Yes, I do know what day it is...

Thursday the 8th was the last blog post, and though I originally set out to post daily, I'm coming to the understanding that not all things are possible within my waking hours. That being said, I won't be deterred from my original goal of 365 posts. It just may take me longer then one year to get there! Today I wanted to show you a shot from a Christina and Corbin's wedding this weekend. They were so much fun and I just loved working with them. I'll have more from their wedding later next week and from a few other sessions I've been busy with. In fact tomorrow I'll going to show you some simple manipulations on this image that Brides and Grooms love (but I think are cliche' and annoying- but I do them anyways. It's all about the Benjamins...)

While I'm discussing my calendar of events for the blog, here's what's coming up:
One of the wonderful people following my blog asked about shooting indoors, so I'll be posting information on that also. And for anyone looking to get into the wedding business, I just finished up the Northwest Bridal Showcase and later this month will be at the Lynnwood Wedding Expo. Once those are completed I plan on discussing a few of the in's and out's of photographing weddings and the business behind it. If you have questions ask now and I'll try to answer any them in that post. Those are my mini goals (working towards that new years resolution stuff).

Also, I'd love to see your photos. Show me your favorite photo you've done indoors and describe how you did it. Flash, window light, slow shutter speed, anything goes as long as it's inside and something you want to share. The best way to do this is post your images to flikr, facebook, or any other site you may be using and post a link in the comments.

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.

Photographing Infants: Part 2

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for, photos of my son!

In this photo Alexander is three days old and like a good baby model, sound asleep. I wanted to achieve the look of natural light with soft shadows and a slight directional quality as if the light was screaming in the window. Then I remembered I live in Western Washington and light here can be hard to find on a rainy day. I found myself with two choices, either shoot with the natural light and a high ISO or try flash. Before anyone skips to the bottom of the page and begins commenting on how mean it is to startle infants with a strobe, let me tell you how you can do the same without causing any trouble for yourself and your subject. The name of the game here is bounce.

To start I placed a pop-up reflector card by my front window and then positioned the SB-900 on it's floor stand (included in the box) about half a foot away from the reflector and pointing directly at it. I also positioned another reflector by Alex's head and 180 degrees from the flash and reflector combo in the window. To test the flash I placed a stand in for Alex in the basket and checked the lighting was what I wanted. Then while holding my son I tested the flash at half power and watched him to make sure he wouldn't jump in my arms.  When it flashed Alex didn't even move a muscle because it was several feet from him and being redirected by the reflector cards.  Completely ready I took off his clothes, fed him, and then once he was fast asleep, placed him in he basket. For me getting babies into the right position is always the hardest part. Key things to remember though: make them look comfortable, (unless you're going for that Anne Geddes I'm a super bendable infant thing) try to find angles that flatter them just as you would adults, and work fast once your shot is set up. With a naked infant there are a number of things that can go horribly wrong in a matter of seconds. I'm sure you can guess what those are so I won't elaborate.

The shots used in this blog post were all shot at the same exposure 1/20 @ f4.5. I wanted the background visible but not distracting. And as usual I enjoy shooting with wider angle lenses close up. The first image above was shot at 16mm so I could include the entire basket and some of the floor. The next image (left) was at 35mm and still has some of the wide angle feel but it's closer to normal (50mm) so there is just a little distortion. (Or in layman's terms- the reason why this baby looks to have a giant head.) Plus with the f4.5 you can see that the image is sharp from his hair to fingers. Note: it's always good to remember that the depth of field provides sharpness forwards and backwards from your focal point. So because I was focused on Alex's eyes, his hands and hair also fell within that range while letting the background and the rest of his body past the shoulder fall off in sharpness and blur together.

The next image has the same exposure, nearly the same focal length (40mm), but the angle is different. I moved about a foot to the right to become more parallel with the baby and by doing so I changed ever so slightly the focal range and perspective. The third image (right) shows his head in better proportion to his body and while I like the angle of the second image I think it's important to note how different they look and how minor the adjustments between each image create varied results.

In case your wondering set up for these photos took about a half an hour and I shot nearly 20 frames during the next 10 minutes. At that point Alex was tired of me pushing his legs back into the right place in between shots and began to fuss. Being his mom and knowing we were going to do another photo shoot the following day, we ended our photo session. If the baby had been a client's child we would have moved on to another pose after the baby had some time to settle down. On average this can be a few minutes to a half an hour in some cases.

The Alexander photos continue tomorrow with some tutorials about how to make better black and white images.

For more information about infant portrait session with Irene Jones Photography please visit our website, Irene Jones Photography Online.

Fill Flash Basics: Simple things you can do to make a better portrait.

What do you do when it's 45 degrees outside, starting to rain, and late in the afternoon in October? Well in my case you end up shooting a family portrait. I am based in Seattle you know so many of the days here fit this description. The family shown to the left had been planning this shoot for quite some time and until we actually started shooting it had been dry. Undaunted, and knowing I had to work quickly, I grabbed a single speed-light and we all went for a walk in the woods admits the autumn leaves. The lighting lacked direction and depth, but that was okay since the main focus of any family portrait is good illumination across the faces of all subjects, so in this case I went with it. The best part was that with no harsh light or shadows to be found we could shoot anywhere in the park uninhibited. It was a cold day, so I'm glad my clients thought a head and planned matching coats.  Another blessing from the low light was the shallow depth of field. This image was shot on a monopod at an exposure of 1/60 @ f 5.6. The lens was a 28-80mm zoom to 80mm. The combination of the wider aperture and ever so slight telephoto lens adds great separation from the background and turned the trees behind into a soft blur of color.

Now this shot could have easily been done without the fill flash but a few things would have happened. I would have lost about a whole stop of light, maybe even two. This would increase the possibility of blurry people from camera shake or just good old fashion movement on anyone's part. (People breathe and the simple act of doing so can make them blurry at low shutter speeds.) It also would have meant less detail and color in the background. A washed out background would have been detrimental to this image since the color of the leaves mirrors their warm skin tones and the Mom's hair.

Using fill flash did the following things:

1. Added light to the faces of the subject to balance the exposure against the background.
2. Removed shadows that often come when the subject has deep set eyes (the Dad) or the side of the nose (the Mom).
3. Added catch lights to all of the subject's eyes.
4. Acted as a warming filter in the cool cloudy light and enhanced the color in the skin tone/background.
5. Increased the exposure and created a stop-action image that was sharp and pleasing.
6. Added detail to the shadows (their coats) so the contrast level included both shadow and highlight detail and looks more natural.

Flash on camera has it's faults too; just like any technique it needs to be applied correctly. First off, it's important when using an accessory flash (speed-light) to choose the right power setting. On this photo I had my speed-light on a  flash bracket (see below for more info) just slightly above and to the left of the lens so the best choice was to set it to TTL  metering (Through The Lens). This system is designed to adjust the flash's power to match the exposure, not overwhelm it. If I had my speed-light set to full power on this image the people would have either been extremely over exposed, or my background would have been severely underexposed- to the point it would look like 10pm at night!
Second, when using a speed-light so close to your camera you will get shadows, harsh ones too if you don't find a way to diffuse them. My strategy was shooting though a small soft-box attached to the speed-light. This made the shadows that would have appeared under their chins and eyebrows soft. Additionally by shooting this image horizontally (landscape) any shadows that the speed-light created "fell off" behind them since they were several feet from the trees shown in the background. The same shot framed vertically (portrait) runs the risk of shadows along the entire length of the subjects when using on camera flash. That would have been detracting. To combat this there are wonderful device known as a flash bracket. It allows you keep the flash in relatively the same position above the camera but turn your camera and avoid the weird shadows that looks so unnatural.

Overall, it's a very simple shot-executed simply, and here's my point: better photography comes from knowing when to rely on the basics and when to apply a more advanced technique. There is no silver bullet for every image, that's why it's an art form. For this photo, the weather dictated the need for speed and accuracy. As much as I would have loved to use a more complicated lighting set up, keeping my clients in the rain for longer then necessary was not an option.

To review follow these simple steps:

1. Add fill flash to images to balance an exposure and create greater interest.
2. When using an accessory flash resist the urge to attach it to your camera's hot-shoe. Instead use a flash bracket or light-stand (I'll talk about this more tomorrow) to move the light up and away from your lens. This will reduce unnatural shadows.
3. Use anything (and I mean that literally) that will modify and diffuse your light so harsh shadows bite the big one.
4. Choose the setting for your flash that is appropriate for the situation. This means knowing ALL of the features of your equipment. So stop using the owner's manual as a coaster and read it.
   
5. Try not to over complicate things and always consider your situation when choosing what equipment you plan to use.
   

Tomorrow we'll go to the next level and discuss how taking your flash off the camera changes everything. In the mean time please post your comments and links to images you've done with simple flash techniques. It's great to see what others are producing.

Leading Lines: Good Composition Starts Here

Congratulations to Julia and Josh! They will be tying the knot in 2010; this image was taken from their engagement session. To view more visit the online ordering portion of Irene Jones Photography Online. Select the session for Julia and Josh and enter password 21366.

For me this was an obvious favorite from their shoot for a few reasons, I love the shadow of the railing on the dock cast behind them, the sun reflecting off the water, and the slight perspective and angle created by the wide angle lens used to photograph this couple.
The best compositions are the ones that direct the attention of the viewer to your subject again and again. This is done by appealing to the part of our brains that looks for geometric shapes. By creating compositions that move the eye of the viewer in a pattern such as a triangle. circle, or pattern of lines, you hold the attention of the audience. Also the couple is positioned ever so slightly off center and to the right thanks to a few degrees of camera tilt. This way the photograph is not perfectly symmetrical. Asymmetry can often provide visual interest and in photography is key to the rule of 3rds; which I'll talk about another day. The flair of the sun on the water directly behind the couple helps to also draw attention to them since your eye will automatically look to the brightest portion of an image first before your eye reads the shadows.

All of these elements combine to create an appealing  circular composition. Here's what I mean.

1. Your eye starts at the top, where the sun hits the water.
2. The longest shadow from the railing draws your gaze down and to the left. 
3. From there your eye follows the planks for the wooden dock to the right and bottom of the frame.
4. Then you look at the faces of our couple, the wind slightly blowing her hair, then on to the lines of the bench they are sitting on.
5. From the bench your eye again moves to the shadow of the rail and back to the top where the process starts all over again. 

  By using lines, highlight, and shadow you create interest the image becomes more dynamic. These elements when applied correctly enhance and never detract from what you are trying to portray. There is a nice feeling of intimacy between these two because of how close they are sitting together and they look comfortable with one another which helps to convey a sense of love and togetherness. People viewing this image should think, "They look like they belong." As a portrait photographer that's my first and foremost goal; I need to send a message about the person(s) I'm photographing, especially in engagement sessions! I want the subjects to look comfortable together. For many guests and family members alike, the engagement photos that come with Save-the-Date cards or wedding announcements can be the first glimpse they have into the coming nuptials. This first impression can go a long way in explaining the connection between two people!

Now let's talk about the technical execution of this image. Like most of my work, this image is one of many examples of fill flash in daylight. (In case your wondering I'll be discussing this in depth later.)

To set up this image I had Josh and Julia sit on the bench together with the sun to their backs. This way they wouldn't be squinting into the bright reflection of the water or the sun that was about two hours away from setting behind them.

Then I positioned a Nikon SB-900 speed light on a light stand 90 degrees from the couple and 45 degrees from where I was standing. I turned my on camera flash to commander mode and fired the speed light in remote mode at full power; knowing very well I would need some serious flash to balance against the bright background. Here is a poorly drawn stick figure diagram of what I'm describing.

Many photographers dislike wide angle lenses in portraiture and they are afraid to get close to their subjects. That is not the case with me. Using my favorite lens, a Nikon 16-85mm. I stood about two feet away from Julia and Josh and used a focal length of 22mm. Because I do my best to build a rapport with each customer, I think I can capture more intimate moments without having to lug around a 300mm telephoto lens.

In the end the exposure was 1/125 @ F9 with +1 exposure compensation to make sure the shadows on their faces were minimized. All in a days work.

More on composition tomorrow when I'll talk about the rule of thirds and make more stick figure lighting diagrams much to the dismay of art teachers everywhere.