Dynamic High-Key And Low-Key Portrait Lighting Tutorial (Video Tutorial)

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Dynamic High-Key And Low-Key Portrait Lighting Tutorial (Video Tutorial) Posted: 22 Aug 2014 11:04 PM PDT The key to great studio photography is in well-planned and well-executed lighting. It not only creates dynamic portraits, but it can dictate the style, mood, and tone of a photograph. This video seminar takes us through the steps to create dramatic high-key and low-key portrait lighting: High-Key Lighting A high-key lighting set up is a photographic style which creates overall bright pictures, many times with white backgrounds. There is less contrast between the darker and lighter areas of the image. This type of set up works particularly well for cheerful, playful photos. It’s also great for photographing children. The basic arrangement consists of two fill lights, one key light and a background (accent) light. Start off by creating the sculpting light; the bold highlights that will fall on the side of your subject’s face and shoulders. Wallace uses two Profoto B1 500watt flashes, with 2×3” soft boxes with 53-grids. The grids help to ensure soft, direction light on the subject, without light spill into the lens. A Profoto Air Remote can be used with any camera to trigger the flashes, and makes things easier in multiple flash set ups. The air remote allows lights to be put on different channels, thus groups of lights can be controlled and triggered separately. Besides changing the power settings on flash, the air remote allows this to be done from afar, increasing them by tenth of a stop or full stop increments. The fill lights need to be positioned behind and off to the side of the subject. The power output of these flashes should be at about f6.  A modeling light can be used to see exactly where the light will fall. Lighting Setup Meter your subject. Mark Wallace uses a L358 Sekonic light meter connected to the air remote (you can use a pocket wizard or sync cable). The great thing about this particular product is that it will wait for the flash to be fired to meter it. Wallace suggests metering your fill lights to around f/8. Meter off your subject’s cheek and around the area. Increase the output of power on your lights accordingly. Metering will also ensure your subject is centered. If one side of your subject is revealing a higher number, you know you will have to do some shifting. Place your remote on the camera to trigger the flashes. Try a few test shots and trouble shoot as you go along. The result is a silhouette with some highlights along your subject’s face and shoulders. Silhouette with Highlights Next, add your key light. Wallace uses a Profoto Deep Silver XL parabolic umbrella to create bright, even light, while adding some pleasant specular highlights. Because the umbrella is so large it can be placed behind you; the light will wrap around you. You want the power output at about 9. Continue to meter the light. If you use a parabolic umbrella, be sure to meter the light with you still standing in front as that is how you will be photographing it. Take a few shots. You may notice that your background appears grey, and the light may be quite uneven. Eliminate the grey by adding another background or access light. Wallace uses another B1 head light. Set this flash to group B, with power set to about 8. Place it as close as possible to your subject and elevate it, directing the light beam to the background wall behind your subject. A reflector on the light source will restrict the light so it does not cast background shadows from the soft boxes. The background should meter at around f/9 or 10. Make sure the light is not too bright, as it may bounce from the background into the lens and lower the contrast of your images. Your images should reveal a subject with beautiful even lighting, sculpting highlights, and a clean, bright, white background. Add the final touches to make your photos pop. In Lightroom or your editor of choice, pull up the vibrance, increase the saturation of any particular color, and add a bit of clarity. Make sure the skin tones do not appear too red. If they do, take down the saturation of the orange and reds. High Key Portrait ** When photographing children, swap the 2×3” soft boxes for 4×6”, or consider a strip box. Or simply lower your current soft boxes. Low Key Lighting A low-key set up creates dark and moody lighting. There is a high ratio of contrast between the light and dark of an image. It’s great for portraiture that creates mystery and intrigue too. This particular arrangement consists of one background shaping light, and one key light. Start by creating a gobo. It’s a cut-out pattern sheet that will create light shapes on your background. It’s made out of Cinefoil, which is essentially thick, black opaque aluminum foil able to withstand high temperatures. Take a sheet and slice some holes into it. Get creative and wild—create small slices, spiraled slices, holes or zig-zags. Then attach the sheet to a basic grip head. Gobo with Pattern Cut Out Set up your  light so that it will shine through the sliced cinefoil and onto a background. Wallace uses a basic Profoto B1 head. The light will probably spill over the cinefoil and onto the background. Use a reflector and a ten degree grid to focus the light, diminishing spill. With the flash on highest power, snap a few test shots. See what type of light pattern is created on your background. Place your subject in the frame. Center the background shapes or place them wherever you desire. A few tests shots will ultimately have your subject appear as a silhouette. Test Shot with Gobo Next, illuminate your subject. Wallace uses another B1. Use a grid to focus the light on your subject. The background light is set at an aperture value of f/5, thus the key light should meter the same amount. The background light can be set to group A, while the key light set to group B. Low Key Lighting Play with your lighting. Try changing the distance of the light from the gobo and the direction the beam goes through it to create a huge variety of patterns. Experiment with the Background Light For post-production, de-saturate your image. Don’t lose all the skin tones but get that monochromatic feel that is popular in such dynamic, contrast filled photos. Increase the level of the blacks, add contrast and a bit of clarity. Remember to get creative and always persevere! Keep trying until you get that perfect shot. “You might have some blunders along the way because that’s just how it is in real life. You don’t normally set things up and it works. And so along the way we are going to make mistakes. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just how it happens.”

Interesting Photo of the Day: Pinhole Solargraph With a 6 Month Exposure Posted: 22 Aug 2014 05:30 PM PDT Pinhole photography may seem like a dying art form, but an Jip Lambermont, a solargraph enthusiast from the Netherlands, may help to inspire more photographers to give pinhole photography a try: Solargraph (Via Imgur. Click image to see full size.) The streaks through the sky are the path of the sun over the course of six months–the duration of the exposure required to create this image. A pinhole camera can be assembled rather quickly using minimal equipment, such as an empty soda can, some tape, and a sheet of photographic paper.

F-Stops Explained in Under 2 Minutes (Video) Posted: 22 Aug 2014 04:33 PM PDT Are you perplexed by the tiny numbers marked on your camera lens? Do you wonder what they are or what they do? They’re called f-stops and they refer to the opening of the lens, known as the aperture, which allows light to enter the camera. Each number indicates a measurement of the size of the opening. In this quick video, Taran from Techquickie explains everything you need to know about aperture as quickly as possible: (for those of you reading this by email, the video can be seen here) What Do the F-Numbers Mean? The f-stop number is a focal ratio that indicates the size of the hole in your lens. The wider the aperture, the more light that can make it through the barrel of the lens and reach the sensor. The numbers around your lens (22, 16, 11, 8, 5.6, etc.) relate to aperture. The aperture controls how much light is actually getting through to your sensor. If you move from f/11 to f/8 to f/5.6 to f/4, and so on, you are doubling the amount of light that is getting to the sensor with each change. Aperture settings are not intuitive. Larger numbers refer to smaller apertures. If you slide down the scale, from f/4 to f/11 for example, each subsequent number halves the amount of light allowed into the camera. For beginners, that scale may not seem logical. An aperture set at f/4 is larger in size than an aperture of f/5.6. Generally, if you have a darker scene you need a wider aperture (to allow more light to enter the camera) and if you have a brighter scene you need to use a smaller aperture (you don’t need too much light in when it is already bright). Aperture and Depth of Field Another aspect to wider and smaller aperture that affects your compositions is depth of field (DoF). Very quickly, depth of field indicates the extent of the image that is acceptably sharp. With wider apertures, less of the image is going to be in focus (shallow DoF). The opposite is true with smaller apertures (deep DoF). Both have creative applications, such as when you want to isolate the subject of your photos by blurring the background or when you want to have everything in focus. Wider apertures create shallow depth of field. With wider apertures, however, you need to take care so that the image is not washed out. When you allow in more light using the aperture, your image will be over-exposed. To compensate, you can dial down the ISO or increase the shutter speed. If you’re using aperture priority mode, this compensation is automatically taken care of by the camera. Just like anything else in photography, take care so that you don’t overdo shallow depth of field. If you use an aperture that’s too wide, only a sliver of your image will be in focus; the subject may not be distinguishable at all. So there you have it. A quick and simple explanation of aperture and f-stops.

8 Tips for Shooting the Best Documentary-Style Wedding Portraits Posted: 22 Aug 2014 02:13 PM PDT Want to know the secrets to revealing the intimate moments behind every “I do”? Get eight pro tips for creating perfectly lit, romantic portraits. Plus, see here for your chance to take award-winning photographer Kirsten Lewis’ online Craftsy class, Documentary-Style Wedding Portraits (a $59.99 value), and develop your signature style as you learn how to capture compelling wedding photos that will thrill your clients and build your business. 1. Get to know your bride and groom Having a documentary or photo-journalistic style implies that you are capturing moments as they happen without posing or setting up a photo. Just like a news photographer would not walk into a situation without knowing who the key players are and what the main issues are, make sure you know something about the bride and groom—for example, what is important to them, some details of their relationship, and which other people at the wedding are most significant. This will help you to capture powerful and emotional portraits, and eliminate a lot of the guesswork. 2. Move your feet It’s important, as a documentary photographer, to stay out of the way. However, do not let this keep you in a corner. Move to get the best shot and keep moving until you have the angle you want. 3. Use the right lens As you have more experience with wedding photojournalism, you will start to understand what kind of lenses work best for different situations. Generally, it’s nice to have longer lenses to stay out of the way and to keep people from noticing you. If you are the kind of person that adds energy to a group, getting in close with a wide lens might work better for you. 4. Anticipate moments There are certain moments on a wedding day that almost always produce a reaction that makes for a great candid shot: the mother of the bride helping to get the dress on her daughter, the father of the bride right before walking down the aisle, and the groom as he sees his bride for the first time. 5. Tell the story with each shot As you are composing and cropping each shot, look to tell a story. Use foreground and background elements to set the stage. Reaction shots are great, but context will take your shot to the next level. Include the person or thing your subject is reacting to in the photo so the viewer understands the whole story.  6. Find the details Sometimes, a great photo doesn’t need to show the whole story in order to tell it. Look for details that say something about the wedding or about the couple. Maybe it’s a pair of shoes lying on the dance floor—telling us there was some serious dancing going on. Maybe it’s the rings sitting on a Bible—telling us the couple is serious about their faith. 7. Walk the bride into moments Unfortunately, not every couple or wedding makes for stunning, epic wedding photos. Gauge their expectations and if you think you might need to coach them a little to get awesome photos, do so. It’s not the news. This might mean placing the bride in good lighting right before you think something important is going to happen. Or it might mean staging a moment of anticipation (like a First Look) that brings out more emotion. 8. Be sensitive Documentary photographers are often faced with the dilemma of spending their time photographing someone in pain versus helping that someone out. It’s important to be a compassionate human above being a photojournalist, and even more so at a wedding. When someone is crying or embarrassed, be discreet about your photo taking. Look to capture the bride and groom at their best, even if it’s not a completely accurate depiction of the day. Now that you’ve discovered a few tricks for documentary-style wedding photos, get the expert strategies you need to attract new clients with stunning wedding portraits! See here for your chance to take the online Craftsy class Documentary-Style Wedding Portraits, and learn how to harness ambient light, play with composition and engage with your subjects. Plus, get website and marketing tips, discover how to capture a dynamic range of images in less than 15 minutes with Kirsten’s innovative 360-degree challenge, and learn which creative risks always pay off for standout portraits. With this class you’ll enjoy lifetime access to personalized guidance from award-winning photographer Kirsten Lewis, in the comfort of your home. What are some of your favorite tricks for taking wedding day portraits? Two fortunate readers will be randomly selected on September 1, 2014 at 11:59 PM MT and contacted via email. This has been a sponsored post kindly brought to you by Craftsy.