Light Modifiers

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6. LIGHTING OUTDOORS When I set out to create a portrait outdoors, the first thing I look for is the existing light in the scene. I always try to incorporate this into my lighting mix—whether it comes through a window or doorway, or streams down through the trees. Sunlight can be a beautiful accent light (it’s great for background separation) or it can be bounced back onto your subject. Unfortunately, Mother Nature doesn’t always work on our schedule, so it is important to learn to see the ambient light, to control it, and to add additional light creatively. In this chapter, we’ll look at a variety of lighting techniques that you can use as inspiration for your own photographs. Whatever lighting tools you choose to employ, remember to use your knowledge of light placement when shooting outside. On-camera flash, placed on your camera’s hot-shoe mount, is not acceptable; it will typically produce images that are flat and amateurish. LIGHTING OUTDOORS 79
CALIFORNIA SUNBOUNCE When photographing outdoors, additional light is often re- Photograph 6-1 of Irena Murphy was created on Catalina quired. California Sunbounce creates my favorite modifier Island in California. The location was well shaded and lacked for this purpose. This ingenious device is a flash arm that al- any usable available light. Shaun Nink, my nephew and awelows you to attach your flash to a Sunbounce reflector and some assistant, was positioned at the top of the stairs with the bounce flashed light back onto your subject. It’s a great tool Sunbounce. A micro-mini zebra reflector was chosen as it I use all the time and well worth your investment. Let’s look closely resembled the warmth of the California sun. This was at the Sunbounce in action. equipped with an SB800 flash powered at one stop over the ambient light. Had there been avail- Set scene for PHOTOGRAPH 6-1 with the California Sunbounce micro zebra with Nikon able sunlight, I would have not used SB800 attached via a flash arm. the flash on the reflector; I could simply have bounced the sun onto Irena’s hair. The main light was a single SB800, powered at one stop lower than the ambient light. This was just to camera left and positioned to create a butterfly lighting pattern. This was fitted with a LumiQuest mini softbox modifier, and you can see the soft transition of highlights and shadows it produced. Using a low contrast ratio worked well for this slightly overcast day. Notice the beautiful, warm light on Irena’s hair (and the highlights on the stairs behind her). This accent/ hair light was created using artificial bounced light via the Sunbounce. Without this added light, the photograph would lack dimension. Remember: our job as photographers is to create the look of a third dimension in a two-dimensional print. The only way to do this is through lighting. 80 THE DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHER’S GUIDE TO LIGHT MODIFIERS PHOTOGRAPH 6-1 (FACING PAGE). SUBJECT: Irena Murphy. CAMERA: Nikon D300. SET- TINGS: Manual mode, 1 /160 second, f/6.3, ISO 400.
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THE DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHER’S GUIDE
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication . . .
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9. USING MULTIPLE FLASHES . . . . .
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PHOTO BY DON JONES PHOTOGRAPHY. ABO
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Photography is light and can easily
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1. THE PHYSICS OF LIGHT Have you ev
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ed magenta yellow blue cyan 14 THE
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cerning in your photographic lighti
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HIGH KEY vs. LOW KEY High-key image
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PHOTOGRAPH 1-9. SUBJECT: Gabriel Gr
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PHOTOGRAPH 1-12 (RIGHT). A selectio
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PHOTOGRAPH 1-14. This portrait illu
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We’ll look at hot-shoe flash modi
Page 30 and 31: There as many light-shaping modifie
Page 32 and 33: PHOTOGRAPH 2-10. Here, I used Hense
Page 34 and 35: PHOTOGRAPH 2-14. A 22-inch Hensel b
Page 36 and 37: PHOTOGRAPH 2-18. A small Hensel sof
Page 38 and 39: When using a light panel or translu
Page 40 and 41: PHOTOGRAPH 2-26. The shape and size
Page 42 and 43: Most people are not comfortable in
Page 45 and 46: A VARIETY OF LOOKS The next series
Page 47 and 48: DRAMATIC LIGHTING Staying updated w
Page 49 and 50: FROM PORTRAIT TO GLAMOUR This serie
Page 51 and 52: PHOTOGRAPH 3-12. Notice the design
Page 54 and 55: As our shoot progressed (see previo
Page 56 and 57: 4. EXPERIMENTAL LIGHTING TECHNIQUES
Page 58 and 59: Set scene. Notice the gobo placed n
Page 61: STUDIO LIGHTS OUTDOORS Using your s
Page 64 and 65: PHOTOGRAPH 4-9. SUBJECT: Kameron. C
Page 66 and 67: AN IMAGINARY JOURNEY Suppose you we
Page 68: PHOTOGRAPH 5-5. SUBJECT: Scott Worm
Page 71 and 72: PHOTOGRAPH 5-8. These LumiQuest mod
Page 73 and 74: SAMPLE LIGHT-MODIFIER EFFECTS It wo
Page 75 and 76: PHOTOGRAPH 5-15. The Ray Flash is a
Page 77 and 78: PHOTOGRAPH 5-19. SUBJECT: Irena Mur
Page 79: PHOTOGRAPH 5-22. SUBJECT: Irena Mur
Page 85: JUST ONE LIGHT Bob Ray, a dear frie
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Page 91 and 92: trait, however, was created using t
Page 93 and 94: 7. REFLECTORS Now, let’s take a q
Page 95 and 96: PHOTOGRAPH 7-4. In this example, a
Page 97 and 98: 8. DRAMATIC PORTRAITS WITH SPECIALT
Page 99 and 100: THE RAY FLASH A Ray Flash was used
Page 101: Set scene for PHOTOGRAPH 8-6. 100 T
Page 105 and 106: 9. USING MULTIPLE FLASHES When phot
Page 107 and 108: THEMES Commissioned to create image
Page 109 and 110: CHANGING MODIFIERS The next series
Page 111 and 112: TELLING A STORY Photographer Bob Ra
Page 113: WHEN MOTHER NATURE DOESN’T COOPER
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Page 118 and 119: PHOTOGRAPH 9-20. CAMERA: Nikon D3,
Page 121 and 122: RESOURCES Adobe Photoshop www.adobe
Page 123 and 124: Flags, 27, 28, 31 Flare, 58 Flash,
Page 125 and 126: Also by Allison Earnest SCULPTING W
Page 127 and 128: CHILDREN’S PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY H
Page 129: Whether it’s available light or a
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Light Modifiers

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