adapting your photographic style during a shoot

I had the pleasure of photographing Rebecca and Max’s elopement wedding in New York. They’re both from Denmark. (Actually, Max is from Spain originally.) They both planned to get married in New York while over on a trip here. I met up with them at City Hall on the day, where I was the witness to their wedding ceremony. That’s quite an honor too. Then, after the ceremony, we ventured out into Manhattan for an extended photo session.

And this is where there is a certain balance that I need to maintain. If I have a specific style in photographing on-location portraits, it is one of simplicity.

The straight-forward recipe is to make my subject(s) the center of the image by:
- careful composition,
- minimizing extraneous clutter,
- eliminating distracting backgrounds,
- compressing the perspective with a long lens,
- by using a wide aperture on a tele-zoom for shallow depth-of-field.

Great. This works well when the area that we’re photographing our subject in, is just something to have as an interesting, but non-specific background. The background might even be defocused so you can’t really tell where it was. Now, when the location is very much part of what is happening, then as a photographer we need to definitely include the location as part of a “character” in this story. I recently did it with the father and son portrait in Times Square.

And so it is with a wedding taking place in New York, where New York was very specifically chosen as an exotic destination. The photographs of Rebecca and Max had to show a wide range – from the more specifically portrait-like images, to photos which show the city they are in. But I also wanted to avoid a cookie-cutter touristy thing where we move from landmark to landmark and just have them pose in front of things and buildings.

I still wanted to show how they interact with each other. For me, wedding photography, and photography of couples, should be about how they interact with each other. It should reveal something very much *them* along the way.

So there’s the challenge – to take photographs of the couple in Manhattan, and have the range of photos – from elegantly simple portraits, all the way to showing them against the backdrop of the busy city. And yet, not have that same busy-ness intruding, and distracting attention away from them when their family and friends look at the photos.

Let’s run through some of the images and look at the thought-process behind them …

minimize distracting elements in the frame

For these two images in Grand Central Terminal, I wanted to use a slow shutter speed to melt most of the people away. Without a tripod, a 2-second expose was about the most I would risk, just resting my camera against a railing. The image at the top was shot at 2-seconds @ f/8 @ 100 ISO. This second (vertical image) was shot at /14 @ f/4 @ 100 ISO, as a prior test.

I set my camera on self-timer mode to make sure that I wasn’t nudging the camera in tripping the shutter.

The weird thing was to see how people would walk right up to them and photograph them. One guy walked up to them within a few feet, and blitzed them with flash, and then walked away, checking his camera’s preview. Seeing this, it just made me realize what rudeness it is to reducing other couple as objects. There’s a longer conversation here, I’m sure.

Anyway, back to the photos … I had to shoot a number of photos to get the foreground clear. Even for the image at the top, I had to paste in part of the right-hand side floor onto the left-hand side floor to remove someone who stood there for a while, immobile.

Summary: a slow shutter speed of 2-seconds, and even a dash of  Photoshop helped here. Setting the camera on a railing, and using self-timer helped in reducing camera movement.

Moving around the corner to one of the entrances, I wanted to use the brighter available light to make them stand out. The wider angle also helped in reducing the size of people in the background. I had zoomed to 24mm for the series of images here. I also shot 1/4 second hand-held and had to lock my elbows into my sides to steady the camera. And controlling my breathing also helped in steadying myself.

camera settings: 1/8 @ f/4 @ 200 ISO  -  24mm focal length
available light only

The slower shutter speed was to help blur anyone moving right past us. In the end, I chose the photos where there were no people directly near us.

With the direct-out-of-camera image, the people in the background were still too bright. I brought the exposure up on the couple, as well as the windows at the top, with a local correction brush on the RAW file. Similarly, I pushed down the exposure of the people in the background to mute them. Even then, the women clustering in the group on the right, had brightly colored clothing. I muted the colors by de-saturating that part of the image.

Note the viewpoint. I was shooting from low down. This had the dual effect of making the interesting background larger, and making the foreground smaller. Simultaneously this helped in making the foreground dynamic, with the stripes pulling your eye towards the couple. If I had shot from higher up, the floor would’ve been too large, and that specific perspective would be gone.

Summary: a bit of judicious darkening and brightening parts of the photo, and de-saturing distracting colors. The composition was also a key here.

From that same spot, I used a longer lens. Still shooting from a low viewpoint, the people’s heads were now just shapes and patterns on the bottom part of the photo. They become a base now for the image. The wide aperture on a longer focal length (70mm) helped to make them more indistinct.

camera settings: 1/80 @ f/3.2 @ 1600 ISO
70mm focal length
available light only

For any setup or pose, it makes good sense to use a few moments to shoot vertically and horizontally. Wide and tight. Change the composition. It’s a rare decision to only use one single composition when you have the opportunity to work the subject and scene a little bit.

camera settings: 1/80 @ f/3.2 @ 1600 ISO
135mm focal length
available light only

Summary: shoot tight and frame in a way that minimizes clutter. Shallow depth-of-field with a longer focal length, also helps.

dynamic compositions with wide-angles

With architecture this imposing, even a wide-angle photo can be a simple composition.

camera settings: 1/250 @ f/4 @ 200 ISO
28mm focal length
off-camera speedlight w/ softbox

I asked them to walk towards me for a part of the block. Well, you have to be really jaded not to not be taken by the architecture of Manhattan. I love the symmetry of the way they looked around them. They are also central in the frame, yet the background has an asymmetry to it.

Of the sequence of images here, I liked this one the best since the group of people were distant in the background. They make the place not look deserted, yet, they are just part of the background.

camera settings: 1/1000 @ f/4 @ 800 ISO
50mm focal length
available light only

Then, when there is a place which only has sporadic foot traffic, use the opportunity. Off-camera flash in a softbox cleaned up the top-heavy light here.

camera settings: 1/250 @ f/4 @ 400 ISO
50mm focal length
off-camera speedlight w/ softbox

Summary: dynamic compositions with wide-angles help give a sense of place and context. Avoid distracting elements.

shoot tight with interesting backgrounds

Then, when you find an interesting background, shoot tight to avoid distracting elements. I had to clean up a few reflections from the black areas.

camera settings: 1/250 @ f/5 @ 400 ISO
40mm & 50mm focal length
off-camera speedlight

For this next image in a location I’ve used before, I just knew already that a B&W version would be striking.

camera settings: 1/250 @ f/5.6 @ 100 ISO
70mm focal length
off-camera speedlight

using a long lens to isolate

The magic recipe of using a longer focal length to help isolate your subjects against a pleasing background. And just for extra measure, there’s the pull-back shot to show my daughter, Janine, helping me out with the off-camera flash during this entire photo session in New York.

camera settings:  1/640 @ f/4 @ 100 ISO
150mm focal length
off-camera speedlight w/ softbox

embrace the busy-ness and clutter

With all that said about clean compositions, to get a sense of how busy New York is, you need to also embrace the clutter.

camera settings:  1/250 @ f/5.6 @ 320 ISO
30mm focal length
off-camera speedlight w/ softbox

camera settings:  1/250 @ f/6.3 @ 200 ISO
24mm focal length
off-camera speedlight w/ softbox

With this wide-angle view, note again that I shot from a low viewpoint so that the bare foreground doesn’t take up half of the image. We mostly just want interesting people and stuff.

camera settings:  1/250 @f/5.6 @ 200 ISO
150mm focal length
off-camera speedlight w/ softbox

summary

What I wanted to show with this selection of images, is the constantly changing thought-process with every scene. Different focal lengths; different compositions; available light, or off-camera flash. With on-location photo sessions, it is rarely just one way of working, or one way of doing things. We should freely use as many aspects of photography technique as we need, in order to present our clients with a variety in the images. Yet, all with a coherent style.

photo gear (and equivalents) used in this photo session

Nikon D4 (B&H)
Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G AF-S (B&H)  /  Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II (B&H)
Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II (B&H)  /  Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II (B&H)
Nikon SB-910 Speedlight (B&H)  /  Canon 600EX-RT Speedlite (B&H)
Nikon SD-9 battery pack (B&H)  /  Canon CP-E4 battery pack (B&H)
Lastolite Hot Shoe EZYBOX Kit (24″x24″) (B&H)
PocketWizard TT5 wireless triggers  (B&H)

related articles

- effective on-location portraits – (model: Anelisa)
- wedding photography – developing a personal style
- the flow of a photo session  (Laura & Todd)
- off-camera flash for that extra bit of drama – (model: Olena)
- photographic composition – eliminate & simplify
- Rebecca & Max – elopement wedding, New York
- Alvin & Lucia – their wedding in Central Park, NYC
- New York wedding photographer

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the Good Light magazine interview – the black foamie thing 

The (by now) infamous Black Foamie Thing features in the latest issue (#5) of Good Light Magazine as their Gear Tip this time. This subscription magazine is available in the App Store, as well as for Android devices. This 96-page issue also features articles by articles on photography technique, with an obvious bias towards lighting. Check out the App Store for a complimentary copy of the 1st issue. All other issues are $3.99 each.

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deconstructing a portrait photograph

My friend, Chuck Arlund, visited New York with his son Lachlan, for a few days. At the end of the trip, I had a short opportunity to photograph them. Since this is Chuck, whom I greatly admire, and his son (who is so used to a camera by now), I wanted to come up with something outside of the usual guaranteed way of working with a longer lens, and a simpler background. I wanted something a little out of the ordinary.

What I envisioned was some place in New York that was very busy, and then go to a slow shutter speed, and let everyone that is moving around them, turn into ghostly figures. The idea I had in mind, was with the two of them central in the image, and figures flowing around them on either side. I wanted that symmetry.

But as usually happens, real life limitations and opportunities kick in, and you end up with something slightly different than originally envisioned.

the merits of a photograph

Now, I have this half-formed philosophy in my mind, that the effort you went to to create a photograph, is largely not that important. Whether you were hanging by one hand from a bus that was careening over a cliff as you took the shot, is of little consequence. In other words, the trouble you went to to create a photo, is largely irrelevant.

Unless mentioning the person or place or event provides necessary context, a photograph created for artistic intent, should stand on its own. Impact should not have to be explained. Neither should excuses be made for lack of impact.

Yet, there are limitations that you need to deal with while taking a photograph, that the viewer should not have to know specifically. The photograph should have impact. Regardless.

How does all this relate to the photo at the top? I was unsure about its impact and asked for opinions on Facebook. Interesting. Aside from a few informing me how I could control my depth-of-field, the response was very good. A lot of questions and comments came up, and this might make for a good point of discussion here.

the idea and the set-up

As mentioned, the original idea I had in mind was a wide shot, with a sweeping view of a street scene, with movement all around them, while they are still. In that sense, they would be isolated amongst all the movement. I wanted to do this all in-camera, and still add flash on them to light them perfectly.

Times Square immediately came to mind as a place where there’d be a horde of people milling around, but which would offer wide enough place to shoot this. Yet the direction we could shoot in was limited by the pedestrian flow, barriers, as well as policemen that asked me to hurry up. So the pressure is on to make the idea work, here, and now.

• camera settings

The image at the top was shot at:  1 sec @ f/22 @ 50 ISO
(This translates to a more usual equivalent:  1/125 @ f/2.8 @ 100 ISO)

Yup, the light levels there in-between the buildings on a cloudy day was quite low.

To add enough light on them at f/22, I also brought the 600 W/s Profoto Acute B2 powerpack (B&H) and a Profoto beauty dish (B&H). Now it was a matter of balancing all this – flash and daylight (at a slow shutter speed).

So how to drop the shutter speed to sloooow levels on a bright day while retaining a wide-ish aperture? A Neutral Density filter. We’ll leave that for the homework bit at the end. (I ended up not using an ND filter here for shallower depth-of-field.)

• angle of view

I had to shoot at an angle here to get a clear view of the street, without barricades in the way. It was also a busy intersection, so it was more likely people would be moving along. What happened though, was that people in the distance, would appear sharper, because their movements would be “smaller” from my camera’s perspective.

• a composite background to simplify

Some people would move too slow or would linger, and appear too sharp. In the end, the photo at the top was a composite of 5 photos, as I made the background more simple.

This complete frame of the image, shows that the people on the left (and people standing still), are too clear. So I cropped the image to remove the smaller figures on the left. I also combined 5 photos in total for the background. The bus streaking past hid the lettering on the buildings. Without the lettering there, pulling your eye away, the image is simplified.

in the end

In the breakdown of the behind-the-scenes decision, some of the mystery is perhaps inevitably lost. I guess that is why magicians don’t reveal the secrets. In the end, I hope that this photograph of a dad and his son would be evocative, and slightly mysterious … a tender emotional bond,  an island in the craziness of the world. A permanence.

I hope it will draw the viewer in for a while, with this stillness juxtaposed with the motion.

photo gear (and equivalents) used in this photo session

Nikon D4 (B&H)
Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G AF-S  (B&H)  /  Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II (B&H)
Profoto Acute B2 600 W/s powerpack (B&H)
Profoto beauty dish (B&H)  w/ a sock
Manfrotto 1004BAC light-stand (B&H)

related articles

- using a neutral density (ND) filter with flash  (model – Anelisa)
- using a ND filter to control DoF with flash  (model – Ulorin Vex)
- so what are your camera settings?

a little bit of homework

• What would the effect of a Neutral Density filter be here for the settings used?  1 sec @ f/22 @ 50 ISO

• If I had wanted to shoot in bright daylight – 1/250 @ f11 @ 100 ISO  - (remember the Sunny 16 rule!) – and I added a 3-stop / 6-stop / 10-stop ND filter, what would my eventual (realistic) aperture be if I decided to use flash at a slower shutter speed?

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a simple lighting setup with speedlights, with white seamless backdrop  (model: Anastasia)

A question on the Tangents forum asked about setting up and using two SB-910 speedlights against white seamless. It’s a topic we’ve covered in a previous article - a simple lighting setup for studio photography - but it might be good to revisit this again.

The article on that simple lighting setup with two speedlights, explained our choice of camera and flash settings in detail, so we’ll only briefly cover it this time. Still, a different explanation from a different angle might trigger new ideas and questions.

The pull-back shot of the setup we used during a individual workshop at my studio. Before we jumped into using the studio gear, I wanted to show that with a minimalist setup using speedlights, we could accomplish similar results (sans the higher output and fast recycling of the studio gear.)

The shoot-though umbrella acts as a “light bomb” (as I’ve heard this described elsewhere.) This floods the place with light, as light is scattered all around and bounced off the walls. Setting the flash to full manual output – (TTL wouldn’t make sense here) – we metered the light as f/5.6 for where she was standing.

Then we added the background light. You can see this speedlight on the light-stand to the left of the white backdrop. I used a black foamie thing to flag the light so there was no light directly spilling on her from the speedlight itself. The white backdrop does reflect a lot of light back.

A battery pack on both speedlights mean the recycling time isn’t too bad. With the main speedlight dumping full output, it does take a few seconds to recycle – this just gets slower and slower as you keep shooting, unless you have a battery pack there to help.

camera settings:  1/125 @ f/5.6 @ 200 ISO

Metering for the light on the white seamless backdrop, was done via the camera’s histogram . We dialed the power up until the histogram completely bunched up on the right-hand side of the histogram. This ensured that the white seamless would be rendered as pure white for most of the background.

Using just one speedlight for the background does mean that the background isn’t evenly lit from left-to-right. You can see in the top-most photograph that there are areas in the background which isn’t pure white. So this would need some work in Photoshop to get that background the way you want to … or, you could use another speedlight on the right. There is a certain limitation in paring the equipment down to a minimum – as in this example, you may have to correct a few things afterwards in Photoshop to achieve the ideal.

related articles

- a simple lighting setup for studio photography  (models: Anelisa & Aleona)
- video clip: photo session in the studio  (model: Anelisa)
- home studio – portrait lighting setup in limited space  (model: Kaylex)
- manual flash / TTL flash  (model: Aleona)

photo gear (and equivalents) used in this photo session

Nikon D4 (B&H)
Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G AF-S (B&H)  /  Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II (B&H)
Nikon SB-910 Speedlight (B&H)  /  Canon 600EX-RT Speedlite (B&H)
Nikon SD-9 battery pack (B&H)  /  Canon CP-E4 battery pack (B&H)
Manfrotto 1004BAC light-stand (B&H)
PocketWizard Plus X Transceiver (B&H)
Sekonic L-358 (B&H)

a little bit of homework

Using Photoshop, what would be the simplest ways of removing the less-than-white areas in the background, turning it into white?

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photo session – Modern Gypsies – floating bubbles

Another from the most recent publicity photo session with the Modern Gypsies, with two of the girls in French period costume … inside plastic bubbles. Seemingly an easy setup, it took a few quick adjustments to the off-camera lighting while they were enclosed in the plastic bubbles. Time is very limited!

Let’s start off with the test shots, and see the progression from there …

I had Peter, my assistant on the day, stand in the spot where I thought it would be best to do the shoot. I knew I could shoot from a low viewpoint in this busy Brooklyn park, and minimize the cluttered background. I wanted it to appear like it were just the two girls in the bubbles in a wooded area, with sun streaming down.

Two of the test shots with Peter, to get my base exposure. I initially wanted to use the available light, with a touch of fill-flash from the off-camera Profoto beauty dish (B&H)  (with a sock). The idea was that if I let the background blow out through over-exposure, it would help the ethereal look.

Then, with the angles and viewpoint figured out and the equipment set up, we had Jen in the first bubble, and I instantly knew I would have to adapt. Quickly!

The test shot showed what was obvious with the naked eye – the plastic bubble reflected so much of the sky and surroundings, that you lost the detail of Jen, the one performer who was in the bubble. Next stop – drop the exposure (by two stops), and instead of the flash being the slightest bit of fill-flash, allow the flash to do most of the work in terms of correct exposure.

I hastily instructed Peter to bring the Profoto powerpack and beauty dish much closer, and to raise it way high on the light-stand, and let the beauty dish light her up from high up. I thought this would minimize the direct reflection of the beauty dish in the plastic.

However, the first shots showed the beauty dish was too high, and we got top-heavy light on Jen.  Her eyes were shaded. Also, the hot-spot on the plastic wasn’t reduced like I thought it would be with the light coming from higher up.

So I had Peter again quickly move the light to the side and bring it lower – better light on Jen, and the hot-spot seen there was easily fixed in post-processing by cloning in part of the plastic bubble from a non-flash shot.

Problem solved with brief adjustments to my camera settings, and scurrying to change the lighting setup. And we still had enough time for a sequence of images with both girls in the ‘floating bubbles’.

Here is a pull-back shot to show the setup. By this time we had attracted an audience in the park.

photo gear (and equivalents) used in this photo session

Nikon D4 (B&H)
Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G AF-S  (B&H)  /  Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II (B&H)
Profoto Acute B2 600 W/s powerpack (B&H)
Profoto beauty dish (B&H)  w/ a sock
Manfrotto 1004BAC light-stand (B&H)

the rest of this photo session

- photo session – Modern Gypsies – Silver Birds
- Modern Gypsies Productions on Facebook

more info about the Modern Gypsies

- Modern Gypsies website
- Modern Gypsies Productions on Facebook

a little bit of homework

• The camera’s auto-focus tended to grab the plastic with the bright reflections, instead of the person in the bubble. I had to find a work-around. Manual focus through the viewfinder was still tough because of the lower contrast of the subject inside the plastic bubble. So what are my other options in getting accurate focus?

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PhotoWhoa is offering another great deal: Lighting Studio Portraits, by Damien Lovegrove, will show you how to create amazing studio quality portraits.

With over 3 hours of content, the video emphasizes the most important technical skills necessary to capture these stunning photographs. From where to position the lighting, to explanations of camera settings and composition, this video will give you the understanding and confidence to reproduce striking work.

The post promotion: Beauty Retouching Techniques DVD appeared first on Neil vN - tangents.

camera & flash settings: what do you want to achieve?  (model: Ulorin Vex)

In one of the multitude of photography groups on Facebook, I saw a newcomer to off-camera flash say that she bought an Alien-Bee set, but she has no idea what to set it to. My reply was that she needed a light-meter. My thinking is that then she’d know what the specific output of the flash or strobe would be, and then be able to set her camera to it. But then, thinking about it some more, I realized if there is hesitation there or confusion, it is about what specific camera settings (mostly aperture) should be in the first place.

I think this is the baffling part of using off-camera lighting or studio gear on location for the first time – where do you start? What should your camera and flash settings be?

Well, if you shoot on location, your settings are usually decided for you by your available light.

For example:

You might be battling hard sun
- overpowering the sun with flash  (models: Sarah & Mark)
- overpowering hard sunlight with flash  (model: Johannie)

You might need to balance shaded subjects against a brighter background:
- so what are your camera settings?

Or you just want to get rid of the blah.
- off-camera flash for that extra bit of drama  (mode: Olena)

So it really comes down to .. what do you want to achieve? 

Still working with Ulorin Vex during the photo session which was shown in the recent article on using a neutral density (ND) filter, let’s have a look at a different setup. With the example where we used the ND filter, we had Ulorin Vex with her back to the sun, and her hair lit from behind by the sun. So there was a specific thought-process there.

But moving around the corner at those same warehouses, we were in the shade. I liked the surroundings … but the light was blah. Using the same kind of idea as shown in this article - off-camera flash for that extra bit of drama - we got to the dramatic image shown at the top.

I wanted it to appear as if Ulorin Vex was in a pool of light.

The available light shot looked quite bland. Well, the lighting looked bland. Under-exposing by 4 stops, pulled the available light down to where it pretty much is of no consequence – and it is at this point that the off-camera lighting becomes everything, and we have absolute control over the final result. Remember, around 5 stops under-exposure, the ambient light is less than 1% of your final exposure – i.e. non-exsistent.

I specifically only wanted to use one light source here – a large softbox from above.   I was standing on a wall to shoot down on her. The light was on a 12′ tall lightstand.

This shot shows where the softbox was in relation to our model. High above and next to me.  You can see part of the light-stand in the bottom-right corner.

The final image (of which the square version was shown at the top), had the distracting high-lights on her latex costume removed in Photoshop. I also sweetened the image with a home-made recipe in Radlab.

So now the question remains … why did I decide to do it this way, and under-expose the available light and set up the softbox like this? Simply because I thought it might look cool. I did a few test shots to make sure, and then, “yeah! this works.”

That was the crux in deciding to set up this (quite simple) shot – I thought it would look cool. Then the decisions about what I need to do to capture that pre-visualized idea followed. That’s the essence of it – you need to have some idea of what you want to do, before you can get there. It seems superfluously obvious when stated like that, but that is really how it works. You have to figure out what it is you want to achieve, even if your end result is different than your original idea.

photo gear (and equivalents) used in this photo session

Nikon D4 (B&H)
Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G AF-S (B&H)  /  Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II (B&H)
Profoto D1 Air 500 W/s Monolight (B&H)
Profoto Heat-Resistant Softbox RF 3×4′ (90x120cm) light-stand (B&H)
Manfrotto 1004BAC light-stand (B&H)
Profoto Air Remote Transceiver (B&H)
Profoto BatPac portable battery (B&H)

related articles

- off-camera flash for that extra bit of drama  (mode: Olena)
- overpowering hard sunlight with flash
- so what are your camera settings?
- overpowering the sun with flash  (models: Sarah & Mark)
- using a neutral density (ND) filter to control DoF with flash (model: Ulorin Vex)
- other photo sessions on Tangents with Ulorin Vex

As mentioned, I wanted a warmer look to the final image and I used a recipe I created in Radlab.

the discount code 1086NEILVN will save you 15% off Radlab software

a little bit of homework

• Why did I not need to drop the ambient exposure by more than 4 stops?

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video clip: Direction and Quality of Light – your key to better portrait photography

The video clip of the presentation I did at B&H to promote my book – Direction of Light – has by now been viewed more than 56,000 times since it was posted four months ago!

But as the saying inevitably goes, the book is always better than the movie. So in case you haven’t seen the video clip yet, it is a good introduction to the book, while also taking a few detours along the way. If you liked the video clip, the book contains even more, and for less than $20, you can own and hold and touch and smell the book. All yours!

You can order it from Amazon via this link,
or even directly order an autographed copy from me via the same link.

And for those of you who have already bought the book, a big thank you! The support is always appreciated. And if I could ask a small favor – a nice review on Amazon always helps.

related articles

- the book: Direction of Light
- video clip: direction and quality of light
- the black foamie thing
- Spinlight 360
- how to bounce your flash
- video light for photography

The post you’ve seen the movie; read the book! appeared first on Neil vN - tangents.

using a neutral density (ND) filter to control depth of field when using flash

When working in bright sunlight with flash units that can’t go into high-speed flash sync, we have a ceiling in terms of our shutter speed / aperture combination. The shutter speed limitation then would be our maximum flash sync speed. The bright daylight would then imply a small aperture – most likely around f/11

Why f/11 ?
The Sunny 16 Rule dictates that in bright sunlight,
we’re most likely working at 1/100 @ f/16 @ 100 ISO.

This translates into a handy short-cut of: 1/200 @ f/11 @ 100 ISO,
where 1/200 is the maximum flash sync speed of many cameras.
I use Nikons so my max flash sync speed is 1/250 hence that is where I normally operate when using flash in bright light.

To get to wider apertures for a shallower depth-of-field, we then need to cut the amount of light. We can do this with a Neutral Density filter.

The first concern is usually that the ND filter cuts the flash, but this isn’t a particular problem, since the ND filter cuts flash and ambient light by equal amounts.

So if we have 1/200 @ f/11 and then add a 3-stop ND filter, we end up with f/4 which is much wider than f/11 and gives us better control over our DoF. A 3-stop ND filter is usually denoted as an .9 ND filter, where 0.3 is a stop, and hence 0.1 is a third of a stop. A Neutral Density filter that is marked as 3.0 will therefore be a 10-stop ND filter.

As a side comment, please note that shallow depth-of-field is not the same as ‘bokeh‘.

With the recent photo shoot with Ulorin Vex , I decided that it might be as good an opportunity as any to see how a Neutral Density filter affects the results.

Working outdoors at this old warehouse, I needed a baseline exposure. I based this on the sunlight on her hair in the late afternoon. A few test shots showed that good settings would be:
1/250 @ f/8 @ 100 ISO. Just a stop off from Sunny 16. It’s still a good guideline. With the ND filter killing three stops of light, we will end up at f/2.8 which is great.

The neutral density filter that I used here: B+W 77mm 0.9 (3 stop) ND MRC 110M Filter (B&H)

For this test shot, there was some flash, but not enough for correct exposure.

Here is the lighting setup. You can see part of the two lights that were used:

There were two Profoto D1 Air 500 W/s Monolights (B&H), driven by the Profoto BatPac portable battery (B&H). Both monolights were controlled and triggered by a Profoto Air Remote Transceiver (B&H) on my camera. With the Air Remote Transceiver, I can change the power settings from my own position.

The main light on Ulorin Vex was a Profoto beauty dish (B&H) with a sock.

The background would’ve gone black, similar to the test shot shown above, if I didn’t add some light to the building. I did this with the second Profoto D1 Air 500 W/s Monolight that had a
Profoto 7″ Reflector (B&H) on it.

With both lights on like this, it looked … okay. It lacked something. With Ulorin Vex’s dramatic latex outfit, I had to bring in a little more drama with the lighting. So I added a blue gel to the flash in the rear that was lighting up the building. You can see the blue gel on the flash here, held in place with gaffer tape. The blue tint to the background immediately gave it a more other-wordly look.

A comparison to show the effect of the blue-gelled background versus no light on the background.

With the aperture at f/2.8 due to the ND filter, I tried various compositions by zooming in and out.

All camera settings at this point were: 1/250 @ f/2.8 @ 100 ISO

Let’s compare what f/2.8 (using the ND filter) looks like against the “normal” f/8 that I would’ve had to use. Remember, the base exposure was decided by the sunlight on her hair. The rim-light you see on her arms and body is from the sunlight as well. Perfectly balanced.

Right-click and select “open image in new tab” to see these comparison images larger.

The difference in how that 3 stops change in aperture looks, is quite noticeable. Some may prefer the more pronounced background, and for some scenarios it would be the better choice, but here, imho, the shallow depth-of-field works much better. With the sun adding the rim-light, the shallow depth-of-field makes the separation even more pronounced.

(Again, right-click and “open image in new tab” to see these comparison images larger.)

The technique in using a Neutral Density Filter

• find your basic exposure
• add enough flash to balance the shadowed areas with the brighter sunlit areas.
• add the ND filter
• change your aperture accordingly to get shallow depth-of-field.
• if you run out of apertures, raise your ISO a notch. In other words, if you should end up at f/2 by your calculations, and your lens is only an f/2.8 then raise your ISO by stop to get to f/2.8
• if you can’t count your aperture settings yet, then simply count the clicks.

That really is the gist of it. Slap the ND filter on, change your settings accordingly, and there you have it … shallower depth-of-field when using flash units that can’t go to high-speed flash sync.

When using flashes that can go to high-speed flash sync, there is a penalty to be paid in terms of loss of effective power / range. Then a ND filter would still be very useful in using your speedlight in bright sunlight. We’ll cover this in future articles.

recommended neutral density filters

B+W 77mm 0.9 (3 stop) ND MRC 110M Filter (B&H)
B+W 77mm 1.8 (6 stop) ND MRC 110M Filter (B&H)
Singh-Ray 77mm (Thin Mount) Vari-ND Variable Neutral Density Filter (B&H)
Singh-Ray 77mm Vari-N-Duo Polarizing Variable Neutral Density Filter (Thin Ring) (B&H)
Tiffen 77mm Indie Neutral Density Filter Kit (0.3, 0.6, 0.9, 1.2 ND Filters) (B&H)
Polaroid 77mm Neutral Density Fader Filter (B&H)

photo gear (and equivalents) used in this photo session

Nikon D4 (B&H)
Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II (B&H)  /  Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II (B&H)
Manfrotto 1004BAC light-stand (B&H)
Profoto D1 Air 500 W/s Monolight (B&H)
Profoto beauty dish (B&H)  w/ a sock
Profoto 7″ Reflector for Profoto Flash Heads (B&H)
Profoto Air Remote Transceiver (B&H)
Profoto BatPac portable battery (B&H)

related articles

- the importance of understanding max flash sync speed
- tutorial: high-speed flash sync
- using a neutral density (ND) filter with flash
- overpowering hard sunlight with flash
- so what are your camera settings?
- overpowering the sun with flash  (models: Sarah & Mark)
- other photo sessions on Tangents with Ulorin Vex

a little bit of homework

• I mentioned that you could raise the ISO if we ran out of apertures:

  If you run out of apertures, raise your ISO a notch. In other words, if you should end up at f/2 by your calculations, and your lens is only an f/2.8 then raise your ISO by stop to get to f/2.8

  Why didn’t I mention the possibility of lowering the shutter speed? What would be the implication?
   

• A comment that was posted on Facebook, stated / asked:

  What happened to just turning the power down? and if you need reduction get some elcheapo ND gels and put them on the flash instead of darkening your viewfinder and making your photos fuzzy with filters over the lens.

  What would happen in this specific situation of I had turned the power down? And what would happen if I put an ND filter on the flash?

The post using a neutral density (ND) filter to control DoF with flash appeared first on Neil vN - tangents.

photography workshops & seminars for 2013

New York workshop dates for 2013

The full-day workshops on on-location lighting in New York, will be held on the following dates:

May 21, 2013 (Tuesday)  -  NYC
July 16, 2013 (Tuesday)  -  NYC  -  only 3 spots left
Oct 22, 2013 (Tuesday)  -  NYC  -  8 spots still open

These workshops will each be limited to 10 people, and there will be two models available. I do want to give everyone as much individual attention, hence the limit in class size.

individual workshops & tutoring sessions

If none of the dates (and places) suit your schedule, I do offer individual photography workshops, as well as tutoring sessions which can be in person at my studio in NJ, or via Skype.

Denver, CO – June 30, 2013 (Sunday)

I will be in Denver, Colorado at the end of June, and thought if there was enough interest in a June 30th workshop date, that we’d make it happen. To see if this would be viable, I asked for a $200 deposit from those who are interested. The minimum number was not reached, so I am refunding those who paid the deposit, as explained in the original post:

Similar to the New York workshops, these will be limited to 10 people, and there will be 2 models. For more details about the topics that will be covered, check the info page on the  full-day workshops on on-location lighting in New York. The fee for the workshop is $600

I would need a minimum of 6 people (out of a max of 10), to make this workshop viable. So in order to gauge interest (and commitment) of anyone interested, I’m going to try something that’s perhaps a little unusual – if by May 15th there are a minimum of 6 people who pay a deposit of $200, then the workshop will go ahead. If not, everyone will get a full immediate refund on their deposits. E-mail me if you’re interested.

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