Reflector Lighting for Portraits

One way to photograph potraits with a soft natural light while still maintaining lighting control is to use a reflector. I have used reflectors in my photography for some time but learned how to really put them to use when I attended the Wedding School with Kenneth Linge earlier this month.

On today's image of Tazzy the Papillon I used this method of lighting. To set up the shot, I placed Tazzy with the early evening sunlight over her right shoulder. The sun at this angle provided a nice hair ear light. The main light for the shot was then provided by a reflector being held to the right of and slightly below the camera. This placement gave a natural light focused on the dog's face and brightened up the eyes with large catchlights.

One difficulty in using reflectors is positioning them. My daughter (and sometimes assistant) Elisabeth helped me by holding the reflector. The constant movement of Tazzy provided a bit of a challenge in keeping the light on her face, but Elisabeth kept up nicely.

At a relatively inexpensive price, adding a reflector to your kit is a great way to increase your photographic lighting options.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/320 second, f/4, ISO 100

Morning Spruce

Captured on a foggy morning in Fairbanks Alaska.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/80 second, f/9, ISO 160

Fireweed Serendipity

While I was shooting this top-down photo of fireweed in Chatanika Alaska, a bee flew into the frame. I love the addition of the bee and really appreciate what it brings to the image.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/160 second, f/4.5, ISO 160

Homeward Bound

As I write this it is 1:00 AM and I am sitting in Fairbanks International Airport waiting for my (delayed) flight home. It's been a very busy 10 days and we've covered a lot of ground. I look forward to going through the 15+ gigabytes of photos on my MacBook's hard drive when I get home.

Today's featured image is a Piper PA-18 "Super Cub" floatplane taking off on Fairbanks' Chena River. I grew up flying around Alaska with my father in his floatplane and it was really nice to re-live those memories.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/800 second, f/5.6, ISO 160

Young Bull

This young bull moose was photographed at the Alaska Conservation Wildlife Center in Girdwood Alaska. It would have been great to make a capture like this in the wild, but this setting made a great alternative.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens with 1.4x extender - 1/320 second, f/5.6, ISO 100

The Alaska Railroad

Taken at the Anchorage Depot of the Alaska Railroad.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/50 second, f/4, ISO 320

The Kiss

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/50 second, f/4, ISO 200

Nose to Nose

Alaska, Day 5

Today's photo of a Grizzly Bear and a Brown Bear sparring in the water was shot on Friday during my visit to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. The center is located about an hour south of Anchorage in the extremely small town of Girdwood. Most of the animals there are rescues being prepared for re-introduction into the wild. The opportunity to photograph these bears at such a close range was clearly the highpoint of my visit.

Today, I am off to Denali National Park and Fairbanks on the Alaska Railroad.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L with 1.4x extender - 1/400 second, f/5.6, ISO 125

Alaskan Grizzly Bears

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L with 1.4x extender - 1/500 second, f/5.6, ISO 125

A Benefit of High End Camera Gear

A conversation I had yesterday at the World Eskimo Indian Olympics in Anchorage Alaska (as I sat with my family):

Lady (sternly): "Did you register at the press table?"

Me: "No"

Lady: "All press has to register"

Me: "I'm not press" (I didn't think LeggNet's Digital Capture would warrant credentials)

Lady: "You're not press??"

Me: "Nope, I'm just a guy here with my family"

Lady: "You're not going to sell these pictures are you?"

Me: "No. I'm just on vacation with my family"

Lady: "Uh... okay"

Me (a bit miffed): "Thanks. I just missed the event I wanted to see"

Lady (sarcastically): "There'll be more (walks while muttering something about my big camera)

Stranger next to me (with her point & shoot camera): "I can't believe she stood in front of me and blocked my view. I really wanted a picture of that event"

Me: "I'm sorry ma'am"

I guess this is one of the hidden benefits of shooting with nice gear, especially a long white lens on a large camera body. I don't think I'd have had the same conversation if I had been using my G7.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/160 second, f/4, ISO 1000

Alaskan Window Boxes

I'm in Anchorage for a few days before heading north on the Alaska Railroad. I spent some time wandering around the downtown area yesterday afternoon where I captured these window boxes. The window was located on the second floor and the image had a distinct 'looking up' feel to it. To compensate for this, I adjusted the vertical perspective in Photoshop to make it appear to have been shot more straight on.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/100 second, f/8, ISO 160

Scene of the Crime

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/125 second, f/8, ISO 100

Seeing Things in a Different Light

If spending three days last week with famed photographer and teacher Kenneth Linge did one thing, it was to re-invigorate my lookout for great natural light. Kenneth is a master at using existing lighting to create stunning portraits.

I noticed this great afternoon sunlight being deflected through the window of a Salt Lake City hotel on Saturday. The light, combined with the reflection, made a very nice portrait setting. My always willing model Sarah stepped in to pose for the quick capture.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/160 second, f/4, ISO 160

On a side note, I am heading out to Alaska today for a week or so to attend my nephew's wedding. I haven't been back to Alaska in over 10 years and I am excited to see how things have changed. It is rumored that I will have Internet access where I am staying so I can occasionally post to the site. But in case I don't - enjoy this pleasant photo of Sarah until my return.

iStock in Use

As a follow-up to last friday's post (read it here) about iStockphoto.com, here is an example of one of my photos in use. When images are sold on iStock, the contributing photographer does not receive any information on the buyer. The only way to know how an image is used is to come across it in the wild.

I received an email last month from an iStock user who recognized my photograph of a gas nozzle when he viewed the news on the Canadian website CBC.ca. He was kind enough to email me and I went to the site and made this screen capture.

Of the over 2,000 photos I have sold so far, this in only the second time I have heard of one in use. If you're selling images on microstock, have you ever seen yours in use?

Guitar on Black

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/60 second, f/8, ISO 100

Selling Photos on iStockphoto.com

If there is one thing the Internet is full of, it is opinions...and in the photography corner of the 'net there are very strong views both for and against websites specializing in microstock photography. While some photographers view these sites as fantastic ways to monetize their photography, others see them as extremely detrimental to the business of photography.

What makes these sites controversial is they literally pay their contributing photographers pennies for each download. On iStockphoto.com, the largest microstock site with nearly 2,000,000 files available, downloads sell for as little as $1 each with the contributor receiving as little as 20% of this income.

Why would a photographer want to sell their photos for such a low amount? The simple answer is Volume. While a local client might pay a photographer $200 once for an image, a good photo on iStockphoto might sell several hundred times generating much more income over the long run.

With this in mind, I recently decided to concentrate more of my photographic time on shooting for iStockphoto to see what I could earn. Over the past three months I have increased my iStockphoto portfolio from under 100 images to nearly 400. The resulting increase in sales has been dramatic. My June earnings of nearly $500 are over a tenfold increase compared to what I earned in March and July is showing even more growth. While I surely could not support my family on $500 a month, what if I were to increase this amount by another factor of ten? $5,000 a month is a viable salary and iStockphoto is full of stories of photographers earning a living shooting for them.

Todays image is a mosaic of my best selling shots. What strikes me is the diversity in the images. The open bible photo is my top selling image with nearly 200 downloads, yet the mountain road capture has earned more revenue due to its larger average download size.

I look forward to continuing to add images to my portfolio and monitor the growth. Is this a sustainable business long-term? We'll have to wait and see.

Links

My iStockphoto Portfolio
iStockphoto Registration

__________

(05/28/2008 - Update: 25,000 images sold. Read about it here.)

The Wedding School with Kenneth Linge

I spent the past three days attending The Wedding School taught by renowned international wedding photographer Kenneth Linge. My wife enrolled me in the class as a gift for our recent wedding anniversary.

The one word that I kept hearing repeated from the students (myself included) was "AMAZING". Kenneth freely shared with his students the techniques he developed over 30+ years as a fashion and wedding photographer in both Europe and the United States. During the class Kenneth co-taught with his wife Marylyn, and together they made a fantastic team. In an industry where so many people are reluctant to show their secrets, it was refreshing to see a photographer willing to share his photographic "recipes" to improve other's work. Even though the class was primarily aimed at wedding photography, the techniques learned can be applied to any portrait work.

I would definitely recommend the class for any working pro or advanced amateur looking to step up their photography. For more information, check out the Linge's seminars on the web:

www.kennethlinge.com/seminars

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/60 second, f/4, ISO 800

Fly Over

A Utah Air National Guard KC-135 captured in the act of a celebratory fly over at an Independence Day event in Riverton, Utah.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/5000 second, f/4, ISO 100

The Rock Climbing Bride

Like nearly every other photographer in the free world (or at least it seemed that way), I spent last Saturday photographing a wedding. July 7th (07/07/07) was one of the single biggest days for weddings in recent memory.

The nuptials I shot were in a beautiful rustic setting. The bride and groom are both avid rock climbers, and they had their ceremony at the base of a climbing route in Big Cottonwood Canyon just outside of Salt Lake City. After the ceremony and reception, the couple christened their new life together with a 5.10 climb. It was extremely unique and very cool.

Congrats to Brian & Militia.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/125 second, f/4, ISO 100

Bad Attitude

Today's capture is another image from the recent photoshoot I did of Dave and his motorcycle in an alleyway near my office. Shooting this with a wide angle lens from a low angle added to the larger-than-life perspective of the biker.

See my earlier post for details on the lighting setup. Other images from the shoot can be seen HERE.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens - 1/60 second, f/11, ISO 100

. . . on the 7th day . . .

Woo hoo! This is post #500 for LeggNet's Digital Capture. After this day of rest, tomorrow begins post #1 of the next 500. Thanks everyone for all your support!

-Rich

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/60 second, f/7.1, ISO 100

Bueller? Bueller?

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 3.2 seconds, f/22, ISO 100

A Man, a Motorcycle & Two Speedlights

I did a photoshoot last night of my friend Dave on his motorcycle. I wanted an industrial looking setting and I found it in an alleyway between two buildings near my office.

The lighting setup consisted of two Canon Speedlites - a 430EX and a 580EX. For this shot, the 430EX was used as the main light. It was placed on a lightstand above and to the left (camera right) of the model. The fill light was provided by the 580EX with a diffuser. I held this light in my left hand a couple of feet away and below the camera. An f-stop of f/11 was used to darken the background. This was shot just after 8:00 pm and the ambient light was still fairly bright (f/4 or so) so setting the strobes to f/11 underexposed the background by around 3 stops.

The final result is very near to what I envisioned for the shot. The harsh lighting adds nicely to the dramatic look of the stern faced biker. The two Speedlite setup worked very well and was easy to set up.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/60 second, f/11, ISO 100

The End of the Fourth

Happy 5th of July.

I made this capture last night from a friend's hillside home. Looking down on the valley gave a different perspective on the firework shows than I am used to.

The shot is not as sharp as I would prefer (due to camera shake) and I had to apply a bit of aggressive sharpening to the image. The cause of the camera movement was the deck full of people I was shooting from. Anytime someone moved, it caused a slight shake in the deck - just enough to mess with the shot.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L with 1.4x extender - 10 seconds, f/9, ISO 100

Born on the 4th of July

President John Adams nearly got it right. He predicted that we would be celebrating the 2nd of July as our national birthday.

"The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more."

(Quoted from a letter John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail on July 3, 1776)

Canon 30D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 4 seconds, f/4, ISO 100

Low Earth Orbit

The annual Riverton Town Days have begun in my city and with that comes the amusement rides. I grabbed my tripod and headed over just before closing last night to catch a few time exposures.

The method I use for this type of shot is simple and straightforward. I put my camera on APERTURE PRIORITY mode (AV on a Canon) and then stop the lens down to its smallest aperture. With the camera on a tripod I compose the shot and trigger it with a remote release, letting the camera's auto function handle both focus and shutter speed. A low ISO will ensure a longer shutter speed.

This technique permits me to be fairly mobile, not staying in one place too long. I don't like to draw too much attention to myself when photographing in a crowded area and keeping on the move helps.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 4 seconds, f/22, ISO 100

"S" is for Snake

This wild snake that I found sunning itself on my front porch last month was actually posing in a perfectly inverted "S" shape. One quick horizontal flip in Photoshop and I've got my "S" is for Snake shot.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/80 second, f/5.6, ISO 160