Backyard Becky

This is going to be a longer post because this is the first time I was able to
use my new lighting equipment for portraits and I wanted to describe
(mostly for my own reference) what different types of lighting I used for
each photo.

So, if the technical side of photography does not interest you 
then just ignore all the words, keep scrolling down and enjoy some hot shots of Rebekah.

These are my favorites of the photo shoot (none of the photos are edited)

This was a fun photo shoot because Rebekah was such a great sport in
letting me take my time and being patient, especially when I kept
shining the gold reflector in her eyes.
Rebekah even played some songs on the ukulele and did a
one woman show of the musical "Wicked."


I used Syl Arena's book, "Lighting for Digital Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots",
as a reference for using different lighting techniques.
I did three types of shots: in direct sunlight, using sun as rim light and in open shade.

Scene 1: Direct Sunlight
Syl Arena recommends when shooting in direct sunlight to:

A) Diffuse Sunlight
I used a light stand and arm to attach a diffusion panel (part of the Neewer 5in1
110cm Reflector kit) about 6 inches above Rebekah's head.

Unfortunately, I accidentally erased the photos of Rebekah before I used the diffusion
panel, to compare, but you can definitely tell, due to the lack of harsh shadows or highlights that
the light is diffused (see figure 1.1).

B) Bounce sunlight into the shadows
I wanted to increase light on her face but didn't want to have to increase my ISO or
or take my aperture down too much so I used my white reflector in my Neewer 5in1 kit to
add some natural light (see figure 1.2).

Sorry that the captions are not right under the photo. I had some formatting issues

 

  Figure 1.1  (1/250 sec. F/8 ISO 400)                                          Figure 1.2 (1/250 sec. F/8 ISO 250)

                                

I liked the photo with the reflector but I didn't like that her eyes were still dark and squinted.

She has big beautiful blue eyes so I decided to use a flash to help accentuate her eyes.

C) Filling shadows with flash
I knew direct light from the flash on her face would create harsh, unflattering shadows, so
I set my YN560-III Speedlite through my Fotodiox softbox, and positioned it on the right side of
my camera (see Figures 1.3-1.5).

                                        Figure 1.3 (1/160 sec. F/11 ISO 200)  

                                          this seems a little too bright

                                         Figure 1.4 (1/160 sec. F/11 ISO 160)

                                         softbox moved back a few inches

                                                       Figure 1.5 (1/125 sec. F/11 ISO 160)

                                                       This is my favorite. I had to keep

                                                       tweaking my ISO and shutter because

                                                       the sun kept moving behind clouds.

Scene 2: Using sun as rim light
Arena suggests using the sun as the rim light (behind the subject) to add highlights to the hair
and depth to the entire photo.

A) Sun at 135 degree angle
He suggests to "put the sun behind subject at...an angle of 135 degrees.

B) Do not overexpose/dim ambient light (see Figure 2.1)
He suggests to adjust the ambient light by increasing shutter speed or increasing ISO
The two main reasons why dimming ambient light is helpful is because:
           1) It can help a messy background go away "so that the viewer concentrates
               on the subject."
           2) It helps the rim light to pop out.

C) Use a flash as a key light
I used my speedlite through my Fotodiox softbox as the key (main) light and
positioned it to the right of the camera (see Figure 2.2).

***PROBLEM:
Unfortunately I could not increase my shutter on my Canon 6D above 1/160 sec.
because my YN568EXII Speedlite, which allows the camera to use a shutter above
1/160 sec., when it is set to high-speed sync (HSS), was not communicating with
the other speedlite I used as my key light.

D) Decide if you need a fill light
I used the sun to bounce light from the gold reflector back onto her face (see Figure 2.3).

                                         Figure 2.1 (1/160 sec. F/11 ISO 160)

                                         No diffusion panel, notice rim light on hair

                                        *** background too bright and distracting

                                         Figure 2.2 (1/160 sec. F/11 ISO 125)

                                         Key light looks good but background is too distracting

                                         Figure 2.3 (1/160 sec. F11 ISO 160) gold reflector

                                         Gold reflector warms her face

                                          

Scene 3: Open Shade
This is my favorite scene because I was able to use the diffused sunlight as the key light,
which gives the photos a more natural look.

I don't have a lot to explain about the process I took to create these photos because,
in contrast to shooting in direct sunlight, the lighting didn't shift much.

Figure 3.1
In this scene Rebekah is standing about 6 inches inside the doorway of the shed.
This photo is not very interesting in terms of dynamic range because
Rebekah blends with the background and the image looks flat.

                                                                        1/200 sec. F/8 ISO 400

                                                                        Open shade

Figure 3.2
I liked the lighting in the background though, where you could see a little detail inside the shed,
so I decided to keep my camera settings the same and use my speedlite through the Fotodiox as
a fill light.

                                                      

Figure 3.3
I pulled the speedlite back about 6 inches and adjusted the flash brightness.

                                                       

Figure 3.4
I did a longer shutter but it looked too washed out and the background seemed too light.

                                                                          

Then we just got crazy

Finally Finished 
Rebekah ended up doing a model pose (looking over shoulder) and taking a few steps back
further into the shed and this is what ended up as our final shots.
I love them

           1/125 sec F/7.1 ISO 400                                    1/100 sec F/7.1 ISO 400

           Fotodiox softbox and gold reflector                   Fotodiox softbox and gold reflector

The End

                                                   

                                                     

Photographing Weber State University Buildings

My husband Spencer asked me if I would take some photos of different
buildings at Weber State University. Spencer is in charge of all the student
computer labs on campus and he wanted a photo of each building that
the computer lab is located in to use as wallpaper for the computers.

Architecture photography is more work than I thought because in order to make
an interesting photograph it is important to decide how the building, in
terms of it's context, would best catch the audience's eye.
For example, I asked myself these questions: Should I photograph the building with it's natural
surroundings (use a wide-angle and a small aperture)
or would it make more sense to focus in on a certain detail of the
building (use my Canon 70-200mm and a middle to large aperture)?

For both circumstances the most helpful tools for photographing these buildings were
my tripod and a B+W Filter. The tripod was helpful for reducing camera shake
and allowed me to use a slow shutter speed that was necessary to compensate
for a low ISO (I shot at 100) and a small aperture (I shot between F-stop 18-22).
The filter helped to accentuate or diminish window reflection.

Anyway enough of the boring stuff, here are the photos.

    Elizabeth Hall, facing south

    Shepherd Union Building, facing south

    Wattis Business Building, facing north

    Shepherd Union Building, facing south

    Social Science Building, facing east

    Health Science Building, facing west

Baby Joshua

Photographing newborns can be a great challenge, they move all
over, cry and sleep half the time. Joshua, however, was a delight to photograph
because he was calm and loved looking at the camera.

This was my first photo shoot using studio lighting.
For the photos with the black backdrop I bounced one of my
Yongnuo Speedlite YN560-III into a silver umbrella and
set it behind, at a 135 degree angle from the camera to help with filling in the shadows
behind Joshua. I put the other Speedlite inside a Fotodiox softbox and set it to my right, at a 45
degree angle, just outside the camera's view. I thought this lighting set-up looked great with
the black backdrop.

However, with the white backdrop I just couldn't get the lighting to look natural.
I did the photo shoot in our front room in front of our large window.
The mid-afternoon lighting was so perfect that the natural light from the east-facing
window worked great with the white background.

I had a fun time getting to know handsome Joshua and his parents.

Nadia at 6 months

Nadia is a very jolly and attentive baby. She was in good spirits throughout the entire 1+ hour of photographing even though I know she was exhausted. 

Thanks again to her parents for inviting me to capture her fun personality.

Forbes Family Photos