Flash Photography: Getting past that love/hate relationship!

I'm back at the blog after a great Labor Day weekend.  I hope you all enjoyed the holiday!  Today I thought I'd talk a bit about flash photography.

A few years ago I attended my brother-in-laws wedding in Florida.  He had hired a friend to photograph his wedding who was "starting" her own photography business.  During the wedding, and then at the reception, I observed that the "photographer" was not using flash.  The church, as with most churches, was dimly lit.  The reception, held at my brother-in-law's country bar, was downright dark except for the strobe above the dance floor and the soft glow from the lights above the tables.  I was curious why any photographer would shoot in this situation without a flash, so I asked.  She said flash makes photos look terrible and that she was specializing in "natural light" photography.  She had her ISO cranked up to 1600 and was firing away.   

I had a Canon 20D at the time (still have it in fact) and I noticed she had the same camera.  This was/is a great little camera, but it is not a high end model and shooting in low light and cranking up the ISO will give you some noise.  I also knew that the rooms we were in were so dark that even with a high ISO she must have had her shutter speed pretty darn low... and she was shooting hand held. 

Needless to say...   a few months later I asked my brother-in-law how the pictures of his wedding turned out and he said "not so good."  My wife and I had done the same thing about 17 years earlier.  To save money we paid a family friend to take photos at our wedding and they turned out like crap!  My wife regrets that decision to this very day.

So why did this "photographer" not want to use flash... which could have greatly improved her photos?  I'm guessing it is because flash photography is tough to master.  If you don't know what you're doing flash can jump all over the place and leave you with photos looking like your subject was staring at an atomic explosion, or with eyes that make them look like their possessed.  When I hear people say that they specialize in "natural" light, I wonder if that is because they love natural light, or because they haven't mastered flash?  After all, if you want to be a photographer, it seem's you would want to be able to use all the tools available.

So where am I heading with today's blog?  I am simply encouraging you... if you aren't already... to become a master of the flash.  It would take a lot more time then I've got, however, to teach you how to use your camera's flash.  Fortunately, someone has already done a lot of the work... and that is the purpose of todays blog.  I wanted to let you know about a great blog/website that does a great job of teaching about flash photography... and it's free!  How can you beat that?  It's called Strobist, and you can find them at http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/02/welcome-to-strobist.html

Check em' out.  You might just find that flash photography ain't so bad!

Ryan

The Golden Hour - Best Time to Take a Picture

If you love photography like I do I'm sure you know what the golden hour is, that "magic" hour just after the sun comes up and just before it goes down when the natural light has a special quality that makes for some great photos.

This is what they say about it on Wikipedia:

In photography, the golden hour (sometimes known as magic hour, especially in cinematography) is the first and last hour of sunlight during the day,[1] when a specific photographic effect is achieved with the quality of the light.

Typically, lighting is softer (more diffuse) and warmer in hue, and shadows are longer. When the Sun is near the horizon, sunlight travels through more of the atmosphere, reducing its intensity, so that more of the illumination comes from the sky. More blue light is scattered, so that light from the Sun appears more reddish. And the Sun's small angle with the horizon produces longer shadows. The golden hour is a mild version of alpenglow, as described by Galen Rowell.

“Hour” is used here quite loosely. The character of the lighting is determined by the Sun's altitude, and the time for the Sun to move from the horizon to a specified altitude depends on a location's latitude and the time of year[2] (Bermingham 2003, 214). In Los Angeles, California, at an hour after sunrise or an hour before sunset, the Sun has an altitude of about 10°–12°.[3] For a location closer to the equator, the altitude is greater (or the time less), and for a location farther from the equator, the altitude is less (or the time greater). For a location sufficiently far from the equator, the Sun may not reach an altitude of 10°, and the golden hour lasts for the entire day if the Sun indeed rises.

In the middle of the day, the bright overhead Sun can create too-bright highlights and dark shadows. The degree to which overexposure can occur varies because different types of film and digital cameras have different dynamic ranges. This harsh-lighting problem is particularly important in portrait photography, where a fill flash is often necessary to balance lighting across the subject's face or body, filling in strong shadows that are usually considered undesirable.

Because the contrast is less during the golden hour, shadows are less dark, and highlights are less likely to be overexposed. In landscape photography, the warm color of the low Sun is often considered desirable to enhance the colours of the scene.

It's pretty darn easy to find out when sunrise and sunset is.  Just check your local newspaper or the internet.  Here is a link to a website that will tell you the golden hour anywhere in the world.  It's kind of interesting and you might enjoy playing around with it... then again... maybe not.

http://www.golden-hour.com/

It's Friday and we're lookin' down the barrel of a three-day weekend.  At least I am... and I hope you are too!  Try to get some shooting in and I'll see you Tuesday!

Ryan

Business "To Do" List: Get a Website and Keep It Updated

Not only am I a photographer, but I play one on TV... wait!... that's not right!  Let me start over. 

No only am I a photographer, but I also own a Landscape Architecture and Park Planning firm that I started in 1998.  (There... that's much better... and accurate!) 

One similarity with these businesses... they both need a website.  In this day and age it is extremely important to have a website.  But it is just as important to keep that website current once it's up and running.  For me personally, it raises a red flag when I go onto someones website and it appears that they haven't touched it in two years.  The thoughts that go through my head when I see an outdated website (i.e., not current projects, etc.)... are these guys still in business?  Are they going to stay in business?

I had one of my employees build the website for my landscape architectural firm.  It is a great little website but it is difficult to keep it updated because I can't do it myself.

For my photography business I decided to take another route.  As a photographer I read a ton of books, watch videos, and attend seminars by some of the best photographers in the business.  I figure if I want to become one of the best (which I am not!)... these are the guys I should be listening to.  It was from the late, great photographer Monte Zucker that I learned about SiteWelder.  This company provides professional website templates which you can customize to fit your needs.  They then host the site for you.  I am currently building a website and it is sooo easy to understand.  And the really cool thing about it?   I will be able to update my photography website 24/7.

I have a friend who owns a company that just paid several thousand dollars to have a web designer build them a site.  It was expenseive, and he has to go back to the web designer to update the site.  If you are in need of a website you may want to check out SiteWelder http://www.sitewelder.com/sitewelder-users.html

I'm impressed with them so far... and... after all, Monte Zucker recommended them.

See you Friday!

Ryan

Photographer Joe McNally is the Man!

It's 4:30 in the morning and I'm so excited about Joe McNally's book, "The Moment it Clicks," that I decided jump out of bed and write about it for today's blog.  I mentioned a few blogs back that I had renewed my membership with Kelby Training http://www.kelbytraining.com/ , one of the most cost effective and efficient ways to learn photography and photoshop as far as I'm concerned.

As part of the deal for signing up, Kelby Training sent me two books ("The Moment it Clicks," by Joe McNally and "The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers," by Scott Kelby).  The books arrived in my mail yesterday.  If you have read any of Scott's books then you know that this one is going to be awesome!

This is the first book by Joe McNally that I have read (I read the first 38 pages last night while sitting at my son's football practice) and it is such an easy read.  If you have ever been to one of Joe's seminars you know that he is a pretty funny guy who is VERY interesting to listen to.  He writes the same way!

The book is extremely informative, as Joe tell's you about each photo and how he set up the shot, but I also found it to be very inspiring.  It made me want to get out there and try new things, photographically speaking... to think outside the box.  I can't wait to read more!

To be blunt, the economy sucks right now.  I read on the internet that the recession is over, but apparently that news hasn't trickled down to Reno where I hang my shingle.  With great adversity, however, comes great opportunity... you just have to think outside the box.  Take a break from all the crap about the economy and bury yourself in a good book.  Who knows... it might just trigger your "next big move!"

Hopefully I'll see you back here tomorrow.  Keep shooting!

Ryan

Want a Great Picture? Simplify Your Background!

Welcome to Tuesday.  The kids are back in school and the world has returned to it's normal rotation!  I have been so busy trying to get this blog up and running that I almost forgot to write todays blog!

Today I thought I would share a quick, simple tip that can make your photos look a lot better... simplify your background.  Whenever you're going to take a photo take a quick look to see what is in the background... and foreground for that matter.  The less "clutter" you have competing with your main subject, the better your picture is going to look.

Take a look at this photo of my oldest son.  We spent the day up at lake Tahoe and I got this great shot of him leaping off the back of our boat.  It was smoky that day due to a forest fire in Yosemite so we could not see the shoreline on  the opposite side of the lake.  That lack of detail on the shoreline made for a very clean, simple shot in which my son is clearly the subject.  The boat in the background is a nice detail that gives an interesting scale to the photo and helps tell the story.

Another example of a pretty good shot but a GREAT memory.

Enjoy your Tuesday!

Ryan