pbjef

<p>I have an 18% gray card for pre-setting white balance. Its a thick piece of cardboard. I've seen people use a white sheet of copy paper, a device they attach to the front of the lens and even a thick sheet of toilet paper. Of all of these is any better than the other?</p>

<p>That's interesting. Thank you. I have a cheap 18-55mm that came with my camera that I'll try to get some of this effect on 28mm. It reminds me of reading the newspaper when I was a kid. I like this photographer's perspective on the images. Problem with that lens I have is that the DOF is not very shallow. You know, came with the body.</p>

<p>I'm really curious about news photography. Specifically, the types of lenses used. I've noticed something about newspaper pictures that I just can't quite put my finger on. There's a slight, and I mean slight, hint that a lot of pictures use an ALMOST wide angle lens. Not a super wide, but just wide enough to get a little distortion. </p>

<p>If you look at the picture of the woman on the bed in this group of photos:</p>

<p>http://www.davidhphotography.com/blog/2010/02/portraits-of-mom-and-dad-decatur-alabama-portrait-photographer/</p>

<p>You see this slight wide angle.</p>

<p>Do newspaper photographers use wider angle lenses? When I was a kid I saw images very similar to this in feature stories. It seems this look is very typical. And I know this photographer used to be a photographer for a newspaper. </p>

<p>Can anyone shed some light on this for me please?</p>

<p>Thanks,</p>

<p>Jef</p>

<p>PS - I like the look. </p>

<p>I'm going to say it's two things. Shallow depth of field and slow shutter speed. 1/25th is kind of slow for shooting a moving kid. If it was me I would go to like f2.8 or 3.2 or a tad higher or try shooting at a higher shutter speed. Like Royal said, always a tradeoff.</p>

<p>Ok,</p>

<p>Model 5 ft away, want light to end 7 ft away. One flash 45 degrees to camera left, 2:00 PM summer light, want to choke off as much ambient as possible. Lens is 50mm. Shooting model straight on. Want cave light so I have to bump up shutter to maybe 1/1200 and open aperture up to F5 to allow only flash. Flash is set to 25mm and full power.</p>

<p>Now ... where with the light fall off? Can you give a mathematical example of the square distance you talked about?</p>

<p>Hi Elizabeth,<br>

Not sure it's been covered, but maybe shooting at a higher ISO will get you more light in a dark situation. If you shoot at full power all the time or let the flash use it's electronic brain in a dark room it's probably going to think it needs more light. I say go to manual and open up the aperture and shutter. You can open the aperture and shoot on manual flash and use less light, and that gives you faster recycle times. lightenupandshoot.com has some really good video explanations about this.<br>

It also depends on what you are shooting. If it's across the room maybe zoom the flash to 85mm or something like that or put something on the flash to focus the light at a specific area.<br>

Lots of battery talk, but not a lot of talk about camera settings.<br>

Just trying to help.</p>

<p>I have been reading a little bit about how the flash will "fall off", but I can't find any kind of rule of thumb regarding this.<br>

Let's say my subject is 5 feet away and I want the light to fall off at 7 feet. What elements control how the light stops after the subject? Aperture controls flash, with a higher aperture limiting the flash, but I'm not sure.<br>

Anyone?</p>

<p>It's really interesting to hear how people used to shoot and the equipment that was available. I can't imagine the raw skill these guys had. Must have been amazing. It would explain why so many shot at a beach mid-day! Simply fascinating.</p>

<p>That's a good point on the fstop. I'm guessing as close to f22 as possible. That goes along with the fact that flash was pretty harsh if they used it and fstop would cut when closed down and give clarity.</p>

<p>I usually go for things no one else is doing. For example, everyone does motorcycles and lingerie, well switch it up. Put a preacher or senior citizen on a Harley ( no lingerie ). Try doing kids in Adult type clothes or stuff like that. Take a 6 year old and make him look like he's at a construction site.<br>

I guess I take the normal, and then make it unusual as a formula. I don't want to do what everyone has shot. And I'm not good enough to duplicate it in a good enough way to make it work. So ... go after your own ideas.<br>

Jef</p>

<p>Thanks Hal, that's what I got as well. Wasn't sure if I was on track or not. My other option was to do some research on it to see what photographer's used to maybe simulate it. Found this thread.</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00Gkzu</p>

<p>Really interesting. Sounds like flashes were bulb (tungsten) and format was large and the prints were a special paper. And the shot was taken from waist level.</p>

<p>I'll definitely try for more diffused light.</p>

<p>Yes, Alvardo is VERY good. He has it down. Just not sure about the lighting and it's characteristic. What did photographers from the 40's and 50's have at their disposal?</p>

<p>I'm going to revive a thread on lighting for pinup. I'm just not getting the results I want. Part of it is the models I choose, part of it is the setup.<br>

The best I can tell from this video</p>

<p>

<p>They use 2 huge soft boxes, and a ring light. But beyond that, I'm not really sure what the best method to light for pinup is. Does anyone have a light setup they can suggest?</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Thanks Rob! I'm on my way! Found this on Strobist that will extend the length. Obviously I have no problems making cable. Used to do that in a former job.</p>

<p>You've been SUPER helpful!</p>

<p>http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/04/lighting-101-build-pro-pc-cord-pt-2.html</p>

<p>Would a PC sync cable do the same thing? Is that the equivalent to a dumb cable that would not allow TTL?</p>

<p>Wow Rob! Thanks. Now I just have to figure out how to fool my D50. I'm currently using an SC17 cable to connect the flash. I've modified it to extend it to use a Cat 5e network cable to extend the length. I'm also shooting on manual for both, but the shutter speed won't wheel past 1/500th. I'm guessing this is what they mean by "neutering" the SC17 cable?</p>

<p>Sorry, I'm slow on the uptake. I think my best option is another flash and syncing them together. Getting maybe a a couple of SB 28's might be my best option and then I can mount them together. with velcro or something. It's it's all about overpowering the sun, then more flash could do that.<br>

Thanks for the encouragement Bob. This is the only place I rub elbows with photographers.<br>

I can rent a flash or two and give some things a try on a weekend. Should be promising if all I need is more light.<br>

I appreciate all the conversation. It really helps.</p>

<p>It's a shame it comes down to that but you are right. I hate giving up on it. We've been talking about the equipment variables, but I think the only way to do it with given equipment is to shoot later in the day or earlier in the morning. I won't be able to squeeze it out. Math is math. And he did spell it out.<br>

Does anyone do this with lower end equipment? Or is the price for dramatic light the cost of a nice Nikon body?</p>

<p>The shot above was made with the equipment described at 3:00 PM in Texas with no clouds. I almost got it. So I'm thinking even though my camera is on the low end with my flash, later in the day or farther in the northern hemisphere it may be possible or more probable. I shot at 4 PM on Saturday ( days are longer ) and didn't get close.</p>

 

<p>Obviously my polarizing filter response was poorly timed.</p>

<p>What about a polarizing filter?</p>

<p>I agree the glass is the way to go. I get much better clarity out of my prime 50mm lens. I hate not having a zoom, but I am getting used to it.<br>

If you want to do something in Photoshop, you can use the High Pass filter ( and use the Multiply setting ). This will clear it a little. ( careful not quite safe for work, but a really good explanation. http://www.better-boudoir-photography.com/photoshop-tips-high-pass-filter.html )<br>

The other thing you can do is play with Curves. I didn't catch on to this until recently, but lowering the RGB curve to make it a little darker makes the colors a little punchier. This is a great tutorial on that. It helps with the clarity.<br>

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/photoshop-curves.htm<br>

I'm beginning to believe that clarity and color come more from what you do before you squeeze the shutter release. But Photoshop helps!<br>

And Kathryn is right a tripod or unipod will do wonders.<br>

I hope this helped.</p>

<p>Jef</p>

<p>I've been reading a lot lately about Zack Arias' "One Light" technique using one strobe and controlling the ambient and flash to get a specific effect. Ambient = shutter speed, Aperture = flash. I get that part and I've been semi-successful on a couple of occasions, but not really successful.<br>

There have also been some conversations about it not mattering what time you shoot because you can turn day into night and I've seen some examples, but I'm not getting that effect either.<br>

I shoot with a Nikon D50 that has a max sync speed of 1/500th. Looking at other more recent cameras like the D90 or D300 I notice the sync speed is actually lower like 1/250th of a second.<br>

If I truly want to turn the day to night, I must be missing something, and not controlling some part of the light.<br>

See this link (http://www.zarias.com/?p=621)</p>

<p>I'm really wondering if I can get this effect using a D50 and an SB 600. On a small scale I can get close shooting within feet of my kid's baby doll and bouncing against white foam core. Expanding it out to larger subjects isn't working.</p>

<p>What am I missing?</p><div></div>

<p>I think what I'm getting at is more toward beginning photographers. Let's say they have only shot one client. If you post just that one client people think, "Wow, they haven't done much work," but if you don't people say, "Well, you don't have anything I can see."</p>

<p>I have a question concerning portfolios and what kind of images to put in. Let's say I'm am wanting to start doing photographs of widgets. I have only shot one widget but there seems to be a high demand for photographing widgets. Since I just started should I fill my portfolio with pictures of my ONE widget I've shot? This looks bad, but if I don't post pictures of my widget I shot, no one will know I shoot widgets. It's kind of a catch 22.</p>

<p> </p>