There are a lot of photographers who say sincerely, “I don’t need to use flash, I just turn the ISO up.” To these legions, I say “crappy light at ISO one million is still crappy light.” My second location shoot with cartographer David Yun is a good example of where I’m coming from.
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My assignment yesterday, for the soon-to-be-launched San Louie Magazine, was to do an full-page portrait of David Yun, the head of Geographic Information Services for the city of San Luis Obispo. David supervises a team of mapmakers who plot everything from bicycle traffic and storm runoff to creating three-dimensional maps of all the buildings downtown. Like most of us, modern cartographers spend far more time at their computers that they do in the field. I was given carte blanche with a few loose guidelines… “think about layering of information, think about layering of the city.” I was given a rough draft of the story that my photo would accompany and David’s contact info.
So, in three parts, I’ll take you through the three different location shoots that we did over the course of three hours. Seems like three is today’s magic number.
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In my view, a good portrait should express persona. I’ve come to accept that light and, as importantly, shadow are the keys to expressing persona. (OK…light, shadow, and the subtleties of expression and gesture. OK, well…light, shadow, subtleties of expression and gesture, and environment.) I did four shoots yesterday for the Speedliter’s Handbook. The shot above is my favorite of the day. It’s 100% Speedlite (actually two Speedlites and a bit of 1/2-cut CTO).
Click on photo to see high-res version.
It’s not how many Speedlites you have, it’s where you put the one you have that matters. One Speedlite in the right place is far better than several in poor locations.
The Dutch painter Rembrandt (1606-1669) was celebrated for the dramatic merger of beautiful skin tones into deep shadow. His influence continues today as many photographers strive to create Rembrandt-lighting. What they are really after is a high degree of chiaroscuro (“KEE-ar-oh-sku-row”) in their images.
The key to getting beautiful chiaroscuro is to move the subject as close as possible to a large light source (or vice versa). In Rembrants’ day this was achieved by positioning the sitter by a large window in an otherwise unlit room. The closer the light source is to the subject, the more dramatic the fall-off.
Making a One-Light Portrait
The portrait above was taken in a dim studio with a single Speedlite fired through a 24″ Lastolite Ezybox Hotshoe. The softbox is literally just out of frame a camera left. The softbox turned the relatively small size of the Speedlite into a larger, wrap-around light source.
To get the Speedlite off-camera, I connected it with a a extra-long E-TTL cord. BIG TIP: this cord is the most useful piece of off-camera gear in my bag. If you are just starting with off-camera flash, spend $60 on this cord before you buy anything else! It maintains full E-TTL communication with the Speedlite so I can control the flash exposure from my camera. I like a straight cord, rather than a long cord, because I can run the cord from my camera down to the floor, across to the stand, and up to the Speedlite instead of having it swing through the air. So, when it comes to really long off-camera cords, straight is the way to go – avoid coiled.
The studio’s white background turned to black because the softbox was aimed to keep any spill off the back wall. The combination of aperture and shutter assured that none of the ambient light contributed to the exposure.
As for why the shadows are so deep when the light comes in close, we can blame that on the Inverse Square Law. But, that’s another story for another day.
Lighting Details
Environment: Inside professional studio
Time of Day: Not a factor
Ambient: Dim incandescent
Speedlite: one 580EX II
Modifier: Lastolite Ezybox Hotshoe 24″
Distance to Subject: about 15″, just out of frame
Height of Light: centered just above model’s eyes
Trigger: Speedlite connected to camera hotshoe via extra-long off-camera E-TTL cord.
Camera Details
Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon 200mm f/2 L
Distance to Subject: 10′
Exposure: 1/125″, f/4, ISO 200
I recently spent an hour with Kerry Garrison, host of the Camera Dojo podcast, talking about my collection of micro-essays ‘Lessons I Didn’t Learn In Photo School‘ and about my thoughts on Speedliting.
After comparing our favorite LIDLIPS, Kerry and I then moved on to discuss a variety of my thoughts on:
• learning to light (“watch movies with a critical eye”)
• starting with off-camera flash (“buy a 24′ E-TTL cord from FlashZebra”) and
• how you can use high-speed sync to dim the sun (“it changes the way your Speedlite fires”).
Of course, there is much more to know than those quick phrases.
You can listen to the podcast directly on Camera Dojo or download it from the iTunes store. You will find links to both here on Camera Dojo.
Syl’s Portfolio
Long Off-Camera Flash Cords
Syl On The Road
Syl Teaches Speedliting Online At Kelby Training
Speedliter’s Handbook
Nearly 400 pages of Syl Arena's how-to and why-to on lighting with small flash. Shoot Canon? The Handbook shows you the details of how to work the buttons and dials of Canon Speedlites. Shoot Nikon? Nearly 2/3 of the Handbook applies to all types of small flash.
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Syl Writes About Speedlites on Europe’s Canon Pro Network
Rebates On Canon Gear
Speedliting Tip Jar
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Recommended Books On Photography
Light: Science & Magic
Lighting Essentials
Lighting Notebook
Sketching Light
Speedliter's Handbook
Visual Stories