That one randomly well-lit shot....

<p>Ever been in the place where you're shooting a festival, maybe you're doing it for fun (in my case) so you're not TOO concerned about the outcome, so you've had a couple beers? (It was a beer fest...)</p>

<p>But then the next day you're running the images through Lightroom with a pot of coffee and you find that one that just stands out. That one that makes you think, "Did someone carry over a life sized cardboard cutout and pose with it for me?" So you look closer, and still are confused. Then you realize no life-sized cutout would be holding a crinkled water bottle and realize the lighting was just accidentally pretty darn good.</p>

<p>Then, in lieu of the random drunks around him, you choose not to crop, just to keep the scene...</p>

<p>Yeah, that's about it. If "Off-Topic" was still alive, I would have posted it there. But since it isn't, y'all get to deal with it. :)</p>

<p>By no means am I saying this is an *amazing* image. I'm just saying it's surprisingly good, considering I was shooting a beer fest (for free), had been drinking, and happened to capture the lighting on this guy very well. </p>

<p><img src="http://www.redheadpix.com/galleries/20140621_Summer_Beer_Fest/photos/IMG_1033.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1067" /></p>

<p><a href=" Haight</a> uses that look quite a bit - ambient light very slightly underexposed, full flash with diffusion where necessary. Makes the subject pop against the background for a classic outdoor pinup lighting look. But his models are a bit more appealing. He was generous enough to describe his technique in <a href="/beginner-photography-questions-forum/00bzcY">this photo.net thread</a>. A lot of Peter Gowland's glamour/pinup pix used the same technique.</p>

<p>I have a theory that booze (in the right quantity) can actually improve your eye for a good picture. In my case at least, it tends to work on the logical hemisphere of the brain first, leaving the creative side freer to do its thing. That's my excuse anyway, and I'm sticking with it!</p>

<p>Looks like you had some on-camera flash, bounced and nicely diffused by the marquee, plus the guy was in just the right spot to catch a bit of rim lighting from the daylight outside. Now you know why some professionals carry scrim panels around with them.</p>

Let me guess: you were inside a small and mostly white tent? The combination of the direct light from your flash

combined with the and the light from it that would otherwise be going off into space if weren't for the tent bouncing it

mostly from the panels of the pitched roof , makes for a great main light on him (notice the small soft edged shadow

under his chin?) while you have some nice warm late afternoon sunlight coming in from over his right shoulder that

separates him from the background. Whether this was a fully manual exposure or whether your camera's TTL meter and

flash exposure systems handled the exposure balance it is perfect, even down to the balance of exposure from

foreground to background.

 

Well done and greetings from Atlanta.

<p>So you can repeat this. Subject just inside the shade of the tent( can use any overhang or tree canopy) so sun at 45 degrees or less places rim on shoulders and arms to help with separation from background. The sun position places the side of the people in bg in shade so when adding light to subject, he is about a stop or so above the bg making him pop. He is also tack sharp. Brightest and sharpest so eye goes there. I would bounce the flash to the left rear for more form on subject, and to keep arm shadow off his body. He has narrow face so straight on lighting ok. For booze inspiration, I like absinthe, the green muse of the artists and writers in late 1800 and early 1900's when it was made illegal. Supposedly removes inhibition yet keeps person lucid. Kinda how I like my lady friends. Try editing after a couple and check it the next day. </p>

<p>Your lighting is off that is why you have that cut-out look. You need to turndown the flash exposure by a couple of notches so that it matches the background. Funny this does not happen with film cameras as far as I know, only with digital cameras especially point-and-shoot cameras.</p>

<p>"can use any overhang or tree canopy" - Not quite. The bright and even frontal lighting is from flash reflection off the inside of a white(ish) tent. That wouldn't have the same effect when bounced off dark green leaves or any other dark or strongly coloured surface. Hence the reference to scrim panels, as being a more portable substitute for a white tent.</p>

<p>Without the overall fill from the tent the flash shadows would be a lot deeper, and the specular reflections on the face would be comparatively brighter, making the subject look quite "sweaty". Imagine the same shot with much heavier shadows under the chin and below the outstretched arm. From the reflection in the sunglasses it looks as if there was a diffuser on the flash as well.</p>

"... From the reflection in the sunglasses it looks as if there was a diffuser on the flash as well."

 

Joe, I looked more closely at that and it's a sticker on his sunglasses.

Harry Joseph , Jun 27, 2014; 04:09 p.m.

 

 

"Harry Joseph , Jun 27, 2014; 04:09 p.m.

You need to turndown the flash exposure by a couple of notches so that it matches the background."

 

I think that would be as. Dull as dust. But that's just my opinion, and worth what you paid for it.

 

"Funny this does not happen with film cameras as far as I know, only with digital cameras..."

 

Of course it can and did. It's Thephysics of the lighting in the photo not the media that caused that look.

 

And as Joe pointed out, you can recreate it with a could of bounce panels over head and a little warm backlighting.

<p>Ellis I think it's time for an EGO check...</p>

Mine is doing just fine thank you. It's very healthy.

<p>Agree with Ellis, this is exactly what happens when you flash inside a white tent. </p>

<p>What that means is that you may have to have a few and drag the tent with you...wherever you go. :>)</p>

<p>Les</p>

<p>Typical lighting guy rather reverse engineer lighting than do cross word puzzles as brain exercise, I wonder if original poster could explain if he was straight on lighting, perhaps with a diffuser on the flash. The eye catchlight looks like the flash was aimed straight ahead with camera perhaps angled down slightly? The chin shadow looks a bit hard edged, just not too dark. I wonder if there was a white countertop acting as a low fill. The arm shadow goes down at about a 45 degree angle. Was this a ceiling bounce? I was guessing straight on flash. Could this be the effect of the tupperware modifier or perhaps a bounce card on flash? </p>

<p>I think we had a discussion on the "cut-out" look a few years ago on PN. If I remember correctly some said that it was the pop-up flash on modern digital cameras that created this effect...</p>

<p>"..some said that it was the pop-up flash on modern digital cameras that created this effect..."<br /> I'm not sure that "some" are correct. The arm shadow looks too low down for this to be from a little popup flash close to the lens, and also the shadows don't seem quite vertically axial, but slightly to the right of the subject, meaning the light source is slightly to camera left and not directly over the lens.</p>

<p>On closer examination, it does look as if the sunglass "reflection" is a white sticker. What idiot would wear sunglasses with a white sticker on them? Oh, wait, we've got a picture of just such an idiot.</p>

<p>"<em>I'm not sure that "some" are correct</em>"</p>

<p>If I remember correctly we went over this subject ( the cut-out look ) when I took a course in Speed Light Photography(no longer being offered) a few years back at this school, I could be wrong though :</p>

<p><a href="http://courses.vccs.edu/colleges/nova/courses/PHT-Photography">http://courses.vccs.edu/colleges/nova/courses/PHT-Photography</a></p>

<p> </p>

<p>Hey Russell, could you give us info on whether you used on camera flash, any modifier on it, where it was aimed and what was the light source in the tent? This one puzzles me. </p>

<p>The light is too forward directional to be strictly bounced. The paper hanging to his right also show a reflection of a forward light source and the people behind him are also lit with the same forward light. The light is very soft which indicates a white soft box at a fairly close distance and by looking at the reflection of his sunglasses I would say it was a round light source. There is no reflection in the glasses of a bright illumination of the tents celling to indicate it was bounced.</p>

<p>Michael, the image file that the OP posted is big enough to zoom in on the sunglasses and see that the white "reflection" is indeed a sticker on the glasses. The glasses show no direct flash reflection, but they do reveal that the tent was at least partially illuminated by the flash.</p>

<p>See enlarged crop below. </p>

<p>I agree that the shadow outline from the guy's arm appears too soft to have been from a popup flash, but maybe not from a hotshoe gun with some sort of diffusing gizmo on it. Perhaps the flash was diffused by some hanging bunting or reflected off same..... only the OP knows for sure, and they don't seem to be telling.</p><div></div>

<p>I need new glasses. lol. </p>

<p>Sorry I haven't been able to reply... my day job has been keeping me too busy to allow for fun. Thanks for all the feedback on why it occurred and how to replicate it.<br>

Lex, I've got that article bookmarked - thanks!<br>

Rodeo Joe, I agree - since I'm a statistician during the day, having a drink lets me relax and capture a much better image<br>

Ellis, I'm actually in ATL also. I checked out your website - props for using a redhead girl as your first portrait slideshow! (I'm a redhead also)<br>

To answer the questions:<br>

* I was using a Canon T1i and Yonogo Speedlite (this is my cheap Craigslist beer festival setup... not taking the 5d3 to this type of shoot...)<br>

* Shot at 23mm, manual 1/100 f/5.6 ISO 200, Flash -2/3 TTL, standing about 5-8 feet away<br>

* I was using a Fong diffuser angled straight forward due to the distance<br>

* Yes, I was under a white tent<br>

* Yes, the sun was low<br>

* The sticker is due to the fact they were handing out free sunglasses and I doubt he even noticed</p>