Tag Archives: lighting

Gear

Bargain flash Yongnuo YN-568

I’m always on the lookout for ways to get the most bang for the buck since many of my students are on a very tight budget.

I’m always helping them figure out ways to get a photo shot without buying unnecessary equipment.

Whether it is recommending they buy a bulk film loader and loading their own film, using a car’s sun shield as a reflector, or making their own beauty dish, I’m emphasizing this: the more they’re out there shooting, the faster they’ll progress and improve.

Figuring out workarounds is problem solving.

A good part of photography is just that, once you get past the basics of depth-of-field, exposure and basic lighting.

Nikon, Canon and other Speedlights or flash units are fancy and chockful of bells and whistles but they cost a lot.

That’s why I’ve been telling my students about Yongnuo. Continue reading Bargain flash Yongnuo YN-568 →

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 →

Advice, Tutorials

Tips for better group photos

Professional belly dancer Hadia Habibi needed some pictures with her Al Nar Bellydance Ensemble.
Professional belly dancer Hadia Habibi needed some pictures with her Al Nar Bellydance Ensemble.

Group photos tend to be documentary in nature i.e their primary purpose is to record who was present at some place and time.

For that reason, I take a quick group photo with my point-and-shoot camera as an attendance record whenever I’m teaching. It cures the most camera shy instantly.

What if you are aspire for your group photo to be better? To get past the mentality of lining up everyone up against the wall? Continue reading Tips for better group photos →

Gear

Canon 600EX-RT with Canon 40D & Canon 5DMark2

Though Canon says you will need a camera body made in 2011 for High Shutter Speed Sync, my tests show older camera bodies will work in this mode.
Though Canon says you will need a camera body made in 2011 for High Shutter Speed Sync, my tests show older camera bodies will work in this mode. Above is the display of the ST-E3-RT that is attached to the hotshoe.  I set shutter speed to 1/8000 sec and shot off a frame. The resulting frame looked under exposed but was in sync meaning the entire frame was exposed. I suspect in that mode, I will have to go into my E-TTL setting and add more light selecting “+2” or even “+3” to compensate for the light loss or else switch to Manual mode and increase the power ratio.

High shutter speed sync is the mode that many photographers using Speedlites rave about but in practice its applications even with the latest greatest Canon bodies is limited.

It’s a very pricey feature because you have to buy the top-of-the-line Speedlite. Continue reading Canon 600EX-RT with Canon 40D & Canon 5DMark2 →