Separating foreground and background fill flash photography
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- čas přidán 28. 08. 2024
- How to use studio flash / strobes / speed light / flash gun to compliment daylight effectively separating a foreground subject from the background.
Phase One XF iQ3 100MP Medium format camera used for studio sill life photography.
Studio photography lighting techniques for Still Life, Visual Art, Products.
Still life captured with flash / strobe / speedlight.
Build a narrative by adding detail to your set.
The laws of light and the physics of photography.
Lighting techniques to add interest to still life photography.
Everything is covered from studio lighting, through the tethered capture in Capture one software, to the final image in Adobe Photoshop.
Whether it’s studio flash, speedlight, strobe, or daylight, easy techniques simply demonstrated.
Plus, some tips and tricks in Photoshop to help things along a little.
Profoto flash.
Phase One XF iQ3 100MP Medium format Camera.
120mm f4.5 Schneider Lens.
Phase One capture one software.
Thank you for another inspiring video. Good to see you out of your studio!
My pleasure!
I never miss your videos. The detail you go to in simple language with logical flow is magic.
Honestly, I would love to know what you have forgotten about photography.
Thank you for your kind comments, and thanks for watching.
Another great video. Thanks for shooting outside. How about using ND filter to darken the scene along with flash setup?
You can if you wish use an ND filter, but it will work just as well without one. thanks for watching.
I’ve used off camera flash for over 50 years, learning the technique by assisting top US Wedding photographer / teacher Monte Zucker. He used a very clever set-up on his TLR Rolleiflex which allows total control lighting ratio and exposure. He mounted one flash on a bracket directly over the lens, about 16” above it and the head of human subjects so the shadow that “Fill” flash creates falls straight back and down relative to camera axis out of sight. He then triggered an identical flash with a simple Wein photocell trigger. He mounted it on a modifed medical IV pole which had a heavy compacted metal base with casters which made it easy to wheel around.
Exposure and ratios were controlled via distance per the inverse-square law by shooting from fixed distances of 16, 11, 8, and 5.6 feet which we’d pace off and judge by eye. Due to the inverse square law each change in distance changed exposure by one f/stop. He used distances = f/stop numbers to make them easy to remember. When adding the off-camera key light the ratio was also controlled by distance.
Testing showed that at a distance of 11 feet an aperture of f/8 was needed to properly expose the shadows in the black tuxedo of the groom on the color negative film we used. Then moving the identically powered off-camera flash to 8ft. exposed the highlights of the bride’s dress perfectly preserving the separation between white fabric and beads and the specular reflection from the flash which provide the visual clue to 3D shape in 2D photos. Eleven feet @ f/8 was our baseline and from it if moving in to 8ft for a tighter crop the aperture was clicked one-stop closed to f/11 and the off camera flash moved to 5.6ft to keep the full range of detail 2:1 incident / 3:1 reflected lighting ratio the same. It might seem complicated but the three combinations - f/8 @ 11ft Fill / 8ft Key , f/11 @ 8ft Fill /5.6 ft Key and f/16 @ 5.6ft Fill / 4ft Key - covered 95% of photos taken.
The same dual flash technique works outdoors in direct sunlight for portraits and nature photos. The sun is used as back rim light with shutter/aperture/ISO set to keep the sunlit highlights below clipping which will under-expose the sky lit foreground. Then as indoors the fill flash on the camera bracket lifts the shadows in front, with the off-camera flash placed on the same vector as the brightest skylight overlapping the subtle modeling seen in open shade.
A mistake photographers make when adding flash over the skylight on sunny backlit subject is not playing attention to the direction of the skylight, assuming erroneously that it comes equally from all directions. Also when photographing people their brows will shade the eye unless they raise their faces into the light and even after adding flash they will look darker than nearby highlights on the cheeks which get the unblocked skylight + flash. The rationale for matching the modeling angle of the skylight on the front of the sun-backlit subject with flash is so the positioning of the catchlight refections and shadows the flash created match the pattern created by natural light.
The type of ring and crossed 45° flashes often used for macro photography produce flat light with unnatural looking catchlight and shadow patterns. Natural lighting is the same on a wasp as it is an elephant so the same strategy of using the sun for back rim light and fill and key flash in front with key flash at the same angle as the dominant downward direction of the skylight to create a more natural pattern of key catchlight and shadows.
Due to the close distance between lens and subject with macro fill can be a problem. One strategy is to use a white foam core board with a hole to put the lens through and another is to create a diffuser for hot shoe speedlight flash similar to the DIY one I created and show here: photo.nova.org/MacroDiffuser
Thank you for your extensive comment recollection. I wonder how many people these days even know what a twin lens reflex camera is. Thanks for watching.
@@CameraClubLive When I asked Monte why he didn’t use a Hasselblad he told me it was because the twin-lens Rolleiflex, which was equipped with an eye-level pentaprism viewfinder which cost nearly as much as the camera, allowed him to see the instant when the flashes lit the the faces. Flashes back then didn’t have a pre-flash to constrict the pupils and prevent “red-eye” reflection off the retina and the relatively long (by modern standards) flash duration made blinking a frequent occurrence. By focusing on the eyes as the flash went off freezing the action it was actually possible to detect if someone in the photo blinked and retake the shot. An SLR camera flips the mirror up blocking the viewfinder when the flash goes off.
I recall through you reminding me of how I was surprised by this for the first time. I was hand holding a flash and going around taking pictures of flowers in my then neighborhood. The positive result, combined with all of my previous failures, taught me so much. Thank you for this video... ummm... reminder :)
Thank you for your comment, and thanks for watching.
I like your videos very much. Thank you.
Thank you too!
Interesting, thank you Tony.
Glad you enjoyed it
I learned a lot. I have never used a flash outside (or inside).
Thanks for watching.
Nice to be outside to do fill in flash ! Thank you. Please do more ! 🙏🏽
Yes more to come. Thank you for watching.
I love your image and how you did it. I wish I could afford a digital back for 503.
Glad you appreciate the videos. MPB have a Phase one P20 digital back H fit for under £500. The combination of that back with your 503 would give great results. Thanks for watching.
Thanks!!
Welcome!
Nicely done. Pls do more outside.
Glad you liked it. More to come.
Ty
Thanks for watching.
Super! Thank you!
Welcome!
great job, showing us that MF can be used outdoors and not only in the studio, one other technique to separate the subject, is to use Tilt shift lenses (on a 135/digital body), movements on a LF camera (front standard, to adjust focus plane) or a Tilt shift camera body, like the Hasselblad Arcbody or Flexbody, Alpha Tc, Cambo Actus, Cambo wide, etc. which can apply both MF's shallower dof, and the movements, either option can work on film or Digital bodies, the Flexbody, etc. of course Nowadays CAN be digital too (CFVii50C/CFV100C digital backs attached to these film bodies).
Thank you for your comments. Thanks for watching.
Thankyou ❤
You're welcome 😊