The off camera flash han.., p.5
The Off-Camera Flash Handbook, page 5
No, I’m not referring to the epic love story with a vampire-werewolf-human love triangle (team Jacob, over here). I’m talking about the way that the sky glows that magically saturated blue just after the sunset colors have passed. It’s definitely my preferred “nighttime” shot (versus when the sky is pitch black).
I do advise that you take a look at Scenario 4, “Photographing a Sunset,” before reading this one. It is not completely necessary, but the photography principles are pretty much the same except for one neat little trick that turns the sky blue. Actually, you might want to read Scenario 5, “Making a Magenta Sunset,” as well. It all goes hand-in-hand.
Preferably, you’ll be trying this shot during actual twilight when the sky is blue so you don’t have to do too much to enhance it further. This will make it very easy to use a speedlight since you don’t have the sun to compete with. However, you can make this happen after twilight and even in the middle of the day if you want to. In fact, there’s a scenario on making it look like nighttime in the middle of the day in this book, so anything is possible.
To make this happen you have to play opposite day in the photo world. If you want a blue sky, then you actually need an orange gel to make it happen. It’s much easier to light your subject instead of the entire sky.
If you wanted to “blue” a photograph, you would turn down your white balance to a temperature lower than what the actual light in the situation would generally need to make the colors seem realistic. That’s all great until you put a person in the frame. They’re instantly turned into a very blue Smurf or Smurfette (#80sreference), or a member of the Kree race living on Hala (if you’re an Avenger’s Universe fan like I am). Sounds fun, but not so cool to your clients, especially if one is wearing a white dress that is now blue.
To balance out the color on your subject, you need to add the opposite color light. Think of a color wheel. Colors on the opposite side of the wheel, when put together, cancel out each other’s color and create a white light instead. The opposite of blue, for this purpose, is orange. Light your subjects with a Color Temperature Orange (CTO) gel to make them look like they have regular human skin tones.
The last thing you need to choose is the light modifier for your light. You absolutely can choose to not have one at all. Your light will be more direct and harsh looking. I prefer my twilight photos to have a more subtle light on my subject, so I use either a beauty dish or a softbox. However, I have used a grid if I need to position my light far away from my subject like I did in Figure 3.1. It’s all relative to what you’re trying to accomplish.
FIGURE 3.1
GOAL IMAGE.
CANON 1D X, CANON 24MM 1.4, ISO 500, APERTURE 7.1, SHUTTER 1/250
Step by Step
Position your subjects: Since we’re using one light in this example, I suggest placing your subjects so that their faces are both turned towards the light. Turn their bodies away from the light so that the front of their torsos go into shadow. It creates a slimming effect and more dramatic lighting.
Choose a lens: Lens choice is up to you and your creativity. Choose a lens that will enable you to show the most sky you can in the frame. There’s no point in turning the sky blue (or more blue) if it’s only taking up a very small portion of your picture.
Put modifiers on your light: Put on the Full CTO gel. I usually won’t go more orange than that because the light starts to look too unrealistic, but you are welcome use as much orange as you like. Also use the light modifier of your choice. This may suck up a lot of your light power, so keep that in mind.
Position your light: I typically shoot with my light to the right or left of my subjects at a 45-degree angle. Go even more to the side if you’re looking for something more dramatic.
Set your camera exposure: Set your camera exposure as if you’re taking a landscape photo of the nighttime sky. You may need to use a slow shutter speed. If that’s the case, consider using a tripod, placing your camera on the ground, or holding your breath and stopping your heartbeat to avoid transferring any movement to the camera.
Set the white balance: Because the flash is your main source of light and you’ve covered it with a Full CTO gel, you’ll set your WB to tungsten, or about 3200 Kelvin depending on the original color temperature of your light.
Set your flash power: I suggest setting your flash power to TTL +1 because of how many modifiers your light is passing through. With how TTL works, it theoretically shouldn’t be a problem, but I find that the image can turn out too dark so I compensate for that upfront. If you’re using a manual flash, start in the medium-high power range or use a light meter, and adjust up or down to your liking. Take a test shot and adjust your light to be more or less powerful according to your taste.
Look at your colors and histogram: Nighttime shots can be very deceiving when you’re solely reviewing them on the back of the camera. I’ve fairly often loved a twilight shot on the back of my camera only to find that the backlight was making it look much brighter than it actually was. Take a look at your histogram to make sure that it’s not too dark and that nothing is blown out. Adjust for more or less blue and light power as needed.
OPTIONAL: Add a rim light to the back of your subjects to further separate them from the background. I don’t typically gel this light because I like the blue backlight it gives.
Shot by Shot
FIGURE 3.2
NATURAL LIGHT TWILIGHT SHOT.
CANON 1D X, CANON 24MM 1.4, ISO 500, APERTURE 7.1, SHUTTER 1/250
FIGURE 3.3
ADDING FRONT AND BACK FLASHES.
CANON 1D X, CANON 24MM 1.4, ISO 500, APERTURE 7.1, SHUTTER 1/250
FIGURE 3.4
LOWERED WHITE BALANCE.
CANON 1D X, CANON 24MM 1.4, ISO 500, APERTURE 7.1, SHUTTER 1/250
FIGURE 3.5
STRAIGHT OUT OF CAMERA IMAGE.
CANON 1D X, CANON 24MM 1.4, ISO 500, APERTURE 7.1, SHUTTER 1/250
FIGURE 3.6
YOU CAN ADD AN OPTIONAL RIM LIGHT.
CANON 1D X II, CANON 24MM 1.4, ISO 1600, APERTURE 3.5, SHUTTER 1/100
Potential Problems
There some potential issues that you can run into with twilight images. Here are the a few that I have come across:
Anything else in the photo that’s not lit by your CTO light will turn blue (note the blue building in the background of the first image in this chapter. That building is actually white). Avoid other objects in your shot by crouching low and shooting up toward the sky.
You’re lighting the subject, but some of the other landscape elements won’t be lit and therefore will turn into silhouettes. Shoot at a lower angle to clean up your sky, or add CTO-gelled lights to your setup to light up other parts of the landscape.
Check your histogram! I can’t emphasize this enough. Do not trust the back of your camera!
Watch for motion blur if you’re using a slow shutter speed. Even if you’re locked down on a tripod, your subjects can move to create a bit of a ghosting effect. Or, do that on purpose and have fun with it!
Practical Uses
This is a great technique for enhancing the blue night sky that’s already there, or creating one if it’s not there. Getting a handle on color shifting techniques like this will do wonders for your photographic knowledge to make you feel more in control of situations. Give it a try with one light first and build up from there. The two-light method (adding the optional rim light) is my go-to lighting setup for nighttime shots. It’s a safety net that I have for any job that gives me confidence and creates an image that my clients look forward to having (and printing at a large size).
SCENARIO 4
Photographing a Sunset
How to take a portrait with a crazy awesome sky.
GEAR NEEDED:
Camera + Trigger
Lens of any focal length (I enjoy a 50mm for a landscape sunset shot)
Off-camera flash
Light stand
Light-softening modifier
Second Off-camera flash (optional)
GOAL IMAGE
Ever have a couple that’s drooling over the sunset on their wedding day but all you can produce is either a picture of them properly exposed or a photo of the sky with them silhouetted in it? Me too, my friend. Me too. That ends for you today. Taking sunset pictures is easier than you think (Figure 4.1)!
To start off, you’ll want to think about the light modifier you choose to light your subject. You can choose to not have one at all, and your light will be more direct and harsh looking. I like my sunset shots to have a soft light on my subject without that light hitting the ground. I use either a beauty dish or a softbox, but typically not an umbrella. The first two options have stronger edges to them, which will let me point the light with more intention. An umbrella is more open, and won’t be able to do this as easily. Light will almost certainly spill onto the ground, which can be distracting in a sunset picture.
FIGURE 4.1
GOAL IMAGE. THIS IMAGE WAS EDITED IN LIGHTROOM.
THE STRAIGHT-OUT-OF-CAMERA IMAGE WILL APPEAR LATER IN SECTION.
CANON 1DX II, CANON 35MM 1.2, ISO 800, APERTURE 3.5, SHUTTER 1/320
Step by Step
Choose a lens: Even for landscapes and sunsets, I like using longer lenses. If I have enough space to back up, I’ll use a 50mm or 85mm lens for this shot. If you don’t have that kind of space, go for a wider focal length so you can see the sky in the photo.
Put a modifier on the light: Use the light modifier of your choice on the light.
Position the light: Place the light as close as possible to your subject so that it’s a bigger, and therefore softer, light source for your subject. I suggest feathering the light slightly in front of your subject so that the edges of the light just kiss them slightly. If you have a modeling light, turn it on so you can see exactly where the light is hitting your subject.
Set the camera exposure: Set your camera exposure as if you’re taking a landscape photo of the sunset. Some photographers like to go a half or full stop darker, but that’s up to you. In general, I set my shutter speed no higher than my max sync speed of 1⁄250, and then I set my ISO as low as I can while maintaining a mid-range aperture like f/5.6. My goal is to keep my subjects nice and sharp, and having a slightly greater depth of field than I typically shoot with during the day helps with that. Plus, since it’s darker when you’re taking this photo, it helps to have a higher aperture in case you’re not perfectly focused.
Set your white balance: Because the flash is the light source for your subject, set your WB to daylight, flash, or 5600 depending on the color temperature of your light.
Set your flash power: Find your power setting by setting your flash to TTL and adjusting from there. If you’re using a manual flash, start in the medium power range and adjust up or down to your liking, or use a light meter. Take a test shot and adjust your light to be more or less powerful according to your taste.
Look at your histogram: Sunset shots can be deceiving when you’re reviewing them on the back of your camera because of the backlighting. Use your histogram to determine if you have a good exposure rather than going by the image on the back of the camera.
OPTIONAL: Add a rim light to the back of your subjects to further separate them from the background.
Shot by Shot
FIGURE 4.2
NATURAL LIGHT SUNSET.
CANON 1DX II, CANON 35MM 1.2, ISO 640, APERTURE 2.5, SHUTTER 1/400
FIGURE 4.3
THIS PHOTO WAS TAKEN WITH AN ADDED PROFOTO B2, OCF BEAUTY DISH, AND OCF WITH TTL. I LOWERED THE ISO TO DARKEN THE SKY FOR A LESS GRAINY IMAGE.
CANON 1DX II, CANON 35MM 1.2, ISO 320, APERTURE 2.5, SHUTTER 1/400
FIGURE 4.4
I LOWERED THE LIGHT POWER AND POSITIONED THE COUPLE. I RAISED MY APERTURE TO GET A GREATER DEPTH OF FIELD AND RAISED THE ISO TO COMPENSATE FOR THE EXPOSURE.
CANON 1DX II, CANON 35MM 1.2, ISO 500, APERTURE 3.5, SHUTTER 1/400
FIGURE 4.5
I DECIDED I LIKED THE SKY OVER TO THE LEFT SIDE OF THE IMAGE BEST, SO I NEEDED TO MOVE THE LIGHT FURTHER AWAY FROM THE COUPLE AND BOOST THE LIGHT POWER TO COMPENSATE FOR IT. I RAISED THE ISO AND LOWERED THE SHUTTER SPEED BECAUSE IT WAS GETTING DARKER.
IN HINDSIGHT, THERE WAS TOO MUCH LIGHT SPILL ON THE BOTTOM LEFT OF THE IMAGE; I SHOULD’VE TILTED THE LIGHT UP MORE, AND I HAD TO FIX THAT IN POST. IT ALSO WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER TO GO SLIGHTLY LOWER ON THE SHUTTER SPEED TO GET OUT OF HIGH SPEED SYNC. THEN I COULD’VE LOWERED MY ISO FOR A CLEANER IMAGE. I BRIGHTENED THE SHADOW AREAS IN POST SINCE THERE WAS NOTHING I COULD DO ABOUT THAT IN-CAMERA WITHOUT LOSING DETAIL IN THE SKY.
CANON 1DX II, CANON 35MM 1.2, ISO 800, APERTURE 3.5, SHUTTER 1/320
FIGURE 4.6
BEHIND-THE-SCENES SHOT.
Potential Problems
One of the biggest problems during sunset shots is focusing. It’s darker, so most of the time it’ll be harder to focus on your subject. For this scenario, and many others, I highly recommend using a flash that has a modeling light. You can turn it on and have a much easier job focusing on your subject without affecting your exposure.
When you first attempt an off-camera-flash-lit sunset shot, you’ll likely be awed by the outcome— and you should be! One mistake I see a lot of photographers make is blowing out the light on the ground. The light from your off-camera flash shouldn’t hit the ground too much, but you especially don’t want it to make the ground so bright that it’s brighter than your subject or the sunset (which sounds crazy, but it’s really easy to do, especially if you’re shooting on a light- colored ground like sand or a sidewalk). Our eyes go to the brightest part of the photograph first. To make sure that it’s not the ground, tilt your flash upward until it’s not hitting the ground so prominently, or use a grid as your light modifier.
Other Techniques
Changing the color of the sunset: I explain how to do this in Scenario 5, “Making a Magenta Sunset.” Master this first, then head over there for more ideas on color.
Use a slow shutter speed: If you’re photographing a sunset on a beach and you can see the water in the photograph, you can have a lot of fun experimenting with a slow shutter speed. You’ll want a tripod for this, and a subject that can stand nice and still. Set your exposure with a shutter speed around 1⁄10 of a second or lower. This will allow you to capture the motion of the waves, or maybe a bride’s veil, with a dreamy, motion-blurred effect. I’ve actually never been in the position with a client to do this myself, but check out Los Angeles wedding photographer Michael Anthony, who has done some beautiful images with this added technique.
Add a rim light: Get your initial exposure first with the front flash balanced. Then, add a light, probably with a grid on it, behind your subject or behind them and off to one side. It separates them from the background quite nicely, like you see in Figure 4.7. It’s optional to leave the starburst of light in the picture.
FIGURE 4.7
CANON 1DX, CANON 35MM 1.4, ISO 500, APERTURE 7.1, SHUTTER 1/200
SCENARIO 5
Making a Magenta Sunset
Make magic light every night.
GEAR NEEDED:
Camera + Trigger
Lens of any focal length
Off-camera flash
Light stand
Light-softening modifier
1 or more green gels
Second Off-camera flash (optional)
GOAL IMAGE
Everyone wants that magical sunset light and color. While I can’t promise you the perfect clouds to go along with it, I can tell you how to make the sky appear to be that beautiful magenta color without swapping in Photoshop (Figure 5.1).
This concept is the same as creating a nighttime look during the day, making a fiery sky, or enhancing twilight photos—but with different colors. Just like those examples, which you can read about in other chapters, you have to play the opposite color game here. If you want to blue your sky like twilight by using a light with a blue gel, you need to use the opposite color (yellow/orange) light on your subject so they don’t look like Smurfs. If you light your killer sunset sky with a magenta light to add color, you need to put the opposite color light on your subjects so they don’t look like they have really bad sunburns. What’s the opposite color of magenta? Green. Green like the color your competition’s skin will turn after they see this post on Instagram.
The other thing you need to think about is the light modifier you choose for your light. You absolutely can choose to not have one at all, and your light will be more direct and harsh looking. Personally, I like my sunset shots to have a more subtle light on my subject, so I use either a beauty dish or a softbox. They both create a diffused-light quality and the edges of those modifiers, as opposed to an umbrella, let me better control where the light is directed and where it falls.
FIGURE 5.1
GOAL IMAGE. EDITED IN PHOTOSHOP TO BRIGHTEN SHADOWS AND INCREASE VIBRANCY. THE STRAIGHT-OUT-OF-CAMERA IMAGE APPEARS LATER IN THE SECTION.
CANON 1DX, CANON 85MM 1.2, ISO 200, APERTURE 2.5, SHUTTER: 1/800
Step by Step
Position your subjects: Since we’re using one light in this example, I suggest placing your subjects so that their faces are turned towards the light.
