Friday, February 11, 2011

The Emilia Wants A Cool Senior Photo solution.

I'll do a video of this if someone needs it. A gray, cloudy day is an opportunity to punch things up if you simply have the ability to get your flash off of the camera. Either a flash cord that plugs into your hot shoe or, better yet, an infrared remote trigger. (See graphic). The remote talks to the strobe, telling it what the camera is set for and the triggers and measures the flash for a perfect exposure.

But I didn't want an exposure that worked with the light. I wanted to overpower the light. So... I metered the ambient light on Emilia (at 200 ISO, 1/60th @ f8. Then I set me camera on manual and jumped my shutter speed to 1/250th, which made for a two stop underexposure. But since I had my camera on manual, the trigger told the strobe to give me f8. The sky went darker and Emilia jumped out of the background. Also, but holding the flash at a 60-degree angle, off to the side, I got some nice separation and a bold image.

In one of our Photo Safari classes at Madhaus Gallery I try this technique on a cloudy day. Here's an example from a recent class.


I have started this string with hopes that you'll add to the conversation with examples. Later on I'll talke about the importance of spelling... just kidding. I'll talk about the importance of slowing the shutter in a punch flash situation to help give some life to wedding receptions, etc..

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