Shooting Christmas Tree Lights

This is an answer that I posted to a question on the [b] school.  Mine was only one of several responses to the original question.  If you aren't a member of the [b] school, you might want to check it out.

 Point your flash at the subject like NEVER:-)  Bounce the flash.  Better yet, diffuse the flash.  There many diffusers available, including simply putting  some tissue over the flash.  I use the Lightsphere.  It allows you to both diffuse and bounce the flash. -- www.garyfong.com

 

Shoot as wide open as possible, while still keeping the depth of field that you need.  Others have said to drag the shutter -- that's to allow more of the ambient light (tree lights) to register.  You see, the shutter speed is not part of the exposure calculation in this shot.  Your flash is putting out a blast of 1/1,000 of a sec -- maybe much faster -- so that replaces the shutter speed in the exposure calculation, but keeps the shutter open to allow the tree lights to register.  I'd start at 1/30.

 

Gregory mentioned to turn Auto ISO off.  That's important.  Take a some shots at 400 and 800.

 

You will have to experiement, but I'd start something like this.  Camera on Manual, f 3.5 -5.6, shutter 1/30, ISO 400.  Flash on TTL.  Use a diffuser.

 

Finally, get the flash off the camera, if you can.

 

Running Your Business in Today's Economy

It's been an interesting couple of weeks. If you are concerned about how to best run your business in today's financial environment, take a look at this video and then visit these sites:

Gary Fong

Dane Sanders

The [b] school

Also, check the archive on this blog - about April or May of 2007, for some ideas on how to get your photography business on line.

4th of July and Narrow Depth-of-Field

We got up this morning and walked down to the beach for coffee and a muffin. There was a heavy marine layer, so it was cool to the runners and walkers.

This was shot with my wife's Nikon Coolpix P5000 point and shoot, on program mode. I fired the built-in flash through a Gary Fong Delta Diffuser. I really didn't need the flash, but had it turned on from some previous shots, where I wanted some fill, because of the overcast.

I love the P5000. Actually, I'm a big fan of P&S cameras for casual use. There was no way I was going to carry a DSLR and lens on an early morning walk, but the P&S just goes into a pocket. I'll paraphrase, but someone once said that the best camera is the one you have with you when the image appears. This was about 7AM, and getting myself to the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) was hard enough, without carrying a heavy camera.

About mid-morning, I decided to shoot some of the local parade. I was mainly interested in shooting narrow depth-of-field portraits of participants, as well as viewers alone the parade route.

I love to have the image jump off the blurred background. For those who don't know, long focal lengths and wide apertures are the key to limited depth-of-field photos.

In most of the above, I shot at f:2.8 and near 200mm. The lens was a borrowed 80-200 -- non-VR. On a few shots, I closed to about f:11. I put the camera on Aperture priority, because I wanted to maintain the wide aperture, to guarantee the narrow DOF. The sky was nice and sunny, by about 10AM, so I knew that my shutter speeds would be very fast. I put the camera, a Nikon D70s, on a monopod. The monopod was not needed to steady the camera. It's just that I knew I'd be standing along the street for a couple hours, and the camera and lens would be getting heavy.

When you click on the image, bellow, you'll be taken to a Picasa Album. There are a couple photos of helicopters and jets flying by. You will probably notice some spots on the image. That's an indicator of a dirty sensor, so cleaning it will be my next project.

Happy 4th of July!!

4th of July, 2008

Using the Canon Flash System

I know -- I always talk about Nikon, but this is important. Gary Fong posted this on his blog, and I 'stole' it :-)


Canon Flash System from GARY FONG on Vimeo.

Soon, we'll have one on Nikon flashes.