DEDICATIONThisbookisdedicatedtotheonepersoninmyadultlifethathasbothinspiredme andmademe supremely happy. Besides being themost loving and caringperson that I know, she’s also a great photographer. That’s why this book isdedicatedtomywifeandbestfriend,MaryFarace.

CheckoutAmherstMedia’sblogsat:http://portrait-photographer.blogspot.com/http://weddingphotographer-amherstmedia.blogspot.com/

Copyright©2013byJoeFarace.Allphotographsbytheauthorunlessotherwisenoted.Allrightsreserved.

Publishedby:AmherstMedia,Inc.P.O.Box586Buffalo,N.Y.14226Fax:716-874-4508www.AmherstMedia.com

Publisher:CraigAlesseSeniorEditor/ProductionManager:MichellePerkinsAssistantEditor:BarbaraA.Lynch-JohntEditorialassistanceprovidedbySallyJarzab,JohnS.Loder,andCareyA.Miller.

ISBN-13:978-1-60895-524-4LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2012936507PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica.10987654321

Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,stored,ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopied,recordedorotherwise,withoutpriorwrittenconsentfromthepublisher.

NoticeofDisclaimer:Theinformationcontainedinthisbookisbasedontheauthor’sexperienceandopinions.Theauthorandpublisherwillnotbeheldliablefortheuseormisuseoftheinformationinthisbook.

CONTENTS

AcknowledgmentsAuthorBiography

INTRODUCTION

WhyAvailableLight?TheThreePhasesofPhotographyWhat’sinThisBook?

1.SEEINGTHELIGHT

ShootingwithNaturalLightOnlyNaturalLightTheColorofLight

WhiteBalanceAutomaticWhiteBalanceDaylight:Approximately5200KShade:Approximately8000KCloudy:Approximately6000KFluorescentLight:Approximately4200Kto6500KTungstenLight:Approximately3200KFlash:Approximately5400K“K”SettingsManualorCustomWhiteBalance

SIDEBAR:RAWCaptureandWhiteBalancePostproductionColorBalancing

2.LIGHTREADING

WhatIsProperExposure?MadAboutLighting:ExposureTechniques

BrightnessRange

DarkestObjectBrightestObjectSubstitution

HowtoMakeThoseReadingsExposureRealitiesSIDEBAR:DoYouHavetheBlinkies?SLRMeteringPatterns

Multi-SegmentCenter-WeightedSpotMetering

CameraExposureModesProgram(P)

SIDEBAR:DepthofFieldShutterPriority(Tv)AperturePriority(Av)ManualMode

SIDEBAR:ExposureCompensationBulbMode

ISOSpeedsAffectExposureTooIfAllElseFails,Bracket

3.LIGHTINGINDOORS

RescuingUnderexposedImagesDigitalNoise

In-CameraNoiseSuppressionPhotoshop-CompatiblePlug-Ins

ContrastandShadowsSceneModeSecrets

Don’tBeConfusedNightScenePortraitSurfandSnowTextSunset

4.LIGHTINGOUTDOORS

SIDEBAR:EightQuickTipsforBetterOutdoorPortraitsSunnyDaysCloudyDaysSIDEBAR:LentéLocoMadeintheShadeSIDEBAR:ControlColorbyGoingMonochromeLow-LightandNightPhotography

FastLensesSIDEBAR:TheSo-CalledMultiplicationFactor

UsefulAccessoriesforNightPhotographyTripods

5.USINGREFLECTORSANDSCRIMS

ReflectorsandScrims

IndoorsorOutdoors

6.WHEREDOSPEEDLIGHTSFITIN?

SIDEBAR:GuideNumbersPerfectforFillFlashSIDEBAR:ShutterSpeedsforFlashSynchronizationFlashAccessoriesGettingtheMostfromSpeedlightsGettingtheMostfromBuilt-inFlash

7.DIGITALWORKFLOW

BeforetheShootJPEGvs.RAWWhentoShootJPEGWhentoShootRAWWhentoShootJPEG+RAW

SIDEBAR:SomeRAWFactsSpace:NotNecessarilytheFinalFrontierWhatAboutNoColor?FiveStepstoaDigitalPortrait

Step1:CaptureanImageStep2:ImageEnhancementStep3:DrawSomeInvisibleLinesStep4:ApplySpecialEffectsFiltersStep5:DrawSomeVisibleLines

ConclusionIndex

T

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

hisbookcompletesatrilogyofbooksaboutlighting,glamourphotography,and portraiture that began with Joe Farace’s Glamour Photography andcontinuedwithStudioLightingAnywhere.Bookslikethesearenotproduced

inavacuum,andmanydifferentpeoplehelpedmakethempossible.Abigthankyou goes out to editor Michelle Perkins for suggesting the concept and toAmherstMedia’sdynamicpublisherCraigAlesseforgivingmeachancetowriteallofthesebooks.ThanksalsotoBarbaraA.Lynch-Johntforhersuperbeditingskills.

Thanks also go out to the companies who offered technical assistance andproduct shots for this book, including Adorama’s (www.adorama .com) JerryDeutsch, Booth Photo’s (www.boothphoto.com) Jeff Cowdrey and Sheila Tait,Mark Astmann of Manfrotto Distribution (www.manfrottodistribution.us),Westcott’s (www.fjwestcott.com) Amber McCoy and Jennifer Holts-berry, aswellasthecreativestaffatGrin&Stir(www.lightwaredirect.com).

In my first two books, I asked several guest photographers to contributeimages,butforthisonetherearefewer.BarryandMatthewStavercontributedimages to the chapter on using reflectors, andmy wifeMary Farace not onlymadesomeofthepicturesinthisbookbutwaskindenoughtoposeforafewofthemaswell.Andthat’salsowhyabig thankyougoesout toallof thepeoplewhoposedforthephotographsthatappearinthisbook.Photographingpeople—nomatterwhatkindof lightingyouuse—is a shared endeavor, and Ioweahugedebtofgratitudetoallofthem.

Iwouldalsoliketothankmypersonalsupportteam,whoencourageaswellasbailmeoutoftechnicalandcreativeproblems.ThisincludesphotographerBarryStaver (www.barrystaver.com) and technical guru Kevin Elliott of DigitalMD(www.digitalmd.net).

Lastly,IwouldliketothankmywonderfulwifeMarywhoisanoutstandingpeoplephotographerinherownrightandwhoovertheyearshastaughtmealotaboutlighting.Maryhasbeenandismygreatestfanandisasmuchresponsiblefor what’s in this book as anyone. I will always be grateful for her love andsupport.

J

AUTHORBIOGRAPHY

oe Farace’s interest in digital imaging combines an engineering educationfrom JohnsHopkinsUniversitywith training inphotographyhe acquiredattheMarylandInstitute,CollegeofArt.Joeistheauthorofmanybooksabout

photography, digital imaging, and the business of photography, and this onerepresentsthethirty-secondbookhe’spublished.HeisContributingWriterandPhotographertoShutterbugmagazine,whichalsopublisheshismonthly“DigitalInnovations”and“WebProfiles”columns.Hiswritingalsooccasionallyappearsinotherdomesticandforeignmagazines.Joe’shonorsincludethePhotographicCraftsman’s Award, presented by the Professional Photographers of America,andhonorarymembershipfromtheIndependentPhotographersofColoradofor“dedicationandservicestothephotographiccommunity.”

PleasevisitJoe’sdailyhow-toblog(www.joefaraceblogs.com)wherehepostsa photographic tip, tool, or technique. You can follow Joe on Twitter atwww.twitter.com/joefarace.

MywifemadethisavailablelightportraitofaslightlyheaviermeoutsideourfavoriteMexicanrestaurantinDenverusingthebrickcolumnasagobotoblocktheharshlightfromtheleft.TocapturetheimagesheusedanOlympusE-500withZuikoDigitalED40-150mmlens.Theexposurewas1/50secondatf/5.6andISO100.©2011MaryFarace.(Asyoucansee,thetechniquesinthisbookcanbeappliedtosubjectsthatmaynotfitintotheglamourgenre.)

W

INTRODUCTION

“PORTRAITSARETHEMOSTINTIMATEPHOTOGRAPHS.THEIMAGEWILLSURVIVETHESUBJECT”-VICTORSKREBNESKI

henyoulookatphotographsofpeopleinmagazines,books,newspapers,or on your iPad, do you notice how some images—more than others—grabyourattention?Thesespecialphotographsforceyoutotakeasecond

lookandyoumayevenwonderhowtheyweremade.Mygoalforthisbookistotakeyoubehindthescenesandshowyouhowanumberofnaturallightportraitswere created and, in the telling, help you improve your own available lightphotographs.

Oneofthetoolsthatwillbediscussedlaterinthebookistheuseofwideaperturelensessuchasthef/1.4PlanarCarlZeiss50mmT*lensthatwasusedtomakethislow-lightportrait.ThecamerausedwasaCanon

EOSD60.Theexposurewas1/80secondatf/6.3andISO400.

Shootingportraitsunder thekindofmixed industrial lighting conditions that you typically encounter infactoriesisachallengetoo.ThisavailablelightimagewasmadeusingaCanonEOS10DandEF28-105mmf/3.5-4.5 lens. The exposure was ½0 second at f/4 and ISO 800. Increasing the camera’s ISO setting(somethingthat’scoveredlaterinthebook)compensatedforthelow-lightcondition.

Sometimes yourbestportraitswill bemadewith available light, unavailablelight,availabledarkness,lowlight,orwhatevereuphemismyouprefer.Itdoesn’tmatterwhatyoucallanyofthesechallenginglightingconditions;thetruthisthatthere’s something rewarding about the process. First, there is the thrill ofovercoming technical obstacles that normally prevent you from producing awell-exposed image. Second, photosmadeunder conditionsdifferent from the“f/16 and the sun over your right shoulder” instruction-sheet standard have amore eye-catching look. Third, since most photographs are made during themiddle of the day, taking the time to search out other than “normal” lightingconditionscanproduceimagesthatlookdifferentfromthosemadebytherestofthe pack. And that’s just outdoors. Just as challenging can be the prospect ofworkingindoorsunderacombinationofvariouslightsources.

One of themost traditional forms of available light used for portraits is window light. This image wascaptured using only the light from a narrowwindow inmy living room.Themodelwas posedmidwaybetweenthewindowatcameraleftandmysofaatright,adistanceoflessthanthreefeet.Asyouwillsee,youcanmakeavailable lightportraitsanywhere.ThecamerawasaCanonEOS10DwithEF85mmf/1.8lens.Theexposurewas1/180secondatf/2.8andISO400.

WHYAVAILABLELIGHT?Let’s get started by defining what I mean by “available light.” To somephotographers itmeansusing“every lightthat’savailable,”whiletoothers, likemyself, itmeans using only ormostly the light that’s availablewithin a scene.SometimesIcheatbyusingareflectororsupplementallightfromashoe-mountoracamera’spop-upflash,butthat’sasfarasI’llgo.Mostofthelightthatyou’llseeintheimagesthatappearinthisbookiswhatwasavailableatthetime.

HereareafewofthethingsthatIlikeaboutmakingportraitswithavailablelight:

1. It’s free! There is no electronic flash or other lighting equipment topurchase,setup,plugin,orchewthroughbatteries.Youcanmakephotosoutdoors using natural light or indoors using window light, and all you

needisacameraandasubject.Ofcourse,youcansupplementtheavailablelightwith inexpensive reflectors thatyoucanbuy (seechapter5)ormakeyourselfusingapieceoffoamcoreboard,althoughthatstyleisabithardertofoldfortravel.

2. It’seasy.Youcanseethelightfallingonthemodelandwon’thavetoguessabout lightingratiosorworryaboutmovingtwoorthree lightsaroundordealingwith light stands, hair lights, or booms. It’s allWYSIWYG, or asFlipWilsonusedtosay,“Whatyouseeiswhatyouget.”Inthissetting,youwill find that the subject is more relaxed. Also, because you won’t bewastingtimefiddlingwithlightingequipment,you’llbelessdistracted,andyouwillmakebetterportraits.

3. It’sfast.Therearenolightstosetup,teardown,pack,dragthroughairportsecurityor,evenworse,shipascheckedbaggage.Youeliminatetheneedtobuyexpensiveshippingcases for lightinggearorthespecterofdamageortheft (it happens) in transit. You can also work faster with the models,gettingmoreandbetterphotographswhileallowingyoursubjecttorelaxatthesametime.

Itdoesn’tmatterwhatperson,place,orthingyou’rephotographing,theultimatesubject of any photograph is light. Light, whether it occurs naturally orartificially,has fourbasiccharacteristics:quality,quantity,direction,andcolor,and it’s the quality of the light on a subject that ultimately determines theeffectiveness of your portrait. That’s why I’ll take you behind the scenesdescribingtheconditionsunderwhichalloftheseimagesweremadesoyoucanseehoweachof these threecharacteristicsarehandled.Thedescriptionsof thetechnical andaestheticdecisions thatweremadeare intended tohelpyou“seethelight”sothatyoucanbenefitfrommyexperience;however,thebestwaytolearnhowtoseelightistoshootpicturesandexaminethesuccessandfailureofeachphotographandthewayyouhandledlightinthefinalimage.

THETHREEPHASESOFPHOTOGRAPHYWhile learning and refining their skills,most photographers progress throughthreedistinct phases in their development.The first phase occurs immediatelyaftertheygettheirfirst“good”cameraanddiscoverthemedium’spotentialforfun and creativity. During this time, novice shooters enthusiastically exploretheir world, and they fill every memory card with images that look so much

better than they could have ever imagined. Unfortunately, this blissful perioddoesn’tlastlongandisquicklyreplacedbythenextphase.

Duringphase two, thephotographer’s levelofenthusiasm is stillquitehigh,butitisdiminishedwhenheorshereviewsthelatestimagesandfindstheyaremuch worse than they expected. This phase can last a long time, but as thephotographer continues to improve their skills by reading publications likeShutterbug,readingbookssuchasthisonefromAmherstMedia,andpracticingtheirart,theyeventuallyreachthethirdandfinalphase.

Inphasethree,theimagesthephotographerseesintheirviewfinderandwhattheyactuallycaptureisexactlywhattheyexpected.Therearenosurprises.Whilereachingthisphasecanbefulfilling,someofthemagicisunderstandablylost.

Oneofthebiggestinfluencesonallmyphotography,notjustportraiture,isthemovies.Oneofmyearliestavailable lightportraitswasthishomagetoFrançoisTruffaut’s1971filmTwoEnglishGirls.Theshotwasmadeinafriend’sbackyardusingaContax137MDQuartzwithaCarlZeiss85mmf/1.4lens.IusedKodakcolor negative film, but the exposure was not recorded. In those days, one ofmy reasons for using theContax system was those superb Carl Zeiss lenses and the delightful bokeh effect (see chapter 4) theyproducewhenusedwideopen.

Thisbookisaimedatthephasetwoandthreephotographers,althoughIamsure that somephaseonephotographerswill discover that the tips, tricks, andtechniques in thisbookcanhelppropel themalong the learningcurve.Partoflearninginvolvesmakingtheinevitablemistakes.That’swhyIwouldberemissifIdidnotmentionthatmostaugustinstitutionofhigherlearning,TheSchoolof

Hard Knocks. Many of the photographs in this book would not have beenpossible without lessons learned from making lots of mistakes and—theimportantpart—rememberingnottomakethemagain.

As Imentioned in JoeFarace’sGlamourPhotography, Ididn’t startoutasapeople photographer. I photographed things——mostly architecture and someproducts. Every now and then because of scheduling and availability I wouldmake a business portrait or headshot, but people were really my wife Mary’sgame. When she took an extended sabbatical from the studio’s day-todayoperations,thingschanged,andIstartedmakingandenjoyingmakingportraits.Alongthewaytothisrealization,Ihadsoldallofthestudio’slightingequipmentbecauseIwasn’tevergoingtophotographpeople.ThatwaswhenIlearnedthatyoucanneversay“never”or“ever”andstartedlearninghowtomakeglamourimageswith littleorno lighting equipment.And that’swheremyattraction tousingavailablelightbegan.

What all this background means to the reader is that all of the trials,tribulations,mistakes,andsessionswithoutamemorycardinthecamera(hey,ithappens) that occurred onmy way to a trilogy of books are still fresh inmymemory, and I’ll be sharing portraits frommy own three phases of exploringportraiture, such as that Truffaut-inspired image from my own phase one. Iloved everyphotograph from that session, and I strive to thisday tobring thesamelevelofexcitementtoeachnewshoot.

Sometimes that right combination of lighting, subject, and photographer’smood and inspiration will capture a magic moment, and that’s why I likeworking with available light; you remove all the headaches of dealing withlighting equipment to focuson the subjectusingonly the light that appears infrontofyourcamera.Ifyouwouldliketoexperiencesomeofthatsamethrillofdiscoverythatoccurredduringthatfirstphaseofyourphotographiceducation,I’dliketosuggestthatyoumakeafewphotographswhentheavailablelightmaynotbesoavailable.

WHAT’SINTHISBOOK?I’ve tried to keep the methods used to make my images in this book astransparent as possible. Nothing was held back. You don’t have to attend aworkshop or buy aDVD to learn any ofmy secrets. All of the available light“secrets”thatI’velearnedovertheyearsarerighthereonthesepagesforyoutoseeandabsorb.Unlessotherwisenotedinthecaptions,allofthephotographsare©2011JoeFarace,AllRightsReserved.

ThecamerasandlensesusedforeachshotaregearthatIown.Occasionallyimages were made while testing photo equipment for product reviews forShutterbugmagazine, but that is the only exception. Youmay be surprised tolearnthatafterreviewingthisequipment,Ihavetoreturnittothemanufacturer.Thereareno freebies.Since Ipay forallofmyowngear, someof thecamerasused tomake thesephotosmayseemold in Internetyears (it’s likedogyears),which only goes to prove that you don’t always need the very latest gear tocaptureavailablelightportraits.Infactmanyofmycameraswerepurchasedasusedor“refurbs”atless-than-retailprice.It’sagoodideatobeathriftyshopper,and you should consider used camera purchases from stores, eBay, or friendsupgradingtonewer,moreexpensivecameras.

I am not employed, under contract, or sponsored by any camera orphotography company. My mention of any specific equipment or digitaldarkroom tools used tomake the images in this book does not constitute anendorsementofanybrandormodelofcamera, lens,orequipment.This is justthestuffthatIactuallyuse.Youmayprefertousesomethingelse,whichisokaywithmebecauseIamnota“mywayorthehighway”guy.Theinformationonthe gear used is provided because photographers like to know this kind ofinformation, but ultimately you should use this technical data as a guide. Istrongly believe that the attitude that you bring to a shoot ismore importantthantheequipment.

Whenmentioningaspecificproductinthetextorcaptioninformation,I’lltryto provide a link to the company’s web site so you can check price andavailability.Inalltheotherphotographsthatappearonthesepages,I’vemadeanattempttoprovidefulltechnicaldetailswitheachcaptionincludingthecamera,lens,andexposure—plusanoccasionallightingdiagram.SinceI’moftenasked,“howdidyoudothat?”theproductsmentionedaremyanswertothatquestion.I’llalsotrytotellwheretheimagewasmade,andsomeofthoseindoorlocationsmay surprise you. For photographs contributed by guest photographers, I’llprovideascompletecaptiondetailaspossible.

Theversionnumbersorthesoftwarefeaturedinthebookhavebeenomittedso asnot todistract fromhow I accomplished a particular effect for a specificimage. Software, especially Photoshop-compatible plug-ins (see chapter 7) areupdatedonaregularbasis,soit’spossiblethatanewerversionmaybeavailablebythetimeyoureadthis.Thatmayalsoexplainwhytheinterfacesforthescreenshotsshowninthisbookandthethen-currentversionmaylookslightlydifferentbut will still have the same goal as the original product. In addition, because

everyonehastheirfavoritesoftware,atoolormethodmentionedheremaynotbetheonlyonethatcouldhavebeenused;thesearesimplytheproductsthatIusedforthatspecificportrait.Youcanusewhateverworksforyouandbudgettoaccomplish similar and,who knows,maybe better-looking effects. In case youwere wondering, all of the screen shots were made with SnagIt forWindows(www.techsmith.com)orSnapZProXfortheMacOS(www.ambrosiasw.com).

Thesubjectswhoappearedinfrontofmycameraforthisbook’sphotographsrepresentmanydifferent looksandethnicitiesandrange inagefrom18to late40s.Someareprofessionaloraspiringmodels,whileothersarenonprofessionalsjustposing just for the funof it. I’ve tried touse theirphotographs toenhancetheideasandconceptsexplainedineachchapter’stext,notjustshowyouacoolphoto,thoughIhopethat’spartofthedealtoo.Noneoftheseimagesweremadeduringworkshopsconductedbyotherphotographers.Someweremadeatgroupshoots or events that were sponsored by regional photographer/modelassociations and some for commercial shoots, but all of the photographswerecapturedwhenworkingone-on-onewiththesubjectandneverwhentherewasoneormorephotographers shootingnext tomeorwhen therewas somebodytellingmewhat to do or setting up the shot.All of the shots, as successful orunsuccessfulas theymaybe,arestrictly theresultofcollaborationbetweenthemodelandme.Ifyoudon’tlikethephoto,it’smyfault,notthesubject’s.

Whenworkingwithdigital image files, Iwon’tassume thatyouknowallofthecomputerbuzzwordsordigitalphotographytermsthatImightuseinthesepages, so if there’sanacronymthat I thinkyoumightnotbe familiarwith, I’llinclude the definition in parentheses. I assume that you know the majordifferences between RAW, TIFF, and JPEG file formats, but just in case youdon’t,you’ll findthepertinentinformationontheseformats,whenIusewhichone,andwhy,inchapter7.

During these explorations,be sure to enjoyyourself.After all,having fun isthesinglemostimportantcomponentofphotography.ThankyouforjoiningmeinwhatIliketothinkofasadventuresinavailablelightportraiture.Iwishallofyoulotsofsuccess.

—JoeFaraceParker,Colorado,2012

A

1.SEEINGTHELIGHT

“THEPICTURESHAVEAREALITYFORMETHATTHEPEOPLEDON’T.ITISTHROUGHTHEPHOTOGRAPHSTHATIKNOWTHEM.”—RICHARDAVEDON

lloftheingredientsnecessaryformakinggreatportraitsareeasytofind.Allyou need are a subject, camera, and some light. However, it’s how thesecomponentsof therecipearepreparedthatdetermineshowsuccessful the

results will ultimately be. Don’t worry about where you can make portraitsbecauseeverybodyhasaccesstothegreatoutdoors.

Let’stakealookattwoavailablelightimagesoftwodifferentyoungwomenmadeoutdoorsundersimilarlightingconditions.Themodelsareaboutthesameage and are even wearing outfits that are similar in color. Even the pose issimilar, but the biggest difference is the model’s attitude and perhaps thephotographer’sexpertise.Whenmakingthesecondphotograph(right)Iwasstillstruggling with idea of photographing people; I was farmore confident whenmakingthefirstone(left).Isonebetterthantheother?That’suptotheviewerandultimately thepersonbeingphotographed todecide,but Iknow thatbothmodelslikedtheirphotographs.

ThiscolorfulwallinSanJuan,PuertoRico,complementedthismodel’sdress,soIuseditasabackground.ThecamerawasanOlympusE-3andZuikoDigitalED12-60mmf/2.8-4.0SWDlens.Theavailable lightexposurewas1/200secondatf/6.3andISO200.Whileseeminglynotthetypeoflenstypicallyusedforaportrait,theE-3’s2xlensmultiplicationfactorappliedtothe46mmfocallengthusedequatesto72mm.

ThisphotowasmadeatagroupshootinArizonaandwascapturedusingaCanonEOSD60andEF135mmf/2.8SFlens.Theexposurewas1/200secondatf/3.5andISO200.

ThisimagewasmadeatasmallparkinColoradoandwasshotwithaContaxAriaandaCarlZeiss135mmf/2.8lens.TheshotwasrecordedonKodakISO200colornegativefilm,buttheexposurewasnotrecorded.

SHOOTINGWITHNATURALLIGHTLight has four basic elements: quality, quantity, color, and direction. Asphotographers thatareseekingtomaster theartofportraiture,seeingthe lightfalling on the subject is the key to mastering proper exposure. If there’s anysecretatallaboutshootingwithnaturallight,it’slearninghowtoseetherangeofshadowsandhighlights—chiaroscuro,asItalianRenaissancepainterscalledit—within a scene.Wemust use this range of tones to achieve a sense of three-dimensionalitywithinatwo-dimensionalframe.

Partofseeingthelightisn’tjustlookingatwhatyouthinkthesubjectofyourphotographymaybe,butlookingattheshadowsandthehighlightsandkeepingin mind that the difference between the two determines the image contrast.Sometimes you’ll hear the term “dynamic range” used to refer to the range ofcontrastinascene.Aphoto’sdynamicrangeistheratioofcontrast,tonalrange,ordensitybetweenblackandwhite.Itcanbeinterpretedastherangeoff/stopsfromcleanwhite to total black. Landscapephotographersmay recognize these

tonal areas as what Ansel Adams’ Zone System calls Zones IX and 0. Theproblem facing all photographers is that most digital and film camerascompromisewhen it comes tocapturing theoverall tonal rangeof aparticularscene.Withnormalimagecapture,whenthedynamicrangeofthatsceneistoogreat foranypartof thedigitalcaptureprocess,something’sgot togoandyouhave to choose between losing detail in the shadows or the highlights. (Amedium’s ability to handle over-or underexposure and still render the imageacceptablyexposediscalleditslatitude.We’llreturntothistopicinchapter2.)

This phase one image was an exposure nightmare with lots of contrast, dark shadows, and blasted-outhighlights.However,Ithinkthephotoworksbecauseitreplicatesthemoodofthesituation.MywifeMaryandIwerehikingontheislandofKauai(tryingtogetourLostgrooveon)whenIsawthisnaturalpoolandaskedifshewouldclimbouttotherock.Shedid,buttheposewasallheridea.IshotwithaNikonFM2andaNikkor105mmf/2.5lens.ThemediumwasEktachrome200slidefilm.Theexposurewasnotrecorded.

TheoriginalphotographofTomikowasinspiredbysomeoftheposesproducedbythelatePeterGowland.ItwasmadeatagroupshootinArizonawithaCanonEOSD60andEF135mmf/2.8SFlens.Theavailablelightexposurewas1/160secondatf/3.2andISO200.

Topaz Adjust is a Photoshop-compatible plug-in that lets you produce image enhancement effects byapplyingpresetsorusing thebuilt-in slidersor, as Iprefer,pickingapreset thatgets youclose and thentweakingtheeffectusingthesliders.Inthiscase,thePhotoPoppresetwasused.

ThevariouspseudoHDReffectsplug-inscancreatealessthanflatteringimageofaperson’sface.IappliedTopazAdjust toaduplicate layer, thenusedPhotoshop’sEraser tool topartiallyeraseTomiko’s faceandbodyon theeffects layer.Thismeant that thebackgroundwasmoreaffectedby theHDReffect than themodelherself.

Therewon’tbeaquiz later,butyoushouldbe familiarwiththe languageofexposure so that you can understand other concepts, such as High DynamicRange (HDR).HDR imaging allows you to create an imagewith overall tonalvaluesthatmatchtheluminanceorbrightnessthehumaneyeperceives.Thisismade possible by combining multiple images captured at different exposuresusing specialized softwareor theHDRcapabilitiesbuilt into recentversionsofPhotoshop.Asmultipleexposuresofthesamescenearerequired,HDRimagingisn’t thebestbet forphotographsofpeople, but some software, such asTopazAdjust (www.topazlabs.com), lets you emulate the effect. Understanding thetechnologyisjustonepartofmakingconsistentandcorrectexposures;theotherpartislearninghowtoseethelight,atiredclichéthat’sneverthelesstrue.

Learningtoseelightisnotdifficult,butitdoestakesomepractice.Makesurethatyouphotographsomeone,something,anything,eachweekuntilyoureachapointwhereyoudon’thave to thinkabouthow tooperateyourequipment. If,

forexample,you’vefoundthatwhenworkingintheshade(chapter4),youneedto dial in some plus exposure compensation to get the best exposure,make anote of that for the future. Most importantly, don’t worry about producingmasterpieceseverytimeyougoout.Useyourcameraasasketchpadtoexplorepossibilities,anddon’tbeafraidofmakingmistakes.Sometimesthese“sketches”will be successful, sometimes not. Don’t worry about it, just learn from youranalysisoftheimages.AsYodasays,“Thereisnotry,justdo.”

ONLYNATURALLIGHTSearch for interesting locations with equally interesting lighting. Not too longago,therewasadiscussiononanonlinephotographicforumaskingaboutwhatinspirespeopletocreatenewimages.Forme,newstuffinspiresme.Itcanbeanewcamera,new lens,or just anewarea tomakephotographs.Whiledrivingaroundmystate, I look forandmakenotesabout locations that look like theywouldbeafunplacetomakenewimages.Evenbetterarethoseplacesthatcanserveas a location foraportrait session.That’show I found theparkwith thecrumblingstructureandcolumnsusedinthephotographatthebeginningofthischapter.

Youcanevengolookingforportraitlocationsonpurpose.Recently,Iwenttoa state park that has a large lake while looking for a beach-like location forswimsuitphotographs,onlytofindwaterlevelsatanall-timehighandthebeachunderwater.Ihadapoint-and-shootcamerawithme,andwhilewalkingaroundthelake’sedgesawsomeotherspotsthat,whilenotquitebeach-like,wouldstillproduceinterestingbackgroundsforswimsuitphotographs.

Whenyoulookforthelightinginascene,youusuallywantyourmainsubject

tobe in thehighlightareabecausewhenyou lookataphotograph,youreye isusually drawn to the brightest part of the scene. In fact, when looking atphotographs, the eye “reads” the image in the following order: sharpness,brightness,andwarmth.Youreyeswillseekoutthesharpestpartofanimageasitsmain subject, then progress to the brightest, then thewarmest parts.Don’tbelieveit?Analyzeyourownimagesandseewhatyoudiscover.

Youcanreduceorincreaseyourscene’sbrightnessrangebyusingnaturalorman-madeobjectstocontrolthelighting.Evensimpleeverydayobjectssuchaswindowshades,mini-blinds,orcurtainscanbeusedtocontrol thequalityandquantityof the light.Later in thedigitaldarkroom,youcanuse the traditionaltechniques of burning (darkening) or dodging (lightening) areas of thephotographtoplaceemphasisanddirecttheviewer’sattention.Wallscanactasreflectorsorscrims,oryoucanuseoverheadobjectsasscrims.Thekeyislookingfornaturalorman-madeobjects thatcanmodulatethe light justasscrimsandgobosmightinastudio.(Seechapter5formoreinformation.)

Thisshotwasmadeinmynorth-facingkitchen,whichhasthreewindowswithblindsthatwereadjustedtoget thedesiredeffect.The subjectevenhadherback to thewindow,whichwas themain sourceof light,thoughtheEOS10D’spopupflashwasusedforfill.Theexposurewas1/60secondatf/4.5andISO200.

Keeping things simplewilldomore thanspeedyour shootalong.By takingadvantageofnaturallight,you’llenhanceaphotograph’smarketabilitybecauseafewyears fromnowaclean,natural-looking lighting schemewon’t lookdated.Justas trendyfashionsorhairstylescandateaphotograph,sowillany lightingscheme that calls toomuch attention to itself. Ringlights produce flat lightingwith odd catchlights in the subject’s eyes that were once popular, then theyweren’t, and now they are again! Strong sidelighting, spotlights on faces, andevenHollywood-style glamour portraits with deep shadows andmultiple hairlightsarealllightingstylesthatcandateaphotograph.Havinganaturallooktoyour lighting will help to ensure that the images you make today won’t lookdatedintheyearstocome.

COLORTEMPERATURESOFCOMMONLIGHTSOURCES

Skylight 12000°to18000KOvercastsky 6700-7000°KAveragedaylight 5500°KElectronicflash 5500°KWhite-flamecarbonarc 5000°K500-watt,3400Kphotolamp 3400°K500-watt,3200Ktungstenlamp 3200K200-wattlightbulb 2980K100-wattlightbulb 2900°K75-wattlightbulb 2820K

THECOLOROFLIGHTIf light is the main ingredient in a photograph, then the quality of the lightbecomesthedrivingforceinproducingsuccessfulimages.Thequantityoflighthastodowithhowyoudeterminethecorrectexposure,whichiscoveredinthenextchapter.Thisthirdaspectoflightdealswiththecolortemperatureemittedby light sources and ismeasured indegrees on theKelvin scale.The sunon aclear day at noon measures 5500 degrees Kelvin. On an overcast day thetemperatureof light rises to 6700degreesKelvin,while 9000degreesKelvin iswhat you’ll experience in open shade on a clear day. These higher colortemperatures are at the cool or blue end of the spectrum. On the lower side,

householdlightbulbsmeasureabout2600degrees.Whenyouphotographduringsunrise,itscolortemperatureisabout1800degreesKelvin.

WheredidtheKelvinscaleoriginate?LongbeforeEdisonorJosephSwan(ifyou’reaskeptic)inventedtheincandescentlight,LordKelvin,inthenineteenthcentury, proposed a temperature scale that was suitable for measuring lowtemperatures.Kelvinsuggestedanabsolutezerotemperatureas thebasisofhisscaletoeliminatetheuseofnegativevaluesthatoccurswhenmeasuringextremetemperatures in either Fahrenheit or Celsius scales. In honor of LordKelvin’scontributions,thissystemiscalledtheKelvinscaleandusestheunit“Kelvin”orsometimesjust“K.”

WHITEBALANCEColor correction is managed by your camera’s white balance function, aninternalsettingthat’sbuiltintoalldigitalcameras.It’slongbeenapartofvideotoo.Newsvideographers,forexample,havealwayswhite-balancedtheircamerasasastandardpracticesinceportablecolorvideocamerasbecameavailablethirtyyears ago. White balancing allowed the cameras to use electronic circuits toneutralizewhites andother neutral colorswithout having to use filters as filmcamerasrequired.

Inthepast,35mmcamerashooterswoulduseaspecificfilmorfilterstohelpmatch the color temperature of the existing light, but all that’s changed withdigitalcapture.YourdigitalSLRcanautomaticallycheckthelightandcalculatethe proper setting for the light’s color. It can also be set to specific lightconditionsor canbe custom-set for anynumberofpossible conditions.WhitebalancesettingsfallbetweencertaincolortemperaturevaluesandaremeasuredindegreesKelvintoo.Thesevaluescorrespondtohowcool(blue)orwarm(red)thelightsourcemaybe.Highertemperaturesareatthecoolorblueendofthespectrum.Lowertemperaturesareatthewarmendofthespectrum.

Oureyesareverygoodatjudgingwhatisreallywhiteunderdifferentlightingconditions,butfilmanddigitalcamerasneedprocessorstoaccomplishwhatourbrain does. When set in AWB (Auto White Balance) mode, camerasautomatically compensate for the light’s color, but they can also be set todaylight, shade, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, flash, or manual white balance.You’ll need to look at your camera’s User’s Guide to see what settings areavailableforyourspecificcamera.

AutomaticWhiteBalance (AWB).Most cameras’ automaticwhite balanceoperateswith a color temperature range of approximately 4000 to 8000K.The

camera’s AWB setting automatically interprets the light, within its range ofparameters,andadjustsaccordingly.Sometimes thisworksextremelywell, anddependingonthemixoflightsources,sometimesitdoesn’t.Sometimesitworksbetter with some lenses than others, and imagesmade with a wide-angle lensmay have a slightly different color balance than those made with lenses of alongerfocallength.Manytimes,thiswhitebalancesettingwillproducespot-oncolorthefirsttimewithoutanycolortemperaturegymnastics.Ifallelsefails,youcan use the camera’s built-in controls to create a custom white balance for aspecific lighting setup. The key for doing this is having a dependable “white”colorsourcethatcanbeusedtocalibrateyourcamera.TheflipsideoftheKodakGrayCard iswhite andmakes a good reference tool.My approachhas alwaysbeen to tryAWBfirstwhenthe lightinggets tricky. Iamamazedathowoftenthisproducesapleasingcolor.Whenitdoesn’t,thenit’stimetolookattheotheroptions.

SettingthewhitebalanceonadigitalSLRiseasy.OnaPentaxK100Dforexample,youpresstheFnbuttonon the back of the camera, then the left-hand button in the four-way controller to see the preset whitebalancesettingsthatareavailable.PhotocourtesyofPentaxImaging.

ImadethisportraitwhileshootingtheTokyomotorshowintheMakuhariMesseunderacombinationofmercuryvapor,fluorescent,andcoloredspotlights.ThecamerawasaCanonEOSDigitalRebelwithEF18-55mmlens.Theexposurewas1/60secondatf/9andISO400.Thecamera’sautomaticwhitebalancesettingwasused.Thetinypopupflash(GuideNumber43)wasused,andwhile itaddedsomecatchlights to themodel’seyes,itdidlittleelse.

According tomyEXIFdata, thisphotographofNataliwasmadeat12:19PM,butobviouslynot indirectsunlight.Daylightwhite balancewas used, but to tell the truth,whenworking outdoorsmy first shot isalwaysatestshootforexposureandcolorbalanceandmoreoftenthannotismadeinAWBmode.IfIlikethecolorbalance,Ileaveitalone.IfIdon’t,Iexploremyotheroptionsandmakeafewmoretestshots.ThecamerawasaCanonEOSD60andEF135mmf/2.8SFlens,withthesoftfocussetatone.Theavailablelightonlyexposurewas1/250secondatf/4andISO200.

Daylight: Approximately 5200K. This is a bit of a misnomer because thecolorofdaylightchangesduringthepassingoftheday,butinthiscaseitmeansthatyou’reshooting“outdoors”andisusuallybasedonmidday(theworsttimeofdaytophotographanything,anyway).Colorsperceivedunderthemiddaysunusuallyserveasthestandardforcolorreproduction,andshootinginthismodemakethecolorslookthewaytheyshouldundermiddaysun.Ifyoushootwiththedaylightsettingindoorsunderlightingthattypicallyhasacolortemperaturearound3200K,thepictureswillhaveawarm,goldenlookthatyoumightlikeorhate. So if youdon’t like the colorof the imageson the camera’sLCD screen,chancesareyou’reusingthewrongwhitebalancesetting.

Shade: Approximately 8000K. If you’ve been making photographs for awhile, you know that shade can add a bluish cast to portraitsmadewith film.That’swhyinthefilmdaysmanyphotographerswoulduseskylightorwarming

filters whenworking under these conditions.Onmost digital SLRs, the shadesettingwarmsupimagesthatare“madeintheshade.”Someoftheshadesettingscanbetoowarm,soasalways,makeafewtestshots.

Cloudy: Approximately 6000K. This setting warms up images, but not asmuchastheshadesettingdoes.Infact,youmightprefertousethecloudysettingwhenmakingsomeportraitsintheshadesincetheeffectisslightlyweakerandmaybemoreappropriate.It’salsoagoodwhitebalancesettingtotryforsunsetsinordertopunchupwarmtones.Thecamera’sLCDscreenletsyoupreviewalloftheseeffectsasyouexperiment.

ThisportraitofmywifeMarywasmade in theshadeofaporchatColorado’shistoricBroadmoorhotel,withtheroofactingtoblocktheharshoverheadsunandprovideshade.Itwasalsomorecomfortableforthesubjectbecauseshecouldrelaxhereyeswithoutsquintingfromthesun.ThecamerausedwasaCanonEOSRebelT2iwithEF18-55mmIS lens.Theavailable lightexposurewas1/200secondat f/5.6andISO200.

Mixabitofsoftfocuswiththewarm-upeffectsofthecloudywhitebalancesettingandyounotonlyremoveallthecoolbluelightfromthescenebutalsocompletelychangeitsmood.ThecamerawasaCanonEOSD60withEF135mmSF(softfocus)lens.Theavailable-lightexposurewas1/400secondatf/5andISO200.Aplus2/3-stopexposurecompensationwasapplied.Thediagramontherightshowsthesetup.

FluorescentLight:FromApproximately4200to6500K.Fluorescent lightsproduce a greenish X Files or Fringe look to photographs. Some SLRs offerseveral fluorescent options:D is for daylight (6500K) balanced tubes,Nworksbest with natural white (5000K) lights, andW is suggested for white (4200K)fluorescents.Outhereintherealworld,it’samix-and-matchsituation,somanytimes,allthreekindsoftubeswillbeusedinasinglelightfixture.Mybestadviceistomakeafewtestshotsusingeachofthethreesettingstofindoutwhichoneworksbest.Ifyoudon’tlikeanyofthem,trythecamera’smanualwhitebalancesetting (more later).All of thesewhite balance settings have creative uses too,andanyofthefluorescentoptionscanbeusedtoaddadashofpinkishwarmthtosunriseorsunsetimages.

Tungsten Light: Approximately 3200K. The tungsten setting (called theincandescent setting on some cameras) found on digital SLRs is primarilydesigned for photographyunder quartz or photoflood lamps that have a colortemperatureof3200K.However,italsoworkswellunderhouseholdlamps(thetemperature varies depending on wattage but usually hovers around 2800K).Thissettingisdesignedtocooloffthelight.Itcanbeusedforcreativereasonsaswell,suchastoaddachillybluelooktoasnowscene.Usingthissettingislikeloadingafilmcamerawithtungstencolorslidefilmoraforgivingcolornegativefilm,suchasFuji800.Whenshootingundertypicallivingroomlights,youmaywanttoshootafewtestshotstoseeifyouhavetoincreasetheexposure,butthecolorbalanceshouldberighton.

MarylikesAmericanBantamautomobiles(www.americanbantam.com),sowhenshesawthisoneatalargeprivate automobile collection that was illuminated by fluorescent lights, she asked me to take thisphotograph.The shotwascapturedwithaCanonEOS30D inAWBmode.Theautomatic colorbalancetriedbutcouldn’thandleit.

The EOS D30 has seven white balance settings: auto, daylight, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, flash, andcustom. Switching the camera into fluorescent color balance produced this result, which was furthertweakedwithsomeburninganddodgingandabitofretouching.

Flash: Approximately 5400K. Light from electronic flash units—whetherstudiolightsorspeedlights—tendstobecoolerthandaylight,soyoucanusethissettingtowarmupyourflashimages.Thissettingissimilartocloudy,andsomephotographersusebothsettingsasaformofdigitalwarmingfilter.Thewaythateach cameramanufacturer handles flash color balance varies quite a bit, and IfoundthatNikonandCanon’sversionsarequitedifferent,withNikon’sbeingabitwarmerthanwhatsomewouldconsider“normal,”althoughwhenitcomestocolorbalance,onephotographer’swarmistoocoolforanother.

Theonly illuminationonthecasualportraitofmywifeMary isa table lampthat isoutsidethe left-handedgeofthephotograph.Whileherhandsandtheareaclosetothelamplookoverlitandcontrasty,thelightthrough the shade is softer, complementing theCanonEF135mmf/2.8 soft focus lensused tomake theimage.ThecamerawasanEOSD.Theexposurewas1/4secondatf/3.5andISO160.Theshotwasmadeusingthecamera’stungstenwhitebalancepreset.

Justbecausethewhitebalancesettingis incandescentortungstendoesn’tmeanyoucan’tuseitoutdoors.ThisportraitwasmadeoutsideonamoviesetinPhoenix.TheCanonEOSD60wasplacedinIncandescentmode, which accounts for the extra blueness of the sky and background, but an orange Rosco(www.rosco.com)gelwasplacedover the420EX flash tokeep the subject’s color correct.This techniquetakessomepractice,andsuccessultimatelydependsontheflash’spoweroutputandhowcorrectthegelistogetaspecificeffect,butyoushouldtryittogiveyourportraitsadifferentlook.

IamusuallynothappywiththecolorbalancethatmanydigitalSLRsproduce(Olympusisabigexception)when used with studio flash and often just shoot in AWB, but sometimes I’ll use other white balancesettings. Here I used the camera’s landscape picture style setting to punch up the portrait’s color andcontrast. This studio-looking imagewasmadewith three speedlights and one reflector. You can see thelightingsetupandreadmoredetailsinchapter6.

Since the runwayatNewYork’sFashionWeek is litby television lights thathavea color temperatureof3200K,IwasabletosetmyOlympusE-1tothatspecificcolorbalance.Exposureforthisshotwas1/250atf/3.5andISO400.Ishotinshutterprioritymodetominimizetheeffectsofanysubjectmotion.

“K”Settings. In addition to all thesepresets,digital SLRs that are aimedatpro and aspiring professionals offer a setting that allows you to set a specificcolor balance based on your knowingwhat the color temperature of the lightsourcemaybe.Canoncallsthisthe“ColorTemperature”setting;Nikonreferstoitas“FineTunebyKelvinColorTemperature”setting.Somecameras,includingSLRsfromOlympus,offerwhitebalancecompensationinplusandminusstepsin each Red-Blue/Green-Magenta axis, so there’s no excuse for not gettingperfectcolor.

At a fire truck factory where I was doing a calendar shoot, the colortemperature fluctuated 500 to 1000 degrees Kelvin depending onwhere I wasstanding. The large colorful vehicles parked all around tossed additional colorpollutionintothemixjusttomakeitmoreinteresting.Whoyagonnacall?TheGossen Color-Pro 3F (www.bogenimaging.us), that’s who. You place a colortemperaturemeterinthesamepositionthatyouwouldtomakeanincidentlightmeterreading,pushthebutton,anditdisplaysthecolortemperatureindegrees

Kelvin.Intheoldfilmdays,Iwouldneedtotranslatethatintoacolorcorrectionfilter, screw it onto the camera (and lose exposure due to the inevitable filterfactor),andhopeforthebest.Here,IjustsetthenumberonmyCanonEOS10andmadepictures.

ManualorCustomWhiteBalance.Therewillcomeatimewhennoneofthepreset white balance settings will work, and that’s when you need to use themanualoption.Sure, it’sa littlemore labor intensive,butafteryou try itonce,you’ll be amazed at how well it works under difficult and mixed lightingconditions suchas indoorexhibits, conventioncenters, andmuseums.Startbyphotographingasheetofwhitepaperunderthelightingconditionsyouwanttocorrect.Tip:Youmightwant to shift your focus settings tomanual aswell, asfocusingonblankwhitepapermightconfuseyourcamera’sAFsettings.Ifyourtestimageisextremelyover-orunderexposed,properwhitebalancemaynotbeachieved.If thathappens,adjust theexposureaccordinglyandstartoveragain.Selectthemanualorcustomoption;thattypicallydisplaystheimagesstoredonthememory card. Onmany Canonmodels, you then press the white balancebutton(sorry,butyou’llneedtoreadyourUser’sGuidetoseehowitworksforyour specific camera).Themainpoint is to showyou that it’s just amatterofmaking a photographunder the lighting conditions you’reworking in, pullingupafewmenus,andpressingabutton.Nomatterwhatcamerayouuse,it’sthateasy.

Facingpage—Imadethisportraitwhileworkinginafactoryunderacombinationofmercuryvaporandfluorescent lights.The imagewasmade foraclientandacalendarproject thatwasneverpublished. It isbeingseenhereforthefirsttime.ExposurethroughanEF85mmf/1.8lenswas1/125atf/4.5andISO400.

TheGossenColor-Pro3FisspecificallydesignedformeasuringthephotographiccolortemperatureofflashandambientlightandindicatesthemeasuredresultsindegreesKelvin.Aseconddiffuserforextendingthemeasuringrangesforflashandcontinuouslightisincludedwitheachmeter.ImagecourtesyofManfrottoDistribution.

DidyouknowthattheflipsideoftheKodakGraycardiswhite?That’smyfavoritetoolforsettingamanualwhitebalance,andit’seasytostickan8x10cardinmycamerabag.Ifyourcameracaseissmall,cutthecardinhalf.PhotocourtesyofEastmanKodak.

There are some alternatives to this method: ExpoImaging’s(www.expodisc.com) ExpoDisc is a custom white balance filter that lets youeasily set a custom white balance without having to carry, hold, position, orfumble with gray cards, white cards, or targets. Using your camera’s built-incustomwhite balance capability,ExpoDisc turns your camera into an incidentcolor-meteringtoolenablingittoreceive,scramble,andtransmitlightfromthefront of the disc through to the camera’s image sensor for a faster andmoreaccurate white balance. Simply place the ExpoDisc in front of your lens andcapture the incident light while setting your camera’s custom white balance.ExpoDiscDigitalWhiteBalanceFiltersareavailableinsixstandardsizes:58mm,62mm,67mm,72mm,77mm,and82mm.Theyareavailableinflatversionsformodularfiltersystems.

RAWCAPTUREANDWHITEBALANCE

SincetheRAWformatallowsyoutochangeaphotograph’swhitebalance

inthedigitaldarkroom,youmightbetemptednot toworryaboutsettingproperwhitebalancewhenshootinginRAW.Don’t.Whitebalancechoiceis importantbecausemostRAWprocessing softwareopens the file in thecapturedimage’swhitebalance.Youcanalwayseditthiswithsoftware,butstartingwith as good an image as possiblemeans thatminor tweaks canmakeagoodimageintoagreatone.

PostproductionColorBalancing.Tryasyoumay,sometimesitjustseemsasthoughyoucan’tgetthecolorbalanceexactlyright.That’swhenIwaituntilIgetinto the digital darkroom (chapter 7) and use correction tools such as PictoColor’s (www.pictocolor.com) iCorrectPortraitPhotoshop-compatibleplug-in.TheskintonetechnologyiniCorrectPortraitisdifferentthanwhat’susedinthecompany’s iCorrect EditLab Pro, and it may be the best skin tone algorithmavailableinplug-inform.Withitsnewinterface,iCorrectPortraitsetsblackandwhitepoints,letsyouadjustbrightnessandcontrast,andautomaticallycorrectscolorbalanceandskintoneswithasinglemouseclick!Youcansavecorrectionsas custom settings and apply them tomultiple image files. iCorrect Portrait isaction-enabled,anditiscompatiblewithbothMacOSandWindows.

TheExpoDiscconsistsofmultiplelayersofmatchedoptical-gradematerialsandisindividuallycalibratedtostricttolerancesoflighttransmissionandcolorneutrality.EachExpoDiscisguaranteedforneutrality(+/-2percent)forpickyshooters.PhotocourtesyofExpoImaging.

Theoriginal shot ofTiawasmadeusingwindow light,with theCanonEOS5D set inAWBmode.Herclothingandthewindowframewerewhite.Colortemperaturecanvarydependingonthetimeandtimeofyear,andwhoknowswhatcolorswerebouncinginfromoutdoors?

Iopened the image in iCorrectPortrait andclickedon thewindow frame tocorrect thecolor.Oneclickusingtheneutral-balancememorycolor,andtheskintonelookedgreat.Icouldhavefollowedupwiththeskintonememorycolorandclickedonhercheek.Alternatively,Icouldhaveusedtheautowhitepointorautoblackpoint;sometimesIdothattoo,dependingontheimage’scontrast.Inthiscase,oneclickwasallittook.

Here’s the image with correct color, some retouching, and a bit of burning and dodging. The originalexposurewas1/160secondatf/5andISO400.A550EXflashprovidedfill.

IphotographedsupermodelAnnaLeibintheshadeonahotArizonaday.Notonlydiditmakethemodelfeelcooler,but itprovidedsoft light.Theexposurewas1/80secondat f/7.1andISO200,withanEX550speedlightusedasfill.Sinceshadehasacoolercolortemperaturethandaylight,IusedIusedPictoColor’siCorrectPortraitsoftwaretoachievethecolorshownhere.

L

2.LIGHTREADING

“…AMATEURSWORRYABOUTEQUIPMENT,PROFESSIONALSWORRYABOUTMONEYMASTERSWORRYABOUTLIGHT,IJUSTTAKEPICTURES….”—VERNONTRENT

ight,asawisephotographeroncetoldme,mayjustbelight,butyou’llneedtomeasuretheamountoflighttogetanaccurateoracorrect-for-the-moodexposure. If your chosen exposure doesn’t allow enough light to reach the

sensor, the image or part of it will be too dark. Conversely, too much lightreachingthesensorwillresult inblown-outhighlights(youcan’tget ’emback)oranoverexposedshot.

Accurateexposurebeginswithcorrectlysettingthelensapertureandshutterspeedinrelationtoeachother.Youcanselectyourexposuresettingsmanuallyorletthecameradoitforyou.Themanualmethodmayrequireahandheldlightmeter,oryoucanusethecamera’sbuilt-inmeterbyselectingmanualmode.For90percentofphotosmade,theautomaticmeteringsystemsfoundindigitalSLRsdo a fantastic job inproducing correct exposure, but the other 10percent candriveyoucrazy,andthat’swhatthischapterisallabout.

WHATISPROPEREXPOSURE?Correct exposure is critical,maybe evenmore so for digital capture than film(especiallycolornegative film).That’sbecause latitude,or theability tohandleover-or underexposure, is greater with color negative film than for any othercapture media. Slide film has the least amount of latitude, especially on theoverexposureside.Thecurrentgenerationofimagesensorsrespondmorelikeahybridofthetwotypesofcolorfilm:overexposurewipesoutimagedata,whileunderexposure has more latitude almost but not quite as much as film. Thedownside of digital underexposure is the inevitable creation of digital noise,especially in the shadowareas.You’ll learnmoreaboutnoiseandhow tocopewithitinchapter4.

Thisimageencapsulatestheproblemofobtainingproperexposure.Thereareblown-outhighlightsinmybackdoor’swindowanddeepshadowsatthebottomoftheframe.Inthemiddleisthesubject,andthat’swheretheemphasisonmymanualmodeexposurewasplaced.Thatisnotamirroratcameraright;itwasaglass-framed poster that, depending on the camera angle, lens focal length, and the model’s placementresults inshowingthesubject’sreflectionintheglass.ThecamerawasaCanonEOS10DwithanEF28-105mm lens. The exposure was 1/160 second at f/6.3 and ISO 400. The original image was slightlyunderexposed,andwiththehigherthannormalISO,digitalnoiseresulted.IreducedthenoiseusingNikSoftware’s Dfine (www.niksoftware.com) in combination with one of Seim Effect’s(http://prophotoshow.net/seim_effects)Photoshopactionstoaddsomesoftfocusanddiffusiontomutethenoiseabitmore.

Properexposureisaperfectstormofshutterspeed,aperturechoice,andISOsettingthatproducesapleasingresult.Pleasingtowhom?Youaretheultimatearbiter of what is “correct,” and one way to objectively evaluate a particularimage’sexposureisbyusingthecamera’shistogramfunction.ThiscapabilityisuniquetodigitalphotographyandisafeatureofalldigitalSLRsandevensomepoint-and-shoot cameras. The histogram (a graph showing the range ofbrightnessinaphotographthatshowslightvaluesin256steps)appearsontheLCD.Zeroisonthefar-leftsideofthegraphandrepresentspureblack;255isonthe far right-hand side and represents purewhite. In themiddle are themid-rangevalues(e.g.,grays,browns,andgreens).

Themodelwanteda“moody”shotforherportfolio.Theunderexposurecreatedtherightmood,butitalsoresultedinnoise(thismayormaynotbevisibleontheprintedpage,butevenafterretouchingitisplainlyvisibleonmymonitor).ThecamerawasaCanonEOSD60.Theexposurewas1/80secondatf/6.3andISO400.

WhenviewingahistogramonanOlympusE3andsomeotherdigitalSLRs,theLCDscreensuperimposesthegraphontopoftheimageitrepresents.Inthishistogram,thereisaslightgapontheright-handsideindicatingslightoverexposure,whichcanbeseenonthesubject’sforehead.

Inatypicalphotograph,allofanimage’stonesarecapturedwhenthegraphrises from the bottom-left corner then descends toward the bottom right,creatingwhatstatisticianscallabell-shapedcurve.Ifthehistogram’scurvestartsouttoofarinfromeithersideortheslopeappearscutoff,thendataismissing,and the image’s contrast range may exceed the sensor’s capture capabilities.While the classic histogram features a bell-shaped (a.k.a. Gaussian) curve, noteveryphotographwillhavethistypeoftonaldistribution.Dramaticimageswithlotsoflightordarkareasoftenhavelopsidedhistograms,butthatdoesn’tmeantheyaren’tcorrectforthatimage.

MADABOUTLIGHTING:EXPOSURETECHNIQUES“Lightingratio”isatermthat’susedtodescribethedifferencebetweenthemainlightandanyfilllight.Thisrelativestrengthcanbemeasuredusingalightmeter.Handheldmetersmeasure twokindsof available light—incidentor reflected—andsomemeasureflashaswell.In-camerametersonlymeasurethelightthat’sreflected by the scene to be photographed. Handheld incident light metersmeasure theamountof light that’s fallingon the subject.All in-camerametersare reflected-light meters, but some handheld light meters can be used formeasuring incident or reflected light. Don’t let the term “spotmeter” confuseyou. Unlike the broader coverage of in-camera meters, and even handheldmeters for that matter, spot metering measures a narrowly focused area in ascene,butit’sstillreflectedlightthatismeasured.

Backlightingalwayscallsforadditionalexposure,andhereIappliedaplusone-stopexposurecompensationtoanavailablelightexposureof1/800secondatf/4andISO400.WhysuchahighshutterspeedandISOforwhatlookslikeanormaldaylightshot?TheOlympusE-300IwasusinghasaZuikoDigitalED150mmf/2.0lens(300mmequivalent)thatweighs3.5pounds!

Youcanalsoviewanimage’shistograminsoftwaresuchasAdobePhotoshop(shownhere).Thehistogramisfortheimageshownontheleft.It’sevidentthattheimagewasunderexposedbyoneandone-halfstops.Whatisthecorrectexposure?Additionalexposurewouldhavechangedthemood—soaperfectgraphdoesnotalwaysmakeaperfectimage.

Alopsidedhistogram?Yep,everythingisontheleftsideofthegraph,butIlikethemoodofthephotographthattheexposureof1/30secondatf/8andISOproduced.ThecamerawasaCanonEOS1DMarkIIwithaEF85mmf/1.8lens.

If you have a handheld or in-camera meter reading for a subject of 1/500secondatf/11andwanttouseaslowershutterspeedtoallowfornormalsubjectmotionandchoose1/125second,youwillhave toadjust theaperture(make itsmaller)sothatthesame(equivalent)amountoflightwillfallonthesensor.Byselectingeithertheapertureorshutterpriorityautomaticexposuremodes,yourcameracalculatestheequivalentexposureforyou,eliminatingalltheguesswork.Sometimes you will see or hear the term “exposure value” (EV) used. Anexposure value is a number used to indicate all combinations of shutter speedandaperturethatproducethesameexposure.ThistermoriginatedinGermanyduringthe1950sandpersiststothisdaywithpuristswhoaremorecomfortablewithitthanthemorecommon“stop.”

Brightness Range. This exposure method suggests taking two differentreadingsfromthesceneyou’reabouttophotograph.Thefirstone,orsecondifyouprefer,isameterreadingmadeinthehighlightareawheredetailisdesired.

BrightnessrangeisagoodmethodindeceptivesceneslikethiswhereIwantedtomaintainthetextureofthewoodontheporchandtheshadowsatthesametime.ThecamerawasaCanonEOS60DwithEF28-105mm lens.The exposurewas1/125 secondat f/7.1 and ISO200.Thediagramshows the setup for theshot.

Thisimage,doneinhomagetoFellini’sLaDolceVita,wasmadeattheentrancetoabarn.Theexposureforthismixedflashanddaylightportraitwas1/60atf/5andISO200.Iusedaminusone-thirdstopexposurecompensationtomakesuretheblackdressstayedblack.Ifyouforcetheexposuretowardmiddlegraytones(atypicalapproachusingonlythemeteredexposure),you’llendupwithblacksthatlookgray.

Meteringthebrightestobject inthesceneoftencreatessilhouettes,whichwastheexacteffectIwantedtoachievewiththisAcapulcobeachscene.Thenear-sunsetexposureatISO400was1/2000secondatf/8withaLeicaD-Lux2.

Asecondreading is taken fromtheshadowareaof thescene,againwhereyouwantthedetail tobeheld.Yourcamerasettingswillbebasedonanaverageofthetworeadings,andthatwillprobablybecloseenough,althoughyoumighttrytobracketyourexposure.For informationonbracketing, see “IfAllElseFails,Bracket”laterinthischapter.

Darkest Object. If the shadow areas of the scene aremost important, youmight prefer to just take a meter reading only from this area. This methodactually overexposes the image and can cause total lack of detail in highlightareas.Backinthefilmdays,onemethodologysuggestedthatyouexposefortheshadowsanddevelop for thehighlights.Youcando thesamekindof thingbycapturing the portrait using your camera’s RAW file format, but I’m guessingthatsometimesthehighlightmaybetotallylostanyway.Oneruleofthumbsaysto use the shadow reading and then narrow your aperture two stops. So evenusingthe“darkestobject”method,youhaveachoiceandyoucanuseone,both,orchosewhateverwithcertainkindsofsubjectmatterbasedonyourexperience.

Brightest Object. If you read the above section, you’ve probably alreadyfigured out that this method asks you to take a light meter reading from thehighlight area within a scene. However, if you remember how in-camera andhandheld meters work, you’ll realize that this will produce the equivalent ofmediumgrayandwillresultinunderexposureintheotherareasofthescenethatreflect less light. That’s because reflected lightmeters are calibrated to give anaccurateexposurewhenpointedatasubjectwithreflectivitysomewherenear18percent; the exact value varies and the details are complex, with somemetersmeasuring 12 percent (themost common) and others at 14 percent. So here’sanotherruleofthumbtohelpyoucope:whenusingthebrightest-objectmethod,open up two or three f/stops from the indicated exposure to produce a goodaverageexposure.

Substitution.Whenusingthesubstitutionmethod,youreplaceanobject inthescenewithanobjectofknownreflectance(e.g.,aKodakGrayCard)andtakeareflected-lightmeterreading fromthisobject.Youcansubstituteobjects thatmatchthe lightreflectancequalityof theobject inthescene.Don’thaveagraycard?BackinthefilmdaysIusedtotakeameterreadingofgrass(iftherewasanyinthescene)andjustopenuponestop,butIdon’trememberthelasttimeItriedthisold“ruleofgreenthumb.”

ByplacingaKodakGrayCardinthescenetobephotographedandtakingareadingoffitwithareflectedlightmeterorthespotmeterfunctionofyourin-camerameter,youcanbeassuredofconsistentexposures,butbesuretoreadthefine print instead of just accepting that reading as perfection. Instructionsincludedwith the card contain the following advice about adjusting themeterreadingstakenwiththegraycard:

TheKodakGrayCardisastandardreferenceforexposureevaluationandgrading.Thecardconsistsofalarge 18 percent neutral gray area, and the surface is specially treated tominimize glare. The back of aKodakGrayCardiswhite,makingitanexcellentsourceformanualcolorbalance(seechapter1).

Normalsubjects:“Increasetheindicatedexposureby1/2stop.”

Lightsubjects:“Forverylightsubjects,decreaseexposureby1/2stop.”

Dark subjects: “If the subject is dark or very dark, increase the indicatedexposureby1to1½stops.”

HOWTOMAKETHOSEREADINGSManySLRshave a featureknownas auto exposure lock (sometimes calledAElock) that enables you to lock in anexposure fromaview that’sdifferent thanthat used for your final composition. After locking the exposure, you canrecomposetheshotwhilemaintainingthedesiredsettings.Thisfeatureisusefulforbacklit subjectsand forapplyinganyof thepreviouslymentionedexposuremethods, although you’ll have to do the math for averaging brightness rangereadings. Some handheld meters, on the other hand, will average multiplereadingsforyou.

Here’showAElockworks:

1. Focusthecamera.

2. Presstheexposurelockbutton.

3. Recomposeandtakethepicture.Somecamerasrequireyoutocontinuetoholdtheexposurelockwhileyoumaketheexposure,soitmayfeellikeyouneedthreehandsuntilyougetthehangofit.

EXPOSUREREALITIESEven when shooting with film cameras that had automatic exposure modes,capturing photographs with the proper exposure was a challenge requiringknowledge of the characteristics of a particular film and how it responded tovarious lighting conditions and even subject matter. But all that’s behind us,right?WithdigitalSLRs,allyouhavetodois lookat theLCDscreenand, if itlooks good, then the exposure is correct, right? If you answered that questionwith “yes,” youmaybewrong.That’s because the size, resolution, and typeofbacklightthatilluminatestheLCDscreenvariesbymanufacturer.Evencamerasfromthe samecompanyoftenusedifferent technologyondifferentmodels, sotheview representedon the screen is far fromconsistent throughouta cameramanufacturer’sproductline.

Don’tletstrongbacklightingconfusetheexposure.IusedtheAElockbuttonontheOlympusE-1(it’sjustbehindtheon/offswitchatopthecamera)tolockinanexposureof1/160atf/8andISO200andcapturethisimageinafriend’sbackyard.FillfromFL-50Rflash.ThelensusedwasaZuikoDigital14-54mmf/2.8-3.5.

DOYOUHAVETHEBLINKIES?

Somedigitalcamerasofferahighlightalertfeature.Whentheimageyou’vecapturedhasoverexposedhighlightareas,theobjectorareaoftheframeissurrounded by blinking dotted lines (my pal Barry Staver calls them the“blinkies,”andsomepeoplecallthem“marchingants”).SomedigitalSLRsalsoofferashadowalert.Ifindbothofthesefeaturesdistractinganddon’tusethem.Aswe’veseenbefore, justbecauseyou’vegot“blinkies,”doesn’tmeantheimageisunacceptable.It’suptoyou,thephotographer,tobeincontroloftheexposure.

Thecamera’sLCDishandywhenmakingphotographssuchasthisportraitofmywifeMary,inwhichtheonlyilluminationcamefromChristmasdecorationsinaneighbor’syard.Togettheimage,Ishotinmanualmodewith an exposure of 1/30 second at f/1.4 and ISO 800. I used a plus one and two-thirds exposurecompensationthatgavemeaneffectiveshutterspeedofapproximately1/10second.IusedtheLCDscreenasmylightmetertogetmeintheballparkandthentweakeditin-cameratogetthisfinalexposure.

ThisphotographwasmadeusingaCanonEOSD60evaluativemeteringsystemthatlinkstothecamera’sautofocuspoints.Theprogrammodeexposurewas1/200secondandf/10atISO400.Thecamera’sbuilt-inflashwasusedforfill,butinthiscaseitdidn’taddmuchtotheoverallexposure.

Iusedcenter-weightedaveragemetering(asCanoncallsit)forthisEOSD60shotinwhichthesubjectfillstheframe.Itwascapturedinmanualmodewithanexposureof1/200secondatf/9atISO200.Theflashusedforfillhelpedthesubjectpopoutofthebackground.

Spotmeteringisanidealapproachwhenphotographingarunwayshotinavailablelightwithaspotlightedmodelwho’ssetagainstadarkorblackbackground.ThecamerawasanOlympusE-1.Theexposurewas1/160atf/8andISO400.Ishotinshutterprioritymodetominimizetheeffectsofanysubjectmovement.

SLRMETERINGPATTERNSThesedays,mostdigitalSLRsoffermultiplemethodsformeteringhowthatlightisreflectedinascene.Themostcommonsystemsinclude:

Multi-Segment. This system, also called matrix or multi-zone metering,divides the screen into multiple segments (the number of segments varies bycameramodelandmanufacturer).Thecamera’sCPUautomaticallydeterminestheoverall lighting level, including frontandback lighting, and sometimes thecolorfoundineachsegment,andcomparesittoadatabaseofsimilarscenestocalculateaproperexposure.Somesystemsalsointegratethedataforthefocusingpoint used, subject size, and distance. For many cameras, this is the defaultmeteringsetting.Itworksfinefortheaveragephotograph,whichiswhyIuseitmostofthetime.

Center-Weighted. In this mode, the camera’s metering measurement isheavilyweighted(75-80percent)towardthecenterofthefocusingscreen.It’san

improvement over early built-in lightmeters,which took an average of all thelightvaluesinthescreenandwereheavilyinfluencedbyextremelydarkorlightareas on the edges and corners of the photograph. You should use center-weightedmeteringwhenthemainsubjectcoversalargeareaofyourphoto.Thismodedoesnotcompensateforbacklitscenes,butthenextonedoes.

Foralongtime,programmodewasmypreferredmodeformakingavailablelightportraitssuchasthisone.Exposure with a Canon EOS D60 was 1/250 second at f/4 and ISO 200. I used a plus two-thirds stopexposurecompensationadjustment,asIwasshootingintheshade.

Spot Metering. With spot metering, brightness is measured only within alimitedarea (often1 to3percent)of the image in the frame.Youcanuse thistypeofmetering forbacklit scenesbyplacing the spot (acircle)on the subjectand not the background. This metering mode may serve you well whenphotographingaperformerorspeakeronstage,orperhapsarunwaymodelwhoisilluminatedbyaspotlight.Thesecretofsuccessfullyusingspotmeteringistoplace the spot where you want the scene properly exposed. When using thisoption,however,alwaysconsideritslimitations.

CAMERAEXPOSUREMODESMost digital SLRs are equipped with several automatic and manual exposuremodes that allow you to capture any subject at any point of your personalphotographicdevelopment.Eachmodeoffersspecificadvantagesandallowsyou

tocontrolthecreativeelementsinaphotograph.Withexperience,youwilllearnwhichmodewillworkbestunder a given lighting condition, but if you’re justgettingstarted,youshouldbeginwiththeeasiestone.

Program(P). Inprogrammode, the cameraautomatically selects a suitableshutterspeedandapertureforthesubjectandlensfocal lengthused.However,inthismode,thephotographercanoverridesomeofthesettings;forinstance,inmostcameras,youcanusethefeatureasyouwouldapertureorshutterprioritymode,oryoucanuse thecamera’sexposurecompensationbutton tocreateanintentionalover-orunderexposureeffect.

DEPTHOFFIELD

One of the basic laws of imaging is that only one part of a three-dimensionalobjectcanbetrulyinfocusattheimageplane,andareasthatarelocatedinfrontofandbehindthatfocusplanewillappearmoreorlessinfocus.Atthepointofcritical focus, there isarangeofacceptable focusthat isone-third in frontof thatpointand two-thirdsbehind it.Depthoffield is affectedby the camera’sdistance to the subject; it increases as thelensapertureisstoppeddown(largerf-numbers)anddecreasesasthelensaperture is opened up (smaller f-numbers) and the camera-to-subjectdistancedecreases.

ShutterPriority(Tv).Shutterprioritymode—a.k.a.timevaluemode,hencetheabbreviation—is ideal forphotographingsubjects inmotion, suchas sportsandactionphotography.SelectingTvon themodedialmeans that thecameraautomaticallyselectsanaperturetomatchtheshutterspeedchosenbytheuser.Youwillusuallybeabletouseanothercameracontrol(consultyourmanual)toselectanydesiredshutterspeed.Thecamerawillselectanaperturebasedonthatshutterspeed,theselectedISO,andexistinglightingconditions.

Shutter priority mode gives you control over whether a moving subject iscaptured insharp focusor thesubject isblurred.Whenusing telephoto lenses,youshouldchooseashutterspeedthatisequivalenttothereciprocalofthelens’sfocal lengthasa startingpoint.Whenusinga300mmlens, forexample,you’dchoose1/250second.Inthismode,unlikeprogrammode,youshouldmakesurethattheavailableaperturerangeissufficienttoprovideacorrectexposureattheselectedshutterspeed.Mostcamerasprovidesomekindofindicationwhenthe

selected shutter speed is too fast or too slow for an adequate exposure.Whenthat’sthecase,you’llhavetouseadifferentshutterspeedtogetanexposurethatworks.

Thisphotographispartofaseriesof images fora fitnessmodel thatweremade inshutterprioritymodewithaCanonEOS20Dthat later includedsomeactionshots.Exposurewas1/800secondat f/5andISO100.

IwantedtoextractasmuchdepthoffieldaspossiblewhenIcapturedthisportraitinOldSanJuan,PuertoRico.Theexposurefortheimage,madewithmyOlympusE-3inapertureprioritymode,wasf/9andISO200.Thecameradeterminedtheshutterspeedtobe1/1000second,soIcouldhaveprobablychosenf/11andstillgottenashutterspeedthatwouldallowmetohandholdthecamera.Thisblack&whitephotographwascaptureddirectlyasaJPEGfileusingtheE-3’sbuilt-inmonotonemode.

This color digital infrared image was made with an EOS D30 converted to IR capture by LifePixel(www.lifepixel.com).Thecamerawas fittedwithanEF85mmf/1.8 lens.Exposurewasmade inapertureprioritymodetomaximizedepthoffieldat1/200secondatf/16andISO400.

Howwould Tia be rendered under available light using conventional capturemethods? This imagewasmadejustafewminutesbeforetheinfraredshot.IusedaCanonEOS10DandEF28-105mmlenswithanexposureof1/60secondatf/5andISO200.

Facingpage—Iusedmanualmodetocreatethisavailablelightportrait,madeinafactory.ThecamerawasaCanonEOS1DMarkII.Theexposurewas1/30secondatf/6.3andISO400.

EXPOSURECOMPENSATION

Tome, the exposure compensation control is one of themost importantfeatures on a digital SLR. The camera’s designers recognized that noamountofautomationwillproducea“perfect”exposureunderallpossiblelightingsituations,andwhatappealstosomewon’tappealtoothers.Sinceyou are the final arbiter of what’s “correct,” the exposure compensationfeatureletsyouincreaseordecreasetheautomaticexposurebyone-halforone-third stops. Usually this involves pressing a button and rolling acontrolwheel,sorefertoyourUser’sGuideforspecificdirectionsforyourSLR.Ifyoucansettheamountofcompensationbyone-halforone-third,use the one-third stop option, as it provides you withmore choices andallowsamorenuanceddifferenceinexposure.

AperturePriority(Av).Inaperturepriority(a.k.a.aperturevalue)mode,youset the desired aperture using the main dial and the camera selects a shutterspeedthatisappropriateforthegivenlightingconditions.TheinitialvaluethatappearsintheviewfinderandontheLCDpanelisthelastaperturethatwasusedby the camera to set the exposure. Themain reason for usingAVmode is tocontroldepthoffield.

ManualMode.Earlierinthechapter,IsaidthatmostSLRs’automaticmodeswouldproduceacceptableresults90percentofthetime.Whenyoufindyourselfinthat10percentterritory,it’stimetoswitchtomanualmode.Thismodeisformoreexperienced(phasetwo)shootersandthosewhowouldratherdriveacarwithastickshiftthananautomatictransmission.

There are lighting situations that can confuse even the most sophisticatedautomaticexposuremeteringsystem.Manualexposurecanbeespeciallyhelpfulwhenyou’refacedwithhighsubjectcontrastorstrongbacklight,andalsowhenaspecificmoodisdesired.

Somepuristsclaimthatmanualexposuremodeis theonlyonetouse,butIonly use manual exposure mode when working under extreme lightingconditionsorworkingwith studio lights.Theonly reasonwhyyou shouldusemanualexposureistomaintainmaximumcontrolovereverythinginthescene,includingtheexposure.

BulbMode.Mostcamerasofferabulbmode.Inthismode,theshutterstaysopen as long as the shutter release button is pressed.This allows you tomakereally long exposures for subjects such as holiday lights and fireworks, or tocreate special effects in images of carnivals and amusement parks. Timeexposurescanonlybemadeusinga sturdy tripod,andyoucan further reducetheriskofcamerashakebytrippingtheshutterusingacablerelease.

This photographmade of theMakuhariMesse outside Tokyo was shot handheld at ISO 400 using theCanonDigitalRebel’s tinypopupflashasfill. IusedtheEF18-55mmkit lenswithanexposureof1/125secondatf/9,butappliedtheexposurecompensationcontroltoslightlyunderexposethephotographtogettheshotyouseehere.All thedarkareas inthescenefooledthecamera’sprogramexposuremode,whichtriedtoincreaseexposuretocompensate,butitwastoomuch!

TheEOSRebelT2i’sbuilt-inflashdoesanexcellentjoboffill,eventhoughtheremaybetimeswhenyouhavetoraisetheISOabittoavoidthedreadedflash-on-cameralook.

ISOSPEEDSAFFECTEXPOSURETOOTheISOisastandardmethodforquantifyingafilm’s/imagesensor’ssensitivitytolight.Lowernumbers,suchas50or100,representlesslightsensitivity;highernumbers,suchas400or800,showmoresensitivity.ISOnumbersaremagicallyproportionaltotheirsensitivitytolight.AsyoudoubleorhalvetheISOnumber,youdoubleorhalve the imagesensor’s sensitivity to light.Themath is simple:AnISOof800istwiceassensitivetolightas400,and800ishalfassensitiveto

lightas1600.Pssst!Letmetellyouasecret:Digicamsdon’thaveatrueISOspeed,whichis

why you’ll often see the term “ISO equivalent” used on camera specificationssheets.Manufacturersdevelopedtechnologies tomake imagesensorsreact inaway that is similar to theway film responds to light.The rangeof ISOs that acameraoffersdiffersdependingon themakeandmodel.Andhere’swhere thegreatestadvantageofdigitaloverfilmoccurs:youcanchangeISOonaframe-by-framebasis.With filmcameras, changing the ISOmeans loadinganewrolloffilmwithadifferentISOrating.

IFALLELSEFAILS,BRACKETPianists practice their scales; photographers need to practice exposure.Sometimes thebest solution is to shoota seriesof frameswith slightlyvaryingexposurestoincreaseyouroddsofcapturinganidealexposure.Thisstrategyiscalled“bracketing,”andmanySLRsofferanautomaticbracketoption. Inautobracket mode, the first frame is exposed at what would be considered the“normal”exposure,thesecondisunderexposedbyapredeterminedamount,andthethirdisoverexposedbythatsameamount(typicallyafractionaladjustment,butinextremeexamples,fullstopsmightbeused).Clickingtherightbuttonofthe four-waycontroller letsyou setbracketingparameters.Somecamerasevenletyouchangetheorderinwhichtheexposuresaremadefromminus,zero,plus(fortraditionalists; it’salsomyfavorite)orplus,zero,minuswithvariationsonthattheme.

BecausetheLCDpreviewscreenonmostdigitalcamerascanexaggeratetheimage’s contrast, youcanbe led tobelieve thatyouhaveawell-exposed imagewhen, in fact, the shot is slightly underexposed. Only the image’s histogramrevealsthetruth.Practicebracketing.Intime,youwilllearnhowtoevaluatetheimageonyourLCDscreenandmakeexposureadjustmentswithout lookingatthehistogram.

Here is a bracketed series of three exposures made in the classic order of underexposed, normal, andoverexposed.ItypicallytrytomakeanexposureusingwhatevermanualorautomaticmodeIthinkisbestsuited for the scene, then evaluate the image’s histogram andmake exposure compensation adjustmentsaccordingly. When in doubt, though, it’s a good idea to do what photographers have done since theinventionof35mmfilm—bracketlikecrazy.

Highkey:Thisportrait,shot inanoldhouse inPhoenix,wasmadeusingonlythe lightcomingfromthelace-curtained window. The camera was a Canon EOS D60 with an EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. Theexposurewas1/160secondatf/5.6andISO800.

Lowkey:ThenaturalwindowlightinmyofficeproducedalltheilluminationIneededforthisimage.ThecamerawasaCanonEOSD60withaninexpensive(underahundredbucks),nowdiscontinuedEF-S22-55mmlens.Theexposurewas1/100secondatf/7.1andISO400.Aminusoneandone-thirdstopexposurecompensation(chapter2)wasadded,butIthinkIwenttoofar,andtheimageneededabitmorethanthenormaltweaking.

P

3.LIGHTINGINDOORS

“AVAILABLELIGHTISANYDAMNLIGHTTHATISAVAILABLE!”-W.EUGENESMITH

ortraitsmadeindoorswithoutflashcanbeachallenge.Youhavetouseyouringenuity to find light sources that will produce lighting that flatters yoursubjects.That light canbe sunlight coming throughwindows,but it seems

that inmany new homes, windows are placed sparingly. There seems to be atrend toward using just the minimal number of windows that building codesrequire to save the buildermoney. In some older homes, windows are on thesmallside,soeventhesehomespresentchallenges.

Thesecret is to look forandworkwithwhatevernatural lightyoucan find,whereveryoufindit.Thismeansthatyou’llneedtocontendwithcolorbalance(chapter1)andusehigherISOsettingstocompensateforanoveralllackofthequantityoflight.Unfortunately,bumpingupthecamera’sISOsettingwill,withmany cameras, producedigital noise, and I’ll showyouhow to copewith thatlaterinthischapter.

Theuseofwide-aperture(“fast”)lensescanalsobeanimportantpartofthisequation.Because theiruse is justas importantoutdoorsand indoors, theyarecoveredinchapter4.

Thekitchenismyfavoriteplacetoshootinthehouseyearround.TheclassicwindowlightimagewasmadewithaCanonEOS10DandEF28-105mmf/3.5-4.5 lens.Theexposurewas1/60secondat f/4.5andISO400.IbouncedanEX420flashwithaStoFen(www.stofen.com)diffusermountedontheceilingforoverallfill light. The shot was made in color and converted to monochrome using Alien Skin Software’s(www.alienskin.com)Exposureplug-in.

Portraitsareallaboutlight,soifyouwanttoconquerindoorlighting,startbylookingaroundyourhomeforplaceswherethere’splentyofexistinglight.Thebestandgreatestquantityofexistinglightisfoundinmykitchen.Thewallsarepainted a soft white color, and there’s a large north-facing bay windowcomprisedofthreelargeindividualwindows,eachfittedwithmini-blindsthatletme control light better than I can in any studio. Formoody lighting, thebackdoortomyhouse,whereImadethatimageintheIntroduction,isagoodchoice.Youmayhavemoreor fewerwindowsanddoors inyourownhome, likely indifferentlocations,butthekeytogettingstartedislookingattheseopeningsaslightsourcesforyourphotographs.Youmaybesurprisedatwhatyoudiscover.

This photographwasmade inmy dining room during the same session that produced the “reflections”imagethatkicksoffchapter2.IshotitwithaCanonEOS10Dwithanavailable-light-onlyexposureof1/80second at f/4.5 and ISO 400. As you can see by the histogram, the image, while theoretically notunderexposed,producedalopsidedexposurewithtoomuchintheshadows.

CreateaduplicatelayerusingtheLayer>DuplicateLayercommand.Youcannameit(ornot),thenselectScreen from the Layer palette’s BlendingMode popupmenu. If you’re lucky, the underexposurewill beinstantlycorrected,butyoumayhavetousetheLayerpalette’sOpacityslidertochangetheoverallexposureoftheduplicatelayer.Whenitlooksthewayyouwantit,flattenthelayer(Layer>Flatten)tocreateasingle-layerfile.

RESCUINGUNDEREXPOSEDIMAGES

Windowlightisoneofthebestsourcesofnaturalportraitlightingindoors,butbecause of the contrast ratios it produces, underexposure can result, and youmay not notice it until you look at the images on your computer. Everybodymakesmistakes,andsometimeswhenshootingIlosetrackoftheavailablelightandmycamerasettingsdon’tkeepupwithchanginglightingconditions.Moreoften than not, that results in an underexposed image. Here’s how I fix thatprobleminAdobePhotoshop:

In this situation, many people use the Levels command(Image>Adjustments>Levels) and move the right-hand slider to the left toincreaseexposure.However,doingthisalsoincreasesthecontrast.SomepeopleprefertouseCurves(Image>Adjustments>Curves)toincreaseoverallexposure,but I like Photoshop’s Layer command. (See the images and captions on page60.)

Facing page—The final image has its underexposure corrected and is lightly retouched. As with anyunderexposedimage,youcanexpecttofinddigitalnoise.Theproblem—anditssolutions—isdescribedonpages62–67.

This non-portrait image was captured using a recipe that guarantees noise—a camera with a small(18x13.5mm)imagingchip,highISO,andlongexposure.Withtheimageprintedatthissize,youmaynotbeabletotellthattheleft-handhalfoftheimageshowsnonoisereduction,andtheright-handsideshowstheeffectofapplyingnoisereduction.TheexposurewithanOlympusE-3was1.3secondsatf/10andISO400.

Let’stakeacloserlookatanareaofthesameimage.Youshouldbeabletodiscernanoticeabledifferencebetweennonoisereduction(left)andthestandardnoisereduction(right).Lotsofmulti-colorednoisecanclearlybeseenontheleft,whilenoiseontheright-handsideisfine,controlled,andmuchsmoother,withimagesharpnessmaintained.

DIGITALNOISE

The downside to increasing your camera’s ISO setting to cope with a lack ofavailablelightisnoise.NoiseindigitalphotographsisthevisualequivalentofthestaticthatyouhearinAMradiosignals,andtheunvarnishedtruthisthatmostdigitalcamerasaddsomelevelofnoisetoimagefiles.Thenearestequivalentintraditional photography is grain. In film, grain ismore noticeable at high ISOsettingsandismostvisibleinareasofuniformcolor,suchasskiesandshadowareas. In digital capture, noise is most prevalent during long exposures madeunder low-light conditions, such as night photography, and it is alwaysmoreobviousinunderexposedareas.

There are asmanydifferent kinds of digital noise as there are causes:Darknoiseiscreatedbytheheatproducedinthecamera’ssensorduringcapturewhendarkcurrent is collectedalongwith imagedata from lightpassing through thelens. Random noise is produced by fluctuations within the camera’s circuitry,andevenelectromagneticwavesoutsidethecamera,includingsomeeffectsfromextraterrestrialeventssuchassunspots.Signalnoiseiscausedbyfluctuationsinthe distribution of how light strikes an image sensor, which is why yousometimes hear the term “signal-to-noise-ratio” (a measure of signal strengthrelative to background noise). Amplified noise is caused by using high ISOspeeds, and it’s the digital equivalent of chemically “pushing” film to achievegreater light sensitivity. Finally, there’s accumulative noise,which is caused byslowershutterspeeds.

In-CameraNoiseSuppression.Youmaythinkthesensoristhekeytoimagequality, but its signals are not recognizable as an image until they’ve beengatheredandprocessed.That’swhysomeimagingprocessorspreventnoisefromoccurringduringtheprocessingstage.Whatnoiseremainsisonlythatwhichisproducedby thesensor itself.Thewaymostmanufacturersdescribe in-cameranoisereductionisamash-upofmarketingbuzzwordsandhightechnology.Howit is handled varies from one manufacturer to the next, and it is highlyproprietary.

TheNikonD3S/D3, for example, incorporates three stages of amplificationcircuitrywithintheimagesensortominimizetheaccumulationofnoisethatcanoccurwhen low-level signalsare transmitted toa single-stageoutputamplifier.By amplifying electrical signals at the earliest point, the signal is strengthenedandthe influenceofcircuitnoisereduced.Mostcameras, includingthosefromCanon,offersomekindofbuilt-innoisereduction.HighISOnoisereductionisa featureon recentEOSDigital SLRsand is a custom functionoption inmostrecentmodels.It’sdifferentfromthelong-exposurenoisereductionfeaturethat

hasbeenapartofEOSdigitalcamerasforsometime.Onceagain,dosometeststoseewhichsettingsproducethebestkindofresultsunderthekindoflowlightandISOsettingsyouusetocaptureimages.

Themethodthatacamerausestoreducenoiseisbased,inpart,onthetypeofnoisethat’sbeingprocessed,andnoisecomesintwobasicflavors.Fixed-patternnoiseisproducedbyunevensignalboostamongdifferentpixelamplifiersonthesensor. Random noise occurs when shooting at different times of the day.Random noise is typically suppressed when the sensor resets the photodiodesthat store electrical charges. Canon’smethod for suppressing random noise iscalledcompleteelectronicchargetransferorcompletechargetransfer.Itensuresthatthesensorresetsthephotodiodesstoringelectricalcharges.

Some digital SLRs offer a user-selectable noisereduction function thatattempts to eliminate this noise after the file has been captured but before it’swrittenonthememorycard.Fixed-patternnoisecanbesuppressedbyon-chipnoise reduction technology using correlated double sampling (CDS), whichpermitsonelightsignaltobereadbytwocircuits.Initially,onlythenoiseisread,and then it’s read along with the light signal. When the noise component issubtracted from the combined signal, a lot of fixed-pattern noise can beeliminated.

More power creates more heat and noise. At long shutter speeds, CCDsensors increase power consumption, andmore electricity flowingmeans heatandnoiseproblems.ThemillionsofphotodiodesandamplifiersthatarefoundinaCMOSsensorcanproducenoiseintheoutputimage.OneofthebestwaystominimizenoiseistouseRAWcapture.True,manufacturersincorporatefancyin-camera image-processing technology that’s used to eliminate noise duringJPEGcapture,but it canalso eliminatedetail.Anynoise that remainsonyourprocessedRAWfile can thenbe eliminatedor at leastminimizedusinganyofthePhotoshop-compatibleplug-insthatI’llshowyouinthenextsection.

Somedigitalcameras,suchastheOlympusE-3usedforthistest,letyoudecidehowmuchin-cameranoisefiltrationwillbeapplied.TheE-3,forexample,letsyouchooselow,standard,orhighnoisereduction.Inmytest images, the low filter showed subtle but noticeable improvement. Standard made additionalimprovementswhilemaintainingsharpness,butthehighsettingbegantosoftentheimagetoomuch.

The Olympus E-3’s standard-level option works great for removing noise in most situations, but pickyshooters will choose the low setting tomaintainmaximum sharpness, while less particular shooters cansacrifice sharpness fornoise reduction inhighmode.Please readyour camera’sUser’sGuide to seehownoisereductionisimplementedinyourspecificcamera.

Someplug-insworkwithAdobe’sLightroom,butitsplug-inarchitectureisdissimilartoPhotoshop,sobesuretocheck ifaparticularplug-inworksdirectlyor, likeImagenomic’sNoiseware,requiresadroplet toallowyoutobouncebackandforthbetweenthenoisereductionsoftwareandLightroom.Imagenomichasalibrary of free droplets and actions on their ActionBook page(http://www.imagenomic.com/actionbook.aspx).

Contrast noise (a.k.a. luminance noise) and color noise (a.k.a. chrominance noise) can be present in animage.Insomeimages,bothkindsofnoisemaybepresent.JPEGartifactscanbeextensiveinsomephotostoo(thislookslikenoise,butit’snot).Nik’sDfineallowsyoutocontrolwherethenoisereductionisappliedand the degree of the reduction. This makes it easy to eliminate noise while maintaining detail and

sharpness.

Photoshop-Compatibleplug-ins.AlthoughAdobedefinedthestandard,youdon’t need Photoshop to use plug-ins. Fully compatible plug-ins can be usedwith other image-editing programs.Note, however, that not all plug-ins workwith Photoshop Elements, and many plug-ins are not compatible with AppleAperture.

Postproductionapplicationofnoisereductionofferssomeadvantages.Itcanbe used for older image files that weremade with a digicam that didn’t havebuilt-innoisereduction.Whenapplyingnoisereductionaftercapture,youalsohavemorecontroloverhowandwherethenoiseisreduced.Noisereductioncanbe applied to a duplicate layer, and changing the new layer’s opacity canmoderatetheeffect.Noisereductioncanalsobeappliedtopartofanimageviatheuseofselectiontoolsorappliedtoaduplicatelayerandselectivelyerasedtoallowtheoriginal imagetoshowthrough,preservingsharpness incriticalpartsofthephotograph.BothPhotoshopandLightroomhavebuilt-innoisereductionfunctions, and that may suffice for some shooters. If you need somethingstrongerormoreflexible,you’llwanttoturntooneofthefollowingpowertools.

NoisewareisavailableforMacOSandWindowsasaplug-inorstandaloneproduct.It’savailableforboththestandardandprofessionalversion,withthebiggestdifferencebeing16-bitcapabilityintheproversion.Both use heuristic programming, which continuously perfects processing, so every time you process animage,Noisewarelearnsmoreaboutyourcameraorscanner.

NoiseNinjausesaproprietarytypeofwaveletanalysisthatavoidsintroducingartifacts,suchasringingorblurringedges,tothefinalimagefile.Torefineitsnoisereductioncapabilities,itusescameraprofilesthatareofferedfreeonitswebsite.Theyalsoofferaprofilingchartthatletsyoubuildyourownprofiles.

Nik Software’s (www.niksoftware.com) Dfine is a Photoshop-compatibleplug-in that provides control over how much and where to apply noisereduction, making it easy to eliminate noise in your photographs whilemaintaining detail and sharpness. The software performs automatic cameraprofiling, so youwon’t have to purchase profiles. This fine-tunes the plug-in’snoisereductionenginetoproducethebestresultsforyourspecificcamera.Nik’sU Point-powered Control Points allow you to reduce noise only where it’sneeded, maintaining detail everywhere else. You can download a free trialversionoftheplug-infromNik’swebsiteandtestitwithyourownphotographs.

Imagenomic’s(www.imagenomic.com)NoisewareremoveshighandlowISOnoise and JPEG compression artifacts from digital files as well as grain fromscanned film.The interface is intuitive, and you’ll get excellent resultswithouthavingtoreadthehelpfile.Noiseware’sself-learningmechanismautomaticallycalibratesanoiseprofileandchoosestheoptimalnoise-removalsettingswithoutrequiringcamera-specificprofiles.Theplug-inallowsthedetectednoiselevelstobe adjusted by tonal and color rangewhile it preserves image detail based ontonalityrange,allthewhileprocessingtoguardagainstexcessivechanges.

Wavelet-basedmethodsofnoisereductionweredevelopedtentofifteenyearsago.NeatImageusesanevennewerandmoreefficientapproachtonoisereduction.Thisapproachcanbeusedtodrawacleardistinctionbetweennoiseanddetailsinnoisyimages.

PictureCodes’s (www.picturecode.com)NoiseNinja runs on bothWindowsand Mac OS X and is available as a standalone application or plug-in. TheProfessionalversionworkswith16-bitTIFFfiles(48-bitsperpixel)andsupportsbatchprocessingandmultiprocessorcomputers.NoiseNinjausesaproprietarytypeofwaveletanalysis thatavoids introducingartifacts thatcancauseblurrededges. It includes a set of tools for automatic andmanualnoise analysis and anoisebrushthatletsyouundoorredotheeffectsofnoiseremovalinluminance,chroma, or color channels. PictureCode recommends that photographers useNoiseNinjaevenifanimagewasshotatalowISOsetting,astheyclaimyou’llbeabletomakebiggerenlargementsbeforenoisebecomesaproblem.

NeatImage(www.neatimage.com)isavailableasastandaloneapplicationorplug-in. It builds and uses device profiles from any image-acquisition device(cameraor scanner). It letsyoubuildnoiseprofilesautomaticallyormanually.AutoProfiler is the easiest andquickestone-clickway tobuild anoiseprofile,butyoucanmanuallyselectanimageareaforanalysisandletNeatImagedotherest.ProfileMatcherautomaticallyselectsthebest-matchingnoiseprofilebasedon the input image’s EXIF data. You can manually select the desired noiseprofile,relyondefaultfiltersettings,ormanuallyadjustthenoisefilters.Youcansaveandreusenoiseprofilesandfiltersettings.

Thesearenottheonlynoisereductionproductsthatareavailable,they’rejustthe ones that I use on a regular basis. If you already have noise reductionsoftwarethatyoulike,keepusingit.Ifyou’reinthemarketforanoisereductionprogram,notethatmostof theplug-insI’vementionedareavailable intrialordemoversions.Besure tovisit themanufacturers’websitesanddownloadany

thatinterestyou.

CONTRASTANDSHADOWSContrastissimplythedifferenceinbrightnessbetweenlightanddarkareasinascene.Itcanbeafunctionofthesubjectmatterorthelightingconditions,oralittleofboth.Controllingcontrastin-cameracanbeachallenge.Atthesimplestlevels,usingalowerISOsettingwillslightlyincreasecontrast,whilehigherISOsettingscandecreasecontrast.Otherin-cameratechniquescanbefoundinyourdigital camera’s menus. Olympus, for example, offers several picture modes,including natural and vivid mode. The natural setting produces images withmorenaturaltoneswithlesscontrast.Thevividmoderendersimagecolorsmoreintensely,withgreatercontrast.

Thislow-key,contrastyimagewasmadeinmydiningroomusingonlytheavailablelightcomingthroughthebackdoortomyhouse.ThecamerawasaCanonEOSD60andEF85mmf/1.8lens.Theexposurewas1/60secondandf/5.0atISO1000.Ididn’tuseflashorreflectorstogetthisshot,I just increasedtheISOsensitivity.

As withmany other manufacturers’ DSLRs, you can fine-tune image parameters such as contrast via amenu.ThisimageshowstheoptionsofferedonaPentaxK100D.Ifyou’reconcernedthatyoumaynotbehappywithyourapproachlateron,useRAW+JPEGcapture(seechapter7)soyou’llhaveanuntouchedfileatyourdisposal.

Olympus’ShadowAdjustmentTechnology (SAT) is availableon severalmodels. It allowsyou to capturegreaterdetailintheshadowareasofthescenewhilemaintainingdetailinthehighlights.Shadowadjustmentispartofthecamera’sgradationmenu.Whentheweirdlittleinfinitysymbolisdisplayed,gradationissetfornormal.WhenboththeinfinitysymbolandAUTOaredisplayed,SATisactive.

Somecameras,suchastheCanonEOS5D,donotoffershadowcontroloptions.Ifthisisthecaseforyourcamera too,youcanuse thecontrastcontrols to lower thecontrastand“openup” the shadows to revealmoredetail.Thedownsideisthatsensornoiseismorelikelyfoundinshadowareasthanmidtones.

Many photographers feel that shadows make or break a photograph.Sometimes,however,theshadowsinanimagemaybetooheavy.TheShadow’sLamontCranstonusedmindcontrol taughttohimbymonks inLhasa,butwehave other options at our disposal, starting with the shadow adjustmenttechnologyavailableonsomeSLRs,includingthosefromOlympus.

Nowadays,wehavePhotoshoptocontrolshadowsandsometimeshighlights

too. The Shadow/Highlight tool (Image>Adjustments>Shadow/ Highlight) isoneofPhotoshop’ssecretweapons.Theinterfacefeaturesindividualslidersthatcanbeusedforvaryingtheintensityoftheshadowsand/orhighlights,aswellascontrollingcolorandmidtonecontrast.Unlikesomeshadowcontrol tools thatblow out highlights while emphasizing noise in the shadows, Photoshop’sShadow/Highlightkeepsthenoisewhereitis,andifyoushottheimageatalowISO,thatmeansthereisn’tany.

SCENEMODESECRETSMostdigitalSLRsofferaprogrammodethatsetstheshutterspeedandaperturewithagivenISOsetting.Scenemodesworklikeprogrammodeonsteroids.Youturn the whole exposure over to the camera, whichmakes exposure decisionsbiasedtowardspecificconditionsandmay,forexample,automaticallytriggerthebuilt-inflash!Scenemodesareunderutilizedbecausefewpeopleseemtoknowaboutthem.SomecamerashaveaSCNsettingonacontrolknob,whileothershavethemtuckedinsidethecamera’smenustructure,butalmostallpoint-and-shootsandentry-leveldigitalSLRsofferscenemodes.Thattermisnotuniversal,however; Casio, for example, uses the unfortunate abbreviation BS (for “bestshot”)ontheirEXLIMProEX-F1.Aswithanycamera-specificfeature,seeyourUser’sGuideforspecificdetailsaboutthisfeature.

This test shotwasmade forMegan’smodelportfolio.Shewantedamoody imagewith lotsofshadows. IusedaCanonEOSD60withanEF28-105mmzoomlensat55mm.Theexposurewasf/7.1at1/125secondand ISO 400. Natural light came through a narrow window to the left with the mini-blinds open tominimize harsh light on the model. When evaluating images like these on an LCD, they often appear

brighterandmorecontrastythantheyreallyare.I’vetriedadjustingthepanel’sbrightnesstocompensate,butitdoesn’tseemtohelp.

This is the result of using Photoshop’s Shadow/Highlight control’s default settings. The mood that themodelandIweretryingtoproducewasdiminished.

Megan is a redhead, but this was the result of tweaking Photoshop’s Shadow/Highlight control. The“Goldilocks”lookminimizedshadowsbutmaintainedthemood.Thediagramshowsthesetup.

Oneof theproblemswith scenemode (orwhatevera specificmanufacturercalls it) is that each manufacturer has decided there will be little or no

standardizationonwhatscenemodesareofferedorevenwhattheirnameswillbe, so similar features may have different names in a camera from anothermanufacturer. In the image below, you’ll see a round-up of some commonnames, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a King Kong mode offered forphotographinggiantsimiansclimbingbuildings.

Don’t Be Confused. Scene modes set many different parameters on thecamera, including shutter speed, aperture, and even the use of flash. Othermodes affect the actual look of the image. For example, most recent Canondigital SLRs include a set of picture styles that emulate the characteristics ofvariousfilmsandadjuststhecamera’ssettingsforimageprocessingparameterssuchastonecurve,sharpness,orcontrast.Picturestylesmakeitsimpleforusersto get optimum image quality by making choices that are more or less likeselecting a particular type of film in 35mm photography based on its colorcharacteristics,contrast,andsharpness.

Themodedialoncameras,suchasthePentaxK100D,letsyouselectSCN(scenemode)andotheroptionsthat sometimesget confusedwith it. Ina recentonline survey, readerswereasked toname their favoritescene mode. Some picked aperture priority (really an exposure mode, not a scene mode), while onerespondentsaid,“theyarealluseless.”

ThePentaxK100D’s scenemodes showupon the rearLCD screen.The camera’s four-way controller isusedtoselectthescenemode,butitalsogivesyousomeinformationaboutwhatthegivenmodedoes.

Casio’sEX-F1offersabestshot(BS)modethatblursthelinebetweenimagemanipulationmodes—suchaspicture styles—andscenemodesbycombining them intooneeasier-to-use selectionof shootingoptions.Whenyouthinkaboutit,thisapproachmakesalotofsense.ThisdancerwascapturedduringaCincodeMayocelebrationinDenver.Exposurewas1/320secondatf/9.9andISO200,usingtheCasioEXLIMProEX-Fl’sbestshotmode.

MyfriendTonyphotographedmeaftershoppinginTokyo’sAkihabaradistrict.TheshotwasmadewithanEOSDigitalRebelinnightscenemode.Thecameradeterminedanexposureof1/60secondatf/3.5andISO400.©2011TonyGomez.

Canon is hardly unique in offering the ability to capture images in variouscolor renditions. The Nikon D40x’s Retouch menu offers in-camera image-editing features includingmonochrome (black&white, sepia, and cyanotype)and filter effects (skylight,warm, color balance). Samsung andPentax’s digitalSLRsofferawiderangeofcaptureoptionsincludingasettingcalledimagetone,which offers two choices—bright (which produces snappy images with morecontrast and sharper focus) and natural (which produces photographs thatSamsung says are “finished naturally and suitable for retouching”). Readingbetween the lines, itmeans less contrast, a slightly lighter exposure, and softerfocus.Butnoneofthesearereallyscenemodes.

Night ScenePortrait. This scenemodewas designed for takingpictures ofpeopleatnightusingthecamera’sbuilt-inflashtoilluminatethem.Inthismode,a slow-sync shutter speed allows you to capture detail and color in thebackground. When making a portrait in front of a cityscape or sunset, theforegroundorthebackgroundwillbeexposedcorrectly,butit’sunlikelyyouwill

achieveabalancedexposurebetween foregroundandbackground.Night scenemode automatically selects a long exposure time so the background will havesufficientexposure.The flashwillaccurately illuminate themainsubject in theforeground,andthebackgroundwillbeproperlyexposedbytheexposuretime.

Sinceyoumayendupwithaslowshutterspeed,a fairlywideaperture,andthe flash turned on—that’s the whole point of trying to balance flash andbackground—besuretocarefullyfocusonyoursubjectusingthecamera’sfocuslockfeature.Thereareafewmoretipsaboutnightscenemodeinchapter6.

Goingouttoplay(orshovel) inthesnow?Trysomeshotsinsurfandsnowmodetoseeiftheexposuresaren’tbetterthanthey’vebeenbefore.ThisshotofMary,madeonNewYear’sDay,wasmadewithaSonypoint-and-shootcamera.Thecamerachoseanexposureof1/500atf/10andISO200.

SurfandSnow.Whilenightscenesfoolmeteringsystemswithpointsoflightandlotsofdarkness,beachandsnowscenesdojusttheopposite:theyhavealotof light,makingthebuilt-inmeterwanttounderexposetheshot.Choosingthesurf and snow scenemode tells the camerawhat it’s up against and produceswellexposedimages.

Text. If you think about it, photographing text, in most cases, is not toodifferent fromphotographing in the snow—there is a lot ofwhite backgroundwith thinblack text for foreground.Though themode isn’tveryexciting, it’sa

greatoptionwhenyou’reshootingcopyworkandwantthetexttobesharpandclear.

Sunset. Sunsets and sunrises are notoriously difficult to shoot because youhavelotsofdarkareasandabrilliantlightsourceinthesameframe.Withyourcamera set to this mode, you can more easily record the beautiful color thatdraws your eye but is always difficult to render in a photograph. In thephotographbelow,youcanseetheant-likepeople(assilhouettes)walkingonthebeach.It’salwaysagoodideatohavesomeforegroundinterestinsunsetscenessuchasthisone.

Nothingsayssunsetliketheclassic“sunslowlysettinginthewest”shot,andthisphotographofthebeachatAcapulcobenefittedfromthesunsetscenemode.Thecamera-determinedexposurewas1/500secondatf/4andISO80.

T

4.LIGHTINGOUTDOORS

“TAKINGPICTURESISLIKETIPTOEINGINTOTHEKITCHENLATEATNIGHTANDSTEALINGOREOCOOKIES.”-DIANEARBUS

hebest-lookingportraitswilloftenbeonesthatallowthesubjecttocontrastwith its background, as this allows the subject to stand out and creates asenseofdramainthephotograph.That’swhyit’sagoodideatolookfora

backgroundthatisdarker(orlighter)thanyoursubject.Sometimes,thisrequiresa small adjustment in cameraposition, so take the time topick the right spot.AnselAdamsonce said that “A goodphotograph is knowingwhere to stand,”andthat’sjustastrueforportraitureasitisforlandscapephotography.

Aclassicuseofbacklightingaddsdramatothisshotofanaspiringmodelwhowasposingforthefirsttimeinafriend’sbackyard.ThecamerawasaCanonEOS5DwithanEF28-135mmISlens.Theexposurewas

1/200secondatf/7.1andISO400.FillwasprovidedbyanEX550flashunitthatlaterhaditshotshoerippedoffwhenIstumbledcarryingtwocameras,eachwithaspeedlightmounted.Nobody’sperfect.

Thisaspiringmodelhaslotsofbeautiful,luxurioushair.Beforethisshot,Iaskedhertospritzherhairwithwater from a spray bottle kept for this very purpose, and thiswas the result. This phase one imagewascapturedonKodakblack&whitenegativefilmusingaContax167andCarlZeiss85mmf/1.8lens.

One of the best portrait techniques is to work with the depth of field anddeliberately set a sharp subject against an out-of-focus background orforeground. Try different apertures to change the look of an out-of-focusbackgroundanduselongerlenses,whichinherentlyhavelessdepthoffieldthanwide-anglelenses.Anotheroneofmyfavoritetechniquesforoutdoorportraitureisbacklighting(seechapter6)becauseitproducesbrightedgesonyoursubject.Backlightingcanproducebeautifulhighlightsonthesubject’shairandblowoutthebackgroundtocreateahigh-keyeffectandperhapsminimizetheimpactofaless-than-excitingbackground.

EIGHTQUICKTIPSFORBETTEROUTDOORPORTRAITS

1. Avoid large jewelry. Make sure that your subject’s face, especially the

eyes, are the photograph’s main focus. Ask the model to remove herwristwatchtoo.

2. Ask them to wear solid colors. Nothing detracts more than clothescoveredinbusypatternsandprints.

3. Ensuretheclothesfit.Ifasubject’sclothesdon’tfitaswellasyoumightlike, use wooden clothespins (out of camera range) to snug them up.Subjectswearoversizedclothingmoreoftenthanyoumightthink.

4. Ask the subject towearherhairdifferently (fromup todown todownfromup, for example) for each changeof clothing.Oneofmy favoritetricksistohavethemspraytheirhairwithwater;somesubjects’hairgetscurly and some goes straight, but either effect can produce some greatlooks.

5. Have the subject vary her expressions. Somemodels look great with asmile, while others look better without one. The only way to find outwhichway your subject’s looks best is to try both. If you’re lucky, thesubjectlooksgreatbothways,providinglotsofdifferentlooks.

6. Usedifferentmakeupstyles.Whenchanginghairstylesoroutfits,askthemodel to change her makeup style and color too. The change doesn’thavetobedrastic,maybeadifferentlipstickcolorordarkereyeshadow.Avoidtheflatmonochromelooksopopularthesedays.Itmaylookgreat(Idon’tthinkso,butsomepeopleloveit)foreveryday,butitlooksdeadin photographs. Get the subject to try some red lipstick. She will besurprisedbythechange,andagain,you’llachievesomedifferentlooks.

7. Havethesubjectchoosegreatfootwear.Foramoreastatuesqueposture,askthemodeltowearherhighestheels.Nohighheels?Askhertostandonhertoesforafewshots.

8. Relax.Ashootisateameffort.Themodelandphotographermustworktogethertoachievethebest-possibleimages.

SUNNYDAYSTheclassicwayofexposingimagesonsunnydaysisthefamous“Sunny16”rule.TheSunny16rulestatesthat,onasunnyday,youcansetyourapertureatf/16andchoose a shutter speed that approximates the reciprocalof the ISOyou’ve

selectedforthescene.Forinstance,ifyourcameraissetatISO125,thesunlightexposurewouldbe1/125secondatf/16.ThecorrectexposureatISO400wouldbe 1/400 second at f/16, but since most cameras don’t have a 1/400 secondshutterspeedsetting,a1/500secondspeedshouldwork.

Thissports fanwasphotographedonabright, sunnydayonthegroundsofanearbyrecreationcenter. Ithoughtthatthebleacherstandsaddedjusttherighttouch.TheimagewasmadeonthekindofdaythatthelittleslipofpaperKodakpackswiththefilmsaysrequiresanexposureof1/125secondatf/16.Inthiscase,however,Iwentwithanexposureof1/200secondatf/8.Intheory,thesesettingswouldproduceaslightlyunderexposedimage,butIcompensatedfortheobviousbacklightingbyusinganEX550flashforfill.

Whentheweatherisnice,Iliketovisitastateparkwithalakethat’snearbymyhome.Theparkisalmostdeserted during theweek, and the few fishermen there have never even gawked at amodelwearing theskimpiest of bikinis. Please note that some state and local parksmay require permits for “commercial”photography, but I’ve found that the mostly female rangers in this park have always been polite andwelcoming.CamerawasaCanonEOSD60andEF28-90mmlenswithanexposureof1/200secondatf/6.7andISO100.Thecamera’spop-upflashwasusedasfill.

Modern camera technology has relieved us of the guesswork methods ofcheckingexposure formostcommon lightingsituations, includingsunnydays.The ability to tweak exposurewith today’s sophisticated cameras canmake orbreak your imagequality and content. I’mastounded at thenumberof peoplewhodon’tcareaboutcorrectexposure,usingthealreadyworn-outphrase,“I’lljustfixitlaterinPhotoshop.”Whereexposureisconcerned,Photoshopisnotacure-all.YoucanusedigitaldarkroomtechniquesthatIshowedinthepreviouschapter, but Iuse themonlywhen Imakemistakes.Thebestphotographs aremade from the best-possible exposures.A digital image that is too far over-orunderexposed cannot be completely saved with image manipulating software.Pleasere-readthelastsentence.

Givethesubjectsomethingtodowithherhands.Itwillmakeherrelaxbecauseshewillhaveonelessthingtoworryabout,andshe’llbebetterabletoconcentrateonyou.ThecamerawasaCanonEOSD60withanEF135mmSFlens.Theexposurewas1/320secondatf/4andISO200.Iusedanexposurecompensationofplusonestoptomakeupfortheshade(morelater)causedbythebuilding’soverhang.

The biggestmistakemany photographersmakewhenworking on a bright,sunnydayishavingthesubjectfacethesun.Theirideaisthatthisposewillputthe most light on the subject. While that’s true, placing the subject in thisposition alsomakes the individual squint, and nobody except Clint Eastwoodlooks goodwhen squinting.Let themodel relax and turnherback to the sun,then use flash to illuminate her face.When used correctly, this fill flash (seechapter 6)won’t look out of place andwill add a little sparkle to the subject’seyes.

Don’tget fussyaboutposing the subject.Watchwhat theydonaturallyandtry to have them interact with the background in some way that’s physicallycomfortable.Toshowasubjecthowtostand,I’llputmyself intheposebut lethergivemeherinterpretation.Onceshe’sinapose,Iselectcameraanglesthataccentamodel’sgoodpointsandminimizeanythingsheisself-consciousabout.Never just point the camera and hope that’s the right shot.Move around and

watchthebackgroundtoo.Italktoeverysubjectdifferentlytoo.It’syourjobtofindthebestwayofworkingtoputheratease.Byusingthe fewestnumberoflenses and lighting equipment, you can focus on composition and pose thesubject to produce interesting photographs. The most technically perfectphotographsmadewith themost expensive equipmentwon’tmake up for thelook—you’llseeitintheeyes—ofasubjectwhoisn’tpartofthecreativeprocess.

Oneway to increasecommunicationduring the shoot is to showthemodelsomeof the images on yourdigital camera’s LCD screen as youmake them. Idon’tliketoshoweveryshot,justtheonesIlikeandamexcitedabout.Doingsooftengetsthemodelexcitedtoo,resultinginbetterimagesforbothofus.Seeinghowgreatshelooksgivesherconfidenceinyourabilitiesandmakesthesessionprogressmoresmoothly.

CLOUDYDAYSThere are all kinds of cloudy days.On days that are heavily overcast, you getwhat I call “muddy light.”Ondays like this, it’sdifficultbutnot impossible tocreategood-lookingportraits.Whenyou’vesimplygottogettheshot,you’llfindthatusingaspeedlightcanhelp(seechapter6formoreinformation).Onotherdays, the conditions are what Eastman Kodak famously refers to as “cloudybright.”Thesearethebestdaystophotographpeoplebecausethelightscatteringthroughthecloudsproducesawonderfulwraparoundlightingthatissoft,non-directional,andbrightenoughtokeepshadowsawayfromtheeyesockets—andthere’snoworryingaboutsquintingorbacklighting.It’sthebestofallworlds.

My wife Mary made this “cloudy bright” photograph of another photographer’s wife at an impromptugatheringofphotographersandaspiringmodelsatafriend’shome.HercamerawasanOlympusE-1witha14-54mmzoomlensandanexposureof1/125secondatf/4andISO200.

Inacloudybrightsetting,themodelisrelaxedwhilethesoftlightwrapsaroundher,leavinghereyesbrightwithnodarkshadows.ThecamerawasaCanonEOS10DwithanEF28-105mmlens.Theexposurewas1/125secondatf/5.6andISO200.

HereisthedatasheetforKodakGold100and200colornegativefilms,whichwere“designedforgeneralpicture-taking situations in daylight orwith electronic flash.”Note the different lighting conditions that

Kodakmentions,including“cloudybright.”

LENTELOCO

LenseslikeCanon’sEF85mmf/1.2LIIUSMareveryfast.Onasunnyday,IshotwiththisparticularlensonmyCanonEOS30D.IusedISO100withthe lens wide open, and the required exposure exceeded the camera’smaximumshutterspeedof1/8000second.Ihadtostopdowntof/1.6togetproperexposurewith the least-possibledepthof field.Onacloudy(reallycloudy,nota“cloudybright”)day,IwasabletoshootwideopenatISO100and get good exposures at 1/1600 second, which produced tack-sharpimageswithadelightfullyshallowdepthoffield.

MADEINTHESHADEShadyareasareoneofmyfavoritelocationportraitdestinations.Thelightissoft,notdirectional,andthissoftnesshelpsputthesubjectatease,increasingtheoddsofagoodportrait.Thedownsideisthatthelowerlightlevelsintheselocalesalsomeansslowershutterspeeds,whichcanresultinwhatlookslikeanout-of-focusimagebutisreallytheoutcomeofcameramovement.

Canon’sEF85mmf/1.2LIIUSMhasanintegratedhigh-speedCPUandusesaring-typeultrasonicmotor(USM) for fast andnear-silentautofocus; it’s a feature that isusefulwhenshootingwideopenwhenyouwanttoshiftfocusbyasillymillimeterortwo.Atf/1.2youcankeepamodel’seyesharpwhileblurringtheendsofhereyelashes.Theshallowdepthoffieldpossiblewhenthelensisusedatitswidestaperturemakesthisanidealportraitlensinthestudiooronlocation.

Unfortunately, sometimes this ever-so-slight softnessmaybedifficult to seeonanLCDpreviewscreen.Takethetimetolearnaboutanduseyourcamera’smagnification control to enlarge the image on the LCD so you can see if it issharpbeforeendingtheportraitsession.Thebesttest istolookatthesubject’seyes.Ifthey’resharp,itdoesn’tmatterhowsharpanythingelseintheframemaybe.Oneofthebestwaystoavoidthisproblemis,ofcourse,touseatripod,butthat isn’t always practical. I’ve started using lenses such as the Canon EF 28-135mmf/3.5-5.6ISUSM;theimagestabilizationtechnologyallowsyoutoholdacamerathreestopsslowerthanyoucouldotherwise.

Theonlyotherproblemwithshootingintheshade,especiallyamongalotoftrees,isthattheoverallcolorbalancecanbeaffected.Thiscanoftenberemediedbyusingyour camera’s shade colorbalancepreset—but sometimesyou simplyforget.

Thismodelwas photographed in the shadeof a tree atBuffaloBill StateHistorical Park (there’s a smalladmissioncharge,butit’sagreatplacetoshoot)inNorthPlatte,Nebraska.ThecamerawasaCanonEOS5D,whichwasfittedwithanEF28-135mmf/3.5-5.6ISUSMlens.Theexposurewas1/125secondatf/7.1andISO200.

UsingyourSLR’sshadewhitebalancepresetisagoodidea,especiallywhenworkingoutdoors,wherethereare lotsofreflectionsfromfoliage—butwhatdoyoudoifyouforgettodial inthatoption,or ifyoufindyourLCDscreenisn’tascolorcorrectas itshouldbe?Here isanexampleofbeautifulShannonMarie(asimilarbutdifferentimageofherappearsinJoeFarace’sGlamourPhotography)thatmakesherlookmorelikeShrekthanthebeautifulwoodnymphshe’sportrayinginthisportrait.

PictoColor’s(www.pictocolor.com)iCorrectPortrait isaninexpensivePhotoshop-compatibleplug-inthatisusefulformakingthesekindsofcolorcorrections.FortheportraitofShannonMarie,Imerelyclickedonhercheek, thencheckedsetwhitepoint forsomeadditionalcoloranddensityadjustment. Ialsoaddedaplus20pointsontheLightencontrol,allfromwithintheplug-in.

After a few tweakswithPhotoshop’sCurves function tobumpup the contrast, andabitofburninganddodging,hereisthefinalresult.

CONTROLCOLORBYGOINGMONOCHROME

One of the easiestways to eliminate color casts is to eliminate the color!Maybe you think that’s cheating, but sometimes amonochrome image isjustwhatyouneedtofocustheattentiononthesubjectandnotthecolors.Andmonochromedoesn’thavetomeanblack&white.Aclassicdefinitionofthetermis“apicturedoneindifferentshadesofasinglecolor,”whichinthephotoworldoftenmeanstoning.InJoeFarace’sGlamourPhotography(www.amherstmedia.com), I show you how to use in-camera toning toproduceamonochromebutnotnecessarilyblack&white image. It’sonewaytotakeaweakcolorimageandtransformitintoamoredynamiccolorphotograph—atleastIhopeyouagree.

To create this faux cyanotype, I photographed Lorie using the Canon’s EF 85mm f/1.2 L II USM andwindowlight.(ThecyanotypewasinventedbySirJohnHerschelin1842andwasthefirstsuccessfulnon-silver photographic printing process. It’s blue, hence the name.) The image was captured directly inmonochromeusingtheCanon’sEOS30Dbluetoningcapabilities.Theexposurewas1/125secondatf/2.8andISO320.Imadetheshotwiththecamerainshutterprioritymodeanddeliberatelyunderexposedbyone-thirdstoptoincreaseshadowsandbluesaturation.

Here is theoriginal,unretouched JPEGfile. ItwasmadewithaCanonEOS10DandEF28-105mmlenswithanexposureof1/100secondatf/6.3andISO200.MyEXIFdatashowsthatflashwasused,butatinycatchlightinthesubject’seyesseemstobetheonlyvisibleeffectofusingtheflash.

Here,theimageisshowncropped.Iusedselectiontoolstocopy,paste,androtatethemodel’sheadtomakeitappearmoresquaretothecamera.SinceIwasalreadycheating,whynotgoalltheway?IcroppedtheshotintoashapethatwouldfitAmherstMedia’scoverformat,soIcouldpresentitasoneofmyfavoritecoveroptions.Next,IdidsomeretouchingusingPhotoshop’sclonetoolandhealingbrush.Iwrappedthingsupbyturningtheunderutilizeddodgeandburntools.

Iconvertedtheimagetoblack&whiteusingNikSoftware’s(www.niksosftware.com)SilverEfexPro,whichcreatedthefirstlayer(workingfrombottomtotop).ThenIusedNik’sColorStylizerfilter,whichispartoftheColorEfexPropackage.ThiswasfollowedupwiththeGlamourGlowfilter—it’soneofmyfavorites—that’spartoftheColorEfexProCompleteEditionpackage.Becausealloftheeffectsareappliedtodifferentlayers,youcanvarytheintensityofeachonetoproducethelookyou’reafter.IturnedoffthebackgroundlayerbecauseIwantedtousetheblack&whiteversionforthebasisofthefinalimages.

Here the subject’s red hair and color outfit have been controlled, allowing the viewer to focus on herbeautifulface.Thetopsheiswearingisstillbusy,butIcan’tcontrolwhatpeoplebringtowearforashoot.IcouldhavecontinuedworkinginPhotoshoptochangeit toasolidcolor,butIhavemylimits.Onceyoustartretouching,especiallyathighermagnifications,youbeginsee littledetails thatyouwantto improve,butsoonerorlateryouhavetoquit.Ihavea20-minuterule:ifthefinishedphotographisn’tthewayIwantittolookafter20minutes,it’snevergoingtosatisfyme,soIstartagainwithanotherimage.

This is forreaderswhoarewonderingwherethephotographsofhalf-nakedmenare;here’soneof them.Thiswasmadeunder extreme low-light conditions in ahotel ballroomwhere these “living statues”wereposedunderasinglespotlight.ItwasshotwithaCanonEOS3Dfittedwitha28-105mmlens.Theexposurewas1/125secondatf/5andISO1250.Yes,thereisnoise,buttheEOSD30’sbuilt-innoisesuppressiondidasurprisinglygoodjobofcontrollingit.

LOW-LIGHTANDNIGHTPHOTOGRAPHYThere are few if any secrets about capturing images when light is low. Theingredients are a simple witch’s brew of fast lenses, high ISO settings, andappropriate camera supports. What sets a successful image apart from a lesssuccessfulone ishow these ingredientsarecombinedandwhatyoudidbeforetheimagewasmade.Whenshootingatdusk,asunsetcanhappenratherquickly,soit’simportanttohavemostofyourworkdoneinadvance.YoushouldalreadyknowwhichISOsettingandlensesyouareplanningtouse,soit’sagoodideatoscoutthelocationanddeterminethebestspottoplaceyourcamera.Gettingyouplanningdonebeforethegoldenhourarrives leavesyoufreetoconcentrateontheproperexposureas the light changesandgivesyou time toproperly frametheimage.

FastLenses. Justaswithsportscars,computerprocessors,bullet trains,and

Internetconnections,beingfastisgreatforcameralensestoo.It’smucheasiertotakephotographs in low lightwith an f/2.0or f/2.8 than an f/4.5 or f/5.6 lens,mainlybecause it’s easier to look throughyourcameraat these largeraperturesettings,butalsobecauseyoucanshootatasmallerthanwide-openapertureandstillmaintain a crisp image.Most lenses aredesigned toworkunder “normal”lighting conditions, and in photographic terms, this means outdoors. Normallightingmaybeworkableinovercastweather,theshadeoftreesorbuildings,orbrightly lit rooms (ones with skylights or plenty of large windows). Theinexpensivekit lenses suppliedonpoint-and- f/5.6 and somepoint-and-shootsonlyhaveanf/6.3maximumaperture!

Nikon’s AF-S Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G ED has a natural wide angle of view and extreme light-gatheringcapability. Itoffersextraordinaryperformance, rising toawide rangeofchallengingassignments. Its twoextra-low dispersion (ED) elements effectively minimize chromatic aberration to produce superiorsharpnessandcolorcorrectionatthewidestaperturesettings.

TheZuikoDigitalED7-14mmf/4.0isawide-angle lensthat,becauseoftheE-System’s2xmultiplicationfactor (see sidebar)has a zoomrange equivalent to14-28mm.By incorporating large-aperture asphericalelements and a two-sided aspherical ED element, the Zuiko Digital ED 7-14mm corrects the kind ofdistortionandastigmatismnormallyassociatedwithwide-anglelenses—especiallyzooms.Aswithall lenscomponentsoftheE-System,the7-14mmlensisbuiltontheFourThirdsSystemstandard.

THESO-CALLEDMULTIPLICATIONFACTOR

NoteverydigitalSLRhasanimagingchipthat’sthesame24x36mmformatusedin35mmfilmcameras.Theresthavechipsthataresmallerinsize,andthisdifferenceresultsinalensmultiplicationfactorthatturnsa50mmlensintosomethinglonger(howmuchlongerdependsonthecamera).The4:3SystemOlympususedintheirE-Systemproducesamultiplicationfactorof2.0X. This means a 50mm lens attached to an E-Volt 3000 shows theequivalentareaofa100mmlens,butit’simportanttorealizethatIhaven’tattachedateleconverter;thefocallengthofthelensremainsthesame.Theimageintheviewfinderlookslikea50mmshotthatwascroppedintotheangleofviewofa100mmlens.

ZoomlensesforSLRscomeintwovarieties:fastorslow.Manyslowerzoomlenses have a floatingmaximum f/stop,where themaximumaperture changeswithin the zoomrangeof the lens.A24-105mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens is a goodexample.Atthewidestfocallengthof24mm,themaximumapertureisthef/3.5.Asthelensiszoomedtowardthetelephotoend,thatmaximumapertureshiftstothef/5.6opening.

MaryFaracemadethisphotographofDawnCliffordasTheUnsinkableMollyBrowninthemodel’slivingroomusinganOlympusE-330andaZuikoDigitalED7-14mmf/4.0 lens.The final exposurewas1/160secondatf/4.5andISO400inautobracketmode.Themainlightwascomingfromthebaywindow,andon-cameraflashwasusedasfill.©2011MaryFarace.

Op/TechUSA’sTripodLegWrapskeepcoldmetal legsunderwrapsandawayfromyourskin.Theyalsoprotect the legs against damage andgive you addedprotection against shoulder fatiguewhen schleppingyourtripodfromplacetoplace.

TheTiltalltripodusesatimelessclassicdesignandhasbeenmanufacturedalmostcontinuouslysince1947.Thiscolorfulprototypewasmadeformeasapotentialnewmodel,but itneversawthe lightofday.ThephysicaldesignofthisTiltallisthesameaswasoriginallyproducedbyCaesarandMarkMarchioni,andit’sthesameasthetripodsyoucanpurchasetodayfrommajorretailerssuchasAdorama(www.adorama.com)andB&HPhoto(www.bhphotovideo.com.)©2010MaryFarace.

UsefulAccessoriesforNighttimePhotography.Tomakesuccessfulpicturesunderlow-lightconditions,you’llneedafewextranon-photographictools.Eventhoughmanycamerashavebacklitpanels fortheircontrolLCDs,you’llwantasmallLEDflashlightsoyoucanseethecameraandmakeallthepropersettings.It beats working in the dark. I use a NightStar (www.appliedinnotech.com),whichismadeinColorado,butifyou’relookingforotheroptions,visittheLEDMuseumonline(http://ledmuseum.home.att.net)toseewhat’savailable.

It’s often coldduring someof thesenighttime sessions, somynext favoriteaccessory is fingerless gloves. These gloves letmeworkwith the camerawhilekeepingmypawswarm. Iuseapairofwoolies fromEasternMountainSports(www.ems.com),butthesekindsofglovesareavailableinlotsofoutdoorstores.Getapairofmittensforyourtripodtoo.Op/TechUSA’s(www.optechusa.com)TripodLegWrapskeepcoldmetal legsunderwrapsandawayfromyourskin.Theyalsoprotectthelegsagainstdamageandgiveyouaddedprotectionagainst

shoulder fatigue. The Cordura LegWraps are available in 1, 1/4, and ½-inchdiameter leg sizes. Ifyou’re seriousaboutnighttimearchitecturalphotography,you’ll also need a ladder, so why not get one with wheels such as Franzus’(www.adorama.com) industrial-grade aluminum LadderKart. It’s not onlyindispensable for getting a little elevation during your next late-night photoshoot,it’salsoalesstediouswaytoschlepallthatgear!

TRIPODSTripods come inmany sizes, from tiny tabletopmodels to heavy-duty camerastands, for studio use. A properly designed tripod provides better imagesharpnessthanisotherwisepossibleathandheldspeeds.Theaveragepersoncanhandholdacameraatashutterspeedequaltothereciprocalofthefocallengthofthelens.Whenindoubt,manyphotographers increasetheshutterspeed.Withfocal plane shutters, the effective speed of the curtains at 1/1000 second is thesameasitisat1/30second.Athighershutterspeeds,theonlythingchangingisanarrowingofthespacebetweenthetwocurtains.Asyougetolder,thethresholdbetweenhandholdingacameraandusingatripodextendstohigherandhighershutterspeeds.

Flashpoint(www.adorama.com)offersa familyof three-sectioncarbonfiber tripod legsets that includea

case.The28mmtubularlegsareextremelystable,andtheyaremorelightweightthansometripodsonthemarket.The legscanalsobeadjusted to threedifferentangles to facilitateuseonunevengroundorwithlow-angleshooting.Theyareshownherewithsomeoftheoptionalheads.

There are just a fewbasics needed for a good tripod: itmust be sturdy butlightweight enough so that you’ll use it!After that, it’s amatter of choosing atripodthatiswellsuitedtoyourwayofworking.WhenIrealizedIcouldholdacamera steadier than my first tripod could, I threw it out. I ignored the firstquestionyoushouldaskyourselfwhenbuyingatripod:whatkindofcameraamIgoingtousewiththistripod?Theweightofthecamerawastoomuchforthehead,anditworeout.Thekindofcamerayouuseaffectsthetypeoftripodthat’srightforyou.

Whiletripodshavethreelegs,thoselegsaremadeupofadifferentnumberofsections.Atripodwiththreesectionsorlesswillbestrongerandlessexpensivethanonewithmoresections.Fortravel,tripodswithfourormoresectionsmayappealtoyou;theymaybemorecompact,buttheywon’tbeasrigid.Thereareatleast three kinds of legs: The tubular style is strongest because a metal wallcompletelysurroundstheleg.Theopensideofthechannellegcanbeattractive,butitdoesn’tprovideasmuchstructuralrigidityandthelegisweakerandeasilytwisted.Someprofessionaltripodsusesquarelegsclosedonallsidesforstrengthbutretain theaestheticsof thechannel leg.Thesizeof the leghasanaffectonstability;thewidertheleg’sdiameter,thestrongertheleg,but“crutchstyle”legsprovideextrastabilitywithoutextraweightandhavealwaysbeenpopularforprovideotripods.

Roundlegsgenerallyhavethreadedcollets,andtheycanalwaysbetightenedenoughtolockthelegsinplace.Tripodswithchannellegstypicallyhavelockinglevers.These levers are easy touse but canwear out faster.Manfrotto’s roundlegsuserapid-actionleverleglocksthateasilysnapopenorlock,whichcanbeespecially handy when working outdoors in cold weather when collets can bestickyanddifficulttoopenwithglovedhands.

Manfrotto’s (www.bogenimaging.com) CX-Series line of carbon fiber tripods has—for tripods—a stylishdesign. It features a Q90° (Quick Center Column System) that allows the column to be rotated to ahorizontal positionwith a singlemotion, without removing the head or disassembling the column. Thefeaturemakesswitchingbetweenframingandpositioningasnap.

Some tripods feature legbraces thatextend fromthecentercolumntoeachleg. This type of construction prevents the legs from closing when you don’twant themto.Whilebracesmake the tripodheavierandmoredifficult to foldquickly, they add to the overall rigidity. If the tripod legs’ diameter is largeenough,bracesmaynotbenecessary.

ThereareasmanydifferentkindsoftripodfeetastherearesneakersforyourfeetatthelocalFootLockerstore.Themostbasicfootisthecrutchtip,arubbercup that prevents metal legs from scratching the floor. Some tripods featurerubber tips forwoodenandother slippery surfaces,plusa retractable spike foroutdooruse.

Somemanufacturersofferachoiceoflegandheadtypes,allowingyoutomixandmatch.Youmaywanttouseonemanufacturer’sheadonanothercompany’slegs.Therearetwotypesofheads—ballorpan—withvariationsinbetween.Ballheadaficionadostellyoutheirfavoriteisquick,easytouse,andyoudon’thave

to turndifferent levers tomove itwhereyouwant.Panheadadvocates say it’seasiertolevelthecameraorfollowmovement.Trybothandpicktheoptionyoulikebest.Camerastorestellmetheysellanevennumberofballheadsandpanheads.Makesuretheheadisappropriateforthecamera.Thelargertheplatform,themore securely the camera canbe seated andbalanced.Using a largerheadalsoprovidesspaceforpositivelockingmechanisms.

Ballheadsarecompactandfeatureaknoborleverthatlocksandunlockstheballmountedunder thecameraplatform.Byunlocking theball,youcanmovethecamerafreelyinanydirection.Apanheadusuallyhastwoorthreeleverstocontrolforwardandbackwardmotion,plustheabilitytochangefromhorizontalto vertical. Two-lever models make you reorient the camera for vertical orhorizontal photographs, but someprovide flexibility byusing a small lever forthis flipping action. Each movement of a pan head requires locking thatmovement.Unlike a ball head,with a panhead, one axis can be adjusted at atime.Thiscanbeespeciallyimportantwhendoingarchitecturalphotography.

The most common type of center column is the lift type, which uses thephotographer’sarmstoraiseandlowerit.Lockingisprovidedbyascrewlockorcollet.Withagearedcentercolumn,acrankisusedtoraiseorlowerthecolumn.Thisprovidesprecisioninraisingorloweringthecolumnbutisslowerthanthelifttype.Checktoseeifthegearteetharesturdyenoughforyourcamera.Someprofessional tripods use a clutch system, which provides a combination of liftand crank types. The center column is unlocked by depressing a spring leverthat’s automatically locked when the lever is released. Some kind of frictioncontrolisalsoimportant.Ifyou’veeverhadacameracomecrashingdown,youknowwhatImean.Thetripodshouldhavesometypeofcontrolthatadjuststotheweightofthecamerasothecameraremainsbalanced,evenwhenunlocked.

Photographers who need to change cameras quickly will find the quick-release feature that’s built into some heads very handy. The device allows thecamera to be removed without unscrewing it from the head. This is usuallyaccomplishedbyscrewingafootintothecamera’sbasethatslipsintoashoeinthe head, although Hasselblad builds a foot into their cameras, making a QRattachmentamustforusersofthesecameras.

Because of the availability of so many types, sizes, construction materials,styles,andevencolors,there’sneveraone-size-fits-allsolution—andlikeeatingpotato chips, you can’t have just one. That’s why most of us end up with acollectionof camera supports,withdifferent tripodsused for different kindoftasks. In this age of high-tech, image-stabilized camera bodies and vibration-

reductionlensesaswellasanti-shakecapabilitiesbuiltintocamerasfromSony,Olympus,andPentax,youmightwonder ifyouevenneeda tripod. I thinkso.Letmetellyouwhy:

Forportraiture,atripodcanbeathree-leggedassistanttoholdyourcamerawhenyouwalkuptoyoursubjecttotouchupapose.Somephotographersprefertohavethecameraonatripodsothesubjectcanlookattheminsteadofseeingaface blocked by a camera. When you want to work at smaller apertures,especiallyforthoseclose-upshots,you’llneedatripodtoholdthecamerasteadyfor those l-o-n-g shutter speeds. Infraredphotography,whether filmordigital,often requires filters that are seemingly opaque and have filter factorsapproachinginfinityandproducinglongshutterspeedsthateventhebestanti-shakeor image stabilization technologiescan’thandle.Tripodsarealsohelpfulformaintainingpreciseregistrationbetweensuccessiveimages.Thisisimportantfor HDR and panoramic images, no matter if they’re virtual reality orconventional.

I

5.USINGREFLECTORSANDSCRIMS

“THEREVIEWINTHEPAPERSAID,‘THEAESTHETICSUBTEXTOFHISWORKISTHESYSTEMATICEXPOSUREOFARTISTICPRETENSION.’ITHOUGHTIWASJUSTTAKING

PICTURES.”-ELMORELEONARD

t should come as no surprise that there are few—maybe no—real secrets inavailable light portraiture. Instead, what you’ll find are informed opinionsbasedon experience andblendedwith some stylisticpreferences.The recipe

for producing available light portraits is well known and includes a few basicingredients: a high ISO, fast lenses, and slow shutter speeds—topics that arecoveredelsewhere in thisbook.That’s it.Asyouwill learn in thischapter,youcansprinkleinsomereflectorsandaddadashofcamerasupports,butthemaincomponents remain the same. It’s the creativity you use in blending all theelements of available light portraiture together that creates pleasant variations.Some photographers prefer softly lit images diffusedwith filters, but youmayfavorsharper,moresaturatedimages.Thechoiceisyours.

Ishotthisimagenearanabandonedfarmthathadbecomepartofanewroad’srightofway.MywifeMarywas at camera left and low (out of the frame) holding a 42-inch Flashpoint (www.adorama.com) 5-in-1reflector,whichkickedlightintothemodel’sface.IshotwithaCanonEOS20DandEF85mmf/1.8lens.Theexposurewas1/250secondatf/8andISO200.Thepop-upflashputsomecatchlightsinthemodel’seyes.

ThelateEdwardDeCroce,atruemasterofphotography,onceadvisedmetoworkwithasfewlight-controldevicesaspossible.Itrytodothatbecausethelesstimespentworkingwithmysubjectatease.Thesedays,mostallofmymygear,themoretimeIcanspendputtingmysubjectatease.Thesedays,mostallofmypeople photography is donewith natural light using a single reflector or lightdiffuser. Reflectors need not be commercially produced.When Iwas testing adigital field SLR for Shutterbug magazine, I handed the camera tophotojournalistBarry Staver tomake a portrait ofmeusing the available lightcoming through thewindow at the dinerwherewewere having breakfast. Toaddsomelight intomyeyes,Barrygrabbedoneof themenusandplaced itonthetableinfrontofmejustoutofcamerarange.Guesswhat?Itworked.

AlthoughIusereflectorsoutdoors,oneofmyfavoriteapplicationsforreflectorsiswhenshootingwindowlightportraits (chapter 2),mainlybecause youdon’thave todealwithwindy conditions that canblowalight standwith a reflector away ormake it difficult for an assistant to hold.This imagewasmadewithCanonEOSD60andEF28-105mmlens.Theexposurewas1/160secondatf/5.6andISO800.

You will notice that this is the shortest chapter in the book, and for goodreason.Reflectorsaresimpleandeasytouse,yet theyprovidethebiggestbangforthebuck.Ifyougetonlyonethingfromthischapter,itshouldbethis:don’tshootyournextportraitsessionwithouthavingsomekindofreflectorhandy.

Westcott’s(www.fjwestcott.com)Illuminatorreflectorsareidealforshootingportraits,whetherindoorsoroutdoors.The4-in-1reflectorkitsincludetwoseparatepanels,whichallowyoutodiffuseandreflectlightin tandem. The product is compact, lightweight, and easy to carry and handle. Photo courtesy of F.J.WestcottCo.

Reflectors,suchthesefromBoothPhotographic(us.boothphoto.com),comeinmanysizesandshapesandareeasytousebecauseyoucanimmediatelyseetheireffect.PhotocourtesyofBoothPhotographic.

This image was shot with a Canon EOS D60 and EF 28-105mm f/2.8 SF lens. I used window lightaugmentedbyFlashpoint’sCircularCollapsibleDiscatcameraleft,withthesilversurfacefacingthemodel.Theexposurewas1/60secondatf/4.0andISO400.

REFLECTORSANDSCRIMSThedifferencebetweenasuccessfulportraitandsomethingthat’s justapictureof somebody often boils down to lighting. One of the simplest and easiestlightingtoolstounderstandanduseisareflector,whichissimplyaflatsurfacethatreflectslightfromamainlightsource,suchasthesun,backontotheshadowsideofyoursubject.Reflectorsfollowthesamerulesasalllightingdevices:biggersourcespositionedclosetothesubjectproducesoftlight;smallersourcesplacedfartherawayproduceharder light.Usuallyreflectorsaremadeof somekindofreflectivefabric.Theyareavailableindifferentcolors,allowingyoutochangethecolor of the reflected light and,more often than not, reflectors collapse into aportableformfortravel.

Reflectorsareavailableinmanysizesandshapesandareeasytousebecauseyou can immediately see their effect through the viewfinder and on yourcamera’sLCDscreen.What’smore,reflectorsareinexpensiveandsimpletouse,buttheyhaveahugeimpactonyourportraitlighting.Youcanevenmakeyourownreflectorsoutofscrapsoffoamcoreboardorcardboardcoveredincrinkledaluminumfoil,but thereare severaldisadvantages, including the fact that theycan be large and can’t be folded and easily carried to a shoot location. Thenthere’stheprice:a50squarefootboxofReynoldsWrapheavydutyaluminumfoil costs about five bucks, but Flashpoint’s (www.adorama.com) 12-inchPortable Collapsible Reflector (it’s silver on one side and white on the other)costslessthantenbucks.Whenfolded,thisreflectorwillfitinmostcamerabags.It works great indoors or out for headshots or when you want to use it forlighting just a model’s face. The white side reflects light, while the silver sideprovidesasnappylightandisusedtoopendarkshadowstocreatedetail.

Thecloserthelightsourceistothesubjectandthelargeritisinrelationtothesubject,thesofterthelightwill be. (See Joe Farace’s Studio Lighting Anywhere from Amherst Media.) Conversely, the smaller andfartherawayfromthesubjectthelightis,theharderitbecomes.Forfull-lengthshots,reflectorshavetogetbigger.Justhowbig?Thatdependsonwherethesunislocatedintheskyandhowyoudirectthereflectedlight.ThisimagecapturedwaswithaCanonEOSD60andEF28-105mmlenswithanexposureof1/200secondatf/8andISO400withareflectoratcameraleft.

Some5-in-1reflectors,suchasFlashpoint’s,dropthezebra(apatternedmixofsilverandgold)surfaceand

offer a black (non-reflector) side that’s useful for eliminating dark shadows under the eyes caused byoverheadlight.Flashpoint’sreflectorsareavailableinseveralsizesfrom22inchesuptothesuper-sized52-inchmodelthatcostslessthan$40asIwritethis.

Oneofthemostinterestingvariationsoftheoneortwo-sidedreflectoristhe5-in-1 model. All of the usual suspects make some version of this versatilereflector; itmaycosta littlemore,but itdoesmore, too.Thebasicstructureofthe 5-in-1 reflector is covered in translucentmaterial that’s ideal for removinghotspotsfromamodel’sfaceorsofteninganddiffusinglightiftheavailablelightis too strong. The other half of the kit is a four-sided (it’s reversible) skin forreducing contrast, warming skin tones, eliminating shadows, or just softeninglight.One side of the original Flashpoint 5-in-1 reflector is silverwith a zebra(i.e.,two-tonedreflector)ontheback;turnitinsideoutandhaveaccesstoagoldorwhitesurface forsoftreflected light.Thesekindsofcollapsiblereflectorsareavailable from many other sources, including Bowens, Lastolite, Norman,Photoflex,SPStudioSystems,andWestcott,sobesuretovisittheirwebsitesforspecific details on specific models. I used Flashpoint here as a versatile andinexpensive example but no one product is perfect for everybody’s particularapplication. You should use whatever works for your photography and yourbudget,includingscrapsoffoamcoreboard.

MaryFaraceisthekindofphotographerwholikestoworkwithlotsoflightingequipmentorhardlyany,asshedidhere.Forthisshot,sheusedareflectoratcamera left tobounce light intothishighschoolseniorportrait. The imagewas captured in a pocket park in the neighborhood using anOlympus E-300 and aZuikoDigitalED40-150mmlens.Theexposurewas1/160secondatf/4andISO100.

AuroraLitePanelsareavailableinthreestyles(silver/black,silver/white,andsoftgold/white)andtwosizes(32x48or40x72-inches).PhotocourtesyofBoothPhotographic.

Thisbefore-and-aftercomparisonshowsthekindoflightingthatasinglereflectorcanaddtoaphotograph.ImagesweremadeinprogrammodeusingaNikonD100EOS50Dinmanualmode.Thephotoontheleftwascapturedwithavailablelightonly,whiletheotheronewasmadeusingBoothPhotographic’sCameron5-in-1(silver,gold,black,white,andtranslucent)reflectorkitwiththegoldsideplacedatcameraright.Theexposureforbothshotswas1/100atf/4.0andISO200.PhotocourtesyofBoothPhotographic.

Aurora Lite Panels (www.boothphoto.com) are an alternative to thecollapsiblereflectorssopopulartoday.Thepanelsaresewntosize,double-sidedand supported by poles, very much like tent poles. You assemble them onecorneratatimeandinsertallfourrodsintoacenterballheadthatallowsyoutoswivel the panel in any direction and almost flat to the floor for a “belly pan”stylereflection,allthewaytofullverticalforamoretraditionalsidereflectoruse.AsIwritethis,theyaresoldincompletekitsthatincludereflectorfabric,rods,ballhead,andanentry-levellightstandforabout$200.00.Manyshooterspreferthis style of reflector because of its large surface area, flexibility, and smallbreakdownsize.Auroraalsooffersa40x72-inchtranslucentpanelfabrickitforshoot-throughorscrimapplications.Addingtotheflexibilityistheavailabilityofaportablebackgroundkitthatconsistsoftwo-sidedmuslinsthatyoucanhangonthe40x72-inchrodkit.Thesebackdropkitsareidealforlocationheadshots,as they tear down quickly to aminimum space and can set up easily in smalloffice/boardroomscenarios.

This imagewas capturedwith a Canon EOS 5D and EF 24-70mm f/2.8L lenswith an exposure of 1/30secondatf/4andISO1000inapertureprioritymode.©2011BarryStaver.

Here,BarryStaverphotographedabrideandgroominamuseumsetting.Althoughhehadaflashattachedtothecamera,itwasnotturnedon,andamuseumPRpersonwashoveringoverhisleftshouldermakingsurehedidn’tuseit.©2011MatthewStaver.

Booth Photographic also offers a 4-in-1 kit that consists of 13x19-inch gold/white, silver/sunlight minireflectors.PhotocourtesyofBoothPhotographic.

Tohelpyouget started,Westcottoffers fourversionsof theScrimJimstandardkit.Eachone includesaframe, 3/4-stop diffusion fabric, silver/white reflective fabric, and a carrying case. The Scrim JimClampallows for attachment into theoptional griphead, allowing 360degrees of rotation.The system includessixteendifferentdiffusionfabrics,eleven“nets”foratruescrimapplication,andfourteenreflectivefabrics.

There are as many ways to work with a reflector as there are types ofreflectors.Youcanalwaysholdareflector inonehandandyourcamera intheother,andIhaveseenmanyphotographersdothis.Ioftenaskanassistantoramodel’s escort tohold the reflector. Ifyou’rewithouthelp,youcanmount thereflectoronto a light stand, even though thismeans acquiring twonewbits ofhardware:areflectorarmandalightstand.(We’llgetbacktothisalittlelater.)

Theword“scrim”istypicallydefinedasascreen-likemetalmeshthat’susedinfrontofalighttoreduceintensity,notnecessarilytodiffuselight.Incommonusage, however, devices that produce a diffusion effect are often called scrimsanyway. Westcott’s (www.fjwestcott.com) Scrim Jim system is a strong,

collapsiblediffusionandreflectorsystemmadeupofaseriesofframes,diffusionandreflectorfabric,andgripaccessoriesthatmakeitallworkthewayyouwant.Thesquaresectionframesaremadeoflightweightaircraftaluminumthatlooksmuch heavier than it really is. They are easy to assemble using built-inconnectors;theirmodularconstructionallowsyoutocreatefoureasy-to-handleframesizes:42x42-,42x72-,72x72-,andthesuper-sized96x96-inchmodel.Themodulardesignallowsforeasyportabilityaswellasquicksetupandteardown.The fabrics used have hook and loop tape sewn around their perimeter toproduceaneven,snug,securefittotheframe,evenduringstrongwinds.

INDOORSOROUTDOORSWhenworkingwithreflectorsindoors,youcanmountyourreflectoronalightstand. Like tripods, they are available in a range of sizes, styles, and prices. Awell-madestandwilllastalotlongerthanacheapone,soyoushouldpurchasethebestlightstandyoucanafford.Alsoconsideralightstandthathascastorsonitslegs,asthisfeaturewillmakeiteasytomovethestandaround.Youcansavemoneybylookingforgooddealsonusedlightstandsandreflectorsfromotherphotographers.

Any reflector can be attached to a light standwith an expandable reflectorholder.Theseaccessories,whichmaysetyoubackanotherfiftybucks,allowyoutomountreflectorsranginginsizefrom22to58inches.Theycanalsoberotatedandswiveled forprecisereflectorpositioning.Westcott’s IlluminatorArms, forexample,allowyou toattachareflector toa light standandcontrolwhereyouwantitplacedtoachievethedesiredeffect.Havingthereflectoronalightstandisextremelyusefulwhenworkingalonewithyoursubject,butIprefertouseanassistantwheneverpossible.It’smucheasiertotalktoanassistantfromcameraposition to get them tomove the reflector than it is towalk back to the lightstandtomakeanadjustment.

Lightstandsareusefulwhenusingreflectorsindoors,especiallyifyoudon’thaveanassistant.Ifyoumountareflectoronalightstandoutdoors,youmayfinditwon’tstandupwelltothewind,soifyoustilldon’thaveanassistant,lookintosandbagsorshotbagstokeepthelightstandplantedontheground.Oneofthebest places to find these accessories isAdvantageGripware (www.advantagegrip.com),which alsomakesotherusefulaccessoriesfortheon-locationphotographer.

ThisphotographwascapturedwithwindowlightonlyusingaCanonEOS50Dand85mmf/1.8lens.TheshotwasmadeinprogrammodeatISO400.

Thisphotographwasmadebyplacingatwo-sidedWestcott(www.fjwestcott.com)Illuminatorreflectoratcameraleft.Becauseofthelightaddedbythereflector,thecameraadjustedtheexposurefrom1/500secondatf/5.0(noreflector)to1/400secondatf/4.5(reflector).

S

6.WHEREDOSPEEDLIGHTSFITIN?

“IDONOTBELIEVETHATTHEAVERAGEPERSONWANTSA‘MAP’OFHISFACE.IBELIEVEHEWANTSTOBEIDEALIZED.”-LOUISFABIANBACHRACH

peedlightscanbeusedasfilllight,buttheycanalsobeusedasthemainlight.Thekeyistoskillfullyblendthelightsoitdoesn’tlookasifartificiallightingwas used. When used correctly, flash fill adds a bit of crispness to the

photograph,andwithmodernspeedlightsandwirelesstriggering,it’spossibletouse one dedicated flash on the camera that acts as a master unit, remotelytriggeringoneormoresimilarspeedlightsinthescene.

Here’sahomeworkassignmentthatwillrevealalittlesecret:studytheimagesin books and magazines, specifically looking at the subject’s eyes for thecatchlight.Aperson’seyeswillreflectthelightsourceusedwhentheimagewastaken, and you can often tell what kind of lighting was used to make thephotograph.A smalldotof light reflected in the subject’s eye indicates a smalllight source, like an on-camera speedlight, while a larger round (or square orrectangular)catchlightindicatesanumbrellawasused.Asquareorrectanglularcatchlightmighttellyouwindowlightwasused,butitmightbethatlightbanks,whichemulatewindowlight,wereused.Youcanalso lookat theshadowsthatarebeingcastto“read”lightplacement.

Usingafilllightoutdoorsinbrightsunlightisn’tascrazyasitsounds.There’snothing worse than portrait photography under harsh direct overhead light.That’swhythegoldenhourissospecialtophotographers.Whenforcedtoshootat high noon, fill flash is a lifesaver, filling in the eye sockets to soften anotherwisenastyimage.Properexposureiseasyifyou’vegotadedicatedflashforyourcamera,althoughtherearesomeflashunitsthatworkwellinTTLmodeona variety of cameras. First,make sure the camera is set for the proper overallexposure,settheflashtoTTLmodeandmakeatestshot.ByzoomingintotheimageontheLCDyoucanseetheeffectofthefilllightinthesubject’seyes.Thebestwaytoincreaseordecreasetheamountoffilllightistoadjustthepoweroftheflashunit,althoughmanynewcamerasofferflashexposurecompensation.Itworksprettywell,too!

Whenpeopleseeatapicturelikethis,theymightimagineIwaswalkingdownthestreet,sawthewoman,askedhertoposeforapicture,madejustonequicksnapshot,andkeptwalking.Nothingcouldbefartherfromthetruth.Afterawardrobeconsultand40minutestoanhourinmakeup,Iaskedthismodeltoposenexttoawishingwellinafriend’sfrontyard.TheshotwasmadewithaEOS1DMarkIIwitha28105mmlens.Thecroppingwasdonein-camera.Theimageisoneof28shotsmadewithvaryingposesandangles.Theexposurewas1/200secondatf/7.1andISO200witha550EXflashfiredasfill.

Oneof thethingsI likeaboutQuantumInstrument’s(www.qtm.com)QFlashis thatyoucanremovethereflectortoproducerealjumping-up-and-downbaretubeflash,somethingthatcanonlybeemulatedwithother speedlights by using snap-on diffusion devices that ultimately reduce the amount of light.© 2011

MaryFarace.

Nikon’s inexpensiveNikonSB-400Speedlight i-TTLhasaguidenumberof98atISO200withan18mmlens.ItusesNikon’si-TTLFlashExposureControlandhasbouncecapability.ImagecourtesyofNikonUS.

Itiscommonforhigh-enddigitalSLRstonothaveabuilt-inflash,andwhileIcouldwhineaboutthelackofapopupflashfortheCanonEOS1DMarkIVorNikonD3X,thecompaniesarenotlikelytoputoneontheirprocameras,atleastnotwhentheycansellyouaspeedlight.(Thatmaybechanging;Nikonincludeda popup flash on the D800.) If you want to add just a little fill flash to yourimages,youreallyneedasmallspeedlightsuchasCanon’s270EXorNikon’sSB-400.Theyaresmall,inexpensive,andworkperfectlyasafilllightsource.

GUIDENUMBERS

Somepeopleprefertouseguidenumbers(GN)asameasurementofflashoutput because it more or less considers the entire lighting package,including the reflector.Depending onwhere you live in theworld, guidenumbersarequotedinfeetormetersandarevalidforagivenISOsetting.Thehighertheguidenumber,thegreaterthelightoutput.Guidenumberscanalsoserveasawaytocalculateaperturewhenshootingwithoutaflashmeter.Todeterminethecorrectaperture,youdividetheguidenumberbythedistancefromtheflashtothesubject.

PERFECTFORFILLFLASHHave you ever looked at someone’s outdoor portraits and wondered who thesubjectwas?Thefacewassodarkyoucouldn’ttellifitwasyourbestfriend.And

don’tyoujusthatethose“raccooneyes”portraits?YouknowwhatImean—theoneswithbig circlesof shadowunderyour subject’s eyes?This can reallybeaproblemwithoutdoorportraitsmadewiththesunshiningbehindyoursubject,directly toward the camera. If you takephotographsoutdoors at thebeach,ontheskislopes,oranywhereelseforthatmatter,andyoudon’tuseaflash,chancesareyou’ll findthat thesubject’s facewastoodarkorhadharshshadowsundertheeyes.

Aliteraldefinitionoffillflashissimple:addinglightviaanelectronicflashtosupplement the existing light present in a scene. Before the through-the-lensflash era, this was a difficult process to master. Complicated formulas wereavailabletohelpyouincorporatethepoweroftheflash,thespeedofthefilm,thef/stop,andtheflash-to-subjectdistancetohelpyoudetermineproperexposure,butnotanymore.Youcanusefill-flashwithalmostanycamera,allyouhavetodo is to turn the flashon. It’s that simple!Most cameraswithbuilt-in flashorthose thatacceptdedicated flasheswill automaticallyadjust the flashoutput sothefillisjustright.

ImadethisavailablelightphotographofmywifeMarywiththeEOS1DMarkIVwithanEF28-135mmISlens.Theprogrammodeexposurewas1/200secondatf/5.6andISO200.

Islippedmyolder,lessversatileCanon220EXflashontotheMarkIV’shotshoeandjustturneditonforthisshot,madeatthesameexposure.Abuilt-inflashwouldhavebeenmoreconvenient,andI’mguessingCanonhasreasons,likeadditionalweight,fornotincludingoneonanyOne-seriescamera—atleastsofar.

The automatic flash systems built into today’s digital SLRs (such as Canon’s E-TTL and Nikon’s iTTLsystems) automatically balance the output of the speedlight and the scene’s ambient light,making usingflashoutdoorsmucheasierthanitwasinthepast.ThisimagewascapturedoutdoorsinalocalparkwithaCanonEOS10Dand550EXflash.Theprogrammodeexposurewas1/125secondatf/11andISO200.

I photographedMary in the shade near a graffiti-covered wall, but there was still sunlight to her back,producing backlighting conditions, as evidenced by the highlights in her hair and around her clothing.WhenItriedphotographingherintheshadeandclosetothewall,IoccasionallyexperiencedAFproblemswiththeEOS1DMarkIVIwastestingforShutterbugmagazine.Ashort-termfixwastomoveherawayfromthewalltowhereshewasbacklitandtousethe220EXflashasafill.ExposurewithanEF28-135mmISlenswas1/250secondatf/5.6andISO200.Thediagramaboveshowsthelightingsetupusedtocreatetheshot.

SHUTTERSPEEDSFORFLASHSYNCHRONIZATION

In order for the firing of an electronic flash to coincide with the shutteropeningandallowlighttostriketheimagesensor,theshutterspeedmustbesetatorbelowthemaximumsyncspeedforyourspecificcamera.Ifit’sset faster, only the ambient light—not the flash—will be captured by theimage. In low-light settings, youmay only see one-half of the photo thatwasexposedbytheflash.Thisproblemwasmorecommonwhenshootingwithfilmcameras,aswehadtowaitforthefilmtobeprocessedbeforewecould findout therewas just half a photo, but it canbe a problemwhenusingflashforfillinhighambientlightconditions.Mostcamerashavethe

abilitytomagnifytheimageontheLCDscreen.Learnhowtoactivatethatoptionanduseitwhenmakingportraitstoenlargepartofthephotographwherethesubject’sfaceissoyoucanseeiftheireyesareopenandthefillflash is doing its job. Some cameras blink a warning when a flash ismounted,turnedon,andsetforashutterspeedthatexceedsthesyncspeed.Ifyourviewfinderdisplay isblinking,don’tmakeaphotountilyouknowwhy.

Ifyouhaveacamerawithanoptionaldedicatedflash,justsetthecameraandflashtoTTLmode(thecameramightdothisautomatically;consultthemanual).Youmightwanttoexperimentandadjusttheamountoftheflashfilltosuityourtaste.Mostdedicatedflashunitshaveplusorminussettingsorusethecamera’sexposure compensation dial to control the amount of flash. Generally, photosmadeinbrightsunrequiremoreflashfillintheshadowareasthanimagestakeninshadeoronanovercastday.Thebestadviceistomakeyourowntestswithyourownequipment.There’sacertainamountofarttothisfill-flashtechnique,butthereisn’tasmuchguessworkastherewasinthepast,soworkwithituntilyougetresultsthatsuityourtasteandstyleofworking.

Oneofmyfavoritetechniquesforoutdoorportraitureisusingbacklightingtoproducehighlightsonthesubject’shairandaroundtheirbody.Wanttotry it?Thenexttimeyouplantophotographasubjectoutdoors,placeherinthekindof position you might normally use with the sun on her face, then turn heraround.Shewillbemorerelaxedwiththesunbehindher,andshewon’thavetosquint!Next,turnonyourflash,whetherit’sbuilt-inorashoe-mountspeedlight.Besuretouseflashbecauseotherwiseshe’llappearasasilhouetteintheportrait.Inordertogetafinalimageyoucanlivewith,youmayhavetoopenupthelensa few stops from the metered exposure, just as you might with any backlitsubject,oryoumaynot.Shootafewtestshots.Ifyouplantoshootfull-lengthportraitsinsteadofclose-ups,amorepowerfulshoe-mountedflashwillbemoreeffectiveforfilllightthantheweakerpop-upflashesfoundonentry-leveldigitalSLRs.

Whathappenswhenyoushootatashutterspeedthatexceedsyourcamera’smaximumflashsyncspeed?LetmeshowyouoneofmymanymistakeswhenshootingwithmyContaxfilmcameras.WhilemostdigitalphotographerswillcatchsuchobviousmistakesontheirLCDscreen,filmshootersweren’tsoluckyandhadtowaituntil their filmwasprocessed.Argrhhh!Two-thirdsof thephotograph looksprettygood,but thatotherthirdisuseless—orisit?

I started by cropping the image but left some of the black edge on the left-hand side. I used OnOneSoftware’s(www.ononesoftware.com)PhotoFrametoaddacreativeedgetotheportrait.

The finished image showspart of the black edgeon the left, but if youwere viewing this imagewithoutseeingthebotchedoriginal,you’d just thinkitwaspartof theedgeeffect.Icouldhavecroppedtheblackedgecompletelyoutoftheframe,butleavingjustabitmaximizedhowmuchoftheoriginalphotographIcoulduse.Thisisnotaperfectsolution,butitworks,andit’sbetterthanabigblackedge.

FLASHACCESSORIESThekeytousingyourcamera’sbuilt-inflashisknowingtherighttimetouseit.If there’s any secret at all to knowingwhen, it’s learning how to see the lightfallingonyoursubject,especiallytherangeofshadowsandhighlightswithinthescene.Learningtoseelightisnotdifficult,butittakesabitofpractice.Usingthedigicam’spreviewscreenwillhelpyouinstantlyanalyzethoseflashphotographsafteryou’vemadethemtoseehowsuccessfulyoureffortsare—oraren’t.

Toavoidthedreaded“flash-on-camera”lookwithabuilt-inflash,IuseLumiQuest’s(www.lumiquest.com)SoftScreen,which isspecificallydesignedfor thebuilt-in,popupflashesonmanydigitalcameras.HereIused itwith a FujiFilm S100FS as fill light. Themain light came from thewindow at camera right. Theexposurewas1/100secondatf/4.andISO400.

LumiQuest’s(www.lumiquest.com)SoftScreensoftenshardshadowsandreduceshotspots.Itfoldsflattoroughly4x4 inches so you cankeep it in your shirtpocket. It attaches to the front “nameplate”of yourcamera,butsomerecentdigitalSLRmodelshavesmallerplatessoLumiQuestincludestinyVelcrofastenerstosolvetheproblem.PhotocourtesyofLumiQuest.

GaryFong’s (www.garyfongestore.com)“Puffer” flashdiffuser softens theharsh lightof anSLR’sbuilt-inflash to eliminate shadows and createprofessional-stylediffused lightingperfect forportraits or close-upphotographs.Affixingdirectlytothecamera’shot-shoe,thevariable-positionPufferisadjustableforcenterpositioningformostCanon,Fuji,Konica,Minolta,Nikon,Olympus,Panasonic,Pentax,Samsung,Sigma,andSonymodelswithapopupflash,regardlessofsize.PhotocourtesyofGaryFongInc.

MaryFaracephotographedthishighschoolseniorinapocketparkusingthenaturalbacklightingandfillfrom anOlympus FL-50R flashwith StoFen’sOmni Bounce flash diffuser attached. The camerawas anOlympusE-300withZuikoDigitalED12-60mmlens.Theexposurewas1/60secondatf/4.5andISO200.©2011MaryFarace.

GETTINGTHEMOSTFROMSPEEDLIGHTSThere is no denying that shoe-mount flash units have become moresophisticated.Today’sunitsfeaturebuilt-inelectroniclinksthatmakeproducingcorrectly exposed images, even under outdoor or difficult lighting conditionsmuch easier. While the exposure accuracy and quantity of output from on-cameraflashhaveimprovedandincreased,onefactorthat’schangedlittleisthequality of the light these units produce. Sure, you can always rubberband anindexcardtotheflashheadtoactasabounce“kicker,”andsomeflashesevenhavebuilt-in,slide-outreflectors—norubberbandrequired.

Oneof the best $20 bargains for improving on-camera flash photographs is StoFen’s (www.stofen .com)OmniBounceflashdiffuser,whichisavailabletofitvariousflashunitsfrommanydifferentmanufacturers.The diffuser easily slips on the front of the flash and produces a diffused bare-bulb look that softensshadowsandreducestheharsheffectofdirectflash.It’scompactandeasytouseineitherdirectorbouncemode and is the simplest, easiest way to improve the quality of your flash photographs—indoors oroutdoors—withouttakingtheflashoffthecamera.PhotocourtesyofStoFen.

HereStoFen’sOmniBounce flashdiffuserwasused indoorsonCanon’sEX550.ThecamerawasanEOS10DwithanE85mmf/1.8lens.TheTTLmodeexposurewas1/60secondatf/2.8atISO400.Forthisshot,Isimplyput thecamera inprogrammodeandthe flashturnedon.Thediagramshowsthesetupusedtocreatethisimage.

If you want to soften and broaden the light source, you’re going to needsomething bigger and better. The Mini/Max family (us.boothphoto.com)includes two lightbanks that fit on the front of your shoe-mount flash. Thebigger(6x8-inch)BHBmodelhasalargefrontpanelformoredramaticeffects.The3.5x4.75-inchQLBmodelfeaturesasmallerfrontpanelforquickandeasyshooting.The lightbanksattacheasilyand fold flat for storage.Both follow theold rule that the bigger the light source and the closer it is to the subject, themore diffuse the lighting. These modifiers also reduce hot spots and softenshadows.

It’stimetochuckoutthat4x6indexcardandreplaceitwithoneorbothoftheMini/Maxbouncecards.Whilethelarger(FBC)cardisdesignedforgroups,MaryandIuseitforportraitsbecauseitremindedusoftheresultsproducedbyanoldVivitar283accessorythatattachedaKodakGrayCard(asmentionedinchapter 1, the opposite side is white) to the flash as a bounce accessory and

produced deliciously soft lighting effects with on-camera flash. If you fondlyrememberthatdeviceandwanttogetthesamekindof lovin’ feelin’withyourcamerasystemflash,gettheFBCcard.Ifyouusethecameraandflashvertically,be sure tomove the subject away from thewall.Otherwise, thebigkickerwillproducebigshadows.Ifyoucan’tmovethesubject,switchtothesmallerQBCcard.

Youcanevenproducea studio lightingeffectusingspeedlights.The imageof themodelagainsta studiobackgroundinchapter1wasmadeusingthreespeedlights,asshownherewithamannequinstandinginforthemodel.ACanon550EXwasplacedinsidetheFourSquarelightbank(www.lightwaredirect.com),andareflectorwasplacedatcameraleft.ANikonSB-800withStofen(www.stofen.com)OmniBouncediffuserwasat camera left andaimedat thebackground,while a secondSB-800wasplacedhighandbehind themodelwithaZootSnoot(www.zootsnoot.com)actingasahairlight.©2011JackDean.

YoucanmountuptofourspeedlightsintheFourSquarelightbank,butIonlyusedoneforthephotographin chapter 1. The lightbank’s front diffuser panel was removed for this product shot to show how thespeedlightsmountontheFourSquare“block.”PhotocourtesyofLightwareDirect.

GETTINGTHEMOSTFROMBUILT-INFLASHThesedays,most camerashave somekindof built-in flash.Manydigital SLRsalsohaveapopupflash,butnotalloftheso-calledprofessionalmodelsdo,eventhough having a small flash available with the click of a button canmake thedifferencebetweenagoodphotographandanot-so-goodone.

Whenshouldyouusethebuilt-inflash?Themostobviousansweriswhenthelightislowandyouneedtoilluminateyoursubject—butthatmaynotalwaysbethebestway.Iflightlevelsarelowandyouusethebuilt-inflash,youmaygetanoverexposed foregroundandanunderexposedbackground.Whatkindof flashpicture do you think people in the stands photographing night baseball orfootballgamesgetwiththeirpoint-and-shootcameras?(YouseethisonTVallthetimeaswavesofflasheruptfromthestandsduringsportingeventswhilethecluelessannouncersrefertothemas“flashbulbs.”)

OneofthemostcleverdesignaspectsofbothsmallMini/Maxlightbanksisthattheyhaveflapsintheirtopand bottom that can be opened formultidirectional lighting effectswhenworking indoors.You can usetheseflapstoaddbouncelightingoffawallorceilingdependingontheorientationofthecameraandflash,oryoucanusethelightbankasabounceandopentheflaptoaimsemi-directlightatyoursubject.PhotocourtesyofBoothPhotographic.

MaryFaracephotographedthisaspiringmodelinahotellobby(sheaskedpermission)usingthelightfroma large window plus fill from an Olympus FL-50R flash with the larger (BHB)Mini/Max softbox. ThecamerawasanOlympusE-3withZuikoDigitalED12-60mmlens.Theapertureprioritymodeexposurewas1/160secondatf/4.5andISO200.©2011MaryFarace.

MaryphotographedthisaspiringmodeloutdoorswithfillfromanOlympusFL-50Rflashwiththesmaller(QLB)Mini/Max softbox. The camera was an Olympus E-3 with Zuiko Digital ED 12-60mm lens. Theshutterprioritymodeexposurewas1/250secondatf/5.6andISO200.©2011MaryFarace.

TheMini/Max5x6-inchQBCQuickBounceCard isperfect forphotographingoneor twopeople. Ifyouwant to shoot a group, reach for the larger 10.5x7.5-inchmodel FBC fan-style model; it produces soft,diffusedlightwhenphotographingsmallgroupsofpeople.Italsofoldsinhalfforeasystoragewhennotinuse.TheMini/MacbouncecardsproducewonderfullysoftresultswitheitherOlympusorCanonflashes.PhotocourtesyofBoothPhotographic.

Maryphotographedthisaspiringmodel indoorswithfill fromanOlympusFL-50Rflashwiththesmaller(QLB)Mini/Max softbox.ThecamerawasanOlympusE-3withaZuikoDigitalED12-60mm lens.Theshutter-prioritymodeexposurewas1/250secondatf/5.6andISO200.©2011MaryFarace.

ThisimagewascapturedonamoviesetinPhoenixusingaCanonEOS10D.Thecamera’spop-upflashwas

usedforfill.Theexposurewas1/200secondatf/’0andISO200.

Since this image has such a Goth feel, I created a black & white version using Nik Software’s(www.niksoftware.com) Silver Efex Photoshop-compatible plug-in.Which one is better? I like both fordifferentreasons.

If you’re photographing a static subject, sometimes the best way to get aproperlyexposedimageistoplaceyourcameraonatripodandusetheavailablelight.Ifyoudon’townatripod,anotheralternativeistokickuptheISOsettingsothedigitalnoiselookslikegrapefruits.Yournext-bestoptionisflash.Usingacamera’sbuilt-in flash as the sole sourceof lighting for indoorpeoplepictureswill produce a portrait, but the lighting may be flat and a bit contrasty.Nevertheless, the small popup flashes found in digital SLRs do a surprisinglygood job in deliveringwellexposed pictures if you don’t exceed themaximumflashdistance.Readthemanualanduseyourcamera’sred-eyereductionmodeifithasone.

Amuch betterway to use your built-in flash indoors iswhen there’s someambientlighttoserveasfillforharshshadows.Thisseparatesyoursubjectfromthebackgroundandfocusestheviewer’sattentiononthesubject.Infact,whenyouhavetoomuchambientlightindoorsflashisthebestwaytocontrolcontrast

andadddimensiontotheimage.Thedownsideofbuilt-inflashisthatbecausetheflashissoclosetothelensyou’lloftengetashadowifyoursubjectisclosetothewall. Try tomove your subject away from thewall asmuch as possible tominimizeoreliminatetheshadow.Tip:Aruleofthumbisthatifyoumovethesubjectawayfromthewalladistanceequaltotheirheight,allshadowswill fallbehind them.Also the shadowwillmovewhenyouchange fromhorizontal toverticalshotsbecausethepositionofthebuilt-inflashwillchange,too.

Whenshootingportraitsduringtheday,turningyourbuilt-inflashonisoneof the simplest ways to improve your photographs. Instead of gettingunderexposedpictures,yoursubjectswillpopoutofthebackground,aswillthecolors.Sowhat’sthesecretofgoodfillflashoutdoors?

JohnandYoko look-alikeswerephotographed in adimly lit roomatOrlando’sHardRockCafeusing aSonyDSC-R1withthebuilt-inflashsetonred-eyereductionmode.Ergo:nored-eye.Theapertureprioritymodeexposurewas1/50secondatf/4.8andISO160.

Lighting inside theMesse for theTokyomotor show ismixed and contrasty, but Iused theEOSDigitalRebel’ssmallpop-upflashtoprovidesomefilland illuminationonthismodel’s face. IusedtheEF-S18-55mmkitlenstomaketheshot.Theexposurewas1/60secondatf/5.6andISO400.

Basic photo books are full of rules to follow that help you obtain themathematicallycorrectratiosofdaylighttoflash,butIfeelonlyyouknowwhatlooks best.Take the time to do some testing: shoot some exposureswith yourdigital SLR at all the flash’s automatic settings or bracket by changing thecamera’s exposure compensation dial. A few cameras even permit bracketingexposuresusing thecamera’sbuilt-in flash.Makea fewnotes,even though theimage file’s EXIF data will collect most of what you need for comparison.Typically,IjustmakeoutdoorflashshotswiththeSLRsetinprogrammodeandadjust the exposure compensation to get the look I want, but not everycamera/lenscombinationworksthesame.Inthatcase,Iswitchtomanualmode,using thebase exposure selectedby the camera inprogrammode as a startingpoint.

TiawaseightmonthspregnantwhenIphotographedher inmykitchen’sbaywindow. Incontrast to thephotographof“JohnandYoko,”therewasplentyoflight.Still,IusedtheSamsungDigiMaxPro8’5’sbuilt-inflashforfillpreciselybecausetherewassomuchlightcomingthroughthewindows.Withouttheflash,Tiawouldhavebeenasilhouette.Theexposurewas1/250secondat f/4.55at ISO800. Is theshotnoisy?Kinda—butit’snotobjectionablyso.

Maryisateddybearcollector,sowhenIsawthisbigbearinOrlando,IknewIhadphotographherwithit.Using the camera in just plain old flash mode would produce a wellexposed picture of Mary, but the

backgroundwouldhavebeendark.Shootinginnightscenemode,thecameraselectedthecorrectshutterspeedforthebackgroundandproperamountofflashfortheforeground.

Wannahavefun?Movethecameraduringanightsceneexposure.Thatlongshutterspeedgivesyoutimetocreativelyblur thebackground,while the flashproperly exposesyour subject.Night sceneusershave themostfun!

ThisportraitwasmadeintheshadeusingaCanonEOS20D.Thewhitebalancewassetinautomode,andnoflashwasused.Whilethebacklightingisnice,theAWBstillproducedanunderexposedandslightlyblueimage.Thesubject’seyeswon’tsparklewithoutlighttoilluminatethem.

In this shot, the EOS 20D’s flash was popped up, which not only provided fill but also produced extrawarmth.TheAWBwarmeduptheentirephotograph.

Oneofmyfavoriteoutdoorflashmodesisnightscene.Itproducesimpressivesunset or night shots because the camera sets the shutter speed to properlyexposethebackgroundandusesslow-syncflashtoilluminatethesubject.Ifyoucan’tuseatripod(whynot?),besuretobracethecameraagainstasolidsupportsothatthebackgroundremainssharpduringtheexposure.Theflashshould(keyword) keep the subject sharp while blurring the background—creatively orotherwise. Ifyouwant toexperiment,deliberatelymove thecameraduring theexposure.

T

7.DIGITALWORKFLOW

“WHENYOUPHOTOGRAPHPEOPLEINCOLOUR,YOUPHOTOGRAPHTHEIRCLOTHES.BUTWHENYOUPHOTOGRAPHPEOPLEINBLACK&WHITE,YOUPHOTOGRAPHTHEIRSOULS!”-

TEDGRANT

hecomputersused forwriting thisbookaswell asworkingwithallof theimagesarethesameonesIuseeverydaytomanageandmanipulateimages.In case you’rewondering, I drew all of the lighting diagrams using pencil

and paper. Amherst Media’s artist made them look good. My main desktopcomputer is anAppleMacProwith 5GBRAM, 1.5TB of internal storage, twobuilt-inDVD-Rdrives,andanexternalrecordableBlu-Raydrive.MyWindowsmachine is anApple iMacwith 500GB of hard drive runningMicrosoftVistaHomeunderApple’sBootCampanda4TBnetworkdrive.Thecomputersarenetworked using a Cisco router that also lets me connect wirelessly with aMacBookProlaptopthatIuseforlocationshoots.IhaveanAppleiPodTouchthatIstoreimageson,andIamjuststartingtouseanAppleiPad.

In the digital imaging universe, these are what I would call middle-of-the-road machines. Some photographers that I know work with less complexcomputers,andothersusemoreextensiveandexpensivesystems.AfewofthemuseWindowscomputers,butmostphotographers thatIknowpersonallyworkwith theMac OS. Digital imagers with systems that have more power, largermemory,andhigher-capacityharddrivesthanmewillbeabletoproducealloftheeffectsinthischapterfasterthanme,whilethosewithsmaller,slowersystemsmayhavetobemorepatient.

ThisimagewasoriginallycapturedusingtheOlympusE-1RAW+JPEGmode.There’smorelateronwhythisisgoodchoiceforsomeimagecaptures.TheRAWfileisacolorimage,whiletheblack&whiteJPEGwasmadeusingthecamera’sbuilt-inmonotoneoption.Exposurewas1/100secondatf/3.5andISO200.Thecamera’spopupflashwasusedasfill.

BEFORETHESHOOTThe first decision Imake before a shoot is choosing between RAW, JPEG, orRAW+ JPEG capture.What this reallymeans is that I ammaking a decisionaboutthecolordepthofthecapturedfile.Trivia:Colordepthissometimescalled“bitdepth.”Colordepthmeasuresthenumberofbitsofinformationthatapixelcanstoreandultimatelydetermineshowmanycolorsinthephotographcanbedisplayed at one timeon yourmonitor.Computers present all data (includingphotographs)usingdigitsornumbersthataremeasuredasbitsorbinarydigits.Binary is amathematical systembasedonworkingonlywith thenumbersoneandzero.Eachelectronicsignalthereforebecomesonebit,buttorepresentmorecomplexnumbersorimages,computerscombinethesesignalsinto8-bitgroupscalledbytes.Whatthismeansisthatan8-bitJPEGimagefileoffers8bitsofdatafor each pixel, providing a palette of 256 colors or tones. A 16-bit RAW file

providesmorethan32,000differentcolorsforeachpixel.

Popquiz:Wasthisimagecapturedasa16-bitRAWor8-bitJPEGfile?ThecamerawasaCanonEOS10DwithEF28-105mmlens.Theexposurewas1/60atf/7.1andISO200.Thecamera’spopupflashwasusedasfill.Answer:ItwasshotasaJPEGfile.

JPEGvs.RAW.WhenanimageiscapturedasaJPEGfile,thecameratakesall of the light information gathered alongwith thewhite balance information(temperatureandtint)andthenprocessestheimageusingprogrammedsettings(contrast,saturation,blackpoint,etc.)intotheprogrammedcolorspace.JPEGisan8-bit,processed,lossycompressedfileformat.Themorecompressedthefileis,themoreinformationthat’slost.AtypicalJPEGfileusesanapproximate10:1compression,whichresults inminimalperceived loss.Thisprocessing takesalloftheactualcapturedcolorsfromthecamera,bringsthemintothecolorspace(we’llgettothissoon)andmakesadjustmentsincludingblackpoint,brightness,contrast, and saturation along with others. The result is an image that hassaturatedcolorandisreadytoprintorshowoffdigitally.

It is best to think of a JPEG as a second-generation image because someinformationthatthecameraactuallycapturedisclippedinprocessingdownto8bitsandtheselectedcolorspace.

RAWfilescontainalloftheinformationthatthecameracaptured,butuntilthesefilesareprocessed,theyarenotreadyforprintorediting.Therearemanyprograms available including Adobe Camera Raw (Photoshop, Elements, andLightroom) that will process RAW files. These programs will allow you toprocessoneimageatatimeorbatchprocessmanyimagesatonce.Becausethefiles areunprocessed, youcaneasily adjustwhitebalance andother settings tominimizeinformationclipping.BeingthatmostRAWfilesare12or14-bit(eventhough theyopenas16-bit files inPhotoshop), therearemorecolorsavailablecompared toaprocessed JPEG.Thisdifference ismostnoticeable ingradationareasinanimage.

There’s anold computer adage that goes: “Garbage in, garbageout.”You canuse anyofAdobeCameraRaw’scontrols(theprogramisbundledwithAdobePhotoshop,Lightroom,andElements)tomakeupforahelplesslyunder-oroverexposedshot.Ifyourdigitalcamerahasahistogramfeature,useittohomeinonexposureswhileyou’reshooting! If itdoesn’t,use thecamera’sautobracketcontrolorput thecamera inmanualmodeandbracketexposuresforcriticallyimportantphotographs.OneofFarace’slawsis“Thebestcapturedfilesmakethebestphotographs.”

The fact that 16-bit images have more data is why they theoretically offerbetter image quality. I say theoretically better because it’s still up to you tocaptureaproperlyexposedandsharplyfocusedimage.Theoft-heardquip“justshoot and fix it later in Photoshop” doesn’t work if you are striving formaximum image quality. Since you start with a larger image file there is lessimagedegradation thatcanbeproducedby the inevitable roundingerrors that

occurwhenafileisprocessedinanimage-editingprogramsuchasPhotoshop.Image manipulation using 16-bit techniques also takes advantage of theprogram’sfloatingpoint(that’sthemathstuffthathappensinsidetheprogram,whichiswhytherecanberoundingerrors)operations,whichproducesmootherhistogramsandtonaltransitions.

This portrait of Carolinawasmade using studio lighting and anOlympus E-20N inmanualmode. Theexposurewas1/125secondatf/8.Theimagewascapturedatthecamera’slowestresolution(1280x960)withmaximumcompression,producingatiny293Kfile.

If this imagewas only a tiny 293K file,why does it look so good in this book? Simple—IusedGenuineFractals(www.ononesoftware.com)softwareto“resup”orincreasethesizeofthefiletomakeitacceptabletothebook’sdesignersandprinter.InpreviousversionsofGenuineFractalsyouhadtosavethefileinGF’sproprietary .stn format, then re-open it and scale it to thenew,desired size. It’s all aone-stopoperationnow.

Adownsideofworking in 16-bitmode is that fewerpower tools, especiallysome Photoshop-compatible plug-ins, are available to work in that mode(however, this seems to be changing). Another issue is the “Incredible Hulk”factor.Biggerfilestakemorespaceanddemandmorecomputingresources.ThatbargaincomputeryouboughtatCrazyCharlie’sFleaMarketisn’tgoingtoworkall that fast with 16-bit files, so you’ll need a fastmicroprocessor chip in thatcomputer,bigharddrives,andrecordableDVDdrivestostorethesepuppies.Atsomepoint,youwillneedtodosomethingyoumaynotbeable toaccomplishusing16-bit files,andwhenthathappens,youshouldsaveacopyof the imageand convert it into 8-bitmode, retaining your original 16-bit file in a projectfolder.

WhentoShootJPEG.OneofthebestreasonstoshootJPEGiswhenthere’slimited space on your memory card. I think that it’s better to get an imageinsteadofmissing it because your card is full. It’s happened tome, and it canhappen to you. A few years ago, I was in Miami, teaching a workshop thatincludedastudiosessionworkingwithamodel.ItwasattheendofthedayandIsavedacardspecificallyforthissession,butoneofmystudentsaskedmeifIhad

asparecardbecauseallofhiswerefull.HowcouldIsayno?Ilenthimthecard.AllIhadwasroomforoneshotonmycamera,soIchosetheJPEGfileoptionwith the highest-level compression possible. This allowed me to capture sixsmall,low-resolutionfiles,oneofwhichisshownhere.

MyCanonEOSD60wasconvertedtoinfrared-onlycapturebyLifePixel(www.lifepixel.com).Ithasonly6megapixels,soIalwaysshootusingRAWtomaximizeimagequality.ThisavailablelightIRphotographwasmadeusingaCanonEF85mmf/1.8lens.Theexposurewas1/45secondatf/1.8andISO400.

ThisRAWimagefilewascapturedwithaCanonEOS20Dandmadeusinglightcomingfromawindowinmyhome’sbackdoor,offtocameraleft.AWestcottreflectorpositionedatcamerarightaddedfill.

ByusingRAW+JPEGcapture,Isimultaneouslycapturedthisphotoasamonochromewithpurpletoningandonewithstandardcolor.Theexposurewas1/200secondatf/3.5andISO400.Identicalretouchingwasappliedtoeachimagefile.

YoumayalsowanttoshootJPEGswhenyouneedspeed.JPEGallowsyoutoshootmoreimagesfasterbecauseitwon’tfillthecamera’sbufferasfast.Ifyoursubject is moving quickly or you frequently hold down the shutter for a

continuous burst of photos, youmaywant to consider JPEG-only shooting tocapture the shots faster and for a longer period of time, without pause. TheInternetlivesinsmallcolorspaces,someuserswon’tseecorrectcolorbecauseofthe way they’ve set up their system, so you might as well save the space byshooting JPEGs. If all your work is going out to the Internet and you’re nothaving anything printed, you could just shoot JPEG—but be aware thatsomebodycouldseeyourshotandwanta4x6footprintfortheirboardroom.

WhentoShootRAW.YoushouldshootinRAWformatwhenyouneedtoextractthemaximumqualityfromyourimagefiles.Thisisespeciallyimportantifyouhaveanoldercamerawithperhapsfewermegapixelsandwanttogetthemostfromyourcamera.It’salsoagoodideaifyouprocessyourimagesanyway.Many photographers shoot RAW because they will process and edit a largepercentageoftheimagestheytakebeforeshowingtheclient.Theyonlywanttoshowtheclientthebetterphotosandwon’tbotherwiththebadones.

WhentoShootRAW+JPEG.IliketorecordmyimagesinbothfileformatswhenIwanttocaptureacolor(RAW)shotandamonochrome(JPEG)imageofthe given subject or scene at the same time. If storage space (either on yourmemorycardorcomputer’sharddrive) isnotan issue, then this ismore thanlikely a great option for you. Once you go through a selection process aftershooting,youcaneasilyprintyourJPEGsintoaproofbook,thengothroughtheprintstoselectanyshotsthatyouwanttoeditand/orprintatlargersizes.It’sthebestoption,ifyouwantthebestofbothworlds:easytouseJPEGsandpowerfulRAWfiles.

SOMERAWFACTS

Everydigitalcamerauses itsownproprietaryRAWfile formatforstoringimagedata,andthecameracompanyusually includessoftware toconvertthatRAWfile intosomethingmoreportable.Assomecompanies includeRAW conversion inside the camera, we may see this software becomesimplifiedor evendisappear. Some,butnotmany camera,manufacturersuseAdobe’sDNG(digitalnegative)formatastheirnativeRAWfileformat.TheOpen RAWmovement’s (www.openraw.org) goal is to have cameramanufacturerspubliclydocument theirRAWimage formatsbecause theyareconcernedthatphotographerswillfindtheirolderimagesinaccessible,as future software versions lose support for older cameras. In the worstcases,entirebrandsmaydisappear,ashasalreadyhappenedwithContax.

Ifyoudon’t think file formatscan leaveyouhanging, letme tellyouastorythatwillconvinceyouthatithappens:EverhearofafileformatcalledFlashPix?Thiswasgoingtobe“thenextbigthing,”anditwassupportedbyindustry giants includingKodak,whooffered a servicewhere theywouldprocess your film—this was back in those days—and give you a disc ofscannedimagessavedinFlashPixformat.Theproblemisthatafterlotsofhullabaloo, Kodak and all those other “industry giants” decided to pullsupport for the FlashPix format, leaving many thousands of people,includingmyself, strandedwithdiscs fullof image files thatwereseducedand abandoned. As of this writing, I could not find a singleMac OS orWindowsprogramthatwouldreadaFlashPixfile.But,astheysayonTV,“wait, there’smore.”RememberPhotoCD? Itwasyet anotherKodak fileformatthatwasgoingtoprovideaperfectgatewaybetweenfilmanddigitalimaging.PhotoshopusedtosupportPhotoCD,buttheonlyprogramthatIfound thatwill read the files isApple’s iPhoto. So if you don’t think thesamethingisgoingtohappentoRAWfilesfromoldercameras,dreamon.

Thisisareal,livejumping-up-and-downKodak-produceddiscfullofFlashPixfilesmadefromarollortwooffilmthatIsentthem.KodakandotherindustrygiantspromotedFlashPixas“thenextbigthing.”CanIreadanyofthefilesonthedisc?Nope.

Acolorspacesimplydescribestherangeofcolors,orgamut,thatacameracansee,aprintercanprint,oramonitorcandisplay.Youcansetanimage’scolorspacein-cameraorinsoftware.InPhotoshop,thisisdoneviatheColorSettingscontrolpanel,shownhere.

Thisallavailable-light-outdoorportraitwascapturedwithaCanonEOS1DMarkIIwithanEF100mmlensandanexposureof1/160secondatf/5.6andISO.ItscolorspacewassRGB,butcanyoutell?

SPACE:NOTNECESSARILYTHEFINALFRONTIERAt some point, you’ll assign a color space to the image file, even if you don’tknow it (many times, there’sadefault setby thecamera).Youcanalso set thecolor space using the Color Settings control panel in Photoshop. The choicesavailableinbothColorSettingsandCameraRaw’spopupmenuareAdobeRGB(1998),ColorMatchRGB,ProPhotoRGB,andsRGB.Whyshouldyouevencare?Here’s the problem in a nutshell: Computermonitors are RGB.Most desktopprintersuseCMYK inks, but the software that drives theprinteruses anRGBmodeltointerpretcolors,soyoumayneedsomehelp.

ThesRGBcolorspacewasdevelopedtomatchatypicalcomputermonitor’scolorspace,anditisthedefaultforlotsofsoftwarefortheMicrosoftWindowsoperating system. It is also the color space that’s tucked inside most digitalcameras,althoughmostSLRswillgiveyouoptions,whicharedescribedbelow.

AdobeRGBcolorspaceisdesignedforprintingusingCMYKinks.Itincludesawiderrangeofcolors(gamut)thansRGB.SincedigitalSLRsgiveyouachoiceof sRGB or Adobe RGB, take time to review the camera’s User’s Manual todeterminehowtomakethechange.

ColorMatch RGB was originally based on the gamma—a measurement ofcontrastthataffectsanimage’smidtones—ofthenowdefunctRadiusPressViewMonitor. It is a color space that is smaller and less uniform thanAdobeRGB(1998). Photographerswith archives of old scanned imageswill find this colorspaceuseful.

ProPhoto RGB has a larger gamut than Adobe RGB, which itself cannotrepresent some of the colors that can be captured by the newest digital SLRs.ProPhoto RGB has a large gamut that’s especially useful if your devices candisplaysaturatedcolors.

Allof these color spaces,with the exceptionofProPhotoRGB, showsomeclipping, especially in theRed channel,whichmeans if you choose one of theothercolorspaces,youwilllosesomedata.Yet,mostphotolabswantyoutogivethemsRGBfilesbecausetheirdigitalprinterscanoutputanypixeldataaslongasitfitsinsidetheirstandardgamutspace.Out-of-gamutcolorswillnotbeprintedandwillsimplydisappear.Trytoavoidbouncingbackandforthbetweencolorspacesbecauseeverytimeyouconvertafileyoulosesomedata.Ifyouwanttouseacolorspacethat’snotlistedintheSpacemenu,chooseProPhotoRGB,andthen convert to the working space of your choice after opening the file inPhotoshop.

WHATABOUTNOCOLOR?One of the reasons why purists often refer to black & white prints as“monochrome” is that it’s a muchmore precise term that also covers imagesmade insepiaandother tones.However, there ismuchmore toblack&whitephotographythansimplyanabsenceofcolor.Maybewewouldn’tfeelthiswayifthe firstphotographshadbeenmade in full color,but thatdidn’thappenand,likemanyphotographers,IgrewupadmiringtheworksofW.EugeneSmithandother photojournalists who photographed people at work, play, or beingthemselves—ingloriousblack&white.

Oneoftheadvantagesofworkingwithmonochromaticdigitalphotographsisthe original image can come from many sources. Some digital cameras offermodes for capturing imagesdirectly in sepiaorblack&white,butmoreoftenthannottheseimagesareshotinRGB.Asacreativemedium,traditionalistsmaystill call it “monochrome,” and digital imagers may prefer the computerese“grayscale,”but,toparaphraseBillyJoel,“it’sstillblack&whitetome.”

Black&whitecanalsobeawonderfulmediaformakingportraitsbecausethelackofcolorimmediatelysimplifiestheimage,causingyoutofocusontherealsubjectofthephotographinsteadoftheirclothingorsurroundings.Sometimesthe nature of the portrait subject demands that an image be photographed inblack & white. Arnold Newman’s portrait of composer Igor Stravinsky at thepianocouldneverhavebeenmadeincolorandhavethesameimpactthatithasasamonochromeimage.

ThiswindowlightphotographwasmadeusingaCanonEOSD60with28-’05mmlens.Theexposurewas1/125secondatf/6.3andISO400.Originallycapturedincolor,itwasconvertedtoblack&whiteusingNikSoftware’sSilverEfexPro.Next,itwasvignettedusingtheBlurVignettefilterfoundinColorEfexPro.

Some publications print photographs in black & white because it is moreeconomical than printing in color. This is especially true for small runs ofbrochuresornewslettersproducedbycompaniesandnon-profitorganizations.There are also the trendy aspects associated with creating images in black &white.MTV,motion pictures, and fashionmagazines periodically “rediscover”black&whiteasawaytofeatureimagesthataredifferentfromwhat’scurrentlybeing shown. Right now,many professional photographers are tellingme thatthey’re seeing a higher-than-normal demand for black & white portraits.Individualandfamilyportraitpurchaseslikethesearedrivenbythesametrends.

ThisisfrommyMartinScorseseperiodofphotojournalisticportraits.Theportraitwasmadeinfrontofthesame—nowrestored—buildingthatwasusedinthepreviousimage.TheshotwasmadeusingthenowlateandlamentedEpson(yes,thatEpson)RD-1digitalrangefindercamerathatusedLeicalenses.Theexposurewas1/290secondatf/8andISO400.

In thishomage toRuthBernhard’sNude inaBox, themodel isneithernudenor in thekindofboxMs.Bernhardused.Theimagewascapturedusingnaturalindoorlightandflashfill.ThecamerawasaCanonEOS 10D and 28-105mm lens. The image was converted tomonochrome using Alien Skin’s Software’s(www.alienskin.com)Exposure:BlackandWhitePhotoshop-compatibleplug-in.

ThisportraitwasoriginallyshotincolorusingaCanonEOSD60andEF28-105mmlenswithanexposure

of 1/200 second at f/7.1 and ISO 400. Flash was used to balance the light on the subject, who wouldotherwisebeinsilhouette,insideanoldbuildingwithnaturallightoutdoors.

Color images converted toblack&whiteusing theNikSilverEfexPromonochromeconversionplug-inhavemoreofagrittylook.Runningtheprogramminimizessomeoftheclutterandputsthefocusbackonthesubject.HeretheDarkSepiapresetwasusedtocreateawarmblack&whiteeffectsimilartowhatAgfa’sPortrigapaperaccomplishedbackinthewetdarkroomdays.Thediagramontherightshowsthelightingsetup.

NikSilverEfex(www.niksoftware.com)isaPhotoshopandAperture-compatibleplug-inthatallowsyoutoemulateeighteendifferentblack&whitefilmsfromAgfa,Fuji,Ilford,andKodak.Italsohasagrainenginethat mimics the traditional silver halide process. In the Film Types area on the right-hand side of theinterface, you’ll also find controls for Sensitivity and Tonal Curve, which allow you to fine-tune theconversion.

Howaboutsomethingthatcombinesmonochromeandcolor?TheMondayMorningfilterthat’spartoftheSelectandComplete(notStandard)EditionofNikColorEfexProtonesdownthecolorwhileaddingasoft,dreamyeffect.

FIVESTEPSTOADIGITALPORTRAITMyconceptfortheimageshowninthissectionwastousefourormoredifferentdigitalmanipulationtechniquesonasingleportrait.Letmestartbyremindingyouofmypersonal “twenty-minute rule.” If you can’tmake the image on thecomputermonitorlooklikeitdidwhenyousawitinyourmind,chancesareyounever will. Okay, this concept may have taken me slightly more than twentyminutes,butlikeanycreativeactivity,ideascometoyouwhentheycometoyou.

Step1:CaptureanImage.ThisportraitwasmadeonanoutdoormoviesetnearPhoenix,Arizona,usingaCanonEOSD60digitalSLRandanEF135mmf/2.8SFlens.Exposurewas1/250secondandf/3.5atISO200.Onlyexistinglightwasused,withnofillflashorreflectors,andtheimageisabitunderexposed.

Step2:ImageEnhancement.Muchasusingpowertoolsmakesconstructionprojects go faster, digital power tools helpmekeepwithinmyown20-minuteruleand,moreoftenthannot,producebetterresults thandoing it“manually.”

Therearelotsofwaystotweakaphotograph’scoloranddensity,butoneoftheeasiest methods is a Photoshop-compatible plug-in such as PhotoTune(www.ononesoftware.com).

Step3:DrawSomeInvisibleLines.Because Iwanted todivide theportraitinto four equal sections, Ihad todefine thoseparts.Todo this yourself,makesure that Photoshop’s rulers are active (go to View>Rulers). Next, click theverticalrulerwithyourmouseanddragtopulloutabluelineontotheportrait.In fact, pull out three lines and place them in a position that will divide thephotographintofourequalstrips.

Step1.Ithinkit’sagoodideatomakeanimagelookasgoodaspossiblebeforestartinganymanipulations.Thisway,youcanspendlesstimeinpostproduction.Inthiscase,Iwasn’thappywiththecolorshiftthatwascausedbyreflectionsfromtheadobebuilding.

Step2.Ifyou’veeverhadaneyeexam,youknowhowPhotoTuneworks:afterlaunchingtheplug-in,you’representedwithseveralpairsofimages,andyoumustclickontheoneyoulikebest.Afterafewmouseclicks,you’refinishedcolorcorrectingthefile.

MylasttweakforthisportraitwasusingPhotoshop’sburntooltodarkenthepartoftheadobebuildingintheforeground.

Step3.Don’tworry,thesebluelinesarejustguides.Theywillnotappearinthefinalimage.

Step4:Apply SpecialEffectsFilters. Special effectswill only be applied tothreesections.Iwantto leaveonestrip justthewayit issothereisareferencepointforyoutogaugetheeffects.UsingtheRectangularMarqueetool,Iselectedtheareacoveredbythefirststrip.

Iwantedthenextstriptobedifferentfromthefirstanddecidedthatastripwithalotofcolorsshouldbefollowedbyonethathasnocolor.Istartedbyusingthe Rectangular Marquee tool to select the second strip and applied theExposure: Black & White Film (www.alienskin.com) plug-in from the Filtermenu.

Thethirdeffectwaseasy.SinceIwantedtofollowblack&whitewithcolor,Ileft this strip as itwas. For the final strip, Iwanted somethingwith grain anddesaturated colors. I choseNikColorEfexPro’sMondayMorning filter. It’s agoodideatoplaywiththeplug-ins’variousslidersandpresetstoseewhatkindsofeffectsarepossible.Withthesettingsinplace,IpressedOK.Nowwe’realmostdone.

Step4.(left)IwantedthisfirststriptobedramaticandchosethePopArtfilterfromtheNikColorEfexPro(www.nikmultimedia.com)packageofplug-ins.Itisfoundintheplug-incalledDetailStylizer.Itsinterfaceletsyoupreviewthefinaleffects,sobeforeclickingOKtoapplyit,feelfreetoindulgeinsomecreativeplay.

AlienSkin’sExposurenotonlyconvertsanimagetoblack&white.Italsoletsyouemulatespecifickindsofblack&white film. This isn’t the onlyway to accomplish amonochrome effect. In Photoshop, you cansimplygotoImage>Mode>Grayscale.

Step4,continued.(topleft)Toaddtotheeffect,Iplacedtheblack&whiteimageonaseparatelayerusingtheOption-Jkeystroke(LayerviaCopy)anderasedAndria’slefteyeforthatlayeronly,allowinghernormalcolortoshowthroughtotheviewer.

(bottomleft)MondayMorningaddsadiffused,coolmoodtoanimage.Youcanusethisfiltertocontrolcontrastandsaturation,addgrain,andapplyasoftfocuseffect.

(right)Atthispoint,theimageisnotquitedoneyet.There’sjustonemorestepuntilitisfinished.

Step 5: Draw Some Visible Lines. Rather than having all these disparateelementsbumpingupagainstoneanother,Iusedthepaintbrushtoolwithafine(4-pixel) thickness todrawawhite lineon topof the guides created in step3.Youwon’tneedasteadyhandifyouholdtheShiftkeydownafteryouplacethebrushatthetopofthephotographsanddragdown.Thistechniqueguaranteesaperfectlyastraightline.Justremember,whencreatingdigitalportraits,therearenorules,sohavefun!

Step 5. (facing page) At this point, you’re finished, but keep in mind that the strips could have beenhorizontalinsteadofvertical,andIcouldhavemademorethanfourstrips.Youdon’tneedtouseAdobePhotoshoptocreatetheseeffects.ThesesametechniquesworkwithanyimagemanipulationprogramthatuseslayersandacceptsPhotoshop-compatibleplug-ins.

T

CONCLUSION

“ATHINGTHATYOUSEEINMYPICTURESISTHATIWASNOTAFRAIDTOFALLINLOVEWITHTHESEPEOPLE.”-ANNIELEIBOVITZ

hereyouhave it, everything I knowabout the toolsof your craft to createtechnically ac-makingportraitsunder available light—the ceptablebut justas important aesthetically interoriginal title of this book. It’s a simple

alchemical esting portraits. These portraits can idealize themixture of humaninteraction,whichisstillthesubjectorshowthemastheywouldliketobe,mostimportant aspect, andknowinghow tousewhich is often, butnot always, thesamething.

ThisimagewasshotontheedgeofaporchinArizonausingonlynaturallight.Theporchroofblockedtheoverheadlightbutthelightcameinfromtheopensideoftheporch,onthemodel’sleft.ThecamerawasaCanonEOSD60withanEF135mmlens.Theexposurewas1/400secondatf/5andISO400.

Ifthesubjectiswilling,don’tbeafraidofshootingoutdoorswhenit’scold.Thisportraitwasmadeinalocalparkand,asyoucan see fromthe snowon theground in thebackground, itwasachilly Januaryday inColorado. IusedaCanonEOS1DMarkIIcamerawithanEF28-105mmlensandanexposureof1/160secondatf/6.3atISO100.AnEX550speedlightprovidedfill.

That’swhythemostimportantthingsthatyoucanbringtoaportraitsessionareanopenmindandawillingness to listentoyoursubject to findoutwhat their“hot buttons” are. If a subject is sensitive about her hands, using a pose thatplacesthemnexttothesubject’sfaceisareallybadidea,nomatterwhatyousawonthecoverofCosmopolitanthismonth.Therealsecretofsuccessfulavailablelightportraitureistolisten,empathize,andbeincontrolofyourcrafttodeliverwhatthatsubjectexpectsandwants.

Alongthewayifyounoticethattherearenewerlightingproductsandnewer,morecapablecamerasandaccessoriesthatappearonthemarket,keepinmindthatthe journeyfromideatofinishedbookcantaketwoyearsandduringthattime,cameraandphotoequipmentmanufacturersarebusycomingupwithnewand better ideas. That’s why I suggest you keep in touch via my blog(www.joefaraceblogs.com), “Saving theWorld One Pixel at a Time,” for dailytipsandtricksalongwithpracticalapplicationsofnewproducts.There’sanew

tip,trick,orphotoeverydayoftheweek—MondaythroughFriday—sostopbyandsayhi!

Thanksforpurchasingthisbook.

ImadethisavailablelightshotofMisaLynninmydaylightstudiousingaCanonEOS60Dwitha85mmlens.Theavailablelight-onlyexposurewas1/60secondatf/3.2andISO100.

Still keeping the D60 in program mode, I simply turned on the built-in flash with the Graslon Spark(www.graslon.com)pop-upflashdiffusermountedonthecamera’shotshoe,producinganexposureof1/60second at f/4 and ISO 100. I deliberately placed the subject near the wall so that any shadows that aretypicallyproducedbyapop-upflashwouldbevisible,buttheSparksoftenedthelightenoughtoeliminatethem.

INDEX

AAdams,Ansel,22,77Adobe,22,42,60–62,65,81,85,89,131,136,145–48

CameraRaw,131Lightroom,65,131Photoshop,22,42,60–62,81,85,89,131,136,145–48PhotoshopElements,65,131

Aluminumfoil,103Aperture,39,43,45,46,52,55,71AppleAperture,65Arbus,Diane,77Avedon,Richard,19

BBachrach,LouisFabien,111Backgrounds,22,77,105,127Backlighting,41,47,49,55,77,114,116Bitdepth,129–34Bokeh,14Bracketing,57,91,131Burning,23,28

CCamerashake,56Catchlights,23,111Colordepth,129–34Coloroflight,20,24,59,84,145;seealsoWhitebalanceColorspace,131,135,

137–38Composition,81Contrast,20,23,55,67–69,77–78Cropping,87,111,117

D

DDean,Jack,121DeCroce,Edward,98Depthoffield,52,53,77,83,127Detail,capturing,22,45,103Diffusers,59,98,111,119,120Directionoflight,20Dodging,23,28Dynamicrange,20–22

EEXIFdata,67,87ExpoImagingExpoDisc,34–35Exposure,11,20–22,23,28,32,35–35,39–58,59,60,62–63,71–75,78,79,81,

86,91,93,96,97,103,112,114,116,119,121,127,131,139,144aperture,39,43,45,46,52,55,71autoexposurelock,46–47bracketing,57,91,131burning,23,28compensation,28,58,81,112,116dodging,23,28dynamicrange,20–22guidenumbers,112highlights,20,22,39,78,114,121histograms,41,60,131hotspots,121ISO,11,56–57,59,79,97,127latitude,39modes,54–55overexposure,45,57,81scenemodes,71–75shadows,20,22,39,103,127shutterspeed,39,42,52–55,71,93,96,97Sunny16rule,78–79TTLmode,112,116underexposure,39,57,60,62–63,81,86,144value,43

Expressions,78Eyes,23,83,103,111,112,113,127

FFarace,Mary,8,16,82,91,92,104,111,119,122,123Fashion,23Fileformat,35,67,129–37

JPEG,129–31,134–35RAW,35,129–34,134–36RAW+JPEG,129,135–37TIFF,67,129

Filllight,23,49,59,91,100,111–19Film,14,19,20,32,33,77,82Films,seeMoviesFilters,25,33,96Flash,23,73,81,87,91,97,111–19,122–27

accessories,118–19baretube,111built-in,122–27compensationsettings,116guidenumbers,112pop-up,23,97,113,127speedlights,23,31,81,111–12syncspeed,73,117TTLmode,112,116

Flatlighting,23Fluorescentlights,29Foamcore,13,103Frontlighting,49

GGels,31Gloves,92Gobos,16Gomez,Tony,73GossenColorPro3F,34Gowland,Peter,20

Grant,Ted,129Graycards,seeKodakGrayCardGuidenumbers,112

HHairstyles,23,78Highdynamicrange(HDR)imaging,20,96High-keyimages,58,78Highlights,20,22,39,78,114,121highlight-alertfeature,48Histograms,41,42,131Hollywood-styleportraits,24Hotspots,121

IImagesensors,62–65Indoors,shooting,13,23,29–32,59–75,90,99,100,107–8,109,111,139

tungstenlight,29–32windowlight,13,23,59–61,90,99,100,109,111,139

Infraredimages,53,96ISOsettings,11,56–57,59,67,79,97,127

JJewelry,78

KKelvintemperature,24KodakGrayCard,34,46,121

LLatitude,39LCDscreens,47–49,57,81,83,112,119LEDflashlights,92Lenses,11,55,77,83,89,90,93,96,97

fast,89,97focallength,55,90,93imagestabilization,96

vibration-reduction,96zoom,90–92

Leibovitz,Annie,151Lightbanks,111,121,122Lightingratios,41Lightmeters,41–46,51

incident,41reflected,41,43,45spot,43,46,51

Lightmodifiers,13,16,23,97–109,111,119,120,121,122aluminumfoil,103bouncecards,121curtains,23diffusers,59,98,111,119,120foamcore,13,103gobos,16,23lightbanks,111,121,122mini-blinds,23scrims,23,97–109reflectors,13,23,97–109,111,119ringlights,23umbrellas,111

Light,propertiesof,20,23,100,103Lightstands,107Locationphotography,13,19,22,27–29,75–96,105,107–8,114,125–27,128Lowlight,11,89–93Low-keyimages,58

MMakeup,78Metering,45–58,75

brightestobject,45–46center-weighted,49–51darkestobject,45incident,41multi-segment,49reflected,41,43,45

spotmetering,51substitution,46

Mixedlighting,11Monochromeimages,86,89,127,139–43Mood,60Motion,subject,43,135Movies,14,45

NNewman,Arnold,139Noise,39,60,62–67,89

reducing,63–67,89

OOutdoors,shooting,13,19,27–29,75–96,107–8,114,123,125–27,128

cloudyconditions,27–29,81–83nightphotography,89–93,127,128shade,83–84,114sunnyconditions,78–81

PPanoramicimages,96Phases,photographic,14–15Photoshop,seeAdobePhotoshopPlug-Ins,21,65–67,85,124,134,145,146Posing,81

QQualityoflight,20,23,100Quantityoflight,20

RRapport,78Redeye,127Reflectors,13,23,97–109,111,119Resolution,133Ringlights,23

SScenemodes,69–75,127Scrims,23,97–109Shade,28,83–85Shadows,20,39,103,125Shutterspeeds,42,49,52–55,71,93,96,97,123Sidelighting,24Speedlights,23,31,81,111–12Spotlights,24,31Staver,Barry,8,99,106Staver,Matthew,8,106Sunny16rule,78–79Syncspeed,73,117

TTestimages,32TopazAdjust,21,22Trent,Vernon,39Tripods,92,93–96,124TTLmode,112,116Truffaut,François,14Tungstenlight,29–32

UUmbrellas,111

VVideographers,2425

WWardrobe,78Whitebalance,24–37,84,85Windowlight,13,23,59–61,90,99,100,109,111,139Wraparoundlight,81–82Workflow,129–48

Z

ZoneSystem,22