LOW LIGHT EVENT PHOTOGRAPHY — THE STATE FAIRE — HAND HELD

Digital equals artistic freedom; that’s why I never went back to film! With our high quality full-frame DSLR’s that can produce really nice images, at high ISO’s, coupled with great, fast, stabilized lenses, there isn’t much that we can’t do. 

Having covered the Western Idaho State Faire, in prior years, for the Eagle Informer Magazine, I know our fair inside and out. So, this year I decided to travel light bringing one body (Canon 5D MKII) and two lenses—no tripod or flash—and do some creative images for my self; all hand held.  

The scenes that were the most challenging were the night time images on the midway; like these…

f5.0 @ 1/30 sec., ISO 1600 Lens @ 24mm

This was one of my favorite compositions.  I like using a foreground object (the artwork of another ride) as a lead-in to another subject—giving depth and added interest to the composition.  The key here is using just enough ISO to get your camera to a shutter speed you can hand-hold at an f-stop that will give you the depth of field you need.  I stopped at ISO 1600 when I got to f5.0, because I new that with my lens at 24mm I would have adequate depth of field for both main subjects.  

You really can’t do this type of photography at f2.8 — or wider — and besides most lenses are not as sharp when used wide-open anyway.

f5.0 @ 1/50 sec., ISO 800 Lens @ 24mm

I loved this old carousel and when it stopped with the white swan where I wanted it, with that ride in the background, I just waited until the colorful pendulum was in a good position.

 f5.6 @ 1.160 sec., ISO 1600 Lens @ 135mm

The light in the stock buildings was terrible, so I concentrated on animals close to the big open doors., So, I reversed my angle for backlight and zoomed-in for this image of the cows’ point-of-view of the show!

f5.0 @ 1/60 sec., ISO 800 lens @ 24mm

The exhibit halls have notoriously poor, flat, weak lighting. So, again I looked for things closer to the open doors; in this case facing west. The setting sun was just peeping through the doors and hitting the back wall of the winning largest pumpkin’s exhibit, giving the otherwise flat lit scene some sparkle.

 f5.0 @ 1/100 sec., ISO 3200 lens @ 35mm

Back out on the midway for some night action photography this ride is a photographer’s favorite. Since it’s a spinner, I need at least 1/100 sec. to maintain detail in the top of the ride, but not quite freeze the people and to do that I had to use ISO 3200.  I think the best thing about this image is the in camera cropping—I think it’s more dynamic NOT showing the entire ride.

As I said at the beginning the artistic freedom we have with modern DSLR’s gives us the tools like variable high ISO’s with great quality! So, we can concentrate on important things like creative composition.  It’s my goal NOT to photograph things simply as they are. I want to photography things as I imagine they could be.

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Certified, Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training site:  http://LightAtTheEdge.com

AVAILABLE LIGHT WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY; Part 3 of 3

Much as I dislike using flash, outside the studio, there are times I must, when doing weddings, where there is too little ambient light on my subjects.  However, I Never use direct naked, (unmodified) flash on people!  I ALWAYS have something on my flash (the Stofen cap in the past; then the Gary Fong modifiers) and I still do not point my flash directly at my subject. I start with it tilted up 45 degrees and as I get closer to my subject I tilt up more.

#3)  Flash mixed with available light; Dragging the Shutter.

This technique goes way back and at its most basic it’s just doing a slow shutter speed sync with your flash to pull in the ambient room light—to avoid a black void behind your subjects.  When doing dance images at the reception you can just put your flash in TTL, slow your shutter to something below 1/30 sec., and wing-it, but for portraits I want more precise control of the lighting. 

Most of the time I employ this technique when I want to use the room’s ambient light (to light the room), but I don’t want the room’s mixture of color temps to pollute the bride and groom’s skin tones. So, the on camera flash (diffused with a Stofen cap or Fong modifier) is used moderately just to get realistic skin tones.  Then to blend the flash with the room’s light I drag the shutter. This technique is the single most useful photographic/lighting technique you must learn for wedding photography!  It’s the ONLY way to achieve this…

f.5.6 @ 0.3 sec., ISO 800 , Lens: 8mm Fisheye

This technique is really easy if you have a incident meter (hand-held) that will measure flash in addition to ambient light; Here’s how:

1. Pick your f-stop; based on how much depth of field you need. I know that with my 8mm fisheye that f5.6 would give me lots!
2. Meter the ambient room light at your subjects and adjust your meter’s ISO to get you to the f-stop you want with a shutter speed you  can live with.  That depends on how still your subjects can be and how steady your hands are! I had to go up to ISO 800 ad use a risky 0.3 seconds! (my camera’s on a tripod for this one)
3. Now, put your flash in manual mode and make it give you f5.6 at your subject’s position. Done!

On the other hand, when you’re in a room with more light so you can hand-hold you will only be dragging the shutter a little with no need to meter the scene. In the following image I picked my        f-stop, guessed my shutter speed (check the back screen—it looked good) and went for it!

 f6.7 @ 1/30 sec., ISO 400

With the above image I was watching the light on the cake (it had overhead flood light on it) so, I was careful not to use so slow a shutter speed that I lose detail on the cake.

#4)  FLASH ONLY  —  THE HORROR!

Now we’re down to the last resort—when there’s virtually no light.  It’s night time outside where there are no other lights or you’re in a room in the same situation. In the example below they were in a gazebo with a small overhead light (at least my auto-focus could see to work!) and 5-minutes later we moved to another location for their garter/bouquet toss.  So, no time or inclination, to set-up off camera lights.

f4.0 @ 1/60 sec., ISO 800

The image has good, soft, coverage (look a the cake) because I have the Fong modifier on my flash, which is tilted up at 45 degrees with no cap on it.

Another area, where this flash modifier excels, is in close-up work at the cake table.  In the image below of the rings placed in the midst of the cake table decorations, I pointed the flash straight-up (with NO cap on it).

f8.0 @ 1/60 sec., ISO 400

So, that about covers it, from pure natural light to pure flash and everything in between.  I hope this little primer helps those photographers looking to do weddings in a more natural style, using less flash, with the goal of capturing the style, mood and ambience of each location.

“Till next week…should you have comments or questions don’t hesitate to post…

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photog., CR., Certified

Training site:  http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

AVAILABLE LIGHT WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY; Part 2 of 3

One of the reasons I’ve enjoyed wedding photography is the challenge—which equals FUN—of working with different light sources and color temperatures.  That brings us to:

#2)  Available, artificial, interior light. e.g. a mix of incandescent, florescent and/or candle light.

Churches often have odd mixtures of interior lighting and since we are usually not allowed to use flash during the ceremony (why would you want to anyway?) I really enjoy mixing the lights creating an interesting color palette with my time exposures at higher ISO’s. My favorite lighting mix is when the bride and groom bring in lots of candles for their ceremony.  Then I’ll use my star-cross filter to create a dreamy-romantic look for their ceremony; like this…

 f5.6 @ 1/4 sec., ISO 400

NOTE:  I always do these candle light images with and without the star-cross filter just in case the bride and groom don’t like this effect!

This is one of those churches that had incandescent can lights overhead and florescent lights lighting the back wall at the altar!  When I first saw this I was appalled—you expect fluorescents in a grocery store but in a church?  Well, after some testing (digital made this soooo easy!) I found I really liked the color differences created by the miss-matched color temperatures.

Then there’s the candle lighting always one of my favorite parts of the ceremony…

f5.6 @ 1/15 sec., ISO 400

 This is one of the reasons I attend the wedding ceremony rehearsal.  I want to know and see how the church coordinator is setting up their ceremony events.  The bride and groom usually have no clue how to do these things—like the candle lighting and their first kiss—and the coordinator just tells they when they will be doing these things—Not HOW!

That’s when I jump in.  I want the bride and groom to rehearse these events MY WAY, so that I can photograph them.  So, for the candle lighting I tell them to move slowly and stop and hold when they light the unity candle (2 second rule) and when they place their candles in the stand (2 second rule again). I also tell them where to stand so all the guests can see them do the lighting (and so I can photograph it from the back of the church!). Then there’s the First Kiss—my 2 second rule applies here as well. I tell them I want AT LEAST a 2 second kiss and I have them practice this at the rehearsal.  The family and wedding party always cheer this!  By repeating the 2 second rule more than once there is a better chance they might remember to slow down. 

This technique of mixing candle light with other types of light is a very nice way to capture the atmosphere at the reception as well.  I use it for images of their table decorations, the cake table and their place settings.

f2.8 @ 1/80sec., ISO 3200

I built this image, like most of my images, from the background—forward.  That is I started with that background (the twinkle lights in the tree) and I placed my subject against it. In this instance I rotated the flower goblets, placed the votive candles, and last, placed the flower petals in front.   Just a nice little still-life I “found” at their wedding!

In the final part of this series,  I’ll talk about the, sometimes necessary evil, flash!

’Til next week…should you have questions please don’t hesitate to ask.

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photog., CR., Certified

Training site:  http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com 

AVAILABLE LIGHT WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY Part 1 of 3

A professional photographer uses the best light for each situation and subject.  The challenge of wedding photography is creatively using the many different types of light that you may encounter in an eight to twelve hour wedding.

These are the typical lighting situations/techniques:

1. Natural Light outdoors and Window Light.
2. Available, artificial, interior light (e.g. a mix of incandescent, florescent and candle light).
3. Flash mixed with available light (Dragging the shutter).
4. Flash Only.

As a professional you need to be good at using all four sources of light.  In my photography business ( http://www.thestorytellersUsa.com )doing weddings, these past 25+ years, I learned that 90% of the important images—the images people BUY—are those done with techniques #1,2 and #3.  With the huge increase of capability and quality in professional digital cameras I’d say that this figure is too low.  Outside of the studio, I rarely use technique #4 (flash only) at all!  

My  personal goal on every wedding is to create great portraits of the bride and groom by natural light (outdoors) or by window light if we don’t have an outdoor location.  Many times I’ll use both portrait types to give them some variety.  Why this goal? Simply put these sources of light are the BEST types of light for portraits.

Natural Light Outdoors:

 f2.8 @ 1/500 sec., ISO 1600

One of our techniques to get more variety, in less time, out of each pose is to have my wife Kathi, placed 90 degrees to the side, from my camera position, getting candid images in B&W, while I’m doing color portraits of the couple facing me.

 f5.6 @ 180sec., ISO 400                                  -                   f9.5 @ 1/250 sec., ISO 1600

The color portrait of our bride & groom is typical of my outdoor natural light technique. I placed them in this exact spot—building the portrait from the background forward—so the tree is framing them and that great backlight is illuminating her veil. The B&W image on the right is, again, one of Kathi’s done off to the side while I was getting images of the groom facing me.

Window Light:

This is my favorite light for candids or portraits of the bride.

 f9.5 @ 1/60 sec., ISO 400                    -                         f6.7 @ 1/30 sec., ISO 400

The main difference between candids and portraits by window light is that I don’t show the light source when doing portraits.  Just like in the studio I want my light source close to my subject without it being seen. In a portrait you don’t want a very bright hot spot taking attention away from your subject.

 f13.0 @ 1/4 sec., ISO 400

Window light is fabulous for cake portraits too! If there’s window light available I’ll have the cake moved so I can create this kind of image.  I know it’s a pain and you may get sour looks from the reception staff, but you must be in charge of everything that affects photography.  If that means removing the stacks of places the staff has placed on the cake table (just to make their job easier) and redecorating the cake table (which we almost always do), so be it!

In Part #2 I’ll continue down my list of lighting situations/techniques we must deal with in photographing weddings.  Should you have any questions or comments don’t hesitate…’Til next week…

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman, Certified

Training site:  http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

PHOTOGRAPH CHILDREN BY NATURAL LIGHT; THE BEST LIGHT MONEY CAN’T BUY!

Just a little background for you, so you know who I am…I’ve been doing portraits of families and children in the studio ( http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com ) and outdoors for over 25 years.  As a PPA (Professional Photographers of America) Certified, Master, Craftsman I’m very comfortable and proficient—with many state, national and international awards—in both the studio, using professional flash systems and outside using TAILORED natural light. That being said, by far, my hands down preference is outdoor Natural Lighting for my children and family portraits. It’s not just that I prefer this type of lighting—my clients Love the Look of my style of outdoor lighting and they spend more money when they order. In fact, 90% of our wall portrait sales are from these sessions with an average of at least one 20”x24” portrait. 

So, what do I mean by “Tailored Natural Light”? I don’t just plop my subjects down in an open field (I’ve seen this from Many photographers!) and use that flat omni-directional light with a  blown-out background. No; to get the results I want I must be in control of Where and When we do the session.  I give our clients the choice of one of the eight locations that I know, on a month-by-month basis, when and where each spot is usable.

My personal taste—the style I’m known for—is for my backgrounds to glow naturally with the setting sun. The example below is at one of our favorite fall locations…

Because children are so naturally alive, I want my backgrounds to be alive and glowing as well—if there’s no glow it’s a dead background and I won’t use it. That’s why I don’t use Black Backgrounds in the studio for children or families either, it’s too funeral like for my taste. This philosophy is so important to me that for any portrait session—studio or outdoors I start with the background.

I tell my students that, “I build the portrait from the background…forward”!

The above image shows All of my lighting criteria for the ideal location:

1. Light in the background from the setting sun 1 to 2 hours before sunset.
2. Open shade for my subjects—direct sun shall not touch the mask of their faces.
3. Clear open sky from ONE side of the location.
4. Trees or bushes on the Opposite side; My Gobo.

What the heck is a Gobo?  It’s my light blocking device to create a shadow side on my subjects faces.  This is how you create three dimensionality in a portrait. 

This technique is called: Subtractive Natural Lighting

When I photograph an individual in an open location where the light hits the face equally from both sides, I often use a hand-held Gobo (a 40” Black Flag) to create a shadow side like this…

This is why there is no need for flash outside (while the sun is still above the horizon); there’s too much light and it’s often coming from multiple directions. It’s much easier and you need to spend far less money on equipment to just subtract the unneeded light!

My philosophy of lighting is that you should not introduce a point light source (a speed light) into an environment already lit by a very large soft source (the sky).  They just don’t mix well. In my world the flashes live in the studio where they don’t have to compete with any other sources and I control every nuance of their output.

Don’t hesitate to ask questions for make a comment…’Til next week…

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Certified, Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training site:  http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

CONTROLLING FLARE IN BACKLIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY - PART 2 OF 2

In Part 1 I showed a more radical approach to using backlight with lens flare to create artistic images when people are Not looking at the camera.  Here in Part 2 I will show how I create portraits of…

People Looking at the Camera: This is portraiture, so this is where I exert the utmost in control of  my lighting with these techniques:

• The Sun is Never allowed in my view finder; the direct sun is no longer my light source, open sky light is now my source. The only time I allow direct sun to touch my subjects is maybe 15 to 30 minutes before sunset.
• My outside portraiture starts about 2 hours before sunset with my subjects in the shade.
• There is backlight in my background—if not I use a different location
• I use the most telephoto (the longest focal length) I can possibly use, when doing portraits, in conjunction with the widest aperture possible to create the depth-of-field I require.              

The example below is typical of my subject placement relative to the setting sun.  You can see by the hair light on Dad, and the boys around him, that the sun is pointed towards my lens.  It’s in fact, just out of frame and without additional shading my lens would be flaring badly.

f6.3 @ 1/125 sec., ISO 400, lens at 115mm

• In addition to my lens shade I use a Gobo (or flag) to prevent any lens flare that may occur as the sun sinks close to my frame of view. This is my regular tripod/camera set-up for portraits…

I’m using the Matthews Superflex Arm clamped to my tripod with their Mafer clamp.  The “Flag” is simply a piece of black-core, Super Black, Matt Board.  The reason I need this set-up is that the standard lens shades, especially the “flower-petal” types that are cut-away for use at wide focal lengths, are simply not enough when the sun is low and just out of frame.

In my film days I used some after market bellows lens shades (Lindahl and Sailwind) that were great.  They were extendable (you could even buy extensions to make they longer), so you could adjust them to suit the focal length you were using. I continued to use them when I went digital because the Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 lens I used had a very short lens shade.  

The Exception to No Direct Sun on People.  As I said earlier the only situation where I allow direct sun on my subjects’ faces is that last warm light 15 to 30 minutes before true sunset—especially at the beach. The following image of a couple on the beach is a nice example of this type of light. It was done 30 minutes before true sunset.

f8.0 @ 1/1500 sec., ISO 400

We would start our beach sessions about 1 1/2 hours before sunset starting at areas away from the beach. Then we work our way down to the beach and use that last 30 minutes of gorgeous light doing images of our subjects walking, playing and frolicking in the surf!  Everybody gets wet (especially me) and we all have a great time on these sessions.

’Til next week…As usual, should you have questions or comments don’t hesitate…

Author: Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman, Certified

Training site:  http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

CONTROLLING FLARE IN BACKLIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY - PART 1 OF 2

As a professional photographer I need to be in control of my lighting in any situation whether outside using natural light or in the studio using flash.  

Backlight, especially when outside, is one of my trademarks in portrait photography—Flare is Not! Since I’m often pointing my lens towards the setting sun I go to great lengths in controlling lens flare. Why? Because even a small amount of flare reduces image density and contrast that weakens the subject.  However, these days I see many photographers using so much lens flare that it actually obliterates all subject detail! In my opinion, the results usually just produce an unsellable, amateurish, product.

There are two types of people photography: People looking at the camera and people Not looking at the camera and I handle backlight flare differently with each…

People Not Looking at the Camera: This is storytelling or editorial photography, so this is where I use more backlight, maybe with some flare; a looser artistic approach. In this situation I use the standard lens shade on my 70-200mm lens and try to keep my lens at 200mm, most of the time, to crop out the light source.

The basic rule here: Whether outside or in the studio it’s not a good idea to photograph your light source.  If I can’t crop out the light source in camera I’ll frame the image so I can crop out the over exposed source in Photoshop later.

In the example below I zoomed out, relatively wide, to capture this great backlit scene of the people exiting a large livestock exhibit at the state faire. The backlight was enhanced by the dust they kicked-up as they walked through the barn’s dirt floor. Then I created this pano-like strip with a post capture crop.

In the original un-cropped image you can see whey I say not to photography your light source!

The next image set, also done in that barn at the state faire, show how flare, created by pointing the lens at the setting sun, can really destroy subject density and contrast.  In addition I had all that dust being kicked-up by the horse, which also lowered contrast and enhanced the backlight; so this is what I did:

The full image on the left is being dominated by the sun at the expense of my subject. So, after doing everything I could to bring back subject density and contrast in ACR (with clarity, contrast,black point, exposure, and knocking down highlights) I then cropped in to remove my blown-out light source.  I like the gritty quality that was enhanced by cropping in.  The gritty backlight’s source was a combination of the dust in the air and the high ISO (1600) I had to use in the dim barn. Then all my adjustments in ACR added to the look.

Stay tuned…Next week I’ll address people looking at the camera. Let me know if you have questions.

Author: Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman, Certified

Training site:  http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com