my stuff

<p>I am sorry to say, that I will no longer be posting my Instructional Lighting Techniques on Photo.net. Removing the link to my blog is totally unacceptable.<br>

Thx<br>

Ben</p>

<p>Continuous vs Flash Lighting and Everything in Between…Part 6<br /> <br /> In this section, we will discuss the importance of scale. In the last sentence of Part 5 I said "that there might be some additional lighting that you wish to introduce, especially in very wide angle shots for this scenario." What I mean by that is, in order for a viewer to discern changes in contrast, highlight and shadow in an image there must be sufficient information to do so. As a result you must consider this when lighting the scene. A little light goes a long way when next to a very dark and shadowy segment of an image. Contrasting elements make an image interesting and to this end I suggest you either add or remove modifiers selectively to make the image more varied and interesting. As you come in closer to the model or object you are shooting, all of the surrounding elements become obscured thus rendering a totally different ambiance to the image. If you are going to come in close and still wish to capture the drama of a pulled back photo, you will have to re-light the image for that composition.<br /> <br /> This is where much smaller modifiers come in to play. I suggest you cut some cardboard squares of around 3, 6 and 9 inches. These modifiers can be white satin or brilliant paper. As in a Still Life image you can now bounce the light off of the flash in to sections of the image that fall with in the framing you have decided on. These can be held by an assistant or attached to stands.<br /> <br /> Start to take test images and adjust for your desired outcome. Move the reflectors closer for less coverage and further back for more. I also suggest playing with the output of the flash to view the differences between the fore and background ratio.<br /> <br /> You may also consider bouncing light off of the tungsten light bulbs. If you are concerned about the colour balance, I suggest purchasing a sheet of "Full Blue" gelatine and cut a small square to cover the light bulb. Make sure you attach it t least three inches from the bulb to avoid burning the gelatine. If you do this you will loose about a stop of light. In this case augment the power of the bulb to about 100-150 watts.<br /> <br /> In Part 7, I will discuss a more complex lighting set up for the same setting.<br /><div></div>

<p>I shot it with the Pentax 12-24 f4.0 lens.</p>

<p>A sample from todays shoot..not retouched just manipulated.<br /> <br /> Ben</p><div></div>

<p>Continuous vs Flash Lighting and Everything in Between Pt 5<br /> <br /> In Part 4,we were left facing the subject, we had tested the light and had to determine the difference between the foreground and background intensity. That was a very personal decision. You also had to decide how much of the principal subject was going to be lit. <br /> <br /> Now that you have done your test shots and are satisfied with how it looks, you can commence shooting with this very simple lighting set up. The first thing to consider is, how will the focal length change the overall look of the image and to this end I highly recommend using a wide to medium telephoto zoom. The reason I say this is that the closer you come in to the image the less intense the contrast will appear between the foreground and the background. It is for this reason, that I want you to experiment with a 16,17,18 to 45,50,70 lens. This is much more dramatic than you can imagine using this lighting technique.<br /> <br /> In the last segment I also mentioned considering a different approach and this has been one of the very seminal moments of illumination for me in my 25+ years in photography and that is "Always break away from your assumed position and orientation, without changing the lighting of the principal person or object..." This approach has always given me some of my best images. In other words, when you have set up the lights for a particular orientation i.e. you are here and she is there, start to move away from that position and start to rotate around the subject having them follow you with a slight change of the head position and eye orientation, then gradually having them follow your movement or moving against your movement. Lay on the floor, or stand up on a cube, or come in really really tight or pull back really far and place her at the bottom right quadrant of the image, taking up only 20 percent of the surface area.<br /> <br /> As you start to do this you may find that there might be some additional lighting that you wish to introduce, especially in very wide angle shots for this scenario.<br /> <br /> We shall get in to more detail in Part 6<div></div>

<p>Light is a very fickle entity. Why do I say that? Because light can play many tricks on us and is often elusive in it's ethereal state. It has many frequencies and understanding those wave lengths might help us understand the grand palette of nuances available that we can play with. Now to add to the different color temperatures (frequency) we have another element that is a very important part of the equation and that is duration. Light is always present, even in the darkest of nights. That is where duration or time comes in to play.<br /> <br /> I love playing with light, especially when I can compose with it, rather than nature imposing it on to my environment. Not that I do not love natural light and all that can be accomplished with it, but I believe my forte is creating light from scratch and designing my work with brush strokes, splats, washes and fine details.<br /> <br /> I also love to mix and match different frequencies (color temperatures), durations and light sources.<br /> <br /> We need to start by attempting to grasp how light from different sources, durations, color temperatures and light sources have an effect on your final images. "Light is a very powerful spice and should be used sparingly." Is my motto. Use it sparingly and it can bring some very powerful elements to light, (no pun intended) in to your imagery. Now when I say sparingly, I don't necessarily mean that you cannot splash it all over the place, especially if that is your intent. Of course you may, but be sure you know why and what the outcome will be.<br /> <br /> Your camera can capture a multiplicity of frequencies and nuances. What the camera does not know is what you the "Composer" is attempting to accomplish and thus, generally can only deliver predictable results.<br /> <br /> So to end this Part 1 of this theme, I suggest you start to look at light of all sources and see how those sources are intermingling with the environment. In the meanwhile, I suggest you prepare a couple of lamps with 60 watt light bulbs, a single flash unit, a few cardboard squares of about 35cm, some white paper, black paper and some aluminum foil. You may however imagine anything you wish, until the next episode.<br /> <br /> <strong>Continuous vs Flash Lighting and Everything in Between...Part 2</strong> <br /> <br /> In Part 1, I asked that you prepare a couple of 60 watt light bulbs a flash (off camera is preferable) some modifiers i.e. cardboard squares, black paper, and aluminum foil. I will now add a few more elements to this and that is a couple of empty cans, (make sure you open both ends). You can use different sizes. The more the merrier. A couple of metal coat hangers that you usually get from the dry cleaners. a few clothes clips for hanging out clothes to dry, or better yet a few clamps. Any stand that you have lying around as well. A few would be better.<br /> Some construction gloves (NOT RUBBER) light bulbs are hot! Oh we don't want to forget the box cutter and gaffers tape.<br /> <br /> Now the reason for these elements have more to do with experimenting with the absence or abundance of light that will be created by you during this first preliminary exercise.<br /> <br /> Here is where the fun begins. You must please understand, that there are NO hard fast rules about lighting and the more open you are to experimentation, the more original your set up will become.<br /> <br /> Here goes. You find a way to clamp your lamp to a stand. You might consider a cheap lamp with the standard metal shade like one of those old reading lamps for example. Or one of those clip on types. NOT PLASTIC PLEASE!!!<br /> <br /> Take a couple of those metal hangers and force the shape in to a square, leaving the rounded part to be used to attach to a stand. You may need to adjust this segment of the hanger accordingly. Tape the white paper to the hanger. The hanger acts as the skeleton support for the paper. You will be using this paper as either a reflector or to shoot your light through it. I suggest find different types of paper as well. Some more transparent than others. Now it is time to prepare the black sheets of paper. It can be cardboard the larger the better. Find a way to support these sheets to a stand. You might build a frame out of a wire hanger or "What Ever..."<br /> <br /> If any of you have a light/flash meter, that might also be useful, but not imperative. I suggest that you are in an environment, where you can darken or partially darken the space you are in. It can be done in a space that is exposed to daylight, but it is more problematic as highlighted by the Steve Jacob article <br /> <br /> Now that you have all of these elements you might ask, "What next?..." You can do one of two things at this point. You can use your imagination, or wait for Part 3.<br /> <br /> I would love that you do the later, but that is your choice.<br /> <br /> Have Fun!<br /> <br /> ?p=485</a> <br /> <br /> <br /> <strong>Continuous vs Flash Lighting and Everything in Between Part 3</strong> <br /> <br /> Now that you have put together some of the tools required for this first exercise, let’s do the following. Take one of the tin cans and slightly flatten one end of it so it looks more like a cats eye and place the rounded side of it over the head of the flash, making sure you don’t obscure the sensor. We can now name this coke can or what ever a “Snoot”. The longer this “Snoot” the more concentrated and pointed the light will be in a given area that you choose. Now there is a problem here. As there is no pilot light, it will be difficult to see where it is hitting. You can do a couple of things here. My favorite is, I squint my eyes and do a test flash. By squinting I can see where the flash is hitting with greater accuracy. The other option is by taking several test shots and reviewing where the light is directed. The closer to the subject the more concentrated your light will be. Find someone who would like to sit as your subject. If you wish to do a still life that will also work. Oh, one thing, I prefer that the flash is off camera and attached via a synch cable to your camera or to a synch cable adapter that will attach to the hot shoe of your camera. You will find a way of attaching the flash to one of your stands.<br /> <br /> If you have a flash/light meter take a reading of the flash output. 1/4 power might be a good starting point, placing the flash head about 1.5 to 2 meters from the subject. If you don’t have a meter. Set up your camera in “M” mode and find a starting point of let’s say, f5.6 at 1/30 second at 100 iso. If it is too bright adjust accordingly i.e f8.0 etc. One more thing. If your snoot is casting too much light, you can always place another tin can over the can being used to make it longer. You now have the primary light. We will discuss this further in a moment. Do you have a plant or a cool sculpture or cool object lying around? This will be your secondary layer in the image. Take one of your 60-100 watt light bulb with metal clip and place another “Snoot” over it, before turning on of course. This is where the “Construction Gloves” come in to play. I don’t want you burning yourself. Once the “Snoot” has been well placed over the light and it should be at least 20 cm long (8″), place the plant or object out of the planned crop of the image i.e. to the left or right of where the subject is, but NOT seen in the view finder. Aim the light at the plant or object and cast a shadow on to the back wall. Experiment with where you wish to cast the shadow. Remember those black cardboard sheets we talked about? You will want two for this exercise. Place one on either side of your subject, but out of view in your view finder. We can call these “Scrim’s”. These will block the flash light from hitting the background and ruining the effect of the shadow cast by the secondary light.<br /> <br /> Now let’s get back to the principal light i.e. the flash head. You might want to light the subject selectively by moving the flash closer to illuminate the upper half of the body and let it fall off to the lower half. It’s your choice. Now that you have set up the two lights, it is time to do some metering. In “M" mode read what you are getting on the secondary object. Let’s say it is f5.6 at 1/15th of a second. Now read the wall where the secondary light is hitting. Don’t read the shadow! This might be f2.0 at 1/15th of a second. Now that you have this info, it is time to adjust the principal flash hitting the main subject. This becomes a creative decision. Why, because it now becomes a proportionate lighting exercise where the more light that hits the main subject, the darker the background. Let’s try f8.0 on the subject (this is just a starting point). Ok, you have f2.0 on the back wall, f5.6 on the object casting the shadow and f8.0 on the subject. Set your shutter speed at 1/15th of a second at f8.0 and start to take some test images. If the background is too dark for your taste, reduce the flash output to f5.6 etc… You can try 1/4 to 1/60th of a second and everything in between.<br /> <br /> Play with this for a while until you are satisfied with the outcome.<br /> <br /> I will go further in Part 4<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <strong>Continuous vs Flash Lighting and Everything in Between…Part 4</strong> <br /> <br /> Now that you have your light set up for the model and the reflection of the object on the back ground, it is time to determine the ambiance your wish to create. If you are looking for a more "Cinema Noir" look you may wish to isolate the foreground from the background by increasing the out put of the flash on the subject and letting the background go darker by another 1 to 2 stops. But this may also pose other problems that I call "light bleed". The spread of light throughout the space by virtue of light bouncing off of surfaces around the space. What I suggest you do here might be the following. Take some aluminum foil and form it in to a conical shape to reduce the size of the area that the light will cover. If you have thin sheet metal, this might prove to be more controllable, as you can adjust the circumference of the opening to your taste. Another approach is to take a piece of aluminum foil and place it on the front of the can facing the model and poke 10-20 pen "Bic" pen width holes in to it to produce "specular" light. This will of course reduce the flash output considerable and as a result you may wish to augment the shutter speed to compensate the how this will effect the proportion between the foreground and background.<br /> <br /> It is very important that you do not spill too much light on to the back ground, as it will negate much of the shadow produced by the background light being cast on the wall. For this I suggest several possibilities. One, is to raise the light about three feet above the subject and shooting down at around 60 degrees. This may work well, if the wall is at least 5 meters behind the subject. I love side lighting and although not always becoming to the model, it does add a very mysterious feel to the image and gives the background more drama, as there is very little light bleed from the principal light source. You may wish to introduce a lamp in to the composition to act as the "Faux" source of the light casting the shadow on to the wall. Very Hitchcock looking. <br /> <br /> One of the most important parts of a shoot is keeping open to the possibilities when shooting a subject. Now even though you set up the lights to be in a certain position, based on the fact that you will be shooting from the opposing position, I would also suggest considering another approach as well, which I will discuss in the next segment of this series.<br /> <br /> I will see you for part 5 shortly. Got to prepare for two major shoots, so pardon this short episode.<br /> <br /> <div></div>

<p>I have a Tamron 500mm SPll B lens the newer of the two versions and it is a very sharp and capable lens. Probably one of the best made "Cat" lenses manufactured. I found it "like new" in a camera store. I had one in the 80's and wanted to get it again. I suggest the Tamron, Sigma and Tokina versions only. Sony have re-branded the Minolta and is the only Auto focus "Cat" lens out there.</p>

<p>I think it is loading faster now.</p>

<p>Thanks<br>

Ben :-)</p>

<p>Hello All;<br /> <br /> I have just posted my first blog ever. It is very recent, i.e. today and yesterday. It will be a general, photography, advertising, marketing and creative blog, that will NOT be brand related.<br /> <br /> Please feel free to contribute comments etc.<br /> <br /> Thanks<br /> Ben<br /> <br /> http://benjaminkanarekblog.com</p>

<p>I have a feeling that Hoya/Samsung are working on a new sensor that will cram in 17+ megapixels or so in to an APS model that will replace the K20D with better noise figures than their 14.6 meg model. As to FF, I am not sure that Pentax will enter these waters until they are in a position to supply an arsenal of lenses worthy of a top end 35mm format flagship model. We already know that the 645D will be a reality in the not so far future and the price might just compete with the likes of Nikon and Canon's high end models.</p>

<p>The above sample is with the Pentax DA 12-24 f4.0 lens on the K10D body.</p>

<p>I own the Pentax 12-24 lens and I personally would not purchase the 15mm for that reason. The 12-24 is sharp right from f4.0 to f16.0 and brutally sharp at f5.6-8.0. If the 15mm was a 2.8, I would consider it, but I think that the 12-24 is actually sharper than the 15mm which I tested several weeks ago on my K20D's.</p>

<p>Video shot with a pro team using a Sony Pro Video Camera...</p>

<p>Yeah...It really IS a Pentax ;-)</p>

<p>The official VIDEO with actress Vahina GIOCANTE for Spring Magazine shot with the K20D...and you can actually see the camera, just in case you thought I shot this with a Canon 1Ds Mklll!. Oh and me the Bald Headed Fart. <img title="Wink" src="http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/images/smilies/wink.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Wink" /><br>

http://www.spring-paris.com</p><div></div>

<p>Being that you have two zooms, I would suggest the Pentax 50mm f1.4lens which would be a 75mm on the K10D. Perfect for portraits.</p>

<p>Even though I did not buy my K20D's, I have no regrets using them. Fine tools for what I do...</p><div></div>

<p>The French have a pretty good command of the English language, especially in the larger cities.</p>

<p>Seems to focus a bit faster as well. Could be a placebo effect but...</p>

<p>Seems to focus a bit faster as well. Could be a placebo effect but...</p>

<p>Gorgeously rich image...Congrats!</p>

<p>Ben :-)</p>

<p>Keep your lenses Justin.. ;-)</p>

<p>When I was sponsored by Canon, I used the Canon 1Ds mkll for an Ad Campaign for EDF "Electricity France" I posted the output of the Canon comparred to the K20D both at 100 iso and the K20D out resolved the Canon and had a much cleaner output.</p>

<p>Ben</p>

<p>Very impressive work al around..Pentax users seem to have an uncanny talent with composition and the understanding of theme...</p>

<p>Bravo and Well Done!</p>

<p>Ben :-)</p>

<p>Yes..subtracting the Adverts... :-)</p>