Backlight/Exposure/Exp Compensation - PICS ADDED

Sam-D said:
Hi Jennifer

Call me old fashioned, but what’s wrong with simply using a reflector to bounce back the natural light? Use a stand for it if necessary, or grab yourself an assistant (kids at wedding are usually up for it).

Using a reflector gives you the opportunity to control the amount, direction and colour of the fill... And, of course, you can see the effect before you hit the button.

Flash, which has been well covered in this thread, is fine for certain things, but it’s not always the answer.

Sam-D
Click to expand...

I think the problem is when shooting kids they often like to run around so being able to use a reflector is much more difficult. Reflectors are great but sometimes not practical.
 
tdodd said:
Jen,
I was catching up on what Bert Stephani has been up to on YouTube. He has many great, short videos that show plenty of simple yet creative lighting techniques. This one drew my attention, with an example of turning day into virtual night, with simple use of flash....

http://www.youtube.com/user/bertstephani#p/u/10/blRdAr2VvnI

Watch the whole thing, but check out especially the section from 2 minutes on. So simple, so effective. I know he is using off camera flash, which has other benefits, and he is also not shooting on a dazzling sunny day, but the results that can be achieved by balancing flash vs ambient as you choose can be quite remarkable.

Check out his other vids too. :)
Click to expand...

I remember seeing a few of his confessions series and he's put a lot more on since then. Bert's work is inspirational!
 
Been a few weeks since I practised this and hopefully will be trying it again soon. Thanks to Geoff Waugh for reminding me of the link. The Strobist blog is great, but I do have trouble finding some archives.

Sports photographers may wish to be inspired by some of Geoff Waugh's images, but thats moving away from the thread.

Great OCF advice found here' Scroll down to 'My Cheatin Flash'



http://strobist.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html

HTH
 
Thanks for those links everyone, i have book marked them for future reference. Im off out today and tomorrow as I have 3 shoots lined up and il be testing out some of these techniques, particularly the Bert Stephani large reflector to bounce the flash off! Fortunately 2 of the 3 shoots are willing and stationery subjects ;-))

Il post the results for your C&C if thats ok.
 
Guys, you have all been so helpful and patient with my backlight etc questions. Here are a few from today.....let me know what you think please?
Unfo i forgot my reflector but used fill flash on a few of them to fill in those shadows. Look forward to your C&C?


4397640273_d3b93c27a7.jpg


4397644125_07054045c8.jpg
 
Have you edited these at all, or simply resized them? They look very washed out on my monitor and the histogram tends to support that. Your blacks are a long way from being black and the contrast has disappeared. A minor edit in Lightroom to adjust the black point seems to improve them quite a bit, and with that edit in place they are looking quite promising. If you enable image editing in your profile I could show you my tweaks (also slightly warming up the white balance on the first one).
 
Thanks Tim, i thought they looked ok but then im the one asking for help so I suspect they are washed out! mmmh, i did resize them and the WB was my mistake since i forgot to preset it until half way through the shoot! theyre pretty much SOOC. the first one is cold looking now that i look again!. i will change my profile for tweaks
 
OK, here are how they look as before/after versions in Lightroom. You can see the adjustments I made on the left....

20100301_175325_LR.jpg


20100301_175414_LR.jpg



If you look at the histogram before the edits you will note the large gap on the left, indicating that there is nothing very dark/shadowy/black in the scene, but the histogram is climbing up the right hand side, showing you have some overexposed areas that are clipped/blown/overexposed. It looks like the sun is very high, so that rather than simply getting a nice "rim light" to seaprate your subjects from the background you have the added problem of glare where th esun is shining on the hair. If the sun was lower in the sky your job might be easier.

20100301_180354_LR.jpg



You might like to try shooting raw rather than JPEG, as it will allow you more freedom to adjust white balance and other things after taking the shot, often with no loss of IQ. Raw will be especially useful when shooting scenes with high dynamic range, including bright backlighting and bright skies.

Sorry about the handwriting - I had to write with my touchpad.
 
Thanks Tim - i see what you mean with the blown areas and the washed out/lack of blacks. What i was "trying" to achieve with my lighting was something that would resemble a hair or rim light but also keeping the subject exposed nicely. the sun was very high and it was noon which didnt help but then it was my only chance to practice as kids at school and nursery. i shot all in raw so i could make changes, but i hadnt done anything yet apart from resize. would you say its the flare thats washed out the colours?
im usually good with exposure in open shade so i dont doubt my skills completely! lol.
thanks for your time writing this out and explaining....your very helpful.
 
I think you had the right idea but the wrong time of day - your enemy was the noon sun.

As for the lack of contrast, flare might be the answer, but I see it so rarely in my own shooting - usually it has to be provoked by including a light source within the composiiton, and even then it is the coloured sparkles rather than a major lack of contrast - that I'd be surprised if flare alone would cause that effect. I use "L" glass and always use a lens hood, and never use a filter in "normal" shooting. If you are shooting hoodless, and perhaps using a UV or protection filter on a consumer grade lens then it might go some way to explaining the problem. If it's not flare then I don't know what else it might be. That's why I asked whether you'd edited at all.
 
Yes Tim's spot on. You could have used a little more flash to try to over power the sun and dial down the backgrond exposure by increasing the SS. As Tim says (and I think we had the chat a few months back) in most situations RAW is your friend.
 
Tim - I used my 85mm 1.8 lens with hood and a UV filter. Thanks again for the explanation.

Jim - I shot in Raw, have been since our chat ;-)).

heres another one from the session, ive boosted the contrast and sorted the WB a bit. i think its better except for blown spots on top of head and mane of coat or am i seeing things wrong....please say?? also i used fill fash here.

4399351864_b42bd1aa1c.jpg
 
You might want to try taking the UV filter off and see if you get an improvement in contrast. Is it a cheapy or a decent, multi-coated brand?

This example is certainly looking a lot better from the front, but that blown out area is pretty severe. You're going to have to dial down that ambient exposure quite a bit by the look of things, or find a way to shoot at a different time of day or with some more shade. Right now the sun is winning the battle, and the high angle is not helping because it is coming over onto the front of your subject.

What were the exposure settings for this - shutter speed, aperture, ISO and FEC? It looks to me like you need to be very close to a "Sunny 16" exposure for the ambient, with fill flash or a reflector to light the shaded side of your subject. I wonder how much brighter than "Sunny 16" your ambient exposure was. Did you shoot with manual exposure or auto? Did you check the histogram in the camera or look for blinking highlight warnings? It's a good habit to get into, if you have any doubts about exposure accuracy.

Here's a casual (very casual) shot I took of my g/f as we were walking along. It is a sunny day and I have used a manual exposure of 1/300, f/9, 100 ISO. That is basically a "Sunny 16" exposure, taking advantage of the 1/300 max sync speed of the camera I was using. Fill flash was at -2/3. You will see the sunlit patches on her coat and hair have been controlled by my ambient exposure settings. The focus distance for this was 1.89m. Note that according to the histogram the image covers the full dynamic range of the camera, without making any adjustments to exposure in software.

20100301_212208_LR.jpg
 
jeniveeev said:
Tim - I used my 85mm 1.8 lens with hood and a UV filter. Thanks again for the explanation.

Jim - I shot in Raw, have been since our chat ;-)).

heres another one from the session, ive boosted the contrast and sorted the WB a bit. i think its better except for blown spots on top of head and mane of coat or am i seeing things wrong....please say?? also i used fill fash here.

4399351864_b42bd1aa1c.jpg
Click to expand...

Technically I agree with Tim but the colour and contrast looks much better and to be honest I don't really mind the blown area - A great image Jen - The strong sun is always going to cause problems and you have succeeded in producing some nice images. Practice makes perfect :) I need some pactice :)
 
Not a bad start Jen - you need to under expose the background a bit more - and try to avoid days where the sun is quite so strong - if you can. Also heed Tim's very good advice. Definately ALWAYS shoot RAW - you give yourself so many more options later.

If the sun is too strong try getting your subject in the shade and light with sof flash - you'll have more control that way - probably burn out the b/g but you can get nice fx that way too.
 
Thanks guys - i think i did ok for my first proper practice with backlighting in full sun. Unfortunately im not one of these people who absorbs info quickly and masters techniques easily....but it will come together in the end.! Tim, i see your image of g/f is perfectly exposed .......this is what i will be working towards.
Ive a few more edited images so il post them in portraits section if you wanted to have a look. thanks again all. J
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top