Photography Exposure Trifecta
PHOTOGRAPHY EXPOSURE TRIFECTA
Hello, I am still John Reed with the best online video resource in the history of the world!!!! Pixelmania.
When learning some of the basics of photography, many time we are jam packed with a ton of terms and content then left to figure it all out when we are by ourselves shooting in an environment that may be trickier to photograph than we thought. I don’t want to discount the Trial and Error discovery method when shooting, but why start with Error and work backwards to successful shots?
So, our numero uno topic of the day is……Exposure. Here’s a little FYI for ya.
Exposure is the combination of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO settings that determines how much light will be recorded at the focal point on your subject.
In other words, exposure require three parts: the Exposure Trifecta of Shutter Speed, Aperture or F Stop, and ISO. These ingredients control the amount of light you will receive into your photograph.
Simple enough… See you next time.
Oh, you want a little more information? Well, okay.
This can be an intimidating subject to a new photographer, but after this episode, you will feel much better suited to make these adjustments on the fly to get those properly exposed shots.
The first portion is shutter speed. We explored this segment in our last episode on Action Photography. Using shutter speed will allow you do something we call motion control. We want to control the action and motion of our subject in our shot first and foremost.
If the other settings are setup for a balanced exposure using a medium shutter speed at the Indianapolis 500, chances are you will catch a really well lit 195mph blur.
If the other settings are setup for a balanced exposure using a medium shutter speed at the Indianapolis 500, chances are you will catch a really well lit 195mph blur.
Instead of boring you with the standard talking head lectures, we are going to show you the real life applications to knowing these settings. So, lets skeedattle. [Look off camera] What? That’s a word.
Nothing is more frustrating than watching a tutorial that fails to explain the details in place of forcing you to follow along. For today, however, I am going to do just that. We are going to set our White Balance to Auto. We will give you a great episode explaining this setting, but we want to focus on exposure first.
We are using the studio for our shots because of the ability to control lighting. This is an easier first step for you the viewer instead of making multiple adjustments depending on clouds or light sources that might change. This is our control.
We will begin with a stationary object with limited motion. [Look off camera] Limited motion? It doesn’t move at all! Who writes this ju… oh, wait.
Here is our list of equipment. Camera is kind of a given, but it does top the list at number one.
Number two, a vase or vaz if you prefer. Really anything that will remain motionless.
Number three, a table or stand for your vaz.
Number four will be your tripod from the last episode.
An area to consider, as well, is your light source whether natural or produced from a manufactured source.
We are using one large light to help give an accurate example compared to what lighting you might be shooting with.
The next step is to now set your shutter speed. We are going to use 1/60 which will allow in more light. We will address moving subjects in a bit.
Next, we will adjust our aperture or F-stop. Time for our handy dandy FYI.
Aperture is an opening in your lens that is used to control the amount of light passing through the lensof your camera. Typically, this is constructed as an expanding and contracting iris that opens and closes in a circular motion.
Here is a visual aid to better to explain that iris.
So, the smaller the opening, the less light is allowed through, right?
This, of course, is where shutter speed comes back into the picture. If the iris controls the amount of light allowed into the camera, then the shutter can open a shorter or longer amount of time to use more or less of that available light.
This can be a little confusing so I will add clarity with a big word that is easy to understand: reciprocity.
Give me that FYI page one more time!
Reciprocity is the recipricol relatioship between shutter speed ands aperture. For example: a properly setup photograph with a 1/250 shutter speed aperture setting of f/8 we produce the same exposure as a 1/125 at f/16.
Here is a visual that you will want to write down.
So if we have a great shot here, and we adjust our shutter speed to here, we need to move our aperture to here to acheive the same results. Remembering this diagram will help you daily as you are shooting in differing circumstances.
Before we move on to ISO, it is time for a break from the huge amount of content we just threw at you. Let’s apply it.
Remember our vase… or vaz. We are setup to shoot at a shutter speed of 1/60 and my aperture or f stop is set to f/4.0. For the sake of simplicity, my ISO is set to 500. I will explain ISO in a minute.
Here is my shot. You will notice my metadata or photo facts at the bottom.
If you are thinkin that I need an f stop of f/3.5, then you are correct.
Take a look at these other shots I took while adjusting using reciprocity.
Notice the settings displayed at the bottom of each image.
The similarities are scary, huh?
That is because reciprocity works. So now that we have worked a little with that, it is time to address ISO. Once we have covered that, we will be back to the studio to shoot with our model and some other fun items.
ISO is a measurement of a film’s speed or light sensativity. The higher the ISO, the more sensative the film. The sensativity of digital camera sensors is also rated using the ISO scale.
The reason I left ISO until the end is because we want to set our shot up the best we can first and then use the ISO to adjust the sensativity to light. If we adjust our ISO first, then we are going to throw off our actual settings because the sensor is allowing more light to be read than is actually present.
If we were only a little dark on a shot, pushing the ISO up one setting level might be all it takes to make a perfect shot. If we were to start with an ISO of 3200, our shutter speed and aperture would give us a false exposure.
This is probrably the perfect time to adress over usage of ISO. Sometimes, despite the settings on your camera, an event might require a great deal higher ISO setting. Ince the shot is taken, you will notice’noise’ or abrassions on your picture. This is caused by to high an ISO setting. Sometimes, for example a family outing, getting the shot is more important than the perfection of the image, then fire away. Otherwise, this means that you need more light.
Before beginning out example shoot, let’s review…
So, we have talked about Shutter Speed, we have covered Aperture, and we have addressed the use of ISO. Lets jump into our shoot.
We have our model Erin, here. Say hi, Erin. Such a nice gal. And we are going to adjust our shutter speed to 1/100 since Erin will have more opportunity for motion than our vase, I mean vaz.
We will set our aperture to f/4.0 and you will notice that we have added more light to this shoot. One reason is for better composition, but we also did that because our shutter speed is faster but the minimum aperture on a standard lens is usually f/3.5. Now, we adjust our ISO to 600, and we start shooting.
Periodically in this shoot, I adjusted using reciprocity to reinforce its function in photography. Also, I will adjust my ISO slightly, when neccesary.
And here is our final product for both our vaz and our model shoot.
Well, that is it for us here at Pixelmania. We hope that you will put into practice what we have learned, today. Never just take my word for it. Learn on your own. WHo knows, you might find something that works better for you.
From Pixelmania, I’m John Reed.
Stopping Motion
Stopping Motion
Today, we are going to jump right into action photography. You see it everywhere from the covers of sport’s magazines, to articles in the newspapers to even some music magazines. So, would you like to be able to produce photos like this…
… or shots like this…
… or shots like this one…
… instead of photos more like
It is easier than you might think. All you need is someone special [pause]…
…to guide you through a few steps to a better understanding of how to make that happen.
As an aspiring photographer, know that the higher quality cameras are more expensive but will offer the features and adjustments necessary to take great stop motion shots. Today, we will be using Digital SLR cameras. Reference your manual to see what features your camera has available.
So if your camera looks more like this…
… instead of like this…
…then it may be time to upgrade…
Otherwise, you may be surprised at the use you will get out of your digital camera. Now, let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Here are a few things you might want to look at picking up as you grow into your new found photography role. Remember, photography equipment is designed to help you expand you ability and make for better shots. If you cannot afford some equipment, creativity will always overcome cost. Number one…
…a camera. I hope we can check this one off the list. Item number two…
…a tripod to stabilize your shot. It will be a piece of equipment that you will find use for throughout your photography. And number three, you guessed it…
… a subject to take pictures of whether a individual or even a moving object like a tree, a car, a car hitting a tree; whatever.
So… can we started or what?!
This is the Pixelmania studio. Let’s begin by setting up our camera to the correct shutter speed. Since we are not covering lighting in this episode, we are assuming that the subject or event has the necessary lighting.
Shutter Speed
If we were to dissect our camera…
… this portion is the shutter. It moves…
… like this, and it’s speed is controlled in seconds and fractions of a second. On most digital SLR, that motion is mimicked through electronic signals. No more science, I promise.
Here are a few general rules regarding shutter speed that you may want to jot down for future reference. When you have action moving toward you like this…
…a shutter speed of 1/100 to 1/250 is a good place to start.
If you have action that looks more like this…
…then you want to use a base of 1/250. Remember that the faster the action, the faster the shutter speed needs to be to stop motion.
When taking action shots, timing and focus are very important to getting the shots that you will be happy with. Nothing is worse than being forced to settle on images due to improper practice and setup.
Keep in mind: when you increase the shutter speed, the amount of light entering the lens is reduced. A good way to compensate as a new photographer is to use the Aperture Priority mode.
Lets begin with some visual learning, shall we? We are using [model's name] because she has longer hair, which will exaggerated the stop motion. Also, she is a much better looking example for this shot than I am which works better for our viewers. So, here we go.
Now, jump in the air with your thumb in your ear.
Now, I want cross eyes and a your tongue out.
The advantage to a studio shoot is that the models have to follow everything the photographer says to do. Most photography is not that easy. It requires anticipating motion, following a subject in the viewfinder, and working in order to get the shot.
Okay, this time, I need you to jump while making a face like a monkey while holding this banana.
I good term to know is anticipatory framing. [Anticipatory framing is a composition concept required when your subject moves within a frame generally speaking it’s a good idea for the movement of the camera to lead rather than follow the movement of your subject. Simply put, you will be following the subject's movement with your camera to capture the shot instead of waiting for the subject to cross your path.]
Simply put, you will be following the subject’s movement with your camera to capture the shot instead of waiting for the subject to cross your path.
Another area of importance is focus. You should work with both manual and auto focus depending on what you are trying to capture. A great way of getting the shot at a sporting event, for example, is to plan ahead… If you know the action at a basketball game is going to happen at the hoop then you might try pre-focusing on the hoop. Using auto focus might work better if you know that the lens will focus in enough time. Auto focus WILL ensure a sharper image than the human eye and is the optimal setting for your camera.
Now for a shot like this, timing is critical. What will make this photo exciting will be catching her hair when its up in the air. That means for this session, we will wait until she is coming down rather than going up.
I would advise against trying to get this particular shot using the continuous shooting mode, and getting good at pushing the shutter button. It is has its purpose, but we don’t want to develop bad habits or become lazy in our photography. You can try both, but from my experience, even a fast shutter isn’t as efficient as getting the so called “money shot” as some plain old practice.
And here is what we’ve got as our final product.
Well, time for a little review. We have talked about equipment, shutter speed, focusing, and anticipatory framing. The final piece to anything you ever hear me say is PRACTICE! The more we do, the better we get.
From Pixelmania, I’m John – see you next
Using the Histogram
Using the Histogram
Basic Explanation: your histogram gives you a graphic depiction of the data you’ve captured.
Understanding Shadows vs. Highlights – your histogram has five sections to it. The far left is black, the far right is white, and dead center is 18% gray, the data that falls to the left of center is shadow, and the data that falls to the right of center is highlights.
When you pull up your histogram in many editing programs it will also give you specific color information.
Clipping – clipping is when your data goes off the chart to either the right or left. You have ‘clipped’ off information…there is no data recorded. Some cameras will actually have a flashing mechanism on your view screen when there is no data to display. This will print as either pure white or pure black.
Mountain range & spikes – your goal is to have bell shapes and spikes on your histogram. If there is a lot of any one color especially high key (white) or low key (black) you should have spikes in either the right or left regions of your histogram. Most images that have lots of color should have a mountain range effect on your histogram. This means that you have solid data in all color zones.
Under exposing and over exposing – If your histogram is heavily weighted like a bell curve to one side or another and may have clipping to that extreme side…you are either over or under exposing your images.
Exposing for Shadow vs. Highlights – in the day of film most photographers exposed for the shadow and at the beginning of the digital age they did the same thing. Current thoughts are either to get a clean exposure across the board or to expose for the highlights…so your histogram will have a more mountainous appearance to the right of center vs. left of center.
I can fix it later attitude – contrary to what many people believe, it is not all that easy to ‘fix’ under or over exposed images in postproduction. If you have under exposed an image and pull it into a editing software and try to brighten the image many times you will end up with a pixilated image. This is because the software is trying to fill in information that just isn’t there, it is trying to add light…so it is filling it with noise.
A strange thing happens on the opposite end. If you have blown out all the detail in your whites and attempt to use your editing software to fix it…you are trying to take out light and add detail where there is none. So what will the software do? It will fill it with varying degrees of gray, which gives you a muddy photo.
Fix it in your camera that’s why they have the view screen and the histogram read outs. It gives you a chance to get your settings right the first time!
White Balance
White Balance
So why some scenes seem a little to orange? Or at least more orange than you would expect in real life.
And why do some pictures seem a little to blue, more blue than reality? The camera is set to “indoor white balance” in an outdoor environment!
Well we have these image problems because our white balance is set incorrect. White balance refers to what our camera considers to be white.
Most cameras have white balance preset switches for indoor white balance and day light white balance. That’s because what we see as white light from the sun is different than what we perceive being white light from tungsten or indoor light bulbs.
We are not going to get to scientific here, but just to illustrate the difference, the color temperature of sun light is 5600 degrees Kelvin and the color of your typical tungsten light is 3200 degrees Kelvin.
“Light bulbs are “tungsten” light sources”
This room looks wrong because we are using a sunlight light balance for indoor tungsten lighting. This is how it should look with the correct white balance.
Everything here looks to blue because we are using an indoor white balance setting outdoors in the sun light. This is how it should look with the correct white balance.
OK, so here’s a pop quiz. What white balance setting would you use for this location? I may be indoors but I have a lot of sunlight coming through this window, would you use the indoor white balance setting or the outdoor white balance setting?
OK so that was actually that was a trick question. I should have asked do you use the tungsten indoor white balance setting or the daylight outdoor white balance setting? Even though I’m inside the majority of this room is lite up by day light. If you use the tungsten setting it would look like this….which for us is a little too blue.
As with focusing we recommend you set your white balance manually rather than relying on the automatic preset buttons. That way you’ll be more accurate, and you’ll set your white balance to your particular environment.
In order to set your white balance manually all you need is a white card or a white piece of paper. Zoom all the way into that white card so the white completely fills the screen then typically you’ll press your white balance button until the white balance symbol stops blinking, then you can zoom out and your image should be correctly white balanced.
If you don’t have a card or a piece of paper, you can use anything pure white, like a t-shirt or a white wall, or you can even white balance off my pasty white skin…no no we can’t show that that’s to white.
We have to admit sometime automatic white balance can be advantageous, for example when we are moving from an area outdoors indoors or vise versa, in this case we don’t have automatic white balance on, so when I’m moving outdoors to indoors the image looks to orange inside, because the camera hasn’t adjusted.
So now automatic white balance is selected, so the automatic white balance should adjust when I move outdoors indoors…. doesn’t look so orange now does it? Of course I don’t have a problem with anything orange.
You should reset you white balance
Everytime you change lighting environments.
Framing and Composition
Framing and Composition
Composition is about how your subjects are framed and arranged within in your shots. One of the techniques we’ll discuss regarding composition is creating a balanced frame. We’re naturally unsettled by a lack of symmetry or balance in what we see and you may bit a bit unsettled by this shot because of it is unbalance. Now the frame is more balanced because I’m centered in the frame. If you imagine a line running down the center of your screen equal parts of me are on the left and right hand side of that line.
“Rule of Thirds”
is the foundation for scene composition
it says that the screen is divided into thirds…..
both vertically and horizontally.
And here’s another way to balance your frame. We’ve added a new subject to the opposite side of the frame. A guideline for balancing the frame is called the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds will help you think about ways to balance your frame. It will also help you with…
Headroom
Headroom refers to the amount of space between your subject’s head and the top of the frame. As you can see in this shot we have way to much headroom. James could you do something about that. Whoa Whoa Whoa now we have to little headroom, the opposite problem. Here’s where the rule of thirds comes in handy again. In general it a good idea to align your subjects eyes with the top 2/3’s line, ahh…. that’s better now we have just the right amount of head room. Even in tight close-ups the same guidelines can still apply, with my eyes lined up on the top rule of thirds line. This feels more comfortable than this… even though the more proper framing does cut my head off a bit it still feels right.
Eyeroom
Another basic framing concept is eye room, in this frame I’m looking to the left probably at some pretty girl in the car but there’s something wrong with the framing. The eye room is off. In general eye room is about providing space and direction of where your subject is looking. Now, reframed I have enough eye room. And the same would hold true if I were on the other side of the frame looking the other way. Now here’s another example of bad eye room. Since we are trying to emphasize Scott is looking at something above him, we probably want more eye room in the direction he is looking…… like this.
Anticipitory Framing
Anticipatory framing is a composition concept required when your subject moves within a frame generally speaking it’s a good idea for the movement of the camera to lead rather than follow the movement of your subject. This way the camera calls less attention to itself. Now as I move from my position the camera stays right with me. We have anticipated my movement. Now here’s an example of what not to do. If the camera operator doesn’t plan ahead and doesn’t know I’m going to move and then I do, the camera is following rather than leading the action, oop got you again, This leads to a composition that isn’t fluid and which is rather distracting. Now here’s another example of appropriate camera work adjusting for subject movement, as I approach the camera it is necessary for the camera to tilt up. Now if we don’t anticipate my move towards the camera, and we don’t make the necessary adjustment we end up with this type of framing, fortunately for us I got a clean shave this morning.
Depth of Field
Depth of Field
In the previous chapter on the benefits of manual focus, James mentioned how the amount of light you have as well as how much your zoomed into your subject, will effect how hard or easy it is to focus.
This has to do with a concept called depth of field.
Depth of field describes how deep your focus will be. In other words it’s a term that describes how many objects will remain in focus in your frame at one focus setting.
If you have a large depth of field that means that more objects at various distances from your camera are in focus.
In this case we’re wondering how many of these hurdles can remain in focus without having to change the focus ring during the shot.
The first factor that effects depth of field is the amount of light you have.
- Here it’s a bright sunny day, we have a lot of light so it’s easy to keep things in focus.
- Even if we move the focus ring most of the hurdles stay in focus.
- So here we have a great depth of field, but now it’s the end of the day and we don’t have much light left therefore we don’t have as much depth of field.
- As you can see not as many of the hurdles are in focus now and as the runner runs we have to adjust the focus ring to keep them in focus.
- To reiterate in this shot less of the hurdles are in focus because we’re zoomed in, we’re at a long focal length and if we zoomed out more of the hurdles would be in focus at one time.
“Welcome back” “Over here” “Now in addition to light the other important factor effecting depth of field is focal length.”
Now with most consumer grade digital cameras, you don’t have to worry to much about focal length because they already come with a zoom lens, to make your lens telephoto or long you simply zoom into your subject.
Now zoomed into me like we are here is the equivalent of a long focal length. Generally speaking there’s less depth of field and fewer objects are in focus in this shot. Now if we zoom out to a wider angle shot of me that’s the equivalent of a short focal length or short lens. In this shot there’s more depth of field and there are more objects in focus in the frame.
To review, when you’re zoomed in it’s hard to focus and when your zoomed out it’s easy to focus, and that covers the basics of depth of field.
It depends on the amount of light you have and what your focal length is.
If you know your depth of field you will know how attentive or inattentive you have to be when focusing your camera.
DEPTH OF FIELD MEANS…
- The number of objects “in-focus” in the frame
- The area of the frame that is “in-focus”
FACTORS THAT EFFECT DEPTH OF FIELD ARE…
- The amount of light entering the lens
- “F-Stop” and “Shutter Speed” both effect the amount of light in your image
- The focal length or “how far you are zoomed in or out”
Depth of Field…
Will bring attention to your subject in the frame once you master the technique!
REDUCING DEPTH OF FIELD
Now we’re going to get a little more advanced, the lens on camcorders have become so good that sometimes, to many things are in focus in a frame.
Here for example maybe we want the runner to be in focus but not all the hurdles, so we need to reduce our depth of field.
In order to reduce our depth of field we need to open up our iris all the way. The lower the F-stop number, the more open the iris.
But first we pop on some neutral density filters to darken the image. Which forces us to open up the iris in order to compensate.
HOW TO REDUCE DEPTH OF FIELD
- Zoom in the area you want in the frame
- Apply neutral density filtering
- Open the iris all the way to highest F-stop you can to get the proper exposure
HOW DOES THIS ACCOMPLISH REDUCING DEPTH OF FIELD?
- Applying neutral density filtering reduces the amount of light coming into the lens
- Then opening the iris brings the light levels back up to get the correct exposure
- Standard Press Portraits
- Head Shots
- Editorial Portraits
- High School Senior portraits
- Fashion Images
- Body Turns
- Creating a base
- Learning to Tip and Turn the head
- And Considering Composition and Head Size
- The ideal “minimum” room size for head-to-toe full body chromakey production is 16′ wide x 18′ front to back x 9′ Tall.
- Set up your Backdrop Support System by threading the Crossbar through the Rod-Loop in the Muslin, attach the Crossbar to the Support Stands and elevate it to a height of 8′ from the floor. Ensure you are perfectly level to the floor.
- Ensure you use the 6″ Spring Clamps provided in our kits to stretch out wrinkles in the cloth by attaching them around the vertical side stands and clamping firmly to the edges of the muslin cloth. Then adjust the crossbar to pull the muslin tight between the left and right stands.
- Roll out the remainder of the screen as far as it will go.
- Ensure you create smooth “Cyc” (radius) in the cloth where it transitions from the vertical back to the floor.
- Smooth out all wrinkles. Use gaffer’s tape at the edges to secure the cloth to the floor allowing you to stretch it tightly.
- Do what is necessary to achieve a smooth wrinkle free vertical and horizontal surface.
- Place 2 Heads of equal power on the extreme right and left edge of the screen 7″ from the back vertical wall of the screen. Draw an imaginary line across the screen floor between those 2 lights.
- Your subject needs to be 8 feet in front of the back of the screen.
- You must use a lower power Overhead Hairlight of lower power than the other lights in the system positioned behind the subject illuminating the back of their head and shoulders.
- Place an overhead “Hairlight” 4 feet out from the back wall as high as you can go in your room (maximum 9 feet) and face it forward toward the back of your subject. An EZ LITE400, DayFlo-FX 1400, or DayFlo-PRO 500 fixture is ideal for this light.
- Position your subject just in front of the imaginary line that goes between the 2 lights illuminating the back of the screen. Ensure your talent never crosses that line during their performance.
- The camera needs to be the same distance from the subject as the subject is from the screen.
- Position your camera 1-2 feet out from the front edge of the screen.
- Set up a Keylight 4 feet to the right or left of your camera.
- Set up a Fill light to the opposite side of your camera mirroring the Keylight.
- DO NOT USE AUTO EXPOSURE SETTINGS OF ANY KIND ON YOUR CAMERA . Manually set the exposure on your camera to make your talent look perfect.
- Refer to the main picture on this page for proper lighting configuration.
- You are ready to get started with shooting!
The lower the F-stop the narrower the depth of field!
With the iris opened up all the way our depth of field has finally been reduced.
Now we’re just focusing on the runner and the other hurdles are out of focus.
Manipulating your depth of field … will take a little practice!
Practice ……..until you get it right.
Basic Portrait Posing Rules
Basic Portrait Posing Rules
Capturing great images of people can be very rewarding and very frustrating at the same time. Beyond building the report necessary to get someone comfortable in front of the camera, you will need to learn some basic techniques to turn an ordinary picture into a quality looking portrait.
Single person portraits
When photographing individual people you need to know why you are photographing them.
Different types of single person portraits are:
Cropping concerns!:
Before you even start capturing images for portraits you need to consider how they are going to be printed or used in their final form. There is a difference between most cameras crop ratio and that of photographic papers.
Most cameras capture in a 4×6 crop ratio. If you are planning on making prints on 5×7, 8×10, or 11×14 paper, you’ll need to compose the framing with enough space on the sides, or top and bottom, for the difference between your cameras crop, and that of the paper print.
Photographing portraits in the “safe zone” is the preferred method so that you have freedom of choice in ordering enlargements of various sizes.
The “safe zone” is the 8×10 crop ratio. An 8×10 and a 4×5 crop ratio is the same…so if you can imagine a horizontal 4×6 print, then cutting a half inch off of each side, what remains is “safe zone”.
Unless you are hand cropping your images in an editing program before you send them to a lab to be printed on paper, it should be understood that the lab will not look at the image for the best crop, but instead will simply center your frame.
Because of this, you will want to train yourself to compose your images inside the “safe zone” of a centered 8×10 crop.
In conclusion, remember that your camera captures a wider image than what an 8×10 print can fit. If you keep the significant subject matter in the ‘safe zone’ then you will be able to print all crop ratios without cutting out anything important.
Posing people in a flattering manner can be accomplished by following some simple steps:
Lets talk about the Body Turn
Pass port photos, ID Cards, and drivers licenses are the only portraits that should be captured square on. This view is extremely unfettering, but shows the most facial information.
A 1/3 turn is the standard turn and is generally flattering.
While a 2/3 turn creates more drama and hides defaults. Be careful to not overturn a thin person as they will appear even smaller.
So which direction should you turn your subject when you have a choice?
There are two main indicators; their hair and their eyes.
Most people part their hair to one side or another. The side of the face that has less hair covering it, is subconsciously their ‘good side’.
Turn their body so that the majority of their hair is closer to your backdrop.
By doing this the side of their face they are most comfortable with is more exposed to your lens. Also if your subject has long hair and you tip their head slightly toward their back shoulder you will create depth and texture as well as not having it fall over their eyes.
When you have someone that doesn’t part their hair, your next visual clue to a preferred side is their eyes.
Many people have one eye that is smaller than the other. Turn the person the direction that enables you to have the smaller eye closer to the camera. The lens will always make what is closer to the camera look larger…thus equalizing and balancing the eyes.
Have you ever noticed that some portraits look like bobble heads? The reason this happens is because the photographer didn’t create a base to the photo.
Your goal is to create a triangle with a person’s body. By placing the subjects back hand in the center of their thigh closer to their knee you will create the back side of the triangle. The front hand rests closer to their hip.
Learning The Turn and Tip – I know that everyone feels like they are back in grade school when the photographer tells them to turn and tip their heads.
By having their body turned on an angel, you need to bring both eyes back to the camera. You do this by turning their face.
Most people have not gone to their chiropractor before coming in for their press portraits. In other words, ‘most people’s heads just aren’t on straight!’
If you photograph a head tipped toward the camera, or to the front shoulder, the person will look ‘softer’, or more ‘effeminate’.
If you bring their head & nose straight they will look stronger and confident.
If you tip the top of their head slightly to the back shoulder you will capture a more masculine feel.
Last but certainly not least you need to choose the composition of your portrait.
Head size is the amount of space taken up by the face and hair in comparison to body. In a standard press portrait the head size is about 1/3 of the image.
In a ‘Close Up’ or a ‘head shot’, the face and hair constitute about 2/3 of the image.
When you are trying to capture a more causal or editorial type image the expression on your subjects face is still the primary subject. Typically hands are seen in three quarter portraits so that there is a ‘base’ to the portrait.
Full length portraits are as much about the clothing as they are about the person’s expression. Your head size is now about 1/10 of the image so you need to be aware of foot position, hand and elbow angels, as well as keeping the feet in the image.
Here is a simple rule to remember, ‘if you have knees…you need to have feet.’ No one floats in thin air (at least not on this planet.) This rule also applies if someone is sitting in a chair.
Now that you have the basic rules to portraits, it is time to have fun and capture fantastic and flattering portraits of your friends and family!
Chroma Key Studio Set Up
Chroma Key Studio Set Up
Chromakey Production is the magic process of creating images where the background or any object in your scene can be made transparent allowing you replace it with a different image. From the Invisible Man to Perfect Storm to the nightly news Weather Report, chromakey is an essential part of today’s video, cinematic, and photographic production industry.
Not only is Chromakey a powerful production tool, using the process is some of the most fun you can have with your projects.
Chromakey is achieved by shooting your scene with a solid color background or covering an object in the scene with a chromakey color then keying out that color in post production with the use of keying software or a hardware keyer.
Especially for novice producers, setting up for chromakey production can have it’s challenges. Proper lighting and having enough space to work in are the most important aspects of getting professional looking results.
The following is, “Chromakey Set-Up 101″ for “head-to-toe” full body framing. Follow these instructions to the letter and you will get superb results with most any keyer. Varying from this formula will almost always result in less than desirable keying results.
Eos MAGIC 10x 20 and 12×24 Chromakey Backdrop Kit offers incredible quality and performance at an unbelievable price. You MUST have this size screen at a minimum to a get quality head-to-toe framing video. DO NOT buy a screen that is smaller than 10″ x 20′ for head-to-toe framing. They simply will not work properly for anything but waste-up head-shot or “talkin head” work.
The Basic Rule when setting up for Chromakey production to get quality results like you see on a hollywood production;
You must have the ability to light the back of the chromakey screen independently from your subject. To accomplish this properly you must use a minimum of 4 to 5 light heads when working indoors to do the job correctly. You’ll need 1 to 2 light heads to light the back of the screen, a Key-light, Fill-light, and overhead “Hair-light” for your subject.
Your chromakey screen must be evenly light from edge to edge with smooth soft light. Adjust the lighting until there are no cold spots at the edges. You will get substantially better result if you use highly diffused light. Fluorescent Production lighting like the DayFlo series of lighting is optimal. If using Tungsten lighting ensure they are equipped with softbox diffusers.
If you don’t use separate lights for the screen and place the subject too close to the chormakey backdrop the Key and Fill lights will cast shadows from your subject onto the screen making it virtually impossible to get a clean key on a moving subject because your keyer will see those shadows as a different color green/blue in the area of the shadow directly around your subject than the rest of the screen.
The biggest mistakes producers make when setting up for chromakey work is trying to use too small a screen and not using 5 light heads as described above.
Being that the camera ends up at a minimum of 16 feet from the chormakey screen, you’ll need as wide a background area as possible to ensure your framing is filled edge to edge with the background to key properly.
The next most important thing to consider with a complete Chromakey Kit is it’s ability to stretch the Muslin material tight to eliminate wrinkles that get into the material when folded up and stored.
Now widely copied, our Chromakey Kits feature a Telescoping Crossbar and we supply you with 8-10 Heavy Duty Screen Clamps which allow you to effortlessly adjust the distance between the stands to exactly the width of the Muslin Screen and create tension across it’s width. This feature instantly smoothes out wrinkles in the cloth thus eliminating the potential for shadows which create dark lines on the screen which can make keying difficult.
Choosing A Lighting Kit
Which lighting kit is right for me?
Which lighting kit is right for me: Fluorescent, Tungsten, Flash, or LED? This is without surprise the most asked question we encounter on a daily basis.
First identify which type of image acquisition you will be doing. Filmmaking, Videography, Interviews, Chroma Key, Indoor Product Shots, Portraits, Still Photography, and Stage Lighting all have very different requirements for optimal results.
There are two types of production lighting. Continuous and Flash/Strobe which as theirs names describe create either a constant always-on light source or a quick burst of bright light.
There are basically two Kelvin Temperatures (whiteness of light) used in Production Lighting. Tungsten/Halogen at 3200 degrees Kelvin referred to as “Indoor”, and Daylight or “Outdoor” at 5600 degrees Kelvin which are available in several different bulb methods.
The Halogen bulbs you get at a hardware store are NOT production accurate temperatures, usually around 2700 K for Halogen, and most of the new Edison based fluorescent bulbs are under 4800 K, so don’t count on using a big-box hardware store as a supplier for bulbs at this time. Always buy bulbs from a production lighting supplier.
Daylight Kelvin temperature bulbs offer the best lighting source you can get due to their broad color spectrum. Flash/Strobe lighting delivers a burst of daylight temperature light. Somewhere between 5000 and 6500 degree’s Kelvin. Achieving Continuous lighting at the same color spectrum as the sun has traditionally been a costly proposition and was historically achieved with very expensive special bulbs systems called HMI.
Tungsten/Halogen lighting at 3200 Degrees Kelvin has become the industry standard for decades now because of it’s affordability. However, while very usable at 3200 K a tungsten/halogen source does not produce as wide a contrast dynamic range or color spectrum as 5600 K daylight temperature sources.
Recently Daylight Temperature Fluorescent bulbs have been invented which have changed everything, because you can now get all of the advantages of the daylight color spectrum in a continuous soft lighting source for the same price as Tungsten/Halogen lighting. Daylight Temperature Fluorescent Systems serve the Still Photographer and the Videographer in a single kit so for the most part Flash/Strobe systems are obsolete.
Heat and Power consumption – A typical 20 amp circut breaker in your fuse box can handle a draw of about 2500 watts safely without blowing. A Tungsten bulbs brightness has traditionally been associated with the amount of electrical current it uses e.g. 1K or 2K (1000 or 2000 Watts). All Tungsten/Halogen bulbs get very hot. So hot in fact that extreme caution must be used when using them to avoid serious accidents. Tungsten lighting will heat up a studio as fast as any portable heater. Additionally, Tungsten/Halogen bulbs require a substantial amount of electrical current to work properly. But keep in mind that these types of bulbs have been in use for many decades now so with proper handling Tungsten bulbs do a great job for Movie Makers and Videographers.
Fluorescent Bulbs on the other hand are extremely efficient. They produce light using only 1/4th the electrical current of Tungsten/Halogen lighting. This has many benefits especially with regard to heat generation. Fluorescent lighting remains completely cool indefinitely. This means that Fluorescent Bulbs last a very long time while Tungsten bulbs will require replacing much more often because of the dramatic heating and cooling that takes place with every use. Fluorescent bulbs are now available in Daylight Kelvin temperatures which is great news for almost every type of image acquisition there is.
Finally we need to mention LED production lighting. It is widely speculated that LED will become the prominent technology for continuous lighting and frankly the only thing prohibiting that from happening today is their current high price. But as with anything electronic that will surly change in the years to come.
At this time there are a very limited number of suppliers that offer truly professional solutions for production LED fixtures. Brands like LEDz, LITE Panels, and LITE Pads from Rosco are the only true professional solutions on the market today.
As with all production lighting fixtures and technologies each of these brands offer unique characteristics making them ideal for certain situation. But hands down LED sources are the way to go. No bulbs what so ever, negligible heat generation, almost not power consumption allowing for ease of battery powering, and seldom mentioned is their resistance to moisture.
Never having to worry about breaking or replacing a bulb alone makes LED worth their price.
In closing, there is no “one-size-fits-all” with regards to production lighting technologies or fixtures. The best lighting kit is generally one that has a variety fixture types and technologies. And lets not forget about accessories. Filters, Stands, Stand-Weights, Boom Stands, Flags, Reflectors etc., are all must-have items to create a well designed lighting kit that will allow you the flexibility to take on any lighting project regardless of the type of acquisition you are into.
The Choice of Backgrounds
The Choice of Backgrounds
One of the most common FAQ received, especially during high school senior portrait season, is “What kinds of backgrounds do you have?”
Our primary background is modeled brown tones. We chose this background because for the traditional yearbook image, standard family portrait, and classic engagement session…it works great! We chose brown because most people have neutral tones in their living rooms where we want our images displayed. When your background melds with the surroundings of the clients space…the only thing people really look at is the people in the image.
Most schools and chain studios choose a traditional Masters blue background as their standard. (Masters refers to a style of background painting that has a hot spot in the middle and works its way through a couple tones to a dark painted vignette.) The blue background has been a mainstay in studios, and yes, we do own one. Blues will match more peoples clothing than brown…thus great for proms, children’s portraits, press portraits, and school pictures.
Having a solid black and a solid white background is an essential investment for every photographer. The larger the background in these two colors you can get…the more uses you will find. The big black background is easy to drape over a couch or chair to do family portraits on, the white works great for maternity images, baby portraits, and is amazing for fashion forward senior portraits.
Our red/maroon background photographs very regal. We tend to use the red background with a Victorian style fainting couch or a black high stool for a more cosmopolitan look.
Paper backgrounds have become a primary investment at the studio. Paper Paper Paper! Animals and babies have a tendency to drool and create other messes…paper is fantastic for both situations. This is where I invest in funky colors like bright yellow, orange, crimson, and cherry red. For local high schools I tend to purchase paper backgrounds to match the school colors. Paper reflects well, adding a colored gel to your background light will have a gradient effect, thus you can use the lighter of the two school colors for the background and the darker color as a gel and get a unique look for your seniors.
By building your collection you will be able to offer a plethora of different looks for your subjects without them even changing their clothing!
Tip of the Topic: Black turtlenecks. Why is a shirt a tip of the topic? Because the second most FAQ is “What should I wear so that I don’t clash with your backgrounds?” The answer is always Black. Black turtleneck shirts are the easiest piece of clothing to photograph on all backgrounds…including a black background. It covers all the skin other than the face so when you look at the image your eyes automatically go to the subject’s eyes instead of their clothing. Black shirts with blue jeans, black socks, and dark shoes are always the suggestion for families. Even if the shirt is a tank top, the solid black will force your eyes to focus on the person’s face instead of their clothing. A large part of capturing fabulous portraits is choosing the right background, having your subject in appropriate clothing, and having viewers focus on the expression of your subject.
Enjoy the capture!
