On-Camera Flash Techniques for Digital Wedding and Portrait Photography

128 Pages·2009·2.19 MB·English

by  Neil van Niekerk

ON-CAMERA
FLASH
Techniques for Digital
Wedding and Portrait Photography
Neil van Niekerk
Amherst Media
®
PUBLISHEROFPHOTOGRAPHYBOOKS
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Copyright©2009byNeilvanNiekerk.
Allrightsreserved.
Allphotographsbytheauthorunlessotherwisenoted.
Publishedby:
AmherstMedia,Inc.
P.O.Box586
Buffalo,N.Y.14226
Fax:[phone]
www.AmherstMedia.com
Publisher:CraigAlesse
SeniorEditor/ProductionManager:MichellePerkins
AssistantEditor:BarbaraA.Lynch-Johnt
EditorialAssistancefrom:JohnS.Loder,CareyAnnMaines,CharlesSchweizer
ISBN-13:978-1-58428-258-7
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2008942244
PrintedinKorea.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,stored,ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,
photocopied,recordedorotherwise,withoutpriorwrittenconsentfromthepublisher.
NoticeofDisclaimer:Theinformationcontainedinthisbookisbasedontheauthor’sexperienceandopinions.Theauthor
andpublisherwillnotbeheldliablefortheuseormisuseoftheinformationinthisbook.
Table of Contents
FOREWORD ...............................5 WhyManualExposureMode? ................15
byDavidA.Williams ExposureMeteringTechniques ...............17
MeteringMethods ......................17
MeteringObjectives .....................18
INTRODUCTION
ABOUT THE MATERIAL IN THIS BOOK........6 UsingaHand-HeldIncidentLightMeter .....18
AnEasyApproach............................6 UsingandInterpretingtheCamera’s
TheImages .................................6 Built-InMeter .......................18
Equipment .................................6 UsingtheHistogramtoDetermineExposure ..19
Abbreviations ...............................7 TheBlinkingHighlightsDisplay ............23
Postproduction ..............................7 TheSunny16Rule ......................24
ConfirmationofExposureAccuracy
viatheLCDImage ....................25
SECTION1
WHERE DO WE START? .....................8 AnticipatingOurSettings .................26
1. What We Want To Achieve ..................8 TyingitAllTogether ......................27
2. Looking At The Available Light .............9 MeteringModes ..........................33
3. A Few Essential Concepts .................10 6. Flash Modes and Exposure ................35
TheLargertheLightSource, FlashModes:Manual,Auto,andTTL ..........35
TheSoftertheLight ...................10 ChoosingBetweenDifferentFlashModes .......35
Direction,Intensity,andColorBalance .........10 ManualFlash ............................36
Direction .............................10 Auto/TTLFlash ..........................37
Intensity ..............................10 TTLModes ...........................37
ColorBalance ..........................11 FlashExposureCompensation ...............38
PostproductionoftheImage .................12 7. Flash-Sync Speed ........................41
White-Balance(WB)Settings ................12 MaximumFlash-SyncSpeed .................41
ManualFlashvs.TTL/AutoFlash .............12 High-SpeedFlash-Sync .....................43
4. Choosing Equipment .....................13 FlashEfficiencyandRange ..................44
ChoosingaFlashgun .......................13 IsaHigherMaximumFlash-SyncSpeedBetter? ..45
BatteryPacks ............................13 First-Curtainvs.Second-CurtainSync ..........47
FlashBrackets ............................14 ThePre-FlashSequence ....................48
8. Adding Flash to Ambient Light .............49
CombinationsofShutterSpeed,
SECTION2
THETECHNICAL STUFF ....................15 Aperture,andISO ....................49
5. Exposure Metering .......................15 DraggingtheShutter ......................49
TABLEOFCONTENTS3
14. Flash Techniques Outdoors ...............99
SECTION3
THE TECHNIQUES ........................53 FillFlash ................................99
9. Using Simple Flash Modifiers ..............53 PracticalExamples .....................100
MyChoiceofFlashModifiers ................56 Direct-FlashMainLight ...................101
AdaptingTechniquesforModifyingFlash .......59 BounceFlash ...........................102
10. Bounce Flash ..........................62 PracticalExamples .....................103
AvoidDirectFlash(WhenPossible) ...........62 ControllingtheAmbientLighttoFlashRatio ...106
AvoidFlashShadow .......................62 DealingwithHardSunlight ................116
ControllingtheDirectionoftheFlash ..........63 DealingwithOverheadSunlight .............117
PracticalExamples.........................64
BounceFlashinRelationtotheBackground .....68
SECTION4
CheckingYourResults .....................74 TAKING IT BEYOND ON-CAMERA FLASH ....119
BalancingBounceFlashwithAmbientLight .....76 15. Off-Camera Wireless TTL Flash ..........119
BroadLightingandShortLighting ............78 16. Off-Camera Manual Flash ...............122
11. Flash With Tungsten Ambient Light ........79 CalculatingExposure .....................122
AddingGels .............................79
LightModifiers ...........................79 AFTERWORD ............................124
PracticalExamples.........................80
ImprovingUnevenLighting .................87 RESOURCES .............................124
12. Using Flash to Control Contrast ...........90
PracticalExamples.........................90 INDEX .................................125
13. Controlling Light Falloff .................94
PracticalExamples.........................94
About the Author
NeilvanNiekerk,originallyfromJohannesburg,SouthAfrica,isaweddingandpor-
trait photographer based in northern New Jersey. He graduated with a college de-
greeinelectronicengineeringandworkedasatelevisionbroadcastengineerinSouth
Africa(whilepursuingphotographyasaparallelcareer)beforedecidingtosettlein
theUnitedStatesin2000.SaysVanNiekerk,“Ilovephotographyforavarietyofrea-
sons.Thestimulationandexcitementofrespondingtonewsituationssatisfiesboth
myanalyticalandcreativesides,andIalsotrulyloveworkingwithpeople.Igetreal
pleasure from sharing the happiness with the people that I photograph and know-
ingthatI’mcreatingimagesthatwillevokewonderfulmemoriesforalifetime.”Van
Niekerk’s“PlanetNeil”website(www.planetneil.com)hasbecomeapopulardesti-
nation for photographers seeking information on the latest equipment and tech-
niques.Visitwww.neilvn.comtoseemoreofVanNiekerk’sphotography.
4ON-CAMERAFLASHTECHNIQUESFORDIGITALWEDDINGANDPORTRAITPHOTOGRAPHY
Foreword
A
llphotographersknowthatflashisso,well...com- “dumbingdown”ofthingsweneedtoreallyknowabout
plex, artificial, and downright un-arty, right? Avail- beingprofessionalsismakingusdullandoftenoh-so-very
able light rules! (Or does it? What do you do when the similar.
existinglightisgarbage?)Inprofessionalphotography,the Alltoooften,wethinktheanswerisjusttobuythatnew
facts are often quite a bit different than what people say. lens, new background, or the generic “action set” that
Therecanbeasignificantdividebetweenwhatwesayand promises to turn our images into hero shots without any
whatwereallymean.Hereareafewtranslations: effort on our parts. But have you ever noticed that under
thesurfaceofanytopphotographer’sphotograph,thereis
1. I don’t use flash because it’s so unnatural. an original capture with great light? So, if you want my
Translation:Idon’tknowhowtouseflash. simpleadviceis,hereitis:Theanswerisneverthegear,it’s
alwaysthelight.
2. Off-camera strobe is too much hard work. Now more than ever, how well we find light and how
Translation:Idon’tcareenoughtobother. well we make light helps to differentiate practicing, pas-
sionate, professionals from the Uncle Bobs with sophisti-
3. My customers don’t know the difference. cated camera gear. (It also helps to reveal that a wad of
Translation:Idon’tcareenoughtobother. amateur4x6printsisnotagreatweddinggift!)Customers
don’t care about how much your gear cost, but they care
Well,haveIgotnewsforyou!Afterreadingthisbook,you very much that your work looks vastly superior to Uncle
willknowhowtouseflashtogreateffect.Afterall,youdo Bob’s.
careaboutyourcustomers,andyoudocareaboutimprov- AsafinalcommentIwillsaythis.Inthisbook,Neilvan
ing, refining, and defining your own work—regardless of Niekerk has presented you with a collection of examples
yourpositioninthegreaterphotographicfoodchain(and, that show you how to sculpt light, add light, and modify
let’sremindourselves,thatdoesincludebrides’unclesand it—all with readily available strobes. It’s a fantastic book.
friendsintheirfirstyearofartschool). But don’t think this knowledge comes just with a quick
Of course, I really should have written: “After reading, read, and a glance at his lovely pictures. He has not mas-
studying,digesting,andthoroughlypracticingthecontents tered these techniques as the result of a “quick fix” from
of this book . . .” Ladies and gentlemen, we live in times someoneelsebeforehim;helearnedthemasaresultofef-
of great and wonderful technology that has changed our fort and a desire to make substantially better professional
industrymoreinthelasttenyearsthaninthecenturybe- images. I encourage you to make the same effort in read-
fore. We also live in the age of the quick fix—the “give it ing,studying,andpracticing—foryou,foryourcustomers,
tomenow”and“Idon’tdoinstructionalbooks”mental- andfortheindustryyoulove.
ity.Amongmanyphotographers,thishasresultedinalack
of knowledge about the craft of lighting—and more im- —David A. Williams
portantly,howtosculptlighting.Thequick-fixattitudeis M.Photog.,FRPS,ALPE
making many of us into photographic jellyfish—and the www.davidwilliams-heartworks.com
FOREWORD5
INTRODUCTION
About The Material In This Book
I
nStephenHawking’sABriefHistoryofTime,hementionshiseditortelling
himthatforeverymathematicalequationheincludedinhisbook,theread-
ership would be halved. Astonished and bewildered, Stephen used only one
equationinthebook:E=mc2.Followingonthatprecept,Ihavekeptthenum-
beroftechnicaldiagramstoanabsoluteminimum...ofone.
AnEasyApproach
I have done my best to make the material in this book as intuitive as possible.
Booksonlightingandflashphotographyusuallyhaveasteeptechnicalslantto
them,withterminologythatisconfusingattheoutset.So,hereyouwon’tfind
talkoflightingratiosandsuchbutapresentationofmaterialonflashphotog-
I have done my best
raphyinamannerthatmakesiteasytograsp.Fortunately,digitalphotography
also offers us a huge benefit with the instant feedback we get from the image to make the material in
onthebackofthecamera’sdisplay.Thisimmediacyisapowerfullearningtool,
this book as intuitive
especiallywherelightingisconcerned.
Ihaveattemptedtopresentthesubjectinsuchawaythattherewillbemore
as possible.
thanafew“Aha!NowIgetit!”moments.Ihopetoofferreadersofthisbook
astrongfootholdintotheever-fascinatingworldofflashphotographyandlight-
ing,andthemeanstoachievewhattheywanttowiththeirphotography.
TheImages
The photos in this book are mostly wedding images and environmental por-
traits. However, don’t feel that this only relates to weddings. The techniques
here are just as applicable for most fields of photography. It just happens that
most of my photography work involves weddings, and it was easier for me to
findillustrativeexamplesfrommyalreadyexistingwork.
Equipment
Thematerialinthisbookassumesanunderstandingofhowshutterspeed,aper-
ture,andchoiceofISOinteract.ItisalsoassumedthatthereaderhasaD-SLR
(digitalSLR)andaflashgunthatmountsontopofthecamera.
IownandusebothNikonandCanonsystems.Forthemostpart,therefore,
the techniques here are not specific to one system and should be accessible to
6ON-CAMERAFLASHTECHNIQUESFORDIGITALWEDDINGANDPORTRAITPHOTOGRAPHY
anyonewhoownsaD-SLRandahot-shoemountedflashgun.(Note:Notmany
ofthetechniquesinthisbookcanbeachievedwiththecamera’sbuilt-inpop-
upflash;itsimplyisn’tflexibleenough.)Inthisbook,Ioftenfreelyinterchange
the Canon brand name “Speedlite” with the word “flashgun.” Keep in mind
that the techniques used here are equally valid with the Nikon brand “Speed-
light”flashes.
Many of the images in the book were taken at fairly high ISO settings and
wide apertures. With the more modern series of D-SLRs on the market, pho-
tographerscanhaveever-improvingimagequalityatthesehigherISOs,which
allowsresultsthatweren’tquitepossiblejustafewyearsback.
Similarly,primelenseswithwideapertures,suchasthe50mmf/1.4andthe
85mmf/1.8,willgivephotographersabetterentryintolow-lightphotography
thanaslowzoomlenswithanf/5.6maximumaperture.Theselensesarequite
affordable;therefore,settingssuchasthewideaperturesthatwereusedinthe
examples in this book are well within reach of any photographer—even those
The images here had
juststartingout.
very little to no Photoshop The camera and flash settings are shown for each image. However, you
shouldbeawarethatsomeofthesettingsareveryspecificallychosen(andare
work done to them.
explained as such in the text), while other settings have a certain flexibility in
how they were chosen. Camera and flash settings are nearly always dependent
onthespecificlightingsituationandenvironment.Therefore,thesettingsthat
aresuppliedwiththeimagesaremeanttohelpillustratethechoicesmade,and
notmeantasabsolutevaluesforanygivensituation.
Abbreviations
Thereareonlyafewabbreviationsusedthroughoutthebook:
CTO—colortemperatureorangegel
CTS—colortemperaturestrawgel
FEC—flashexposurecompensation
WB—whitebalance
EV—exposurevalue(1EV=1stop)
Postproduction
Finally,theimagesherehadverylittletonoPhotoshopworkdonetothem.I
did correct the white balance and fine-tune exposure and contrast for these
photosaspartofmygeneralRAWworkflow.(Ialsoretouchedskinblemishes
onoccasion.)Thereasonwhythephotosweren’tenhancedinPhotoshopisto
showrealresultsfromthesetechniqueswithon-cameraflash.
INTRODUCTION7
SECTION 1: WHERE DO WE START?
1. What We Want to Achieve
A
s photographers, we’re always looking for perfect light. For most of us,
however, the available light in the situations where we find ourselves is
rarelyperfect.Thisisespeciallytrueforthoseofuswhophotographweddings
or environmental portraits. So, while finding beautiful existing light is every
photographer’sideal,itisn’talwayspossible—andwhatexistinglightwedofind
isn’talwaysthebestwaytolightoursubjects.
However, with some knowledge of how to manipulate flash, we can very
often improve a scenario by enhanc-
ing (rather than overwhelming) the
existinglight.Thisallowsustocreate
photographs that are pleasing to our
eyes—and to our clients—even when
theambientlightislessthanperfect.
To create these natural-looking re-
sults with flash, one of the ideals that
we’ll be after is seamlessly blending
theflashwiththeavailablelighttothe
point where it isn’t quite discernable
whether flash was used or not. This
mightnotalwaysbepossible,butwe’ll
getthemostpleasingresultsfromour
flashgunsifthatremainsourgoal.
Just as often, the available light is
toolowandtoouneven.Whenthishappens,weneedtooverridetheambient
PLATE1-1.Here,theflashwasbounced
lightcompletelywithflashtogetthebestresults.Insuchcases,itwillbeobvi- behindmeandgelledfortungstenlight.
(SETTINGS:1/125second,f/1.8,1000ISO;
ousfromthephotographsthatweusedflash—butwithsomethought,andthe FEC+0.6EV)
careful application of some techniques, we can still get results that look great,
withsoft,directionallightfromourflash.
Ihopebysharingmyexperiencesandtechniques,Icanshowyouhowtoget
resultsfromyouron-cameraflashgunsthatlookpleasingandevencompletely
natural.
8SECTION1:WHEREDOWESTART?
2. Looking At The Available Light
E
venthoughthisbookisabouttheuseofflashandhowtoblendflashwith
available light, it is also imperative that we recognize when the available
lightisjustperfect.Whentheexistinglightisideal,thenthereissimplynoneed
forflash.Forplates2-1and2-2,therewasnoneedtouseflashbecausethequal-
ityanddirectionofthelightworkedperfectly.Therearetimes,however,when
using flash makes a lot of sense—and this is what we’re going to cover in the
restofthebook.
PLATE2-1(ABOVE).TheearlyeveninglightonthisBahamianbeachwassoft
andeven.Therewasnonecessitytoaddflashofanykind.(SETTINGS:1/160
second,f/4,800ISO)
PLATE2-2(RIGHT).Similarly,theinteriorlightinginthishistoricmansion
wasflatteringandbrightenoughthatIcouldtakethisportraitofthebride
withnoneedforflash.(SETTINGS:1/320second,f/2,640ISO)
LOOKINGATTHEAVAILABLELIGHT9
3. A Few Essential Concepts
TheLargertheLightSource,TheSoftertheLight
Aninescapableprincipleinlightingisthatthelargeryourlightsource(inrela-
tiontoyoursubject),thesofterthelightis.Thisconceptistheveryheartofwhy The size of the front of
we bounce flash: we are simply trying to create a larger light source when we
the flash head is small,
bounceflashoffofvarioussurfaces.
Thesizeofthefrontoftheflashheadissmall,hencethedirectlightfromit
hence the direct light
is quite harsh. If our light is direct and from the camera’s viewpoint, the light
willalsobeflatandunflattering.Themomentwebounceflashoffofanearby from it is quite harsh.
surface(awall,ceiling,orreflector)wehavesofterlight,becausewecreateda
much larger light source. We now have to consider our light source to be the
areawe’rebouncingourflashoff,ratherthantheflashgunitself.Notonlydoes
bouncingflashcreatesofterlight,itcanalsomakeourlightdirectional.
Direction,Intensity,andColorBalance
In our pursuit to seamlessly blend our flash lighting with available light, we
needtobeawareofthedirectionofourlight,theintensityofourflash(i.e.,how PLATE3-1.Theflashexposurecompensa-
tionwassetquitehighbecauseofhow
muchflashwe’readdingtotheavailablelight),andourcolorbalance. thebride’sdressinfluencedthemetering
Direction.Thedirectionfromwhichweaddourlightingwillheavilydictate oftheTTLflash.(SETTINGS:1/125second,
f/4.5,1000ISO;FEC+2.0EV)
our results. With directional lighting,
we mean light that comes in from an
angleotherthandirectlyfromthecam-
era’sviewpoint.Directionallightingwill
giveusthatinterplaybetweenlightand
shadow that gives shape and form to
oursubjects.Italsorevealstexture.
Intensity. How much flash to use
(i.e.,theintensityofourflash)depends
entirely on the existing lighting (also
called the available light). The quality
andamountofavailablelightwillbethe
basis on which we decide what to do
withourflashlighting.Forthisreason,
we’lltouchonexposuremeteringtech-
10SECTION1:WHEREDOWESTART?