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 a single off-camera flashgun bounced off a four inch wide doorframe is all Keith Robins Photography needs to create a superb portrait.
Okay so there is a bit of help from the sun which illuminates Lola's left cheek via the white wall outside. For some of these photos I use my Canon 580 EX with the head reversed and bouncing it off a white tee shirt to my left. The flash is set on ETTL while the camera stays on manual, enabling me to control the daylight to a precise exposure.
Getting Lola to look towards the somewhat darker shop interior helps to open up her eyes and as we all know, it's the eyes that can make or break a good portrait.

I came across Lola a week ago 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 my camera as a portrait photographer and i've decided that her portfolio needs a boost, come to think of it so does mine! Besides, not only do I need the practice but, I can't remember ever having photographed a girl with such beautiful red hair or such incredible blue eyes. Mostly, though, I could see the possibilities of some amazing photos with Lola and on this count I think I am definitely about to be proved correct.



We arrange to meet at a carpark in Glastonbury on May 1st and blow me most of the roads are closed due to a series of bank holiday fun runs, the carpark is full but I somehow manage to squeeze in. Lola's mum has come along to help hold one of the flashguns as I can only carry one lighting stand along with all the other stuff us photographers consider important - so why do we never 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 is just a bagful of four flashes, stand adaptors and triggers.


'Proper Job' supermarket carpark provides a small area of shade under a tree set in the pavement which I use 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 is held by mum replicated the sun to great effect. Both guns are firing 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, but without a modifier it resembles direct sunlight. The second 285 is bouncing into the small brolly also set to 1/2 power, but due to it bouncing into a brolly this is reduced to around 1/4 power and the biggest benefit is that it's really soft due to the close proximity - about three feet.
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 anywhere to create a work of art using flag lights. Strobism rules!
Then we move on to a narrow shop doorway where Lola faces 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 want 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 will suffer big time.
Canon's interactive ETTL with more than one flash is now moving further down the list of things to absorb my precious time!
During the two hour shoot I take 115 photos, (eighty-five after editing), which Lola will get on a CD to go on her Facebook page, also on to her MM portfolio. 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!!!!

How Keith Robins Photography takes 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, plus another two hours beyond.

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! Maplins sell a 1,000 watt inverter for less than £100
This picture of Charlotte was powered by a 12volt car battery, through a maplin invertor and has no trouble powering a single Elinchrom 200watt D-Lite2.
A Kenro five-in-one reflector helped lighten the shadows and eliminated the need for a second Elinchrom head. The Elinchrom D-lite2 heads have a 4 amp drain but it is only for 0.7 of a second so the 1,000watt inverter doesn't quite reach the stage where the power safety switch cuts out.



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 large bargain of a reflective brolly at a photo sale for £15.
Meanwhile, the nose shadow across Charlotte's cheek doesn't look right here and I should have asked her to tilt her head to the opposite side.
However, I still like the colour, the softness and especially the twinkle in her eye. Notice how the reflector casts a faint 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 surrounds her face adding 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.

Flash and blur in the same shot! I said it was possible, but we did take over an hour to perfect it. Second curtain flash was already agreed long before we arrived on site, although why my Canon remains fixed in the first curtain mode regardless of menu settings does baffle me.
With a gale blowing like a demon we were on top of Hamhill frantically holding onto my Elinchrome D-Lite 200's. The softboxes nearly blew away, the rainclouds threatened but the wet stuff held back just for us.
We got beeped at by grinning motorists and Nicki received a quiet yet complimentary wolfwhistle. Meanwhile the shots mounted up as we struggled with shutter speed and panning techniques until Kelv's preview screen produced this super picture with the elusive blur.
1/20th of a second at f11 on 200 ISO - Fantastic! I've even framed it in my excitement, plus I have added a little escapism for the front wheel.

Now I wanted just that little bit extra umph. Lifting the D-Lite head off the lighting stand, which was tied to a 'No Waiting' sign to prevent the wind whisking it away, I then mounted it on the end of a decorators extending pole . I managed to hold the light with its dished reflector about six feet above Nicki's head and another six feet in front.

At some twelve feet long the unwieldy pole proved quite a handful, even though the flashhead weighs next to nothing it was over ten feet away from my hand and being whipped about by a gusting wind.
After twenty attempts we managed to finally get a natural looking background blur and becoming frustrated with trying the judge speeds and distances with one second shutter speed in second curtain flash mode
We ended this challenging shoot in damp darkness at around 9pm and were glad of our yellow safety vests which kept the traffic at bay.
I am definitely more than happy with these great results and am now busy planning the next challenge which is a flash lit subject, plus movement of some sort of ambient light or available lights in the background. Maybe the Great Dorset Steam Fair will help shed some suitable lighting. Keith (Strobist) Robins