Flash Workshop with Stephanie - Ridley Creek State Park, Aston, Media Photographer

A couple of weeks ago the Philly SmugMug group held a flash workshop in Ridley Creek State Park.  I had the privilege of leading one of the groups!

Here's a few behind the scenes pics of us working with our model, Stephanie.

After the workshop, I did a mini-session with Stephanie and a few photographers tagged along to see me work with the natural light.  Here's a few pics from that!  Thanks again to Stephanie for helping us out at the workshop!

Philadelphia SmugMug: Relaunch 1/11/12!!

Last night, the Philadelphia SmugMug Group was able to have a Relaunch Get-Together with guest speakers that came out from SmugMug!  It was so awesome and we felt so special that Rocky and Steve from SmugMug were able to come out and show us the great things that SmugMug can do for our photography!!

The gathering was held at Calumet Photographic and a big thanks goes out to Gregg for once again hosting our group!  The turnout was great and I feel it served as a great opportunity to network and share our knowledge with one another!

Here's our Facebook Group, please do join as we are migrating away from the Meetup.com website :)

Enjoy a few pics from our get together!! :)  More pics can be found on our FB group page, which you should join!!!  I am excited for what 2012 will bring our group!

Philly SmugMug Meetup - Post Processing Presentation!

Last Wednesday, Philly SmugMug was happy to have John Bodensiek of PhotoFusionUSA as a guest speaker.  He spoke to our group about post processing in Lightroom, but started all the way from the beginning with getting it right IN-CAMERA, so that you don't have too much to do afterward.  It wasn't an actual workshop because there's so much to learn, but in 2 hours, we received tons of tips and tricks!

John was an excellent speaker and teacher, and I'm sure everyone took home a thing or two that they can incorporate into their workflow.  Plus he holds workshops all over the US to help photographers in the use of Adobe products and workflow, as well as other aspects of photography!

I help co-lead John's group here in Philly, as well as the Philly SmugMug.  Please feel free to join these groups!!  SmugMug is more for education and socialization, and PhotoFusion has workshops you can sign up for, as well as local shoots in the city at least once a month, which started this month :)

Philly SmugMug - click here
PhotoFusionUSA Philly - click here

I say join both for a nice variety of upcoming events that will help you meet other photographers in the area and hone your craft :)

The information is all there, we just have to reach out and take it!

Here are some pics from the presentation last Wednesday!

How I Do: Using Flash Indoors (Chapel)

So... a couple of weeks ago I talked about giving your outdoor images more 'umph' by using flash.  This time let me talk about using flash inside of a chapel.  This isn't always going to be the case, but at least I can give you an idea of how I do it and the difference it can make.

Below is an image made with available light inside a chapel that has both flourescent and tungsten lighting.  It's decent, but it's hard to find WB in such a setting with multiple types of light lol.  I believe I went more with tungsten WB in camera and then played with it a bit more in post.

Decent image, but not a wow image right? Still, a good starting point and a solid image to deliver to a client :)

But look at what happens when you add flash in this situation.  It almost puts a spotlight on them.  I definitely prefer this to the first image.

So how was it done?  Same formula as for outside.  For the record, I don't use gels.  Maybe one day, but I like the warmth that the tungsten gives off when I set my camera to Flash White Balance.

1) Expose for the background. 
If you want it to be darker, speed up the shutter speed, just remember to account for your flash sync speed.  I was at f/4, with a shutter of 1/250, ISO 2000.

For the whole ceremony, I was at ISO 2000 b/c I wanted my shutter speed to be high enough to avoid camera shake using the available light.  So I just kept the same settings here for ease. I could have also lowered the ISO for these portraits, which would consequently slow down the shutter speed and have gotten the same result.  I would just have needed more flash power, which is not a problem with my trusty Quantum T5D-R or whatever it's called.

Do you see the relationship here between ISO, shutter speed, and flash power?  

Higher ISO = Faster Shutter speed (since camera becomes more sensitive to light) = Less Flash Power Needed.

Lower ISO = Slower Shutter Speed (camera less sensitive to the light, so gotta keep shutter open longer) = MORE Flash Power needed in that same situation.

Aperture is kind of arbitrary.. at least to me (omgosh, don't take my word as truth okay?).  It's at f/4 in this case b/c.. that's the aperture that accompanied my 1/250 shutter to get my background to be the way I wanted it to be...  I usually start at 1/250 and then adjust my aperture accordingly.  But honestly, it depends on the situation you are in.. how bright or dim the ambient light is... it's just something you get with time.  Sometimes I'm at 1/60th at like ISO 800.  It just really depends.  And I'm STILL figuring it out LOL.

Am I confusing?  If so, I apologize in advance, AND I suggest you no longer read my 'How To's" LOL.

2)  Light your subject!
Assuming you darken the environment a bit for more dramatics, your subjects will also be dark.  So.. now that it's time to add flash, I do it manually since I'm using off camera flash.  I don't care for TTL at this juncture, I just eyeball it.. and feel it's the easiest way to learn anyway.  I start at around 1/8 power on my flash and.. if it's too bright.. I'll lower it.. if it's too dark still, I'll raise it.  Simple as that!

 

Hope that helps ... someone out there.. somewhere! :)

How I Do: Using Flash to Give Your Image More "Umph"

So I'm going to blog really quickly since I would like to blog more regularly (I keep saying that, don't I?).  That doesn't explain why I need to blog quickly though.  Today is just a hectic Monday, several albums to design and stuff, but it's great to be busy, that's for sure!

I just wanted to give you an example of how adding flash can give your image more umph when used correctly.

Below is an available light image.  80mm, f/2.8, ISO 200, 1/400 sec.  This image never went to the client because to me, it's lacking something.  The background for one is overexposed and the subjects are too dark.  Sure, I could work some photoshop magic, but to me, that's an extra step I shouldn't have to take in the first place.  I strive very hard to get my images right in camera, so that when it's time to edit, all I have to do is 'enhance' and not to 'fix.'  It's been a long process getting to this point, but I think it's helped me to improve in my craft, and I still am striving to learn as much as I can :)

After taking the above image to assess the lighting (and we'll say that it was also for the purposes of this mini tutorial LOL) I knew that available light was not going to cut it.  I immediately set my shutter to sync speed for flash (1/250 on my D700), and went to work on exposing the background correctly.

Here's the next image I took, ISO 200, 112mm, f/5.6, 1/250.   First thing I did was set my shutter to 1/250 like I said above.  Then I adjusted the f-stop to a point where I got my background to be the way I liked (kind of on the darker side).  Then I added the flash on the couple and adjusted that until they were properly lit as well (I told my husband whether to raise or decrease the power).

So, first expose for the background to get it to look the way you want, then add the flash to light up the subject and adjust that until it's how you want as well.  Remember, assuming nothing is really in close proximity to your subject, the flash only affects your subject and the background is affected only by the ambient available light.   This isn't always the case (such as if the background is RIGHT behind the subject, etc...) but in general when doing environmental portraits, this is what I think of in my head when I do these shots.

Here's a pic behind the scenes (well, not in this exact location, but just to give you an idea where my assistant aka my husband stands).  Usually a 45 degree or so from my camera position, but sometimes less if I have to be careful about shadows.

I don't know about you, but to me, the one with flash looks 10xs better, at least in this type of situation!

Okay gotta go, sorry if this is semi repetitive, but I'll do some more intense how-to's in a bit, I promise!

Oooo I just realized I can do an indoor version of this too, that will probably be 'part two'. :)