Portraits Are People Too

Portrait can be a loose term. Is ANY photo of a person a portrait? For all you literalists, here is the definition on Dictionary.com.

I think that photographically speaking, a portrait is any image where the person is the main point of interest in the photo and the subject knows he/she is being photographed. If they are unaware, it becomes a candid or street photograph. That line is easily blurred (and arbitrary at that) but I think it's an important distinction for the photographer in one respect--candid is easier. It's much easier to catch a subject doing something interesting when they don't know a camera is around. As soon as people see a camera pointed at them, they get all stupid and awkward. This shifts the burden almost fully to the photographer to work with the person in order to create an interesting image. Both types of photography are lots of fun and perfectly acceptable, just know that as soon as that person sees you, it is left up to you to make a portrait.

The Rules:
I would really say that I only have one: If the subject is making eye contact with the camera, the eyes should be focused. That's it, and it's really just a rule I've imposed on myself after a lot of attempts to the contrary. I simply can't think of a single time in 500,000 images that it worked so I've decided to make it a rule. The rest are just helpful techniques, the goal being to create an image that tells a story of that individual, their relationship to the world, and your vision as a photographer.

So here are a few things to think about.

1. The eyes
The eyes are important, they really ARE the window to the soul. You certainly don't have to have the eyes in the frame or in focus, just make sure that you know WHY you don't have them there. One of my favorite portraits ever is a LIFE Magazine image of Marlene Dietrich by Milton Greene in 1952. Greene wanted to turn the person into a pair of legs that have a life of their own.

The second example is a wonderful street portrait of a young boy with a patch over one eye made by Vivian Maier. It's impossible to know what she meant to do but by having eye with the patch lit and the good one obscured by shadow, she created an image that has continued to fascinate me because you simply don't see a single eye, even though you know he's looking right at you. I feel like he should have some sort of mystical powers.

Remember that the main technique that gives a person that spark of humanity and really engages you with someone is the spark in their eyes known as a catchlight. A catchlight is a reflection of something in the eyes of the subject. It can be sky, flash, building, whatever is reflective--the bigger the better. The image below has a reflection of the window creating a great catchlight. It adds life and vitality to a portrait.

2. Lighting
Softer is more flattering. The harshness of the light is related to the size and material of the light source. The sun is a teeny, tiny light source, therefore the shadows are deep and the transitions from light to dark are sharp and unflattering. A flash head is the same. In the next image, look at the sharp shadow to the left of her nose. This was lit by a single flash off to my right.

As a comparison, the image below is a very simple portrait shot using just a large window off to my left. You see no harsh shadow lines. It's much more forgiving of wrinkles and blemishes. You can also see that because the window light was not as strong the contrast between it and the ambient light filling the room is much lower, where above there was no ambient light leading to very strong contrast.

Remember that there is ALWAYS direction to light. On an overcast day, there will be stronger light coming from the sun, even when it's covered by clouds. It is more subtle but it's there. Overcast days usually mean nice, soft light, but also can make for odd color to skin tones.

Case in point is the portrait below, shot on an overcast day with light reflecting from many directions. The sun was above and behind her, hitting the back of her head, therefore it doesn't figure into the lighting scheme on her face. Another tip is when you are cropped in tight, adding the subjects hands do wonders in adding interest to the frame.

The next image was shot with one flash to my left in a 24 inch softbox, giving it a nice, large spread. The rim light down the subject's left side is the sun, low on the horizon where it's much more diffused by the atmosphere so it's not as powerful. It does a beautiful job of separating the subject from the background. His suit is a similar value to the background and would have been lost without the rim light. You can shoot a natural light portrait this same way but you'll have to expose for the ambient light which is much dimmer making the sunlight stronger in comparison.

3. Posing
This is where your vision as a photographer can really create a unique style. Do whatever you think will look interesting but here are a few things to keep in mind.

Watch where you frame. As a general rule, don't chop of a limb or a body at a joint or natural break. It feels like an amputation, the brain doesn't automatically assume that the limb continues! If you crop in the middle of a body structure, the brain assumes that the second half is there. So avoid cropping right at the wrists, elbows, waist, knees, and ankles.

If you want a comfortable expression, allow the subject to be comfortable. I know, it sounds obvious but the "best" angles don't look good on many people because they require uncomfortable twisting and turning of limbs. If  you want a formal portrait, use formal rules, if you want a relaxed, candid-feeling portrait, allow the subject to do what comes natural then make them hold it when you see something you like. Don't be afraid to ask them to do it again. We shot the image below 5 or 6 times to get things to come out right.

Don't be afraid to tell people what to do with themselves, unless they've modeled before, most people don't have a clue what to do in front of a camera. Make suggestions but allow for their personal preferences. If they're uncomfortable with large, demonstrative poses, they won't pull them off well, find a more sedate, comfortable place and focus more on their inner self.

Whatever you do, encourage people! Tell them they're doing a great job. It will relax them and they'll open up more to your vision and direction. People will do some pretty crazy stuff if they know they'll look good doing it!

Remember that there is always a little bit of perspective involved. If you want to minimize hips, have her shift her weight to the back foot, that will shift the hips away from the camera. It's subtle but it works.

Wide angle lenses typically create more depth while long lenses flatten depth. If a nose is prominent, flatten it a bit by shooting longer. For someone with a flatter, wider face, you can bring more depth by shooting wide.

I could go on forever but in the end, you have to get out there and shoot! Remember that while people resist getting their picture taken, if you're honest with them about your purpose, ask them politely, and smile, most people will let you practice your art! Here are a couple of images of random people I met for the first time through the lens.

Have a great time, I can promise, you'll never get bored shooting people!

If you want to look at incredible portrait and people photographers, here are some of the ones that inspire me:

Vivian Maier - Street photography
Richard Avedon - Fashion
Joe McNally - Editorial
Greg Gorman - Fine Art
Dan Winters - Portraiture

Three Wedding Workshop Spots Available! - October 12th 2011

I am excited to announce that I will be putting on an all-day workshop on October 12!
I have a bride who has graciously consented to allow me to use her actual wedding as a teaching situation. We will be shooting photos outside a temple in the morning, followed by an early afternoon bridal shoot (This shoot will be with models, not the actual bride) then finishing off the day with the evening reception.
The cost will be $500 and I am limiting the workshop to just four people so there will be oodles of very personal attention throughout the process.

Topics of discussion will include:
Posing
Natural lighting
Off-camera lighting
Dealing with less-flattering light
Working the crowd
Tips and techniques for shooting the details
Photojournalism vs. set-up situations
General wedding ebb and flow
How to find/define your style
...and anything else you'd like to learn!

The workshop also includes one hour of one-on-one editing/workflow instruction, (your place or mine,) my custom personal collection of Lightroom presets.


If  you want to be fully comfortable with the arduous process of shooting a full wedding, this workshop is for you.

The basic theory and workings of your camera will not be discussed in depth so you should know your camera and basic theory. Obviously questions and clarifications will be discussed in the process but there won't be time to lay out basic theory or camera functionality in a classroom situation.

Bring any gear you'd like to learn to use and we'll go through it.

Email me or call me at 801-949-2044 for availability or with any questions. One spot is gone already!

Looking forward to it!

Jon

Composing Awesome Portraits - Adorama TV

I've been MIA for a month or so and haven't posted anything! I'm working on some pretty amazing projects (you can see the genesis of one here: http://www.furiousjourney.com) including a new home for my images.
I wanted to share this short instructional video from Adorama with some good tips on how to frame better portraits. There are some good tips.

18 Thoughts on Breaking Creative Blocks

 A great article about what 18 creatives do to overcome creative block.

 http://lukecopping.com/blog/index.php/18-creative-thinkers-break-your-artistic-stall/

This Lens is Soft...and Other Myths

 I consider this article the definitive statement on lenses/bodies being soft.
It is a phenomenal article and I recommend you follow the link at the end and read the rest. You will never look at lenses the same way again. This is not an article I have written and I claim no credit, I just liked it so much that it needed to be reposted.

“This Lens is Soft”...and other Myths

CR Introduction
Welcome aboard Roger Cicala from LensRentals.com. He has been kind enough to allow us to republish some of his fine technical articles. You’ll find his writing easy to read, often humorous and generally right on the ball.
I chose this article first because I am constantly asked about this phenomenon. It’s also talked about quite frequently on message boards.
So sit back and enjoy the read.

Part 1 – Written in 2008

One of the most common examples of anti-logic we see at LensRentals is the statement The lens is soft/frontfocuses/backfocuses. Now don’t get me wrong, there are bad copies of lenses out there, as best we can tell ranging from 3% to 7% of lenses. And we know, despite our checkout procedures, that 1 of 400 lenses or so will be damaged in shipping and arrive not functioning. Sometimes there’s actual damage or misalignment of an element in the lens, although the vast majority of the time that’s not the case. Usually the subject of the photograph is soft because the lens is not focusing precisely.
Three to 4 times a week we have the following conversation:
“The lens you sent me frontfocuses, its not good.”
“OK, we’ll overnight you a replacement.”
Then the first lens comes back and its perfectly fine when we check it out. But the customer is very happy with the replacement lens, it worked great even thought the first one didn’t. So what has happened? Its rather simple, actually, and like most examples of anti-logic it stems from a wrong assumption: the customer knows his/her camera is ‘fine’ because it works with fine with their other lenses—none of them front focus or back focus.
The key to the puzzle is the definition of ‘fine’. Most people assume that ‘fine’ means ‘perfectly calibrated’. In reality cameras are like any other manufactured item, calibration is within a given tolerance range. We don’t have privvy to what the actual tolerance range Canon, Nikon, or the other manufacturers (except Zeiss and Leica) consider acceptable, so lets arbitrarily say the manufacturer will consider a camera or lens to be ‘in specifications’ if its + or – 3 ‘focus units’ from perfect. We can assume they reached this number because anything within + or – 3 focus units will be within the depth of field of a wide aperture (probably f/2.8) lens.
Lets consider that I have a camera body that is -2 focus units from perfect, and a lens that is +2 focus units from perfect. Both are considered ‘fine’ according to the manufacturers definition, although they certainly aren’t perfect. However, the combination of a +2 lens on my -2 camera will be absolutely perfect, I’ll love the lens on my camera . After my experience with this one lens on one camera, I will write Sonnets on the various online forums about how great it is, and will tell anyone who doesn’t like it that they must be a bad photographer. I will have become the most dreaded online lifeform, a FLAO (Fanboy with Loss of All Objectivity).
But what if the lens was -2 focus units from the theoretical perfect and I put it on my -2 focus units from perfect camera? Well it depends. If the lens is say an f/4 maximum aperture, probably not much: the depth of field from an f/4 aperture lens may well mask a bit of front focusing or back focusing. You might notice the lens frontocuses 3 feet in front of the subject at 20 feet if you pixel peep, but since the depth of field is 10 feet the subject is still in focus and the lens seems fine. I will probably describe the lens as very good, but not descend to complete FLAOdom.
But if its an f/1.4 lens with a very shallow depth of field, the front focusing will be noticeable: the subject will be out of focus and soft. If I know how to do a front/backfocus test I may have figured out the problem, but here’s the kicker: if I sent the lens in to the manufacturer to fix the problem they would check the lens out, say it was fine (because it is fine, its within specifications) and send it back. Ony if I send the camera and lens together to be calibrated would the fact that the two together are out of focus be apparent, and then the manufacturer would be able to fix the calibration...

Follow the link below to read the rest of the article.
http://www.canonrumors.com/tech-articles/this-lens-is-soft-and-other-myths/

Sometimes It's an Accident

What was supposed to be a happy, fun, quick shoot with my Hannah (basically documenting her prominent shiner) produced a photo that has been very powerful for me. It makes me think of all the children who are the subjects of domestic abuse and simply have no voice. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't like to be a downer but sometimes an image touches you and that's art is truly doing its job. The impact of this image is almost entirely due to the post-processing. Hannah was certainly not in pain or even upset. I'm not sure why she was covering her mouth but somehow in post when I darkened and desaturated, it brought out this image.

{Photo IQ: The simple lesson of this image is to play around. Allow yourself to explore and experiment with images in post. You just never know what you're going to get! In this case, I desaturated and upped the contrast. It really wasn't too much, but it brought out the black eye and the higher contrast made the catchlights stand out more, giving the impression of nearly crying.
I've posted the original image below so you can see the real differences brought on by allowing some fun in Photoshop. What are your thoughts? Can true art happen accidentally?}

Pictage User Group - Salt Lake City

I am the speaker at the Pictage User Group on March 30!
The program will be unique and a lot of fun. I have extensive experience with improv comedy and have noticed some very strong ties between the creativity required to do improv and the creativity of photography. We will entertain, inform and inspire, don't miss it!
It is sponsored by Pictage but everyone is invited.

We will be meeting on March 30th at 6:30 p.m. in the Salt Lake City Library.  The program starts at promptly at 7:00 p.m.
210 East 400 South
Salt Lake City UT 84111

Please join us.  It is free for anyone to attend and any experience level is welcome! If you have questions you may email andrea@andreahanksphotography.com or call her at 801-349-0718.

Eyes vs. Cameras--The Grudge Match. What is the ISO of the Human Eye?

 Today we're crossing into Photo Nerd territory. This is a warning, there will be science content in this article!
It is, however, fascinating! It asks the question, what IS the ISO of the human eye?

 Click here to read the article on Pixiq: http://www.pixiq.com/article/eyes-vs-cameras

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS! -- Photography Policy Near Federal Buildings

A very interesting and useful article from the New York Times on January 27, 2011. I printed this out and I show it to people who question my rights to shoot in public. Truth-be-told, it doesn't even matter what it says, nobody wants to read it anyway!

"The public has the right to take pictures of public buildings from public spaces.
In an ideal world, there wouldn’t be anything exceptional about this statement. But nothing has been ideal for photographers since 9/11. The mere invocation of “security” seems to trump every other consideration, including logic and the law.
That’s why the New York Civil Liberties Union was so pleased with the settlement it reached in October with the Federal Protective Service of the Department of Homeland Security. (“You Can Photograph That Federal Building,” Oct. 18, 2010.) In the settlement, the agency pledged to inform its officers of the public’s general right to photograph the exteriors of federal courthouses.
Now, the civil liberties group has received a redacted version of the directive that was sent out last year. Significantly, it embraces federal buildings — not just courthouses — nationwide.
You might want to print out this version and tuck it in your camera bag in case you’re challenged in the future.
“Given the many reports of harassment, we encourage photographers to carry this directive with them, particularly if they intend to take pictures where they’ve had problems in the past,” said Christopher Dunn, associate legal director of the N.Y.C.L.U.
The three-page bulletin reminds officers, agents and employees that, “absent reasonable suspicion or probable cause,” they “must allow individuals to photograph the exterior of federally owned or leased facilities from publicly accessible spaces” like streets, sidewalks, parks and plazas. Even when there seems to be reason to intercede and conduct a “field interview,” the directive says:

Officers should not seize the camera or its contents, and must be cautious not to give such ‘orders’ to a photographer to erase the contents of a camera, as this constitutes a seizure or detention.

The bulletin was actually issued last August, before the settlement was formally reached, evidently in anticipation of the final terms. But a copy of it did not make its way into Mr. Dunn’s hands until last week. He was still happy to receive it.
“This directive is important,” he said, “not only because it recognizes that the public is entitled to photograph federal buildings from outdoor public places but also because it orders federal officers across the country not to interfere with that photography.”
About the document itself, Mr. Dunn explained that any language overruled with red strike-through was effectively negated. Note, for instance, that the distribution ban — “At no time is any of this information to be provided to the general public or any individual or organization associated with a media affiliate” — has been stricken.
On the other hand, several sentences and sections have been obscured by the government. Mr. Dunn said he did not know what was under the white redaction patches.

Here is the original document- I have printed it out to show whenever I get approached about it. 

Here's the link to the original article.

Krista + Brett - Angel's Gate Park, California

From their ceremony at the breathtaking (albeit windy) Angel's Gate Park with its interesting pagoda to their reception at Hesse Park filled with people who can only be described as riotous, Krista and Brett planned a memorable and downright enjoyable wedding.

The wind made for some very fun moments!
The wind mayhem:

 

 The kite attack was probably my favorite moment of all!

 

On a side note, the above basketball court was the location of a TV commercial with Kobe Bryant.

{PHOTO IQ: My setup for the above shot (tossing the bouquet) was the key to its clarity and timing. I usually set up two or three speedlites around the room, one on the bride, one on the catchers, and one to give a general lift to the room. With so many light sources around, you can set the power lower, giving you shorter recycle times and faster bursts to stop action. Hit me up with any questions, either with comments here or on my facebook page! }

For those of you on smart phones who can't see the slideshow below, click here to be whisked electronically to the facebook album.

See more at www.jonwoodbury.com

Chelsea Lindsay - Head shots

Chelsea is a music student at the University of Utah.  In preparation for some upcoming auditions, she came to me for some headshots. Operas are not known for their wild and crazy head shots so she wanted something low-key and professional. We did pretty standard lighting for the first set, then went a little more glamorous (lighting-wise) on the second half. Chelsea is an incredibly talented vocalist but she also has a thing for pop culture We had the time of our lives spouting movie lines and trading obscure factoids. In the end, I feel like we got a traditional head shot feel and she looked amazing! Thanks again, Chelsea, for sharing your awesomeness!

For those of you on smart phones who can't see the slideshow below, click here to be whisked electronically to the facebook album.

{PHOTO IQ: Using rim light in portraits. The rim light/back light/separator light is one of the most important pieces in a portrait. it gives it depth and shape, helps the subject stand out, and allows the photographer to sculpt the face in the best possible way. I played around a lot with the back light in this shoot. Some have it, some don't. In the example below, you'll see how much more pop there is in the top image with the background light bringing out her shoulders and shaping her hair against the black background. The back light in this set was a speedlite with a Honl gird on it to reduce flare. As you go through the images, pay attention to the role of the back light. Try to pick out the angle at which it's hitting the subject and whether that angle works for Chelsea's face and for the feel of the shots.}

See more at www.jonwoodbury.com

Lauren Betts - Baby Girl

Lisa and Scott have a nice sized family. For several years the happy bunch consisted of mom, dad, and three boys. Three boys. Poor Lisa. Lisa, the lone woman in a house of men. Trucks, blocks, and action figures littered her life.

Surprise! This year, little Lauren came along! Lisa finally has a chance to buy pink, tie bows, and capture the fun of the first little girl in the gang. I was thrilled to be able to capture some classic photos of sweet Lauren, both on her own as well as with mom and each of her big brothers. I have a feeling that this gorgeous little girl is going to be well loved and protected as she grows. Heaven help the boy that comes to the door when she turns 16 when she has bodyguards like these! What a great family!

{PHOTO IQ: A couple of tips for shooting babies that I would pass on. First off, turn up the thermostat so it's nice and warm. You'll get happier babies. Secondly, be prepared to deal with messes. It's a simple equation, babies eat, cry, and poop. Since you aren't feeding them, and you don't want the crying, you have to be prepared for the third alternative. We had a couple of covers for the basket and plastic underneath. It was not enough. Little Lauren still projectile pooped across the room. Of course, her mother was embarrassed but we reassured her that it was common and we'd prepared for it. It only delayed the shoot for a few minutes and we had a good laugh!
So to recap: Warm and poop.}

For those of you on smart phones who can't see the slideshow below, click here to be whisked electronically to the facebook album.

See more at www.jonwoodbury.com

Jamison & Amy Part II - Fireworks, the Salt Flats, and the State Capitol

After shooting their engagements, Amy and Jamison changed clothes and modes to a more formal style. We made use of a dramatic sunset, some balloons, and their names in the salt (carved by Jamison with considerable effort.)
The next day of our shoot-a-rama weekend was the 3rd of July. We did a session at the Utah State Capitol then hurried up to Eaglewood Golf Course for a KILLER fireworks show and some pretty amazing images. We had every possible problem with equipment but we went to Plan D and pulled it out.

{PHOTO IQ: Like I mentioned, I had a total tech meltdown while shooting with the fireworks. The entire show lasted 10 minutes or so so we knew we only had that long to get the images we wanted.
Some of the challenges:
1. Knowing in advance where the fireworks will be.
2. Focus, The subject is not lit while the fireworks are like focus magnets.
3. Very little time to figure out settings
4. Posing in total darkness

The solutions need to be thought out in advance with several backup plans, this is a situation where if you don't know what to do should a piece of equipment go out, you lose. You simply won't get the images.
We didn't know and although we were set up when the show started, we were facing the wrong direction. They had moved the show more south than it had been the year before so we had to pick up and flip directions.
Focus was tough. I had an assistant holding a laser pointer on them but it ended up being too faint. Plus, the radio receiver wasn't triggering the back light. (Oh cruel irony!) I had to change tactics. I don't know that I've ever changed tactics quite that fast. I had been set up with two off-camera speedlites, (flashes) a main light up and left with a Fong Bong directed up, and a back light straight behind. Both were set on manual with Cactus V4 radio triggers. I didn't use my Pocket Wizard TTLs because I simply couldn't afford for them to crap out like they tend to do at the least convenient times (Ask me about my abusive relationship with my Pocket Wizards), plus, this was no situation for TTL flash. Since I had no flash on-camera, there was no auto-focus help . I feared that I was missing focus since my camera kept hunting for focus, and I couldn't take the chance. I quickly switched to the Canon slave mode on my 7D--the only Canon camera that can trigger speedlites with its pop-up flash--and used the focus assist option to make sure I was hitting. This worked well after some adjustment of the flash position--triggering via infrared requires that the speedlite sensors be pointed towards the camera--more time wasted. The other disadvantage is that because there was no line of sight between the back light and the master, it couldn't fire. I made sure I got some good, focused shots with just the main light before I jumped up to try and get the backlight firing again. Sometimes you just have to get something. I didn't know how long the fireworks would last so I didn't want to spend so much time fixing the setup that we missed it all. Once I knew I had SOMETHING good I jumped up to make the adjustments.
Fortunately, the back side flash was a cheaper, lower tech model. You see, the Canon 580 ex II doesn't have a photo cell to trigger from another light source. A HUGE oversight in my mind since it solves a lot of problems by working into any system. I jumped up and set the backlight to trigger from the flash of the main light. Finally the perfect setup, just in time to get about 5 frames of the finale. Fortunately, I think we got the RIGHT 5 frames. They turned out great.
The moral of the story is, no matter how prepared you think you are, learn how to do the same things several different ways. That knowledge is what makes someone a professional, the knowledge to get the shot no matter WHAT goes wrong with the equipment or situation.
Another thought, I never changed the output amount or settings on the camera or flashes. They had been set beforehand and were right on. That left me the time to solve problems without trying to figure exposure first.

It's been a long rambling Photo IQ but I hope, worthwhile. I'd love to hear your thoughts, either here or on my facebook page!}

For those of you on smart phones who can't see the slideshow below, click here to be whisked electronically to the facebook album.

See more at www.jonwoodbury.com

Jamison & Amy Part I - Salt Flats Engagement Session

Jamison and Amy came up all the way from Las Vegas to have me do their engagement session and a formal session (That one's next.) It's a shame I couldn't do their wedding but these sessions allowed us a lot of freedom and creativity. We basically spent all weekend together and I felt like I became like a member of the family, especially after watching fireworks with them on the golf course.
I loved the ideas proposed and I love the images that came out of them.

For those of you on smart phones who can't see the slideshow below, click here to be whisked electronically to the facebook album.

{PHOTO IQ: I went with the obvious subject on this one--wind. There's not much you can do about it in most cases so just go along with it! You'll notice lots of poses with Amy's face into the wind to keep her hair out of her face. Sometimes the wind and the light simply don't agree, you have to take your pick. (Notice in the closer poses sitting down, good light, bad wind direction.)
Other ideas are to:

- Pose less formally so the wind feels like a natural part of the shot instead of something breaking up the "perfect" pose. I would even advocate a desperate measure, the dreaded camera tilt...hey, everything comes in handy at one time or another. In this case, it works to make the shot feel less formal.

- The more movement you use in the shots, the less out-of-place the wind will feel--Have fun!

- Have someone hold the hair as a natural part of the shot. (See this Salt Flats engagement session as well.) 

- Shoot more. The wind will change all the time. I try to shoot 5 or 6 shots at a time and most sets I got one with hair will work.

The bottom line is that anything you can't control, embrace! 

Cue cheeseball wind joke of your choice.}

See more at www.jonwoodbury.com

Lauren - Bridals at the Utah State Capitol

Since I'm done processing their wedding and it will be going up soon, I thought I'd post Lauren's bridals.
Lauren is beautiful, both inside and out. She wanted something elegant and striking. The Utah State Capitol was the perfect location with its white marble and stone pillars and stairs.

For those of you who can't see the slideshow below, click here to be whisked electronically to the facebook album.

{Photo IQ: For the tip today I'm going to diagram the lighting for the shot below. I wanted dramatic and striking which usually means bringing in extra lighting.}

There were three speedlites in this shot. The main light is from high camera right, diffused with a Fong Bong. It's at 1/8 power. The back-light is directly behind the bride about 5 feel high, pointing at the camera. It was at 1/16 power. The third is a bare flash behind the pillars on the right side hitting the stairs. I wanted the stairs to really trail down on her. I don't remember the power but my guess is probably 1/2 or so. I liked the shadows it cast, creating a kind of cross-hatching in the background.
It's important to use a slow enough shutter speed to still get the color in the background but not so much that it takes focus off the bride. It was shot at 1/125 at f5 and 800 ISO. See below for the lighting diagram.

See more at www.jonwoodbury.com

Jensen Family Photos 2010

I've been busy but I FINALLY got my butt in gear to do a blog post. There will be tons coming but I hope this will tide you over.
The Jensen Family live in Indiana while Steve attends law school at IUPUI in Indianapolis. We had a small window in which we could shoot their session so we basically just hoped the weather would cooperate. I had a location I'd wanted to use for a long time so with the real possibility of rain and an ominous sky, we drove out to the old farmhouse hoping to get at least a few frames. What we got was one of the most incredible sunsets I've ever seen, and correspondingly amazing family photos.
Steve has already constructed a frame out of reclaimed wood to match the location and these images should be a worthy fit for his home-made frame.

{PHOTO IQ - I used this concept for almost the entire shoot so I thought I'd show the difference between shooting with high-speed-sync flash and using natural light. There's a huge difference in the background because of limited dynamic range in the camera's sensor. For the subject to be exposed correctly along with the background, you need to light the subject to bring it more in line with the amount of light in the scene. In the day time, there's no way to get the proper background exposure other than a really small aperture, ie f/16, or a high shutter speed, ie 1/1500 or so. With a small aperture it makes your power requirement on the flash so large that a portable speedlite (flash) simply can't put out enough light. That makes shutter speed the only other option. This is where the new PocketWizard TTL radio transmitters are a must-have. They allow you to synchronize your shutter at much higher than the typical 1/250 sec that is built in to the system.
The natural light image was shot at 1/250 of a second at f/5 and iso 400. With the hss on my Canon 580exII I was able to light Steve and Tracie about the same amount but up the shutter speed to 1/1600 of a second. That gave me 2.5 stops less light from the sky (about 1/6 the amount of light) bringing it into the range the camera could capture. I love it.}

For those of you on smart phones who can't see the slideshow below, click here to be whisked electronically to the facebook album.

See more at www.jonwoodbury.com

Rock Star Lighting

"Rock Star Lighting". It's one of my favorite setups. It's really quite simple but has amazing impact.

It's basically using remote flash firing directly at the camera to throw a separator halo around the subject. I often use it the during the first dance at weddings to really pop the couple away from what usually is a dark background.
It's also a fantastic way to pull attention off of a less-than-ideal background to the subject.
Cautions are that it shows every single hair and speck in the air but it's amazing for shooting exits with bubbles.

{Photo IQ Info: I usually shoot the backlight on manual at about 1/16 power, it really depends on just how much Rock Star you want. The second light is either on camera or off but should be pretty close to the axis for a dance. For single portraits I almost always shoot off camera and up-left or up-right. The key flash can be TTL and I usually set it at between -1 and -2 stops. These were shot with no key so they would feel more dramatic. The closer your rear light is to the subjects, the more light will creep around to the front to light faces, etc.}

This wedding was for Eliani and Oswaldo Samaniego.
I'll post more Rock Star lighting examples in the near future.

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