How to improve your photographic creations

pursang · 01-24-2015, 01:11 AM - **7 Likes**

I've written a brief article. Although I use a 645Z for some of the shots it's NOT about gear, but about technique. You can find it HERE

Oldbayrunner · 01-24-2015, 05:35 AM - **1 Like**

Great Article, thx for sharing.

hawkeye86 · 01-24-2015, 06:51 AM

I tried to read it but there's about 100 characters per line so it's difficult to get through on a small device. Still, I read your forum and gear rant in the first paragraph, complaining about motorcycle students in the second paragraph, clients questioning your method in the third paragraph, and you sound like Rodney Dangerfield who also "got no respect." So I stopped reading and just scrolled down to the pictures because you indicated that this article would help photographers. Looks like movie still-shots taken on a set, not something I'd hang on my wall. There was nothing in this article that interested me as a photographer. Good luck getting on with the rest of your students and clients.

alamo5000 · 01-24-2015, 07:42 AM - **1 Like**

THANK YOU. THANK YOU! and THANK YOU! for writing an article about techniques!!!! Keep em coming. This is what I am after. 110%.

---------- Post added 01-24-15 at 08:53 AM ----------

I need more of this type article!!

Lighting is my Achilles heel, particularly in the wild...in the 'streets' without all the big studio set up...An article on how to look for and identify pockets of 'good light' would help me a whole lot... (hint hint).

---------- Post added 01-24-15 at 09:01 AM ----------

A quick question to the OP... a couple of times you talk about 'blowing light' to darken it...

On the second to the last picture for example "Just behind Greg is a parking lot FULL of trucks. Solution? Blow light through the arch to blacken that problem"

What exactly do you mean 'blow light' and how is this accomplished?

zmohie · 01-24-2015, 08:05 AM - **1 Like**

very nice article indeed. what about the used technique with the dancers pics ..amazing

pursang · 01-24-2015, 08:51 AM

Originally posted by alamo5000

THANK YOU. THANK YOU! and THANK YOU! for writing an article about techniques!!!! Keep em coming. This is what I am after. 110%.

---------- Post added 01-24-15 at 08:53 AM ----------

I need more of this type article!!

Lighting is my Achilles heel, particularly in the wild...in the 'streets' without all the big studio set up...An article on how to look for and identify pockets of 'good light' would help me a whole lot... (hint hint).

---------- Post added 01-24-15 at 09:01 AM ----------

A quick question to the OP... a couple of times you talk about 'blowing light' to darken it...

On the second to the last picture for example "Just behind Greg is a parking lot FULL of trucks. Solution? Blow light through the arch to blacken that problem"

What exactly do you mean 'blow light' and how is this accomplished?

alamo5000 by using a strobe directly behind Greg I was able to 'black out' the parking lot behind him because the light 'tricked' the meter into underexposing that area. It's the very same technique I used to 'darken' the office behind the door where he was exiting from with his prop lantern. You can try this to some extent yourself using an off camera flash unit. Place something or someone in a doorway and place the flash directly behind the object/person. Meter for the room you're in and then fire your camera. Depending on the strength of your flash unit and what you've set it on (No TTL for this experiment) you will notice that the area behind the person is very dark.

alamo5000 · 01-24-2015, 08:59 AM

Originally posted by pursang

alamo5000 by using a strobe directly behind Greg I was able to 'black out' the parking lot behind him because the light 'tricked' the meter into underexposing that area. It's the very same technique I used to 'darken' the office behind the door where he was exiting from with his prop lantern. You can try this to some extent yourself using an off camera flash unit. Place something or someone in a doorway and place the flash directly behind the object/person. Meter for the room you're in and then fire your camera. Depending on the strength of your flash unit and what you've set it on (No TTL for this experiment) you will notice that the area behind the person is very dark.

It seems counter intuitive. If you are adding that much light to something it seems like it would blow it out not darken it...I assume the strobe is facing away into the doorway... I will test a little and do some experiments and report back.

I have a cactus set and a single flash so we will see.

pursang · 01-24-2015, 09:09 AM

Originally posted by alamo5000

It seems counter intuitive. If you are adding that much light to something it seems like it would blow it out not darken it...I assume the strobe is facing away into the doorway... I will test a little and do some experiments and report back.

I have a cactus set and a single flash so we will see.

No the strobe was directly at Greg's back NOT into the parking lot or office.

alamo5000 · 01-24-2015, 09:42 AM

Originally posted by pursang

No the strobe was directly at Greg's back NOT into the parking lot or office.

I did a quick informal test just now and I got it to work (marginally) but not as good as yours. Here are my observations. I found out through testing (my first shot) that it had to be pointed in towards the subject. (Back in towards the camera) In my case I aimed it up towards the ceiling more.

I also found out that I had to play with shutter speeds and apertures and a whole lot of exposure stuff to get it to work, but even then my 'background' was either still too bright and/or close. I finally got it to work where the background was a quite a bit darker.

My area I was shooting into was in my living room. Low white ceilings. I pulled a big recliner chair in front of a open doorway and tried to have even light in the front and blacken out the adjacent room. Possibly I need to pull the chair farther from the entrance?

Don't get me wrong, it did work in my 3 minute test, the results were very noticeable but they were not as stark as yours. The other room had sunlight blazing in a window so I think that might have something to do with it.

All that said I was able to get a fairly decent effect with various shutter speeds and apertures as is. I will have to play with it a bit more later.

I just wonder if I need a second flash because most of my foreground lighting was coming from the bounce off the ceiling.

It will be something I have to play with a little bit more... but its already given me a ton of ideas

pursang · 01-24-2015, 10:06 AM

Originally posted by alamo5000

I did a quick informal test just now and I got it to work (marginally) but not as good as yours. Here are my observations. I found out through testing (my first shot) that it had to be pointed in towards the subject. (Back in towards the camera) In my case I aimed it up towards the ceiling more.

I also found out that I had to play with shutter speeds and apertures and a whole lot of exposure stuff to get it to work, but even then my 'background' was either still too bright and/or close. I finally got it to work where the background was a quite a bit darker.

My area I was shooting into was in my living room. Low white ceilings. I pulled a big recliner chair in front of a open doorway and tried to have even light in the front and blacken out the adjacent room. Possibly I need to pull the chair farther from the entrance?

Don't get me wrong, it did work in my 3 minute test, the results were very noticeable but they were not as stark as yours. The other room had sunlight blazing in a window so I think that might have something to do with it.

All that said I was able to get a fairly decent effect with various shutter speeds and apertures as is. I will have to play with it a bit more later.

I just wonder if I need a second flash because most of my foreground lighting was coming from the bounce off the ceiling.

It will be something I have to play with a little bit more... but its already given me a ton of ideas

Keep in mind that I was using a studio strobe, not a hand held flash unit. In addition I didn't have walls/furniture/ceilings/etc. to deal with. If I had those elements I may have used a negative reflector to negate their effect. And yes as I had mentioned the flash/strobe should be placed BEHIND the talent and facing them, toward the camera. It was simply a method I used to eliminate light behind the talent. Glad you got some new ideas. Take care.

Racerdew · 01-27-2015, 11:15 PM - **1 Like**

This was a great article to read. I am a new fan!!!

robjmitchell · 02-06-2015, 04:18 AM

Thanks for the great article, Amazing photos too I might say!

pursang · 02-10-2015, 01:27 PM - **1 Like**

I was recently hired to do some portraits of MMA and traditional martial artists. Using haze and three strobes gave me this effect using the Z with a FA150mm f2.8 at f10

Stavri · 03-21-2015, 08:48 PM

Great compositions, very impressive stuff, the nudes were truly exquisite.

**yucatanPentax** · 03-21-2015, 09:34 PM

Originally posted by pursang

I was recently hired to do some portraits of MMA and traditional martial artists. Using haze and three strobes gave me this effect using the Z with a FA150mm f2.8 at f10

Firstly, thank you so much for pausing to share your writing and techniques with us as a group. I agree, the nudes are fascinating beautiful. The water trails add a lyrical feeling of motion.

I'm curious, since you do so much with light, was the washing of color from the martial artist's face done via flash and haze or something in post? It's a gripping photo. The effect is striking.

As a more casual photographer, I doubt if I develop to your level of skill, but reading your thoughts and experiences is a great insight for me. Inspiring.

01-24-2015, 01:11 AM - 7 Likes	#1
pursang Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: San Francisco Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 59	How to improve your photographic creations I've written a brief article. Although I use a 645Z for some of the shots it's NOT about gear, but about technique. You can find it HERE

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01-24-2015, 05:35 AM - 1 Like	#2
Oldbayrunner Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 1,665	Great Article, thx for sharing.

01-24-2015, 06:51 AM	#3
hawkeye86 Forum Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Somewhere around Seattle Posts: 53	I tried to read it but there's about 100 characters per line so it's difficult to get through on a small device. Still, I read your forum and gear rant in the first paragraph, complaining about motorcycle students in the second paragraph, clients questioning your method in the third paragraph, and you sound like Rodney Dangerfield who also "got no respect." So I stopped reading and just scrolled down to the pictures because you indicated that this article would help photographers. Looks like movie still-shots taken on a set, not something I'd hang on my wall. There was nothing in this article that interested me as a photographer. Good luck getting on with the rest of your students and clients.

01-24-2015, 07:42 AM - 1 Like	#4
alamo5000 Pentaxian Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 2,962	THANK YOU. THANK YOU! and THANK YOU! for writing an article about techniques!!!! Keep em coming. This is what I am after. 110%. ---------- Post added 01-24-15 at 08:53 AM ---------- I need more of this type article!! Lighting is my Achilles heel, particularly in the wild...in the 'streets' without all the big studio set up...An article on how to look for and identify pockets of 'good light' would help me a whole lot... (hint hint). ---------- Post added 01-24-15 at 09:01 AM ---------- A quick question to the OP... a couple of times you talk about 'blowing light' to darken it... On the second to the last picture for example "Just behind Greg is a parking lot FULL of trucks. Solution? Blow light through the arch to blacken that problem" What exactly do you mean 'blow light' and how is this accomplished?

01-24-2015, 08:05 AM - 1 Like	#5
zmohie Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: egypt Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 435	very nice article indeed. what about the used technique with the dancers pics ..amazing

01-24-2015, 08:51 AM	#6
pursang Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: San Francisco Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 59 Original Poster	Originally posted by alamo5000 THANK YOU. THANK YOU! and THANK YOU! for writing an article about techniques!!!! Keep em coming. This is what I am after. 110%. ---------- Post added 01-24-15 at 08:53 AM ---------- I need more of this type article!! Lighting is my Achilles heel, particularly in the wild...in the 'streets' without all the big studio set up...An article on how to look for and identify pockets of 'good light' would help me a whole lot... (hint hint). ---------- Post added 01-24-15 at 09:01 AM ---------- A quick question to the OP... a couple of times you talk about 'blowing light' to darken it... On the second to the last picture for example "Just behind Greg is a parking lot FULL of trucks. Solution? Blow light through the arch to blacken that problem" What exactly do you mean 'blow light' and how is this accomplished? alamo5000 by using a strobe directly behind Greg I was able to 'black out' the parking lot behind him because the light 'tricked' the meter into underexposing that area. It's the very same technique I used to 'darken' the office behind the door where he was exiting from with his prop lantern. You can try this to some extent yourself using an off camera flash unit. Place something or someone in a doorway and place the flash directly behind the object/person. Meter for the room you're in and then fire your camera. Depending on the strength of your flash unit and what you've set it on (No TTL for this experiment) you will notice that the area behind the person is very dark.

01-24-2015, 08:59 AM	#7
alamo5000 Pentaxian Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 2,962	Originally posted by pursang alamo5000 by using a strobe directly behind Greg I was able to 'black out' the parking lot behind him because the light 'tricked' the meter into underexposing that area. It's the very same technique I used to 'darken' the office behind the door where he was exiting from with his prop lantern. You can try this to some extent yourself using an off camera flash unit. Place something or someone in a doorway and place the flash directly behind the object/person. Meter for the room you're in and then fire your camera. Depending on the strength of your flash unit and what you've set it on (No TTL for this experiment) you will notice that the area behind the person is very dark. It seems counter intuitive. If you are adding that much light to something it seems like it would blow it out not darken it...I assume the strobe is facing away into the doorway... I will test a little and do some experiments and report back. I have a cactus set and a single flash so we will see.

01-24-2015, 09:09 AM	#8
pursang Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: San Francisco Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 59 Original Poster	Originally posted by alamo5000 It seems counter intuitive. If you are adding that much light to something it seems like it would blow it out not darken it...I assume the strobe is facing away into the doorway... I will test a little and do some experiments and report back. I have a cactus set and a single flash so we will see. No the strobe was directly at Greg's back NOT into the parking lot or office.

01-24-2015, 09:42 AM	#9
alamo5000 Pentaxian Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 2,962	Originally posted by pursang No the strobe was directly at Greg's back NOT into the parking lot or office. I did a quick informal test just now and I got it to work (marginally) but not as good as yours. Here are my observations. I found out through testing (my first shot) that it had to be pointed in towards the subject. (Back in towards the camera) In my case I aimed it up towards the ceiling more. I also found out that I had to play with shutter speeds and apertures and a whole lot of exposure stuff to get it to work, but even then my 'background' was either still too bright and/or close. I finally got it to work where the background was a quite a bit darker. My area I was shooting into was in my living room. Low white ceilings. I pulled a big recliner chair in front of a open doorway and tried to have even light in the front and blacken out the adjacent room. Possibly I need to pull the chair farther from the entrance? Don't get me wrong, it did work in my 3 minute test, the results were very noticeable but they were not as stark as yours. The other room had sunlight blazing in a window so I think that might have something to do with it. All that said I was able to get a fairly decent effect with various shutter speeds and apertures as is. I will have to play with it a bit more later. I just wonder if I need a second flash because most of my foreground lighting was coming from the bounce off the ceiling. It will be something I have to play with a little bit more... but its already given me a ton of ideas

01-24-2015, 10:06 AM	#10
pursang Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: San Francisco Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 59 Original Poster	Originally posted by alamo5000 I did a quick informal test just now and I got it to work (marginally) but not as good as yours. Here are my observations. I found out through testing (my first shot) that it had to be pointed in towards the subject. (Back in towards the camera) In my case I aimed it up towards the ceiling more. I also found out that I had to play with shutter speeds and apertures and a whole lot of exposure stuff to get it to work, but even then my 'background' was either still too bright and/or close. I finally got it to work where the background was a quite a bit darker. My area I was shooting into was in my living room. Low white ceilings. I pulled a big recliner chair in front of a open doorway and tried to have even light in the front and blacken out the adjacent room. Possibly I need to pull the chair farther from the entrance? Don't get me wrong, it did work in my 3 minute test, the results were very noticeable but they were not as stark as yours. The other room had sunlight blazing in a window so I think that might have something to do with it. All that said I was able to get a fairly decent effect with various shutter speeds and apertures as is. I will have to play with it a bit more later. I just wonder if I need a second flash because most of my foreground lighting was coming from the bounce off the ceiling. It will be something I have to play with a little bit more... but its already given me a ton of ideas Keep in mind that I was using a studio strobe, not a hand held flash unit. In addition I didn't have walls/furniture/ceilings/etc. to deal with. If I had those elements I may have used a negative reflector to negate their effect. And yes as I had mentioned the flash/strobe should be placed BEHIND the talent and facing them, toward the camera. It was simply a method I used to eliminate light behind the talent. Glad you got some new ideas. Take care.

01-27-2015, 11:15 PM - 1 Like	#11
Racerdew Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Thousand Oaks, CA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 285	This was a great article to read. I am a new fan!!!

02-06-2015, 04:18 AM	#12
robjmitchell Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Melbourne Aus Posts: 1,776	Thanks for the great article, Amazing photos too I might say!

03-21-2015, 08:48 PM	#14
Stavri Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: at a Bean & Leaf Photos: Albums Posts: 1,832	Great compositions, very impressive stuff, the nudes were truly exquisite.

03-21-2015, 09:34 PM	#15
yucatanPentax Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Dallas / Yucatan Posts: 1,839	Originally posted by pursang I was recently hired to do some portraits of MMA and traditional martial artists. Using haze and three strobes gave me this effect using the Z with a FA150mm f2.8 at f10 Firstly, thank you so much for pausing to share your writing and techniques with us as a group. I agree, the nudes are fascinating beautiful. The water trails add a lyrical feeling of motion. I'm curious, since you do so much with light, was the washing of color from the martial artist's face done via flash and haze or something in post? It's a gripping photo. The effect is striking. As a more casual photographer, I doubt if I develop to your level of skill, but reading your thoughts and experiences is a great insight for me. Inspiring.