Tag Archive for: technique

TIP : don’t fear the sun

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A lot of people are somehow afraid to shoot straight into the sun….
Well I agree that there is a lot of talk online that it can fry your sensor but in all honesty if that was really true….well my sensors would have all been fried, just be smart and don’t look at the sun too long and keep the exposure time to your sensor limited, because… well it is a lot of light that is aimed at your sensor via a lens so don’t keep it on a tripod for an hour (just saying).

As soon as you overcome that “fear” of shooting into the sun a lot of cool options open up.
The shot you see in the opening post was done during a workshop with my DxO one connected to my iPhone, I choose a low angle because of the background (our studio).

So you do you meter something like this.
Here it’s important to understand the dynamic range of your camera a bit.
Especially knowing how much you can get back from both the highlights and shadows.
Always make sure you get enough detail in your models face, so don’t underexpose too much, but also don’t expose correctly for the model… and there are 2 reasons for this.

 

  1. If you expose your model correctly the background will be almost pure white due to the high brightness of the sun/sky. Also the model will look glued on the background, so always make sure the model is slightly underexposed which will make the shot look much more natural. This same tips also goes for sunsets, always make sure you underexpose your model slightly when using strobes (and light from the side) this way the model looks more natural in the scene.
  2. If you underexpose your model to the “max” of your dynamic range you can still raise the shadows/midtones in your RAW convertor enough to get the detail/exposure on your model that you want, the extra advantage is that with the highlights slider you can lower the brightness of the sky a lot more simply because it’s still in your dynamic range.

 

Planning a shot and knowing the limits of your gear is incredibly important when you like to be on the edge of lighting.
In most cases I’ll shoot as perfect as possible in camera, but when you know there is a lot of backlighting and you don’t use a reflector or strobe (like in this case) it’s always good to know these limits because now you know how much you can underexpose to “save” as much as possible from the sky, and actually almost mimic the use of a reflector or strobe.

Now don’t be afraid of noise/grain in you’ll probably shoot these kind of shots on ISO100 and often you will open up a max of 2-3 stops so in essence you’re shooting on 400-800 max for the model and with modern day cameras that is no problem at all.

So the next time you’re shooting on location try a few shots with just this technique (so no strobes or reflectors) you’ll see what your camera can do, plus it will help you in situations where you have no choice….

 

Want more in depth tips and techniques?
Check out my book “Mastering the model shoot” or one of the many instructional videos via this site (see the menu on the left).

 

Lens flare control can be very easy

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Light is the language of photography.
Learning to understand and control lighting is in my opinion vital for a photographer, in essence you should be able to take a good shot in almost any situation. That’s also why in my workshops and instructional videos I always give a lot of attention to the more “cool” lighting tricks you can pull off when you are able to manipulate your light.

 
In this blogpost a very simple tip, but a very powerful one.
If you shoot with strong backlight there is a huge chance on lens flare, and although some think that is a bad thing, I actually love to play with it and also love the effect it has in a photo like this.

 

Now as you can see I show you two images, one with lens flare and one without… how did I do this?
It’s actually very simple.

 

Your lens hood has a certain “reach” and sometimes that’s just not enough to take away the lens flare if you want it out of the shot, the solution is however very simple… just use your hand to block off the lens flare, hold your hand above the lens hood and move it forward until (in the viewfinder) you see the lens flare go away. You can even spread your fingers and play with some cool effects 😀

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Sharon in a small space

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One of the workshops I teach is actually called “Small spaces”
Loads of photographers “complain” about their studio being too small, and of course this is possible, but in my opinion there is always an interesting shot to get.

 

You might not be able to make a model jump (although that could be funny, and painful) but there is always a option. So this workshop is all about working in tight spaces and this means smaller modifiers (often just a beauty dish) with grids to make sure the light hits only the places you want it to, and of course we have to adjust the models poses a bit.
Remember also that tight/small spaces can actually be incredibly cool if you let your model pose with them, for example lean in between two walls, make her look “locked up” etc. when you come to think about it shooting in small spaces can be much more interesting than shooting in wide open spaces 😀

 

Today some images from this workshop with Sharon.

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As you can see sometimes you have to think outside the box… but in the case of small spaces it can help to think inside the box 😀

 

If you like these kind of tips make sure to check out my book “Mastering the model shoot” or get one of the instructional videos from this website.

Zoom in

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There’s always this discussion about using zoom lenses vs primes.
LOADS of photographers will tell you that primes are much better… and well I agree they are.
But still I’m a zoom lens person.
I know primes are sharper and often a bit faster (or a lot faster, meaning wider aperture) but to be honest in the studio I always shoot between f4-f22 so most of my lenses are razor sharp in that area, but even if they would be slightly less sharp then my primes I still prefer the variety of looks I can get from my zooms.

 

Always remember that shooting an image on 50mm and walking towards your model or moving away will be different that shooting from the same location with a 24-70, with the zoom lens you are much faster and if you want a close up you actually compress the scene much more than when walking towards the model with a 50mm (for example).

 

In a photoshoot I would like to have to most options possible and I love to switch fast so for me a zoom is always a good thing. Combine this by walking around your model during the shoot and you can not only get different looks from your composition/compression but also by the light, because if you shoot under aimed lights (like in the studio) the difference can be incredible.

Do you remember the light snake images ?
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Here we used the same set and I zoomed in a lot more to use the set in a completely different way, but also included some of the red strobe in the back for a completely different look.

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And a few more with different styling and without the red spot.

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If you like these kind of tips make sure to check out my book “Mastering the model shoot” or get one of the instructional videos from this website.