Tag Archives: featured

Photography

A simple yet fun motion study

Making a base exposure is important so you can decide on how long to keep your shutter open. I stopped down so that I could get at least a 10 second shutter speed at ISO 100. On my Canon 5 D Mark2, I can actually lower that to ISO 50 if I need to.
Making a base exposure is important so you can decide on how long to keep your shutter open. I stopped down so that I could get at least a 10 second shutter speed at ISO 100. On my Canon 5 D Mark2, I can actually lower that to ISO 50 if I need to.

 

Canon 5DM2 with the Vello Freewave Plus on the hotshoe. The receiver is plugged into the camera's N-3 port.
Canon 5DM2 with the Vello Freewave Plus on the hotshoe. The receiver is plugged into the camera’s N-3 port.

Remember those cheap radio remotes I bought for triggering my cameras?

In that post, I highlighted how they could be used for self-portraits a.k.a selfies.

There’s actually a better use.

So I took a drive with my tripod, the Canon 5DMarkII and my 17-35mm lens.

It’s important that you do this at dusk or early morning just before sunrise. Continue reading A simple yet fun motion study →

Gear

Creating an on-location 1940 Stylized portrait

I photographed Jodi Newton using 2 Speedlites inside Lake Alice Trading Co Saloon and Eatery in Riverside. The Speedlite behind her was set to give 1-stop more light than the Key light just to the right of the camera. Canon 5DMark2 with a 50mm lens. ISO 400 1/30sec f4.5
I photographed Jodi Newton using 2 Speedlites inside Lake Alice Trading Co Saloon and Eatery in Riverside. The Speedlite behind her was set to give 1-stop more light than the Key light just to the right of the camera. Canon 5DMark2 with a 50mm lens. ISO 400 1/30sec f4.5

I usually have the exposure mode on my cameras set to “Manual”.

Likewise when I use my strobes, Speedlites or flash units.

That doesn’t mean I  fight the technology especially when the results are consistent and predictable.

It’s always a good idea to learn how to work the Speedlites on power ratio or manual settings just in case E-TTL or iTTL goes berserk and no matter what you try, it’s unpredictable. Continue reading Creating an on-location 1940 Stylized portrait →

Gear

Wireless remotes for selfies

A selfie or self-portrait is how many of us prefer to express ourselves. Sure we can hand the camera off to someone else but no one knows best which is our good side or when to best trip the shutter.
A selfie or self-portrait is how many of us prefer to express ourselves. Sure we can hand the camera off to someone else but no one knows best which is our good side or when to best trip the shutter.

Now that the word ‘selfie’ is officially in the English dictionary, I guess we have to get serious about this genre.

For the purposes of this article, let’s just restrict our discussion of selfies to exclude those done in bathrooms.

I was going to use the phrase ‘privacy of bathrooms’ but isn’t it strange, some folks think nothing about going into bathrooms, locking the doors then taking riské pictures to post on social media? Continue reading Wireless remotes for selfies →

Tutorials

Overpowering and changing the mood of available light

Lizelle photographed by Steve Fetbrandt 1/250sec f4.5 55mm. Notice the background and how distraction abound because of the available light.
Lizelle photographed by Steve Fetbrandt 1/250sec f4.5 55mm. Notice the background and how distraction abound because of the available light. Notice the highlights? Those are from the sun on the right.

Overpowering our sun is a tall order even with the most powerful of studio strobes.

So to attempt that with small flash units or speedlites that run off 4AA batteries requires either the sun to be covered by clouds or one has to wait till the sun is past its most powerful noon hour.

In case there are those of you reading this wondering why is this desirable, the answer is for control.

One of the techniques I teach during my Small Flash Lighting workshop is how to change the mood and feel of a scene.

When relying strictly on available light to make pictures, you constantly have to find backgrounds that are not lit or backgrounds that are lit in such a way it is less subdued against your subject.

Remember,  in your scene, whatever isn’t lit is less of  a distraction.

For my pictures below which were taken  at about the same time as Steve’s, I made sure to use my longest focal length lens so I could blur out the backgrounds. (The longer the focal length, the shallower the depth-of-field)

Steve used 55m to 200 mm Nikon lens but set his lens at the 55 mm setting.

I picked up my 80-200 Canon zoom and set mine at 175mm. Continue reading Overpowering and changing the mood of available light →