Headshots

As I mentioned earlier, I do on occasion make portraits.

Kirk Penberthy is a voiceover artist and actor. (His website... here.) Among other things he's had parts in Homicide-Life on the Street, The Wire and the movie The Contender. Also, if you watched last year's Super Bowl you most likely saw this Coke commercial. Kirk's the moderator with James Carville and Bill Frist as the guests.

We did a photo session the other day and Kirk is kind enough to let me blog about today. (Thanks dude.)

The outside shot was done simply with a single speedlight (Nikon SB800) with a mini-softbox attached to help diffuse the light on his face. The speedlight was on a stand at camera right about a 45 degree angle between the camera and Kirk.

The photo inside was done with an SB800 shot through an umbrella that was placed high, directly above the camera. A white reflector is at Kirk's waist level just out of the frame. This helps fill in any unwanted shadows created by the main light. In the background there was another speedlight aimed at an angle at the wrinkled blue fabric creating a little bit of a pattern.

Oh and in case you people don't remember, Kirk is the father of this cool little fellow! And, of course, husband to the cool little fellow's mama (Mariel!) in that very same post.

Anyway, thanks Kirk. Fun shoot!

Be Prepared.

The sun is setting fast and the sky is looking good. I've got a wide angle lens and I've crouched down so as to highlight the clouds. The flash unit is in my left hand, held out and up. I've dropped the exposure by about a stop (I'm guessing here!) and flash exposure is preset in manual mode and likely is at 1/16th power, which usually works at this distance.

Knowing your settings and distance beforehand makes it much easier to capture shots like this.

Also, in the background you can just make out the young man on the lifeguard's chair I shot earlier. (You can scroll down to the "Quality of Light" post to see it.)

Jammin'

So I'm doing a job downtown, near Pennsylvania and 17th. It's a short little in and out. 6 photos. 4 exterior, 2 interior. Takes about 20 minutes to complete. Across the street I hear...hmmm what's that, Louis Armstrong? Miles? Dizzy? Groovy sounds drifting my way.

On the corner is this fellow with a white Redskin's cap. A bucket with an American flag in it. Trumpet case open, coins and bills scattered within. I'm not much of a "street photographer." Not my bag. But this looked to good to pass up.

I'm still on the other side of the street at this point. I pull out the flash, set it on 'remote'... I'm going to hold it off camera and trigger it wth the on camera pop-up flash. Zoom the flash head out to 105mm to get that spotlight look. Under expose the camera's meter by about a stop and a half and then I'm just waiting for the "walk" signal.

I decide I'll just stand there and watch for a little bit. Groovin' to the sounds. Here I am with an orange safety vest, hard hat, work boots, torn jeans, etc. Camera over my shoulder, green canvas bag with the flash in it. He's got to be wondering what this guy's all about!

So I'm boppin' to the tune he's layin' out there...(ya kickin' with my "jazzy" talk?) and I fish out a couple bucks. He catches this and without missing a beat pulls his hat off his head and holds it out to me. I deposit the dough and he flips it back on. Keeps blowin'.

I groove a little bit more then casually pull the flash out of the bag, kneel down in front and take a few shots. He's down with it. No problem. I nod, say thanks. He nods back. Never stops playing.

Are You Experiencing Your Camera?

Thought I'd present a little comparison between relying on your camera's default, auto everything modes and taking some control yourself over the final image.

Today's cameras, no doubt, are sophisticated and advanced enough to almost always provide you with a good image. No matter what the lighting situation. Whether it be a bright sunny day at the beach or a candle lit dining room at home. The metering systems and the default settings in most dSLRs today are up to the task.

But there is so much more these cameras can do when you dig down deep inside the menus and start personalizing some of those settings!

Now...we've already blown the modeling budget for the year, so for today's comparison we had to rely on some flunky on the Kircher's Conceit staff.

First up...Nikon D200 at default settings. Auto white balance. Pop-up flash. Flunky.

This is a fine picture. Well exposed. The camera did a good job of metering, handling three different light sources (daylight, incandescent light, and flash.) But for my taste, I'd prefer a little less flash, and a little more saturation and contrast.

So...same camera and lighting situation but this time I dialed down the flash 3/4 of a stop, added a 1/2 CTO gel to it, pumped up the saturation--just a bit, don't want to look cartoonish--and added some contrast. And yes, all this can be done in the camera! (Who needs Photoshop?)

Anyway, here's the second shot.

I like the skin tone in this one more. I also like that it's hard to tell that a flash was even used. Just popped a little bit in there for the shadows.

Of course, people's tastes are different. You might be perfectly happy with what you are working with right now. You might like something altogether different. But know your camera's limits, its capabilities.

Much fun to be had! Cheers.

A Sense of Motion.

OK... how is it that the kayaker's head and upper body are perfectly sharp while everything around him is a serious blur? His kayak, his paddle, his hand, the water splashing over the boat, the river rushing around the boat...everything is moving. Why isn't he?

Well, it is probably only fair to tell you that he is actually riding a little wave there. What he does is settle into a small trough and pretty much goes into surfing mode. So for a short period of time his upper body is not moving all that much. He's balancing himself with the paddle, moving his hands, and of course the water is still rushing by!

What I did was used a relatively slow shutter speed, in this case 1/30th of a second, then focused on his head and shot off several frames. (Always good to shoot many images!) The lens I used did have the vibration reduction activated, which certainly helped some. But it can only do so much. Proper, steady handholding technique is still required! (More on that in a future post.)

A tripod and a lens without VR will work just as well. (check out the "blue" kayaker in my C&O Canal/Great Falls page on my website.)

Anyway, it's a pretty cool effect and a departure from the typical stop-action stuff where all the action is, well...stopped. There's just something about being able to see the motion. Don't you think?

OK, til next time...

Cheers.

Scene Changer.

Let's have another go at trying to spice up a somewhat dull scene. To keep it simple we'll use similar colored gels as before. Also we're not posing anybody. Have to work with what's happening naturally. OK, to start with we have Rachel up in the garret preparing to do taxes. (Fun!) Anyway, this is pretty much a straight forward shot. This is how the space normally looks. Ugly, incandescent, overhead lights.

So, two things, no wait... three things right off the bat. 1) Underexpose the scene by about a stop. 2) Add a flash at about model's eye level, off to one side. 3) Get down low to eliminate distracting background clutter.

OK, this is pretty interesting. Looks like maybe the sun is coming in from a side window (it's not!).

Next, let's add another flash. Splash it against the back wall with a purple/bluish gel to give it maybe a little flair. Same general perspective, throw in a vertical shot, maybe a foreground element or two and well not such a boring setting after all!

Opportunities

This weekend I was presented with a great opportunity and a great challenge. I was lucky enough to be one of about 15 or so photographers to have free reign throughout the Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center out at Dulles International. (Thanks Rob!) The place is massive. And it has everything! From the Enola Gay to the Enterprise Space Shuttle...and more! As I said, quite the opportunity!

The great challenge? Making interesting photos. Like most museums Udvar-Hazy is well lit...not nicely lit, but well lit. The photo above of the Flying Tiger gives you a good idea about how it looks throughout all the hangars. Not very compelling, really. And, frankly, it's not supposed to be. It's a museum. It is supposed to display things for people to see. It's not supposed to look really cool for us photographers. That's our job. Make it look cool.

Well, I had no idea what I was going to do. I had brought a minimal amount of equipment, taking a less is more approach. I had never been there, knew nothing of the size of the space or the lighting or the things I'd see. Totally blind. So, after we were given a brief orientation we were set free. I walked around just taking a few snapshots here and there, getting acquainted...trying different compositions. But I bored quickly of that. I soon realized it was the dull lighting that was boring me. I had to create better light.

I pulled out of my pack two speedlights and a couple gels. One blueish-purple, the other amber. I underexposed the ambient light by about two stops--maybe just one and a half, not too sure. But this significantly brought down the plain white light of the museum making for pretty dark photos. I then simply needed to add my own light, using the colored gels to get a little drama out of them. I am fairly happy with the results, but I'd love to get back there someday with the knowledge of the place I now have...I'd bring a couple more speedlights, try a few more tricks.

Until then, here are a few of the shots from that morning. Hope you like.

Panning.

One of our earlier posts talked about being a little more selective about which photos to keep through more and better self-editing. We've also have talked about spicing up the collection of images you show others by using silhouettes. Both were about keeping your audience interested. In that same vein let's talk about panning. Capturing someone or something in motion. On the surface panning looks easy. Just follow along with your subject and click away. True to some extent but, as with everything, it does require some amount of practice. Matching the pace of your subject isn't always easy. (Direction changes, speed changes, unsteady hands.) Also, adding flash to the equation helps add a little dynamism. Here are two panned images. One with flash and one without. This first photo I captured down on the C&O Canal towpath. I noticed a rider coming along and set my camera to a slow shutter speed. As he approached I fixed a focus point on him and followed along all the while making sure that focus point never left his body. I clicked off about three or four shots before he passed. The trees make for a good background and are well blurred to convey actual motion.

This second shot is with the flash. In this case I asked John to walk past me a couple times while I photographed him. After a couple beers he is a most willing subject! Anyway, the background is underexposed by about one full stop. This helps make the subject (John) really stand out when the flash hits him. The flash also stops the action, which keeps John sharp yet the background remains blurred. Cool effect, I think!

Next time you have your camera out remember motion. Follow along as someone walks by. See a really nifty looking car coming up the road? Pan it! Watching a child's baseball game? No better opportunity to practice than when they are running down to first base. Try it out...and above all have fun!

Cheers.

Silhouettes

A good way to spice up your photo slide show is to be sure there are one or two decent silhouettes included. Most people are not expecting them. They're expecting "the usual." It's your job--should you want your audience to remain interested--to occasionally provide the unusual. All you need for a good silhouette is backlight. Well, there's a little more to it than that, but backlight is essential. Everything you ever heard about keeping the light behind you--or just over your shoulder--forget it. In this case you want the light in front of you. Maybe off to the side just a bit, but basically in front of you and behind your subject. For those of you with more advanced cameras try metering the sky (not including the sun!) then shoot away. For the more point and shoot types the camera's light meter will most likely be able to read the scene properly and give you what you want. In other words simply make sure the sun is behind your subject then just point and shoot! Oh! It is also important to have a clean background so that your subject stands out. A cluttered background will just obscure everything. Try getting down low so the subject is against a clear blue sky or as in the case below get up high and use the reflection off water as background. Whatever the case, adding a silhouette or two to your vacation photos will help enrich the viewing experience.

So how did we light that portrait of Rachel?

As you saw in the "studio" shot, we were dealing with a pretty dull looking white wall and seriously ugly light. Weak incandescent bulbs in two places in the ceiling and a big window letting in far too much daylight. So first thing is we close the window shades and turn off the lights. Well, that is, after we completed our set up! Which consisted of just two flashes, a snoot, a reflector, a couple gels, and a house plant. (You get it now, don't you Rob?) Here's the first or main flash. Notice the amber gel on it. Now here it is again with the home made snoot in place. A snoot is simply a way to focus the light beam from wide to narrow. That way we can pick and choose what is lit... in this case Rachel's lovely visage. Here's our second or background flash. Notice the blue gel attached. Remember the blue background?

Remember also the dark patterns in the blue background? Well that's where the house plant comes in. You shoot the flash through the plants leaves, et voila! Cool, weird patterns on wall. And that's pretty much it! Except I sort of lied about only two flashes in use. There was actually a third. Here it is. The flash atop the camera put off just enough light to trigger the two other flashes, but not enough to add any light on our model. And here's the shot one more time:

Making the best of the situation.

OK... here's our "studio."

Ugh! A bit of a challenge, yes? Can we make a decent portrait in this setting?

Let's see...

I think we can!

Exactly how we did it is something I will discuss in a future post. For now, take heart knowing that a dull setting doesn't necessarily translate into a dull photograph.