Flash Practice {Jamie Solorio Portrait Photography of Redding, CA}

Thank you so much Mirandi...my twin for your help tonight!  Also, a special thanks to my real sister, Erin for helping me too!  Oh...I can't forget Ryan too...thanks for that delicious round of Bloody Mary's and our fries! 

Some specifics about this shoot.  I used TTL flash in a soft box, some bare speed light, and max sync speed of 1/250th.  Metered for the ambient light in all cases and adjusted light on Mirandi from the flash!  I also worked on short lighting tonight! :)

To see more of my work...well, natural light photography please visit http://www.jamiesoloriophotography.com/.  I am still trying to wrap my lil brain around this off camera flash bit! :)

Flash Practice with strong backlight and indoor TTL Flash

Okay, today I was trying to replicate a picture I saw in a magazine.  The picture had really strong back light and then a gradient of light across the models face with the darkest part being closest to the highlight hair.  This is my attempt with trying to recreate this type of look. 

To begin I metered with spot metering on the brightest part of her hair, which is why when I took the picture that she is totally underexposed.  So, you can see how much TTL flash was used in the 2nd picture to illuminate her face.  I positioned my flash to my right and had it bounce off a wall near me at a 45ish degree angle.  I had to play with the flash compensation a bit to get the right amount of light on her face too.  I am having some pretty big issues with White Balance with flash, so I need to look into that too! :)

Just playing around on this next image! :)

Bouncing Flash Random Notes

To begin, notice how the light is already hitting the subject.  Decide how I want to change the light in order to make a better looking image.  Bounce light off the walls near me either to the right or left usually angled around 30 or 45 degrees.  Use exposure compensation in TTL mode to add or subtract light.  Meter off the ambient light, if the ambient light is the same as light on subject...meter 1.5 to 2 stops less.  If the ambient light is brighter than the subject, meter of the brighter ambient light behind the subject.  In this scenario I want to have less light in the background I can either change my aperture or my ISO to get desired effect.  This is because I am working in TTL mode on my flash, if I had been working in Manual flash I would drag my shutter speed.  In low light situations have the shutter speed be at least 1/10 to 1/20th of a second to make sure I get a sharp image.

So, if I have almost a correct exposure, but the contrast between the highlights and shadows is to much, then I can use my flash as Fill-Flash to lift that contrast.  I would then bounce light behind me just to lift a tad.  I think!

Here is a cute baby, since this stuff is pretty boring!  Plus posts are always better with images! 

More Flash Research - Webinar through Collage.net notes

These are just my notes from a webinar that Collages.net had today.  You can watch this same webinar if  you are a professional photographer and a member of Collages.net for  your printing needs.  Later, after I buy myself a flash gun I will try to post a picture.  Though, I will try to use a reflector today to see if I can control the light even more and post that image.

So, these notes are just for my use and might not make sense to you...sorry! :)  I suggest checking out the very imformative webinar over at Collages.net.  Have a nice day!

• get hand held meter if you have time and want more control
• attempt drama on subject by lighting face with highlights, shadows, and giving a real 3D look to the face
• ISO Exposure Index, find out what mine is.  Really understand the capabilities of my gear...best to do with a hand held meter.  So, if my camera runs "hot" then when I meter with my hand held meter, I might set it to ISO 125, while my camera is at ISO 100
• Latitude Exposure in RAW, only a 5 stop range to play with is being told.  Really our cameras only capture 50% of what the histogram says when it is in the last stop towards right(white).  Do not underexpose, shadow range doesn't have the same amount of information.  Push exposure to the right a tad, more usable information.
• Reflected metering, what is on my camera.  Hand held meter is the incident, use the flat disk if possible over the dome.  The dome just gives you an average of all the light.  Flat disk will help with main light and fill light and the meter will tell you what you to meter on... ?
• Light is accumulative, very important with reflectors especially using flash.
• want to see  highlight side of face, shadows aren't as important today.  We want to see saturation of color, etc.  Base exposure on main light coming on the face!  Still pay attention to the background, but with a portrait face is most important.
• make sure to use light to highlight the subject to make them look the best.  Using reflectors, flash,etc.  Need to show depth to the face, highlight side to shadow side...added drama!
• background shouldn't be more than 2/3rd stop difference between subject and background
• Light comes from all directions outdoors, has many different colors, is specular or soft light, and will be affected by man made and natural elements.
• secret to finding quality light...look for trees,columns,buildings.  Look that that element has a highlight, shadow sides with a gentle transfer between the two highlights/shadows.  think of Chico state archway!
• light above head being blocked by trees, then trees to right say to create shadow, then all light fills from the left and background.  exp.  river trail
• shoot parrell to tree line, don't shoot into trees, especially if sun is behind trees.  The trees create the shadow and sun will create the highlight.  Shoot into the shadow...short light equals drama! research short light!!!!  Does that mean have the shadow close to camera?
• Overcast days: best days to work as far as even distribution of tones/light/information
• Heavy overcast days, flash is essential!  Might need to do relationship pictures, people interacting with one and another rather than posed formal pictures.
• Time of Day to take pictures: morning, evening.....mid day...avoid at all costs on a sunny day.  Would have to use electronic flash
• morning light is directional, good color temperature...narrow window of light to work with
• Evening light is also directional, good color, low light on horizon line to sculpt subject, control of subject and background, if sun is on horizon...same amount of light all around...could do that water shot that was blown at Red's.  Even light at that moment!
• Window light is directional, soft, and easy to learn...really helps you "see" the light.  What you see is what you get.  It is like the parrle light with trees.  Often requires some fill flash.  Avoid direct sunlight.  Avoid other lights from the room
• The power of reflectors: if in an area with no directional light, add a reflector to catch some light and bounce on side of subject.
• back lit portraits, some the side of hair the light is hitting from behind...bring reflector to that side and bend reflector til you get some light on her face
• research black reflectors
• FLASH:can use as main light, fill light or clean up faces, or accent light exp back light.
• Types of flash, straight flash, fill/bounce flash, mini soft box,open or bare tube, umbrellas
• If the intensity of the flash more than the ambient light...will look like flash.  Use hand meter to decide how much flash
• If intensity of flash is less than ambient...known as fill light. can help green reflections, opens eyes,
• light is accumulative? learn the math...how much light is added by your flash?  research.  Find out your raw light, then add flash at 20%,, 40% ,etc and see the difference.  add the % to the net exposure depending on how much drama is wanted
• shutter speed does ambient background light with flash.  the aperture is only illuminating the subject!

short light, meter off the main light!  also meter the subject in the shadow side and compare to highlight side.  So with both readings, need to keep the stop difference less than 3 stops for sure.  that is when you add the flash light to compensate between the shadow and highlights  don@macgregorstudios.com he suggests sending in an image with the question.   can re watch webinar on the Collages.net Blog.

Flash Photography - Trial and Errors - Jamie Solorio Photography of Redding, CA

Tonight I practiced my flash over at Visual Rhythms located at 1072 Lake Blvd Unit C Redding, CA, which was taught by the very talented and beautiful Destiny.  I am fortunate enough to practice a skill that I have yet to develop and in trade get some free belly dancing classes!  THANK YOU Destiny! :) Watching these girls was amazing, really I wanted to put down my camera, grab some yoga pants and try to move the way they did!  Thank you Destiny (pictured above) and Jan Boehle owner/instructor at Visual Rhythms for letting me experience your dance studio.  Also, thank you Jan for the free Zumba class!

To get more information with regard to this Fitness Studio or Zumba classes please contact Jan at 530.410.3983 or jmboehle@charter.net.  To contact Destiny for Belly Dancing information please click HERE to view her Facebook page.

I did learn that with out flash, this shoot would of been impossible and I was glad to be able to play with the light a bit.  More images to come soon!

To see some of my Natural Light Photography please visit my site Jamie Solorio Photography of Redding, CA.

FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY

To begin, I just started to read up on flash photography last night and a little today...so please do not consider this information to be 100% correct.  I keep this blog as a diary of my trials, errors, and all my notes to reference from time to time.


I am currently using the Nikon D7000 with my friend's SB-800.

I watched THIS video from Youtube to familiarize myself with how in the heck to operate the SB-800 to begin with.  This video was very informative and easy to follow.  Now, thanks to the Youtube video, I understand how to use the SU-4, which is pretty neat and fun.  I sort of grasped the whole REMOTE function of the SB-800 from the video.   However, I think I am still too much of a rookie at this point to use several lights, not to mention...I don't have any!  But I am still a little confused on MANUAL Flash and TTL Flash.  So, this is where I am now...gathering information trying to understand this SB-800 Nikon Flash.

The first place that I went to check out for a good explanation of external flash was Neilvan Neikerk.  This is a quick break down that I am just jotting down for my sake.

• Shoot Manual mode in camera and expose for ambient light using Matrix/Evaluative Metering Modes.
• Have my flash set to TTL Mode and either bounce light off ceilings/walls/behind me/reflective surfaces/etc
• I can change the exposure of my ambient light in the background by either changing my shutter speed, aperture, and/or ISO.  Flash in TTL Mode will compensate for this an properly expose my subject.  As far as I am understanding, Manual Flash you can only control ambient light using shutter speed, ie.dragging the shutter speed.
• I need to keep my Shutter Speed between 10 and 250th of a second to not get some sort of black bands on my image
• Use the Flash Exposure Compensation to dial in the flash even more
• The ambient light is brighter in the background than the subject, so you meter for the background ambient light and the subject would normally be underexposed.  To correct this underexposure the flash fires giving you both background and foreground correct exposure.
• The ambient light and subject are in the same low light situation, what to do...as far as I can tell, underexpose 1.5 to 2 stops for ambient light, this allows the ambient light to be there but not overtake your picture.  Then your flash in TTL mode will fire off at your subject that is also underexposed and compensate for the subject being under exposed.  While the ambient light of the background is exposed properly for the low light situation by having been underexposed by 1.5 to 2 stops for more light to be allowed in.
• Put subject in the most shadowy spot?
• Do not use the ceiling directly between myself and subject, try to bounce behind me or on a wall, it can cause unflattering light under the eyes and uneven light distribution.
• Bouncing light directly behind you will give more flat one dimensional light
• Bouncing light to the side will give more of a dynamic look to your subject
• When using TTL Mode, you do not have to use full power when bouncing light
• note to self: re-read bouncing light and visit all links available
• note to self: figure out why TTL-BL isn't working
• Taking pictures outdoors with bright background and needing fill flash on subject use TTL-BL, and use the Flash Exposure compensation to adjust the amount of light hitting subject.  With the SB-800, need to start with -1.3 or -1.7 exposure compensation or so.
• Taking pictures in the shade outdoors and need to match the exposure of subject in shade to bright background, will need more flash.  Start at Zero for Exposure Compensation.
• Shooting dimly lit indoors where I know my flash is going to be my mail light source: Starting points:  ISO 800, wide apertures, and slow shutter speed around 1/40th of a second.  TTL Flash Mode will be used with an Exposure Compensation of +0.3
• Shooting Bright Light Outside Guidelines: Lowest ISO, change flash sync speed to highest available for camera, set aperture to where I want it (I read f11, but I do not like to shoot that small of aperture)  I am going to have to test this one myself and see what happens.
• A cameras maximum sync speed is the the fastest shutter speed you can use your camera's "standard" flash at.  My camera allows a "High Speed Sync Speed" which will allow my highest shutter speed to be 1/320th of a second.  Though I have to go into the menu of my camera to turn it on.
• Shooting for Overcast days starting points: ISO 100 to 200, 1/250th, f10.  Again, I am not a fan of middle of the road aperture, so I would have to figure out something else some how....PRACTICE!

MORE TO COME AS I LEARN MORE...tonight I am going to try this out!