Many Uses of The "Shoot Through" Umbrella.

Groovy discovery. Decided to grab a quick portrait of my niece. Dark, foreboding, storm clouds as backdrop. Ran inside, got the SB800 and a shoot-through umbrella. Set the flash to full power, used the on-camera flash as a trigger, under exposed the sky by about 2 stops, held the flash and umbrella in my left hand and made a few photographs.

Love the chocolate smudges.

The rain soon began to fall, my niece said she needed to be under the umbrella, I held the umbrella over her head and suddenly thought, Hmmm... this could be a shot. Even though it's a "shoot-through" umbrella there was more than enough bounce-back to create this image.

Will be using this technique more often.

You don't necessarily need to stop shooting even when you think you've got the shot. You just never know.

Teaching and Learning

Joe McNally has put up a post called "Making Window Light." It's yet another of one of his informative posts, explaining in great detail how he works on the road. He continues to generously share many of his secrets about lighting, about how to travel light and still make images that will knock the socks off your client. All with great humor and wit.

The same is true in person, as I discovered when I attended one of his one day workshops last year. (see here) We all laughed quite a lot and learned even more. If you ever have the opportunity... take it! There'll be no regrets.

Go read the post linked above and learn some new groovy way to achieve that soft window light look with a few strobes. Then put it to practice. I intend to!

Meantime, I'd like to share a few images. After reading Joe's blog I was reminded of the many times I've made actual window light portraits. Most of my favorites were in front of one particular window in my home. Best look comes from cloudy days, but shade works as well. As long as no direct sunlight is coming through, you're good. (unless you really do want that, but that's another thing altogether)

In any case, here's to good light... and good teachers!

Workshop.

Did I mention I was able to attend a one day workshop with Joe McNally? I had signed up a little too late, so I was put on a waiting list. Well, apparently the waiting list grew large enough to make it worth while adding on another day.

So, very last minute, I packed up my gear and made the nearly five hour drive to NY. Drove back immediately after the workshop. Whirlwind. Crazy. But fun!

Here are a few shots.

Mazel Tov!

So, I shot a Bar Mitzvah this past weekend. Family deal, so no real pressure. (Heh!)

However, as with any event taking place in a big ugly auditorium lighting can be a bit of an issue. Here's what we're working with:

Ugh! OK, what to do? Well, you can throw a flash on the camera.

 

Yikes! A little harsh. Well, the show hasn't started yet, now what? Think fast. Run out to the car, get the light stand from the trunk and stick a strobe (Nikon SB800!) to the right of the stage. You can trigger that one with the strobe that you have on the camera and if you point this one at the ceiling you can get a nice soft fill light. Whew... let's see.

 

OK, then. Much more interesting. We've got a little more depth here. Also finding a good angle to clean up the background helps, too.

And here's the young man and proud parents.

Taking advantage of all available light.

Photography is about light. And there is great light all around.

For most of his career National Geographic photographer Sam Abell (look him up) never used a flash. He used the existing light in creative and unique ways. He really saw light.

Whenever possible I try to work creatively with existing light. Here's a recent portrait I did of my niece Jodi.

(She's doing her best impression of a scary zombie in her Grandpa's attic!) Anyway, what you'll notice is two different light sources. One slightly behind her on her right (my left) and one almost directly in front of her.

The light behind her is overcast daylight from a garret window and it acts as a sort of hairlight, creates a nice hi-light and helps separate her from the background. The light in front of her is from a window as well but there is a big tree with yellow leaves out this window and they act as a reflector, casting that nice warm glow on her face. I also positioned her in such a way that the window acts as a catchlight in her eyes (portraits without a catchlight tend to look lifeless). Lastly, she is turned ever so slightly so there is a little shadow on her face, this adds depth.

Of course, this exact look could be reproduce with several strobes and some gels in a studio, but lighting opportunities not dissimilar to this are all around. Just gotta look for them!

Give it a go.