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: Ring Shots

I want to do more "How To" stuff, so let me talk about my favorite sing shots so far.  For all of these shots I have used my 60mm micro f/2.8 lens from Nikon.  I usually get in pretty close and manually focus... but sometimes you have to be careful not to get in the way of your own light hehe!

When I get a ring, I first look for a surface that has texture.  I love texture.  That's what happened in this frst image.  I was at a bookstore and saw this table..

ISO 3600, f/9, 1/50 sec

And this bookshelf..

ISO 1600, f/4.5, 1/50 sec

My shutter speed here is pretty slow for handheld.  I wouldn't suggest going this slow unless you really have a steady hand, and in the future, I probably would not do this either, instead I'd raise the ISO a bit so my shutter speed could be faster.  Since I was indoor, my ISO was pretty high to begin with.  I decided to go with black and white to focus more on the textures than the colors.

For my next shot I started with this shot of a treasure chest that contained an engagement ring.  This was outdoors on a table in front of a cafe.

I was pretty happy but now I wanted a compelling ring shot.   I placed the ring near the edge of the table, several inches in front of the treasure chest, and composed my image so that the ring was in sharp focus. That caused the treasure chest to make some interesting bokeh in the background.  

ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/500 sec, 60mm

Make sure your aperture is small enough that the whole diamond is in sharp focus. For me, f/5.6 was able to do the trick.  It gets more tricky when you have smaller diamonds surrounding a larger one, you might have to go to f/7.1 or smaller if you want them in focus as well...

Lastly, I found a shiny surface that was actually the hotel's brochure/book thingy.  It was like a spiral notebook with a shiny textured surface as seen below.  I placed it by the window for natural light and this was my initial image...

But.. what can I do to make it more interesting?

I started looking for something to use as bokeh and found the garter:

So... I did the same thing as the previous example - I placed the ring a few inches in front of the garter and was able to come up with some interesting bokeh.. especially because the garter was reflected by the surface of the hotel book.  I decided I liked the smaller diamonds being out of focus in this case so I just kept the aperture at f/4.2. 

ISO 400, f/4.2, 1/400, 60mm

So yeah, just wanted to share :)