Using small portable flashes for accent lighting along with studio strobes is a technique I tend to use often in larger spaces such as interiors or factories. Also, when wanting to travel light, I will forego using the studio strobes on location, and opt for a much smaller light weight lighting kit,  ‘Strobist’ style.

One of the issues that crops up using the small portable flashes, is the lack of ‘grip’ equipment and light modifiers. A need to turn to the DIY method of solving problems and being a little creative.

The above image shows one way I mount a portable flash when I can’t use traditional methods. This is a Nikon SB24 mounted in a door frame using a putty knife. The handle of the putty knife was drilled out and a stud mounted.  From there, you can use the traditional methods to attach the flash.

The putty knife can be inserted in-between the door and jamb, under a set of books on a book case, held with a sandbag, clamped to a ladder step, in a rock crevice, etc. Lots of options just about everywhere.

The above image shows the complete setup less the pocket wizard. From the bottom up, putty knife, stud (not visible), elbow, stub with hot shoe mount, SB24. Typically, the hot shoe mount would be substituted with a paramount cords hot shoe cable and connected to a Pocket Wizard, then the strobe mounted on top of that.

The barn doors are being held on to the front via velcro, and can be mounted in any postion as needed. All in all, it provides for a very versitle lighting setup that can be mounted virtually anywhere, even to the point it can affixed with gaffers tape to any flat surface.

Ok, I was hooked on my BlackBerry. Convenient, powerful, easy to use, push e-mail, useful applications, and so on. It really helped me ease the pain of running my own business by providing me a lot of functionality on the move. I understand where the term ‘crackberry’ came from, but was never hooked to that level.

Then came the iPhone.

My son coined the term iCrack as his replacement for Crackberry, which he used to use when he would see me hunched over it. I must admit this iPhone  is so useful and convenient, that I am finally addicted to a PDA/Phone device. The speed at which I can check my e-mails, scan my RSS blog and news feeds, check on the stock market, SMS messages, watch news clips, or have just about any kind of data available at my fingertips is astounding.

If I need to check my bank balances, look up a phone number in the white pages, check on my flights status, book a flight/car/hotel, browse though my important files, calender, send notes and reminders to my desktop, find local business close by, check my camera/gear PDF manuals, update my Netflix queue, tell my DVR to record an upcoming show, look up auto repair prices, find the closest gas station, or the cheapest, plus so much more. This isn’t even the tip of the iceberg, but more of a couple snowflakes in the field.

Here is a typical scenario that shows how fluid this process really is. A very basic task that would easily take 5-10 times longer if I had to use my laptop, and even more if I had to resort to the yellow pages, telephone, and printed maps and information.

So, I click on the Icon for ‘Around Me, an iPhone application that will give me a list of local businesses in my general area (determined by the built in GPS). It then presents me with a menu of choices for things like banks, coffee, bars, shopping, gas stations, supermarkets,  hospitals, etc.

I then click on Restaurants and am presented with another list of the closest restaurants in a pre-set radius, sorted by distance. I scan the list to find one that interests me, and click on it.

I am then presented with the address, phone numbers, distance, e-mail, and so on. If needed, I can click on the phone number, and it will place a call so I can check on hours, make a reservation, etc.

Clicking on the ‘Show Route’ button brings up  a map which shows my current position, a push pin for the restaurants position, and a marked route on the map to the restaurant.  As I drive toward the location, my position on the map is updated as I go. There are also routing options if you plan on taking a bus, or walking. Try that with the Yellow Pages and a paper map! It really is faster and easier to do than to describe. It rocks!

There are so many other similar examples for various other tasks, all executed smoothly, quickly, and, well, presented in a very cool manner as icing on the cake. It just makes my life easier in so many ways, and it fits in my pocket.

I’ll try to post a few segments on the various applications and uses as it applies to a small business owner, and more specifically, one involved in commercial photography. Such as the ability to take pictures with the iPhone while location scouting, upload them to the desktop, and be able to pinpoint the location on a map where the image was taken. No longer needing to somehow track the locations separately. With the photo taken, Google maps, satellite view, street view, GPS reference data, it can really make cataloging location scouting images very easy. So look for some future updates.

A few other cools things I’ll try to touch on, such as the photography related utilities, travel aids, access to my bank, important files, weather forecasts, position of the sun for lighting evaluations, calendar, displaying my ‘mini electronic portfolio’, keeping in touch on social sites such as Facebook, my own ‘in-flight’ entertainment of video/TV/movies/music, and on and on.

And if you also have an iPhone, and have some great apps that work for independent photographers, feel free to add them in a comment.

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Parked at the top. Gorgeous views, unsettled skies. I wanted to spend some time capturing it, but one of those traveling wtih us was freezing cold. I cut it short and headed back down.

With all the activity in the last few months, new work, new clients, holidays, home remodeling, tax season, and so on, the blog has been pretty dead. For those following, I apologize for the lack of updates and vow to increase postings in the future.

In the mean time, I took some much needed R&R up north along the Canadian border perched upon a ridge overlooking Canada, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. One of my favorite places in the dead of winter, regardless of how cold it was. And it was cold! We started our trek in the morning with temps in the -10 degree range at the lower elevations. The temps dropped as the day wore on, and into the -20’s in town. At the higher elevations, it was another 10 degrees or so colder. And with the wind at 20mph with gusts to 35, the wind chill index was in the -41 to -53 range based on the NOAA charts. That’s damn cold!

Don, standing behind my sled, and in front of the flag at the top of the mountain.

But the real reason for this post is in regard to the Canon G10 I brought with me. It worked like a champ. I can’t say we fared the same In the amount of time I exposed my hand to take a short video clip, I could feel the pain of the cold setting in. I doubt it would take more than 10 minutes before frostbite set in. My gloves went back on until we descended down the ridge to warmer temps.

But the G10 did its job and captured the images and video clips without a hiccup. Granted, it acted very sluggishly, taking a second or two longer to extend the lens, and the image appeared on the display in twice the time it normally takes. But it worked perfectly capturing images and video clips for the entire trip.

I did have some fogging when moving in and out of temperature extremes (cabin to outside, etc), but it resolved quickly. The battery didn’t even hiccup, but it did have a full charge from the start and I only took about 70-80 images, so no surprise there. The camera was also stowed in an outside pocket for quick access, and there was no insulation from the cold. So it was pretty much exposed to the elements the entire time.

Old faithful sitting idle, eager to go out and do it again. Even sitting all night in 20 degree below zero weather, I pressed the start button the next morning and she fired right up! Gotta love Ski-Doo's

I did have friends with me on this trip, so I didn’t take anything more than snapshots. I didn’t feel their best interests would be served watching me stop every 20 minutes for photo opportunities. But snapshots are indeed the real reason I purchased the G10 in the first place. Its a great combination of features aimed at advanced photographers packed in a reasonable sized package that’s easy to carry when you really don’t want to carry a SLR and lenses.

Grab shot while driving home through a dirty windshield .

I do vow to someday take my remote controlled helicopter up there, attached the SLR with a fisheye lens, hover it above us on the mountain top, and catch a real glimpse of the lay of land. It will give a very good illusion of sitting on top of the world. I know its not Everest, but I do feel like I am on top of the wold where there. So I might as well capture it that way

I vist here most times I pass by. Its a great half way point, and a reason to stretch the legs in the middle of a long drive.

Curt Johnson sent me a set of images he had taken during my most recent workshop (Boston Creative Lighting Workshop). There are a few setups that haven’t already been mentioned prior, and I thought would be interesting to discuss then with these images.

Stacey in hallway - by Curt Johnson

When I saw a few of the photographers shooting Stacey in the hallway, I thought it would be interesting to add some creative lighting techniques. After all, it was the Creative Lighting Workshop!

They were already shooting available light, so I decided to use it as an opportunity to show some mixed lighting techniques, and how the color balance differences will create various effects in the image. It was also a good time to use an acrylic mirror setup, since with tungsten or constant light, they can see the results of how I use the mirror for some techniques. Its much harder to show it with strobe, since the effect isn’t immediate and readily visible.

So I dragged a tungsten light fixture, a Lowell DP 750W hot light, out into the hallway. To further add some drama, I used the acrylic mirror with a bunch of gaffers tape on it to create what I call a ‘reverse cookie’. What this does is to block some of the light from being reflected off the mirror, thereby creating shadow and highlight areas, which can be put to good use.

I held the mirror off to the side of the photographers, and aimed the tungsten hot light at myself and the mirror. That allowed me to aim the reflected light at Stacey and the hallway, and bend and flex the mirror to adjust the light pattern as needed. I kept it moving around to create varied patterns on Stacey and the wall, while keeping her eyes and face in a bright spot so I wouldn’t loose her expression.

The blue behind Stacey partly came from the light blue wall behind Stacey, and party from the color imbalance of the sunlight coming from a window behind her. Since the foreground would be balanced for the correct color on the model, somewhere around 3200K, that would throw the diffused sun at 6000K behind her into the blue range. That enhanced the blue on the wall further, and created the multiple levels of blue. The various darkers areas of shadow are from the gaffers tape blocking light from reflecting back off the mirror. I’ll try to grab a picture of the mirror, and a diagram of the setup, and post them here.

I like Stacey’s pose, and how Curt used a ‘dutch tilt’ to further enhance her in that space. Overall, its a very dynamic image, and the styling sets a nice mood.

Jenn in Hallway - Curt Johnson

Above is another image Curt took in the same basic area and lighting, but with another model. In this image, you can see better the color imbalance, with the blue light in the rear which is just normal window light, and the foreground lighting which is more neutral. Since the camera was set, or the color balance changed in post for the tungsten ligthing in the foreground, the sunlight will turn blue. It can be used to create interest as it has in this image. While it may look like a blue gel was used on a strobe behind her, its just the natural sunlight.

Here are some of the behind the scenes images taken by photographers and assistants. I had a good selection of behind the scenes images, but the Canon G7 I was using was stolen from my home the day after the workshop. I never had a chance to upload the images. I hope the thief enjoys the images!   In light of that, I hope these will be of interest, and I thank the photographers and assistants for taking these images and allowing me to make them available.

Lisa working on Jessica's makeup

The above is an image of Lisa, my favorite makeup artist, applying makeup on Jessica. This is for the marionette setup that we created for the photographers. Terry worked on the wardrobe, Twan styled her hair, and my assistants Mike and Matthew took care of creating the actual set.

Kerry in Makeup/Hair with Jenni

Kerry was fresh off the marionette set, as shown by the lipstick and makeup, and having her hair done by Jenni for a fashion look. Makeup was changed after her hair was done. She was styled for a black on black type scenario to demonstrate lighting under those conditions.

Catlin on the lingerie set

Since many photographers shy away from tungsten light sources, ‘hot lights’, saying they are too harsh and hard to work with. I added a setup traditionally shot by most photographers using softboxes, and light the scene entirely with hot lights. I wanted to show the interestingly soft light quality they are capable of if handled correctly. Catlin was a good match for the set. The above ‘behind the scenes’ image was taken with the studio fluorescent lighting. The following image was taken by one of the participants, and it shows the actual lighting effects achieved. Anything but harsh. Sometime in the near future, I will publish some of the images here on the blog, with lighting diagrams showing the specifics.

Catlin on the hot light setup. Image by Dana Lane.

A few more ‘behind the scenes’ images…

Jenn and Kerry in hair and makeup

Jacquline on break between shooting

Twan working on Jacquline

Stacey - by Dana Lane

This is an image shot by Dana Lane at my recent Boston area Creative Lighting Workshop. The stylists and makeup artists (I will update once I verify who did what) did an excellent job with this look, as well as the others throughout the workshop. Her hair and makeup worked perfectly together, and Dana did an excellent job of capturing it using soft lighting and a very shallow depth of field to create an overall softness in the image. I can’t comment on the lighting on this particular image, but it looks to be available light coming from the north faced windows based on the reflection in the eyes, and from the wide open aperture used. Perhaps Dana will comment further.

Aaron - by Tina Gianos

This is another shot from the same basic location as the image ‘Courtney in Field’ mentioned in the last post, and again taken by Tina Gianos. The lighting was changed to a cross lighting scenario for Aaron to add some visual interest. There were two strobes on Aaron, one on each side and slightly to the rear, about 6′ from Aaron and at sholder height. They were both set about 3/4 of a stop over the normal exposure value, and standard reflectors were used. This gave the image some ‘pop’ coming from the side, but where the light falls off and overlaps on the front, it creates a zone of normal exposure (across the face, clothing, etc). This lighting style is well suited for this subject matter. The power was provided by a generator we used to run three different strobe setups at the location for the participants of the workshop. I think Tina did an excellent job at catching the right from Aaron to set the overall mood of the image.

Cortney in Field - by Tina Gianos

This in an image that was taken by one of the participants, Tina Gianos, at the Boston Creative Lighting Workshop I held a couple weekends ago. It was light by a single beauty dish run off a generator, and balanced with the available lighting from an overcast and cloudy sky. Tina shot this image while sitting in the field to take advantage of the sky.

basic lighting setup

The image above shows the basic lighting setup. A single White Lighting X1600 on a stand, powered by a 3000w generator about 150′ away.

It’s really rude when you are on a high, and someone does something to bring you down. I had just finished up my workshop over the weekend, met a bunch of wonderful photographers, models, and stylists. The assistants were excellent, everything seemed to be flowing well, people were commenting on how much they have learned, and the sets and styling were awesome. We wrapped it up, and I left exhausted, but on a high note.

The next day I went back to the studio to clean up and get re-organized. When I returned home, things just didn’t appear right. Then it hit me. I had been burglarized while I was gone mid day.  It was surprising too, since there is almost always someone home during the day. Just chance I guess. The high I was on changed to feeling like the Titanic while taking on water

Oh well, life goes on. There are far too many more important things in the world to worry about. I’m already on the phone getting quotes for a high end security system that I had been talking about getting for years, and I’ve put new batteries in the Laser sight on the SIG P229 just in case   No, I’m not going to let them ruin my parade! Back to the workshop!

It was a daunting task to pull this altogether, and I have to thank Mike and Terry, my two assistants, as I wouldn’t have been able to do this without them. I also have to thank Matt, Greg, Vinny, Demitris, and Charlie, the other assistants that helped out during the weekend. They did a great job keeping things moving, changing the sets, handling all the equipment, and so on.

The visual styling was awesome. I can’t wait to get some of the images back from the photographers so I can share those with you. The makeup artists and stylists (Lisa, Janeen, Brenda, Jenni, Ava Sue, Stacey, Sasha, Nikki, Tuan, Tia, Kristen, and Brielle) all did an amazing job of styling the models. There was so much variety and depth, and it really made some visually stunning imagery.

We had a fantastic selection of models for the weekend, and they all worked so hard. Rather than list them all here, they will be named in the resulting images that will follow. It was cold as you can image while shooting on location on an overcast October day in New England. They were troopers and kept working hard for the photographers. The winds picked up and it started to rain late into the afternoon, and most models were still posing right the very end. The next day in the studio it was more of the same. Professional, excited, eager to pose and work, and they stepped up to the task.

And finally the photographers. What a blast to spend so much time with other artists talking shop for an entire weekend. My voice was spent by Sunday evening from answering all the questions, but I saw a lot of light bulbs going off, so I know there was a lot of knowledge transfer. Everyone got along, and it was a very positive and upbeat group. And looking over their shoulders at the images, there was a lot of awesome images created over the weekend. I hope to showcase their work here, and in a gallery on the workshop website in the very near future.

Let me run the numbers just so I can keep track myself. We ended up doing about 23 different setups between the studio and location sets. We had 15 models, 8 makeup artists, 6 hair stylists, a wardrobe/general stylist, 6 assistants,  12 strobes, 5 hot lights, 3000w generator for location power, 900 feet of extension cords, beauty dish, ring flash, 19 pocket wizards, 28 wardrobe pieces not counting what the models brought, enough food to feed an army with far too many leftovers, even after asking everyone to take something home. We rented a bunch of tables and chairs for the presentation, rented a 2,200 sq ft warehouse space to use for the studio sets, and filled up the space with sets just for this weekend, and cleaned it out and left it empty when finished. Whew, yea, it was exhausting weekend, including the two days before, and two days after for setup and strike. But it really was the most fun I’ve had in a while at work.

My only regret is that I couldn’t really shoot during the workshop. It’s hard to stand there looking at the sets we’ve created, the awesome talent and styling, and not being able to take advantage of it myself. But I have made some connections with new models and stylists, and hopefully will be doing some testing with them of my own in the very near future.

I am really looking forward to the Las Vegas workshop, and hope to bring together a talented pool of models and stylists for that event as well. This time, I think I will make it a point to bring my camera and sneak in a few shots. I don’t think I could go out to the middle of a dessert mining town and not take advantage of it. Its just too motivating not to!

Well, back to calculating my losses and tracking down serial numbers for the detective. The only positive from it is that my daughter got a kick out of having a ‘CSI’ person in her room taking pictures, looking for clues, and dusting for fingerprints. I guess that would award her some bragging rights and fodder for interesting conversations with her friends And thats funny too, since about a year ago we did a CSI shoot in a warehouse, and she was the one that makes all the props, markers, CSI kit, fake blood, etc. What goes around comes around I guess

The dates are set, location secured, and the final preparations are in motion. The workshop will be help on Oct 24th, 25th, and 26th.

Friday afternoon will be a meet and greet, followed by a presentation and lecture on lighting techniques. It will be followed with a walk through of several images and how the lighting was achieved. Saturday morning we will shoot, then shoot some more, take a breathing break, then head out on location to work with strobes and sunlight on location. After a leisurely dinner with more informal discussion, we will head back out for some sunset and strobe work, then using available lighting mixed with hot lights or strobes on location. Sunday will be more studio shooting, then a wrap up session in the late afternoon.

We will concentrate mostly on people, but also address shooting products, all with a commercial focus. We will have several models available for the workshop, with some talented makeup artists. A 2,000sq ft space has been reserved for the studio portion or the workshop, as well as for a general meeting location. We will also be shooting on location within a short distance from the studio if weather permits.

There will be lots of work, techniques, lighting setups, and opportunity for hands on lighting experience. The workshop will be content rich, and focused on the techniques I use on a daily basis to service my commercial clients. I’ll work you hard, but I have a good sense of humor, so you should still have fun

There are only a few spaces left. The cost is $525 per person. If interested, please e-mail me at workshops@stephenfaust.com to reserve a space. Or call my studio at 978.448.2622.

The Boston workshop is nearing a formal announcement. The tentative dates are October 3, 4, and 5, or Oct 16, 17, and 18. It will be a Friday afternoon/evening, all day Saturday with a night shooting session, and most of Sunday. It will focus on creative photographic technique for shooting models in commercial, fashion, and glamour situations in a commercial like atmosphere. We will have makeup artists, several models, multiple locations and setups. Focus will be on working with models, set preparation, lighting with strobe, available, and balanced strobe and available lighting. Creative techniques will be discussed on each setup with solutions and alternatives provided. Plenty of hands on shooting will be available to try out the various techniques.

I already have 7 confirmed slots taken before even announcing the workshop. Slots are limited to allow plenty of hands on shooting, as well as one on one instruction time. If you are interested, send me an e-mail and I’ll reserve a slot for you. You can then decide for sure once the formal announcement is made and payment is due.

If you are anywhere near Las Vegas, save some time in the spring. I have made arrangements to take over an entire old mining town for a workshop. It will be non-stop shooting, creative techniques and lighting instruction, mini-lectures and slide shows, plenty of models and gorgeous backdrops to make some truly outstanding images. I’ll fill in more details in the near future, but things are in the works and its bound to be a great success.

I chartered a helicopter to take some aerial photos of the RIU resort in Aruba. I also had a secondary needed to get some aerials of the Radisson resort for one of my contacts. I also wanted to grab any interesting shots along the way to maximize the air time.

Prior to the flight I briefed the pilot on what I wanted to capture during the flight. We planned our route over the island from start to finish. Basically, take off and climb to about 1,000ft and fly direct to the RIU and Radison. We would then circle while descending to a lower altitude as I shot the resort. That would give me all angles and at different heights. Once at our lowest altitude, we could hover off the beach and shoot a few at the lower angle.

Once the important shots were in the can, we would head to the north western tip of the island to capture some views of the less traveled areas and get the lighthouse as well. Then travel along the western shoreline grabbing the shipwrecks, watercraft, and south looking island view and a southern view of the resorts on the way back.

On the return pass, I grabbed a few  shots along the way of a world war II shipwreck,

Once that was done, we would take a swing by Manchebo beach area to shoot the low rise resorts, and Oranjestad to grab the Island Princess while in dock if time permits. With the briefing done, the pilot went to remove the doors so I wouldn’t have to shoot through glass, and prep the helicopter.

The island is just gorgeous from the air. I’ve been here many times, but rarely see it from the air other than during the takeoff and landing on a commercial flight. With the doors removed for photography on the helicopter, and the pilot at my beck and call, it was a much more enjoyable way to see the island from the air.

Once in the air, we headed directly to the Palm Beach area to shoot the RIU and made a couple circling passes around the resort. While circling, we passed over the Radisson a few times, so I got the shots I needed of the Radisson pretty quickly and without additional effort. We pulled along the beach side of the RIU, and hovered there for a minute or two, then did a slow pass around the resort. I’m sure the guests were wondering what we were up to! Although we were low enough that they could probably see me hanging out the door with the camera and lens. I did see the lady lounging at hut 27 and could tell she was sipping on a Manhattan

Once we had those shots in the can, we headed over to the California Lighthouse in order to get some larger views of the island. I switched over to the 24-70mm, and my assistant Jessica handed me a new card from the back seat. It’s important when flying with the doors removed to rehearse how you will pass things back and forth prior to the flight. Dropping a lens could kill someone below while in a hover, or while in forward flight things could be blown into the tail rotor causing a failure. I’ve flown a model helicopter with a tail rotor failure and it was a great adrenaline high, right up to the point of impact I certainly would not want to be in a full scale helicopter when the same happened!

We headed along the western coastline and shot the shipwreck, and another pass by the RIU and Radisson shooting with a wider angle. We headed over to the Manchebo beach area, one of the nicer beaches in my opinion, and shot the low rise resorts. Hovering off the point of Manchebo we got some nice sweeping views.

On the return, the helipad was very close to the Island Princess and our normal landing would take us right along side it, and the sun behind and slightly to the rear of us. It should work out great. As we approached, a cloud formation moved overhead and killed our best light. We delayed the landing a bit waiting and checking on the clouds that moved in, but it would be more than a few minutes before they moved off. When you are paying for the helicopter by the minute, and its an expensive minute at that, I decided that stucking around for 5 more minutes to get better light wouldn’t be worth the added cost. We were to high for the approach, so we circled around twice to loose altitude and during the circuling a small patch of sunlight broke through the clouds and lit just the ship just as were were making our last pass.

I considered asking to take another pass around and take advantage of the new found light, but with the speed the clouds were moving overhead, the light moved on and the ship was back in shade. I did get a few good shots of the ship, and since it was never on the shot list in the first place, its all frosting on the cake.

I’ve had a couple people ask me about how to create the lighting effect in the following image.

It’s one of the various lighting techniques that I teach in my workshops (check this blog, or e-mail me for details). I find there are a number of roadblocks in learning photography that tend to stop people in their tracks until someone gets them over the ump.

One of those was the relationship between the shutter speed, aperture, and light. Until you really understood that relationship, you were forever doomed to shooting in automatic modes and thus severely limiting your creativity. But once  you finally understood it, it opens up a wealth of new opportunities for creativity and further learning.

The relationship and control between strobe light and available light is another one of those stumbling blocks. And in some cases worse, because it also seems opposite of what you were taught with regard to light, shutter speed, and aperture. And in fact it is, so you need to unlearn some principles with regard to exposure, and learn a new one that just seems so obviously wrong!

On top of what you already know, when balancing strobe and available light together, add these to your memory;

If you want to change the exposure of the available lighting, use the shutter speed.

If you want to change the exposure of the strobe, use the strobes power setting.

If you want to change the exposure of the image overall, (both available light and strobe) use the aperture.

Some background first;

The reason why the above works is because the flash duration is shorter than the duration of the shutter speed. Typically, the strobes flash output is in the thousandths of a second. Lets say 1/1000 for the same of argument. A typical cameras shutter sync speed, the speed at which you need to stay below when shooting with flash, is no faster than 1/250th for most SLR cameras. So the shutter never has time to effectively regulate the strobes light output in any way.

I.e., the shutter opens, the flash fires all its power in the beginning of the exposure in maybe a 1/4 of the time the shutter is open. The shutter stays open much longer in order to properly expose of the available light, in relation to the time the flash fires. Since all of the light from the strobe is delivered immediately upon the shutter opening (this is called first shutter sync), the effect of adjusting the shutter speed has no effect on the strobes lighting. It’s already contributed all its light to the image long before the shutter ever closes. So the shutter speed does nothing to adjust the exposure of anything that is predominately illuminated by the strobe. Thus, you can use the shutter speed and aperture independently to balance the two light sources together. There is a practical exercise at the end of this post that will help you understand this better, and see the results immediately.

With that out of the way, the following will be better understood. So on to how the above image was produced.

First, I shoot manual mode almost all the time, except when shooting fast action in changing lighting conditions. I find it faster to shoot manual than trying to second guess what the camera and strobes are thinking on my behalf. Rather than try to understand what they are thinking, equate that to what I want, then figure out what controls I need to twiddle to readjust their ‘thinking’ to match my desires, I just tell it what I want and it does it. I eliminate the middle man (cameras CPU and software) and do a direct Star Trek Vulcan mind-meld to the camera (brain to hands to manual controls). Fast, simple, easy.

So, the camera was set to manual mode. I knew I would be shooting directly into the sun, so a small aperture would be needed. I also know I need to stay below the flash sync speed of 1/250th for the camera and strobe to operate properly. Using the sunny 16 rule as a start, I file away in my head 1/125th at f16 as a good starting point. That would give me a real close exposure appropriate for normal daylight conditions.

But we have some ripples here. It wasn’t direct sun, but was overcast and hazy in the background. So I knew I would lose about a stop or two to the overcast. I’m guessing maybe 1/125th at f11 now. I also want a slight bit of under exposure to add a more dramatic feel, so I’m going to under expose the image, and I generally like about 1 to 2 stops under.

I want to adjust the shutter speed first, rather than the aperture, for two reasons. One, it will help eliminate any camera or subject movement since I am shooting hand held.  Second, it will allow me to under expose the background without affecting the flash power I would need. If I just closed the aperture down, it would require more power from the flash to compensate. And when balancing strobe to daylight, the strobes power is the last thing you want to squander away. I adjust the shutter speed first till I hit the max sync speed, then start to adjust the aperture further to get where I want to be.

I mentally adjust the shutter speed from 1/125th to 1/200th, but know I will still need more since that’s well under the stop or two I feel I need to underexpose the background. I also mentally adjust my aperture as well to f22, which puts me at 1/200th at f22. I dial that into the camera via a Vulcan mind meld and take a test exposure.

I love the sun and sky, but the background is too dark. But I am within 1 stop of where I wanted to be. I ask my assistant to move in to the frame so I can also start to dial in the strobe exposure. I open up the aperture to f16, dial up the strobe to around 1/2 power, and take another test exposure.

The background is still a bit dark for what I wanted, and the strobe power level isn’t enough. I could adjust the shutter speed down one stop to bring up the background, and then adjust the strobe power up one stop to bring up the light on the subject. That would waste some of the strobes power, and there is a much better way.

Since I want the background lighter by one stop, and the strobe brighter by one stop on the subject, I can use the aperture to adjust them both (see the above rules). And I am not wasting that extra stop of strobe power I would have lost if I just added more power. I kill two birds with one stone. I open up the aperture from f16, to f11 and get the following.

A closer look at the LCD and histogram and decide that f11 is just too bright for what I am after. The sky is more washed out, and I feel the lighting is also to bright on the subject. I adjust the aperture to f14, which will darken both at the same time.

Much better. But I really wanted the sky a bit darker, but also don’t want to darken the ground behind the subject and in the distance which would result from further adjustments to the available light exposure. So instead decide I will darken the sky a bit in post. The available light exposure is good as is. At this point, I move the model into place. Mike put a nice X on the ground to mark the spot just for Anya. Once she is in place, I erase the X with the physical clone healing tool (my sneaker ), so I won’t have to deal with it in post. I ask her to just relax for a moment while I take another few test exposures to see how the light is falling on her.

Other than a cloud that rolled in to ruin my nice sun star effect in the previous images, we are pretty much ready to go. I do a couple more test exposures, check the histograms, zoom in to check focus, added some warmth to the scene (adjusted kelvin), etc. By then the cloud has moved away, I get into a lower shooting position, call for the model to ‘do her thing’,  and we start shooting. The result is the first image in this post.

Here are a few others shots in different locations during the session. All use similar techniques to setup the lighting, but are varied in the effects they produce based on the mixture of the two light sources. I’ll try to find time to add a couple new posts with more details on the images below. Look for the one with the natural rainbow that appeared after the thunderstorm that passed by!

The following images have not been edit yet, only exported from Lightroom. They are the outtakes from the shoot, or not selected yet to be post processed. But I wanted to give you a feel for the variations that can be made by adjusting the available light and strobe light in different ways.

The above image used a White Lightning 1600Ws strobe on camera left for the main lighting on the subject. My assistant Mike, was also ducked in the weeds on the right and behind with a 580EX set to give just that hint of accent lighting on Anya’s left arm. Its a subtle effect, but brings a lot of production value and interest to the image. All three light sources were balanced appropriately.

The above image goes for a darker effect, and would be perfect with storm clouds in the background. But the overcast didn’t have any interest in the clouds, other than being dark and forboding. I used a WL 1600ws strobe on camera right for a subtle fill, while the Canon 580EX created the nice accent lighting on their right sides (image left). It adds nice definition to their cheek bones and separation from the background. I feel the strobe on camera right should have been a tad brighter, which I did adjust for some of the images.

This image shows a more balanced effect between all three sources. The available lighting is a bit underexposed, but not by much compared to the others above. The 580EX on camera left, and the white lightning 1600ws on the right, were pretty even in their light output. This does answer the question whether or not a small 580EX is enough to handle balancing with daylight. Although, it was overcast at the time needing about 3 stops less power. My assistant did comment that he liked shooting with the 580 at such a low power setting because of the short recycling time, so it does has ‘longer legs’ to deal with direct sun.

This is another image with the same lighting setup as the image preceding it. The 580EX on the left is set slightly higher than the 1600WS on the right.

A quick look at the setup used for many of the images here. It doesn’t show the 580EX which was had held by my assistant. Note the rainbow in the background! Just luck really. It was a great addition to the thunder and lightning show we were treated to as the storm moved past us. I guess it was fitting that I was using White Lightning strobes at the time

Here is one of the images that resulted from the above lighting setup (minus the rainbow which appeared shortly after). The only difference is the addition of the 580X that my assistant is hand holding which is absent in the above lighting setup. It provided fill light from the right side of the image.

The Orphan Works bill has caught my attention again. It keeps resurfacing and doesn’t seem to want to go away. I took the time to read through both bills and realign my bearings. Hmmm, rather than getting better, it seems to be going backwards.

I decided to write a few letters with my thoughts. One to Sen Kennedy, and a couple to Representatives Hatch, Lahey, and Tsongas. Just trying to protect my own piece of the patch. The industry doesn’t need this, and it will have a significant and negative impact.

If you are a visual artist, its worth doing just a little research on these two bills. They are only 20 pages each, but are packed with some prickly thorns. This isn’t something you want to be aloof about, only to have it come back and bite you in the ass. You won’t like it, and will wonder why you didn’t do anything about it.

At least take the time to understand the issue. It’s that important. If you can’t read the bills, here is a short summary of some of the issues. It is somewhat pro bill, but one of the better summaries I could find.

http://www.orphanworks.net/

I ran across this image from one of my contacts on Flickr. Its very nice, styled well, composition is excellent, and the mixture of colors pull it all together. I see a lot of new photographers in the industry, or as a hobbyist, and many seem so preoccupied with the equipment. Which lens, body, or accessory to purchase.

It does matter to a point, and then it ceases to be important. This photo was identified as being taken with a 20D. Not a IDsMkIII, or a 1DsMkII. Not even an older mark 1, or even a 1Ds. But a consumer level camera at the lower end of Canons bodies. In fact, a decent point and shoot, like the G7 or G9, could just about pull this off if it wasn’t for the depth of field issues. The technical aspects of this image are also pretty routine. Lighting appears to be natural available light, and easy to expose for, well within acceptable shutter speed and apertures. Pretty straight forward.

But the gem in this image doesn’t come from the camera, it comes from the photographer. It comes from vision, style, and creativity. From taking all those elements, putting them together in a visually interesting way, and putting on the final touches for an excellent presentation.

The image grabbed my attention immediately, and held it there. Then I noticed the camera that was used. I felt it was a good example on how equipment can be insignificant in the hands of a thinking photographer, and worth a post on the blog.

I guess it really caught my attention quite squarely, since it caused me to take the time to write this. Even at 2:02 am after a long day!

When I first started with photography, people were a challenge that I was reluctant to tackle. I felt like a duck out of water, not knowing how to pose or position people. So I avoided shooting portraits, especially family portraits. But over time I found the issue wasn’t me shooting portraits or people, it was shooting people that necessarily didn’t want to be photographed in the first place.

Only after shooting a lot of models and actors for their portfolios and head shots, did I find I have a passion and love for shooting people. They key that eluded me for so long became plain as day, and quite simple. They all wanted to be photographed, were interested in the creative ideas, techniques, or scenarios that became part of the session, embraced the cameras presence rather than scoff at it.

Shooting people is what I prefer, and I get an enormous pleasure from it. Models, actors, families, business executives, celebrities, or just everyday people. If they are engaged in the session, and are there in hopes of creating a nice photograph of themselves, its just plain fun. The ideas flow, creativity happens, and the results work.

The above photograph was taken along the harbor in downtown Boston. We were there to shoot some editorial images, but I decided to do some head shots and portraits to warm up to the session. Russell was a model with a great attitude. “I’m here for the shot, just let me know what you want me to do.” Perfect. I saw a great opportunity for a environmental portrait, and decided to go for it.

I had Russell sit on one of the granite benches right on the wharf, and had my assistant position a 580EX strobe in a small softbox on the left. I had him dial it in till I got just the right balance of light from the strobe mixing with the available lighting. I underexposed the available light by about 1/3rd, and overexposed the strobe by about 1/3rd. The balance worked perfectly in my opinion. The sky was perfect, overcast with some stormy clouds to add some interest, while also providing beautiful soft fill light from every direction. Since he had just commented that he would like to earn enough to afford a ncie boat and condo on the ocean, what better background to use.

While shooting in Boston about a year ago, I found this great window illuminated from a neon sign, under an emergency fire escape, and illuminated with the spill from a nearby street lamp. I knew I wanted to use that at some point once I could find a good reason to do so.

The reason surfaced last evening. While shooting nearby in Boston with a male and female model, I took the time to stop and grab a few shots at the window. I setup the scenario with the models; existing a restaurant or club, and nearing their first kiss. I positioned Anya, the female model with her back to the wall so that the street light would provide some good facial lighting. I had Russell move in such that he was rim lighted by neon sign, but also received fill on the camera side from the street light.

I set the white balance for the street light since it was primary for good skin tones. I went warm with the balance to capture the feel of night street illumination. I had my assistant hold a 580EX in a small softbox for additional fill illumination, but in the end decided that all natural lighting would give me the results I was after.

Shutter speed was marginal and I lost some sharpness to hand holding. But the great natural lighting was a better trade off. The scene was captured with a Canon 1DsII, 50mm f1.4 at f1.4, 1/25th and carefully hand held.

Life has been crazy the last few weeks. I’ve also broke a new record this week. What you may ask? Well, multiple records actually. I’ve now had the pleasure of having the most things break on me within a couple days, followed by the most repairmen at the house all at the same time with their hands out groping for cash.

Last Thursday I had a repairman show up to replace the microwave/oven we just bought to replace the one that broke a few days earlier. While he was there, a tow truck pulled up to tow away one of our cars because the key assembly decided it no longer wanted to put up the daily routine and went on strike. While both of these guys were there toiling away, another truck pulled up to take our ride-on lawn mower to the shop.

It needed a repair after the mice made a nest in the carburetor and cylinder head area over the winter. They actually used the air cleaner as a litter box, very ingenious for something with a brain smaller than a pea. I wonder if I could convince them to stay in the reflector bowl of one of my strobes so I can give it a 4800 watt second pop out of revenge! The last time the mice got me, they built a nest in the generator on our motor home. That was a $6,000 repair! This time, its only $475! Bastards!!! It’s a brand new zero turn mower with only a few mows from last year.

And with all that going on, another repairman from the same appliance dealer as the oven guy showed up to replace the motor and rollers in the dryer, which happened to die 3 days earlier.  Yes, its been an interesting couple weeks. Everything just seemed to go south all at once. But no, we aren’t done yet!

We have 5 bathrooms in our house. The his and hers in the master bedroom is being converted to one larger bathroom, and at the moment is totally gutted and ready for framing, floor, tile, fixtures, etc. So we are down to three bathrooms. The upstairs bathroom, well, teenagers live up there so us adults don’t venture into that neck of the woods at all if we can help it So it’s basically unusable.

So that leaves us the two bathrooms downstairs. Well, the toilet in one of the baths downstairs has some issue with plumbing leaving it weak in the flushing department. Until we get a plumber to take a look at it, we don’t use that one either. So with 5 bathrooms in the house, my wife, my son, and I all all sharing one bathroom downstairs. My daughter gets the upstairs bathroom all to her self (who wants to share a bathroom with a female teenager!).

Lets see, what else is on the list from the last three weeks. The light above the garage blew, the phone lines all over the house went south with strong random noise, so we have a phone line running from the termination box in the garage, through the garage door, and into the laundry room so we don’t have to stand in the garage to make phone calls anymore. The basement is torn apart while it’s being re-finished, with sheet rock dust everywhere. The power window on the car my daughter is driving quit last week and rolls down, but will refuse to roll back up. Lets pray for no rain.

What else… It has been wicked busy at work and I’m having a hard time keeping up with the workflow. We are switching out our PC’s for MAC’s, and everything is in various states of disarray during that process. My data, contacts, schedule, e-mail, files, forms, etc, is all spread over. It’s stuck between two laptops and a desktop, and in multiple applications while I merger it all together on the Mac somehow.

I can’t yet get syncing to work to my Blackberry on the Mac, which has quickly become my soul mate. I’ve got 8 copies of each contact in my database, and its chocking the Blackberry until I can find a quick and easy way to remove the 7 duplicates without having to do it one by one. I’m back to using a paper calendar until I can trust the appointments are not ignore or duplicated during a sync. And my memos, notes, and tasks won’t sync at all. Not having everything at my finger tips while on the road really hurts. I fully understand where the term Crackberry comes from. Yes, it has become my drug of choice, and its now broken so to speak.

I’m also moving our studio from an old antiquated building 5 minutes from my house, into the dark recesses of the city. So on top of all the chaos at home, my office, studio, and professional life is adrift, in transition, and another mess to be swept up. I’ve been working non-stop morning till late evening for the last few weeks. Its spring, and my motorcycle sits idle in the garage covered in dust, the airplane grounded, and I haven’t even visited the lake across the street yet.

But one thing remains stable. I have an itch to go out and shoot. The weather is good, and I’ve got a couple interesting projects coming up that will get me outside, shooting, and soaking up the springtime. It may be work, but its also a good stress reliever. I think I’ll also plan a trip to Boston to shoot the streets in the wee hours of the morning. Always an interesting trip, peaceful, quiet, and somewhat surreal at 3am.

I just hope, and pray, that my cameras will continue to operate without issues, failures, or complaints, as they have for years. The last thing I need right now is for my stress relivers to give up the ghost!