Tag Archives: flash

Strobism In The Hills

Posted on April 23, 2009 by | Leave a comment

STROBISM is the one thing I do go on about a lot. And that is simply because its fun.

Over the easter weekend, my friend Rob and I went out to Snowdonia.

[googlemaps http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=llanberis&sll=53.141063,-3.799093&sspn=0.057972,0.145912&gl=uk&ie=UTF8&ll=53.143476,-4.11335&spn=0.111258,0.291824&t=h&z=12&iwloc=A&output=embed&w=425&h=350]

There Basically.

And i went out taking photos. I exposed the pictures for the sun – the sun is extremely bright, especially when looking directly at it (which is never recommended). I had to stop it all the way down to use the Canon flash sync speed of 1/250th of a second.

I used a 17-85mm lens, and my Speedlight 580EX II on the Off Camera Shoe Cord 2. Angled to the side and below, and with fill from the 430EX fired wirelessly (who says Canon’s wireless flash doesnt work outdoors!) I managed this:
365/101 - Lighting with the sun in shot.

As you can see, lots of lens flare because of lots of dust on the lens. Needed to clean. But it works. I managed to light Rob and keep the back exposed. Its an interesting style of shot which works well for dramatic fashion portraits, especially with sunny clothes.

Also, from using the 580EXII angled to the camera left and down, I got this one

With the Sun

It looks like a spotlight – because his clothes aren’t smooth, and he has the long hair and facial hair, the strong light works well. If i had a female model with nice clothes, diffusion would have been in order. Also, a coloured gel over the flash to light up the skin and give it a tanned feel.

Last one I have (and one of the first shots) is this:

Glasses

Side lighting and exposed for the sky. If i took it as a normal shot, the sky would be bleached out and white – because it has some detail its very interesting, even though its a plain shot.

Looks hard, actually fairly easy to do. All you need is the kit.

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Light Painting

Posted on February 16, 2009 by | 2 Comments

LAST night i went out to just past Llanrwst.

You know the route: you get into Llanrwst from Llandudno, go through the town, turn right over the bridge and carry on to the Betws sign. Then, just as soon as you turn in, theres a road that forks to the right. You take it, and you find something amazing.

or, look at the map
[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=53.124252,-3.823569&sll=53.124146,-3.823264&sspn=0.003425,0.006738&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=14&iwloc=addr&ll=53.129985,-3.81938&output=embed&s=AARTsJobTZuHS84PGjuq4kV-Gk5UZ2_ftw&w=425&h=350]

Better? thought so.

Ok, Light Painting is simple really. You pick a spot you want to photograph, and you paint it with light. It really only works at night. And for it to work better, you need flash gels.

Some of the best light painting shots can be seen in this flickr group.

Shots like these show what light painting is all about:

IMG_7076
Craig Osbourne lit these up with different gels on each different headstone, all in one exposure. If we take a look at the EXIF data, we can see what he used to take the picture.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D
Exposure: 127 sec (127)
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 17 mm
ISO Speed: 160
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

The camera was left on a tripod for 127 seconds, or 2 minutes 7 seconds, locked down. The sky looks light because it was left for that long, but really it was pitch black. Taken at 9:58pm in November would suggest that.

Now for mine:

365/46

Taken at around 6pm, and i used magenta and green gelled strobes. That means – magenta gel on one flash and green gel on another. I took the exposure, left it on the tripod, and ran around crazily flashing against the walls which i wanted to be coloured. It’s not the best, but it works with my project 365, and i shall improve. I need to find somewhere else to go and do strobism and light painting.

I think the point of it, though, is that its fun! Extremely good fun running around crazily, flashing coloured light. And the results – they are just something else

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Posted in Strobism

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Enter The Unknown

Posted on February 7, 2009 by | 1 Comment

TODAY, I ventured out to some woods and tooks some photos. Unknown, yes. 

It was part of a friend of mines film production, called “enter the unknown”. The basis of it is a film regarding two separate characters in a dream sequence, unknown and unknown 2.

We started off taking photos generally, to get an idea of what the area looks like. Thats one of the benefits of digital. Some of the unknown shots are fairly good, but the one i want to talk about is unknown 2. 

Unknown 2 is a dark, mysterious and unseemly character. Unknown 2 wears a long overcoat, and a cross. Unknown 2 is a sort of gothic character. This requires a different type of lighting to unknown 1. I wanted to aim for Low Key, but that didn’t really work. 

So, i found a tree. A tree with unknown 2 standing beside would work well. I placed unknown 2 besides the tree, and took some test shots. It looks like it will work well. 

Now for the kit to get the final shot. I used a Canon EOS 30D, and a Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens. Flash units are a Canon 580EX II flash unit, and a Canon 430EX flash unit. The 580EX II was connected to the camera with the Canon Off Shoe Cord 2. It had attached to the front a honeycomb grid and barndoors, to soften and direct the light, and then avoid any fall off. The 430EX was diffused with a Stofen omni bounce diffuser. 

Also, some voice activated light stands were used. This is a term coined by a friend of mine (i believe) and refers to the art of a person holding a flash. They can be directed by voice, and therefore known as a voice activated light stand. 

The set up for the Camera and the 580EX II is shown here: 

Set up for 365/38

(By the way, always carry a camera phone or snapshot camera. Perfect for grabbing snaps of those fun moments, and set up shots. Also, note taking is easier, with voice notes or write a text message and save it in drafts)

The photo now:

Exposure was simple. I underexposed by about a stop and a half, to 1/125th of a second, at f/2.8, ISO 100. Don’t take exposure as gospel. This should be applied to situations as appropriate. Flash should be played around with, to balance natural and flash light. 

And now, the photo: 

365/38 - Unknown 2

Model: Leighton Owen. He is also director and producer of Enter The Unknown, due to be released early summer. 

Unknown 1 should be coming soon. 

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