Tag Archives: lighting

Photography

Tiki artist David Schultz

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David Shultz with a background in animation works on wood carvings and Tikis these days. Canon 40D 50 mm 1/320 sec @f5.6

Local Riverside artist David Shultz loves all manner of art but what appears closest to his heart is working with wood especially Tikis.

A chance meeting with Dave at our favorite local coffee house led me to visit and spend an hour with him at his home recently.

Dave uses palm fronds he finds and makes some exquisite work from them.
Dave uses palm fronds he finds and makes some exquisite work from them.

There’s no mistaking how serious he takes his art.

On his front yard stands his thatched roof workshop.

He proudly tells me the his ‘shop’ has few metal parts.

The entire structure is held together by wooden dowels and glue. Continue reading Tiki artist David Schultz →

Photography

Finding the light and using what’s there

Caitlin lit by window light on the right. A Speedlight set on manual power @ 1/32th power to create separation and just enough to accent her cheek on the left.

One of the more difficult skills to pick up is finding the light in any location and making it work for you.

Along with learning how to relax/distract your subject so that they aren’t so self-conscious, this skill, finding the light, doesn’t just happen overnight.

Books and mentors can only show you so much.

You won’t get it until you play with own light equipment and photographing in various locations.

Why various locations?

By trying different locations, it forces you to look and evaluate where the light is.

For my picture Caitlin taken during a demo for Small Flash Lighting, I kept things simple using one Speedlight off-camera.

The main light was a huge west-facing window and it was about 10am so the sun wasn’t shinning directly inside yet. Continue reading Finding the light and using what’s there →

Photography

Scout locations for more interesting portraits

Austin, recruited to be our model, posed with a surfboard. A snooted Speedlight on the left completed this image

Locations account for a lot of the feel and mood of a portrait.

That’s why time spent location scouting is always worthwhile.

I keep a digital notebook/ folder on my computer of images filled with promising or  interesting locations.

Within this folder are images I capture with my cellphone when I’m out and about.

I usually grab a picture of the closest road sign showing the intersection so I can retrace my steps and find the place again months or years later.

I usually include some notes like “picture taken facing north etc”  and where the sun might be in the evening or morning.

With the internet, Google’s Street View and Google Earth, location scouting has become a lot easier.

The downside?

Choice places to shoot are fast becoming crowded or harder to find.

Does that mean you ought to keep some of these places secret? Continue reading Scout locations for more interesting portraits →

Tutorials

Using daylight one flash for a different mood

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Wendy Mayberry's picture taken at about mid-morning looks like it was taken at dusk because she was able to use one Speedlight using a shutter speed of 1/800 sec f5.6 ISO 100 Canon 60D 35mm setting on 18-200 zoom. I added more warmth in the color in post production to create the illusion that the picture was taken at dusk.

Rainy or cold weather should never discourage photographers from leaving the house.

Some of the more unusual and interesting pictures happen when the sun is not dominant in the heavens.

Landscapes have a different feel when clouds appear in the sky.

Compare the picture that Wendy took with what the scene was like in the picture on the left. Her models brought a change of outfits which made her pictures even better.

As with my previous field trips, weather threatened the field trip for my Digital Wedding Photography class. Continue reading Using daylight one flash for a different mood →