Shooting By The Light Of The Silvery Moon: More Budapest Images

Good Morning Everybody,

Today is our last day in Rovinj, Croatia.  We’re planning a short day trip to Porec, Croatia to check out a few of the sites then it’s back to our home away from home and packing the bags for an early departure tomorrow.  Before we head to Salzburg, Austria  I thought I’d take a chance with the internet and share with you the last day’s shoot from our Budapest Master Class. 

Shooting By The Light Of The Silvery Moon

Well, not really the moon light, but some pretty blanketed daylight.  Most of the day was overcast and the clouds were pretty thick in the sky making for a really gray (and dim) day.

The images are quite a bit different from the others I’ve posted so far from our class because today’s images are mostly made with just the available light present in the locations featured in this day’s shooting session.  I’ve got about seven favorites so lets get right to them.

Photo 1: Ballroom Dance

This first image was a quick grab shot.  The ballroom was off limits to all hotel guests because a wedding was taking place in the room in just a few short hours.  As we walked past the ballroom, I asked our model to step in so I could get a quick photo.  We quickly set up the off camera flash, posed the bride and shot away.

My only regret is that I didn’t have a wider lens on the camera.  The room was beautifully set and the wider optic would have captured the grandeur all the better.  But hey, we were going to get kicked out any second so I grabbed what I could ;~) In about 60 seconds I had the image I almost wanted.

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with my Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 28mm, 1/50 second at F6.3, ISO 800.  Lighting camera right, Canon 600 EX-RT speed-lite through my Zumbrella. 

Photo 2: Stained Glass Fantasy

I loved how the stained glass windows lined up the stairs of the hotel and had been eyeing them all week hoping to capture an image or two with one of our models.  This one is probably my favorite.

My technique is the same as what I’ve described in many photos from the week’s shoot – off camera flash through my Zumbrella and balance the light with the ambient.  I did tweak the image in Lightroom 5 for my final result.

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with my Sigma 12–24 mm lens at 24mm, 1/50 second at F6.3, ISO 2000.  Lighting camera right with Canon 600 EX-RT speed-lite through my Zumbrella.

Photo 3: Dancing In The Clouds

I love this image.  Or maybe it’s the fabulous bridal gown I love.  I have to say, it was the most unusual and beautiful gown I have ever seen.  It was a hit with all the other models and the class as well.

The photograph is just a simple window light image.  What I like about the composition is how I positioned the bride against the relatively plain-looking, rectangular wood paneled shapes in the background.  I had to be careful with my camera position that her profile fell in between the rectangular shapes you see on the back wall.  Had I been less careful and caught one of the shapes on her face, it would have completely distracted the viewer from my main subject. By stepping back and really using a longer focal length lens I was able to compress this mundane background into something that looked quite pleasing.

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with my Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 119mm, 1/40 second at F5.6, ISO 12,800 – yep, that’s right – super high ISO. 

Photo 4: Line Dance

This is another straight available light photograph.  From the second floor of the hotel LaDawn spotted the arrangement of the outdoor furniture below and thought it might make an interesting setting for a portrait.  It looked compositional interesting to me so we went to work.  I carefully positioned Clara among the pieces of furniture till I had the composition I wanted.

Notice that the only vertical element in this image is the model.  Everything else is a diagonal line.  I think it’s that “contrast of line” that makes the image. The lines seem to frame up our subject perfectly.

The original monochromatic feel of this color image created by Clara’s black jacket and the very dark rattan furniture led me to de-saturate the image completely for an interesting black & white photograph.

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with my Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 135mm, 1/100 second at F5.6, ISO 3,200. 

Photo 5: Beauty Among The Ruins

This is a very simple, straightforward portrait made once again with the existing light of the scene.  The light was coming in beautifully from camera left and really defined Clara’s facial features splendidly.  Notice too that with the very broad light source how beautifully her eyes are illuminated.

Compositionally, I wanted to pick up the repeat of the architectural elements you see in the background. By positioning our subject opposite the vanishing point of those elements your eye is easily drawn directly to our lovely subject.

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with my Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 260mm, 1/100 second at F5.6, ISO 3,200. 

Photo 6: Evening Beauty

I’m wrapping this series of images with my second favorite image of the day. (My favorite was the image I posted in yesterday’s post.) This structure is right of the entrance of the Gellert Hotel. I’m told by one of the locals that it is not everybody’s favorite piece of architecture in Budapest.  It design seems incongruent with the historical surrounds of the city.  Hey, what can you say – some like it - some folks don’t. I happen to like it for this image especially.

I think it offered a very cool background for this photograph.  The sun had long since set but I was still able to pick up a little sky color with my exposure.  I like that the sky did not go deep black.

I knew I needed to add my off-camera flash – Zumbrella/speed-light combo – to get the dimensional lighting I wanted. The initial test shot needed something else though.  The subject was blending into the background too much.  I needed a back light.  And, my little speed light did the trick nicely.

The combination of center symmetry composition and by “go-to”  lighting gave me the shot I was looking for.  Hope you like it too.

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with my Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 28mm, 1/160 second at F5.6, ISO 400.  Lighting camera right, Canon 600 EX-RT speed-lite through my Zumbrella and Canon 600 EX-RT speed-lite pointed at the subject 12 feet away at 1/2 power.

Photo 7: Gellert Girl

This image is a variation of yesterday’s image.  I just shot it with a much wider view.  I do like how I pulled in most of the Gellert Hotel for this composition. This image is without the added backlight of yesterday’s post [link] but still looks pretty cool.

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with my Sigma 12–24 mm lens at 12mm, 1/25 second at F5.3, ISO 1600 Lighting camera left with Canon 600 EX-RT speed-lite through my Zumbrella.

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  The sun is shining bright (finally) and the air is cool.  It’s a perfect day to take another exploration around beautiful Croatia.  Check back again soon and I’ll share a few more of our travel experiences with you.

See ya’ soon, David

”Sitting Pretty"

”Sitting Pretty"
©David A. Ziser

Here is another image from Molly’s session.  I’m putting it up as the “image of the day” because I think it captures perfectly the personality of my subject. I love the easy smile and relaxed pose.  I love too the gorgeous lighting and gentle breeze in the scene.  The soft back lighting from the nearly setting sun did a wonderful job separating Molly from the much darker background.  It was the perfect day for a portrait shoot.

Camera specs; Canon 5D Mark III fitted with Tamron 28-300mm lens at 184mm, F6.3 @ 1/200 second, ISO 200. Enjoy! -David

A Beautiful Portrait Shoot & Thank You For The Birthday Wishes

Good Morning Everybody,

First of all I want to thank everyone for their kind thoughts wishes on my birthday this past Wednesday.  The birthday wishes came in from around the world and I read each and everyone of them so once again, thank you for your kind thoughts.  It was much appreciated. Thanks again.  -David

A Beautiful High School Senior Portrait Session

I got the opportunity to photograph one of my clients yesterday evening. I actually photographed mom and dad's wedding years ago and have been photographing their family ever since.  Their oldest daughter Molly is about to graduate from high school and her mom asked me to photograph her for her high school senior portraits. I was thrilled - heck, I've been watching Molly grow up since she was a child.

The weather was perfect, the temperature was in the mid-70s, clouds were filling the blue sky, and everything seemed perfect for the portrait shoot at Ault Park. We arrived around 5:30 p.m.  For this time of the year in this part of the Midwest the light is really beautiful and it gives us plenty of time to work into that "sweet light" period shortly before sunset.

Uh OH!  We were hit with a big surprise upon arriving at the park.  There were a gazillion people there.  I had never seen the park that crowded!  What was going on???!!! Turns out it was a special Ault Park dance night and they were expecting hundreds upon hundreds of people to show up over the next hour or two.

The crowds just might crimp my style for Molly's shoot but what are you going to do?  You still have to come back with the shots, right - no excuses!!!  In today's post I want to share with you how fabulously well Molly’s session progressed.  I really believe I captured some my prettiest portraits ever!  Having a super cute girl like Molly to photograph sure made the session a breeze.

Above is a glimpse of the park just as we were beginning the portrait session - lots of people everywhere and more on the way!  I decided to walk around the park, do the best I could, keeping in mind, that I had Photoshop and Lightroom in my back pocket and could easily remove any of the distracting park attendees from some of my images.

Anyway, we begin the photography up around the fountain area you see in the image above. The dance party was taking place at the top of the fountain so we were somewhat removed enough from the larger crowd on the upper level of the pavilion. As I said the weather was perfect and the sun was co-operating by ducking behind the scattered clouds every now and then giving me the soft illumination I wanted.

LaDawn was standing by as my assistant with my off camera lighting set up – a Canon 600 EX-RT speedlite -  to supply the directional illumination as needed. Since we were in a fairly sunny part of the park I thought I would begin my photography by having Molly backlit and have LaDawn position herself for the nice loop lighting that I like on my portraits. I also did not shoot through my Zumbrella in this case because I needed the full output from my zoomed (to 80mm) flash.  Here are a couple of images from the beginning of the session.

 

We then continued moving through other areas of the park – there must've been five other photographers working the park that late afternoon.  Nevertheless,  we did find some great locations that offered a wonderful variety of looks and feels. In all but one case, I used my off camera flash – the Canon 600 EX-RT speedlites shooting through my Zumbrella.  That combo just gives me such beautiful light on the subject.

Because we’re still in the middle of summer, the park offers  fabulous locations for portraits. There's always some place in the park that is in full bloom and full of rich colors. I love to take advantage of the beautiful variety this park offers.

When shooting in colorful areas like this, there are two things I really try to accomplish. Number one, place the subject in the shade, then add the off-camera flash, and shoot away. The off-camera flash creates that beautiful dimensional lighting on the subject that just seems to make them pop from the background.

The next thing I try to do, particularly in yesterday’s situation, is to backlight the subject as so I can really highlight her hair .  With Molly’s face in the shadows, it’s easy to add the dimensional lighting with the off-camera flash. Check out the two examples below.

For most of the images I was able to use just one speed-light but, when I was working in the more direct sunlight and shooting through the Zumbrella I had to increase my power by using two speed-lights. It was so easy to work with the Canon ST-E3-RT Speedlite Transmitter on camera to easily adjust the remote speedlights to get just the light output I needed.

Another thing that is important to note is that I kept the camera on “manual” for all my exposures and I also shot the strobes on “manual” as well. Over all my years in this profession, every time I try the automatic settings I never do quite achieve the consistency in the results that I want. But with the camera and flashes all on “manual” I can easily control the light output with the camera controller.  This let’s me easily put the light densities exactly where I want them in my scene.

As you'll see in the next couple of photographs, I also like to use repeating elements in my composition. The fence in the next image gives a nice feeling of depth to the scene and easily leads the viewer’s eye directly to the subject.

I the following image it’s the long row of trees serve this purpose perfectly for my final composition.

We next headed to my favorite location in the park and, as expected it was in full bloom. The problem working in this area is that the subject receives a lot of front light and the background can sometimes go too dark. I was easily able to add light to the subject with my Canon 600 EX-RT speedlites powered through the Zumbrella to get the dimensional lighting I wanted on the subject.

To open up the shadows in the background I used Lightroom 5  to accomplish the finished result. I simply used the the green slide in the color channels pallet and pushed up the “luminosity” up by a few points. Using the green channel only let’s me brighten the greens throughout the whole scene when faced with this lighting situation.

In the post processing I also do a couple tweaks on the exposure and always push up the shadow density.  The other correction I made to each of these photographs is the new Radial filter.  Boy, as a portrait photographer, I love how that new feature in Lightroom 5 can really “focus” the viewer’s attention onto the subject.

Anyway, the session went fabulous! Molly was a great subject to photograph with her sparkling personality and a beautiful smile.  LaDawn nailed the lighting perfectly and that makes a difference to capturing great images. A great ending to a beautiful high school senior shoot.  By the way, I’m photographing the entire family on Monday same time, same place ;~)  Stay tuned, I'll share a few of those images with you next week.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. Enjoy the photographs, enjoy the weekend, and I'll see you again next week.

Adios, David

Photos From My “LIVE” Wedding Shoot

Good Afternoon Everybody,

We landed safe and sound in sunny Orlando late Monday morning.  We’ve been going a million miles an hour since we arrived, but we’ve been having a great time. 

I had my “LIVE” Wedding Shootout scheduled from noon till 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday.  Tuesday was looking like it was going to be a long day as I had a special meeting with Adobe in which they present all the latest, greatest new features of upcoming software releases. The instructors received instructional information on the new Lightroom 5 features – way cool. I’ll cover some of my favorites in an upcoming post.

I wasn’t able to stay for the whole meeting since I had to leave early to get ready for my noon class.  We had quite the crowd gathering in the meeting room – about 45 people attended the pre-con class. The students that gathered was indeed an international group. We had photographers attending from not just across many states in the US, but also from the Dominican Republic, Canada, France, and even Australia! It was quite an honor to be presenting to such a wonderfully exciting, international group of photographers.

Heading Out On The Shoot

Over the course of the next six hours we covered lots of material.  One of the things I like to do for my class is to provide an edited set of my images from the pre-con so I always ask the attendees to concentrate on capturing the overall views with their cameras time-synced to my camera. With my images and their reference photographs, the two sets of images together provide a wonderful learning resource. 

Here are a few images from the class. All images were produced with my Canon EOS 5D Mark III Digital Camera and Canon Speedlite 600EX-RTs, natural light, and my Zumbrella.  Main lenses included my Tamron 28-300mm Lens, Canon 24-105mm, and my Sigma 12-24mm wide angle lens.

Image 1:  We found a beautiful natural light pouring in through a large window in the convention center begging for a photograph to be captured. I loved how the white wall behind her was well illuminated too – a simple yet perfect high key background.

I used my Tamron 28-300mm Lens and zoomed in close to the bride. 

Image 2:  I had planned to photograph the groom on the third floor but the sun over lit the area where I wanted to make his portrait. I quickly resurveyed the scene and found another area that I thought offered a dynamic background, full of angles and lines, behind the subject.

Image 3:  This next image is just a simple classic bridal portrait of the bride in the church sanctuary. I enhanced the photograph with a few new features in Lightroom 5.  I’ll tell you about them in a later post.

Image 4:  This photograph was made outside the church on a very bright, sunny day. I knew I wanted to use hi-speed flash sync to illuminate the bride and groom. I positioned the couple in the shadow of the  church. I then made my exposure for the clouds and sky above the church and then added the power of three 600 the XRT strobes to the bride and the groom to balance the exposure.

Sometimes the gear appears in the photograph as it originally did in this image but, by using the “content aware” tool in Photoshop the gear was easily removed.

Image 5:  This next image is a portrait of the groom in the Orlando Convention Center. The image was made about 5 hours later in the day and the bright sunlight was no longer a problem.  My lighting is coming  from camera right from 1 Canon  600EX-RT Speedlite fired through my Zumbrella.

We had a great day on the road and then returned back to the classroom for my wrap-up. During this year’s session I covered our sales presentations and marketing strategies for the class. This was a new experience for me and for the attendees who have attended my classes in the past. The class seemed to thoroughly enjoy the additional information.  The class even ran over about 25 minutes, but nobody really seemed to mind ;~)  I’d like to THANK everybody and I hope all enjoyed the experience.

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  Time is tight around here but I’ll plan to do another show update from the cruise ship over the next few days.  Yep, LaDawn and I are heading across the Atlantic tomorrow morning. 

See ya’ from the middle of the Atlantic, David

Technique Tuesday: Big Lighting From Small Speedlights

Good Morning Everybody,

It's a busy week for us since we will be traveling for the next  five weeks.  Not only do we have Photoshop World to get presentations polished, power points reviewed….we also have to pack for four more weeks of travel after that. But, more on that later.

Technique Tuesday: Big Lighting From Small Speedlights

Hey gang, I’ve prepared a pretty cool Technique Tuesday for you today. I'm going to keep it short and sweet but I think there's a good lesson here. And it shows the added versatility that we can bring to our speed-lighting techniques.

Recently I had to the opportunity to photograph of family portrait. We were outdoors with the beautiful vineyards in the background. The problem was that the vineyards were in direct sunlight so I had to place my subjects in the shade.  As a result, the direction of the natural light was flat and not flattering on my subjects.

Most of the time I prefer to use flash whenever I'm shooting outdoors. It just guarantees that I'll get the direction of light on my subjects exactly the way I want it. That was also the case in this portrait session – I wanted directional light on my subjects. But, I wanted that directional light to be a very, very soft and flattering light as well. Remember I’m in direct early afternoon sunlight. 

The way I handled the lighting situation is what I demonstrate in our tutorial today. Why not hit the PLAY button below and enjoy the show. I hope today's lighting lesson helps bring greater flexibility to your speed-lighting as well and I hope you get even better portraits than ever before.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. It's back to work getting ready for our next BIG adventure.

Everybody have a great rest the day and I'll see you soon.

Adios, David

Technique Tuesday on Wednesday: Shine A Little Light On Me

Good Morning Everybody,

We have easily settled into the Cabo lifestyle these last few days with walks on the beach, enjoying the sunrises and sunsets, the waves, a little tequila flavored drinks, the swimming pools and taking “timeshare” tours. It’s true, we have taken two “timeshare tours.”  I’ve mentioned before that I’m a student of sales and I like to see what new “sales” approach will be taken in each presentation.  Some consider these kinds of presentation just a waste of time, but, in reality, I really enjoy seeing the properties and experiencing new insights I can gain from their sales techniques. 

So with that said, let’s get on with today’s post.

Shine A Little Light On Me

As you know, while we were in Spain a few weeks ago, I presented a convention program and then did a day-long workshop on Monday after the convention. In today’s post  I’d like to cover a few of the window lighting techniques I shared with the class.

Today’s video will show you how finding the direction of light is so important to creating a flattering portrait.  I’ll also show you how you can augment the lighting to enhance the finished portrait even more. The lighting was perfect and our model was beautiful so why not hit the PLAY button below and enjoy the presentation.

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  We’re burning daylight and LaDawn insists we get outside and enjoy it.  How about I see you tomorrow for a brand new Business Day Thursday post:  How NOT to Make The Sale!

See you then,  David

p.s. To get the video up today, I took a short cut on recording the sound and just used the camera’s on board microphone, hence the difference in sound during the video.

"Come Fly With Me"

"Come Fly With Me"
©David A. Ziser

In this composition, what really appealed to me was the rich stained-glass window colors in the hotel lobby. I also thought that the long diagonal lines of the ceiling lights were quite interesting. So I thought, “If I can arrange her in a diagonal like pose, I could create a fairly dramatic photograph of my bride.” This is a result of my pre-visualization for the photograph. I'm really quite happy with the result.

Notice too how I have her positioned at nodal point #4 in the composition – bottom right part of the frame. The lines in the composition visually seem to want to rush out and meet her. Her lean and the positioning of her arms and hands in this pose further add to the “motion” one feels in this composition.

DAZNOTE: When posing hands and arms, it’s a good idea visually to have the hands at different levels – it just seems to look better balanced that way.

Lighting was easy.  I simply illuminated her with one Canon 600 EX-RT speed-light passing through my Zumbrella about six feet away camera right.  I let the flash and camera do all the exposure calculations and tweak the exposure by reading the histogram as needed. The off-camera flash adds a pleasing dimensional lighting to the portrait.

Camera specs:  Canon 5D Mark III fitted with 24-105mm IS lens at 24mm, F5.0 @ 1/125 second, ISO 1600.  Enjoy!  -David

An Image Peek From My Spain Workshop Or Variations On A Wide Angle Lens Theme

Good Morning Everybody,

Things are coming together… slowly but surely around the studio.  In effect, when we returned from our travels, we walked right into the holiday rush. That’s not a bad thing – it just means that we hit the ground running. We should be in pretty good shape by this time next week and we’re keeping all of our clients happy – the most important goal for any business.  Anyway, on with today’s post.

An Image Peek From My Spain Workshop Or Variations On A Wide Angle Lens Theme

I promised you a peek at some of the photographs I captured during my Spain Workshop. Today I’d like to share with you a couple of those images. As I was preparing for today's post, the number of images I was selecting was getting quite large so I decided to break it down into a smaller selection of images for today. I think there just may be a Technique Tuesday or two in the making here ;~)  So that being said let's get on with the image preview.

Photo #1:

This is just a simple, traditional portrait of our bride taken in the lobby of the same hotel as the Image of the Day post above.  The camera’s vantage point is slightly higher so we see more of the floor in this image. Lighting was from camera right from my  remotely fired Canon 600 TX – RT strobe.  I used the beer koozie (never leave home without one) to control the cone of light illuminating the subject. It really gave us a nice spot light affect on the bride.

Photo #2:

Next we moved to an area of the hotel opposite the registration area. What I loved about this location was the long strong diagonal lines that I saw in the ceiling. To accentuate those lines my camera's position was going be quite low and, as you can see from this photograph, so I positioned the bride a few steps up so that I'm actually below the floor on which the bride is standing.

We brought the light in from camera right to create the loop lighting pattern on her face. I carefully positioned her head within the ceiling’s architectural elements to create this quite dramatic wide-angle portrait of our bride.

Photo #3:

From the previous photograph you can see that the window light was coming in quite heavily from the left. I wasn't sure if I liked the bride looking away from that bright light source so, in this image I chose to reposition the bride to face camera left. This was the same direction as the light was coming through the large span of windows and created a much more believable, natural light on the bride. To be consistent with the strong directional room lighting I also brought my off-camera flash, my Canon 600 EX-RT speed light, in from the left as well.

In this image I also wanted to create a much smaller cone of light so that I wouldn’t have any extraneous light hitting the ceiling to draw viewer’s attention away from my main subject. I shared a different lighting technique by just manually zooming the flash to create that smaller cone of light which created for me the nice natural falloff on the bride.  The zoomed speed-light creates sort of that Hollywood lighting effect that I often bring to my portrait sessions. But, when I look at this image I thought it could be enhanced a bit more with a little backlighting.

Photo #4:

In this image I simply added another Canon 600 TX-RT speed-light placed on the floor behind the bride. I love how I can control the light output of both flash units –  the one coming from camera left and the one behind the bride separately with my on-camera speed-light. Canon’s new speed-lighting system gives me maximum flexibility when setting up these kinds of lighting situations.

The position of the bride's head against the ceiling was most important to me. I didn't want any of the sharp lines or angles hitting her right in the head so I carefully positioned her head in front of a less busy area of the ceiling.

But, do I have any reservations with this image?  I do in this regard. I'm looking at the shadow being cast on the steps camera right. Sure, I can fix it in Photoshop but, a softer light source coming in from camera left may have solved my problem a bit more easily. The problem with using a softer light like shooting through my Zumbrella would've added a complication to the ceiling by illuminating the ceiling as well. This is one of the situations where we have to make a compromise. I think I prefer the lighting on the bride alone without allowing too much light to reflect on the ceiling. It allows the bride to just “pop” out of the scene - which is really what I wanted.

Photo #5:

I solved a little bit of my shadow problem, mentioned above, by using a slightly tighter crop in this image. I still think this is a very nice three-quarter length portrait of our beautiful bride. The backlighting “pops” her very effectively from the background and I really like the beautiful dimensional lighting on her face. I'm pretty happy with how these photographs evolved.

This is important: We have to remember one thing when using small light sources. Be sure that the bride's bouquet is slightly behind her gown. I let the bride's bouquet come a bit too far forward in this image and, as you can see, the light has cast the bride's bouquet shadow across her gown. This is a common and easy mistake that we just need to keep in mind and be aware of whenever taking bridal photographs with smaller light sources. We always have to be aware of just how the shadows are going to fall on the scene to avoid the ugly shadows!

Photo #6:

This image is exactly the same lighting set-up as the image we see above. The only difference is I chose a vertical crop. Look how that crop really affects how you perceive the image.  The vertical crop really enhances the strong diagonal lines that we see in the ceiling.  And, I think, adds a stronger element into the composition that renders itself a bit unusual in this dramatic bridal portrait.

In looking back over the previous photographs you may prefer the horizontal image instead but this post is really a visual exercise on how I “see” when composing my images.  That’s particularly true in these last five images.  They are just my variations on a mostly wide angle theme.

When I'm shooting I'm constantly thinking about how I might improve or change the final portrait. I can easily do that with wide angle lenses or by changing the crop from vertical to horizontal. I'm also thinking about how I can best light the subject in the situations and conditions I find myself in on the day of a wedding.  Do I want the subject backlit?  Do I need to keep the light from falling onto the ceiling – or pews – or marble tiled alter…?  How and where will the shadows fall?  These are all important considerations when designing your images. That is – if you want the best result not just for you but your client as well.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. I'm still working hard on trying to get the final details worked out on our PhotoPro Expo for next February. Even though it still three months away we’ve got to get all the marketing pieces ready to go and get the website 100% complete. So, that makes a push time for us around here today. That said, let me wish everyone a great weekend and I'll see you again next week.

Adios, David

Creative Speedlighting Workshop Coming To Cincinnati, OH Next Sunday!!!

Hi Everybody,

I was talking with my Ace#1 photographer, Nickolas Viltrakis, this evening and he asked me to share with you this very cool seminar coming your way next Sunday. Nicholas and my good buddies, Eric Cameron and Jason Lykins presented dynamite programs at our PhotoPro Network Summer School and hit it out of the park!  I have to tell you, this seminar looks like it’s going to be one heck of an exciting program.  But instead of me telling you about it. 

Let me turn it over to Nicholas to tell you more about it. 

PhotoMentorGroup

Support - Education - Friendship – Fun

“Photographers: I promise you’ll learn things that you can use Sunday October 14th! If you’ve ever wanted to make beautiful images easily with the Canon or Nikon speedlights you already have now is your time. The PhotoMentorGroup is putting on an encore performance of their Creative Speed Lighting workshop from the Photo Pro Network’s Summer School this year! You can improve your lighting quickly and cheaply in one night! Sunday October 14th at 1:00pm at Mansion Hill Studios in Newport Kentucky! This is the best opportunity to learn tricks, build your portfolio, meet great people, and ask questions in a supportive environment!” … Nicholas

The Creative Speedlighting Workshop will begin at 1:00 pm at Mansion Hill Studios gallery (601 Washington Ave, Newport, KY 41071) and will include an on-location model shootout putting theory into practice at one of Cincinnati's premier parks! The fee for this workshop is an introductory rate of seventy five dollars (one hundred and ten dollars at the door)! Best part is you can bring a friend or your second shooter for only fifty dollars (seventy five day of)!! We’re really hoping to see you there! Space is limiting the number that can attend so please RSVP today to ensure you get a seat at this valuable session!

What you’ll learn:

• Pros and Cons of Speedlighting
• On camera Single light techniques
• Bounce Flash techniques
• Off camera single light technique
• Off camera double light
• Three light scenarios
• Sun as a Second Light
• Modifiers
• High Speed Sync

From real life examples from weddings, parties, portraits, and band shoots!

Check out images from other PhotoMentorGroup Events below:

Church of Rock and Roll shoot with Craig Weiglein: [link]

Explosive Wedding Growth Seminar Orlando Florida: [link]

Waterfall shoot with James Hollenberg [link]

Advanced Speed Lighting Workshop with Jason Lykins: [link]

PhotoPro Network’s Summer School Louisville Kentucky: [link]

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Hey gang, I hope you’ll check it out.  Nicholas is a great shooter and his approach to speedlighting is a creative breath of fresh air to any photographer wanting to make a difference in their photography.

Highly recommended,  David

Photography At The Castle

Good Morning Everyone,

Yesterday we celebrated our second week anniversary in the wonderful country of Italy.  I can't believe how quickly time is passing. How in the world do you spend less time in this historical rich country?  I’m sure glad we not heading home anytime soon - too much to see, to many photographs to take, and too much good food and fine wine still to try ;~) Both LaDawn and I feel truly blessed by this experience and the wonderful people we have been meeting thru-out our journey.

Yesterday was also the first day of our Italy Workshop - it went GREAT!!!  So how much equipment and gear do you really need to teach a class in Italy.  Clay showed me what he brought along and I was floored!!! He had six bags of gear!!! Me, I'm trucking along with everything in my Lowepro Roller 2 bag and I'm good to go.  Check out the photo below - it looks like we could open up three fully equipped studios with all the gear he brought.  In fact, if you look very closely, I think you'll find a kitchen sink in there somewhere ;~)  Needless to say, nothing is going to be left out of this week's photo extravaganza.

Clay and I kicked things off in the morning by team-teaching with the entire class of twenty five attendees.  Then we split up in the afternoon into two groups, each of us taking half of the class for half of the afternoon and then switching the groups later in the afternoon.  What's cool about Clay and I teaching together is the fact that he is such a fabulous portrait photographer, he can easily show the class all the nuances of how to flatter and make a person look good in front of the camera.

My gig, as you know, is composition and lighting.  That said, we both bring two completely different viewpoints to the photography experience for the class.  Both of our styles add an rewarding experience not just for the class attendees but for each of us as well.

The afternoon time was spent with each of us working with the smaller groups of photographers and also giving the class plenty of time to shoot on their own. We had seven beautiful models to work with so everyone had ample time to capture some great images.

Part of our Italy Class experience is the fact that all meals are included - yep, breakfast, lunch and dinner.  What a surprise it was to see the owner of the castle open her wine cellar to us for the first time at lunch yesterday.  Hey, I was teaching so I held off any wine sampling till much later in the evening. 

After lunch we worked all the way up until 6:30 p.m. finally taking a break for 30 minutes till dinner was served at 7:00 p.m.  After a super delicious dinner it was back to class when I gave a presentation on composition until about 10:30 p.m.  Clay takes the presentation this evening - yep, the days are very long but everyone seems to be thriving on all the creative energy happening around the castle.

Today will basically proceed pretty much like yesterday - another full day beginning at 8:30 a.m. and wrapping about 10:30 p.m. this evening. 

Tomorrow the entire class heads to Siena for a day of shooting in one of Italy's most historically preserved and beautiful cities.  That should really be a kick too. And, of course, another 14 hour day - whew!!!

So that's the lowdown so far from our Italy Workshop.  I'll plan to get back to you as soon as I can get a little free time to get back to the keyboard.  Everybody have a great day in you part of the world and I'll see you soon.

Arrivederci,  David

Technique Tues: My Five Favorite Lighting Techniques When Shooting Weddings

 Good Morning Everybody,

I have to tell you, that I am feeling great today. I just wrapped an early morning 8 mile walk in Las Vegas. Walking Las Vegas at 6 o'clock in the morning is quite a unique experience – in fact it's kind of peaceful. It was fun walking through some of the shops on Las Vegas Blvd. without hardly another person to be seen. It's a completely different world at 6:30 in the morning. The city starts coming alive at about 7:30 AM and you can start hearing the sounds of the restaurants and the shops.

I made it back to Mandalay Bay and caught up with LaDawn for a leisurely breakfast before we really throw things into high gear for the day. My pre-con starts at noon and goes nonstop until we wrap at about 6 o'clock this evening. Then over to the Instructors Dinner where we get a chance to catch up with friends and also get an opportunity to meet the new instructors for this year's Photoshop World. As an instructor, it's always one of the highlights of the trip for me.

It's going to be a busy three days but, as I've said before, it's always great fun, great education, and just one terrific way to recharge your  “creativity” batteries for another six months until the next Photoshop World rolls around in the Spring.

Even though blogging time is at a premium when were at these shows, I'll do my best to keep you up-to-date with what's going on and throw in a few photographs or two along the way. On that note gang, let’s get on with today's post.

My Five Favorite Lighting Techniques When Shooting Weddings

This past weekend I photographed probably the biggest wedding in the Cincinnati, Ohio area. It was one fabulous event. I met with my team at 11 o'clock in the morning at the studio and we didn't reconvene back to the studio until about 1:00 AM. Then it was off to one of the local cafés for a late-night dinner, an adult beverage and a chance to recap the day's events. Michael Holden, who flew all the way in from Toronto, Canada did a great job as my light man this event. Michael, as I mentioned last week attended my Master Class in the Spring and asked if he could tag along for an upcoming wedding. I was happy to oblige and provide an opportunity to be part of this wonderful wedding celebration.

My ace number one assistant, Nicholas Viltrakis, was on hand to photograph all the peripheral happenings of the wedding and also lend his expertise in facilitating the group photographs. Everything went pretty much like clockwork and I know we got a terrific set of images. As a matter of fact, at last count we had about 5500 for the day’s shoot. It's going to take a few days to get through all of them but it'll be fun to relive the event one more time.

While on my walk this morning, I was considering  the topic for today's Technique Tuesday. And, what popped into my mind was all the different lighting techniques we used on Sunday’s big event. I thought for today's post I would share with you my five favorite lighting techniques that I use on just about all of my weddings. I'll take a few minutes to step you through each one separately and include a photograph or two spotlighting a particular technique. Let's get right to it.

Available light:

When we arrived on the scene the girls were in the mist of hair and makeup. This is a great opportunity to capture some great candid images of everybody enjoying each other's company, laughing and joking, and revving up for the big day. Most of the images I take during this time are photographed without any auxiliary light. Because I'm shooting at such high ISOs – 6400 up to 12,800 ISO – I'm easily able to capture the expressions, emotions, and nuances of this part of the day.

The challenge for me is to still make my lighting exciting. I determine where the direction of light is coming from – usually a window or two – and then take up a camera position where the light falling on the subject’s face gives me the dimensional lighting that I love. Take a look at the photograph below. It's a photograph of the bride having her make-up applied. Notice the especially beautiful, dimensional lighting on her face. I love how we have the highlights next to shadows creating a very dimensional look for this image. This is pretty much my modus operandi for most of the shooting during this part of the wedding day.

The Z-Ray:

The Z-Ray has really figured predominately in a lot of my wedding photography these last several years. The Z-Ray is nothing more than a Brinkman Dual Xenon flashlight that I picked up a few years ago after hearing another photographer speak about it at one of the national photography conventions. The Z-Ray gives me a very narrow cone of light illuminating just a small section of the scene giving me almost a spotlight and dramatic affect on the photograph.

Check out the photograph to the right. This image was made right before the bride was to see her groom for the first time. We were on the third floor of the hotel and, with my low vanishing point, I was able to use the leading lines of the lights in the ceiling to direct the viewer’s eye right to my bride. The Z-Ray highlighted the bride perfectly and made her face the center of attention for this photograph. The leading lines of the lights in the ceiling and the lighting on her face makes for terrific portrait.

Shooting through my Zumbrella

There is no better way to illuminate your subjects than by taking your strobe and shooting through a translucent umbrella. Anybody following this blog for any length of time knows that this is my absolutely favorite light source for all of my signature images. I use it not only for individual and couples portraits but I also use it for my group photographs as well. Take a look at the photograph below. It's just a fun photograph of all the girls. The illumination was quite simple – my Canon 600 TX – RT strobe shooting through my Zumbrella, coming in from camera right, giving me the soft lighting falling on all the girls faces.

I balanced the ambient light with the strobe exposure to obtain the proper ratio of highlights to shadows. It’s that ratio of highlights to shadows that gives me the beautiful dimensional look.

Backlighting:

I've said it 1 million times here DigitalProTalk - backlighting is about the fastest, easiest, most effective way to add a sense of the dramatics to your wedding images. In the image that you see below, I had my assistant position one of my Canon  600 TX – RT strobes under the piano that you see behind the bride and groom. I had the couple look at each other for a couple of photographs and then I asked them to kiss each other for a few more. The backlighting, when coupled with a very dramatic location like we have here at the Netherland Hilton Hotel in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, gives us a very exciting wedding image for my clients.

The videographer had been working with the bride and groom seconds before I made this photograph. He was also working in about the same area of the hotel so, when he finished I asked the bride and groom to stand in the position that you see, positioned the strobe where I wanted it, and shot away.

A wedding photographer has to always be on their toes. They have to take advantage of the circumstances, the locations, and the timing of the day. Since the videographer was already working in that location, I knew that I had to be ready to grab my opportunity to get MY image the second he finished with the bride and groom. Time is moving very quickly on the wedding day and we have to move even more quickly to get photographs that matter for our couple. We were easily able to slide into this short series of photographs because of the heads up attention of my team and my being perceptive to anticipate the the actions of the bride and groom allowed us capture this photograph in a short amount of time.

Three light set up for receptions:

My hands-down favorite lighting for shooting wedding receptions is a simple three light set up. In two recent posts I described my lighting setup and even showed many diagrams of exactly how we set it up. You can find that 1st post right here and the 2nd post right here.

On Sunday’s shoot I was trying a completely different technique. I wanted to see if I could pull off the reception shoot with my brand-new Canon 600 TX – RT radio  enabled strobes. It took us a little while to get the technical aspects of the set up ironed out but, once we had successfully completed the set up we started getting the results that I want.

DAZNOTE: I will admit, that it was a bit frustrating in getting the new Canon strobes set up. Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming the Canon strobes. It's more of the matter of the fact that there are so many menu choices on these new, much more complicated lighting units, that it takes a little while to figure out just what the settings need to be to get the best result. On Sunday's wedding, it was my first real opportunity to see how much performance I could ring out of these little jewels. Even after 14 hours on the job and the five hour reception to wrap up the wedding, I still feel that I have much more to learn. That said, I'll keep you posted as to what I think the best setting should be when using the new Canon speed lights for such a large event.

I will say, that by shooting at the higher ISOs and even shooting the speed lights and manual mode at 1/8 power, I had plenty of light illuminating the dance floor. The challenge is to get the on camera flash working properly to give me the appropriate amount of fill light on the subject's face as I’m moving quickly throughout the evening to capture the action. I know this may sound a bit vague at this point but bear with me, I'll address some of my frustrations and my many successes with these little strobes in future posts. The bottom line is this; once I've got these three lighting jewels figured out I'll have the smallest, most portable, easiest multi-lighting solution available for all my future events.

Take a look at the photograph above. With the use of my three lighting set up you can see that we get a wonderful dimensional look on the scene. I get so frustrated when I look at wedding images with flat, one dimensional lighting. I for one, find that kind of lighting intolerable in my wedding images. In fact, Nicholas was shooting some of the peripheral photographs with his on camera flash and dragging the shutter to pick up some of the ambient light in the background. Since we had everything, including the kitchen sink, packed in our lighting kit, I suggested he hook up a couple room lights so that he could also have the dimensional look on his photographs too. In the matter of minutes both of us were creating some terrific wedding candids for our clients.

So, there you have a review of my five favorite lighting techniques when shooting weddings. I think it's interesting that so many photographers show up with their camera gear, a few lenses, flash and shoot away. For me, it's always been the challenge of putting the best lighting on just about every photograph I make at a wedding event. Part of the thrill for me is knowing that I am combining technology with artistry and creativity to give my clients images that not only record the day but record the day with elegance, panache, and class. It's not just about running and gunning on the wedding day. It's about putting your best foot forward so that you too can create the absolute best images possible for your clients. There are no shortcuts, no compromises. There is only the total commitment to the highest level photography that we can create for our clients on their wedding day.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. It's getting late and I've got to get ready for my pre-con. I'll try to check in with everybody tomorrow so have a great rest of the day and I hope to see you soon.

Adios, David