laurenm Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Okay, a few have collaborated and come up with our next assignment. Open to all who wish to participate (email me if you wish to be on the reminder email list) The next three months of assignments will all be related to flash use. Hopefully, we'll get some of our favorite pros in here to help us learn :) but we will also learn by critiquing each other and by asking questions. No question is too dumb (I plan to ask a few myself). Assignment #2 to be turned in for critique and discussion by posting photos in your PN portfolio and providing a link here in this thread. Due on or before April 26th. Ideally, you will want to post once and then go out and work on your shots again, posting by the deadline. You should have 4 photos covering the following topics: 1)Basic outdoor fill shooting in the shade. 2)Extra flash comp when shooting on a sunny day, towards the sun. 3)Extra flash comp when shooting in the shade, where the background is sunny, and you want to balance the exposure of where you are shooting, to where the background is lit up. 4). Difficult lighting where the lighting is spotty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurenm Posted March 30, 2006 Author Share Posted March 30, 2006 Thanks Kari, Robbie, Chris, Aga and Steve for coming up with the assignment and Kari for listing the topics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kari douma Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 It is supposed to rain here tomorrow :( I'll have to try next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
think27 Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 Too bad the deadline is April 26... My first wedding is April 22 and I won't have scans by then... Outdoor lighting with flash is my expertise... I do have examples in my portfolio however, if anyone cares to check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kari douma Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 Oh Mary! I think you can still post past deadline. I would love to see your samples, with your info on how you did things. Pretty please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurenm Posted March 31, 2006 Author Share Posted March 31, 2006 Mary, definitely, PLEASE share with us whenever you get the scans! Your outdoor shots in your portfolio are just as gorgeous as the rest of your portfolio. We'd all love for you to share your results and techniques! Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
think27 Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 Why thanks ;-) I'll do that. - I'll email you to be on the reminder list.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicola inglis Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 I have to admit, I'm finding this challenging. Looking back over my recent work I realise this is not something I'm doing well and I'm relying on PS to compensate. This one is an exanmple of spotty light and it really bugs me. There was just no solid shade in the garden and I didn't do a great job. Mum was very happy but I'm not. Any advice about how to do better next time is appreciated.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kari douma Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 I see what you mean Nocola. This is the tricky lighting that I am talking about. I'm not sure what to tell you on what to do different, I'd be interested to see what the others say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kari douma Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 Nicola, Here is a post from about a year ago. There is some helpful info in it! There is an answer from Nadine that might help with the spoty lighting. It looks good, but would really take some practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kari douma Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 Sorry, here is the post. http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00BrD5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurenm Posted April 12, 2006 Author Share Posted April 12, 2006 Nicola, just by looking at the front girls dress, all I can say is it's overexposed? We need an expert here :( Maybe we can work on it if we know your settings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicola inglis Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 Shot on Nikon D70, in P mode (oh the shame of admitting it!). F 7.1 with 50mm lens. The flash (SB800) fired but I don't know how to find out what it was set to. I'm looking at the EXIF data and it says he exposure time was 10/2000, this is 1/200 right? As you can see I basically freaked a bit and didn't think things through. It was NOT a pro gig so don't flame me :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_schilling___chicago_ Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 A little bit of fill flash and you'd be in good shape...you would want your flash to power in at about the same, or a half stop less than your hot spots. A large reflector might be enuff to accomplish the same goal. As a general rule, foilage tends to gobble up light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikestryinagain Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 Well, in the post from Kari about the other thread with a lot of good info from Nadine, Marc, and others, there was a recent addition. Ill just post it in here, compliments of Brooks Short... "Over on the lighting forum, Bob Lawrence has a post about a lighting blog he's discovered. It's written by a newspaper photographer with the Baltimore Sun and it's about using small battery powered, portable flashes. There are some wonderful lighting techniques and photographs being discussed there. You can find it at www.strobist.blogspot.com Check it out when you get a chance" I did, and there are some interesting points contained there-in. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotografz Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 Nicola, first of all, wonderful shot of those little girls !! Full of life. No wonder the Mom was pleased. Sometimes we get so caught up in the technical aspects that we overlook the obvious ... a great shot that just needs a tweak or two. Since others will discuss selecting where you shoot and other preventative techniques, I thought I'd discuss some alternative ideas when faced with difficult lighting ... because sometimes there is no other place to shoot where the conditions will be ideal. As to the lighting, IF you have the opportunity (like when doing outdoor portraits), a simple scrim held off camera will diffuse the harder edged light and lower the need for flash. If you study the image you took, more fill flash wasn't the answer. The dress is almost blown out, and you already have drop shadows by the front girls' arm. A scrim is simply a frame with translucent material stretched over it. There are ones made that are on pop-open spring-metal frames that can be folded up to the size of a large Pizza. Very inexpensive. I carry one of those and a double sided spring-open Gold/Silver reflector in my car ... and have used them at weddings many times. Reflectors are also a wonderful alternative to flash, producing much nicer, more natural looking directional light. I took the liberty to tweak your image to simulate the effect a scrim would have on it. In addition, I softened the background to simulate what using a faster aperture could do ... although your lens is probably a 4.5 max aperture which may not produce shallow depth- of-field like I've simulated. But your use of "P" had the camera selecting f/7.1 ... which is the problem in using "P". Hope this helps, and again ... great shot.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotografz Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 Here's a recent portrait next to a large window with pretty direct sunlight ... where I used off camera flash to my right for fill, add a catch light to the eyes and edging on the lips. Plus used a scrim to diffuse the hard window light on the other side of her face. The result is a very 3D feel to the portrait, even though I used a long lens that usually flattens the perspective.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotografz Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 BTW, your monitor isn't off color ... her skin DOES have that ruddy-reddish cast to it ; -) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurenm Posted April 13, 2006 Author Share Posted April 13, 2006 Nice touch up Marc! and beautiful Portrait! I have an outdoor wedding coming up and was thinking of getting a scrim (didn't know what they were called), but not sure how to use it. I have held one once as an assistant and thought I was just blocking the sun with it, creating shade, but in your touched up sample, the shade and sun still show. Maybe there is an instructional video somewhere? What would a faster shutter speed (don't know what Nicola's was)and maybe 100 ISO instead of 200 have done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotografz Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 All that a scrim does is diffuse the light and keeps it natural looking. You'll still get lights and darks but they're softer edged ... like firing a strobe through a soft box. In effect it evens out the natural available light. Movie sets often feature ones the size of the side of a house to diffuse harsh light on a whole set. Using them is simple, but you do need either an assistant (the Mom in Nicolas' case ; -), or a stand. Just hold it up to shade the subject and watch the effect it has. You can hold it from the side on a 3/4 angle, or if the sun is directly overhead, hold it above the subject just out of camera view. No tutorial is really needed. B&H has them listed under : Lighting > Lighting Controls & Modifiers > Reflectors and accessories > Collapsible Reflectors ... The one I recommend is the 41" X 72" white translucent for $65. It can also be used as a bounce reflector. Further shopping will reveal one that provides 5 different changeable surfaces for $95. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill_clark___minnetonka_mi Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 Camera in manual mode. Used just a touch of fill flash to get the eyes dominant in the image. I found this to be a challenge because of the hat shadowing the eyes. Cute snapshot at a wedding last May.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurenm Posted April 13, 2006 Author Share Posted April 13, 2006 Thanks Marc! More "must haves" to spend money on! Would you say in the long run, I may want to be using the one with changeable surfaces? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprouty Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 I would like to humbly point out that Marc fixed that shot without spending a penny on new equipment. And in the process transformed an average shot into something beautiful. Well done Marc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elaine marie Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 Marc<P> How in the heck did you do that? Amazing.....<P>Elaine Marie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicola inglis Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 Wow, Marc that is awesome! I'm really pleased you suggest a scrim as I often have questions about whether flash is the answer to every situation. Fantastic job on my pic and thanks for the advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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