Category: Off Camera Flash

Sports Photography: High-Speed Flash vs No Flash

by Stanley LearyOff Camera Flash / studio strobes / volleyball photography

Caption: Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 12,800,  ƒ/5.6, 1/400 — Flashes used (4) Alienbees B1600 with  11″ long throw reflectors with PocketWizard Plus II receivers and being triggered by the PocketWizard Mini TT1. with DXO Pure RAW 4 & Lightroom

High-Speed Flash vs. No Flash

In the photo above, I used a flash with an output about the same as the existing light.

This is the histogram for the above photo.

Nikon D4, 120-300mm, ISO 11,400,  ƒ/2.8, 1/1000 with DXO Pure RAW 4 & Lightroom

Here is another photo without strobes. I had to change to a faster lens and use a faster shutter speed.

This is the histogram for the second photo. Two things stand out. First, the shadows in the picture using available light have less information than the photo using flash. Second, the entire dynamic range appears more significant with the flash, resulting in less photo noise.

ISO 25,600

I wanted to see what the Nikon D4 looked like at 25,600 without strobes. Here is the result. I am showing the same player, so there is a slight variation as possible except for ISO.

Nikon D4, 120-300mm, ISO 25,600,  ƒ/4, 1/1250 processed with DXO Pure RAW 4 & Lightroom

Here is the histogram for ISO 25,600

Color Temperature

A camera’s ability to accurately reproduce color depends greatly on the color space with which the object is photographed. The dynamic range of color is the greatest with Daylight or 5500º Kelvin. As you move away from this color temperature to the sodium vapor lights in this gym, which are 3700º Kelvin, and then you must add 27+ magenta to color correct this to get a neutral grey, the color space shrinks. The dynamic range is less.

If we had used only the strobes and no ambient light for the most accurate color, the color would have been the most accurate. Also, I could not have bounced the flashes off the ceiling; I would have had to point them straight at the volleyball players. The bounced flash will shift the color of whatever it bounces off. If the ceiling were red, there would be a red tent to the light.

Setup

Here is a photo of one of the four Alienbees B1600 with the 11″ long throw reflectors. You can also see the PocketWizard Plus II used to trigger the flash. I dialed down the flash output to 1/8 power. Again, with today’s full-framed high ISO camera chips, the results are quite acceptable, and the flash is less disturbing to those in the room.

This is a wider shot of the room where you can see the results of all four strobes going off.

This is the histogram for the overall shot above.

Agnes Scott vs Huntingdon

Here is that same angle with no flashes.

This is the histogram for the available light photo.

One last comparison

Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 12,800,  ƒ/5.6, 1/400 — Flashes used with DXO Pure RAW 4 & Lightroom
Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 12,800,  ƒ/5.6, 1/400 — No Flash with DXO Pure RAW 4 & Lightroom

High-Speed Flash Sync

You may have noticed that the flash shots were taken with studio strobes and synced faster than the Nikon D4’s 1/250 sync speed. How did I do that?

Here is an explanation from the PocketWizard website.

PocketWizard’s HyperSync™ feature throws x-sync out the window, allowing never before possible shutter speeds with full power flash – any full power flash.  With some camera and flash combinations even 1/8000th second is possible.   (Alienbees with the Nikon would only sync up to 1/400)

HyperSync is simply the ControlTL® system’s unique ability to adjust the timing of the flash burst so that you can use as much of the light output as possible as the shutter opening passes over your sensor.  With the systems “through-the-shoe” communication, a ControlTL transmitter with HyperSync can automatically detect the camera type connected to it as well as the shutter speed. Read more …

Rainy day and flash

by Stanley LearyOff Camera Flash

Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 640, ƒ/5, 1/100 No Flash
Nikon D4, 85mm, ISO 100, ƒ/1.4, 1/160 Off Camera Flash

Rainy Day

The best thing about rainy days is the soft lighting. The thing I don’t like about rainy days is the color temperature.

By just winking a flash into the model’s face I am able to keep the soft light and get a better color for skin tones. The other thing is I can open up the eyes a bit and put a little catch light in the eyes as well.

Here are some more examples of using the off camera flash:

Nikon D4, 85mm, ISO 100, ƒ/8, 1/6 Off Camera Flash (Panning)

The other cool thing about the overcast cloud day is you can use flash and panning so much easier, because the light isn’t so bright. When it is sunny in the middle of the day it is almost impossible to get your shutter speed down below 1/250.

In the photo fo the young lady walking I am dragging the shutter to 1/6 at an ISO 100 setting. The flash helps to freeze her and then the rest of the photo is blurred.  I like this motion in the photo.  Helps communicate she is on the move.

Nikon D4, 85mm, ISO 100, ƒ/1.4, 1/250 Off Camera Flash

Nikon D4, 85mm, ISO 100, ƒ/8, 1/10 Off Camera Flash (Panning)
Nikon D4, 85mm, ISO 100, ƒ/1.4, 1/800 Off Camera Flash

Nikon D4 @ ISO 12,800 still not enough

by Stanley LearyNikon D4 / Off Camera Flash
Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ƒ/5.6, ISO 12,800, 1/60

When Available Light Isn’t Enough

My daughter has a favorite band called Late Night Reading. This is a link to their MySpace page where you can listen to their music.  They are a pop-punk band started in 2009 when they were all just sophomores in high school.

I was fascinated at how the bands build their fan base using social media and then going to small venues like Swayze’s Venue in Marietta. This is where they played Thursday night when I went along to help chaperon my daughter and her friend going to the concert.

My wife reached out to see if they mind me shooting some photos. We were doing this as much to make my daughter happy with photos of her with the band as to just have some fun ourselves.

You can see more of my photos here on my PhotoShelter account.

My daughter is in the middle with her friend she brought from school on the right.

The good thing about shooting the headliner is that they always have a few opening acts. Well this meant I could do some test shots and tweak everything so when the Late Night Reading band took the stage I was ready.

As you can see in the first photo I was only getting to shoot at about 1/60 for a shutter speed.  While I had my 85mm ƒ/1.4 to shoot with the problem then became a depth-of-field issue.

Why was 1/60 and ƒ/1.4 not good? This is a pop-punk band. They and their fans move like crazy. I am not sure with all their head banging that they are not moving faster than many of the athletes I photograph.

While the shutter speed was better at ƒ/1.4 I was having a terrible time getting many usable shots unless they paused for a moment.

Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 5000, ƒ/5.6, 1/60

I went back to the car and pulled out my hot shoe flashes, PocketWizard and Light Stands.  I used the same lighting gear used in this photo here of my daughter playing her viola.

I put the two lights stands all the way up as high as they go. Pointed the strobes to the stage zoomed all the way out for most of the photos and changed the zoom to a little wider if I moved them close to the stage. The SB800 was zoomed to 105mm and the Nikon SB900 was zoomed in to 200mm.

The strobes are on the PocketWizard Transceiver TT5 and They are on Manfrotto 5001B Nano Black Light Stands and the Manfrotto 175F Justin Spring Clamp with Flash Shoe to hold the flashes. I am triggering the TT5 using the PocketWizard Mini TT1 and PocketWizard AC3.

I turned the ISO up to about ISO 5,000 because I didn’t want the background to go totally dark.

Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 5000, ƒ/5.6, 1/60

One of my favorite photos is of the bass player. I liked working from the side of the stage because I put the strobes in front like typical stage lights would be placed.  This meant I was getting more cross light from the side and shadows were helping give more depth to the photos than from the front of the stage.

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

TIPS

  • Shoot test shots of available light before adding lights
  • Always have strobes with you
  • Use off camera strobes 
  • Use higher ISO to open up the background when shooting with strobes

If you are a parent, taking photos of your kids favorite activities and sharing them with them and their friends is a good thing to build long lasting relationships.

High Speed Sync Flash: Out of focus or disappearing background

by Stanley LearyOff Camera Flash
This is my wife who is a wonderful model.

To get this photo of my wife Dorie, I used a Nikon 85mm ƒ/1.4 lens and used my hot shoe Nikon SB-900 to help light her for the photo.

Here you can see the setup. A Nikon SB-900 on PocketWizard Flex TT5, which is held on to the Manfrotto 5001B Nano Black Light Stand with a Manfrotto 175F Justin Spring Clamp with Flash Shoe.  I am using a shoot through white umbrella to spread the light more evenly. To trigger the flash from the camera I am using the PocketWizard Mini TT1 with the AC3 to control the flash output in the TTL mode. photo by: Chelle Leary

First

Nikon D4, 28-300mm (40mm), ƒ/16, 1/100, ISO 1250

This is the typical starting point with photos outside using the sunny ƒ/16 rule.  As you can see my wife is in the shade and the background is in the sun.  The problems with this photo are that the light on the background is brighter than my intended subject and also sharp and draws your attention away.

Second

Nikon D4, 28-300mm (40mm), ƒ/16, 1/100, ISO 100, Flash at +2 TTL

To solve the brightness of the background I used the simple sunny ƒ/16 rule. I shot at ISO 100 at 1/100 and ƒ/16, which darkened the background significantly.  Now if you like seeing all the sharp detail in the background this just might work. However, I want more attention on my wife and not the background.

Third

Nikon D4, 85mm, ƒ/1.4, 1/1600, ISO 1600

I switched to the 85mm ƒ/1.4 to get that bokeh I like. Bokeh (Japanese) has been defined as “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light.” When I shot it without flash it looks fairly OK, but the background again draws your eye away from her face.

Nikon D4, 85mm, ƒ/1.4, 1/1600, ISO 3200, Flash +2 TTL

As you can see by adding the flash a couple things happen. Better light on her face the color temperature is a lot better.  The flash helps to match the sunlight in the background.


Fourth

Nikon D4, 85mm, ƒ/1.4, 1/500, ISO 100, Flash 0 TTL

I decided to have my wife move just a little until most of the background was now in the shade. The background is not all that bright.

Make the background disappear

Nikon D4, 85mm, ƒ/16, 1/60, ISO 100, Flash 0 TTL

If you take the overall exposure down as I did here, shooting at ƒ/16 doesn’t really make a difference on a background that is now extremely dark.

Super simple off camera flash portrait

by Stanley LearyNikon D4 / Off Camera Flash / Portraits
Nikon D4, 85mm ƒ/1.4, ISO 200, 1/8000

The key to any good photo is the old KISS rule, which is simply put Keep It Simple Stupid.

For this portrait of my dad I chose to shoot this outside and use some of the sunny weather we were having down at the beach.  We shot this outside on the balcony of our cottage. The reason for the location was it was the fewest steps I needed to make to get a good photo.


Start with the sun back lighting the subject

One of the reasons I always start with the sun on the back of the subject and not where it is lighting their face has to do with expression. I find it almost impossible for getting a good expression when people are squinting and straining due to the sun being directly in their eyes.

The benefit of the back lighting of the subject is you get a good rim light around the subject, which will help you separate the subject from the background.

Look for a darker background

I like to find a simple background that is not have blown out highlights in the background. I normally look for a much darker background than I chose here. My point is to be careful or your blinking highlights will be in the background and distracting rather than complementary to the subject.

Choose a shallow depth-of-field

I am using my favorite portrait lens for this photo, my Nikkor 85mm ƒ/1.4.  You need to be sure that the eyes are what you are focusing on and the sharpest point in the photo when shooting with this lens. I still recommend having the eyes the place you focus even if you choose to shoot this at ƒ/22.

In general if you are doing a portrait of a person and not an environmental portrait, then the background and surroundings is not really that important.  Since this is the case here for this photo I threw that background way out of focus by shooting at an aperture of ƒ/1.4.

Fill Flash

I love to use an off camera flash as my fill/main light outside for portraits. Here is a diagram showing you where the sun was and the off camera Nikon SB-900 speedlight placement for this photograph.

You can trigger the off camera flash many different ways. I often use the Nikon SU-800 which uses infrared to trigger the off camera flash. I chose to use the PocketWizard Mini TT1 on the camera with the AC3 which lets me alter the power of the flash from the camera and not the flash.  Saves you a lot of steps back and forth for tweaking those fine adjustments.

The Nikon SB-900 has the PocketWizard FlexTT5 on it to receive the signal and talk to the cameras TTL system to give you consistent exposures.

I placed the light 45º to the right of the camera and not quite 45º above the eyes.  I am a little lower since my subject has deep set eyes. 

What is the benefit of the flash say over a reflector? If I used the reflector I will be bouncing the sun into their face and often getting the squint I was trying to avoid.

Second, by using the flash I get good skin tones because of the color temperature of the flash will give it that “pop” I like to see.

Third, I like seeing a catch light in the eyes and the flash helps me be sure one is there. I think this helps bring the eyes to life.

Go and try this setup yourself. Adjust it to your conditions and the subject and see what you come up with.

Off camera flash for beach portraits

by Stanley LearyOff Camera Flash
Nikon D4, 28-300mm @ 98mm, ISO 1,200, ƒ/8, 1/50
Gitzo GT-0531

On vacation with the family I ended up making some portraits on the beach. I had my Nikon SB-900 and Nikon SB-800 with me.

I wanted to use the beach as the background for the photos. No need for a white seamless when you got this kind of natural setting to use.

I took the flashes to help give that pop to the photos.  I wanted the subjects to be just a hair bit brighter than everything else to draw more attention to them.

I also used my Gitzo carbon fiber tripod to keep the camera rock steady so I could shoot these at dusk.  This way everyone’s eyes were open and not squinting on the beach.

To trigger the flashes I had the PocketWizard Mini TT1, FlexTT5 and AC3. Using the AC3 to control the output of the flashes, I set the SB-900 at 0 and the SB-800 at -1. This way the SB-900 is the main light and the SB-800 is the fill.

Since this is working using TTL you have to play with this. The scene really affects the look and how the TTL reacts in any given situation. 

We had lots of fun making different photos of everyone down on the beach.

Lighting diagram for the photos.

Now that the technical stuff is explained and out of the way, how do you get good expressions?

Have some fun and let them goof around. After having some fun you can squeeze a few pleasant moments off as well.  

Lighting a conference room

by Stanley LearyOff Camera Flash / studio strobes

I will often light a conference room when the ISO needs to stay low. A few years ago, I owned the Nikon D2X camera. With this camera, most people felt comfortable shooting up to ISO 800 with little noise, but above that was a concern.

While I could have shot these photos with the room light, you would have to consider a few things. First of all, mixed lighting. While the lights in the room with fluorescent, the room also had a large window where some daylight was spilling in.

The easiest solution for me was to overpower the room lights just a little and clean up the color.

I put the lights down to 1/8 power to ensure the flashes would make all fire. I didn’t want to put a radio remote on every morning. So I have a PocketWizard Plus II receiver on one light while triggering it with the PocketWizard Plus II transmitter. If I put the lights to the lowest setting, they do not always fire.

I was pleased overall with the results with g d skins tones and colors throughout the photo. The s was important because I wanted to show the diversity in the classroom, and if not careful, some of the people would have been just a silhouette rather than seeing the skin tones we do here.

When window light isn’t enough

by Stanley LearyOff Camera Flash / umbrella modifier / window light
This was shot on a rainy day and to make the window light work, I added lighting.

Many times I am caught in a room on a cloudy or overcast day. The light from the window is just not enough.

To make the above photograph I put an Alienbees B1600 monobloc light with a white shoot through large umbrella just outside the professor’s window. To trigger the light I used the PocketWizard Plus II reciever and the PocketWizard Plus II Transmitter. 

Inside the light needed just a little help to keep the shadows from going too dark. To soften the shadows I put another Alienbees B1600 with just a bare-bulb on a light stand and put it as close to the ceiling as I could.

The outside light was on full power and the bare-bulb light inside was at 1/8 – 1/16th power.

Below is the lighting diagram for the setup.

Next time you need sunlight through a window and you don’t have a sunny day to help, use off camera flash to create it for you.

Shaping the light is how you light metal

by Stanley LearyOff Camera Flash / studio photography / studio strobes / tent lighting
Just throwing light on a metal object 

This is what you see a lot of on ebay and other websites of people selling metal objects. My examples are using my Yamaha YTR-734 Silver Trumpet, which I pulled out and started playing again.

After cleaning it up I didn’t want to waste not preserving this for myself.

You would think just putting a metal object like this Silver Trumpet on a blue background and using two off the camera flashes at 45º angles (like copy stand) would give you perfect light. This is how this is lighted.
Here is the setup for the photo above.

I have two hotshoe Nikon Speedlights (1 SB900 & 1 SB800) lighting the trumpet. They are setup like a typical copy stand photo shoot. Works great for objects other than metal. Perfect for copying flat art work and books.

This is the same photo as above with just the room light and no flash.
This is the available light without the blue background

By removing the blue fabric the white table wrap the light around the metal and give it more shape.

Two flashes

My recommendation is Tent Lighting

Here I am using tent lighting. I pulled back the front panel so you could see inside.

When you wrap an object with light all around it you get much better results.

There are four flashes lighting this setup. Two Alienbees B1600 up in the ceiling pointing towards the back and two on umbrellas as you see here.
This is the setup with white seamless background.

I think you might do a better job of selling this trumpet on ebay with lighting like this than the light above.

Notice how in the bell the blue fabric is reflected. if you look really close you will see just a little black spec. This is the camera peaking thought the front panel.

Here the only difference in the above photo is using a blue fabric.

Somewhere in between?

Maybe you want something in between the top photo and light wrapped all around the object. Instead of tent lighting just use white foam board and cut it into different shapes. You can then put a black sheet out of the photo but blocking light. Then just place the strips of white foam board to place you want to add white verses the black. Slowly you can give different looks. Use different color foam board and you can add color to the reflections like the blue fabric is doing here, but just put it outside the view of the camera but in the reflection of the metal.

Rather than me showing you everything, go photograph something yourself and see what you come up with.

3 Light Modifiers for Flash

by Stanley LearyNikon D4 / Off Camera Flash
Bounced Light into Umbrella Silver/White 

These examples show using a bounced light into an umbrella outside and everything stays the same except the shutter is slowed down to allow more of the ambient light of the outdoors to light the background for us.

Using an Alien Bee B1600 on 1/32 with bound sliver/white umbrella

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/200

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/100

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/50

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/25

Shooting the light through a white umbrella 

Everything is the same in the example above but we changed the light modifier to shooting through the umbrella verses bouncing.  See if you can see a difference.

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/25

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/50

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/100

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/200

 Shooting with a 10º Spot Grid

This is going to another extreme of not lighting everything but mainly just the model’s face. Other than the light not lighting the shirt can you see any other differences?

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/200

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/100

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/50
Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/25

These are just wider shot of the same thing above so you can see the light fall off from the grid light.

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/25

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/50

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/100

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/200

I used the PocketWizard Mini TT1 to trigger the flash

I used the PocketWizard Plus receiver on the flash to trigger the flash

 Try this yourself and see what kind of results you get. Maybe try a large white bed sheet to shoot your flash through and bounce to see if you get different results using it over your umbrella or soft box.

Hot Shoe Flash Lighting

by Stanley LearyNikon D4 / Off Camera Flash
Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 200, f/5.0, Nikon SB900, Nikon SB800 fired using PocketWizard Mini TT1 , PocketWizard AC3 and PocketWizard Transceiver TT5.

I enjoying using our backyard as a background. First of all I don’t have to light everything and we love the trees.

For this photo I wanted to tie our daughter playing her viola to the outdoors.

This is a wide shot to show the flashes.  They are on Manfrotto 5001B Nano Black Light Stands and the Manfrotto 175F Justin Spring Clamp with Flash Shoe to hold the flashes.

I am shooting in TTL mode and after I take a shot I am using the compensation dials on the camera and the PocketWizard AC3 to adjust my exposure.

In this photo of the PocketWizard AC3 A is set to a +1, B is set to +2 and C is set to a +3 compensation.
The PocketWizard AC3 sits on top of the PocketWizard Mini TT1 in it’s hot shoe.  You can also use the Nikon SU-800 to do the same thing.

In the first photo I have the camera at -1 compensation and the flash on her face at 0 Compensation and the hair light at +2 compensation.

You really just have to play with this to get the results you want.

Here we are shooting more in the woods than in the first photo. Here the camera is -1 1/3 EV.  The flashes are at +1 EV.
She is getting some sunshine from the left and the flashes are lighting the shadow side of her face.
We moved again around the backyard to a different background.  Also changed the lighting a little here as well. The camera is set at -3 EV and the flashes are on the right set at +2 EV and the one on her left at +1 EV.
This is the actual lighting setup for the photo just above it.
I am using an -1 EV so as to not loose the background but just tone it down a bit. The flash to the right is +1 EV and the hair light flash is +2 to help separate her from the background.

The lighting setup for the above photo.

The idea with the two hot shoe flashes was to use them to compliment the lighting outside.  I used one light to help separate the viola player from the background by putting the flash up high and using it as a hair light would be used in the studio.  I am using the other flash as the main light and using the natural light to control the background.

Because I am outside I am using the PocketWizard radio remote system to be sure the signal is reaching the flashes. 

Once you master the use of the one off camera hot shoe flash and you are ready to expand try this exercise yourself. See what results you come up with using your camera and flashes.

Versatile lighting setup for groups and head shots

by Stanley LearyGroup photos / Off Camera Flash / studio photography

This is a lighting setup I used for an awards dinner last night. A little over 100 awards given on stage in just a few minutes. After they got their award they walked off the stage and I took their photo.  I was averaging about 3 groups a minute with 2 shots each.  We were moving.

So this is where speed was very important.

Items I used for the shoot:

When I set this up I used light stands that go to about 8 feet tall. I would suggest 10 foot light stands if I were to do this again. I set the lights 45º to either side of the camera and as I high as the light stands would go.

The reasoning is that I had no time to have people sit down and pose them. They would all be standing.  I wanted the shadows to go down behind the and not up on the screen. I kept everyone about 2′ to 3′ away from the background to help the shadows to fall down or wide.

I wanted to shoot at f/8 to be sure if I ended up with two rows everyone was in focus. I didn’t need much more depth a field.

I shot at ISO 200 and 1/8th power on the monobloc lights.

Results for the Awards Photos

The reason I didn’t use umbrellas or soft boxes was the space issues.
While you are here photos
Now the primary reason I am hired is to get these photos which are then sent to those in the photos for them to use in their own newsletters to promote their winning of the awards. However, once you are there they often want some other photos. The most common is head shots of their staff.
Since we didn’t have the luxury of time and space to use another lighting setup I shot the staff head shots using this lighting setup. 
Results for quick head shots

The client is satisfied because the photos work well for their uses.
More than photos
If all I were doing was just taking these photos it would be one kind of a job, but they need names of everyone. So I was able to shoot and identify all the people in the photos. Think about pulling this off.

How would you shoot and identify all the people in the photos?

I then print out contact sheets with the photos and the names under each photo. The text is also in the metadata of each photo, so if they can search for photos by names or open the file in software that reads metadata (PhotoShop) and read the caption.

Since the photos all have identification embedded, then the client can easily just drag and drop these photos into a database and easily pull photos in the future.

Keep in mind when you do a job that there might be a better way to do any individual part of the package. However, you must take into consideration all the aspects and how they impact one another to reach the goal for the client.