Tag Archives: location

Photography

Using the Sun and one Speedlight

Cavannah Richardson, lit beautifully with one Speedlite fitted with CTO (color temperature orange) gel and the setting sun behind and on the left. About her 5 o’clock.
Cavannah Richardson, shot from further back with same lens horizontally. Do you think the blue pipe fixture and white sign is distracting? You bet.

One Speedlight used judiciously can open up a whole new world for your photography.

The key is knowing how to combine it with available but directional light.

Cavannah Richardson was recruited by one of my students to be her model during our location shoot,  but when she arrived with her mother, my student wasn’t ready to shoot.

The sun was fast disappearing and I didn’t want Cavannah and her mum to be kept waiting so I took 5 minutes to take the picture above. Continue reading Using the Sun and one Speedlight →

Photography

One Speedlite setup for great-looking portraits2

Letty lit by one Speedlite without any reflectors. Photo by Greg Matthews

Picking up where I left off in Part One, I should emphasize again that you don’t actually have to spend a lot of money to get these types of results.

If you don’t have the budget for a boom, just get an assistant to hold  your one Speedlight which is attached to a lightstand via swivel bracket.

Two reflectors placed strategically in the right places can produce wonderful results.

The image on the left by Greg Matthews, a participant in my Small Flash Lighting workshop is such an example.

We placed Greg’s Speedlite on a swivel bracket raised it above Letty’s head about 5 feet behind Letty and to the left and aimed it downwards.

We fussed with the placement of the Speedlite until we got the image on the left.

When we finally got the hair and rim light around Letty to what we liked, we introduced one reflector on the left just outside the frame.

It helps to have a stand to which you can attach your reflector by the way.

You want to lock everything down as much as possible, so that you are only changing one element at a time if possible.

After I introduced one reflector on the left, I noticed Letty’s face on the right side was still under-exposed, that’s when I added a 2nd reflector. Continue reading One Speedlite setup for great-looking portraits2 →

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

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 →