The Decisive Photograper – Live Shoot Indoor
Saturday I had my first ‘The Decisive Photographer’ workshop. I tried to illustrate techniques and ideas with pictures and I tried to give as many practical tips within the theoretical part. At the end of the day, we did a live shoot to put the things I explained into practice.
I deliberately didn’t look for cool spots and great light on the location because I wanted to show how I look for backgrounds etc. With 50 eyes looking over my shoulder that isn’t easy. Especially when you have to explain things that you would normally do instinctively.
We started out with classic soft window light. We talked about the position of the subject and the camera in relation to the light source and we looked at what happened when you change the distance between subject and light source.
By using a shallow depth of field backgrounds turn into abstract patterns. With some experience you will start to see good patterns and be able to se some of the participants of the workshop as a non disturbing background.
In the part about composition, we talked about lines that lead the viewer to the subject. On our walk through the location (and abbey) we saw this spot where the lines of the stairs, rays of sunlight and a shadow on the floor all led to the same point. At 1/100 at f/2.8 the background was the way we wanted it to be.
Because the subject was underexposed, we used a flash to balance the subject with the background.
The cool thing about lighting your subject with a flash is that the exposure of the subject remains unchanged when you change the shutterspeed (as long as the aperture remains the same). By playing with the shutterspeed you can change the brightness (and mood) of the background easily. We shot at 1/40th for the shot below.
Then we shot at 1/250th for a darker background.
We than discovered a long hallway with a wooden floor. The windows on the side take care of the lighting and the window in the back provides a nice frame for the subject and throws a long reflection on the floor. The shadow of our subject becomes a leading line towards the subject. The lines and the frame let the viewer find the subject easily in the pretty wide frame.
Before I made the images above, I took a quick snap to test the light. That testshot became a nice portrait.
We also shot some imags outdoors, I’ll show them next time.
Nicely explained… I try to follow your blog closely and I’ve learned a lot of stuff with you! Maybe one day I’ll get on a plane or my care and make the trip to take your workshop, who knows…
Best regards from Portugal and keep ‘em coming!
Simple yet elegant. Thanks again for the information. I learn something new with each post!
Bert,
You so have to come to Canada to do this setup…..I’ll by you a beer (a real beer! lol)….Some nice Canadian Micro Brewery stuff!!!
Thanks. Soon I’m going to look into the possibilities of doing some workshops abroad..
@David: Don’t forget I’m from THE beer country, so it’ll better be good
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Brilliant. I love your work and blog. I do have a question though, hope the you dont mind. On the 4th photo (the 1st from the stairs series), you’re using a f2.8 aperture. Why is the DOF so wide? Everything is in sharp focus. Shouldn’t the DOF be very narrow?
thanks , please continue with what your doing
cheers
I’m new to learning lighting, and your blog has taught me so much in the few weeks since I discovered it. I just wanted to say thank you and to encourage you to keep up the good work. Your images and words make what you are doing so clear and easy to understand. Thanks!
Thanks Bert! Very well illustrated teaching material. The stairs photo series, in particular, really gets the points across well. I have a couple of questions/points I’d like clarified, if it’s OK to ask? I note the contrast difference between the shadow and light side of the gentleman’s face is much softer in the 1/40th shot. Am I correct in assuming this is reflection from the whitewashed wall to his left? And the second question: I like the fall off of light from his head to his legs. Was this acheived simply by controlling the width setting of the flash beam or did you employ a grid or snoot? Or some other reason (such as flagging the lower half of a shoot through brolly)? TIA!
Hi Bert,
Thanks for sharing! Its great to learn little tips on how to start to think through the shooting / lighting process.
This past weekend I rented a set of PW for the first time, and I have to say I fell in love =)
Would love to have you take a peek at some of the photos…
Btw, what would be interesting to see is the difference in lighting when you use a snoot vs. a grid vs. etc…
Also, are you going to be doing the video on your lighting bag soon?
Thanks always for the inspiration!
P.S. I also saw your comments on the FlickR group for David’s DVDs…I just bought myself a set.
Chat with you soon.
Alim
Seattle, WA
thanks
@Ronan: That picture is shot at 38mm. Wider lenses have a bigger DOF.
@Andy: in the 1/40 shot, there’s just more ambient light in the picture that asks as fill. About the fall off, no grid or snoot used. It’s the beam and the fact that the fall off is more pronounced when the lightsource is close to the subject.
@Alim: One day I’ll find the time to make that video
Excellent tips .I really appreciate all these points, and I agree completely…