Two questions on lighting

[Ellekes]

Hi all,

I have used the past few days to read up on lighting. Two things remain a bit unclear.

Fill Flash

I get the concept of fill flash (or at least I think I do): eg when shooting against bright background, the use of some flash to get light on your subject.
What I don't understand is how to do it? If I meter at teh subject, my background will be overexposed. But if I meter at the background, there will be no flash, so no additional light on the subject. Maybe a really stupid question, but how do I get my flash to light the subject anyway??????

Getting the light in the right places

Again, probably a silly question, but still. I get it when you stoot studio photographs, you can set up your lighting to have light in the right places of the face, background etc... But when I shoot kids in natural environments and assuming I have lighting in general right, how do you get the light in the right place? I always seem to end up with the brightest place on the chin, in the neck, ... Everywhere but the eyes? Is this a focus issue, or do I do something else wrong? (or is the answer that I'm just a lousy photographer.... )

Thanks for the answers!

 

[The_Bulb]

Hi all,

I have used the past few days to read up on lighting. Two things remain a bit unclear.

Fill Flash

I get the concept of fill flash (or at least I think I do): eg when shooting against bright background, the use of some flash to get light on your subject.
What I don't understand is how to do it? If I meter at teh subject, my background will be overexposed. But if I meter at the background, there will be no flash, so no additional light on the subject. Maybe a really stupid question, but how do I get my flash to light the subject anyway??????

I am not sure which system you are using but I shoot Canon. I normally put the camera into full manual mode and set the aperture to what I want to achieve with the shot (normally wide open for portraits) I then set a shutter speed of 1/60 - 1/100 sec (slow enough to let the ambient light of the background into the sensor and then use the flash set to ETTL. I use a Gary Fong lightsphere to difuse the harshness of the flash.

Getting the light in the right places

Again, probably a silly question, but still. I get it when you stoot studio photographs, you can set up your lighting to have light in the right places of the face, background etc... But when I shoot kids in natural environments and assuming I have lighting in general right, how do you get the light in the right place? I always seem to end up with the brightest place on the chin, in the neck, ... Everywhere but the eyes? Is this a focus issue, or do I do something else wrong? (or is the answer that I'm just a lousy photographer.... )

This isn't the easiest to answer because there are a number of variables which will always make each scenario different. When doing portraits I normally stop and first of all have a look at the ambient light, the amount of it and from which direction it is coming from. I then look at the subject and look for shadows on the body and face from items in the surrounding area and from the nose, long hair etc and decide if I want to cancel out those shadows and if so where best to position the lighting. Practice really does make perfect. It is sometimes handy to take a shot with no lights and then use that image to decide where to add lighting!


Thanks for the answers!

I am a newby to flash and thought I'll have a shot at answering this, as I know the more experienced members will correct me and I'll learn something new

 

[BarryDawsib]

Fill Flash

I get the concept of fill flash (or at least I think I do): eg when shooting against bright background, the use of some flash to get light on your subject.
What I don't understand is how to do it? If I meter at teh subject, my background will be overexposed. But if I meter at the background, there will be no flash, so no additional light on the subject. Maybe a really stupid question, but how do I get my flash to light the subject anyway??????

Fill Flash, meter the camera to the strongest light source (background bright sun) then meter the flash to be equal to the background.
Problem with fill flash in a lot of cases (like this time of year) or what I have had is that the flash still isent powerful enough.

Alternatively use a reflector! much easier

 

[BarryDawsib]

Hi all,

Getting the light in the right places

Again, probably a silly question, but still. I get it when you stoot studio photographs, you can set up your lighting to have light in the right places of the face, background etc... But when I shoot kids in natural environments and assuming I have lighting in general right, how do you get the light in the right place? I always seem to end up with the brightest place on the chin, in the neck, ... Everywhere but the eyes? Is this a focus issue, or do I do something else wrong? (or is the answer that I'm just a lousy photographer.... )
!

Shooting kids on location assuming you are doing "reportage" style shots, aka just shooting them enjoying themselves you have no control at all, all I can say is aim for the eyes, interact and try to get them playing near and in shade while having the light source behind you to get the catch lights in the eyes and make them bright.

also if they are the kind that will sit and pose same again, shade, but have them facing towards a light source that could be a big white building or something...

train your eyes to spot what's around you and it will serve you well

 

[EOS_JD]

Hi all,

Fill Flash

I get the concept of fill flash (or at least I think I do): eg when shooting against bright background, the use of some flash to get light on your subject.
What I don't understand is how to do it? If I meter at teh subject, my background will be overexposed. But if I meter at the background, there will be no flash, so no additional light on the subject. Maybe a really stupid question, but how do I get my flash to light the subject anyway??????

Not sure I'd meter for the sun as mentioned in a previous post (the sky yes but not the sun or everything except the subject (inc the sky) is likely to be way under exposed. When you have a strong backlit scene you do want to meter for the ambient light behind the subject in the scene. Lets say you have a subject indoors in front of a bright window. To get the exposure of both correct you meter for the bright light outside (camera meter should give a good indication of the exposure) and the ETTL flash will provide the light to light your subject. You can meter the background darker or lighter if you want by controlling the shutter speed - the shutter speed will not affect the flash power - that's controlled by the aperture and ISO.

Fill flash is normally used where you need to lighten dark shadows. Lets say you are outside with a very bright noon sun beating down and you have dark shadows under the subject's chin and in the eye sockets. You would again meter for the ambient light and when you shoot the flash will provide a small amount of fill light to lighten the shadows.

Getting the light in the right places

Again, probably a silly question, but still. I get it when you stoot studio photographs, you can set up your lighting to have light in the right places of the face, background etc... But when I shoot kids in natural environments and assuming I have lighting in general right, how do you get the light in the right place? I always seem to end up with the brightest place on the chin, in the neck, ... Everywhere but the eyes? Is this a focus issue, or do I do something else wrong? (or is the answer that I'm just a lousy photographer.... )

Thanks for the answers!

Are you using flash? Can you post an example? Look at the direction of the light. With ambient light, you should be able to see the light on the face. If you're not getting light, you can use a reflector just outside the shot to direct light into the right area.

Give us more info

 

[Tyke Tiler]

Hi all,

I have used the past few days to read up on lighting. Two things remain a bit unclear.

Fill Flash

Fill flash for me is adding light to give a little lift to the sahdow areas, opening up the detail a little while retaining your shadow interest.

They say that shadows are our friends and make a more interesting image.
Also, from a very wise wizard of light (Joe McNally):
'You want something to look interesting? Then don't light all of it.'

There are many ways to achieve this, reflectors are one and very economic way but sometimes you need a little more punch.

Balancing ambient/available light is another story. One way is select a shutter speed that will allow enough ambient light, then select the aperture for the circs and then balance the frame to taste with your flash.

Getting the light in the right places

There's no one answer nor is there a single approach to putting the light in the right places, there are just guides as it's all circumstantial really.

One way is to keep the main light or 'key' light high, almost mimicking the sun, lighting from eye level can produce flat results and lighting from below gives a Boris Karloff/torch light under the face look for campfire ghost stories.

All this can completely change based on the subjects, the location and also the theme or moment.

Best thing to do is get out there and try a bunch of varying approaches.
There's nothing better than putting theory to practise.

Books I'd recommend are:
The Moment it Clicks
The Hot Hoe Diaries

Both by Joe McNally.

Some complain that Joe's not technically descriptive enough, but he teaches you to actually think for yourself, think about what kind of light to choose as opposed to offering that winning formula that simply does not exist.

Hope that helps

T.