Just been on a 'Subtraction of Light' course with Mark Cleghorn of PhotoTraining4U fame in Cardiff.
Seems like the addition of flash is not quite as necessary as I'd previously thought.
In fact, during the five day course we were starting at 6am and photographing with extended exposures of up to two minutes. On a pier in low lying mist by 10am and then later we went under the pier to discover the equivalent of studio lighting!
Mark's 'Subtraction of Light' course has changed my whole outlook on how I take portraits with the purchase of a Canon 85mm F1.8 lens. I've also begun using the 'Picture Style' modes on my Canon 5D with black and white plus a red filter being my favourite.
Candid photography has never been one of my favourite pastimes, but it is growing on me. Street portraits however, turned ot to be far more rewarding than anything I've previouly tackled with many new contacts each time I take to the streets.
Portraits in the woods now makes me look for 'window light' and a reflector is higher on my list of accessories than a tripod ever was.
But don't worry I'm going to forgo the benefits of using a flashgun.
I'll try to keep you posted on a more regular basis with plenty of results form my YeoPhotoGroup course which now takes place on a Tuesday evening. This is a free range group with no charges, no officialdom and no real rules apart from the basis of, 'We all help each other to enjoy our photography and don't give any negative comments'.
We now have a facebook area and regularly post results, ideas, and hints.
Keith.

Miniscule portrait studio at 1.5 m by 1 metre!
A narrow shop doorway, model four feet away and flash bounced off a four inch wide door reveal.
Okay so there was a bit of help from the sun which illuminated Lola's left cheek via the white wall outside. For some of these photos I also used my Canon 580 EX with head reversed bouncing off a white tee shirt to my left. Flash on ETL, camera on manual so I could control the daylight.
Getting Lola to look towards somewhere darker helped to open up her eyes and it's the eyes that can make or break a good portrait.

I came across Lola via 'Model Mayhem' a sort of online modeling agency where you sign up, wait for approval, and eventually if they think you're good enough you can send out friend requests followed by email contacts with the models where MM act as intermediaries, a sort of buffer zone. Lola is a newbie to the site as a model but I've had nearly forty years behind the camera as a portrait photographer and decided her portfolio needed a boost. Besides, I neede the practice plus I can't remember ever having photographed a girl with such beautiful red hair. Mostly, though, I could see the possibilities of some amazing photos with Lola and on that count I was definitely proved correct.



We arranged to meet at a carpark in Glastonbury on May 1st and blow me the roads were closed due to a series of fun runs, the carparks full but I somehow squeeze in. Lola's mum came along to help hold a flashgun as I could only carry one lighting stand along with all the other stuff us photographers consider important - so why do we not use it all?
I often carry two large bags and pull a kitchen waste bin on a shopping trolley full of lighting stands, brollies, reflectors and tripod, but this time it was just a bagfull of four flashes, stand adaptors and triggers.


'Proper Job' supermarket carpark provided a small area of shade under a tree set in the pavement which I used to keep the brilliant sun off Lola's gorgeous red hair - I wanted to create my own strobist lighting arrangements, my own sunlight if you like.
One stand, a Vivitar 285 into a small brolly, a second 285 held by mum replicated the sun to great effect. Both guns fired via cheapo radio triggers from China at £60 for a set of three recievers and one transmitter. The benefits are that Lola's blue eyes opened up as she looked into the shade. What appears to be sunlight shining on Lola's cheek is really a Vivitar at 1/2 power, the other 285 bouncing into the small brolly also set to 1/2 power but without a modifier it resembles direct sunlight.
You wouldn't think that a carpark would make any sort of decent backdrop but it does. Not having access to a studio should not put you off taking beautiful portraits like these, it is possible almost anywhered to create a work of art using flag lights. Strobism rules!
Then we moved on to a narrow shop doorway where Lola faced into the fairly dark interior with a weedy backyard and a whole mess of rainwater pipes in the background lit by sunlight.
Okay, so I didn't stay true strobist with the Vivtars for this part of the photoshoot as I wanted to push my understanding of the capabilities of Canon ETTL and whether I can still influence this modern automatic lighting technology, or does it take over and mess up everything creative. To which the answer is - without my strobist knowledge of how to juggle exposure controls these photos of Lola would have suffered big time.
Canon's interactive ETTL with more than one flash has moved further down the list of things to absorb my precious time!
During the two hour shoot I took 115 photos and Lola will get all these on a CD to go on her Facebook page and on her MM portfolio and I'm only too pleased to help this delightful young lady on her way as a model who is a joy to work with.
Will I use Model Mayhem again? Yes, without a doubt! Although it's a rather long winded method of contacting suitable models but it's for their protection and I can see why it has to be this way.
Will I be photographing Lola again? Yes, most definitely, can't wait!!!!

Popstar and strobists in the bluebells!
This late evening popstar photoshoot required three flashguns, nothing technical though as time was short.
We were also short of an actual popstar so Trevor leaped in with a borrowed guitar.
Photo one gives an idea of the location and the little Vivitar 285HE of which I used two. These run on 6 volt motorcycle batteries as they are allergic to rechargable AA's. Third gun was a Miranda from Ebay at £2 which does run on rechargables. I've got two of these lovely little Miranda's and use them a lot.

All the lighting stands, camera kit and other parphinalia we strobists think we really need, but hardly ever use, is carried in a kitchen waste bin fixed to a collapsible trolle with gaffer tape and bungee straps and is seen here standing in for Trevor while he puts on one of my old movie making wigs.

The trolley wheels folded up on the last photo trip and the weighty kit had to be carried back to the van. The buggy has since been adapted with a solid bar axle for just £2, but at only £12 from Maplins for the trolley I still ended up with a bargain.
I wanted our lively popstar to leap in the air and look as if he's bellowing a few lyrics - He's a few years younger than myself so his knees can take the strain. A tip for those with spare cash and the means to transport it - how about a three foot diameter trampoline from Ebay for twenty quid?
Mounting the flashes onto a Bowens stand, an Elinchrom and an Interfit stand, (Yes I like variety), requires the use of hotshoe to lighting stand adaptors at £6 each off the internet. As nothing we strobists use ever seems to be compatible I've Araldited a DIY metal hotshoe foot on top of each of my flashguns, including my two Canon 580 EXlls, which has the bonus of bringing the flash window right next to a brolly shaft.
But then the breeze catches one of the brollies and a few swear words spring to mind. I now carry a tube of superglue and a few spare brollies.
By keeping one flash in shot the illusion of an outdoor stage venue was a last minute addition which we both liked, then decided that adding a CTO filter made it resemble the sun setting through the backdrop of trees, which we liked even more.


To retain the daylight level, which revealed detail in the bluebells, I used ISO 400 and a shutter speed of 1/80th. I did try 1/20th at F8 but the resulting blur was too distracting plus it darkened the flash too much.

Remember, shutter speeds control daylight and apertures control flash strength - higher shutter speed makes the sky/background darker and lower makes it lighter. ISO changes effect both flash strength and daylight levels so I usually leave the sensitivity set on 100 ISO.
Although the aperture effects both ambient and flash it is primarily the flash strength which is controlled via the F numbers - higher F number darker flash. Of course you could always move the flashgun further away to decrease the strength, or turn down the power setting.
I'm not going to go into how to use highspeed shutter sync right now as cameras and flashes vary so much. Best to study the techniques of this along with multiple dedicated flashes in your flashgun instruction book.
Of particular interest is the Nikon CLS (controlled lighting system), or the Canon equivalent. I've used multiple hotshoe flashguns for thirty five years and find the process simple, straight forward and easy - but these dedicated lighting systems are something else! Bear with me though and when I have sussed out how to use it successfully I'll pass the info on in this blog.

Meanwhile, an aperture of F5.6 returned the best images making full use of the three flashes, of which the Vivitars were set to 1/16th power at six feet front and back and the Miranda on full power at around twenty feet. Keeping all the flashes in sync was an IShoot radio transmitter on the camera sending radio signals to a set of three IShoot receivers on the three flashguns.

I bought this set of Ishoot triggers and the transmitter for £60 from a fellow photographer who wanted a Nikon fit, but then he found there is only Canon fit available.
I've since used these same triggers with Nikon, Olympus and my Canon cameras with equal success as I'm guessing all the little contacts don't actually do anything. They also work superbly with my Elinchrom studio lights and having four channels is a real boon in a busy studio environment.
Meanwhile Trevor is having a ball, leaping and shouting and I'm loving how these three amazing strobes are working together - absolutely wonderful lighting!

Okay so next time we'll add a few more coloured filters and maybe a smoke machine, maybe even try adding a real sun filtering through the trees along with a studio flash to really challenge the sun's strength, but being an emergency plumber means time is often short.
Thank you Trevor for being a great sport and he says he is available for bookings, but don't ring him - he'll ring you.

Flash on the battlefield!
Maiden Newton At War re-enactment presented absolutely loads of flash opportunities.
Recently a Canon 580 EXll flashgun arrived in the post, from my wife who thankfully encourages me in my photo endevours.
Along with my existing 580 EX mark one I now have the makings of a portable studio which I can control with an ST-E2 Canon gadget that clips into the camera hotshoe and which I picked up for a song.
Now you may think this is getting away from pure strobist flash techniques and you're right, but I'm not going to apoligize for trying to conquer yet another milestone in the ever expanding challenge of photography. This is modern technology and is going to take a lot of getting used to, so thank heaven I've had thirty five years head start as a genuine strobist. I'm a knobs and levers sort of bloke and some of these modern menus sometimes baffle me.

My learning of ultra-modern flash techniques started off with just one Canon 580EX flash at Maiden Newton 20th of June 2010.
I set the camera on Manual mode, the ISO to 200, F8 in aperture priority and the flash set to ETTL at 1/3 rd under exposure so as not to overpower and appear obvious, this is admirably demonstrated above with the title shot of my day out.
Being a really bright day the shutter speeds soared above the sync speed of my flashgun, but by pressing a combination of buttons on the back panel of the flash I found highspeed sync. This sends out the flash in a series of pulses relating to the shutter speed and exposes all parts of the sensor evenly meaning I didn't get the normal black bar across the lower part of each image. Operating the menu requires fairly small fingers, but eventually I managed it with my builder's sized digits.

I was surprised to find that some photos were taken as high as 1/800th, which causes the flash to be so weak it's usless at anything more than three feet! I should have realised this and gone for an aperture of F11 and lowered the sensitivity to ISO 100 before ruining 20% of my daylight flash balance efforts.

Going back to the camera being on manual and the flash on ETTL, the flash knows what aperture I've set on the camera, it even knows what ISO setting is being used and produces light accordingly. This is all very clever and so beyond most of us that I'll excuse you for throwing your hands in the air and saying; 'Oh Sod it! I think I'll just use auto and be damned!'
However, stick with it and before long the penny begins to drop. But, beware! Just when you think you've grasped the know-how and beginning to master this daylight flash balance malarkey, then something will go wrong, you'll be stumped again and wishing you'd stuck with manual strobist guns.

To soften the flash indoors I've got a Stofen to send the light around the room and sends out enough until the camera agrees with the output and turns off the flash, but outdoors Stofens just don't cut it.
Instead I use the lid of a large emulsion paint tub which I've cut and shaped to fit the flash head. The angle of 45 degrees sends out a fairly soft edged light which caused a lot of interest on the battlefield. Mind you, should I happen to lose it there are another five paint tins lids in my shed.

Many thanks to all the WWll re-enactors who helped make my day.
In the next post I'll explain a little more about ETTL on location and hope I can make it easier to understand - for both of us!

How to take portraits outdoors in the dark!
You'd be forgiven for thinking these portraits were taken in a studio - whereas actually they were amid the bluebells of Sparkford woods around dusk.

Here's Bob, one of YPG's newer members, studying the results of his experimenting with a fibre optic ring flash while the main studio light is set off via my radio trigger. Okay, so I should have made more of the gorgeous bluebells, but I've been there, done that. Besides, portraits are my favourite area of photography.


Running a studio light away from any mains electricity is usually extremely expensive. Not anymore!
This picture of Charlotte was powered by a 12volt car battery, through an invertor and has no trouble powering a single Elinchrom 200watt D-Lite.
A Kenro five-in-one reflector helped lighten the shadows and eliminated the need for a second Elinchrom head, although maybe next time I'll use both - just to prove it can be done on the cheap.
There are posts elsewhere on this blog showing two heads are better than one - and we're still running them off a car battery!

Laura, who's never done any sitting in front of a camera before, came along too and with a little verbal encouragement enabled us to capture this lovely semi black and white photo. I said that her eyes were one of her more attractive features and that I'd try to show them at their best.
I love playing around in photoshop and creating these semi black and whites with a softness produced via Guassian blur along with a layer mask.
For instance this one of Laura has a blurred copy layer, but the semi black and white effect is the result of leaving the blur at 50% then highlighting the lower layer and using the Mono button of Colour Mixer in CS2.

I love the way Emily's face is illuminated from a long way around to the left and only creates a small nose shadow in the shot on the left, plus how she's looking straight up at the large white reflective brolly. Shoot-thro brollies seem to lose a lot of power by not reflecting all the light so I'm really glad I snapped up this bargain brolly at a photo sale.
Meanwhile, the nose shadow across Charlotte's cheek doesn't look right here and I should have got her to tilt her head the opposite side.
However, I still like the colour, the softness and especially the twinkle in her eye. Notice how the reflector casts a catchlight in her left eye?



My favourite shot of the evening is this one of Emily with it's superb soft lighting, a smile that's not over the top, a good sized catchlight in both eyes, plus the way her tumbling hair is surrounding her face adds even more beauty to the finished photo.
Bluebells? What bluebells? They were there in the background, promise! I'm more than happy with these results and look forward to the next time with this trio of amazing girls.
Keith Robins.

Stuart's only had his Canon 5D mark ll one week and wants to explore flash!
He used my Canon 550EX for this pair of snaps.
Placing the flash into the hotshoe, setting the camera to manual and the flash to ETTL means that no matter what he uses as the aperture the resulting exposures will be identical.
The flash is able to read what aperture Stuart has set on his camera and automatically sends out a weaker powered flash for the second photo where he used f8 instead of f16
Even if he'd used a higher ISO setting the flashgun would still have picked this up and allowed for the less sensitive settings.
The shutter speed could have been anywhere between 2 seconds and 1/200th of a second and it would not have made any difference to the exposure as shutter speeds have no effect on flash photos, as long as they stay below 1/2ooth.
For the next challenge we tried a darkened room and used a pair of Miranda flashguns which someone was throwing out.
(Took me a whole afternoon with a soldering iron to adapt them to work on my radio triggers.)
Both guns at arms length, one behind my head and the other to camera right. The f14 was due to both guns being on full power manual. I also needed to use a thumb across the flash window as a light modifier on the one lighting my face, which means the one behind me shows a little stronger.

Seaside flashers! Balancing daylight and flash is not the easiest of challenges, in fact less than five percent of photographers really understand how and why flashguns work in conjunction with available light.
This blog is a mine of information about exactly that.
I'm hoping that by reading all the posts in this blog that you too will be able to handle this most creative of lighting combinations.

Burton Bradstock in early March at around 5pm is the first photo. A flash on that rock in the foreground would have given added interest and help balance the picture.
Second photo is about an hour later. I definitely should have used a flash here - set on minus 2/3rds of a stop so it is not at all obvious - which is surely the whole point of this exercise. Must clean that front filter more often!
It's getting damned cold and my trouser legs are wet through kneeling in the wet shingle with a wide angle lens. Next time I'll bring a pair of wellies, or better still a pair of fisherman's waders.
Brian is seen here struggling with the principles of daylight flash balancing, but he's a fast learner and is soon able to take pictures just like these.

I used F18 at 1/160th on 200 ISO with my canon 550EX on ETTL. Strange to say that the camera, a Canon 5D, was in the manual mode - so too was the lens which is focused on Brian.
Even though the camera is in manual mode it does not effect the ability of the flash to operate successfully in ETTL.
Why manual mode for the camera? I wanted complete control over both aperture to control the flash, plus shutter speed which governs the intensity of the daylight. Now I can make the sky as dark and threatening as I like, mean while retaining a good exposure of my maim subject - usually a figure or a portrait.

This goes against the normal everyday trend of photography where one speed up equals one aperture down to get a similar exposure.
I feel completely at ease with flashguns and this rather unusual way of operating the settings on my camera and flash and have done so for over thirty years. Some of my old manual flashes needed light modifiers such as the lenses from a pair of old Polaroid sunglasses, several layers of handkerchief, or just a thumb placed in front of the flash lens. Nowadays there are auto modes via so many menus it's baffling, plus these modern things seem to have a mind of their own and often refuse to co-operate.
The copyright was added with one click of a brush and then toned down using Opacity.
Hold down the Alt key and type 0169 in the right-hand numerical keys to get a C symbol. type your name - select it with a rectangle - go to Edit, Define Brush Preset, click OK and your logo is the very last brush in the brush palette. Open a new layer before adding your logo, then use Transform to adjust or rotate.