Studiography - The Study of Studio Photography

Family of Angles

2010-09-07T23:45:00.000-07:00

For today's post we will cover a topic that isn't discussed a lot, but is fundamental to lighting. The term “family of angles” doesn't come up often, if at all in most circles. Is it useful for you? Read on to find out... Terms Defined Before going any farther, I want to define some of the terms that are related to this discussion, just to ensure everyone gets this bit of

Pushing Flash Sync Speed

2010-08-31T03:10:00.000-07:00

Pushing the Sync Speed? Those from the B&W film era will remember push processing film. In digital we used to push the ISO in the days when cameras topped out at ISO 800 or lower. Today I want to demonstrate pushing the camera's flash sync speed. The result is a bit different from pushing ISO, as it is not uniform across the frame (okay, it isn't a perfect analogy). However, the effect is

Lighting Outside with Flash

2010-08-24T03:10:00.000-07:00

Off Camera Flash Outside Today we will take a look at using off camera flash to supplement natural light. I know that someone will wonder, why would I want to do that? After all, isn't natural light the best light? In my opinion, the best light is the light that looks best. Sometimes a reflector will work wonders for an all natural light sitting, but things are not always such that one can

Tabletop Photography – Half Round Hair Accessory

2010-08-18T15:36:00.000-07:00

A Last Look at Tabletop Photography More tabletop coming at you again today and it is the last installment for this tabletop series. This time we are dealing with quite a different lighting problem from what we've seen in these last few examples. The crystal pieces needed a bit of on axis light to create direct reflection for more pop. Today we have a piece for which we want to mostly

Tabletop Photography – Oval and Rectangular Crystal Hair Accessories

2010-08-10T03:10:00.000-07:00

Even More Fun with Tabletop Photography Doing tabletop again today. I have two subjects to show this time and they are similar to what we saw in the last post. After this we move on to a different tabletop subject. The Lighting Setup This is the lighting setup used for the following shots of the crystal hair accessories. As before there is a single softbox, Photoflex Q39 (

Tabletop Photography – Butterfly Crystal Hair Accessory

2010-08-03T03:10:00.000-07:00

More Fun with Tabletop Photography Today we dive into tabletop again. Though the subject is not the most exciting, each type of item presents its own challenges that are worth documenting for discussion. Some items can be downright difficult, but I thought that we would start with something relatively straight forward, so let's get going. The Initial Lighting SetupThis is the initial

Reader Comments Are Enabled Again!

2010-07-31T21:19:00.000-07:00

It has just come to my attention that reader comments have been disabled for all postings since the end of June. That is when I started using Blogger's new editor, which has better behavior and more posting options. Unfortunately, one of the new posting options is to allow/don't allow user comments, and for some strange reason it defaults to "Don't Allow" reader comments instead of using the

Save 74% on PhotoVision 2010 DVD set

2010-07-30T15:25:00.000-07:00

This is a one off post just to let you know about a great deal coming your way! I am a fan of PhotoVision and am now in my second season of PhotoVision subscriptions. I know this sounds like an advertisement, but the folks at PhotoVision sent me a code that will get you about 74% off of the list price, so I wanted to share it. I find PhotoVision to be a worthwhile investment, and at this price

Strobe Power -Vs- Color

2010-07-26T03:10:00.000-07:00

Back to a more technical topic for today's post. Earlier this year I conducted a short experiment to see just how much color shift my strobes (monolights) give as the power is varied from min to max. It is actually an important subject, as color shift is a bad thing if excessive and can go unnoticed for a long time, but then show up unexpectedly and catch you off guard (probably at the worst

Tabletop Photography – A Dried Flower Bud

2010-07-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

A Bit of Fun with Tabletop Photography Today I thought I would share last night's adventure on the tabletop. As you may know, I've been doing tabletop for some years now. There is always tiny something that can be photographed. Today's specimen comes from the great outdoors. Well, not

Natural Light and Filling a Background with Flash

2010-07-15T03:10:00.000-07:00

Forward The topic of today's post is a bit odd in that it just isn't the way most people use flash for their outdoor photography. Not that it is unusual to light a background, at least in the studio, but when the background is a shady spot outdoors, the usual line of thought is to put the subject in the shade and use the flash on the subject. In this case I thought, what if I put the

Seven Photography Blogs Worth Following – Hoffer Photography's Blog

2010-07-10T03:10:00.000-07:00

Hoffer Photography's Blog This is the last posting for this seven part series. Today's blog recommendation is a bit different from the others in that the author is not so much a celebrity, though I don't think that will last long. Read on to find out why... Who's Behind It? Tony and Amy

Seven Photography Blogs Worth Following – Zack Arias' Blog

2010-07-09T03:10:00.000-07:00

Zack Arias' Blog Today's blog recommendation goes to the blog of Atlanta based editorial photographer, Zack Arias. Zack is well known in photography circles, but I'm not so sure everyone is aware of his blog. In other words, I wouldn't expect the blog to show up at the top of the list for

Seven Photography Blogs Worth Following – Digital Photography School

2010-07-08T03:10:00.000-07:00

Digital Photography School Today's blog recommendation goes to the Digital Photography School. I'm not really sure that this is a blog in the strictest sense. In fact, it's more like three blogs in one, as the site has three main categories with postings regularly updated in all three. Nonetheless, the postings are very blog like, so I'm including it here. One of the nice things about being in

Seven Photography Blogs Worth Following – Joe McNally's Blog

2010-07-07T03:10:00.000-07:00

Joe McNally's Blog Today's blog recommendation goes to Joe McNally's blog. Perhaps not the most popular blog on the Internet, but certainly one of the most popular photographers on the planet. I first linked to Joe's blog via the Strobist. Of course I knew of Joe McNally, after all, who doesn't? However, I had never thought to see if he had a blog and if so, what it might be like. Well, I'm glad

Seven Photography Blogs Worth Following – Digital ProTalk

2010-07-06T03:10:00.000-07:00

Today's blog recommendation goes to what might likely be the most popular wedding photography blog on the planet. However, you don't have to be a wedding photographer to appreciate all the content you will find here. Digital ProTalk I am a big fan of Digital ProTalk. I don't remember how I first became acquainted with this blog, probably through a photography forum, but have been quite addicted

Seven Photography Blogs Worth Following – Strobist

2010-07-05T03:10:00.000-07:00

Today's blog recommendation is one of the most popular photography blogs on the net and was included in TIME Magazine's 25 Best Blogs of 2010. Strobist I have been watching this blog for some years now. When I first heard about it I got real excited that someone else was totally into using portable flashes for lighting. At that time I had six Vivitar 285 flashes and thought I must be nearing

Seven Photography Blogs Worth Following – Going Pro

2010-07-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

Today's blog recommendation is targeted primarily for those who are either starting a new photography business or contemplating doing so. Those who already have an established photography business will also glean some useful information from this excellent blog. For that matter, nearly any photographer will find something useful in this informational treasure trove. Going Pro GoingPro2010 is

Seven Photography Blogs Worth Following – A full week of blog recommendations

2010-07-04T13:33:00.000-07:00

What's That? This week I would like to share with you seven of my favorite photography related blogs. I am not putting them into any particular order, as they are each the best in their own rights. I will however give you a brief review for each based on my view of universal truth. I hope that you find this series informative and worthwhile. Coming Next This series will be coming fast and

Increasing Contrast with a Gridded Light

2010-06-30T13:43:00.000-07:00

Forward The title for today's post is a bit misleading, as a grid doesn't really increase contrast, it only increases the directionality of light giving more control over where the light will and will not appear. What is really going on here is that a small light source at a low lighting ratio is being used to give a subtle, but important contrast boost to the face. The grid lets us place

Photographing a Baby on Location

2010-06-25T10:51:00.000-07:00

In this post I will show the setup and give a rundown for photographing a baby on location with a minimalist lighting setup. Here are a few of the processed shots from this particular shoot. There is no magic in the post processing, just normal spot edits for blems, minute eye enhancements, and a few skin enhancements to add more glow to the skin. The Location For this shoot we decided that a

What's in the Bag? High Voltage Battery Pack

2010-06-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

Forward This is the last post for this series, 16 in all. It has been a long and somewhat slow journey, so thanks to all of you who have hung in there reading each post and waiting for this thing to finally come in for a landing. Do You Need One of These? So what's the deal with a high voltage battery pack you may ask? Well, it makes the flash recycle really, really fast and adds a lot of

What's in the Bag? Folding Reflector

2010-05-16T12:15:00.001-07:00

Not a whole lot to say about this, except that a lighting kit would be incomplete without a reflector of some sort and a folding reflector is very compact and can really come in handy. I have a variety of folding reflectors in my studio ranging from 12” up to 40” x 60”. Most of these are the 5-in-1 type, but in retrospect, that is not a good idea for the medium and small sizes. More on that in a

What's in the Bag? Ball Bungees

2010-04-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

The prior post in this “What's in the Bag” series covered plastic spring clamps, so moving along with the theme of clamping or holding things, this short post is covering something you don't often hear about. Yes, today we talk about Ball Bungees! What Are They Good For? Just what you do with them is a mystery as deep as a person's imagination. I use one on my day backpack to hold a small

What's in the Bag? Plastic Spring Clamps

2010-04-12T07:28:00.000-07:00

Marching ahead with the “What's in the Bag” series, we now get to talk about the less oft thought of bits of kit that sometimes save the day. Yes folks, today we are going to discuss plastic spring clamps. I found a nice collection of various sized clamps at the local hardware store. It really doesn't matter where you get them, just get them. How May I Help You? Spring clamps are a solution

What's in the Bag? Spare Batteries

2010-04-06T13:30:00.001-07:00

At the end of the last post I said that this one would be short, and so it is.A backup for everything, not much else to say about that. Always pack extra batteries, freshly charged AA cells for the flashes and new cells for the wireless triggers. The observant reader will note that I am missing the AAA cells for the RF-602 receiver. Not to worry, they are in the bag, but got left out of this and

What's in the Bag? CTR-301P Wireless Triggers (the backup plan)

2010-04-04T17:57:00.000-07:00

As I've said before and will likely say again, if not several more times, if shooting professionally, you must have a backup for every piece of equipment. At this point I am using my old wireless triggers for backup. The CTR-301P is actually not a bad little system. So far it has been quite reliable. The range is a bit short, getting spotty beyond about 40 or 50 feet, but in real world use that

What's in the Bag? RF-602 Wireless Trigger

2010-04-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

This is my new favorite device. In my book, wireless triggers are the only way to fire a flash. Forget about using a cord (though you might have one as a backup). Wireless triggers eliminate a trip hazard, are easy to set up with no thought for where to route a cord, they offer complete freedom. Using wireless, you can place a light outside and let it blast through a window (done that). Need to

What's in the Bag? Umbrella Swivel Mounts

2010-03-18T21:48:00.000-07:00

Continuing with the “What's in the Bag” series, we now move on from umbrellas to mounting hardware, specifically, the umbrella swivel mount. Lashing it all Together A swivel mount is what mates the umbrella and flash together atop the light stand. It holds the umbrella at an angle so the flash will aim somewhat near the center of the umbrella. It also allows the flash and umbrella to swivel up

What's in the Bag? Calumet 6020 Backlight Stand

2010-03-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

Moving ahead with the “What's in the Bag” series, today we are looking at the Calumet 6020 backlight stand. This little jewel is the heaviest duty backlight stand I have found to date. It is composed of a heavy foot section that folds down to 13-1/2 inches by one inch with the mount extending about 1-1/2 inches at the connected side of the feet. I have no fear mounting even my studio lights on

What's in the Bag? LumoPro LT604 Light Stand

2010-03-13T08:34:00.000-08:00

This little darling is the LumoPro LP604 5-section 6ft. Compact stand. It folds down to an amazing 19-3/4 inches. It is heavy duty (for its size), plenty tall for most needs, and sports a nice wide footprint for stability. It is actually better support than my 8ft. Impact stand in terms of heft and stability. At $39.99 it is also the lowest cost compact stand available today, yet it will stand up

What's in the Bag? Photoflex 30 inch Convertible Umbrella

2010-03-10T14:57:00.000-08:00

Continuing with the “What's in the Bag” series, we have taken a look at the Westcott 43 inch Compact Convertible Umbrella, so today we will look at its backup, the Photoflex 30" Convertible Umbrella. I won't spend a lot of time on this, as there is nothing unconventional about the design of the Photoflex umbrella or its performance in terms of softness. We will be taking a look at its performance

What's in the Bag? Westcott 43 inch Compact Convertible Umbrella

2010-03-05T07:46:00.000-08:00

Continuing with the “What's in the Bag” series, we now move on from talking about Color and Neutral Density Filters, to a discussing one of my newer favorites, the Westcott 43 inch Compact Convertible Umbrella. This is the little big umbrella that makes the magic happen anywhere anytime. Its diminutive storage size, just under 15 inches long and about 2 inches in diameter, makes it an easy

What's in the Bag? Color and Neutral Density Filters

2010-03-03T15:02:00.000-08:00

The previous post covered the Lastolite white balance disk, a gray and white affair, but today's post will be colorful! We are going to take a look at gel filters for portable flashes and find out some ways to use them. You can see a whole set spread out in the photo above. At the bottom is the Vivitar 28mm wide-angle lens. The gels are cut from larger 8” sheets to fit the filter holder on the

What's in the Bag? Lastolite EZ Balance Collapsible White Balance Disc

2010-02-26T23:37:00.000-08:00

Every digital photographer should have some kind of white balance system. This is especially true for those who use the histogram to determine exposure, because histograms are wildly affected by white balance. For accurate histogram readings, always perform a custom white balance before shooting. Raw shooters can set a custom white balance during raw processing. This is the 12 inch Lastolite EZ

What's in the Bag? Vivitar 285HV Flash

2010-02-23T14:19:00.000-08:00

This is a continuation of the “What's in the Bag” series, and is the first post of several to come describing the contents of my portable studio kit. By time we've gotten through everything I think we all will be ready for a new subject, but for now, let's get on with it. A Pair of Flashes If you are going to make photographs, you must have light. These are the two that I pack for goodly power

What's in the Bag?

2010-02-17T12:39:00.000-08:00

The previous post mentioned a “truly portable studio kit” and gave a sneak peak at the bag. This posting will dive into the bag and introduce you to what I consider an essential kit for anyone who needs portability. In this posting you will get an overview with a list of contents. In the followup postings, I will be going through each item to report on why it is there, what I like about it and

Lighting with Just One Umbrella

2009-12-31T17:49:00.000-08:00

Farewell 2009 2009 is fast coming to an end and I wanted to get at least one more post out the chute before 2010 arrives. Today's post is a bit of a departure from the more pedantic nature of past postings. I thought it about time to start showing what can be done with some studio equipment in real world use. Keep in mind that by my way of thinking, a studio is any space where I can control the

Comparison: Color Shift from Reflectors - Why it pays to buy quality (take 2)

2009-11-28T16:45:00.000-08:00

Forward The last post dealt with color shift from light modifiers. This prompted me to conduct yet one more similar experiment, only this time using light bounced from my collection of various reflectors. suspicion that some of my reflectors are causing a color shift was fueled by the findings from testing umbrellas and softboxes. Since reflectors get used primarily for filling shadows and often

Comparison: Color Shift from Light Modifiers (Why it pays to buy quality)

2009-11-11T04:26:00.000-08:00

Comparison: Color Shift from Light Modifiers Why it pays to buy quality Forward In this posting we are going to explore the difference between some light modifiers of various styles and brands. This is not a review or an endorsement for any particular product. Instead, we are going to take a look at how different manufacturers light modifiers affect the color temperature of light. This important

Temperature of Light - part 9 (Manual White Balance with Raw Files using Bibble 4.10 Pro)

2009-11-09T22:21:00.000-08:00

This is the last posting for the series on the Temperature of Light. It has been a long series and this post has been absurdly long in coming. No good reason for that, just allowed it to keep getting pushed down on priority list. Anyway, my apology to anyone who may have been disappointed with this long wait. Now, let's get back to business. Today we are finishing up by setting a manual white

Jessica & Josua

2009-06-30T22:51:00.000-07:00

Engagement session June, 2009

Temperature of Light - part 8 (Manual White Balance with Raw Files using Canon's DPP)

2009-06-30T22:06:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been quite some time since the last post for this series and I apologize for that. I was hoping to finish the series with one last post, but there is just too much to cover, so I am breaking it apart. This series seems to have taken on a life of its own. Regardless, I'll keep plugging away until every last bit of information has been delivered to you. Thanks for hanging in there. Now

Temperature of Light - part 7 (Custom White Balance with Raw Files)

2009-06-06T23:30:00.000-07:00

IntroductionWelcome to another installment of Studiography! It has been a few days since you last heard from me, sorry for the delay. This was supposed to be the last installment for the series on the temperature of light, and I think it is about time to wrap things up, but after writing the material for this post on using the automatic method for obtaining a custom white balance, I realized that

Temperature of Light - part 6 (How to set an In-Camera Custom White Balance)

2009-05-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

Now that we've covered the need for a custom white balance for in-camera jpegs, I thought I would take a stab at showing how to do it. This will apply directly to the Canon 450D, but with a little thought and perhaps consultation with the owner's manual, one should be able to apply the concept to other cameras as well.What you needTo set a custom white balance you will need a known white surface

Temperature of Light - part 5 (In-Camera White Balance Settings)

2009-05-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

My purpose in writing this posting, is to convince you to use a custom white balance. If you are using jpeg files from your camera, it is the only way to ensure you get correct color rendering. Some time ago I gave a white balance card to a friend and taught him how to use it with his digicam. A few months later I heard from his daughter about how much his photos have improved since he started

Temperature of Light - part 4 (Effects of Color Temperature on Camera Output)

2009-05-19T22:47:00.000-07:00

OverviewSo far in this series we have looked at what color temperature is, how color temperature is determined by spectral content, and the temperatures to expect from some common light sources. This posting gets more practical with a little experiment to show the effect of color temperature on what we get from the camera.For this experiment, I have made five sets of photos, all with the camera

Temperature of Light - part 3 (An Introduction to Histograms)

2009-05-17T11:56:00.000-07:00

An Introduction to HistogramsBefore getting into the experiment showing the effect of color temperature on a camera's output, I want to touch on histograms. If you are familiar with histograms, please feel free to skip this little side excursion. If you are not familiar with histograms, then you will need this information to better interpret what follows.A histogram is a graph that shows the

Temperature of Light - part 2 (Artificial Light Sources)

2009-05-13T22:39:00.001-07:00

Now that we've covered natural sunlight, let's take a look at some common artificial light sources and compare them against sunlight. The following chart shows three light sources, sunlight, incandescent, and a daylight fluorescent. I haven't yet found a chart for a studio strobe light, but it should look quite similar to the daylight fluorescent, but without the sharp peaks (we discuss that a

Temperature of Light - part 1 (Introduction)

2009-05-11T22:30:00.000-07:00

PrefaceThis next set of postings will deal with the temperature of light. This is a rather broad subject and really warrants some additional reading, but I will attempt to offer up a very basic background of the physics and touch on the more common issues with how the temperature of artificial light affects photography.IntroductionIn the first post of this series on light I touched briefly on

We Interrupt This Blog...

2009-05-06T22:45:00.000-07:00

I don't like interrupting a related series of postings, but this is a time sensitive message that may be of value to someone.I spent six hours (plus travel time) at the Bellevue Hilton Inn last night to see David Ziser's “Digital WakeUp Call” seminar and I must say that David offers an impressive amount of information and goodies for the money. For me it was worth every penny and much more. David

Quality of Light - part 4 (effective size)

2009-04-25T23:14:00.000-07:00

So far in this section we have seen how size affects the quality (contrast) of light. A small light source produces hard, high contrast light, and how a large light source produces soft, low contrast light. In this last discussion on the quality of light I would like to show how distance between light source and subject change the effective size of a light source.In the diagram below, both lights

Quality of Light - part 3 (Soft Light)

2009-04-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

Continuing our discussion of the quality or contrast of a light source, we previously demonstrated how a small light source produces high contrast light that makes well defined, hard shadows. In this post we take a look at soft light and why this is a characteristic of a large light source (large relative to the subject).In this next diagram I have increased the size of the light source. It is

Quality of Light - part 2 (Hard Light)

2009-04-19T22:38:00.001-07:00

Continuing our discussion of the quality or contrast for light, we have seen that a small light source produces high contrast light that makes well defined, hard shadows this type of light is often referred to as hard light. Conversely, we saw that a large light source produces low contrast light that makes soft shadows. This type of light is often referred to as soft light.The problem with this

Quality of Light - part 1.

2009-04-17T21:44:00.001-07:00

As mentioned previously, Quantity, Quality, and Temperature are the three terms used to describe light in the studio. These correlate to the more common terms, Brightness (intensity), Contrast, and Color. The term Quality is in regard to the characteristics of light. In this context we are not referring to how good or bad the light may be, as that is entirely dependent upon the desired

Quantity of Light (Intro)

2009-04-14T18:27:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in the last post, Quantity, Quality, and Temperature are the three terms used to describe light in the studio. These correlate to the more common terms, Brightness (intensity), Contrast, and Color. The brightness of a light source is of course measurable. The basic unit of measurement for light without deference to color is the candela, which denotes the power of light emitted in

Light: In the Beginning...

2009-04-14T17:38:00.000-07:00

I would like to spend the next few (if not several) posts discussing light. After all, photography is entirely dependent upon light in one form or another. In the studio we tend to create our own world with light to fulfill our creative vision, or at least try and get close to that vision (we do have a vision don't we?). According to Wikipedia, the word photography "...comes from the Greek φώς (

Welcome to Studiography!

2009-04-14T17:17:00.000-07:00

My name is Gene Lee and I am the owner and principle photographer for TTL - Through The Lens Photography (http://www.ttl-biz.com/). I will be your host on this blog and moderator for all postings.Your active participation is welcome and encouraged. If you see an error or feel that something relevant has been omitted, please sound up! The goal here is to explore any and everything pertaining to