Archive for the Tips & Tricks Category
Halloween House
October 17, 2007 | Filed Under Editorial, Photo Tips | Leave a Comment
I just returned from an assignment to shoot a home here in Bel Air that goes all out in decorating for Halloween. I purposely arrived at sunset so I could make good use of the sky as well as see the lights on display.
This shot was taken at 6:50p — about 20 minutes after sunset.
To make the sky look even more blue, I set my camera’s white balance to tungsten. The rest of the camera settings were 1/4 sec SS, ISO 200, f/5.6.
I also used two off-camera strobes, both with a CTO gel to match my tungsten setting of the camera. One Vivitar 285 at 1/8 power on lightstand about 15 feet in front of left side of house. Second Vivitar 285 at 1/2 power in my right hand over my head pointed at front door area.
This technique works great for portraits taken at dusk with the sky in the background.
Shallow Depth of Field
August 24, 2007 | Filed Under everyday life, Photo Tips | Leave a Comment
The tomatoes are in high production mode and I was out picking some this afternoon. I happened to have my camera around my neck for I was taking a few pictures of my daughter and her friend as they were playing.
In looking down the fence and knowing I had my 135 f/2.0L lens on my camera, I thought I’d take a very low depth of field picture on a long fence railing — and see what sort of an image would come of it.
I focused down the fence about 4 feet away and snapped this shot. You can see very clearly what a narrow depth of field produces. The depth of field at f/2.0 from 4 feet away is only about 1/8″ in front and behind the focus point. The small area in-focus looks more like stitches rather than wood.
This narrow depth of field is really great when taking portraits, for you can focus on the eyes and have the entire background blurred out to not distract from the subject. This blurring of the image produced by the lens is called bokeh. If taking a group of people, a very narrow depth of field is not what you will want to achieve, for one person may be in focus, but the other subject will be blurry.
Captain, My Captain
August 11, 2007 | Filed Under Photo Tips | Leave a Comment
A client out-of-state needed a photograph of an oil painting of Captain John Webster, which is hanging in the Harford County courthouse, for an article he is writing.
Sounds simple, right? Yes, and No.
The simple part is that your subject is very good at standing very still — for as long as you need (duh, it’s hanging on the wall)
The difficult part is lighting the oil painting without causing hotspots, reflections, etc. Other factors are that the portrait is hanging about seven feet off the ground in a dark paneled hallway with a 18-20 foot ceiling. The courthouse has a very large number of portraits hanging throughout, and I’m not sure if it is because most of these paintings are so old, or if they were originally painted this way, or if the lighting inside the building isn’t optimal for these portraits, but they are appear very dark from the naked eye. I was initially a bit concerned.
I brought my 13 foot lightstands, not knowing before I arrived exactly where and how high this portrait was hanging in the courthouse. I lit the painting with two 580EXs bounced into white umbrellas placed approximately 30 degrees to each side about 5-6 feel away. The strobes where fired wireless with Pocket Wizards.
Another challenge was getting myself high enough to shoot the portrait straight on. I’m sure it was quite a sight to see me standing on 2 reams of paper, which were on top of a step ladder (please don’t attempt this at home). I must have been slightly entertaining for I had my share of on-lookers during all of this.
I was very pleased with the results from my first effort at photographing an oil painting. The lighting I applied really brought out more detail than you can see in when viewing the painting in person. If/when I do this again, I think I will put the lights in a much lower angle, such as 10 degrees with the umbrellas almost shooting back at each other.
I really enjoyed the company of all of the folks I interacted with at the courthouse. Everyone was extremely pleasant and had a great sense of humor.
In the Spotlight
June 20, 2007 | Filed Under basketball, Photo Tips | 3 Comments
I shot a basketball on my pergo floor in my home studio. Overhead I used a Canon 580EX flash at 1/8 power with shipping tube over flash head to create the spotlight look. I positioned a second 580EX at 1/32 power on floor with snoot pointed directly at ball to give a bit of fill to the lower half of ball.
I was quite pleased with the way this turned out. By looking at the image itself, you would think it was taken on a basketball court floor, rather than a basement studio.
Below shows how the shot was setup:
