I expect a good place for me to begin talking about lighting solutions is likely my cover picture :-). I shot this picture with my friend Alex, as part of the same shoot that produced The Energy Drink -- though evidently the lighting was completely different ;-). We shot this one against a black backdrop with two flashes, one high camera right to simulate the light coming from the pile that would eventually appear in Alex's hand, and the other low camera left (with one stop less power), to simulate the light dripping off the pile. Both flashes were in tight and set to their highest zoom settings (200mm, for the SB-900), to restrict the light as much as possible. In addition, I had the camera's aperture cranked up to f/25, so as to keep the shadows as dark as possible (the small aperture forces very high flash power, which in turn means that the ambient light by comparison makes as little impact as possible). So here is the original image that resulted from that:
One subtlety possibly worth mentioning is that I had the lower SB-900 set with its head rotated sideways, so as to make the area lit up on Alex's tummy longer and thinner. A surprising number of people don't seem to realize that you can do this with your flashes (or at least with the Nikon SB-600s, 800s and 900s -- and I'm betting that Canon's flashes can do the same). So it may be worth showing what that looks like:
The body of the flash still has the CLS sensor facing the camera, but the flash head is rotated around to point edgeways up. This ability to rotate the head can be handy if you're in one of those situations where CLS doesn't work unless the sensor is pointed perfectly straight at the camera.
So now basically I just had to add the pile of light. I trust no one will be too shocked to learn that was done in Photoshop :-). The first thing I did in Photoshop was to deepen the shadows even further using a Curves layer. I then used another Curves layer to strengthen the contrast of the area to be illuminated by the run-off:
I then created a new empty layer for the light, and used the Path tool to create two paths, a semi-circular one on top for the pile and a trumpet-shaped one for the run-off. I could have done that with just one path, of course, but I wanted the pile to have a softer shine and the run-off to be more concentrated. So I filled both paths with white in the new layer, but I picked a larger feather radius for the pile than I did for the run-off.
You will notice that I have also added a mask to the Light layer, covering Alex's thumb and part of her forefinger, so that the pile appears to be cupped in her hand.
The last step was to add the golden glow to the light. I thought there had to be some terribly clever way to add the glow in such a way that the yellow increased automatically as the white fell off... but in the end all I did was to select the pixels of the Light layer and then trace around its edge with a soft yellow brush (again, with a higher radius for the pile than for the run-off). (Selecting the layer's pixels first meant I didn't add any yellow to anything other than the existing light.)
The last step was to crop the image to a square format, and there you have my cover shot :-). The lighting and the post-processing were both very simple, but I am very happy with the resulting image.
Cheers!
At one point I thought of beginning this blog with a Manifesto, a ringing declaration of what I believe and what I stand for... However on reflection, I'd rather start with a manifest instead, that is, with a straightforward indication of what you are likely to find in this blog, if you open it up.
I am a photographer, so unsurprisingly this blog will deal with photography. Photographers differ in many ways, among them in what subjects they prefer to photograph. In my case, while I certainly enjoy photographing fountains and interiors and scenery and suchlike, my greatest pleasure comes from photographing people. That can take the form of event photography, street scenes or portraiture, but most of my work in recent years has tended to be fashion photography, so expect most of what I post here to deal with that space.
Photographers also differ in their obsessions. Many photographers obsess about cameras and lenses. The first picture they take will be with lens cap on (deliberately! :-)) and the second will be of a blank sheet of white paper. They engage in heated discussions of how much of what kind of distortion this lens produces at that zoom and this focal length.
Perhaps surprisingly, that is not me. I shoot with a Nikon D90, and my usual lens is a Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5 zoom, and my biggest reason for choosing them is that the combination takes good pictures in the vast majority of situations I photograph in. I'm quite sure that for any given specific situation, there is a different lens that would produce a picture that is just that slight bit better... but the truth is my budget has limits ;-), and the D90 and the 18-200 work acceptably well for me.
On the other hand, I definitely obsess about light. Fashion photography differs from a lot of other kinds of photography in the number of different light sources and modifiers one typically employs, and I absolutely love the process of trying to determine, for any given project, what combination of lights (including the ambient light) will likely produce a result that works well for the purposes of the project.
Even among fashion photographers, however, there are differences. Some do most of their work in studio; they frequently use big strobes from companies like Alien Bees, large softboxes and reflectors, and heavy stands to hold it all in place. I however do a large part of my work on location -- and on top of that I do not drive. Consequently, my kit needs to be something that I can carry along with me on public transport. My lights are Nikon speed lights (at last count, two SB-900s, an SB-800 and three SB-600s) and they and my camera and my umbrellas and reflector/diffusers all pack into a small rolling suitcase, plus a shoulder bag for the light stands. My heroes are the folks like Joe McNally and David Hobby, who can make that kind of kit perform magic :-).
Fashion photography (and indeed a lot of people photography) also tends to involve a certain amount of post-production, that is, manipulation of the recorded image in software such as Adobe's Photoshop. And the subject of what can and should be done that way, versus what can not and should not, is also one that interests me a great deal.
So there you have the limits that define what I do, and consequently what I am likely to write about :-): what you will find here will be mostly posts about lighting solutions with small strobes (and what happens after).
Light by the handful, as it were.
Enjoy!
