fill-flash Archives - Storyteller

Thinking and Shooting Cinematically with Fujifilm X-E2

by Stanley LearyJanuary 20, 2015May 8, 2024fill-flash

Fujifilm X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 1250, ƒ/8, 1/125

Learning to think “Cinematically” when framing your images means thinking about the end user. Today, more than ever, most of my audience will experience my images online through the internet.

Computer displays with aspect ratios wider than 4:3 are also called widescreens. Widescreen computer displays are typical of the 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio. In 2008, the computer industry moved from 4:3 and 16:10 to 16:9.

Most of today’s audience working on a computer newer than 2008 use widescreen, with a 16:9 ratio.

Now, when shooting for print, I am considering magazine covers.

Fujifilm X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 1250, ƒ/8, 1/125

This vertical photo would work much better for the cover of a typical magazine than the horizontal one.

Could you fill the frame horizontally? Horizontal is even more true with video. Turn your smartphone horizontally when making movies. If you don’t, the phone will shrink the image to fit the horizontal limits of the screen.

So, here are two things you are doing to make an inferior photo/video. First, traditional computer screens display the images even more minor than if someone shot them horizontally; second, you give up visual impact.

Fujifilm X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 1000, ƒ/8, 1/125

Learn to see three-dimensional. Look around the frame edge to edge and then look front to back for layering.

How would this look on a computer screen without cropping

Composition Tip

When photographing like a tourist where you want to capture your friends and family at the different locations you are visiting, here are some quick tips to compose a more compelling photo.

Start with the background. Compose first what your subjects will stand in front of for the photo. Then, fill the frame to the edges as I have done here.
Have subjects closer to the camera and not close to the background.
Move the subjects around to find the best place to see them and the site. Be careful that they don’t block so much of the background that you no longer know where they are for the photo.

Fujifilm X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/4.5, 1/20, -1EV, flash 0 EV Slow Sync

Here is another tip when shooting at dusk or night. Underexpose the background by -1 EV. That is one stop under. I do this by dialing the EV dial and keeping the camera in Aperture priority and Auto ISO. Then add flash. I didn’t compensate with the flash here, but you may need to experiment with it. The flash pulls the subject out from the background using the light value. However, because the flash is on Slow Sync, the camera will figure out the best exposure without the flash, and then the flash will just be added enough using the flash’s TTL function. Cropping I recommend filling the frame if you put your photos into a typical video. Therefore, you may end up with a little crop top and bottom of the standard 4:3 ratio camera to the specific 16:9 ratio for video. If you start cropping photos to dimensions other than 16:9 or 4:3 to something more like a square, you will be giving up space on the screen, which will, for the most part, diminish the photo’s impact.

I suggest learning how to fill the frame of your camera and not rely on post-production.

“God gave you two eyes side by side, not top and bottom, so learn to compose for the eyes.” Robin Nelson.

Make your photos “DIFFERENT” at events, or don’t get hired.

by Stanley LearyMay 2, 2014September 17, 2022fill-flash / Off Camera Flash

Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 100, ƒ/10, 1/100, off-camera flash using the Neewer TT850 flash & Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger

I get hired a great deal to cover events. Of course, everyone with a camera could cover these events, but I make my photos look different every chance.

Here in these photos, I am using off-camera flash to help improve the images. The sun is behind the lady on the left in this first photo, hitting the man’s face. The sun behind puts them in a silhouette, and the way I fixed this was to have my assistant hold the flash on a monopod up high, pointing down at them.

Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 100, ƒ/7.1, 1/50, off-camera flash using the Neewer TT850 flash & Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger

The flash is off to my right, pointing at the ladies on the left. You can see again that I would be creating a silhouette of their faces without this flash. Had I used a flash on the camera, I would have flattened the features. However, by having the assistant hold the light up high, I still get some shape to the cheekbones of the ladies.

Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 640, ƒ/5.6, 1/200, off-camera flash using the Neewer TT850 flash & Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger

Here the assistant is bouncing the flash off the ceiling inside the room. I am just raising the light level inside so that the outside is balanced and not washed out with no details.

Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 2000, ƒ/5.6, 1/40, off-camera flash using the Neewer TT850 flash on S2 [slave setting] with the Nikon SB900 and SB800 on Pocketwizard TT5 triggered by the TT1 and AC3 to control their output.

Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 1250, ƒ/5.6, 1/100, off-camera flash using the Neewer TT850 flash on S2 [slave setting] with the Nikon SB900 and SB800 on Pocketwizard TT5 triggered by the TT1 and AC3 to control their output.

Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 800, ƒ/5.6, 1/100, off-camera flash using the Neewer TT850 flash on S2 [slave setting] with the Nikon SB900 and SB800 on Pocketwizard TT5 triggered by the TT1 and AC3 to control their output.

The room has three flashes, all syncing with the camera. I have the Nikon SB-900 and Nikon SB-800 working on TTL and triggered by the PocketWizard system. The Neewer TT850 has a 2nd flash setting to work with TTL flashes. The light in the room was so mixed with different color temperatures that I wanted to clean this up with the flash.

Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 10000, ƒ/7.1, 1/100, off-camera flash using the Neewer TT850 flash & Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger

Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 640, ƒ/2.8, 1/25, off-camera flash using the Neewer TT850 flash & Neewer 433MHz Wireless 16 Channel Flash Remote Trigger

With all these photos, the camera was on Aperture priority, and I am winking the flash slightly brighter than the ambient light. Often the same light value or + 1/2 stop is more incredible to clean up the color and give a little pop to the images.

I know that if anyone were shooting with the iPhone or point-and-shoot camera, they would not be getting this quality of images. They are different. Having your photos look better than a smartphone camera is very important if you want to be working, because if my pictures didn’t look other than what they can make with their cameras, why hire you?

How did your Easter family photo come out yesterday?

by Stanley LearyApril 21, 2014September 18, 2022fill-flash

Fujifilm X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 200, ƒ/8, 1/180, flash is set for -1 EV

If you look closely, you will notice another family on the opposite side taking photos. The location for them is because they get direct sunlight. By standing on this side of the cross, we were not staring into the sun, and our faces were in the shade. So all I did was add fill-flash with the pop-up camera flash on the camera. While not my preferred placement of a flash did work OK for this family photo after church.

We were taking the photo at 12:34 p—one of the worst times to take a portrait of people outside.

Fujifilm X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 5000, ƒ/5, 1/500

Last Thursday, our family went to the Alive After Five event that we have from April till next fall every Thursday in downtown Roswell. After we ate at Mac McGee’s, I strolled around and found these two Union Soldiers. I took this photo without a flash. The main difference is the time of day I took the picture. I took this photo at 7:17 pm and the sunset at 8:10 pm. Due to the sun being below the buildings, there was no direct sunlight—just a tent light effect. The whole sky is lighting the subject with equal light from all directions. Even under the hat, the guy’s face is OK without a flash.

With off-camera flash

Without flash

Remember that when taking pictures outside, especially during the midday sunlight, be sure and use a flash. However, don’t think of flash inside as much as outside.

Want better posed group photos, pick better locations

by Stanley LearyOctober 25, 2013September 29, 2022fill-flash / Group photos

Bulloch Hall Plantation is in Historic Roswell, GA

Location, Location, Location

Like real estate, your photos will look better when you choose your location. Springtime is the time of year for holiday parties, school dances, and even weddings. So while going into your yard and finding a clean background is a great idea, picking a location in your town that stands out may be a better idea.

Here you can see all the parents watching as I take the group and a couple of pictures. Looking closely, you will see my one Alienbees B1600 with the original vagabond battery by Pau Buff. It is to the far right in back [yellow head].

Another tip is to use a tripod. There are a couple of good reasons to d this. First, your photos are sharper when the camera is rock steady still. Second, if one person in a group photo blinks and another person in another photo, you can always copy and paste one person into the other image using Pho Shop. This way, everyone will look good in one shot.

Centennial Junior/Senior Prom Bullock Hall

Fill Flash

The subjects are all backlighted by the sun in all these photos. Unless you use a flash, you will have difficulty holding the background and their faces to get a good exposure. I metered the scene: ISO 100, ƒ/8, and 1/50. I then set the flash to ƒ/5.6 or one-stop under whatever I would have metered for the overall scene.

Here I composed a wider shot to show Bulloch Hall, where the grandparents of President Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, and great grandmother of Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady from 1934-1945, lived.

I like the closer composition over the wide shot. But I did both in case couples preferred one over the other.

Whenever my family is with me, and I have gone to this much trouble for photos, I always get a picture of them.

Flash or not to flash

by Stanley LearyJune 25, 2013fill-flash

Nikon D4, 70-200mm, ISO 10000, ƒ/2.8, 1/800 with Nikon SB900 on camera flash fired at slow sync

While at first glance this photo is quite acceptable the main light is now my flash and not the stage lighting.

Nikon D4, 70-200mm, ISO 2500, ƒ/2.8, 1/100

The second shot is available light and shot only 1 minute prior to the flash shot. This is around 9 pm and on one of the longest days of the year, so there is still some sunlight as the sun sets.

There is not as much “Stage Light” as there will be after the sun sets.

Nikon D4, 70-200mm, ISO 2200, ƒ/2.8, 1/320 with fill flash from SB900.

Here I went to the other side of the stage and shot a similar comparison of the flash and no flash.

Nikon D4, 70-200mm ISO 12,800, ƒ/2.8, 1/400

The one reason I was using the flash to begin with is the singer Marc Broussard’s hat is casting a nasty shadow and most of the time his eyes are hard to see. You can see the shadow in the second available light shot.

While the flash fixed this issue as long as it was on my camera it just ruined the mood of the stage lighting.

Nikon D4, 70-200mm, ISO 12800, ƒ/2.8, 1/100

While I now decided to shoot the rest of the performance with available light I now had another problem the light on the lead singer’s face only looked good occasionally Most all the time the light looked like this when he sang. You see a bright spot on his chin and his eyes are in a shadow.

Nikon D4, 70-200mm, ISO 12800, ƒ/2.8, 1/80

Now to get the best photos of the lead singer Marc Broussard I had to pick the best moments where the light and the emotion came together. I think I have this here when Marc looked up into the light and also the emotion in his face worked really well.

Now you know why so often a spot light is used to follow the main character on a stage with stage lighting. You also can see why many theaters have foot lights. These are lights on the floor of the stage at the front aimed up at the actors to get rid of the shadows under hats and those with deep set eyes.

When there is still not enough light at ISO 12800

I have been in the darkest places like Swayze’s Venue in Marietta. Here the punk band moved around so much that I needed flash.

Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 4000, ƒ/5.6, 1/60

Here is an earlier post in case you want to see when I do use flash and how I used it off camera: https://picturestoryteller.com/2012/08/nikon-d4-iso-12800-still-not-enough.html.

How I covered Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief

by Stanley LearyNovember 20, 2012November 26, 2018fill-flash / photojournalism

This is just some of the damage to homes by Hurricane Sandy in Union Beach, New Jersey that I saw last week while covering a companies work there.

Ken is one of my mentors helping me with business practices.

My good friend and fellow photographer Ken Touchton, pointed out to me how we are called on day to day to cover the ordinary and make it look extraordinary.

Photographer’s on tour

The camera manufacturers and even our professional organizations often have photographers who create some cool photos doing their “dog and pony show” at seminars and workshops. Many of these photographers create these incredible images which help them to be professional speakers and lead workshops.

My hats off to these guys. They do an incredible job and create some outstanding images. The reality is that in my lifetime I will most likely have very few if any of these types of photo assignments.

Lately those photographers on tour are no longer using dogs and ponies. Now they have elephants, dancers and just find the most exotic people and places to capture. It does make sense that to have a great photograph start with great material.

It would be fun to have the budget to hire a few exotic animals, a few models and fly them all to an exotic location. I also think it would be cool to have all that equipment to light the subjects and make a truly memorable photo.

However, Ken and I are often called on by companies to tell the stories of normal every day folks doing what may visually appear to be mundane, but are truly extraordinary.

This is some of my coverage of Chick-fil-A cooking sandwiches that they do everyday and giving them to people in need.

Chick-fil-A has a food truck that they use to distribute sandwiches at large events. Here it is in Howell, NJ where they were distributing sandwiches to Hurricane Sandy victims, first responders and volunteers.

In total over four days, Chick-fil-A’s food truck produced and distributed 13,650 Chick-fil-A Sandwiches to folks in northern New Jersey and Staten Island.

Eddy Taylor from Chick-fil-A gives sandwiches to workers helping to clean up Union Beach, New Jersey. (Nikon D4, 14-24mm, Nikon SB-900 shot on TTL on camera on slow sync. Camera settings ISO 100, ƒ/8 and 1/250)

My objective was to capture Chick-fil-A personnel giving away sandwiches to those affected by Hurricane Sandy. When in a disaster I don’t get to scout the area and then plan which models to bring in for the photo shoot. I don’t get to come in and light the scene to make this pop as I might do in an advertising photo shoot. This is finding moments as they happen to tell a story. These moments were in short one to two minute intervals of the volunteers giving out sandwiches. It doesn’t take long to give them a sandwich and give a quick word of encouragement.

The hardest part of the coverage was showing people receiving sandwiches that you could tell by the visuals alone they were part of a disaster. I needed the food distribution and I needed to show this was about Hurricane Sandy. The photo above comes very close to communicating the two in the same photo.

(Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 100, ƒ/8 and 1/160)

One of my favorite photos from my coverage isn’t necessarily the best storytelling shot, but I love the motion of the Chick-fil-A personnel walking down the street of Union Beach, NJ where there is major damage. You can see all the debris stacked behind them that had to be cleared off the roads for vehicles to get into this neighborhood.

Chick-fil-A delivered free sandwiches to the Union Beach command post where they had setup a dining room in a tent to feed all the emergency responders. Here the State Troopers from all over the country are taking a lunch break. (Nikon D4, 14-24mm. Camera settings ISO 8000, ƒ/8 and 1/100 and AUTO White Balance)

Most of the time in disasters people are in the centers where people can come to get clothing, counseling or information about their homes. While the photo above of food being distributed to the first responders communicates the food distribution it lacks the context of Hurricane Sandy without some text.

While you can put a series of photos together on a page to help tie the communication package into a more cohesive package, the photojournalist is trying to do this with one photo, because often that is all the space they have.

Running and Gunning

In all of these photos I was what I call running and gunning. As a photojournalist I don’t stop people and ask them to do it again. You keep the camera up to your eye a lot of the time and quickly fire shots as they come up.

Now when I shoot for a company where we need certain things to look a certain way it is OK to make changes–it isn’t photojournalism it is advertising or corporate communications. However, my photojournalism background helped me stay focused during my coverage. Chick-fil-A was on a timetable of delivering these sandwiches to people in less than 20 minutes.

They know that food safety is important and also gives the customer the best experience. If you look closely you will notice they are on the move in giving these sandwiches out to people.

(Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 100, ƒ/5 and 1/500 No Flash)

I wanted to show how at times the photojournalist will use on camera flash in a fast moving situation to help hold some of the shadow details. In the photo above I was believing this would work OK since the skin tones of the people getting sandwiches was light. When the darker skinned volunteers came up and they were all backlit I didn’t want to risk not seeing their faces so I put on the Nikon SB 900 and using the high speed sync mode and slow-sync was able to pop a little fill flash ensure I was capturing people’s faces.

Another side note you can see how I altered the frame in the two photos. I don’t need multiple shots with just the people changing, I wanted to tell more about the location, but had no time to move around. I just composed to show how the devastation to the left of the house was there in the second photo.

By the way we were in this location for less than five minutes. We had hot sandwiches that needed to be delivered to more places.

(Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 100, ƒ/5 and 1/500 with Nikon SB-900 on camera fill flash on slow-sync)

The Results

You might wonder how all this went for Chick-fil-A. Here is one person’s response to the call center for Chick-fil-A:

Customer Comments: The customer stated that he and his family are
survivors of Hurricane Sandy. He stated that the Howell Restaurant
delivered Chicken Sandwiches to people in his area. He informed me that
the Red Cross has not even made it into his area yet but Chick-fil-A has
come two times. He and his family really appreciate the gesture.

It is due to all my training as a photojournalist that companies need me. They cannot turn the hurricane disaster coverage into an advertising location photo shoot. They need a photographer that can in any situation come away with photos that communicate.

Ken Touchton and I are going to the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar next week the first weekend in December. It is their 40th anniversary and Ken was there 40 years ago. I am also one of the organizers for the Southwestern Photojournalism Seminar that is March 1 – 3, 2012. Both of these are great places to learn from storytellers and ask them how they handle situations.

Many of the speakers are photojournalists who also shoot commercially. Maybe the reason some of them make great advertising photographers is they know what looks authentic and have a knack for helping creating those impactful moments.

I still advise anyone starting in this industry to try and get a job with a small town newspaper. The experience gained from shooting day to day assignments will help you know how to get the best possible photo in any situation. It will also help you appreciate the ability to plan and do preproduction to get those advertising shots where you are in control.

Studio strobes or Hot Shoe Flash outside

by Stanley LearyJune 5, 2012fill-flash / Off Camera Flash / studio strobes

Walk and Talk with Hot Shoe Flash

One of my favorite shots to do for organizations is doing what I call the “Walk and Talk.” This is where I have two or more people walk next to each other towards me.

I encourage them to barely feel each other next to each other. This keeps them from walking further and further from each other. The closeness to each other also helps communicate they are friends. This is using the body language of touching or almost touching to help communicate their relationship.

Now here are examples I did while teaching in Kona, Hawaii in February this year. These first ones I was showing the students how to use two hot shoe flashes as fill lights. I have included the assistant carrying the lights for these examples to show you what they are doing as well.

I am talking to the subjects and explaining what I want them to do. No flash went off here.

The photo assistant is carrying a Nikon SB900 and a Nikon SB800. They are zoomed out to 200mm for the SB900 and 120mm with the SB800. This helps the light go farther, but also keeps the light mainly on their faces.

Notice the assistant must be pretty close to the subjects for the flash to work properly. In addition to the flashes I am using the RadioPoppers PX system to help relay the infrared signal from the Nikon SU800 on my camera to the flashes.

We switched out the subjects so everyone could experience what it felt like doing this exercise and see it being done.

While showing the class how to use the hot shoe flashes there were a few times where I got ahead of the flashes recycling. By not waiting long enough between flashes (2 sec) the flash wouldn’t fire.

Walk and Talk with Studio Strobe

To help everyone see the difference in flashes I also used an AlienBee 1600 being powered by a Vagabond Mini Lithium battery. I was borrowing the Photo Schools radio remotes, but most of the time I now use Pocket Wizard Mini TT1 Transmitter on my Nikon Camera and have the Pocket Wizard Plus II transceiver on the flashes.

The MiniTT1 will let me shoot at 1/500 sync speed rather than just 1/250.

Now another thing you will notice that is different in these examples is how far away the photo assistant is from the subjects.

The AlienBee 1600 has the reflector that comes with them on it. So notice that the flash is lighting more of the subjects. I can change that by just adding a grid, but didn’t for these photos.

The flash is set at about 1/8 power. I can almost shoot on motor drive setting for these photos. The reason is the recycle time is so short.

When I shot these photos not a single time did the flash not fire. I think that when it comes to getting the best expression you need to be able to shoot at any moment and not just when your flashes are ready.

I would highly encourage using the studio strobe over the hot shoe flash for this reason alone.

Just like I did above, I talk to the subjects and do a few test shots before I have them walk towards me.

After we did some tests to get them moving I then had the start over where they are talking to one another.

As you can see it doesn’t take long for people to relax and the photos to look pretty natural. I would have changed one thing in these photos. I would have had the assistant put the light on a light stand and get the light up a little higher to help avoid the glare in the glasses.

This is just to show that the flashes fired every time.

Now look at the photos where the flashes didn’t fire. Besides there faces in the shade the color on their faces isn’t as good. I think that using flashes helps you get the best skins tones outside possible.

Go out and try this yourself.

Often when I am flying around the world it is easier to carry the Nikon SB900 and a Nikon SB800 than carrying the AlienBee 1600 and the Vagabond Mini Lithium battery. So, depending on the situation I find myself in I can still get the photo with either system.

Off Camera Flash Examples

by Stanley LearyApril 14, 2012fill-flash / Off Camera Flash / White Balance

Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 100, 1/250, f/4.5, Off-Camera Fill Flash with Alien Bees 1600 and fired with Pocket Wizard Plus System.

Walk and Talk

This past week I was privileged to photograph on a college campus. I was combining two things that give me some of my best photos. By combining off-camera flash and having people moving I get two great results; great expressions and good color.

The very first thing I started with on the assignment was a group photo, but the best results as far as expressions was not when they were standing still, but when they all walked towards me. Now mind you I almost lost my photo assistant a few times. He was having to walk backwards and keep the same distance from the group constant. This was to ensure I had good exposures.

Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 100, 1/250, f/6.3, Off-Camera Fill Flash with Alien Bees 1600 and fired with Pocket Wizard Plus System.

Since I had a good group and we finished early with the group photo, I then broke them up into small groups and then had each of those do what I call walk and talks. We assign one person to talk and the others to listen, not just with their ears but their eyes. So, the person talks. The others listen and then they all are walking towards me.

Thankfully we didn’t have the assistant ever fall this week while walking backwards, carrying lights and watching the subjects to be sure the light was on them.

Nikon D3S, 14-24mm, ISO 200, 1/50, f/5.6, Off-Camera Fill Flash with 2 – Alien Bees 1600 and fired with Pocket Wizard Plus System.

Buildings

I love shooting buildings at dusk. The photo here of the building and the students walking is at 7:55 p.m. and sunset is at 7:58 p.m. I love this digital camera. You can see all the information, like what time I shot the photos. While the sky looked better at about 20 minutes after sunset, we had to let the students go to another commitment.

We had them walk through the scene a few times. The building is being lighted by my two Alien Bees 1600 on full power. They are being powered by the Vagabond batteries made by Paul Bluff.

Nikon D3S, 14-24mm, ISO 200, 1/1.6, f/11, Off-Camera Fill Flash with 2 – Alien Bees 1600 and fired with Pocket Wizard Plus System. The flash sync was set to Rear Sync to get the car lights behind the car and not in front of it.

The photo above was taken at 8:24 p.m. and as you can see the sky is much darker blue, but not black. I use the Alien Bees to light up the building since this campus didn’t have lights on their buildings at night.

Fill flash in the woods

Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 250, 1/80, f/9, Off-Camera Fill Flash with Alien Bees 1600 and fired with Pocket Wizard Plus System.

One of the ugliest lighting is under trees. You get a green cast due to the light going through the leaves. What I did here is used the off-camera flash with the Alien Bees 1600 to kick in light from the front to mainly offset the green light. I also benefited from having light in their face rather than raccoon eyes. Raccon eyes are caused by top lighting, which you see during the day and gives you dark circles around the eyes.

Fill flash in direct sunlight

Nikon D3S, 14-24mm, ISO 200, 1/200, f/13, Off-Camera Fill Flash with Alien Bees 1600 and fired with Pocket Wizard Plus System.

Why use a flash in direct sunlight? You need to avoid raccoon eyes and also if you want you can help drive the audience to the subject by the use of the light as I have done here.

Fill flash inside

Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 3200, 1/125, f/6.3, Off-Camera Fill Flash with Nikon SB900 with the lightest green gel that comes with the system. Also, I am using the Radio Poppers radio transmitters with the Nikon SU-800 and Nikon SB900 so that I do not have to be in the line of sight for the infrared to work in triggering the flash.

When I am inside and people are working like this lady on her computer, you are just as prone to get raccoon eyes as outside. Why? The reason is the fluorescent lights above her are acting like the noon day sun. I have the photo assistant hold the flash and direct it to her face. The Nikon SB900 is zoomed to 200mm and therefore is light using a grid on studio strobes. It is directing the light to just her face.

To balance the flash to the room lights I used the lighter green gel that comes with the Nikon SB900 system. To get the correct lighting I took a custom light reading by using the ExpoDisc and had the assistant point the flash to the lens when I did this. I tried both green gels that came with the camera and the lighter of the two gave the best result in balancing the color with the rest of the room.

The sync speed was set to Slow-Sync. I shot the photos in Aperture Priority on Auto ISO with the maximum shutter speed set to 1/100 so I would avoid the color shift that happens with fluorescent lights.

Ambient Light and Flash Combined

by Stanley LearyJanuary 31, 2012May 1, 2024fill-flash

Caption: Available Light only (Nikon D3S, ISO 12,800, f/5.6, 1/40, 28-300mm)

Hey Stanley, can you back up and explain this Ambient Light and under-stops thing you mentioned in that last post?

A few people wrote to me asking similar questions. So, let’s delve into ambient light and under—or over-exposure with a flash.

Step One: Get An Ambient Reading

It would be best to have a starting place, which will be your base exposure. Everything else will relate to this exposure. I, too, have a picture of the top of my Nikon D3S with a 28-300mm Nikkor lens. I just pointed across the room for this example. With SO 200, I have an f/3.5 aperture at a 1/10 shutter speed. This is my Ambient Reading with no flash.

Step Two: Use your Nikon SB900

You can use whatever hotshoe flash your manufacturer needs, but it must be a TTL flash, or this will not work as efficiently.

Step Three: Slow or Rear Curtain Sync

You need to set your flash setting to Slow or Rear Curtain Sync, as I have done in the above photo. This allows the flash and the camera to use the Ambient setting on the camera and then add the flash to the exposure without overexposing the image.

Could you take a picture with this setting, as I did in the photo above? This will light everything up. I am bouncing my flash with the diffusion dome on the flash for this photo. It is still getting light from the window, but the flash fills everything closest to the camera. The background is brighter but not as bright as the statue since it is further from the flash.

Step Four: Adjust the flash power under three stops

I choose to go three stops under because this is as low as I can go in TTL mode, and the camera is figuring it all out.

The results are obtained by keeping the camera set at -3.0 and telling the flash to underexpose.

You can adjust the camera and flash exposure to get even more results.

Silhouette and Reveal

Again, I must give credit to Dave Black for coining this terminology. I have been doing this for years, but I loved how he made it sound very artistic by using a French word.

Here is how you do this photo.

Step One: Take a regular ambient reading

Very similar to the above example. Everything will look normal.

Step Two: Underexpose the photo by two or three stops

Step Three: Set flash setting to just the opposite + stops

If you pick three stops under, you will set your flash to three stops over. You see now where the flash hits the subject, giving you perfect exposure.

[-3] + [+3] = 0 For the photo above, I had the Nikon SB900 off the camera, which was being fired by the SU800 on my camera.

12,800 ISO noise looks different with flash

by Stanley LearyJanuary 29, 2012fill-flash

Dave Black was speaking at a seminar about using his Nikon Speedlight SB900 flashes instead of his Studio heads to light a basketball court and an ice rink.

I was on the edge of my seat absorbing what he was talking about. I didn’t go out and buy more SB900 flashes and use them instead of my strobes for one reason, clients were not paying for sports coverage as in years past.

But what I was listening to was some of the reasons it was working for Dave Black.

First, by just having his strobes just a little over ambient light level he was able to get better color and avoid the problem with sodium vapor lights. Dynamic range under flash is the greatest light spectrum. Dave Black was shooting his flash just enough over the ambient to affect the color and help shift it to the 5000º Kelvin range.

Sodium vapor lights flicker and when you are shooting above 1/100 shutter speed you can get color shifts to all or just a band through a photo.

Another thing of shooting with the Nikon Speedlights was the ability to shoot at just about any shutter speed. So in ice hockey Dave was able to freeze the puck by shooting at 1/2000. The basketball was sharper as well for his basketball.

Available Light only (Nikon D3S, ISO 12,800, f/5.6, 1/40, 28-300mm)

I began to experiment with using strobes with high ISO since then and found some things that it benefits other than just for sports.

I shot here the same photo three different ways. I have the statue lit by window light. I shot it with nothing but the window light and any bounce back fill is just from the room. I shot it at ISO 12,800.

As you can see the highlights look good and it is in the shadows that you will notice more noise.

Fill Flash set -3.0 (Nikon D3S, ISO 12,800, f/5.6, 1/30, 28-300mm)

By putting my SB900 with the dome on the camera and just bounce flashing I was able to get a little different results. I underexposed the flash by -3 stops. I did this by adjusting the setting on the back of the flash.

As you can see the shadows are now not totally black as in the first photo.

Then I shot also one more photo with the flash at a normal setting which gave me a lot more light. This wipes out the shadow detail completely. However, since I am using it in rear sync mode it was still complementing the window light and not over powering it.

Fill Flash normal setting (Nikon D3S, ISO 12,800, f/5.6, 1/20, 28-300mm)

You really need to zoom in to see some of the noise issues with each photo.The place the noise shows up the most is in the green in the background. You can see a lot of noise the more it is in the shadow.

Available Light only (Nikon D3S, ISO 12,800, f/5.6, 1/40, 28-300mm)

Fill Flash set -3.0 (Nikon D3S, ISO 12,800, f/5.6, 1/30, 28-300mm)

As you add more fill light (-3 stops) the noise diminishes a great deal.

Fill Flash normal setting (Nikon D3S, ISO 12,800, f/5.6, 1/20, 28-300mm)

What I noticed is when you add Nikon Speedlights to high ISO photos like these shot at 12,800 ISO noise diminishes.

Less Flash output at High ISO

When you raise the ISO setting on your camera, every stop you raise it the flash only needs to put out half as much light as it did. If you leave a Nikon D3S on auto ISO and the lowest ISO is 200, then the minute you put on your flash and turn it on the ISO will drop to 200.

You will need to manually set your ISO to the high ISO you desire. Here I chose ISO 12,800.

The amount of light needed by the flash to put out at this setting is 7 stops less than at 200. This also means your flash can increase it’s distance of throw by 7 times as well. This means if your flash only would work at 10 feet at f/4 and ISO 200 you can now get f/4 at 640 feet away at ISO 12,800.

Color Temperature affects noise

I have found from my experience that whenever you shoot with flash you have the greatest dynamic range. Therefore the noise is less with flash than say incandescent, fluorescent or sodium vapor light.

Slow and Rear Shutter setting

On the Nikon system, when you have the flash balance with the existing light then the flash only needs to do a little work, because it is complementing the light not being the primary light.

Why do I shoot with Nikon?

The Canon speedlight system is similar to the Nikon TTL Speedlight system. You can use Slow and Rear Shutter settings, BUT the higher you go with the shutter speed the flash gets darker and not as consistent as the Nikon system.

My point is if you want to shoot with shutter speeds of 1/8000 with your speedlights, then you better have the Nikon.

Why I photographed them this way (Part 3)

by Stanley LearyNovember 30, 2011fill-flash / lighting / Nikon D3s

Nikon D3, 14-24mm, ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/1000

Flash Outside

I love to use two different Flash systems outside.

1) I use the Nikon SB900 with SU800 on my Nikon DSLR or on my Nikon P7000. I also use the Radio Popper PX system to be sure the signal is consistently firing outside.

2) I use the Alienbees 1600 with a Vagabond Mini Lithium batter and the CyberSync system to fire them.

The first photo i used by SB900 to shoot the photos. I could shoot the photo and fill-flash with the hot shoe flash quickly and move around. The flash had to be very close to the people outside to be useful.

Walk and Talk photo I like to use. Nikon D3, 24-120mm, ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/160

Walk-and-Talk

The next two photos are using a technique I learned from Jeff Smith a corporate photographer back years ago. Back then I was shooting film and with today’s flashes this is easier to do.

I like having the subjects walk side by side talking to each other. Often as in the first photo they walk straight at me and other times like in the last photo they just follow the path of a sidewalk for example.

I have an assistant either carrying the Nikon Speedlite system or my Alienbees system. The advantage of the Alienbees is I can have the assistant further away and still with the power of this flash fill in easily. Actually, most of the time the Alienbees are firing at 1/16 or 1/8 power.

The assistant walks off to the side, usually lighting them at 45 degree angle to the camera. They walk just outside the picture frame and keep an even pace with them as they walk. You need to hire an assistant who can walk and chew gum at the same time for this technique.

My portable system for Walk-and-Talk. AlienBees 1600, Vagabond Mini, CyberSync radio remote control

CyberSync Radio Remote Control

Vagabond Mini

The reason I like the Walk-and-Talk technique is it gives something to the subjects to do. I find this not only helps to focus them, but after a couple times doing this they tend to not only relax, but I get great expressions.

Tip

If you use this Walk-and-Talk technique I recommend you tell them to walk close enough to each other they feel each other occasionally touching. In addition, I recommend one person talk and the other listen. Lastly, I ask them to look into each others eyes or at each others faces. There is a tendency for people to look at the ground or off somewhere else. I want them to look interested in each other.

Example of shooting an event to tell the story

by Stanley LearyOctober 7, 2011August 13, 2019fill-flash / visual storytelling

This is our family at Nelson’s graduation from the US Army Armor School at Fort Benning, GA.

The event: Our Son Graduation from The US Army Armor School at Fort Benning

I wanted to lead with the most common photo many of us take at a graduation. The family has a group photo with the graduate. I setup the photo before I got into it, so there are some things I did for this first photo that I recommend.

Turn the flash on. In this photo you will quickly notice that had we not had the flash on you would have not seen our graduate’s face due to the shadow of the hat covering his face. If you look closely you will also see how on my daughter the shadows would have been worse around her eyes without the flash.
I used the background to help our family remember a little about the event. Nelson is part of the Cavalry and the statue behind him helps capture that as well as his hat. In addition the building is the main building for the Armor Division and is called Maneuver Center for Excellence.
Spacing of the group is done so you can see everyone’s face but we are not too far apart so that when you take the photo the faces are too small.
The front to back is well used. We have the family closest to the camera and not right next to the statue or the building. This is a common mistake many make, because to then show the statue for example and the family you would back up and everone’s face would be like the size of a dot in the photo.
Some angling to not be perfectly parallel to the building. This helps create depth to the photo.

Statue to help communicate this building is the home of the Cavalry.

Detail shots help round out the coverage for the day. I took a moment and walked around the statue until I found an angle that helped to communicate the power of the statue. Shooting up really close made it where I was shooting almost straight up. This helped make the statue look powerful. Further away would have taken away the emotion of the power.

Look for details and then notice I had a purpose for the photo. I wanted communicate something. If you don’t know neither will your audience. Take a moment and think why you want the photo.

Capturing emotions helps to communicate

I know that if you go through some of the intense training the military, then you most likely have developed some emotional connections to others on the team. This was not an event for me, this was our son’s graduation. I needed to show what this school meant to him. One of the ways to do this is to show people reacting to their friends.

While this was not my son, capturing others enjoying each other help to communicate the bonds formed in the school.

When a subject looks into the camera they are looking at the audience. While I prefer unposed photos of subjects reacting to people and not the camera, sometimes their a moments where the subject engages the viewer.

I notice people using their cameras probably more than most since I do this for a living. What I think this captures is how important an event is to a community. When I take a photo of others taking photos it shows that to these “photographers” this is important to them.

His role is to help update the social media pages for the unit and here he is getting some visuals for his next post.

At attention for the national anthem.

Patrick Lencioni, author of the New York Times best seller “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” says ceremonies are important for people to move on in life. He even said that weddings are as much a funeral for those leaving single life as it is about the joining together.

After hearing Lencioni speak on this topic I realized how important the symbolic ceremony is to helping us with changes in our lives. The simple act of listening to the national anthem changes everything when you are at a military ceremony. It brings to your mind and heart the commitment of soldiers for our country.

Capturing not just a prayer, but for me I see the elected official and the military in this photo.

In the middle of the two officers on stage was the Governor of the State of Georgia. Our elected officials are responsible for calling for war on a country. It highlights the importance of going to our polls to elect not just someone because they may believe in similar ideals that we want fostered. It means electing someone to office you trust will have the mind and heart to carefully consider what the right thing to do is when we ask these soldiers to lay their lives on the line.

I shot this as tight as I could and tried to use the American flag to help communicate this is an elected official. This is Governor Nathan Deal of Georgia giving the keynote address to the graduating class.

Our son Nelson is being given the Iron Man Physical Fitness Award for having the highest Physical Training score in the graduating class. Nelson scored a 347. Presenting him the award is Governor Nathan Deal.

The moment Nelson reached out to take his plaque and give a handshake to the Governor is the pinnacle moment in the ceremony for our family. “The Decisive Moment” was when I thought would be the moment that helped tell the story of the day. While this is what I thought prior to the days event as the story telling moment, I am not sure that some of the other photos don’t do just as good of a job.

If I were transmitting the photos to the Associated Press this would be one of the ones I transmitted, because it is something you would expect to be in the group of photos. While you want to be sure you have it, the editor may pick another photo that works.

A good reason not to use the photo is because it is what you expect–that’s right. Sometimes the reason you don’t use a photo is because it is cliche. Does this photo really make you want to know what is going on? I think not. Our family likes it, but you reading this article may be just as happy with another photo that is stronger in your opinion.

Get the 2nd fiddle as well. While the first handshake by the Governor was cool others should still be photographed. My son didn’t spend one moment with the Governor during his schooling, but he did spend time with this leader. Which one will mean more to the graduate? Get both and he will love them both.

The standard establishing photo.

Sometimes we get to focused and just get the photo of the handshake at a graduation and then one more photo of the family. Round out the story. Show where the event took place. It gives some context to the situation. The thing this photo does better than all the other photos is it gives an idea as to the size of the class and how many of the soldiers families came for the event.

This is the only graduation that the Governor has come to this year. It was newsworthy because he came. How do you tell the audience how important it was that the governor was there? Show the media coverage and you help communicate how big of a deal this is to the state of Georgia and the country by taking this photo.

When you get the award for “Iron Man” you want your photo to show the “big guns.” Putting him in front of the tank works for the Armor Graduate. Notice the flash was used here.

While you can have people pose for you, you can get some cool photos of when they are not posing for you but for someone else. One of the reasons these photos work is they are different. Look through all these photos again. Count how many of these photos you would always expect most people to get, then count those that are different. What did you notice?

When people are posing for others get those photos too, but from a different perspective.

Okay if you are reading this you made it to the end. Did this give you some ideas for your next event? If so please take the time to let me know by writing below your comments. It is through your comments that others will get more out of this than just from my words alone.