Learn the tricks professionals use to create balanced lighting for both indoor and outdoor photographs. We’ll cover exposing for flash; triggering off-camera flashes; balancing flash with available light; multiple lighting sources; umbrella lighting; controlling light with bounce flash, reflectors, snoots, and gels; and more.

Focus is on portrait photography, though other applications will be covered as desired. This class is designed for serious amateur and aspiring professional photographers. You will need an SLR camera and at least one external flash designed to fit in the camera hot-shoe.

Wednesdays 10/21/09 – 11/18/09 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Price: Tuition: $115.00 + Special Fee: $10.00 = $125.00
Note: See Annex entrance doors for classroom location.

Sorry! The class is packed and registration is closed.

Brought to you by Euphorik Knights and The Rail.

Nikon D90

When the Nikon D300 hit the market, I was very excited – but I had just spent all my cash on a trip to Hawaii, and I had to save up for it. By the time I had the money, it was a year later and the D90 had hit the market – and despite the body downgrade, the D90 was better. The D90 sensor is 1/3rd stop better than the D300 (5 points on the DXOMark rating scale = 1/3 stop), and offers better dynamic range, self cleaning sensor, and 720p HD video – for half the price. Will you notice the 1/3 stop difference? That depends. If you’re shooting on a D80 and you think ISO 800 looks OK, maybe not. I’m picky about digital noise, and I noticed a big difference. For me, it was an obvious choice – better quality images for half the price.

Nikon D300s

The new D300s adds the video and self-cleaning sensor of the D90, along with the other sensor improvements, and if the trend holds, likely another 1/3rd stop of low-light / shadow detail performance on top of improvements made with the D90. For professionals, those new features may make an upgrade worthwhile.

Why pick the D300s over the D90? Aside from the sensor improvements, the body really is better. I thought it was more cumbersome at first, but after getting my head around the different controls – I like them better. You’ll love the improved auto-focus performance and rugged construction of the D300s body. The D300s combines all the great features from the D90 and all the great features from the D300. In short, this is the crop-sensor camera to own if you’re a Nikon shooter. No contest.

Images courtesy of Bumpershine and Eleven Eight.

Use Window Light - What’s the easiest way to get professional looking light? Simple: Pose your model next to a big window during the daytime. In this case, Jordan is standing next to a large window. Large windows act like expensive professional photography soft-boxes – but you don’t have to cart around bulky equipment, or break your wallet.

Frame Your Subject – Be on the lookout for creative ways to frame your subject. In this case, I used the lines in the background to create an attractive frame for the portrait. Simple and effective.

Use What You Have – It’s easy to get caught up in gear lust, but you can get a shot like the first with a used DSLR and a $100 lens.

Gear – Nikon D80 (my backup camera), Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens. Just window light for the top image. The second shot utilized a strip soft box bounced off a mirror behind the model, and an SB-600 shot through an umbrella for the key light.

Models: Jordan, Kali
Stylists: Kristopherson Sloan / Studio Nine, Alicia Poppinga / The Electric Chair Salon

DJ Micro is an influential trance / breakbeat DJ from New York City. Thanks to RISE for bringing him to the Elevate dance floor at the Hotel! Elevate features VIP stage access that brings VIP wristband-wearers on the stage to mingle with the performing artists. On the one hand, it lets people get close to the action – on the other, it makes shooting a bit more challenging. These tips might help you navigate similar obstacles:

Use a Zoom Lens - I love primes, and I frequently shoot with my trusty 50mm f1.8, but in crowded spaces, where it’s difficult to control the distance between you and your subject, a zoom lens is a great asset. Shooting in clubs, I prefer my 18-135mm. It gives me great range and sharp images. It’s very distorting on the wide end, but it’s pretty sharp, and easy on the neck (lightweight). Oh – and it’s cheap to replace if a drunk club kid manages to destroy it – around $420 new.

Crop Close - If there’s a lot going on, it’s often difficult to keep the frame simple and maintain a strong subject focus. For these situations, it’s often best to choose close crops – headshots, head and shoulders, etc…

Use Off-Camera Flash - If you haven’t got an external flash and you aren’t using it off camera, you’re missing the strobist revolution. You can use small strobes the same way professional photographers use studio lighting.

Use Light for Emphasis - In a dark, cluttered environment, it’s relatively easy to avoid light spill on the background so that the emphasis stays on your subject. In tho close-ups pictured, I was contending with all sorts of clutter, people, and general craziness. By aiming the light away from the background, you can keep it just where you want it – on your subject. Minimizing distraction will give your photos stronger impact.

Capture the Right Moment! - One of the most important, and easily overlooked aspects of photography is timing. I have said it before, and I’ll say it again. Knowing when NOT to click is every bit as important as choosing a great subject, or getting the light right. In any non-still life photographic situation, you’re going to encounter key moments when the stars align to create your perfect photograph. While shooting musicians and DJ’s, I pay careful attention to composition, to the performer’s expression, to the rhythm of the music (you’ll find the performers sync up to it), to the focal plane, and the ambient lighting. When they all come together, that’s when you click the shutter release. Don’t miss those magic moments while you review shots of boring expressions.

View The Full Set on PartyUtah.com

I make my living designing lighting for live events and architectural installation, but I love photography, and use the medium as a means of exploring lighting tools and techniques. I recently explored using RGB LED as the only light source for a photoshoot and got some surprising results. I had had some success using the Altman Spectra Par series of fixtures on some live events and since I had them on hand for an extra day or so I decided to experiment. I shoot with a Nikon D70, for those playing at home.

The benefits to these sources are obvious, if you’re looking for dynamic, rapid color changing you can’t beat this technology. One push of the slider and your red light is purple, or bright blue, or teal or orange or…you get the idea. But like any other tool, there is a trade off, in this case two. The first, they are not as bright as advertised, and second, more importantly, “white” light is tough to achieve.

First on brightness, in fairness, I didn’t even look at the footcandle data before I set up. I lit a faux brick wall for an event ceremony with the fixtures I had around and there was plenty of light to my eye, so I figured the lens would see things the same way. I was wrong. My 18mm-50mm adjustable lens was wide open at f3.5 and I found my shutters unbearably slow. My ISO had to drop to a disappointing 800 (you can really pick up noise on the D70 at 800 and above), at that ISO I was shooting with a shutter at 1/50 which for posed action was acceptable, if not ideal.

The next issue was white balance. The D70 like most DSLR allows custom WB. I won’t go into the procedure for setting it, as you know your camera if you’re reading this blog, here’s what you need to know about RGB LED and your sensor. Every camera is different and will experience color differently but RGB LED wash lights tend to have similar properties. A circuit board with an array of Red, Green and Blue LEDs emits light against a lens, the lens is designed to mix the light and project a smooth color. Mixing the intensities of Red, Green, and Blue (the primary colors of light) will create an incredible array of colors, and in theory these three colors, mixed in perfect balance will give you “white.” This, of course, is not the case in the real world. Without getting into the weeds on LED technology basically blue LED is brighter than warmer colors, this is due to limitations in phospor technology and flaws in the engineering of the fixture. To be fair, this generation of Spectra par was never meant for what I was using it for. This was an experiment after all.

So I ran the fixture to full and pointed it at a white card, and even to my eye the color was very cool. I didn’t have a light meter with a kelvin gauge, but by eye anywhere from 5600k to 6000k is a conservative estimate for the temperature coming out of these bad boys. I shot several test cards and still was seeing blue-ish results in test photos. I focused a second fixture on the white card and this time backed the blue off 10% this got be a little closer to where I wanted to be. Slightly cool, but acceptable.

I didn’t have all that much time to perfect my strategy anyway as the models were beginning to arrive. The Spectra Pars have 3 lenses a narrow , medium, and wide flood. I had six fixtures so I opted to use 2 in each beam spread, my thought was that 2 would act as key lights, 2 fill and 2 highlight. In general, this strategy worked pretty well. It amazed me how much better the white balance got the more sources were used in the setup. In the early shots it was hard to avoid super saturation, but as the shoot wore on I learned that I needed 2 or 3 heads set to “white” with the rest as a color fill if I didn’t want over-the-top color.

All of the photos in the post are from this shoot. As you can see, some are more over the top color wise, but I was able to get pretty true whites. None of these images have color-correction done in post, just cropping, and of course they are saved for the web so we’re losing resolution and color information in these versions. All those caveats, you get a sense for what is possible with RGB LED. A few take-aways:

Give yourself time to adjust in-camera white balance.

Be wary of mixing these with another source on your subject. That’s not to say it can’t be done, but too many “whites” might be hard to prepare for.

Work with a theatrical lighting supplier when renting these. Explain what you want to accomplish, not only will they point you to the best gear, they can find you a cheap and easy-to-setup control solution.

Have more questions? Have you tried this before? The comment section awaits.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After

I love to be shooting, but at the end of the day, I’m shooting photos for a reason – so my clients can use them. Sometimes it’s fun to take a look at what they’re being used for, and how the shots are reinterpreted in different contexts. It reminds me of song remixes – something I’m a huge fan of.

In the case of the 2nd series of photos – the photographs were shot for an editorial feature, and the context was an important part of the photograph – I never would have dreamed they’d use that shot on the cover – the background was much too busy, but sometimes photographs get used in surprising ways. I’ve had shots I took at clubs just for fun get printed on freeway billboards.

Once they leave the camera, they take on a life of their own.

P.S. Don’t forget to check out Dmitry KO at Harry O’s this Friday for same high-energy electro-house goodness. I hear he’s planning to drop some remixes, too.

Dmitry KO

Dmitry KO is a DJ / producer, and a recent transplant from Miami. He’ll be playing a set of big-floor electro house August 7th at the World Famous Harry-O’s. I got to hear some of the tracks he plans to drop. Trust me – they’re bangin’!

Tips for Better Press Photos

Variety
Different media outlets have different editorial styles. You want variety in your media kit. Shoot in the studio, outdoors, on sets, and don’t forget to capture action stills of you at work.

The Cover Shot
Be sure there are several great portrait-oriented photos in your media kit. Cover shots tend to be strong portraits, great head shots, waist-up shots, and other vertically-oriented photographs with high impact photography and simple backgrounds. The cover shot is what sells the magazine. Do you have a great fresh cover?

The Spread
Feature articles often have strong photographs spanning two pages. Here, great composition and simple backgrounds rule. Space for article text on the photograph wins the day, and can get you noticed in a big way!

The Rolodex
This point is often over-looked and under-valued, but if you want to be media savvy, it’s well worth consideration. When you purchase promotional photography, you’re buying more than photos. You’re connecting with a real person who has a list of contacts who might be able to further your career. Busy photographers often have connections with photo editors at a variety of media outlets. They send out regular promos to their list of contacts, constantly showing off recent work, and if your shot is selected for those promos, there’s a chance it will get picked up. Don’t look for the cheapest photographer who does good work – look for the photographer who will get you work.

The Look
You have a unique look, and a unique image you want to convey. Every good photographer has their own style and vision. Shop around and find the photographer who’s right for you.

The Shot!
Be sure to plan enough time to relax, forget about the camera, and get into the groove of the photo shoot. The more comfortable you can get in front of the camera, the better the photos will be. I like to shoot hundreds of photos, and select about ten killer shots from the bunch. It’s not about how many photos you get, or how long you spend at it – it’s about getting the shot. One great shot can make all the difference!

Need a Press Kit?

We planned to shoot out by The Great Salt Lake, but the weather didn’t cooperate. Instead, we headed to Salt Lake City’s best looking club: Jam. It’s such a pretty club that I could spend days there shooting models in various locations – and then stay for the talented DJ’s and great micro brews.

Special thanks to Vincent at Jagged Edge Retreat for the terrific hair style, and Nicole for her excellent makeup work!

Tip – Improvise – Our original location didn’t pan out, but after calling the owners of Jam, we came up with an even better shoot than the one we had planned! Sometimes you just have to wing it.

Tip – Network – If I didn’t have a great rolodex with some of Salt Lake City’s hippest scene-makers, we never would have scored such a great location for our shoot. Network with EVERYBODY. You never know who can help you out in a pinch!

Tip – Incorporate Background Contrasts – Those great backgrounds aren’t PhotoShop, peeps. That’s the real deal. In the close-up head shot I used a closely placed strobe to create the high contrast background that makes the photo pop. The dark stripe down the side of the body shot is a corner on the DJ booth. The dark / bright gradient on the seated photo is an angled corner at the front of the DJ booth. Take advantage of changes in the background to add interest and enhance the composition – but be careful that it draws attention to your subject!

Equipment List:

1x 6′ oval reflector – Gold side out.
3x Nikon SB-600 strobes.
1x Nikon D90.
1x Nikkor 50mm f1.8D lens.
2x 9′ light stands.
1x Boom stand.

One last tip: Whatever you’re doing – remember to have a blast!

Babylon was the biggest and baddest gay pride party in Salt Lake City. Hosted by Miss Jeffree Star and attended by some of Salt Lake City’s hippest socialites. If you missed this one, you missed one of the best parties of the year!

Before the crowds got too crazy, I had a couple trusty SB-600 flashes and a hand-held 32″ umbrella with me. I captured some great shots with those, and then I slapped on my Gary Fong cloud diffuser for the rest of the night. Things got pretty tight in the club. Dancefloors hopping upstairs, downstairs, and outside, so the bulky umbrella didn’t fly after it picked up.

Check out the full set on PartyUtah.com!