How is this kind of photo taken?

Penmacgal · 04-06-2010, 03:50 PM

WMBP,

Thanks so much for a great tutorial to get started with flash. I've had lots of questions but hesitant to get started because it all seems a little overwhelming to a new user, but your replies are a big help.

I also went to your website and viewed your scenery group, they're great, really like your scenes of the recent snow.

Sharon

dehanson1 · 04-07-2010, 06:49 AM

wow those are cool shots for sure! Could you elaborate a bit about how to use a spot meter and tell me about those colored filters? Does orange work in all of those types of photos? As you can tell I am a newbie. Had a kx for about 4 mths.
Thanks for any info you can share.

WMBP · 04-07-2010, 07:10 AM

Originally posted by Penmacgal

WMBP,

Thanks so much for a great tutorial to get started with flash. I've had lots of questions but hesitant to get started because it all seems a little overwhelming to a new user, but your replies are a big help.

I'm glad to hear it, Sharon. Actually, flash can be overwhelming even for somebody with a fair bit of knowledge and experience. Flash is hard.

Actually, it's not too hard at first, if you simply buy a hot-shoe flash, put your camera and the flash into their respective automatic exposure modes (P-TTL on the flash, P mode or Av mode on the camera), point the flash head directly forward, and start shooting. You'll usually get okay results this way.

The problems come when you try to do better than just okay, when you realize that the results you get from the default, easy flash configuration are not the best that are possible. When you start trying to balance ambient light with flash, and when you start trying to bounce the flash, or when you begin to worry about light fall-off or dealing with back-lit scenes, etc.—then you start to do things that may pay off nicely, but also, especially at first, will actually increase your risk of utter failure. This is why inexperienced event photographers who have read about more advanced techniques but haven't quite mastered them, sometimes produce worse results than the amateurs at the event who are simply snapping away thoughtlessly with their point and shoots.

Quote:

I also went to your website and viewed your scenery group, they're great, really like your scenes of the recent snow.

Thanks. There are some exposure issues to deal with carefully when you are photographing snow, but honestly, these aren't difficult shots technically. The keys to beautiful snowscape photos are (a) a willingness to tramp around in the cold, wet snow looking for (b) a beautiful snowscape. :-)

Will

tuco · 04-07-2010, 07:21 AM

Originally posted by dehanson1

wow those are cool shots for sure! Could you elaborate a bit about how to use a spot meter and tell me about those colored filters? Does orange work in all of those types of photos? As you can tell I am a newbie. Had a kx for about 4 mths.
Thanks for any info you can share.

Well, if you haven't figured it out I cheated. I used BW film.

But you can still use a spot meter to asses a scene if you wanted to with digital or just use the spot meter mode in the camera for an assessment. But it would be easier to just trial and error the shot with a digital. In my case I metered the sky next to the Sun and got an EV value. Then metered the dark tree and obtained its EV value. The difference was up to 12 EV or more depending how close to the Sun I metered. Then I metered the shadows and sand. I decided the silhouetted tree would be 3 stops below my exposure which placed the shadows light enough to see through and the sky at a very high "bright white". Adding the Orange filter rendered Blue darker with BW film so it wouldn't appear white.

Finally, I added a 1/2 stop to my final decision to bump up low values and underdeveloped the roll of film by 20% to help compress the high values. Interesting that there is no "star effect" with the Sun due to aperture blades in these shots. The Sun was partly diffused by a very thin layer of mist in the atmosphere you can see in one of the shots. The location was by the ocean in the winter and I guess that was the reason.

Last edited by tuco; 04-07-2010 at 08:39 AM.

vize · 04-08-2010, 01:35 PM

Shooting against the sun can be tricky. It will help if there is some cloud covering the sun acting as a ND filter

GerryL · 04-09-2010, 09:39 AM

Originally posted by LeDave

I am not a big pro at back-light and have always wanted to know the proper way to do it also. I have a question myself.

Without using fill-flash, is there any way possible to do a sunlight back-lit shot without a overblown sky but yet still retain a small to fair amount of detail in the foreground whether it's under-exposed or not?

Here is some of my search's that I am wondering how they've done it. I'm not quite sure how these are done whether it was with flash or not, but if they can be done w/o flash then I'd love to know; otherwise is the chances are that they only be done using fill-flash?

I did not take these photos, they are for reference only.

On this photo, you can see clearly that there is a light source coming from the right side of the models.
It can either be reflectors or flash.

04-07-2010, 06:49 AM	#17
dehanson1 Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: mississippi Posts: 38 Original Poster	Spot meter/color filters wow those are cool shots for sure! Could you elaborate a bit about how to use a spot meter and tell me about those colored filters? Does orange work in all of those types of photos? As you can tell I am a newbie. Had a kx for about 4 mths. Thanks for any info you can share.

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04-06-2010, 03:50 PM	#16
Penmacgal Forum Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Wilmington, Delaware Photos: Gallery Posts: 73	WMBP, Thanks so much for a great tutorial to get started with flash. I've had lots of questions but hesitant to get started because it all seems a little overwhelming to a new user, but your replies are a big help. I also went to your website and viewed your scenery group, they're great, really like your scenes of the recent snow. Sharon

04-07-2010, 07:10 AM	#18
WMBP Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Dallas, Texas Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,482	Originally posted by Penmacgal WMBP, Thanks so much for a great tutorial to get started with flash. I've had lots of questions but hesitant to get started because it all seems a little overwhelming to a new user, but your replies are a big help. I'm glad to hear it, Sharon. Actually, flash can be overwhelming even for somebody with a fair bit of knowledge and experience. Flash is hard. Actually, it's not too hard at first, if you simply buy a hot-shoe flash, put your camera and the flash into their respective automatic exposure modes (P-TTL on the flash, P mode or Av mode on the camera), point the flash head directly forward, and start shooting. You'll usually get okay results this way. The problems come when you try to do better than just okay, when you realize that the results you get from the default, easy flash configuration are not the best that are possible. When you start trying to balance ambient light with flash, and when you start trying to bounce the flash, or when you begin to worry about light fall-off or dealing with back-lit scenes, etc.—then you start to do things that may pay off nicely, but also, especially at first, will actually increase your risk of utter failure. This is why inexperienced event photographers who have read about more advanced techniques but haven't quite mastered them, sometimes produce worse results than the amateurs at the event who are simply snapping away thoughtlessly with their point and shoots. Quote: I also went to your website and viewed your scenery group, they're great, really like your scenes of the recent snow. Thanks. There are some exposure issues to deal with carefully when you are photographing snow, but honestly, these aren't difficult shots technically. The keys to beautiful snowscape photos are (a) a willingness to tramp around in the cold, wet snow looking for (b) a beautiful snowscape. :-) Will

04-07-2010, 07:21 AM	#19
tuco Pentaxian Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Pugetopolis Posts: 11,032	Originally posted by dehanson1 wow those are cool shots for sure! Could you elaborate a bit about how to use a spot meter and tell me about those colored filters? Does orange work in all of those types of photos? As you can tell I am a newbie. Had a kx for about 4 mths. Thanks for any info you can share. Well, if you haven't figured it out I cheated. I used BW film. But you can still use a spot meter to asses a scene if you wanted to with digital or just use the spot meter mode in the camera for an assessment. But it would be easier to just trial and error the shot with a digital. In my case I metered the sky next to the Sun and got an EV value. Then metered the dark tree and obtained its EV value. The difference was up to 12 EV or more depending how close to the Sun I metered. Then I metered the shadows and sand. I decided the silhouetted tree would be 3 stops below my exposure which placed the shadows light enough to see through and the sky at a very high "bright white". Adding the Orange filter rendered Blue darker with BW film so it wouldn't appear white. Finally, I added a 1/2 stop to my final decision to bump up low values and underdeveloped the roll of film by 20% to help compress the high values. Interesting that there is no "star effect" with the Sun due to aperture blades in these shots. The Sun was partly diffused by a very thin layer of mist in the atmosphere you can see in one of the shots. The location was by the ocean in the winter and I guess that was the reason. Last edited by tuco; 04-07-2010 at 08:39 AM.

04-08-2010, 01:35 PM	#20
vize Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 45	Shooting against the sun can be tricky. It will help if there is some cloud covering the sun acting as a ND filter

04-09-2010, 09:39 AM	#21
GerryL Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: CA Posts: 2,731	Originally posted by LeDave I am not a big pro at back-light and have always wanted to know the proper way to do it also. I have a question myself. Without using fill-flash, is there any way possible to do a sunlight back-lit shot without a overblown sky but yet still retain a small to fair amount of detail in the foreground whether it's under-exposed or not? Here is some of my search's that I am wondering how they've done it. I'm not quite sure how these are done whether it was with flash or not, but if they can be done w/o flash then I'd love to know; otherwise is the chances are that they only be done using fill-flash? I did not take these photos, they are for reference only. On this photo, you can see clearly that there is a light source coming from the right side of the models. It can either be reflectors or flash.