Hi Folks,
Last night Brian gave a talk and demonstration on lighting with speedlites.
The first half of the evening Brian pointed out to us series of images he had taken and where the lighting was placed when taking the photographs.
The second half was a practical session where club members volunteered to act as models whilst he arranged various lighting positions to change the atmosphere of each picture.
He first talked about two sources of lighting where the first was
- if a person can cover the source of light with their thumb it would be a small harsher light
- where as a larger light gives a softer result.
Available lighting sources can be any devices available to you, not just daylight
Brian went on to ask
Which of these two photographs were taken with flash ?
well most of us thought both but we were wrong.
The lady in yellow was standing in a conservatory room which acts as an enormous soft box having natural lighting coming in from windows above. The second picture Brian took just as another person at the front fired a flash from their camera giving additional lighting and creating the shadow effect on the wall.
The next picture was taken near a fence in a park on a dim November day. The additional flash light was on the right and it bounced off the shed then reflected back on to the model.
Flash light used ‘head on’ from cameras tends to flatten people’s faces and it is better to be used from other directions.
This picture on the left was taken without flash and the one on the right with flash. One can see the face on the right has more interest.
Brian said of all the pictures he has took in 2017, 65% of them taken used flash.
In the summer programme many will remember this picture taken of Emma who took on the task of joggng up and down the canal bank.
In this shot Brian was lucky to get Emma with both feet off the ground. Natural daylight was coming in from the left and a flash used just on the right to light her face.
Even at motor cross events Brian lights up the riders.
some of the devices used to create narrow harsher lighting having various adjustments
a larger softbox creates softer flattering light. One can also use sheets of white paper nearer the models to reflect the light for extra fill in light
Brian explained how he tackled a series of photos in a nightclub. He showed a series of pictures explaining how he built the pictures up with one two and then three lights
First he took a photo before the model was in place to work out the exposure for the background.
He then worked with the guy for 20 minutes adjusting the lights around. Brian said he aimed the softbox up so to avoid the model’s shirt from being too bright. His final shot showed the combination of three flashes
Coffee time
In the second half Brian gave us a practical demonstration with his camera which was linked to the laptop and overhead screen.
Unfortunately I had committed a photographer’s basic mistake by not checking my camera battery before coming out, so could not take any more pictures which was annoying as could not take the positions of the lighting sets
However, Brian has provided me with some of the results
Brian said, Judges sometimes pick up on two flashes in the eyes. However, it does not bother Brian who said there is a facility in Light room to remove it if necessary. A Soft box gives more control over the light than an umbrella which can disperse light in many directions
Portrait of ImageZ Camera Club member, Dave. photo by Brian Worley
one can even just use the edge of a soft box when lining it up for shots, if the model can see part of the white edge of the box then some softer light will go over the model
Portrait of ImageZ Camera Club member, Nick. photo by Brian Worley
I do remember a second flash of small light being used behind the model’s head for this one
Portrait of ImageZ Camera Club member, Chris. photo by Brian Worley
Then in this, one of the flashes has a blue filter to create this background
Portrait of ImageZ Camera Club member, Kathy. photo by Brian Worley
One thing I took away from the session was that flash should be used much more in the daytime, something I have avoided using in the past
Thank you Brian for an interesting and entertaining evening.
Next week
Visiting Speaker – @Levanterman
Tuesday February 6, 2018 from 20:15 to 22:15
With over 100K followers on Instagram, “@levanterman” is an expert in photography for social media. With such a large number of followers Nige’s London and travel photography are truly inspiring to see.
Nigel will be delivering a talk to explain how he is using social media, with some pointers for us too, plus he’s going to share some of his photography techniques that create the stunning images he shares.
Another good blog. My thanks also to Brian for a very informative and enjoyable evening. It is interesting to see how moving the light sources around and using different forms of lighting how different an image can look. I will certainly give it a try.