More natural looking flash

I have been working on making my flash look more natural and less like Uncle Charlie's on-camera blast-flash. To this end, I made a flying trip (in my minivan) down to St. Louis to a workshop given by Neil vanNiekerk. There I learned to look around me for things to bounce my light off.

This past Sunday I did a wedding in the historic Kemper Center Chapel. As you can see, the ceiling is hopeless for a bounce source.


Which is good, as it would not give us a nice direction of light. As I waited for the processional to start, I glanced at the wall on my left and saw this.



I decided that I could bounce my flash off the wall and create a direction of light coming in from my left. You can see my flash boucing off the wall. Notice that it does not spill forward.


That is because of THE BLACK FOAMIE THING tm that Neil taught us to use. Basically it is a half-snoot that acts as a gobo to help direct the light where you want it to go and keep it from spilling where you don't want it to go. Here is the exact rig that I used, just as I used it. the BFT keeps any light from spilling forward. You can see how effectively it does that by looking at the image of the wall above.


The BFT is simply some black foam paper that you can get at a craft store like Hobby Lobby, Michael's, or JoAnne's Fabric. It costs less than a dollar for an sheet so it is pretty cost effective. I use hair scuncies to hold it on my flash head.


Anyway, here is the resultant image using the wall bounce on my left. I think it looks pretty darn natural. ISO 1600, F4.0 at 1/60, Tungsten white balance.

Better Sunsets

I have been working on getting better sunset shots recently. As the summer comes closer and wedding season is now in full swing, I wanted to begin creating more "Show Stopper" images. Here is one I did at last night's wedding of Maria and Ruben. The only manipulation I did was to convert from NEF (raw) to Jpg. Otherwise, it is right out of the camera.


The first image details are ISO 100, F5.6, 1/100 sec, 27mm on a 24-70mm F2.8 lens. I angled the on-camera flash slightly to the left so it would be sure to fire the Remote flash while still acting as fill on the couple. I tipped the on-camera flash up a little so it wouldn't illuminate the ground right in front of me.

I began by underexposing the sky by one stop. By the time this was taken, the sky was likely two and a half or three stops underexposed. I like the effect because it really brings out the deep blue of the sky. Without clouds, you don't get drama, like I did in this image.

The second image details are ISO 200, F4.5, 1/125 sec, 31mm on 24-70mm F2.8 lens.

Both images use an off-camera light held by my assistant/second shooter. It is fired by the Nikon Creative Lighting System, or CLS for short. That means the on-camera flash is acting as the Master and the off-camera flash is in Remote mode. I have been starting with the Remote set to TTL +1.0 and the on-camera set to TTL +0. I have been adjusting it an I now think I will start at Remote set to TTL+0 and the on-camera Master set to TTL -1.0. In either case, there is a 1 stop difference between the on-camera Master and the off-camera Remote.

Now that you have the basic technique, try it for yourself and experiment. The key to this is the off-camera Remote flash. Without it, the image just looks flat. With it, you get shadows next to highlights and that creates depth. And, the beauty of the digial SLR is the instant feedback you get. Now, go out and play!

"Bagging" your flash

Back when I shot for the newspapers in the mid '80s, we had a term for putting a gel on your flash to match the ambient color temperature. That technique was called "Bagging." I am not sure why we called it that, but we did.

At the wedding this past Saturday we did a still life of the bride's shoes, jewelry, and garter. The wedding dress was hanging up in the background, but was lit by the incandescent light of the master bath. The bedroom was lit by a window and our flash. Here is the first attempt. It looks like what everyone else takes. Even "Uncle Bob."

You can see that the dress is a little orange due to the warmer light of the master bath's incandescent bulbs. I added at 1/2 CTS filter to the on-camera flash and and changed the white balance (WB) on my camera to Tungsten. This is the result.

As you can see, a much more pleasing rendition of the scene. This looks more professional and less like everyone else.

These filters can be purchased from most any photography store on line, or do a search for flash gels, flash filters, or color filters. They cost about $6 or $7 dollars for a sheet big enough you will likely never use it all. Then, you can "Bag" your flash and make your images look more professional and less like "Uncle Bob's."

Upcoming wedding

I am getting juiced. I get to photograph a wedding this Saturday at the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Chicago with my good friend Bob Schueler from Indiana. It's gonna be a lot of fun. I hope to have some images to show early next week.

Bob comes from Indiana to go with me to weddings from time to time. He does it on his own dime because he wants to see what I am doing and learn from it. He works hard on his craft, studying things on-line and trying things out. And he is building a reputation in his own area as a go-to guy for local studios while he builds his own business. This is what it takes.

Speaking of studying, there is a wonderful resource on-line at Kelby Training (www.kelbytraining.com). They have on-line tutorials in Photoshop, Lightroom, lighting, gear, posing, and lots more. For less than $200 a year or $20 a month, you can have a seminar in your own home on you computer. Check it out and give it a try.

New Wedding Season is Approaching

Well, the weather is warming up and the wedding season is approaching. What have you done over the winter to keep yourself sharp? What have you done to improve your skills? Or do you think that you can't get better without actually going out on a wedding to photograph?

Over the winter, I scour the blogs from David Ziser, The Strobist (David Hobby), Joe McNally, and Neil Van Niekirk to mention a few. You could get a PhD in photography from them.

And I have bought and paid for a Master Class with David Ziser at his studio outside Cincinnati. It is five intensive days with him learning hands-on just how he does all those really great images. It goes from shooting to software to marketing. The whole package.

And, speaking of marketing, my friend Kristin has convinced me that I should branch out and take some chances to do some weddings and portraits for myself through Smiles Photography, Ltd. my own company. I am not sure just how that will go, but I am starting to get my name out there.

I love what I do. I have been a full time professional photographer for almost 21 years (my anniversary is April 15th) and was a part timer for four or five years before that. I am always looking for new and better ways to get things done. That is called growth.

What have you done to grow over the winter?

Flash modifiers

I have been meaning to test these two flash modifiers (an OFFICIAL A Better Bounce Card [ABBC] and a Gary Fong Origami). Backwards means that the flash is being reflected backwards and diffused forward. Forward means that the flash is being reflected forward. This is the white door to my office shot outside at about 7:34 AM with heavy overcast. Camera settings were ISO 100, F16, 1/200 and the flash was manual 1/1 powered by a Quantum 2x2 to ensure full, fast recycle.

The first image is ABBC Backwards.







The second image is ABBC Forward.







The third image is Fong Backwards.







The final image is Fong Forwards.







My conclusion is that my sensor is really dirty! ABBC white makes a fine gobo. No need for a black one like Neil Van Niekerk likes. It looks like almost nothing comes through. The Gary Fong Origami seems pretty much the same either way, although there seems to be a slight difference in color. I think that the ABBC is the best way to go for what I want to do.

Separation lights for Altar return groups

Saturday I was at a church I had photographed many times. The altar area is large, under lit, and far from the back wall. This all leads up to a black hole for the altar return groups. Black tuxes and black hair will fade into the background and no amount of dragging the shutter will help. Long before you lighten the back wall the ambient on the front area will overpower your mainlight.

Soooooo, I was determined to do something different. I wanted to make these groups "pop" from the dark (even black) background. Because I had so much depth, I could get two lights behind and to the sides of the groups. I put two SB28 speedlight set to 1/4 power about 20 feet behind and just out of frame. I aimed them for the middle of the groups. This gave me the nice rim-lighting you see on the shoulders of the tuxedos and the hair.