A friend of a friend is a fashion designer. I met her at a fashion show at a local university when I took some pictures (from the audience for my friend, not in any official capacity). The other day, I was browsing through my Facebook news feed and I saw a batch of pictures crop up with her work…

This was probably the best picture out of the whole shoot. Most of them were very poorly lit, and the focus was soft (off?). I asked her how she ended up with the photographer, and her model had booked him. Oh well… her loss.

So what’s going on in this picture? And what’s wrong with it?

Keep reading…

The Lumiquest Quik Bounce (LQ-122) looks cool, but is it worth it? I picked one of these up earlier this year and I’ve tried it out a few times. At this point, I’m not so convinced that it’s an essential addition to my camera bag. Here’s a quick pair of images to show why…

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Saturday was a bright, sunny day.  Mid-60′s.  Not a cloud in the sky, and almost no wind.  Perfect weather…

Unless you’re trying to take pictures.  This kind of harsh sunlight, especially late in the fall when the sun gets low in the sky, highlights an important part of outdoor photography: understanding the sun’s roll as a light source.

Take a look at the picture to the left. Notice the shadows, coming toward us and to the right? Also notice the extreme highlight on the quarterback’s (#7) back? These are clear indicators that the sun is on the other side of the field and to the left. Keep reading…

Photo by: Sziga.

I found this simple studio portrait in the “Portraits” tag on Flickr. It’s a good execution of a simple two-light scheme. If you click through to the photo page, there’s a description of the lights. But, you should have a decent idea based on the catch-lights in her eyes. The left eye tells it all – one light coming from off to camera left and one light off to camera right. They’re pretty even in terms of power output, because you don’t have a real contrast between the left and right sides of the face; there’s just a little shadow on the left cheek where the hair blocks some of the light.

One of the key elements of lighting is how hard or soft your light is. Hard light is pointed, directional, and creates harsh shadows – like a spotlight. Soft light seems to come from no where and creates gradual (or no) shadows – like sunlight on a cloudy day.

Often times, portrait and fashion photographers will rave about soft light. It looks so natural and pleasing, and often-times it is. It’s also easy to create a go-to lighting situation that utilizes soft light to quickly make a lovely portrait. But, sometimes you want to be a little adventuresome… Keep reading…

Photo by: AlanGinsberg.

Found this one browsing through the “Canon” tag on Flickr. There was an odd number of car pictures in the tag, don’t know what that was about. But I thought this was a nifty portrait. The ambient is stopped down far enough that the sky is well exposed, although that leaves the trees in the background really underexposed. There’s clearly some lighting in the foreground, at least a light off to camera right providing a key. I would guess there’s some kind of fill coming from off camera left, cause the lighting is fairly even across the image… kind of curious to see the set up. I like how the light is really bright and warm, though; kind of makes it look like the sun is beating down through a hole in the clouds or something.

Photo by: Joe Gascoigne.

This is a cool portrait. Simple lighting – probably a single light high and camera left and a subtle background light (altho that might also be the key light). There’s probably a reflector or a wall (or maybe another light?) off camera right to fill in the shadows. But what I really like is the style. Between the outfit, the hairdo, and the black and white conversion, this makes for a nice, 1950′s retro look. There are a bunch more in the photostream, so click through and check them out.

An important concept to understand in lighting is the ambient light or ambient exposure.

The ambient light level is the amount of light that’s normally present in a setting. If you’re inside, the ambient light is probably provided by lamps or sunlight coming in through the window. If you’re outside in the daytime, the ambient light is probably the sun.

When you “expose for the ambient,” you’re taking a picture with the available level of light. You pick the right mix of camera settings – shutter speed, aperture, and ISO – that makes a reasonably well lit photo based on the light that is currently available to you.

This is particularly important to understand when you start working with external lights and flashes. Then, you’ve got the option of working with the ambient – i.e. exposing for the ambient and then adding some lights to fill in shadows – or overpowering the ambient – picking camera settings that underexpose the ambient and then light the whole scene with speedlights.

Here’s a quick technique you can use in Lightroom to create a subtle effect that enhances the focus on your subject. What we’ve got here is a decent outdoor portrait on a sunny day. The model, Joel, was lit from camera right, but it can be hard to get just the right amount of light on location when it’s extremely sunny – both straining the power on your speedlights and making it tough to look at the LCD and judge the effect of the lights.

I was happy with the image, but I wanted to separate Joel from the background a little bit. This could have been done by adjusting the light and making it a little more powerful, since this wouldn’t have affected the background exposure (the water). Or, since the shoot is over and done with, I can go back and edit it in Lightroom and selectively brighten my subject there. It’s quick and easy. Here’s how. Keep reading…

Photo by: R3markAble.

This is a cool picture, and a good example of Strobist lighting techniques. In fact, he was nice enough to lay it out all out there and explain how he did it. You can click through for the simple explanation. But, there are a few hints to help you sort it out too…

One, notice the black background and the dim lighting on the subject. There’s got to be a fill light somewhere. Seeing as the face is mostly in deep shadow, the fill has to be coming from up high – so it’s blocked by the hat. There’s a bright light on the gun itself, and the shadows underneath suggest this is coming from up high as well. It’s got to be using an attachment to control spill. Likewise, there’s a controlled light off to camera right, shooting directly at the shooter’s face (see the highlight on the cheek and the nose).