Photoshoot with Kelly Gaita

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

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

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

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

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

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!