How to shoot sports silhouettes with Keith Robins Photography. 

 A white backdrop is good, across the floor by ten feet is even better. A single softbox fires from one side at 45 degrees to the backdrop so the light bounces off harmlessly to the far side and doesn't weaken the blackness. Okay, so this is not exactly even lighting but I'm trying to demonstrate how to do these type of shots simpley, easy, cheaply.

 This football shot takes more time than any of the others. Maybe Tann isn't a real sports fan at school - the ball shoots off at so many different angles. Yeah, yeah, I know I could photoshop the ball anywhere I like but that's not the idea here. These are all via Lightroom 3.6 which is old, cheap, simple etc.
Besides, my photoshop is on the blink, I will knuckle down to clearing out my Lightroom files as I'm suspecting the old Lightroom will vanish as soon as I sign up to Adobe CC and I'm not going to even think about what happens then. I never have managed to find where Lightroom saves when it backs up.

 Okay, so decorating may not be strictly a sport but DIY is high on the list of popular hobbies along with gardening, fisning and photography, plus I have all the painting kit in my van.

 Even the roller and the drill below are often in the van - I'm a builder / repairman.

I reckon a chair adds more impact than a traditional pair of steps, besides I don't have a pair in the van.

I hope you dodn't realize that Tann is adjusting a lighting stand, it should be a pipe, but hey, who's to know?

This climbing image really needs a rockface but my imagination is working overtime on this shoot due to a cappuccino being stronger than my normally drinking just hot water, sometimes with a tiny splash of orange squash.
Just to make thing more challenging I add a second flash with a grid to narrow the light down to just Tann's face, plus I shoot in colour as Tann, my model for the morning, wants to create a set of 'normal' photos for her Facebook page.
It was from these that the pure soot and whitewash silhouettes originate with the help of Lightroom.
Pushing the contrast way up, the brightness right up, blacks far over, plus an adjustment brush with plenty of contrast, etc. Oh, and saturation gets pushed down low as a little purple is creeping in here and there. 

Creating these silhouettes has been a rewarding exercise alround and there are so many variants yet to shoot, but using the right lighting in the first place helps a lot in seeing what the camera sees, plus I definitely needed a little help from Lightroom and it's, 'Job done!'

Is it me or are seaside photos fraught with accidents?

 Last night it was my radio trigger which sank without a trace.
The lighting stand was in two feet of water plus waves rolling in at 4 second intervals about 10 to 12 inches high. No great shakes you say, until an iShoot radio trigger slides off the hotshoe and drops into the sea!! While i'm trying to regain my composure and my balance I am watching the surface carefully looking for bubbles. If there's air inside then that has to come out before the sea can get in.
 

Spotted!! Twenty or so tiny bubbles indicate exactly where the trigger is. Roll up sleev, hold camera up away from the waves (yes I've been there done that!) and plunge a hand downward, only there's a hole right where the bubbles are.
I was tempted to shrug and accept the fate of the fourth trigger within twelve months to become functionless but another couple minutes grasping at the seabed and i'm shaking the water and sand out of my tiny piece of kit.
Take out the batteries and put it in front of the hot air on the way home.
 

This morning I look inside to see all the salt caking over some vital bit and decide to pop it in the sink for a wash and brush up. At the moment I'm still waiting for the receiver electronics to dry out and then I'll test it again (didn't work the first time I tried).
Out with all the other broken triggers and a bunch of tools and proceeded to repair / bodge three of the six into working items worthy of gracing a Bronica camera bag (well almost). So I'm back up to five triggers now.
Later on around sunset last night I stumble right next to the sea wall at Lyme Regis and my camera lens hits the stones rather hard. Luckily only the filter edge was dented and scratched but the threads are okay. Thank goodness I usually keep the filter attached, (I take it off when shooting into the sun to cut down on flare).
 

Hotshoes coming adrift where the screws pull out of the plastic are the result of most common accidents. Triggers snapping in half is second and battteries leaking are third in line for why flashguns don't go off when expected. There is a fourth problem - the flash only work a fraction of the time. Putting a new CR23a battery into the transmitter usually cures that one.

The great John Denton, master of flash, comes to the south coast on 20th May and I'm booked in for a full day on-location model shooting with him!!!!
John is a memeber of the SWPP, Society of Wedding and Portrait Photograpers, so every couple months there's a new lighting course with a top photographer.
With luck I'll be able to keep up with all the info and learning oportunities that John will be throwing at myself and the twelve or so other during this top of the range one day course. I've been a fan of Denton's portrait style for a number of years and this is going to be the highlight of my year.
ASAP I'll be posting up some of my results so you can see what I've learnt and how I coped with the pressure of being put on the spot with a top UK model, a location I've not previously sussed out, and lighting which I shall try to be prepared for but am not sure of - might be mine or could be John's ideas.
Really looking forward to this challenging day which every self-respecting portrait photographer should be scrambling to get onto - can't wait!!!!! 

Flash Vs LED torch

A torch and LED lighting capture a part open book proving that low powered lights can yield amazing results.

Let's look at how substituting one of the light sources with a low powered flash will help us understand the relationship of continuous lighting with that of a flashgun, an understanding of which we might one day need while on a location portrait-photoshoot when we want to capture a lovely sunset as a background behind the subject.

A flashgun exposes our subject in around 1/1,000th of a second regardless of the shutter speed, (below the sync speed of 1/200th). Meanwhile, we are using those same shutter speeds to control the intensity of the LED light source - longer means brighter and shorter gives a darker image. You might or might not notice that the flash exposure never changed, but more of this a moment.

A typical closeup or table top still life scenario might be :- We need a good depth of focus for our subject and decide on F11. The LED block at twelve inches requires a shutter speed of 1 second. This is okay for the flash as that is all over and finished, as we know, in 1/1,000th - it doesn't matter that the shutter is still open so it can carry on capturing the LED lighting.

This means we could make the exposure time longer to effectively create more light from the LED's without effecting the flash exposure. This is a hint that flash and continuous lighting are governed via separate camera controls - flash with aperture and continuous light via shutter speed. For instance, a longer exposure would give us more time to move the LED light slowly around the subject and we could eliminate all shadows. I say slowly as the exposure is one second so each position of the light needs to be for one second otherwise that part of the overall exposure will be too dark. Moving it slowly will allow that part of the subject to look balanced, while a faster movement will under expose.
So it looks like speed of movement from the light source or shutter speed governs how intense the light is.

We could even leave the shutter open for thirty seconds, which most digital cameras are capable of, and use the LED on/off swith to make our exposure of one second. This is assuming we are in a dark room, shed, skittle alley, etc.
We might also, during the same exposure, switch the LED back on with it in a different position and illuminate the shadow side of your subject from just a little bit further away thereby creating a softer shadow and we start to appreciate what lighting ratios are all about.

Meanwhile, our flashgun could also be moved, closer for more light or further away for less. We can also vary the softness of a flash by keeping to the same distance, doubling the output and bouncing it into a handheld reflector, or off a white wall, piece of card, even a sheet of newspaper, or the inside of a helium party balloon which is a matt finish alluminium and makes a superb reflector when taped over a piece of cardboard.

Same as the LED the flash can be moved and exposed several times during a thirty second exposure. Fire it once straight on from the right for a sharp shadow, then move it to the left side at the same distance but this time bounce it into a reflector and the shadows become softer by between one stop and two stops.

By now it should have become clear that shutter speeds control continuous lighting while aperture controls the flash. What else can control the flashgun? Distance, closer for more light, further away for less intensity. Then there are all the different powers from full whack all the way down to 1/128th power.

Another consideration is the aperture of F11, the higher the number the lower the lighting power from both continuous light and flashgun, but is going to throw a spanner in the works if we want to stick with the F11 we originally wanted for our required depth of focus.
A lower aperture such as F5.6 means we have less time to play around with our lighting, or does it? No, we merely shift our lights to exactly double the distance and we are right back to using all the timings and scenarios above. There is a complicated formulea which we don't neeed to confuse ourselves with called inverse square law but thankfully the way F numbers are worked out means we get exactly the same lighting power by doubling the distance and dropping two stops.
Hope your not too confused but my Yeo Photo Group camera club will be running through this several times on Tuesday evenings and will be using this basic information many times at during the next twelve months.

Wow, what has Blogger done to their site since I was last on the scene? It's a work of art now to get up the 'New post' box.
Been so busy doing plumbing and building repairs , yet strangely I've also managed to squeeze in even more photography than ever before with around 4 to 8 photo shoots per week. Most of these have been portrait on location shoots in the woods, by the sea, on hill tops and up to my knees in rivers, plus several portrait sessions in the sea with waves lapping at my pockets. My flashguns and stands have always been with me as my passion for great lighting knows no bounds, even in the surf.

Tonii at WestBay obviously used no flash at all but this is one of the extremely rare moments when I used pure natural light.
Exposing for the brightest part of the sky involves noting the auto exposure settings and then closing down two stops as a starting point. Usually I leave the white balance set to 'Flash' as I prefer the warmer tones. Same too with night photography when I want the tungsten street lights to resemble tugnsten street lights.

Now let's have a look at Tonii in this dis-used wartime building with its gorgeous grafitti. Taken with two flashes, one front and back, with Tonii sandwiched between. I call this sandwich lighting for good reason, preferably with a softbox on the nearest flash while the far light has no modifier and is often wearing a DIY grid.
I quite liked the effect of flare from the rim light and decided to stick with it for the rest of this part of the shoot.

Two softboxes help blend the warm daylight into this image with almost no visible cut off point between the two light sources.
Tonii is so patient and is helpful beyond measure, Although she is never backward in saying if she doesn't like a particular shot, which gets deleted there and then.
So yes, I do show my models / helpers the images as they gradually develope into the finshed product.
The church is run byMichael, a good friend of mine, who says we can borrow it any time he's not using it. Must remember to give him a copy of some of the better images.

 In this shot of Danii leaping over a log in a local forest I wanted to keep the daylight as a blur, plus create a blur behind her. The choices are either go with a stanionary camera on a tripod and catch the blur of white material streaming out behind Danii and freeze her with second curtain flash. Or, I pan with her and get streaky daylight.
After a couple shots of each category an idea sprang to mind - what if I could manage both trains of thought in one shot. By arranging for Danii to be running towards the darker area and panning with her I could turn the camera faster, in the same direction, after the flash had gone off in first curtain sync. I hasten to add that I was using about 1/10 of a second. Also, by the third image, I realise that although I'm turning the camera faster I'm panning it a little too fast. Because the flash is the main illumination here then Danii is less likely to record against the blackness. Her front foot is moving fast enough not to record as a great deal of blur due to the flash, although I did have to go into Photoshop and take out a small amount of blur in that area.

Latest news from Keith Robins

It's been ages since my last blog post here but Keith Robins Photography is still around and busier than ever. For instance, I recently surprised myself and managed ten on-location portait photoshoots in eight days besides working a fifty hour week in my plumbing business.
Now I've turned 67 it should be time to relax and put my feet up. But, as luck would have it, my long term hobby is photographing young ladies so I've brushed the dust off my camera, charged up a few batteries and taken a few on-location photo trips into the countrtside. River shoots seem to feature quite highly in the requests from young feminine beauties closely followed by 'on-the-rocks' at the seaside. If this is what retirement is all about - bring it on!

  I'm not sure how or why but Facebook was kind enough to give me a private page plus a business page, which I don't mind at all as it gives me a couple of options when I upload the results from these exciting photo sessions. Okay, so Facebook resizes all the images for me automatically, which helps make them less desirable to rip-off merchants, plus there is plenty of space for loads and loads of albums. This in turn has attracted quite a few viewers and resulted in new models contacting me ref photoshoots.

    I normally work on a TFCD basis which means I give some of my time and skill, the model gives her time and good looks. The model gets a set of CD images and we both end up improving our portfolios.
    Now, this might sound as if I'm losing out on a load of cash. But actually it's the very opposite - I'm saving myself money! What's happening is that I am now meeting some really attractive models, my persona and techniques have changed for the better. Plus, I consider myself a much better photographer and my skills level has shot through the roof.

   I'm now in a position where I could start charging for my skills because I can physically prove that I'm the photographer who is capable of producing stunning results.  Similar in a way, I suppose, to a brilliant violinist going on the X factor and winning and all his neighbours saying, 'Well I didn't know he could play like that!'
You have to show what you can do, how good you are and only then will Joe Public beat a path to your door. I look on Facebook as being my shop window, plus they even tell friends of friends how good you are - and it's all free!!!!
     I'm gradually putting a two or three results from each of my most recent photography shoots, along with a write-up, on to my Facebook page at:-   www.facebook.com/keithrobinsphotography
I also run a blog based website at:- http://www.keithrobinsphotography.co.uk
    Meanwhile, seeing as I'm now drawing a pension and my customers won't let me retire in peace, what's the point in charging loads of money and then paying income tax on all of it? Or am I sonehow missing the point?
 

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.