Outdoor Lighting Workshop 8-7-10

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.

Photographing Sunrises & Sunsets

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.

Cheating the Sync

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.

Lights on / Lights off

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.

Photographing Landscapes

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!

Trying New Things

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.

Are you Gellin'

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.