Ken's Photo Tips

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Ken — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 04:36:03 +0000

You can find me at THIS LINK

Child Psychology in the portrait session

Ken — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 03:02:54 +0000

Children are smarter than you might think, and they have a mind of their own. My general rule is to let them pose as they want. The two family portraits to the right give testament to the general rule.

In the top photograph, dad would like her to sit on his lap and smile for the camera.

The second shot was taken after we let her pose herself. I like how the baby is watching older sister. Guess which shot worked the best?

She knew we were taking family portraits and just wanted to have some control over the shoot. Our job was to keep things safe, keep looking at the camera, and see how she performed for us. The result was at least three great shots.

Three stop neutral density filter

Ken — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 02:10:40 +0000

In this post I will explain my studio setup for taking narrow depth of focus (field) shots using studio strobes. You might want to take a look at two prior posts for some background: Shoot in the shade (part two) and Narrow depth of field.

The problem faced in the studio is that studio strobes flash fairly bright when close to the subject, and having the strobe close to the subject provides the soft quality of light that photographers strive for. This works great for f5 to f9 or so (ie the lens opening is closed down a bit for fairly wide depth of focus), but opening the lens wider to narrow depth of focus results in over exposure.

The solution is to put sunglasses on the lens. My choice was to try a three stop neutral density filter. The idea is to set up the lights at f8 (bright) and shoot at f2.8. That’s about 3 stops (darkness of the sunglasses). It worked, and you can see the results in the portrait to the left.

However: It is not a perfect world. As expected, cutting the light from the camera made it harder for the camera to focus on the subject. I had to turn up the strobe’s internal modeling lamps and the house lights to compensate.

The Joe Zeltsman baby poser

Ken — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 16:55:11 +0000

Not for newborns, but for babies and toddlers that can hold on. The mum sits just out of sight of the camera as the safety person just in case the child makes the wrong move. The poser is excellent for helping the child face in the most complementary way and can be covered with a cloth to match the background.

Shoot in the shade (part two)

Ken — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 01:40:59 +0000

My first photo tip on this BLOG was to shoot in the shade. The photograph to the left is an example of a photographer taking his own advice. The setup was quick and easy. The client simply posed next to an exterior wall that was shaded by a patio. Direct light struck some tall shrubs to her right (my camera left). I also used my Nikon 85mm f1.4 lens at f2.8 to obtain the beautiful and creamy narrow depth of field (subject of a prior photo tip that you can find below). The portrait style is called a “HEAD SHOT”, and is commonly submitted to casting directors of stage and screen.

HDR

Ken — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 04:13:12 +0000

I had a sunrise photo shoot on a dreary morning, but needed some brilliant color. The solution was to use High Dynamic Range and some post processing. Four images were taken at different exposures and then processed into one HDR file using Photo Metrix. Additional processing was accomplished by using Nik Software Ultimate Edition. Notice how the green grass and trees stand out? A normal exposure would have rendered the green black.

I met a photographer on the internet today

Ken — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 14:34:33 +0000

His name is Rosh Sillars, and he will be traveling to Adelade from Detroit in the US for the Nikon / Australian Institute of Professional Photography event in October. I hope I can make it.

Need more light? Use flash and umbrella.

Ken — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 04:30:11 +0000

This portrait was taken later in the day, and in the shade. I needed more light. The dad held my flash unit that was attached to a light stand. The flash shot through a translucent umbrella. It provided a soft light aimed at the side of the girl’s face with a little bit hitting the other side’s cheek. The setup provided studio lighting in the playground (Nikon 85mm 1.4 at f5.6).

No shade? Make your own.

Ken — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 02:28:21 +0000

Last Sunday I had the pleasure to do some family portraits at 3:00 PM in a shade less playground. My subject was in direct son! His portrait on the left was taken with my expensive portrait lens (Nikon 85mm 1.4 at f8) and a Translucent fabric. Mum held the fabric that shaded her sun while I took the shot. The result is a nicely lit boy demonstrating his best boxing pose without the glairing son blasting his face, and the background landscape was properly exposed. Also note the smooth soft focus on the background landscape provided by the lens. Please click on the Facebook “Like” link if you haven’t already.

High Key Portraiture

Ken — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 00:17:27 +0000

High key is the opposite of low key (see my post below on low key). The goal is the same, focus the viewer’s eyes on the face. See how the babie’s clothing blends into the white background making the adorable face stand out. This technique works best for subjects having light hair and of course white clothing.