mandy has a nice warm glow and the columns behind her are a ice cold blue.

Two Images in 1 Photo Contest

2009-06-24T09:11:00.005-04:00

Two of my images have been selected as Finalists in Digital Photo Magazine's "Great Escapes" Photo Contest. If you like either one of these images or both, please take a second to vote for them. Thanks.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

Are you Gellin'

2009-06-07T10:47:00.003-04:00

I just discovered the wonderful world of colored gels. I have been doing weeks of research trying to find an easy and econmical solution for a multiple backdrop support system. I wanted to be able to have several color options for backdrops and an easier way of changing them than pulling off one roll of seamless paper and putting another one on. This is not only time consuming but it requires two people.

I found several options for multiple backdrop support systems but they were all expensive, not to mention that I would also have to buy multiple backdrops. I finally stumbled on an article about gelling a backdrop. (Lighting a gray backdrop with a colored gel over the light to change the backdrop's color) I have done with before with a white backdrop with not so great results. The reason why gray or even black seamless paper is better than white is because they tend to saturate the colors in a very vivid way.

I decided on a darker gray seamless paper. I also ordered 15-20 colored gels. Got the package from B&H and gave it a whirl. The results exceeded my expectations.

Recent Portraits

2009-06-01T08:00:00.004-04:00

I've been doing a lot of portraits ever since my awesome wife Michele surprised me by converting our garage into a studio. I've been having a great time trying new lighting schemes and using my ultra hi-tech hair blower (fan). Here are some of the recent portraits captured in my new studio:

Angelynn had the perfect hair for the hair fan. It's thick enough not go crazy but light enough to flow well. She also has the thickest and longest eye lashes I've ever seen.

Theresa was a bit shy at first but loosened up when the lights started popping. She worked it like a super-model.

Kenyatta was the perfect model for this low key shot. The shot came out great. Full of mood and character. The hat was a perfect touch.

Meet Ethan. He's a boxer. He'll box your ears. LOL. Ethan has big, beautiful, blue eyes. I thought his parents did a great job of choosing his blue shirt to make his eyes pop even more. I used a huge octabox to make his eyes sparkle even more.

Photographing Water

2009-05-11T10:00:00.009-04:00

Water is to photography as cheese or bacon is to food. Take a regular hamburger for instance. Might be tasty. Now add cheese and bacon. You've instantly made a regular hamburger tastier, juicier, and full of cholesterol but that's besides the point. Water does the same thing for photos. No, your RAW files won't be any tastier by boiling them but by adding the element of water to a captured scene, you will instantly add more drama, interest, and creativity. Water can take an ordinary scene and make it extraordinary.

Reflections
One of the aspects of water that makes it so great for photography is it allows you capture two images in one in the way of reflections. Reflections can vary from mirror-like to an abstract view of lines and colors. How accurate or abstract the reflection is will depend on how calm or rough the water is, how long your exposure is, and how the light is being reflected off of the water. Other than getting the exposure right, there is really no right or wrong way. Attempt shooting at different angles to get different degrees of reflection and vary the shutter speed to change the crispness of the reflection.

In most cases, a reflection serves as an accent to the main subject, however, you can make the reflection the main subject and allow reality to take the supporting role.....

or just only showcase the reflection as an abstract.

Shutter Speed
What makes water so versatile is that it can change forms and you can control what form it can morph into with your shutter speed.

With a very fast shutter speed, you can freeze water droplets to accentuate the feel of a splash.

1/2000

1/1000

Slow down the shutter speed a little and you can turn water into silk.

.5 with a 4 stop ND filter

Slow down the shutter speed a little more and you can turn water into milk.

15 seconds with a 4 stop ND filter.

Go even slower and you turn water into fog or ice depending on how much motion is in the water.

3 mins

5 mins

Safety Considerations
Water can boost the aesthetic value to your photos but keep in mind that there are some considerations to make when photographing water. First is safety. Not only your own safety but the safety of your gear. I have had plenty of close calls trying to get "that shot". Water of course makes things slippery so be careful when walking on rocks that are wet.

Water can also be unpredictable. When photographing at the beach, do not let go of your tripod. Waves can come in and loosen the footing of your tripod enough to wash away your gear or an unexpected wave can splash up and get your gear wet.

Special Gear
Depending on the conditions and what affect you're trying to capture, photographing water will require special gear.

A tripod and a sturdy ballhead are a must for long exposure shots. A cable release is helpful as well to maximize sharpness. Tripods with a hook below main shaft can be beneficial so you can hook your camera bag or a bag with a phone book in it to stabilize it from wind and moving water.

A Neutral Density filter will allow you to slow down the shutter speed to get that creamy water effect. There are several intensities of neutral density filters and they are measured how many "stops" of light they can impede. For example, if your camera is metering ISO100, f/22, 1 second, you can keep the same ISO and aperture but increase the shutter speed to 4 seconds by adding a 2 stop neutral density filter. Neutral density filters are neutral gray and should not have an affect on the white balance. If you decide to get a screw on ND filter, be sure you get the right size that screws on your lens.

Circular Polarizers are in my opinion the most valuable of all filters. They not only saturate colors, and block glare, but they are the only filters that cannot be duplicated in Photoshop. CP filters are very beneficial when photographing water because they allow you to see what's under the water. You can adjust the effectiveness or the intensity a CP filter by twisting the filter while on the lens. Most CP filters will decrease the light coming in by 2 stops at its full polarization.

Without CP filter

With CP filter at max polarization

These two shots were taken a split second a part on a tripod. Both were taken with a white balance of 5400 Kelvin. The first (without CP) was shot at ISO400, f/4, 1/125. The second (with CP) was shot at ISO400, f/4, 1/30.

Conclusion
The next time you're out with your camera, look for water. It can be a lake, a sprinkler, or even a puddle. Think about how to add that element of water to improve your photo. Play with angles, try varying shutter speeds, twist on a circular polarizer, and be creative!

New Lighting Technique

2009-05-05T09:52:00.007-04:00

Well.....not new but new to me. I first saw this done on Scott Kelby's blog. Instead of using a white backdrop, I have started using a large softbox or octabox as the background. I've found this to be a very nice backlight effect as it wraps around the subject, highlighting the hair, sides of the face, and shoulders. The key is to shoot tight so you don't allow too much light back into the lens which will cause a washed out look and make sure the subject is all the way against the softbox/octabox.

I usually have my key light powered just a tad over the back light and use a reflector as a fill. Here are some images I have made using this lighting setup.

My biggest night as a photographer

2009-04-27T12:13:00.006-04:00

I was honored to be a part of the Boys and Girls Club fund raiser last weekend. Hall of Fame Baseball player Cal Ripken Jr. was a part of the event as well. The day started off with Cal visiting the local Boys and Girls Club in Newport News. I was able to be there to photograph Cal playing with the kids. I rushed home to change into a suit and picked up some more gear and Michele. Jim (Brikee), Jerry Gammon, and Mark Warren, and I rushed to setup our lights, backdrop, and table. Mark powered the AlienBees to perfection. Several people made a hefty contribution to the Boys and Girls Club to have their portrait made with Cal Ripken Jr. Once Cal arrived, the show was on. The line for photographs grew fast but it went smoothly. Nothing failed, thank God! Cal was very kind and gentlemanly with everyone including the photographers.

Once all the portraits were taken, we hurried and broke down all the gear, packed what we no longer needed into our vehicles, and setup in the convention center where dinner was served to close to a thousand people. Mark, Jim, and I photograph every moment.
All in all, it was a great experience and I was honored to be involved with it.

Cal pitching to a kid at the Boys and Girls Club

Michele with Cal:

Cal talks to the crowd about what he's up to these days:

The dinner at the Hampton Convention Center:

A Full Weekend

2009-04-19T11:42:00.004-04:00

I had a full weekend of shooting. It started Friday with my first shoot in my new studio.

Lauren in her mother's wedding dress:

Anastasia & William's Wedding on Saturday:

....and the TRADOC U.S. Army band at the Ferguson Center for the Arts Saturday night:

More images to come.

A Day in D.C.

2009-04-12T03:44:00.004-04:00

On the way back from Pittsburgh, Steve and I met Melinda, Michele and Andrew, oh yeah and Rick in D.C.. We had lunch, took the metro and walked around taking pictures.

Taking some shots, waiting for the metro

22 images stitched together, converted to B&W of the Washinton Monument.

Michele under a Cherry Blosson tree. Used a reflector on camera left to light her.

Andrew trying on a hat at Pentagon City Mall

Jefferson Memorial

A shot of some high window washers viewed from Pentagon City Mall.

This striking young lady sold me some Raybans and I made her picture.

Used a flash from camera left, bounced off a mirror on camera right and illuminated her face and added a cool rainbow on her face.

Michele and me under a Cherry Blosson tree. A flash in a shoot through umbrella at camera left.

A trip to Pitt

2009-04-11T15:19:00.002-04:00

I took an 8 hour road trip to Pittsburgh with my friend Steve to see a David Ziser seminar. The long trip was well worth it. The lighting portion of the seminar was pretty much a review of what I knew already by David talked also talked about how effective marketing techniques can really boost business.

We also hit the town for lunch and photographs.

The is a restaurant named the Grand Concourse. It was converted from a old rail road station. The food and service were excellent.

A view of Downtown Pittsburgh from the Incline
20 images stitched together

More Boston Pics

2009-04-10T17:21:00.001-04:00

Took a bit longer than expected but I finally have some more Boston photos to display. These images were not taken by me.

The first 3 were taken by my buddy Harold. I love the angle and perspective of these images:

This shot was taken by Dave Sage. His wife Lisa won a Guru Award in Boston. That's me trying to compose a shot.

And the last is Brian Matiash's image. This image was selected Editor's Choice last week at NAPP.

I had a great time in Boston learning, getting inspired, and most of all meeting some really nice and creative people.

Stay tuned tomorrow for images of my Pittsburgh trip.

Photoshop World Boston images first installment

2009-03-29T21:24:00.005-04:00

Here are some images I made while at Photoshop World Boston. I'll add more in the upcoming days.

Thursday night photowalk. It was a bit cold but raining. I ducked into a entrance of a ritzie hotel, setup my tripod and made this image.

Same night but a few blocks ahead.

Joe McNally teaching big lighting with small lights at one of the classes I attended. This was taken with my 5D Mark II at ISO12800. Yeah, ISO12800. Who needs lights?

A few of us went on a mid day photowalk. I spotted Jeff Schewe in front of this firestation.

My buddy Harold. I setup two 580EX IIs. One behind him as the flare inidcates and one to the camera right.

NAPP instructor Dave Cross

Monday night photowalk.

Monday night photowalk. Waiting for the subway train.

Last day of classes. NAPP Forum crew. From top left: Brian, Dave, Lisa, Roux, me, Roux's friend, Russell, and Russel's wife.

PSW Boston wrap up

2009-03-29T06:56:00.005-04:00

My apologies for not updating the blog more while in Boston. I was so exhausted everyday. Here's a quick recap:

My flight to Boston was quick and smooth. I landed at 4:20PM and was checked into my room by 5:00PM Monday. I met up with some friends for dinner and drinks and hit the town for some long exposure night shooting. Thanks to Jeff and Brian for planning the walk. It was blistering cold. Boston is perfect for night shooting.

Tuesday morning I woke up, got some Starbucks coffee and oatmeal, showered and attended the Canon Live Shoot. It was a one day seminar to learn studio lighting and portrait post processing. It was a bit of a disappointment. I did learn a bit from the lighting theory lecture but the hands on was pretty dull. I met up with some NAPP Forum friends at the Cheesecake Factory. I got to finally meet some really cool people: Harold, Mike Hoffman, Firgs, Roux, Dave, Michael Green, and Larry Becker. We then all went to the Hotel Lounge for the Forum party. I got to meet Dave Ziser and Vinelli. Dave Ziser is a famous wedding photographer and Vinelli is a NAPP staffer that is just as nice and fun as can be.

Wednesday was the first day of classes which was kicked off with a keynote speech and the opening ceremonies. Really funny stuff. I was shocked but thrilled to find out that one of my shots from the Canon Live Shoot was selected as one of the top 5. I attended some classes and visited the Expo where I was in Heaven! All the new photography and Photoshop gear and software was on display and for sale. Let's just say my wallet came back lighter and my suitcase heavier. Wednesday night was the After Hours Party. Kelby and the gang played some covers (they were actually really good) and we had some food and drinks.

Thursday was the longest day for classes. It started out with Joe McNally's class. Truly inspring! His images are what I inspire to make. After all the classes, a dozen or so hit the streets again for another photowalk. It was a lot warmer but raining. I returned to the hotel early and watched my Duke Bluedevils get eliminated from March Madness. :(

Friday was a light day. Got to sleep in until 8 and only had 3 or 4 classes. Attended the closing ceremonies and was ready to get my luggage and head to the airport......until I discovered my flight was delayed 2 hours. So a few of us went to dinner. Finally got to the airport and flew back home. I arrived in Newport News but my luggage was still in Boston. Didn't get it back until Saturday night. I came home Friday night exhausted but was surprised by my awesome wife. While I was gone, Michele cleared out our garage and converted it to a studio. I was speechless.

I had a great time in Boston. The city was charming and very photographic. The people were great. I got to meet some of my NAPP friends and most of all I came back inspired!

I'll post a few of my images from PSW and Boston soon.

Photoshop World, Boston

2009-03-24T01:03:00.002-04:00

Well I landed in Boston around 4:20PM and got checked into my hotel room by 5:00PM. I could not have asked for a smoother trip up. Boston is huge. It's a great mixture of old historical and modern architecture with lots of character. The hotel I'm staying in (Sheraton Boston) is massive. I saw Dr Russel Brown and met Ben Wilmore already. I met up with some of my NAPP Forum buddies, had some Mexican food and hit the streets for some long exposure shooting. I'll be updating this entry in my blog all week with updates and images.

Monday Night

Cactus Club with my NAPP buddies.

Zakim Bridge

Tuesday

Woke up at 7AM to the sun shinning. Went to Starbucks in the hotel (oh yeah) and now getting ready
for the Canon Live Model Shoot.

God works wonders in His small world

2009-03-22T06:40:00.013-04:00

I get a text one day from my friend and fellow photographer Beth stating "I'm looking at one of the most stunning woman I've ever seen in person. I must photograph her!"

Beth proceeds to get this stunning woman's (Rachyl) telephone number and makes arrangements for us to photograph her. In speaking with Rachyl, Beth discovers her husband (Joel) works at a local Starbucks (my second home) that I frequent. Joel knows me by name and knows my drink of choice at Starbucks. (Venti Double Shot on ice, breve, sugar free vanilla and 6 Splendas) Yes, I do go there waaaaay too often. Joel also knows that I'm a photographer since I have some of my work hanging on the walls at his store. When Rachyl discovers that I know Joel, and Joel knows me and my wife Michele (another Starbucks addict), she feels much more comfortable about meeting us and allowing us to photograph her. Small world!

Rachyl is a natural beauty and the camera loves her. Her and Joel are great people and it was fun working with them yesterday.

Photoshop Class: Portrait Retouching

2009-03-16T05:47:00.003-04:00

This Tuesday's Photoshop class will be on portrait retouching. We will cover methods and techniques on how to remove blemishes, reduce the appearance of wrinkles, soften skin, whiten teeth, add drama to the eyes and much more. As always, we will start from a RAW image and go through all the steps until final output: web or print. If you have a portrait file you want to work on in the class, please feel free to bring it. If not, a RAW file will be provided.

A Case for B&W

2009-03-13T22:56:00.003-04:00

When one thinks of Hawaii, blue skies, green palm trees, and aqua water comes to mind. This image of Chinaman's Hat in Oahu has all those colors, however, I felt that the strength of this image was the converging lines. I wanted to remove the focus on the colors and place more emphasis on the converging lines.

We felt a bit green

2009-03-10T07:09:00.003-04:00

After a few days of being under the weather, Andrew and I thought it was time to have some fun. I used some green and red gels to create the Hulk look.

Photoshop Class: Landscapes Before and After

2009-03-03T23:19:00.003-05:00

This is to recap what we did in class and provide a visual before and after.

We started out by double processing the same RAW image. Once to bring out the warmth of the sun rays casting through the mountains and the second to get the sky and water to be a vibrant blue. We did this by changing the color temperature in Adobe Camera Raw. We also increased the saturation and luminance in the HSL/Grayscale tab in Adobe Camera Raw. By bringing the luminance down in the blue channel, we were able to get the richness back in the sky.

Once both versions were open in Photoshop, we copied the cooler version on top of the warmer version as a second layer, added a white layer mask, and painted with a soft black paint brush over the mountain portion of the image to bring out the warmth. We now have the best of both worlds. Warm rays and mountains and cool sky and water. Flatten image.

We took the image in the LAB color mode and did a curves adjustment on the lightness channel to add some more punch. We also did a curves adjustment on the a and b channels to saturate the colors. These adjustments and every other adjustment was done on a duplicated layer.

We then chose the lightness channel in the Channels palette and made an adjustment to the Highlights/Shadows. This brought some detail back into the dark areas of the mountains.

Our final step in LAB mode was to add more punch by creating a duplicate layer and changing the blend mode to soft light and reducing the opacity to 20%. Flatten image.

We changed our color mode back to RGB. Created a duplicate layer. Filter-Other-High Pass - 12 pixels. Changed the blend mode to soft light.

Used Unsharp Mask to sharpen for print.

Below are the before and after images:

Before:

After:

Please feel free to post questions.
Thanks for attending the class. I hope you got something out of it.

Pixels are potential

2009-03-01T19:23:00.001-05:00

This Tuesday's Photoshop class theme is Landscapes. We will take a RAW file and process it from Adobe Camera Raw and then in Photoshop. We will address some common issues with digital images and how to overcome them. We will also cover tools and techniques that can be used to add that POP to your images. I have selected the image below to use in the class. The reason why I selected this image is because it suffers from a lot of issues and without any processing, it looks to be a throw away. However, with the right processing, all the potential that is in these pixels can be unleashed to make a great image. The mindset should be to take the best shot you can with your camera and use post processing only to make minor adjustments, however, it's good to know that Photoshop can do magic. I took this shot from a helicopter in very harsh light. Even though I used a circular polarizer, the harshness of the light still caused some issues. There were no adjustments made to this image other than resizing it. Please check back on Wednesday to see the before and after.

The Docks

2009-02-28T07:21:00.001-05:00

Made with a Canon 5D Mark II 17-40mm L f/4 (ISO100, f/7.1, 30 seconds)

My Beautiful Wife

2009-02-27T10:54:00.001-05:00

Made with a Canon 5D Mark II 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS (ISO200, f/5.6, 1/125)
Three 580EX IIs. Two of them were in a shoot through umbrella and the third did not have a modifier on it.
Clam shell lighting with the third light behind her right shoulder.

Timing is critical

2009-02-25T03:42:00.006-05:00

A split second can determine whether you have a good image or a great image. With the example below, the image is extraordinary because the ball is captured while in mid-air (pure luck on my part) and the receiver's eyes show pure focus. Had this shot been taken 1/2 of a second later, it would not have been as compelling. By the way, he pulled this in for a touchdown.

Made with a Canon 50D 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS (ISO125, f/2.8, 1/1250)

Got Honorable Mention

2009-02-23T08:40:00.004-05:00

The February/March issue of PCPhoto is out today and I'm particularly excited about buying it because one of my images made it as Honorable Mention in their This is My World photo contest. I was actually surprised to find out that it made it. I expected from reading the name of the contest “This is My World” that it would feature photos of exotic places with dramatic light. I considered entering some photos I took while in Hawaii because it fit the bill of exotic places with dramatic light but I decided to enter this image. Sure, some of my Hawaii photos are prettier and far more dramatic but I think those images speak more of the beauty of the scenery than my artistic abilities.

My goal as a photographer and as an artist has really changed in the last year or so. In the past, I would photograph the obvious, the pretty, and whatever was the safe bet. I now force myself to pursue the not so obvious, the abstract, and whatever is not the safe bet. I spent over an hour by the puddle, waiting for this Decisive Moment. I’m glad I did. Not because the image made it in a magazine, but rather I did something creative.

Contest Results

Party Pooper at the Photowalk

2009-02-22T03:11:00.001-05:00

Two groups got together tonight (HRTownsqaure & TDPC) for a photo walk in downtown Hampton. I'm an active member of both groups. For the majority of the photo walk, I was not very social and for that I apologize. Right after the group photo, I spotted an interesting location for a shot and was consumed with trying to make a good image rather than using the time to get to know more of the members of each group. Steve was actually nice enough to get some coffee for me but had to yell 3 times from acrosss the street and then called me on my cell to get my attention to come get the coffee which was luke warm by the time I drank it. Photo walks are one of my favorite activities. Hopefully next time I will remember that photo walks are a group activity.

Minimalist Lighting

2009-02-21T08:36:00.003-05:00

I want to thank Mark Warren for opening my eyes to the minimalist lighting mindset. I used to carry around some LARGE portable gear. Seems a bit of a oxymoron.
For a portrait shoot, I would normally lug around two 5 foot softboxes, 3 heavy light stands, portable power (heavy), 2 studio lights, cables, ect....and of course my cameras and lenses.
This image was made with Canon speedlights, 2 very small light stands, 2 shoot through umbrellas, and pocket wizards. I carried all my gear all in one trip without breaking a sweat or my back.
Thanks to Melinda for posing.

Wildlife theme

2009-02-19T20:03:00.001-05:00

Wildlife will eventually be the theme for Tuesday night's Photoshop class. We'll discuss some processing techniques that will really make wildlife beautiful.

New Photoshop Class

2009-02-19T02:14:00.003-05:00

We will no longer be using Scott Kelby's book The 7 Point System. Instead, I will be teaching how to use Photoshop to process your own images from RAW to output. We will cover every aspect of a professional workflow. We will also cover how to correct common issues with digital images such as color casts, flatness, softness, noise, and more. Our goal will be to make ordinary images truly extraordinary with contrast and tonal adjustments, color corrections and saturation, localized enhancements, sharpening, and a few other tips and tricks.

We will have a different theme each time we meet. The first portion of the class will be dedicated to working on one common image which will be provided at the beginning of the class. The second portion of the class will be dedicated to you, working on your own image using the same concepts and techniques.

For Tuesday March 3rd, the theme will be Landscapes.

Future themes will be Portraits, Sports, Wildlife/Nature, Black and White. I will also accept suggestions and requests for future class themes and topics.

Hope to see you there. For more info please visit TDPC

Will King

Tutorial

2009-02-16T08:45:00.018-05:00

Night or low light shooting

When one thinks of a good lighting situation for photography, typically the abundance of light comes to mind. In the case of night photography, it's the minimal lighting that makes for compelling images.

In this tutorial, we'll cover the equipment needed, how to meter, and how to compose a good night shot.

I'm probably one of the few photographers I know that carries a tripod just about anywhere that allows a tripod. This is even true when I'm shooting in broad day light. I love tack sharp images and there's no better way to get tack sharp images than to have your camera on a tripod to eliminate camera shake. Of course there are exceptions to my personal tripod rule. I don't use a tripod when shooting sports. I usually shoot with a wide open aperture and shutter speed will be fast enough to eliminate blur from camera shake. This also applies to birds in flight. When I'm shooting portraits I usually use strobes so shutter speed does not really play a factor, thus no blur from camera shake. However, when I'm shooting with a smaller aperture to get a greater depth of field, the shutter speed will be typically slower, therefore there is a greater chance for camera shake. This is especially true for night photography or low light photography. (Low light photography can be anything that has little light such as a wedding in a church with very little ambient light but for this lesson, we are referring to shooting out doors when the sun is setting, rising, or completely gone.)

This is a long winded way to state that you will definitely need a tripod. A good sturdy tripod with a sturdy ball head is recommneded. Some sort of remote shutter release that has a locking mechanism is preferred as well.

A remote shutter release serves 2 purposes. It allows you to trigger your shutter without touching your camera. The less you touch your camera, the better, and yes even pressing the shutter button can introduce blur. The second reason is it allows you to keep your shutter open for longer than 30 seconds. If you plan on keeping your shutter open for longer than 30 seconds, then place the camera in bulb mode. Bulb mode keeps the shutter open for as long as the shutter is pressed down....of course this is down with the locking remote cable release.

If your tripod has a hook at the bottom of the shaft, you can hang your camera bag or a bag of phone books on it. This will increase the stability of the tripod which can be especially helpful on windy nights.

Other equipment that you can use but is not required are various filters. I've used a neutral density filter to slow down the shutter even longer. You can also try a graduated neutral density filter if there is still a hint of light from the setting sun.

Now let's talk about technique. Most DSLRs have a custome setting called Mirror Lockup. This is when the mirror inside the chamber of your camera will flip up until it completes the exposure. The shutter stays closed until the exposure starts, but the mirror will be flipped up. The action of the mirror flipping up causes some vibration in your camera which can lead to minor blur. Activating the mirror lockup will eliminate this vibration.

You also want to turn off the IS or VR (Image Stabilization) or (Vibration Reduction) on your lens. There is a motor that controls the stabilization of the lens and this motor when activated also causes vibration. You won't need IS anyways because your camera will be on a tripod.

Metering for a long exposure night shot without a incident light meter is tricky. This is especially true when there is still some evidence of color from the setting sun or rising sun. Sunlight can still be a factor up to an hour after the sun has set below the horizon. The tricky part is, the intensity of the light will constantly be changing. I often start out with just using Aperture Priority and let the camera do it's job. This offers me a baseline to work with. Try to spot meter on something midtoned. The night sky would be a bad idea because your camera will try to overcompensate and you'll be left with an overexposed shot. Metering on a bright light would also be a bad idea because your camera will underexpose the shot. But hey, we shoot digital so take a shot, wait until it takes the full exposure and chimp. Look at the LCD on your camera and decide how the image looks. The histogram in this case won't be as helpful like it normally would be in normal shooting conditions because you will see spikes on the left (black) and right (white) sides....and that's okay. The spike on the left will represent the night sky and the spike on the right will represent any lights that are in your shot such as a car's headlights or a street light.

I use a smaller aperture when taking night shots because I want to exaggerate the effects of a long shutter such as the clouds rushing through the sky, the headlights of a car streaking by, or the the star flare of stationary lights.

Use the lowest possible ISO you can. Noise can show up very easily in dark areas of the sky so you don't want to exxerbate that with a higher ISO. Remember that you'll be shooting on a tripod so low and slow.

Two other things to add. First, try to add an element of motion to your long exposures. Having an element of motion while everything else is stationary and tack sharp makes for a dynamic image and adds life to the image.

Second, and this can apply for any scenic photo. Try to add a foreground element to your image. This will anchor the image and make for a better composition.

Please feel free to ask questions.

Here are a few examples of my long exposure shots.

Notice all three lights on the street sign. Total accicent but came out sweet.

Image of the Day

2009-02-12T01:30:00.002-05:00

Flipped

This image was made with a 1D Mark III 70-200mm L f/2.8 IS (ISO200, f/6.3, 1/500)
This shot was made at Newport News Park. The sun light was behind Beth and I had Steve hold a large reflector in front of her to illuminate her face.
I pre-metered for her face with the light on her. Beth bent over, Steve held his hand out where her face was going to be and I locked the focus. She then quickly flipped up, whipping her locks in the air.
I chose f/6.3 to ensure her face was sharp and also provide a little more leeway in case her face wasn't in the exact location of the focus plane. I wanted to go with a fast shutter to make sure I eliminated any motion blur on her face but keep a little motion blur in her hair.

Tip

2009-02-09T08:17:00.004-05:00

Photographing the Sea

Capturing a dramatic seascape shot can present some unique challenges but by following a few guidelines, you can come away with some magical images.

First you want to consider a good composition. This will be different for every scene as there will be different elements in every scene. The key is to include those elements in your shot and balance them in the composition.

A good starting point is composing for rule of thirds. Yes rules are meant to be broken, but in most cases for landscape and seascape photography, the rule of thirds really works well. I usually try to place my horizon line in the upper thirds level and the brightest part of the sky in the upper thirds on the left or right quadrant. I also like including all 3 major elements in my shots; sky, sea, and sand.

One huge mistake I often see people make is placing the sun dead center and the horizon in the middle. This might seem like a good idea when looking through the viewfinder but when looking at the photo, it creates a bulleyes effect. Almost like a dart board. The eyes will be drawn in the center and will not be compelled to move around the image.

Another common mistake often made is an unlevel horizon. I use a hotshoe level to make sure my camera is completely level and if for some reason my shot comes out unlevel, I make sure I rotate the image to ensure it feels and looks balanced.

Try to find an interesting foreground object to anchor the composition. More than likely, you will have a dramatic sky. This will draw the viewer’s eye to the sky. You’ll want to add something interesting to the foreground to make sure the viewer’s eye is pulled their as well. The goal is to have a well balanced composition that leads the viewer’s eye flowing from one element to the other.

To add more drama to your shot, try to get some of the action that the sea is displaying. Wait until a wave sweeps in or splashes up when taking the shot.

Image of the Day

2009-02-06T08:08:00.000-05:00

Burst

This is a manual exposure blend of two shots.

Image of the Day

2009-02-04T11:44:00.002-05:00

Golden Rays of Paradise

Made with a 1D Mark III 24-70mm L f/2.8. (ISO250, f/5.6, 1/160)
I used a circular polarizer filter to saturate the light and reduce the harsh light. Used various blend modes and layer masks to properly present the dramatic light that was being displayed.

NAPP's Editor's Choice

2009-02-02T14:40:00.011-05:00

I am honored to say that this image was selected as NAPP's Editor's Choice for this week.

If you're into photography and Photoshop, NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) is a great place to learn and get inspired. I've only been into photography and Photoshop for a little over 3 years but I've come a long way because of all the information and knowledge I soak up from all the NAPP avenues: Books and DVDs, Photoshop User Magazine, kelbytraining.com, NAPP's website and especially their forum. If you own Photoshop, you really should consider a NAPP membership.

Image of the Day

2009-01-26T13:42:00.002-05:00

Local Motion

Made with a 1D Mark III 400mm L f/2. IS + 1.4xTC (ISO50, f/22, 1/10)

Image of the Day

2009-01-23T09:35:00.001-05:00

Air Time

Made with a 1D Mark III 400mm L f/2.8 IS + 1.4x TC (ISO125, f/5, 1/800)

High Dynamic Range without HDR

2009-01-19T21:26:00.005-05:00

I'm working on a blog entry that I'll probably post sometime next week regarding achieving high dynamic range without having to do HDR. Most of the HDR images I've seen at various websites really suffer from some major issues like softness, color distortion, haloing, and that typical muddy HDR look. I've seen images created from up to 9 exposures. Why? I don't know when most of these images can be nailed with just one exposure.... perhaps 2 if the contrast is really vast. Getting the exposure right in camera is the most important thing in addition to the right RAW adjustments and fine tweaking in post processing can really do a lot to extend the dynamic range and produce a very natural looking scene. If it does take more than one exposure, Manual Exposure Blending is the superior method to use......if realism is the goal.

Flow

Made with a Canon 1Ds Mark III 17-40mm L (ISO50, f/22, 3.2 seconds) One exposure!

Image of the Day

2009-01-18T21:18:00.002-05:00

Synchronized Beauty

Made with a Canon 50D 400mm L f/2.8 IS (ISO640, f/2.8 1/400)

Image of the Day

2009-01-03T10:02:00.002-05:00

It was a year ago today that my wife and I flew out to Kauai...just her and I. We had the time of our lives and saw the most beautiful places on Earth. We'll get back there someday. For now I'll just have to reminisce with photos.

Shooting 2 cameras at the same time

2009-01-02T03:56:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year everyone.
Here is a shot I got on New Year's Eve day. W&M vs Harvard.
Some details about the shot:
I picked up this tip from another photo site and it works like a charm. I placed a 50D + 17-40 L f/4 combo mounted on a mini tabletop tripod about an inch off the ground. I prefocused using Live View on the front of the rim and then set the focus to manual. I connected a Pocket Wizard to the 50D via a remote shutter release cable. I was also shooting with a 1D Mark III and a 5D Mark II, both had Pocket Wizards hotshoed on them. Anytime I took a shot with either camera, it would fire the 50D. This is a good way of getting two different angles and perspectives of the same play.

Tip

2008-12-30T08:57:00.001-05:00

Setting a Customer White Balance on 2 Cameras

I often shoot with 2 cameras and one of the cameras usually as my 400mm L f/2.8 IS lens mounted to it:

I use an Expodisc to set a custom white balance. For those who are not familiar with the Expodisc, it's a product that you place on the front of your lens to take a shot to set a custom white balance. I have one that fits over most of my lenses....except for my 400mm, for obvious reasons. So a work around would be to take a target shot with the Expodisc with one camera and place that memory card in the other camera and use it to set the custom white balance.

I know I could easily sync the white balance in Lightroom or Camera RAW but I like to see accurate color while I'm chimping (reviewing my shots).

Thanks to Russ Isabella for giving me this tip.

Image of the Day

2008-12-28T15:42:00.001-05:00

My Favorite Christmas gift

This is a photograph of my wife taken in her parents house (the doorway that leads to the dining room from the kitchen). The only lighting was from the overhead tube lights in the kitchen which normally would have cast a greenish yellow tint. I used an expodisc to color correct.
Made with a 5D Mark II + 70-200mm L f/2.8 IS. (ISO 1250, f/3.5, 1/60) Shot in manuel exposure and custom white balance.

Image of the Day

2008-12-21T20:09:00.005-05:00

Jumper

5D Mark II + 70-200mm L f/2.8 IS (IS)2500, f/2.8, 1/500) no noise reduction

Image of the Day

2008-12-19T09:02:00.001-05:00

Quiver

Made with a 1D Mark III + 400mm L f/2.8 IS w/ a 1.4x TC. (ISO200, f/4, 1/800)