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Category: Articles
Using light to your advantage
Recently I recorded a series of short videos as part of the “Lovers of light” photography competition. In this clip I have a few words to say about the different types of light.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4uhpvMzN6g&list=PLtSaDsQ1Szx1KSX5cJ7b1BdAnK8fiZsca[/youtube]
There are three types of light in photography. Good light, bad light and no light. Being able to tell the first from the second isn’t as simple as you might think.
Good light:
What is classed as good light will vary depending on what you’re photographing. Great landscapes often come from strong directional light which casts long shadows. Portraits are best taken in soft, overcast light where shadows are few and far between.
Bad light:
Just like good light, what one photographer considers bad light might be perfect for another. Knowing what you shoot and when to shoot it is a skill that can be learned just like any other.
No Light:
Without light we don’t have any photos but with today’s digital cameras able to shot in extreme low light, it’s very rare to be left with no light at all. It’s all too easy to confuse the quantity of light with the quality of light, night time shots can be just as magical as day time photos.
Direction of light:
Where the sun is in relation to your camera can have a dramatic impact on the scene. The lower it is in the sky, the longer the shadows it casts.
Keeping the sun over your shoulder will make colours richer and shadows more pronounced.
Closing the lens aperture down to a big number (e.g. f/22) will give the sun a natural star burst effect.
Looking directly into the sun is dangerous for your eyes but with very careful use of your camera it can yield amazing results.NOTE: DSLR users should avoid looking at the sun through their viewfinders as it can damage your sight. Using “live view” is the way to go
Halloween Shoot
Last Friday was Halloween and I spent the evening taking some suitably spooky portraits. The location for the shoot was the recently opened Square 1 Studio near Dorking, an amazing place and one of the best studios I’ve used.
The evening was a free form event rather than a workshop with photographers popping in and out, sharing ideas and learning from each other. To that end I have to say a huge thank you to Andrew Dobell from Creative Edge who arranged for three models, a make-up artist and hairdresser to be on hand as well as a raft of props, all we had to do was supply the ideas
With around ten photographers moving between two shooting areas, there was lots of sharing of thoughts, tips and creative ideas. I also shared my Adorama Streaklights which once again proved their worth doing the whole three hour shoot and still having 2/3rd battery power left.
Below are a small selection of the photos. Click to enlarge… if you dare!
Pentax 645Z Hands On Experience
The last time I got to play with a medium format camera was a few years back at Hasselblad. Back then I loved the quality of the photos but found the experience of using the camera cumbersome compared to a DSLR.
Jump forward to late 2014, switch brands to Pentax and things have really changed for the better.
I got some hands on time with the Pentax 645Z thanks to a Park Cameras and Pentax/Ricoh offering a two hour group try-out session. Shooting time was limited and the style was a studio shoot run by my good friend Will Cheung. With that in mind please remember this isn’t a full on camera review.
First impressions
Coming from a Canon 5D2, the Pentax 645Z feels big and heavy but I’d expect nothing less. Once you get past the size it’s a great camera to hold and feels very DSLR in design.
The viewfinder was big, bright and brilliant to use and same could be said for the LCD screen on the back. In fact I swear some of the buttons and controls have been lifted from the Pentax DSLR range, they looked so familiar.
The first big surprise came when I popped my 32GB SD card into one of the two slots. Even though the card was empty I had just 219 available (RAW+JPG) photos before it was full. The Pentax packs a whopping 51.4 million pixel sensor with RAW files averaging out at around 65MB and JPG’s at 18MB each.
In Use
Using the Pentax 645Z was real pleasure, the shutter fired with a satisfying clunk and the photos appeared almost instantly on the LCD. Pentax made a big thing about the focusing system, with its 27 AF points 25 of which are cross type and so on. However in practice I found the focus slightly sluggish. Not sloooow but certainly not as fast as I’m used to. To be honest I can’t say if that’s just how it is with this camera or if it’s down to the 90mm lens I was using.
Those big files take time to write to the card. Fortunately I packed one of my fast SD cards that I use for capturing video but I noticed a couple of the other photographers were using standard SD cards. At the end of their session they needed to wait some time before the files had been written to the card and they could safely remove it.
Features
Pentax were really keen to talk up a few of the features that make the 645Z different from other medium format cameras. For example it can shoot at 3 frames per second, it’s weather sealed, it shoots video and it shoots at high ISO. I really wanted to test the last one so here’s a series of (JPG) photos starting at ISO6400 (Where my Canon 5D2 stops) right up to a jaw dropping and utterly useless ISO204800
It’s hardly a definitive test but from what I can see that’s probably one of the best high ISO performances I’ve ever seen.
Reviewing the photos
So the big question is how did the photos look? In a word they were… detailed!
We only got the chance to shoot portraits but when I viewed at 1 to 1 in Lightroom every little blemish, imperfection and detail could be seen. That level of detail is perfect for many photographers needs but for my portraits it would mean a little more retouching might be required!
Yes the sensor has lots of pixels but it’s also big in size at 43.8mmx32.8mm. The bigger the physical size of the sensor the shallower the depth of field and when reviewing my photos I could see that my usual f/8 was giving me a noticeable reduction in depth of field.
Final thoughts
With a price point of £6800 body only and limited selection of lens to choose from, the Pentax 645Z isn’t on my real world shopping list but part of me wishes it was.
The price may seem high but compared to its competitors at Hasselblad and PhaseOne it a bargain. And when you consider the Pentax uses exactly the same sensor as it’s medium format competitors, it’s not surprising that the Pentax 645Z is constantly on back order at retailers.
I’d like to thank Mark and Luke from Pentax/Ricoh for letting me get my hands on the camera, Park cameras for providing the venue and Will Cheung for being a brilliant teacher/assistant and for continuing his tradition of wearing truly terrible shirts 😉
My Adorama Streaklight Bundles
After a bit of arm twisting Adorama has just released the “Gavin Hoey Recommends…” Streaklight Essentials Bundle and the Streaklight Twin Kit Bundle.
If you’ve been watching any of my recent videos you’ll have seen me shooting with one or two Streaklight flashes.You can checkout my review of the Streaklight 360ws here but if you just want the headline reasons I use the streaklights it’s the amazing power (equivalent to six speedlights), battery powered and incredibly small. In fact I loved it so much I ordered a second Streaklight, the lower powered 180ws. It’s a bit less powerful but also a bit cheaper, perfect for someone like me who’s outside the US and has to factor in shipping & tax.
My essentials bundle contains the Streaklight 360ws, blastpack battery and a remote trigger that doubles up as a full remote control and you’ll save $20 USD along the way.
My twin light kit consists of a Streaklight 360ws, Streaklight 180ws, two blastpack batteries, a Remote control and a second remote receiver. It’s everything I use day to day in my small home studio and bags you a saving of $100USD off the list price.
If you’re looking for the power of a studio light but with the wireless convenience of a speedlight the Streaklights are hard to beat in my book.
Free Webinar This Thursday
If you’re around this Thursday 16th October 2014 at 7pm UK time, then I’d love it if you could join me for a one off exclusive webinar in association with Adobe UK.
The webinar is free but places are limited. All you need to do is register with this link:
https://ccppuk1.creativecloud.adobeevents.com
The title of my talk is “Editing your holiday snaps with Photoshop CC” and the title says it all. I’ll be going through some of the photos I’ve taken during 2014 and editing them in Photoshop CC. Along the way I’ll be passing on some tips and tricks as well as showing off a few of Photoshop’s smart new features.
I hope to see you there.
Instant Photo Collage Action – Friday Freebie
It’s a case of two for the price of one with this Friday freebie Photoshop action as I’ve recorded a version for portrait (upright) and landscape (wide) format images. This action is an extension of the four part split action I made a few weeks back and generates a collage of small scattered prints from one single photo. There’s also the option at slightly alter the exposure of each print which really adds to the effect.
You can download the action here: photo-collage-gavtrain
To use the action, start with the photo you wish to use already open in Photoshop and then play the landscape or portrait version of the action as appropriate. The first thing it does is make a copy of your photo so the original will be untouched and safe. There’s a lot of things for Photoshop to do with this action so it may take a minute or two to run through. DO NOT switch to another image whilst running the action.
Towards the end of the action you’ll be given the option to automatically adjust the exposure of each print, it’s a subtle effect but well worth doing. After the action is run you’ll notice plenty of layers which I’ve left so you can move, alter and tweak to vary the effect to your taste.
As with most actions, the size of your image will effect the final effect small images (less pixels) will get a bigger border and wider shadow although these settings can always be adjusted after the action has completed.
The action will work with Photoshop CC, CS6, CS4, CS4, CS3 and should work with Photoshop Elements 11 and beyond too.
Usage rules
The action is copyright Gavin Hoey 2014. Use is limited to any personal, non-commercial purposes. Please share the Friday Freebie by linking back to this page. Do not redistribute the original action without my permission.
Download instructions
The direct link to download the actions is https://www.gavtrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/photo-collage-gavtrain.zip
You must UNZIP the action before installing it in Photoshop / PS Elements
No support is provided with the Friday Freebies. If you need help Google or YouTube the question and you’ll almost certainly find the answer 🙂
The Focal Length vs Shutter Speed Rule
During a recent webinar I briefly touched on a rule of thumb that I’ve used for years. It connects the focal length of a lens and the shutter speed of the camera with the sharpness of a photo. It generated a few questions so let’s get some answers.
Camera shake vs motion blur
Camera shake is where the camera moves, motion blur is were the subject moves and they’re two very different things. In this post I’m focusing just on camera shake, in other words where you photograph a static subject such as a landscape or seated portrait with a handheld camera. Getting sharp shots of speeding cars is another skill all together.
The rule of thumb
When I started in photography the rule of thumb was really simple. When hand holding your camera the shutter speed should match or exceed the lens focal length. In other words if you wanted a sharp, shake free shot with a 50mm lens your shutter speed would be 1/50th sec or faster.
Whilst that was fine in its day the world has moved on and so has my rule. Modern lenses and cameras are capable of recording very fine detail and as we all love to zoom in close we view our images with a more critical eye. Add to the mix all the different sensor sizes that will alter the effective zoom of the lens and you’ll understand why the old rule needs updating.
The new rule of thumb
Today I use the rule of thumb that the shutter speed should be double (or more) then the lens focal length. In other words if you were using a 50mm lens your shutter speed would be 1/100th sec or faster.
To put that into the language of real world photography, if I’m using my 10mm fisheye I’m happy to shoot all the way down at at 1/20th second shutter speed but if I was shooting with a 400mm lens I’d want a whopping 1/800th second shutter speed. Which might be tricky and brings me onto my final point.
Bend the rule
Some rules are set in stone but others can be bent or broken, my rule of thumb is the later.
Does your lens have an image stabiliser (shake reduction) system, are you really good at holding your camera and is your camera a full frame sensor or bigger? If so then you can bend this rule a little, to a lot. If you use a tripod then you can totally break this rule as long as nothing is moving in your scene of course.
Building a DIY studio background
For a long time I’ve fancied the idea of adding a grungy textured background to my studio but due to the limited space available I’ve stuck to using a white vinyl and black fabric backdrops. Now these have worked really well for me over the years but there comes a time when you want to break free and recently I got a great excuse to do just that.
I’m currently in the middle of filming a mini-series of videos for Adorama TV all about shooting portraits in a small studio, something I know a lot about. You’ve probably seen my log cabin studio in various videos before so in order for this series to look and feel different I bit the bullet and built my dream textured background
The Plan
I’m a reluctant DIY guy, so if you’re looking for plans, specifications and a fool proof guide to building a background this ISN’T it. After clearing out my old background and removing anything breakable from the area I went online and ordered a bunch of stud work timber, two 2400mmx1200mmx12mm sheets of MDF and three 2400mmx800mmx18mm T&G chipboard sheets for the floor. I ordered them from a well known DIY store chain, paid a whopping £25 for next day delivery and got them four days later… but that’s another story.
The Build
The idea was to make the background 8 feet (2.4 meters) square but my studio roof height made that impossible, so the frame work “evolved” to fit my needs. One thing I know all too well is log cabins move, even heavy duty ones like mine. So my background is almost free floating rather than permanently attached to the wall.
The MDF panels needed the corners cut too (wearing a mask to avoid inhaling the dust) and screwed to the frame. I then primed the MDF with a coat of PVA glue and water mixed together and left it to dry overnight.
The Texture
The texture I was going for was a grainy concrete feel. Choosing what material to use was tough. I had no idea of what might work best but I knew it would need to stick to vertical surfaces and be flexible enough to withstand a few knocks without cracking too much or bits falling off.
I settled on a flexible tile adhesive from Dunlop. It did everything I needed and best of all it was pretty cheap. All I had to do was slap it on the MDF and try not to get it too smooth or too rough, not as easy as you might think. Too smooth and the effect would be lost, too rough and it could do some damage to a model or their clothes.
Finishing Touches
Once dry the last job was to give it a coat or two of Matt Grey paint which was randomly added to with a lighter colour for a mottled effect. The mid grey colour is perfect in a small studio as I can add or restrict light to make it appear black or white. I can even add gels to my lights for a splash of funky colour if required.
All in the cost was around £100 for materials and about three days’ work.
In Use
The end results is perfect for my needs. With hindsight I’m not sure MDF was a great choice of wood but it’s working for me.
Here’s a few photos of the background in use!
Speedlights, brollies and zooming flashes
If you’ve used a Speedlight then you’ll have spotted the zoom setting which can be used to make the spread of light from the flash match the angle of view from your lens. When it comes to on camera flash that’s great news as it helps to maximise t
he efficiency of the flash but go off camera and it’s something that can easily get over looked. Setting the zoom for off camera speedlite work is one of the handy tools in a photographer’s bag of tricks. It can be used to shape the light into a tight rectangle or spread it wider and rounder. Most speedlight’s even have a pull out diffuser for a crazy wide spread of light. So what should you do with the zoom setting when you’re shooting your flash into an umbrella or softbox? In a nutshell I tend to zoom out to the wider end of the flashes zoom range but I wanted to see how things changed at different zoom settings so I did a little experiment. 
Let’s start with the side view. At my Canon 580EXII’s maximum zoom of 105mm the flash is diffused fairly well but it’s noticeably bright in the centre with a lot of fall off at the edges. Things don’t change much even at 50mm zoom but by 24mm zoom the light spread from the umbrella is a lot more even. Flip out the wide angle diffuser and zoom reads 14mm, now that’s wide! The resulting light is amazingly soft and diffused but it’s so wide it actually passes the edges of the umbrella completely! 
It’s the front view which probably make things clearest. The hot spot at 105mm to 50mm is clear to see. At 24mm the flash coverage is better but at 14mm it’s very VERY even. So what conclusions can I draw from this? Well the obvious one is don’t zoom the flash when using an umbrella or softbox. 14mm looks very tempting but one thing to note is the flash power was roughly a stop less than at 24mm. So I’ll be sticking to 24mm for my brollies but I might consider going for 14mm in softboxes when I can accept shallower depth of fields or higher ISO in my photo.