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Seeing through the blurry stuff : eyes wide open
Posted on June 19, 2013
One thing that regularly comes up in the training courses and 1-2-1 sessions I run is what is the point of aperture?
Other than composition and lighting, it’s our main creative control. Why? Because it acts as a means of isolating objects from a background (or making them all sharp and not isolated). Let’s just stick with the isolating bit for now. It’s the control that blurs stuff out. If I focused on one of the pears in the examples below and an aperture of F32, everything would be in focus – the whole scene. At F4 or “wide open” (depending on your lens) I can pick a smaller piece of the scene out and blur the rest.
Note – the wider you shoot and the further away you from something, the less obvious this blurring or isolating effect is. It is when you’re close that it has the impact.
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Should we be faking sunshine in June?
Posted on June 11, 2013
Close your eyes. It’s June. Warm rays of sunshine massage your back and the sweet smell of the orchard fruit from the Garden of England teases your nostrils. Open your eyes, put on your fleece and enjoy looking at some pictures of what I normally expect in June in Kent!
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Natural light for portraits mixed with reflected light and flash
Posted on June 5, 2013
Big fan though I am of using artificial light on location (usually when the natural light just isn’t there) the last photo training course that took place in Canterbury, Kent, followed the path of natural light first, then reflected, then flash. Here’s some pointers on the images below.
- 1 – light from the front can be very flat but hair can act as modelling tool for check bones / jawline. Not every face can pull that off.
- 2 & 3 – window light from more than one direction creates opportunities for sandwich lighting and creating kickers that pic out features, body shape etc.
- 4 – photographing against a surface allows for shadow detailing on one side of the face, being careful with colour casts
- 5 – don’t be afraid to push the highlights to the max with back lighting
- 6 – windows act just like softboxes in the studio and allow for quick and effective use of highlights and shadows
- 7 & 8 – when you’re forced to shoot away from a window light, softboxes become your portable window.
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Wedding photography at Winters Barns Canterbury Kent
Posted on June 1, 2013
It’s been a grey and rainy spring – in case you hadn’t noticed. There are times when a splash of flash can pop the contrast levels in a picture and make the most of those grey skies, replacing a bit of trace sunlight where it’s simply not there. With a dress supplied by Teokath, this wedding from the middle of May at Winters Barns in Canterbury is an example of subtle use of off-camera flash.
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Anatomy of photographing a location headshot / portrait
Posted on May 20, 2013
What do you do when you’re faced with a really dark space to shoot in? One of the problems with cranking up the ISO of your camera is that you lose contrast and the sense of depth that directional and controlled lighting can bring to an image. You don’t always have to use multiple flashes – working with the natural light and supplementing it can give you the equivalent of a 3-light setup. Sometimes you have to build up and create the lighting from scratch, layer by layer. There are some examples below with notes as to how they were shot – usually in dark murky corners with the light put back in. If you would like to learn more about lighting or camera skills the next training workshop is is on June 2nd.
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On location lighting for the University of Kent & the National Trust
Posted on May 5, 2013
In the last week or so there were two shoots that were typical examples of lighting on location.
For the University of Kent is was a magazine cover and poster image to be created at the end of a press call with ITV where I has about 20 minutes. It was raining so I found an undercover option but then at the last minute the sun came out. Editorial type pictures tend to require a bit more punch/contrast/ depth so I tends to use flash mixed with a slightly underexposed background. The wet weather / covered shots taken in an underpass required a Bowens 500 and portable battery pack to light a larger space. ISo 200 f11 @ 1/200, Canon 5diii (best of luck to Professor Sam Marcora as he travels a 13,000 mile trek from England to China as part of a research study with the University of Kent. http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/story/2013-04-27/motorcyclists-trek-for-research/).
For the National Trust the pictures were used by the BBC and Guardian to illustrate an exhibition of dresses owned by Vita Sackville-West and on a dull day at about 4pm I had a very dark room and a brief to create some atmosphere. The room in the tower is amazing but our eyes adjust for light in ways the cameras do not. 4 stops different from the window and everything else potentially in darkness. To keep the directional work of the window creating highlights from one side, I added to it a second window in the guise of an octabox with a 500w Bowens head, powered down so as not to blast light everywhere. ISO 1000, f/11 at 1/3 second and f4 @ 1/160; Canon 5diii. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/apr/29/sackville-west-lost-poem-lover-trefusis http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-22358641
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Studio & location spread for Whitefriars magazine
Posted on April 5, 2013
Here’s a few fun images for a recent spread for Whitefriars magazine. Whitefriars is the largest retail development in Canterbury and each year they run a “Face Of Whitefriars” competition with the winners having a photoshoot.
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Lighting on location – natural light plus a modifier
Posted on March 22, 2013
This is a post about photography and lighting on location so you’ve been warned! I’ll get around to some posts about the Canon 5Diii at some point but one of things that I’ve noticed with some super high ISO shots I’ve seen is that whilst they’re recording a sharp image in very low light the subject itself looks flat because the lighting is flat. When the light simply isn’t there to create the contrast you need to have to fake it or make it with artificial light. Here’s a few examples with lighting diagrams for the first two.
Paul Hendy & Emily Wood – the room was very dark when exposed correctly for the window, so add a fake window (a medium softbox, quite high and angled down). The softbox stops the light bouncing all over the place and a small flash gun on the floor lights the dark corner. The second shot of Paul uses the window light as a kicker whilst a softbox balances the shadow side of the face.
Children in a school corridor. The corridor was very dark and the window light weak. A backlight fills the corridor whilst a softbox fills in to the opposite side of the window. A high ISO shot would not work as the difference between the shadows and highlights would be too much.
Couple on the beach in Whitstable. End of day sunshine? No. It was murky and flat and horrible. There’s a flash gun with an orange Honl gel sending light from behind and to the side of the beach huts. Flash guns with a gel are great for simulating sunshine if the ambient light is weak.
Office shots – all except the last one are from one flash gun. Firstly on the floor, bounced off the ceiling in the background to light a wall and create a kick to the background; then to the side to create a kicker to the face where the window light was too weak; then a softbox very close to the subject to create rapid fall off and a dark background.
Finally light against a bed and pillows – a softbox plays such a useful role as a portable window light.
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A Kentish Ceremony | Winters Barns Wedding Fayre, Canterbury Kent
Posted on February 22, 2013
I’m really pleased that one of my recent wedding pictures as been used for the cover of A Kentish Ceremony magazine. The dress is by Pronovias courtesy of those wonderful people at Teokath, Canterbury.
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£25 saving on Camera Skills & Location Portrait Training Courses in Kent
Posted on February 10, 2013
Sunday June 2nd, in the lovely surroundings of Charlton Park (Canterbury, Kent), a private country house, you’ll spend the morning going back to basics to learn how to get the most out of your camera and get off the auto setting. In the afternoon you’ll learn how to photograph people, working with natural and reflected light and flash.
You’ll need a Digital SLR camera with optional manual controls to attend this workshop. Ideally you’ll have a flash gun that works both on and off your camera but you can still learn valuable techniques without this. Book both sessions and save £25.00! BOOK HERE
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