Sunsets and Photoshop – Florence, Italy Comes To Life!

Good Morning Everybody,

We have had a great couple of days  in Florence, Italy.  Of course the highlights of the trip have been seeing all the beautiful paintings and sculpture, the historic buildings and architecture throughout the city.  Once again, Florence was the birthplace of the Renaissance - the rebirth of Europe after the dark ages.  To be in the center of such history is a breathtaking experience.

Sunsets - Some Of The Best Are In Florence Italy!

We walked everywhere in Florence coving nearly 35 miles in our 3 day visit. Hey, you've got to walk off the Gelati desserts, right ;~)  One of our long walks took us to the top of the city, Piazzale Michelangelo where the view was magnificent!  We arrived just at sunset and LaDawn and I spent the next hour or so photographing the Florence skyline from about every perspective.  The image below is one of my favorites.

I love the HDR feature on my Canon 5D Mark III.  For images like the sunset above, it just adds so much more to the scene and really represents the images more as we remember them.  Look at the straight photograph below.  This was one of the three images used to produce the HDR image above.  It's not near as exciting as the original scene.

  Sure, I could tweak it quite a bit in Lightroom and Photoshop and get a very beautiful result.  But, for a quick sunset grab, I like the HDR feature set to Art Vivid --- way cool!!

Piazzale Michelangelo is really one of the best locations to really feel the expanse of this historic city.  I clicked off a few more images, in HDR mode of course, highlighting some of the predominant buildings on the landscape like the Duomo below.  Enjoy!

A Breathtaking Art Experience - Maybe Needed A Little Photoshop?

We have seen the original David sculpture by Michelangelo – no relation BTW, but Michelangelo’s interpretation of David from David and Goliath in the Bible.  David is considered to be one the pre-eminent works of art in the world.  Michelangelo's exciting sculpture captures both the strength and innocence of the subject.  Actually, Michelangelo saw a piece of marble in the courtyard years ago and asked if he could use it.  After getting the OK, he set upon creating this perfect masterpiece.

We also visited the Uffizi Museum, the oldest museum in the world and were presented with art works which clearly illustrated the transition from medieval art where perspective was not considered - the images were painted in a rather two dimensional perspective.  The Renaissance artists like Leonardo di Vinci, Michelangelo, and Botticelli brought a brand new dimension to their art….. literally! Seeing these world famous paintings up close and personnel IS quite a thrill.

OK, I'm going to take a little liberty with one of the artist's masterpieces, Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" that you see above.  I thought the original image was painted with very muted tones. Maybe it’s the fact that the painting is over 500 years old.  I'm thinking, "How could this painting have looked if Mr. B had access to Lightroom and Photoshop?  Take a look at the second image - what do you think ;~)

OK, before I offend any art historians out there, you need to see the Accademia Gallery "playful" version of Mr. M's famous David - please see image below.

Yep, right outside the gift shop - there was the blond haired, pick skinned David for the entire world to see - kind of funny.

One Of The Friendliest Countries We've Ever Visited

One of the travel treats for me is meeting and visiting with the people in any new city.  I don't care if it's NYC, LA, London, or Florence, Italy - I'll always try to strike up a conversation.  For me, it's just another way to absorb the flavor of the people and the locale.  Everyone we've met has been always ready to help, even if they didn't speak the language, which, BTW so far, has not been an obstacle at all to our travels.

In addition to the friendliness of the locals, We've also met several fellow tourists who were equally friendly and willing to share experiences of their travels.  One of the couples we met, they were newlyweds, were on a 5 week holiday throughout Europe.  They told us that in New Zealand, that he as a police officer receives 12 weeks of paid vacation and must take that time off - we were floored.  They believed the average employee received around 6 weeks paid vacation after their first year of employment. They were also equally as floored when we explained that an average employee in the US would receive 1-2 weeks paid vacation after working a full year or two, then maybe 3 weeks after being employed with the same company after 4-5 years. We work way too hard in the good old USA ;~)

On Friday, we enjoyed one of our best dinners at the super popular and highly recommended Il Latini Restaurant.  This restaurant is HUGE seating upwards of 400 guests on a busy night.  And they do it with a kitchen staff of four and  wait staff of only 17 - efficiency is the key, we were told by our good natured waiter.  We were quickly engaged in a lively conversation with two couples next to us - all of us sharing our travel adventures so far.  Greg and his wife Kelly even had our photograph taken with the owner (left of LaDawn) above- all good fun. Cost for 2 appetizers, salads, pasta course, an unbelievable cut of the most tender veal anywhere, veggies, two bottles of wine, dessert, and after dinner drinks - $60 each - unbelievable!!! 

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Hey gang, that's it for me today.  We head off to Rapallo Sunday morning via train to explore the northwest coast of Italy including the world famous Rapallo, Portofino, Cinque Terra region of the country.  More next week.  Have a great weekend and I'll see you soon.

Arrivederci,  David

"Via de Mezzo"

"Via de Mezzo"
©David A. Ziser

This image was captured on our first night in Florence, Italy. LaDawn and I like to really soak in the sights and sounds of any new city and we were out strolling most of the evening.  This image was made just as we were returning to our hotel about 11:00 p.m. I looked down the street and liked the European feel of the scene.

I decided to see what an HDR interpretation of the scene would look like.  I liked my early results but decided to push my post-processing agenda a bit more.  With a bit more “Clarity” and Vibrance” added, I was able to obtain an almost painterly look for the street scene. I really like how it came out.

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with Tamron 28-300 VC lens at 168mm, F5.6 at 1/10 second (handheld), ISO 6400.  Enjoy!  David

The Magic Of Light

Good Morning Everybody,

One thing that stuck me was the fact that even though we landed into a very rainy Florence, Italy, the colors were still beautiful.  The soft light muted the colors and tonalities in a special way that is still very beautiful to see and photograph.  We were wondering the Florence streets in the early evening - the rain had stopped by this time - and the cool air, soft light, and warm glow of the city lights made for a very pleasant first night in Italy. Please see the image of the day post above – very cool.

We are on the fourth and highest floor of our historic hotel which overlooks the rooftops of the surrounding buildings just like in the movies. But, one of the best features of our balcony view is the dome of the Great Synagogue of Florence. OK, Most of my DPT readers know I photograph a lot of Jewish events in Cincinnati – weddings, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, but this is quite a coincidence to be in a completely different country with our neighboring building being this historic Synagogue.

I’ve been photographing the synagogue’s dome at all hours of the day and night.  It’s been a kick to see how the different types of light give the dome a completely unique visual interpretation to the dome.  Take a look at the first image below. 

This image was made on the afternoon of our arrival.  It’s a grey day but the soft hues still make for a pretty cool European rooftop photograph.

Now take a look at the second photograph. It was captured at 6:28 a.m. just as the sun was adding the barest hint of color to the morning sky. The dome was still being illuminated by the night spot lights and that illumination together with the early morning light made for my favorite image of this scene so far.

This next image was made just 30 minutes later at 7:00 a.m.  The moment above was now completely lost in the image below showing the dark silhouette of the dome against the sky. Sometimes it pays to wake a bit earlier to see the wonders of the early morning light.

This final image, below, was captured at 10:00 a.m.  The sun was much higher in the sky and the rays were beginning to work their magic on the green dome one more time.  Still, my favorite photograph was the second image shown above.  I love the rich colors, contrasts, and textures of the historic urban cityscape. LaDawn would like all the antennas removed, but I prefer the interest they bring to the image. What do you think?

Amazing, the Magic of Light.

Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  I’ll be back again with some stunning HDR images of the city at sunset. Hope to see you then.

Arrivederci, David

The Adventure Begins!

Good Morning Everybody,

And welcome to my first installment of our grand European photographic tour series.  I'll do my best to keep this a daily blog post, weekends excluded, for the next several weeks.  All this depends on travel schedules, internet connectivity, and unforeseen circumstances beyond my control. 

As I said yesterday, these postings will be more than just a simple travelogue.  My plan is to have these posts be very photo-centric with emphasis on photography, lighting, color, composition, and gear.  Don't forget, I'll also be conducting my Italy Workshop with fellow wedding photographer, Clay Blackmore beginning October 1, 2012 which will bring the posts back to a more portrait/wedding nature for that week.  I hope you find these next several weeks of reading informative, entertaining, and maybe even a bit inspirational  - please enjoy the posts.  -David

Time For Lift-off and A Nice Surprise!

After more than two weeks of non-stop 18+ hour days, we finally made it to the Greater Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Airport; cleared security, and boarded our big Delta jet. WOW!  What a surprise!  I walked up to the ticket counter and joking asked if we could be upgraded to first class. Heck, it never hurts to ask, right?

The gate agent asked my name, looks at his newly printed boarding passes for several passengers, and says, "You're in luck.  Bad weather in NYC put us in an overbooked situation in Coach and we upgraded our Platinum and Gold flyers to Business Class." I was floored and both LaDawn and I were thrilled.  What a great way to begin our two month journey - very comfortable large fully reclining seats and a glass of champagne, courtesy of Delta Airlines, to begin our adventure. Things were definitely looking up particularly after our grueling two weeks leading up to the trip ;~)

Eight and a half hours later we landed to a beautiful, brisk morning in Paris and two hours later boarded our plane to Florence, (Firenze) Italy. We landed  into a soggy, rainy airport, grabbed our bags, and caught a cab to our hotel.  Even though we were only 4 miles from the hotel, the traffic was bumper to bumper most of the way so it took us about 30 minutes to reach our historic J&J Hotel right in the middle of the city. We were finally checked in at 2:00 p.m. Italy time - that's 6:00 a.m. EST.

It still amazes me that we went from to our front door to our hotel room nearly 5000 miles away in only 13 hours!

After a short nap to help with the jet lag, (and besides it was pouring rain outside) LaDawn and I were out exploring at 6:00pm when the rain clouds finally subsided. What a great walking city to discover!  We had no idea where we were or where we were going and just proceeded to meander our way across the city for several hours.  The thrill for both of us is walking through not just the city but the history of the area as well.  My gosh, Florence was the birthplace of the Renaissance and we were in the middle of it and it showed! 

More to come,  David

Digital ProTalk Update: We’re Bound For Europe

Good Afternoon Everybody,

I'm back - but still busy as ever.  Today is the BIG day - LaDawn and I are heading to Europe for two months.  Yep, you heard me right - two months.  Our travels will take us to Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Spain.

Yes, we are mixing business with pleasure.  We'll travel for about ten days before we catch up with Clay Blackmore for our week-long Italy Workshop.  Looks like we just may schedule another workshop for next year  ;~)   After the workshop, we plan to continue our travels throughout Italy and I’m excited to be leading my Scott Kelby Sunset Photo Walk in Rome on October 13.

On the 15th of the month we board a cruise ship for a 12 day tour of the Mediterranean which includes Greece and Turkey.  Then it's back to Rome for a few more days.  I am also scheduled to speak in Spain the week following our cruise.  We're going to head up to Barcelona, Spain for a few days and then over to Madrid for their conference the following weekend.  After a few more days in Spain, it's back home for a few weeks before we get the travel bug and head off again.

You can be sure that DigitalProTalk will be rich in photographs for the next several weeks.  I'll plan to post regularly with the posts leaning toward color, composition, technique, and gear.  So stay tuned!

Nevertheless, LaDawn and I plan to take the time off to relax, see the sights, read, write, blog, teach, and soak up the culture from all the locations we plan to visit.  This really is a once in a lifetime trip and we are really looking forward to the adventure. 

The Challenge Of Preparing For A Long Trip

Preparing for this lengthy trip has been challenging to say the least.  The biggest challenge has been queuing up all the work in process to be sure all orders are delivered in a timely manner to our clients.  Sure, we'll have staff standing by to keep the wheels rolling at the studio and I'm planning to stay in touch via email and Skype.  Technology sure makes staying connected a bit easier these days.

LaDawn and I have been up since 5 a.m. most mornings putting in one final push to get all the projects wrapped before we head out in just  a few minutes.  We're putting a few things on the back burner till we return but we we should have most things caught up by the time we leave again.  I have to tell you, I am looking forward to climbing on that plane, hitting the recline switch on the seat, and ordering an adult beverage - whew!!!

DigitalProTalk Update

I'm really hoping that once we get on the road I'll be able to get back to regular blogging at DigitalProTalk. It's going to be an adjustment in the different time zones but, I suspect that once were in the travel groove that everything will fall into place. Here's a few things upcoming at DigitalProTalk that you can look forward to .

Canon 600 TX – RT Speedlight Update:

I've been doing a lot of work with these cool new strobes and have been formulating an appropriate way for me to get the best use out of them. Watch for my report in upcoming posts. I'll be covering these items:

• Single on camera flash usage
• Multiple speed lights set up
• How to get the best use out of the separate radio transmitter
• High speed flash sync
• Suggested shooting applications

The Ziser Wedding Series: Experiencing The Complete Wedding Weekend

A few months ago I started my series, the live wedding shoot. I have six episodes posted so far and, once we’re on the road I'll be able to get several more episodes posted for you. You can find the first seven episodes listed below.

Part 1: [link]  Do Something Special For Your Clients

Part 2a: [link] Creating Cool Slide Shows For Your Clients – Part 1

Part 2b: [link] Creating Cool Slide Shows For Your Clients – Part 2

Part 3: [link]  Checking In With My Clients

Part 4: [link]  Rehearsal Coverages

Part 5: [link]  Exposure, Getting It Right

Part 6 [link]: To Light Or Not To Light - That Is the Question

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Hey folks, that’s it for me today. We are still going about 1,000,000 miles an hour  trying to get all of our loose ends wrapped up. I wish we had another day or two before we needed to board the plane but that just isn't the case. So I better get my nose back to the grindstone to be sure we’ve got everything wrapped and packed.

Have a great rest of the day and I'll see you on the other side of the big pond.

David

Where In The World Is David Ziser?!

Hi Everybody,

I know that I've been MIA the last few days here DigitalProTalk. I have to tell you, we are just buried with work around here. With our upcoming two month trip – we leave next Tuesday evening – we have simply been buried up to our eyeballs with projects that we need to complete for our clients. The biggest project is a six volume wedding order that we're trying to get up to Zookbinders before we leave. The client wants the album's for Thanksgiving so are doing everything in our power to make that happen for them.

That huge project plus just pulling everything together for the trip has been a tremendous undertaking around here. I've also been meeting with all of my clients this week to be sure that we have all the holiday orders queued up for them when we return.

I had a make the decision – what was more important? Getting the blog up on a daily basis or being sure that I had my clients covered while we were gone. I chose the latter – hence my absence from the blog this week. By the time next Tuesday rolls around, I'm sure hoping that everything is back on track and I can get back to my regular blogging schedule.

I really appreciate your patience and the patience of all of our DigitalProTalk readers out there in this super busy and stressful time for LaDawn and I. If you can hang in here with me for the next few days, I promise to hang in there with you once we get all the projects behind us.

Thanks for your understanding in this matter, David

p.s. Don't give up on me completely this week.I might get a little breathing room over the weekend get a few post up for you. Anyway,once againthanks for your patienceand your support.

I'll see you soon, David

Announcing PhotoPro Expo 2013–The Biggest and Best Photography Event In The Midwest!

Hi Everybody,

I want to take about two seconds to tell you about the best convention happening in the Midwest next February 7 – 11, 2013. For the last several months we been working diligently to put together the absolute best photographic event in the Midwest for next year.

You cost to attend is only $129 until September 30, 2012 – a $50 savings over the regular registration cost.

REGISTER HERE!

Our speaker lineup will be about the best in the country next year! We have over 24 speakers lined up to speak at next year's PhotoPro Expo so far. Our headliners include the world renowned Joe McNally; Photoshop and Lightroom evangelist - Julieanne Kost, internationally renowned wedding photographer Kevin Kubota; the most popular young couple on the teaching circuit, Zach and Jody Gray; the most published photographer in the world - Rick Sammon; Saturday Night Live videographer, Alex Buono; million-dollar studio owners Kent and Sarah Smith; fashion fashionista photographer Lou Freeman ; WPPI rock star portrait photographer Tim Meyer ; Photoshop guru David Cross; and many more.

It’s a photographer’s Dream Team line up for sure!!! Don’t miss this wonderful opportunity to learn from the best for only $129 – offer good till September 30, 2012. All PhotoPro Expo details and registration RIGHT HERE!

Join Me On My “PhotoRome” In Italy ;~)

Hi Everybody,

I just wanted to give you a quick update, particularly to our DigitalProTalk readers in Italy, about my upcoming Worldwide photo walk taking place in Rome, Italy on October 13. I have to say, LaDawn and I are really looking forward to our Sunset Photo walk. So far we have nearly 20 photographers signed up and the list keeps growing.

While we were at Photoshop World last week I mentioned that we were changing the branding on this year's Photowalk. Were actually going to call it a Photo Rome, clever don't you think?  Just kidding ;~). Anyway, if you're reading this post in Italy I sure hope you'll join us – you can see the Photowalk description and register right here [link].

To see you there, David

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"Desert Dancer"

"Desert Dancer"
© David A. Ziser

This is another image I captured during my wedding shoot out on Tuesday. It’s hard to believe that this image was made in the middle of the city.  The low vantage point, I was laying on the ground to get the shot, really minimized the foreground and disguised a lot of the distractions in the background.

My goal was to get a great photograph of the bride against the rich blue desert sky dotted with the wispy clouds.  That  meant I had to get quite a lot of light on the subject so as to not blow out the sky.  The easy solution was to grab my Sunspotz reflector as my main light source and bounce the sun’s 100 degree bright light back at the bride.  It worked like a charm. You may be wondering how the bride can keep her eyes open for such a shot.  Remember, she’s not looking directly into the super bright reflector which is actually positioned slightly behind her – that helped.  Also, my assistant holding the reflector was about 15 feet away which also helps to minimize the brightness of the reflector for the subject.

The simple pose, beautiful lighting, exciting background, and strong composition make for a great wedding image.  Hope you like it.

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with Tamron 28-300mm lens at 68mm, F5.6 @ 1/640 second, ISO 200.  Enjoy!  -David

Thursday Update On 600EX-RT’s and Photoshop World Las Vegas

Good Morning Everybody,

What a day yesterday!  Whew!!!  After a 16 hour day we finally made it back to the hotel room at 10:30 PM. This is about the busiest convention in the world for LaDawn and I.  Pre-cons, programs, and booth demos really fill up the day fast.  I was really happy to hit the sofa in our hotel room last night.  But, after a good night's sleep, we're raring to go again today ;~)

A Quick Photoshop World Update

Canon 600EX-RT Speedlight Update:

One of the highlights of the trip for me was after spending 3 weeks with Canon's new 600EX-RT speedlights, I think I finally have them totally figured out.  It was at my wedding shoot out that I received the inspiration to try one more thing to see if I could get them working the way I had always expected they should.  Oh, it was also re-reading the manual one more time and discovering one sentence that pointed me to the solution I needed to have all things come together ;~) 

My goal was to see if I could get the speedlights to work as room lights at a wedding reception or any other event for that matter.  The photo above was a good first try this past Sunday.  Were they powerful enough?  What happens if they lost connectivity during the shoot, could I get them reconnected quickly?  How long would the batteries last?  Was recycle time going to be fast enough?  All these questions and more needed to be answered before I could rely on them for my next big job.

This weekend we have a family wedding where I'll get a chance to try them out again under some pretty challenging conditions.  With what I discovered on Tuesday, I'm super optimistic how they will perform. Be sure to stay tuned next week - I'm planning a full follow up report on how to get the most out of the new speedlight entries from Canon.

My Lightroom 4 Program Went Great Last Night Thanks To A  Super Crowd

Last night I had one of the last programs of the day and I was beginning to slow down after the long day.  Something happens though when you get to the room, get the computer set up, meet with several of the attendees before the program – somehow, the adrenalin kicks in and I'm ready to go.

Last night I couldn't believe the crowd we had in the room - it was one of the largest I've seen for my Lightroom program.  I personally want to thank all those who came out to be part of the fun.  The time passed quickly and before I knew it, I was running out of time - YIKES!  I still had time to cover the most important points, give away two door prizes, and visit with several of the attendees after the session.  Thanks again everybody.

Time To Party

After my program it was a quick dash over to the Peachpit Authors reception.  We made it just in time to catch a Mexican adult beverage at Borders Mexican Grill, a favorite hangout at Mandalay Bay.  We also got a chance to visit with some of the new authors like Scott Valentine and Teri Campbell.  I come to find out that Teri, who has just completed his first book on food photography lives in Cincinnati, OH - right in my neighborhood!  We decided to hook up and visit once we both got back into town.  Heck, maybe I get him to do a guest blog post at DigitalProTalk.com.  Stay tuned.

After the Peachpit party we headed over to the House of Blues for the big convention party.  The place was packed!!!! Everybody was really looking forward to another blow out performance by Big Electric Cat, Scott Kelby's band that has played at most of the PSWs these last several years.  They kicked off their set at 9:00 PM and rocked it for over an hour!! They were a huge hit with the crowd. 

After my Lightroom session, LaDawn headed back to the room to drop off computers and cameras and I knew I was in trouble when she showed up in her dancing' pants.  I'm whipped and she wants to party!  What's a guy to do - heck join in the fun, right?  We had a great time with the other PSW revelers dancing the night away, well, at least an hour of the night anyway ;~)

Today is a much slower day for us.  I’m presenting at the Peachpit booth and also have my last program scheduled for 6:00 this evening.  That will wrap the convention for us.  Then we're up bright and early on Friday to catch a flight back to Cincy.  After landing we unpack the bags, recharge the batteries, and head to Dayton, OH for the family wedding.  Whew, what a week, but still a kick!

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Hey everybody, that's it for me today.  Since we're on the run most of tomorrow, let me wish you a terrific weekend and I'll plan to see you back in Cincy bright and early on Monday morning.

See you then,  David

"View From Above"

"View From Above"
© David A. Ziser

This is another one of my favorite images captured at yesterday's wedding shootout. Although I worked in this church at previous shootouts during Photoshop World Las Vegas, I've never had the opportunity to work with my new Canon 8–15 MM zoomable fisheye lens. I thought yesterday would be the perfect opportunity to give it a try. 

The problem in composing this photograph was the placement of the crucifix above the couple’s head. I was able to get it slightly above their head when I had the camera at eye level position. That just wasn't good enough for me. Instead, I chose to use the “live view” feature of the camera which allowed me to lift the camera arm's-length over my head, recompose the image, and shoot away.

I love the much higher vantage point for this image. It features a bride and groom predominantly in the foreground but, with the fisheye lens attached, this image still captures the full expanse and the wonderful architecture of this modern church.

Lighting was accomplished by having my assistant hold one of my Canon 600 TX – RT strobes, camera left, pointing directly at the subjects. I chose to not shoot through my Zumbrella in this case, because in our first attempts, I was throwing too much light on the ceiling which was a distraction to the image. So, we zoomed the flash to a much tighter lighting pattern to restrict the light only to the couple and not any spill of light to the surrounds. I love the final results of this photograph.

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with Canon 8–15 MM fisheye lens at 15MM, F5.6 @ 1/100, ISO 1600. Enjoy! – David

p.s. Rest of post coming later today.  DZ

My Favorite Images From My Photoshop World Wedding Shootout

Good Morning West Coasters; Good Afternoon East Coasters,

We had a great day  at my pre-conference wedding shootout yesterday. I feel honored that my shootout books up quickly at Photoshop World. It also seems that the number of attendees keep getting larger and larger. LaDawn did a quick headcount yesterday and reported we had 56 in the room. That's quite a crowd for a location shoot but, it was a great group of photographers and I think they really enjoyed the six-hour session.

At the shootouts, my approach is not so much to have the bride and groom run through a series of poses. It's more about teaching the lighting techniques and the demonstrating the elements of compositional elements I like to bring to my photography. Another thing I pointed out to the group was the fact that each session is different from the previous session because of the evolution and new techniques I might be bringing to my shooting routines.

Yesterday was no exception. Since I've been working with Canon's new 600EX-RT speedlights, they figured heavily in the yesterday's demonstration. Don't get me wrong – I'm not saying you need to rush out and buy new strobes. As you know, I've been a BIG fan of Quantum strobes for a number of years and certainly plan to keep the Quantum strobes in my lighting arsenal.

But, the wonderful portability and flexibility of the new Canon speed lights allows for a very easy on-location set up, especially at a class like my shootout. So, that being said all the images that I will be featuring today could've been produced with any other number of strobes. But, as I’ve said, all these images were produced with the three Canon's 600EX-RT speedlights that I had in my camera bag. Let's move through a few of my favorites from yesterday session.

Photograph 1:

Take a look at the image below. It's a very soft, gentle image of the bride and groom enjoying a moment together. You can clearly see the direction of light on this image. But, this image was illuminated with my on-camera flash. To get the direction the light I was seeking, I rotated the flash head  to the left and bounced it’s light off my Sunspotz silver reflector which was being held by one of the classmates.

The photons from the flash traveled to the reflector, illuminating it and making it my new light source. Now the photons were coming from an off-camera direction which gave me the wonderful dimensional lighting that I'm always seeking.

Photograph 2:

I love this simple, elegant photograph the bride standing in the front of the church. I used my super wide Sigma 12 – 24 mm lens for this image. The wonderful architecture of the sanctuary in this church really lends itself to wide-angle lenses.

Lighting was achieved by firing my off-camera flash through my Zumbrella. I balanced the ambient light with the flash exposure to get the total balance I wanted in this photograph. Once again, because of the wonderful direction the light on the scene, we get those beautiful highlights resting next to the shadows to give us the detail, depth, and dimension that only using an off-camera flash can achieve.

Photograph 3:

Although this image below is a variation on the theme of the photograph above, it is still one of my favorite photographs from yesterday’s pre-con session. The beautiful profile view sadly is mostly lost on today’s photographers. But, I think it still adds a very interesting, dramatic look to any wedding coverage.

Look how the light caresses the subject's face and, since is coming in from slightly behind the subject, it also illuminates the veil that the bride is wearing. Also, since the light is coming from slightly behind the bride, the lighting does a great job to separate her from the background and emphasizes her figure even more emphatically in the composition. Once again – a classic and beautiful photograph of our bride.

Photograph 4:

As we were working in the church throughout the afternoon, I noticed that the sunlight coming through the stained-glass windows began illuminating the mosaic in the front of the sanctuary. The soft colors were quite intriguing to me and I thought they would offer a beautiful background for a simple portrait of my bride.

I used a long lens – 200mm - to really magnify the space behind the bride and the colors being cast by the stained-glass window. Firing a single Canon's 600EX-RT speed light through my Zumbrella, I was able to illuminate the bride beautifully balancing the soft textures, tones, and colors in the background against her gorgeous figure.

Photograph 5:

About 4:30 PM we had to wrap our shooting inside the church and move outside into that wonderful Las Vegas near 100 degree desert sun. The church is located across the street for Mandalay Bay which means that Mandalay Bay can serve as a unique background for the image below.  Again, by using a long lens – 200mm – I was able to really magnify the size of the Mandalay Bay in the background, in proportion to my subject in the foreground.

When working outdoors, the problem we are always faced with is the fact that if I want to use a larger aperture I also need to use a very fast shutter speed. But, since a native sync speed of my Canon 5D Mark III is only a 200th of a second, using a faster shutter speed generally is not an option. But, in this case that was no problem. Since I was using the Canon speed lights I was able to engage the hi speed flash sync option on the strobe unit. That meant that I now had the option of using any shutter speed I wanted to make my exposure. This image was taken at 1/400th of a second, well above the native sync speed of the Canon 5D Mark III.

With my Canon speed light coming in from camera left at about the same position as inside the church, I was able to create the loop lighting which I love on my subjects and, because I was using the high speed flash sync function of the speed light, I was able to use a wider aperture than normal, F5.6 for this image. Careful adjusting of the shutter speed controlled the density of the Mandalay Bay Hotel in the background and gave me a very different, an almost fashion look, to this bridal portrait

Figure 6:

Here's another one of my favorite photographs from yesterday pre-con session. Let's consider the situation. We’re working outdoors in the raw Las Vegas sun and we’re trying to create a beautiful bridal portraits in the middle of the desert in downtown Las Vegas.

The secret to making the city disappear is to establish a very low camera position for the photograph. I was actually laying on the ground my ear nearly on the pavement to get the vantage point I wanted for this photograph.  From that very low vantage point many of the distractions in the background almost disappear. There was a construction crane on the right-hand side of the photograph which took me only two minutes to remedy and Photoshop. With a little more time I could easily clone the green shrubbery along the horizon line and eliminate all the distractions.

Although I could've used off-camera flash and hi speed flash sync to illuminate my bride for this image, I chose instead to use my inexpensive Sunspotz reflector to bounce the sun’s light back into the bride's face. Notice that the sun is backlighting the bride too. That means I can easily have one of my classmates grab my Sunspotz reflector, take up the same position as he would have if using my off-camera flash, and turn the reflector into a light source by grabbing the sun’s rays and bouncing them back onto the bride's face.

Remember, what I'm looking for in just about all my images is a beautiful loop lighting pattern on my subject’s face. Those illuminating photons can be coming from anything – an off-camera flash, a window, a studio strobe, my mini flashlights (Love Lightz) or any other light source. In this instance I chose my main light source to be a reflector full of the sun's rays directed back towards my subject. Since the photons have the same direction in all of these examples listed above, the lighting pattern on the subject's face is going to be the same regardless of light source used. Sure, the size of the light source comes into play but, when working with small head sizes like we have, even the size of a light source would not make a dramatic difference in the final result.

Figure 7:

This is the last image I captured yesterday before we climbed aboard the bus and headed back to the hotel. I asked my class assistant to grab me one of the Canon speed lights. He grabbed the speed light, flipped it on,  and quickly took up the proper position to give me the loop lighting pattern I wanted on the groom's face. Once again, notice that the sun is coming from the left side of the groom and also behind my subject.

The sun created a nice accent light on the back of my subject. The key light was created with my Canon 600EX-RT speedlight coming in from camera left. Once again, I was firing the strobe using a high-speed sync feature of the speed light. Remember, the class was on the bus waiting for me but I was able to pull off this photograph very quickly because of the versatility and functionality of these little lighting jewels.

Compositionally and using color as an compositional element I think this image works quite well for a quick photograph of the groom. We have the deep, rich blue sky behind our subject and we have the impact of the graphic lines of the superstructure above his head.  Careful positioning of him between the two palm trees finishes the composition. It was a great wrap up image for yesterday shoot.

As I said earlier, my classes are not about trying to create as many different poses as possible. My classes always revolve around lighting and composition. I think those are two of the most important aspects, techniques and differentiating factors that we can bring to our photography.  As I said yesterday there's too many photographers out there running and gunning to grab any photograph they can. The excitement and the challenge comes from knowing how to use your equipment and how to compose and light to enhance and flatter our subjects for the best photograph. It lets us take our photography to the next level because then it becomes a thinking person's game. And, having all those compositional elements and lighting techniques come together helps us create imagery that is far more striking for both ourselves and our clients. Remember… It is the Difference that makes a Difference!

p.s. - You can see a full listing of all the gear I used in yesterday’s session right here.

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If you're here at Photoshop World, please come on up and say HI. I'll see what I can do to get another post up tomorrow. It might not be a Business Day Thursday post - it may be a quick update on what's been going on around here so please stay tuned. Have a great rest of the day and I hope to see you soon.

Adios, 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