Wall Bounce

Just a quickie....all I want to say is that I was a ceiling bouncer (bounced my external flash off of the ceiling) before in indoor low light situations, but now, I'm trying to be more of a wall bouncer. Way less raccoon eye. If you don't have a big white wall to bounce off of, you can use a reflector or even someone wearing a white shirt:)

This was my first try...too much flash but you get the idea. Just dial it down a bit. Please excuse my model. He wanted to yawn for the picture. Very attractive, Kai. I had also tried doing one with Gary but yawning Kai is more attractive than sick Gary:)

Flash

Gary and I have been using our flashes to bounce light (and sometimes direct flash) in ceremonies and receptions. We have been using studio lights as the direct light when shooting in studio. However, what we have not been working on enough, is our flash photography in sunlight (mostly fill flash). With just two people, we can hold up a diffuser and the shadows disappear. With more than two people, it is not an option!

(Just a break in the writing...this is my sisters' dog, Bailey. He wouldn't sit still either while I practiced with my remote flash)

We have recently purchased some radiopoppers...these are transmitters and receivers that allow your external flash to function in places other than your camera. Fortunately we have our light stands already (we actually have 4 total and use two for our studio) so today I tried it out.

(Please excuse today's model, he wanted to play in the sandbox and I just wanted him to sit still for one minute:)

I promise he really is a happy kid. Anyway, I had the umbrella directly in front of him. I realized afterwards that if I had put it on the opposite side of the sun, I could've balanced out the light a little more. Also, would've worked better if the umbrella was lower. I'm still really working with manual as I love shooting aperture priority, unless in the studio where it's so much easier to shoot manual than outside. It's a bit tougher shooting manual when you have a kid that will only stand there for 2 seconds so you better make sure your lighting is as you want it:)

(the set up)

I think the next effect would be cool at night or at sunset...I placed the flash (without an umbrella) directly behind my sister to get an outline of her 24 week baby belly...

(set up below)

(Pretend my sister isn't wearing her bright pink pants..she'll be so embarrassed that I posted this)

So what I learned from today is that I would like to really work on my fill flash and remote flash photography. Gary and I need a photo date to do that together because with the kids running around and Koen trying to knock over the flash stand...it's hard to focus:)

Always more to learn!!!

White Balance

White balance is the way your camera reads light temperature and colour. Most people just often leave it on AWB (automatic white balance) but you can (and should!) change it indoors, with flash etc. You know when your indoor pictures of people have that yellow/orange tinge? That is why. If you look on your camera for the white balance settings they have cloudy, flash, fluorescent lighting, custom, etc.

The picture above was shot in RAW so I could adjust the white balance in post production. LOVE IT. Shooting in RAW is the greatest change I ever made to my photography but I won't talk about that right now.

This picture is fine but you can see that it was shot with an automatic white balance giving her face an orange/pink/yellow hue.

So find that white balance button on your camera and change it for the situation you find yourself in. See what kind of difference it can make....especially indoors.

Low Light

I've had several people ask me these questions in the last two days so here we go! What do you do when you are shooting inside your house at night? What about in a church for a wedding?

Here are some ways to get better shots when you do not have natural light:

1. External flash which can be bounced off the ceiling. Try not to use direct flash or a built in flash. If direct flash, dial it down. We have a Canon Speedlite 430EX and a 580EX.

2. Shoot on aperture priority and use the lowest f-stop (in layman's terms, the f-stop is how much light is let in and when you have a lower number, it's a higher aperture, letting in more light).

3. To go with #2...one of my favourite lenses is my 50mm f/1.4 (the 50mm f/1.8 is a much cheaper option that would work well but my husband would say to invest in the better lens).

4. Use a higher ISO and deal with the noise/grain in post production. There are programs out there that deal with noise and I can't recommend what is best. I just use the noise slider in Lightroom and it seems to work ok. I have heard good things about Noise Ninja and Noiseware. As mentioned in a previous post, you can get a free 30 day trial of Lightroom and see if it works for you.

5. Shoot in RAW and you can push the exposure up in post production (again, I do it in Lightroom). I don't think I would recommend shooting in RAW if you are starting out. We have just shot jpeg's for a long time and recently switched to RAW.

6. Use a tripod or monopod if shutter speed is not high enough. The Digital Photography School says that your shutter speed denominator should be larger than the focal length of your lens. So, for example, with my 50mm lens, a shutter speed of 1/60th should be adequate. Although, I always try to keep my shutter speed at about 1/125th or faster.

7. Practice, practice, practice:)

Hope there is something helpful in there. If you have any other questions, please ask. I'm not claiming to be an expert but I've def. learned a lot over the past few years.

I've Got Sunshine

Okay, no more song titles after this one. Well, we'll see. No promises.

On a bright sunny day (yay, love summer!), either stand in the shade or full sun, but not under a tree that has spots of light coming through it. This will not look good and will make editing way harder (if you are the editing type). Also, if you are taking pictures of a large group, make sure EVERYONE is in the sun or EVERYONE is in the shade. A diffuser is awesome to use, you just need someone to hold it although you can get some with stands too. It works to soften and even the light out.

Here is a picture we took using a collapsible diffusing panel in the bright, bright sun. One of these panels is about $30.00 off of Ebay and well worth it if you are doing any wedding photography or you just really, really care about your regular family photos:) We have not used it on our kids as we can't even get them to sit still.

The picture on the left shows what happens without a diffuser. Still a beautiful picture but see the sun light on her forehead and cheek? For the picture on the right, I was holding a diffuser. The downfall is that I am short so I cannot hold the diffuser very high and we may have to get an arm extension or something for it. This means the photo needs to be more of a closeup. Fortunately, my husband is tall so we just switch up who's taking the photos at different times.

We could've turned them so that they were perpendicular to the sun and in full light, but then we would have to change positions and the background would then not be ideal.

We have one that can act as a diffuser or reflector as seen on the link. This is beneficial because you can bounce warm golden light onto faces if they are in the shade.

Here's another picture where they were in the bright sun and the only shade was coming through the filtered light of the diffusing panel. Nice. No shadows, soft light.

(Beim shaq, if you are checking this, hope you are okay that I'm posting a picture of your beautiful daughter!)
Finally, time of day is soooooo important. Are you still reading? This is the most important part! Obviously with a wedding there isn't much flexibility as most brides don't want to have their photos done at 8am on their wedding day:) The best time is either starting at sunrise or an hour before sunset. You will definitely have a warmer, softer light. Try it. You'll see.

Any other topics you would like me to cover?