Multiple Flashes With a Little Physics on the Side

This was fun. Courtney is a photography student and when she came to the studio for her portraits I wanted to do something that would blow her mind. So we left the nice part of my studio and set up a few speed-lights in the long dark hall that leads to the rear exit. We are still in the process or remodeling so this hall is what some might call "industrial".

The camera was placed on a tripod and the aperture set to the maximum for my lens so I could get the most depth of field. The shutter was set to 30 seconds. Then came the hard part. Courtney and I had to work in the complete dark. My job was to fire the strobe with the test button from different angles while keeping it out of the frame so I didn't' show up in the image and she had to navigate around the room in the dark. The 30 second exposure felt like for ever.

It took several tries to get the result but here's the final product. No photoshop necessary. This is all done within one frame. This technique can work for still or moving objects as long as the flash is your only light source, it must be completely dark.

In college we did this same technique to get greater depth of field in the studio for product shots. For example, say I was shooting a photo of a large product, like an SUV in studio (never-mind the logistics of getting it in the studio) If I didn't have enough power to get the maximum aperture with one flash, I could increase the number of flashes to increase the exposure.

Now you could do this as a guess and check but there is also an easy equation that will save you time.
E=l/d is the mathematical representation of the way light works according to the inverse square law.  (The link has a good explanation of this.) In simple terms this expresses the relationship between the distance (d) from the light source and the required intensity (l) for correct exposure (e).

To increase depth of field by adding additional flashes we solve for "l" to know the correct number of times the flash most go off for proper exposure at our chosen aperture. The law says that an object 2x the distance from a light source will receive a 1/4 of the illumination. By moving your subject from 4 feet away to 8 feet away, you will need four times the amount of light for the same exposure.

For example: If Courtney is four feet away from the speedlight at full power and I want to shoot at F22 but my current meter reading is saying I have enough power for F8 I'll need to use the flash four times in the same shot to get the correct exposure and make up the two stop difference.

What you may not realize is that this law is in action no matter the light source you're using. Have you ever thought to yourself, "oh my subject just moved farther away from me, I need to open up to a larger aperture?" Then you've just used the inverse square law without even thinking about it. Pretty cool yes?

Indoor lighting Part 2 continued...

This is a photo of Alex (nearly 10 weeks now!) using the same lighting set up as the photo of Megan. Alex is turned to face into the light so there is a broader lighting pattern across his face. The reason I'm showing this is to give you a quick trick you can use to figure out how any portrait was shot.
Look into his eyes. The reflection shows a larger rectangular catch-light on the bottom (it looks light it's coming from the bottom because I was standing directly above him for this shot) and a small dot of light above and nearly dead center of the eye. You can even see the fill card on camera right. In case your wondering the small spot of light is my on-camera flash sending a radio signal to the speed-lights behind the scrim. This little flash is just enough to set off the others without effecting the lighting on Alex's face.

Combine these facts with the direction of the shadows and you can deduce the light source, it's angle, and my position. Try it, pick up any magazine and study the eyes of the people photographed in it. Take the photos you like and then mimic what you think the lighting was to see if you get the same results. If you try this out please post a link to your results below! Have fun practicing.

Natural Light Vs. Flash

When I'm shooting an event the challenge is trying to use a multitude of different techniques to create a body of work that is cohesive yet varied in style. The images need to represent my point of view while telling a personal story and highlighting the specified needs of the client.

For example: These two images are shot in the same location and just seconds after each other but both images convey a different mood. The first is a image shot using only the available light from the window so the bride is silhouetted. Some detail can be seen in her dress and around her but that's all. The act of the bride looking out this window insinuates a feeling of anticipation. By shooting the image using only the window light the geometry of the glass panes become more obvious and the black and white also helps to make the lines of the image and the light cascading in the focal point. By shooting at 1/160 @F6.3 the room goes dark. This is because the fast shutter speed is exposing for the natural light and not the incandescent lights in the room. A slower shutter speed would have picked up the overhead lights and the contrast wouldn't have been so lovely.  The next image is shot a few seconds after the first but the style has changed completely. Fill flash has been added to bring up the light in the room and the image is shown in color instead of black and white. Additionally, the exposure has changed dramatically. The color photo was shot at 1/60 @f9. Notice how the flash becomes the main light and it's directional from camera left. While detail is still visible outside, the light from the window is now acting as a secondary light source. Also, the shutter speed was reduced so the window looks brighter even though the light levels haven't changed, more light has simply entered the camera's lens the second shot so it is more exposed then the first.  There are a few things that you can see in the color version that were obscured in the black in white. The reflection of the second flash can be seen in the widow, the radiator behind the bride,the extension cord and outlet at her feet and the color of the (ugly) rug in the room. All of these problems can be removed by re-framing the image and coming in for a tighter crop, but if your client has asked for a full body shot (and who wouldn't if she looked this good?) The best choice is the black and white image.
And this goes back to my original point, knowing a variety of techniques and being able to handle light in all sorts of ways makes you a better photographer. I've head it said many times by other professionals "I'm a natural light photographer." Which for me translates into, "I'm afraid to try new things." My advice, never let yourself get stuck in a rut. When faced with a photo opportunity, don't be scared to ask yourself, "how can I do this differently?" and try a fresh approach. The worst that can happen is you'll fail! Failure is simply an opportunity to learn. So if you're going to mess up, do it with gusto and a lot of carefully taken notes so next time you'll be one step closer to creating an image that is unlike anything you've shot before.

Studio Lighting Basics: Part 1 "Feel the Light"

In college one of my more ego maniacal  instructors (keep in mind they ALL fit into this category) brought in a single light head on a stand with a soft-box to class. He had the entire group stand with arms out in front of it repeating "I feel the light!" as if we were impersonating a gospel choir. His point? At a certain level you need to act instinctively about how you use light. Studio photography is the best example since you have complete control over every light source and direction. So I want to take the next few days and go over some of the basics about how to light in a studio and why the classics work so well. Then I want to talk about breaking out of the box and doing things differently. That's where the whole "Feeling the Light" really matters. So please to anyone reading, take what you see here, and apply these techniques creatively; by all means make it your own! That's what art is all about, yes? I'll provide the method you're responsible for the mood.

First thing first, think of light as your most basic tool. Keep in mind how changing light alters the emotion of an image and where it's placed is the key to telling a subject's story. And everything has a story. How interesting it is, well, that's up to you.

So let's start with some lingo.

Key (or main) Light: Just what it sounds like. This is normally the brightest light in the set up. Often times it's that big glowing ball in the sky.

Fill Light: This is the light, or sometimes a reflector that fills in the shadows to help reduce contrast or illiminate shadows all together.

Background Light: The light that illumniates the background.

Hair Light or Rim Light: A light positioned behind the subject and sometimes what helps to separate the subject and background from one another.

Monolight: Flash unit that is self contained and uses AC power.

Lens Flair: Light that is reflected back into the camera lens. Not fun to try to remove in post processing.

Lighting ratio: A mathematical way of describing how bright the main light is compared to the fill light.

Wireless Remote: Sounds redundant I know, but these little guys, AKA radio transmitters, signal flash units from the camera so all units fire simultaneously.

Diffuser: A device used to disperse light and soften shadows. A few popular ones are: softboxes, unbrellas (reflective and translucent) a beauty dish and diffusion sock, etc.

Specular Highlight: A bright spot of light that appears in shiny objects. Often called catch lights when observed in portraits, this is the glow you see in people's eyes. It is also the easiest way to determine how a photograph was lit. I simply look for the reflection in the subject's eyes to tell me how to recreate the same shot.

Reflector: A surface that reflects light. (Obvious I know) They come in many varieties. Gold and silver reflectors add either a warm or cool tone to an image where white stays color neutral. The bigger the reflector, the more diffused the light. The closer the reflector is to the light source the greater the intensity of the reflected light. 

Okay let's start off small. Let's talk about lighting with just a key light and go from there.

All you Anne Geddes fans here's a knock off for you. This image used a single key light and my husband draped in black fabric. I know what you're thinking, and no he won't wax his arms for a re-shoot. This kind of image is very popular (can't quite figure out why) and easy to do. My key light was a single unit pointed towards the ceiling at a 45 degree angle to give it some direction and its positioned a little bit off of camera right. By pointing the light up it filled the whole room and broadly lit both baby and my toga wearing husband. ( I should have gotten a photo of him to show you. Especially since the whole thing was held on by a few "A" clamps in the back. Pretty hilarious actually.) Here's a diagram to help illustrate. I used an umbrella since it was already on the light-stand and any extra diffusion is okay with me, but the ceiling is really what did the work. As I said before, the larger the area light can reflect off of, the more dispersed it will be. Nine foot ceilings painted white are a portrait photographer's best friend when on location. Luckily for me the same trick works in my studio as well.

One thing I do need to mention here is that this lighting method (sometimes referred to as a broad lighting pattern) means that in the original image there was a good amount of detail visible in the black material around Caleb's body. There are two ways to correct this:

1. GOBO the light. This stands for "GOes Before Optics" and is basically anything that is dark that will be put in front of a light source to change how it looks. Black matt board is a cheep and easy solution. Hang a few of these from light stands or have an assistant hold them in place so as to remove light that was falling on spots it shouldn't be.
2. Use the Dodge and Burn tool in Photoshop. 

I'll admit I chose option two since it was more convenient at the time, but GOBO's are  especially useful and something no photographer should be without. The best part is how creative you can get with one. Anything can be a GOBO. Just as long as it casts a shadow. Scrims are similar to GOBO's but they are translucent and they are used more as a diffuser then a light blocker. I have a 7' by 10' collapsible scrim but I've seen other photographers use white sheets, shower curtains, etc.

One thing you have be careful of when using one light source is separation. Does the shadow areas on your subject blend into the background? This mistake is most commonly made when the subject has dark hair and the background is black or they have on dark clothing. It creates what I like to call FHS or Floating Head Syndrome. Again this reinforces the point I made earlier, you must "Feel the Light" and that means controlling it! When one light won't do, you add another, or a reflector, until you've correctly lit your subject in a way that is pleasing and distinguishable.
Tomorrow we'll expand on this same idea and move up to two lights sources.

Flash in Daylight: Creating Dimention and Mood

Before I took this shot I said to my subject, "Okay, now we're going to take a few where it looks like it's evening and your under a street light." She responded with a classic, "That's cool." For a photo geek, that's an understatement since it was 2pm in the afternoon, in the summer. This shot was done downtown Snohomish, Washington. I love the historic feel of this little town and the the Snohomish River waterfront that is only steps from shops and restaurants. It feels like Pioneer Square in Seattle but without the tourists and transients to distract my subject. So how does one create a false street light and evening light? I'll answer that with a  diagram- including stick figures!

It was a windy day, so umbrellas on the speed-light would spell disaster, so instead I grabbed my Lightsphere to add a little softness, but not much, I wanted the light source to mimic the harsh quality of street lights, so it put it up about 8 feet and pointed it down on the subject. I also put the light close to the building to extend the shadow behind her. Then I asked her to look in the direction of the flash for three reasons: to create a classic lighting pattern on her face, emphasize her great cheek bones, and to add interest to the portrait by insinuating that she's waiting for something or someone on this street. To add to the concept of a pretty young girl alone on a street at night, I shifted her to the far left of the frame and balanced the image with the window in the top corner. This design creates a visual triangle; your eye starts at the light coming from the top corner, moves to the subject, and then up again to the window, and back to the light. Does the set up seem simple ?  It is! The hard part is the exposure and even then it's not very difficult. It's just involves a little guess and check.

I didn't want a lot of ambient light affecting the shot, keeping the illusion that it late evening light was very important, but at the same time I didn't want to have to use another strobe unit to light the window separately, so some daylight had to be included; just enough to add detail in the window and wall and allow the flash to be the main light on the subject. Even though my flash unit was only about 4 feet from the subject, I set it 1/1 power (or full power). I then set the f-stop to match the power of the flash. The exposure turned out to be 1/160 at F9. I also tried slower shutter speeds to see the difference in the ambient light. At 1/60 a second the daylight overpowered the shot and the shadow on the wall dissipated. At 1/250 the window was barely visible. In total we probably took about 10 versions of this shot to get the right expression and exposure. On the right is another version shot at 1/160 @ f 6.3 . On this one I simply backed the light stand and flash combo back a foot farther from our High School Senior. By increasing the distance between the light and the subject I changed the intensity of the light falling on her face. I still can't decide which image I like better, the second one has softer shadows and looks be be earlier in the day then the first, but I love her face in the second one more. These are the tough choices we photographers have to make! What do you think? Please share your comments. Also if you would like to view more of my High School Senior Portraits please visit our senior site or Irene Jones Photography Online.

Next up: Painting with strobe light.

Finding Balance: Flash in Daylight

Thanks to my sister and most valued assistant Terice Lehman for this fantastic shot! Terice and I work together on most weddings and she can also be found at my studio in Everett shooting senior portraits, families and children.
This image is a fantastic example of how using a flash to fill can make what otherwise might have been a boring image into something beautiful.

During this shoot Brittany (the Bride) asked, "Can we do a photo where I'm smelling a flower?" Terice's eyes met mine and we both smiled apprehensively and said "Sure." This is a request we get occasionally. I don't know where it comes from, but I've never liked it before, it's a little...cliche'. Then something happened. Terice took charge and placed the bride near a patch of flowers in the garden that looked similar in form to the ones she was already wearing in her hair.  It was a overcast day but at that moment the sky opened up and sunlight fell along her left side. Ordinarily this by itself would make for a great image, especially since when light hits the back of flower petals they glow! The view of the bride was best on the shadow side of her. From the sun side the background was less interesting and very distracting. Positioning her speed-light on a light stand about 8 feet away from Brittany and 6 feet high on a light stand, Terice created a great highlight on the shadow side of the bride and the effect of three dimensionality you see here. It's subtle, (like the highlight on her arms) but pretty. Additionally an umbrella was used to modify the quality of light from the flash and reduce harsh shadows.

What I like most about this photograph is how well the two light sources are balanced. Finding the correct exposure for both the sun and flash is easier then you might think. Here's how to do it:

1. Meter the light from the sun either with your cameras internal meter, a hand held light meter, or guess if you are old school and still remember the sunny 16 rule. Try to get an overall exposure. One good trick is to make sure your camera is metering for the whole scene if you plan to go the internal metering method. On our Nikon D-300's this mode is called Matrix Metering. The camera metered the scene at 1/200 @F14.
   
2. Then meter for the flash. This is something that a hand held light meter is best for if you are just starting out. Or you can guess based on distance and experience. I mentioned that the light Terice was using was about 8 feet away from the bride. At full power each foot of distance is equal roughly to about 1/2 F-stop with my Nikon Speed-lights. There is a good chance that this same ratio won't work for all flash equipment but with time you can figure out what does work for you.  By placing the light farther back from the subject you can quickly control the output without having to change any flash settings. Remember speed is often your very best friend at weddings. 8 feet of distance between the bride and speed-light equals 4 stops.
   
3. Using manual mode, choose the shutter speed from your overall exposure (1/200 for our example) and the F-stop from your flash (F14 minus 4 stops gives us F 4.8). Terice's on-camera flash was set to commander mode to remotely fire the flash, but not actually illuminate the bride.
4. Be prepared to make adjustments. Check your histogram, (I don't trust view screens) and then you can manipulate the power level more exactly by adjusting the power output or moving the flash closer or farther away as you see fit to achieve the depth of field you want. All in all this will save you actual shooting time and provide better exposures overall.
   

The benefits of this technique are easy to see, the two lighting sources, (flash and sun) minimize harsh shadows, creates the look of studio lighting outdoors, adds beautiful highlights to the hair and skin, and ease of use for the photographer. Now you might be saying, just use a reflector. Also a good alternative but it would have provided different results. While a reflector would fill in the shadow side of her face, it would be coming from a different angle then the speed-light Terice used. Her speed-light was placed just a foot or two to her left and illuminated the bride at an angle in which a reflector would have been unable to (from 6 feet up on a light-stand remember?). Basic physics apply here and knowing how light works and the angle of incident will help every time.
(Note: If I was ever to get a tattoo it would say: The law of reflection states that θ_i = θ_r, or in other words, the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection. This is basic stuff that we all should know from high school. My point? A good photographer may do this instinctively but a great photographer does it cognitively.)

  The reflector would have softened the shadows but not from the same angle or with the same control. Here's a sorry excuse for a diagram to show what I mean. As the diagram crudely shows, the light would have been from a different angle if bounced by a reflector. Before the comments come in about how my angles are wrong in the digram, I know, I just can't draw for my life.

There you have it, good lighting changes what otherwise is boring and uninteresting into a better image, Thanks again to Terice for letting me blog about her and her work.

The Series continues tomorrow with more on using flash in daylight.

Today's featured image is from a wedding shot this summer for Brittany and Ryan. If you would like to see more of their images visit my Facebook page for Irene Jones Photography and view their album.

Comming soon...

I was enjoying a quite moment, which are far to few in my house these days when an idea struck me. I'm a genius; so this happens quite frequently. The idea? A photo a day. One photo, describing one technique I use professionally and how you can do it too. Just one moment in time for each day of a year. I've been working as a professional photographer for ten years now and along the way I have learned a lot, most out of trial and error and long grueling assignments in college. Looking for a new challenge, I thought it would be fantastic to limit myself and see what I could make out of each opportunity. So starting November 1, 2009 I will be on a mission; capture something new, mundane, or somewhere in between, but to do it in a way I've never done before.

As photographers and camera operators alike, so many of us think AFTER pressing the shutter. My goal is to create truly innovative work before I even remove the lens cap, and then execute it with skill and precision.  All images will include a detailed explanation of the process, maybe even a lighting diagram with cute stick figures, and style information to create each photo; that is accessible to photo-geek and layman alike.

Topics will include:

• Working with natural light
• Night photography
• People on location (day and night)
• Flash in Daylight
• Cheep substitutes for expensive photo equipment
• Macro photography
• Self-Portraiture
• Wedding photography
• Painting with light
• Toy Cameras/Pin Hole Photography
• Color Balance
• Panning, motion and blur
• Enviromental portraiture 
• Studio photography
• Still life
• Expanding your point of view
• Reflection
• And 348 other topics yet to be chosen...
  

Maybe I'll even learn something along the way. You might too. So please, fasten your seat-belts, and follow my blog. See you all November 1.