Lighting 101

Blog Entry 4 (Flash Photography)


Project Outline
This portfolio will focus exclusively on flash photography and will include: strobe, speedlight, head, body foot, shoe, contact points, sync, electrical trigger, optical trigger, radio trigger, PC connections, sync cord, light stand, umbrella, adapter, male stud, flash shoe, diffuse light, reflect light, block light, filter light, snoot, grid, gel, flag, cutter, cookie, cucoloris and gobo.

There will be examples of: On-camera bare flash, off-camera bare flash, off-camera bare flash with reflector, diffused flash, snoot, grid, flag, cookie, gel and multiple flashes. 


Class and Research Notes

Flash = strobe = Speedlight

Speedlight is a brand name.

There are electrical contact points at the foot for trigger circuit contacts. The head can swivel and contains the light. The body contains all the electrical components as well as the battery compartment.

Nikon and Canon have different configurations, so you can’t put a Nikon flash on a Canon camera. The configurations are in the trigger configurations.

The top of a camera has the same configuration as its light. It’s called the hot shoe, which the foot of the flash goes on to. The big contact point is the actual trigger point. Light meters can be used to measure the amount of light.

You need to synchronise the flash and the camera. The process is sync, controlling the flash. There are electrical, optical and radio methods of communication between the flash and the camera for synchronisation.

PC sync chords can be used so that you don’t need to have the flash on the camera. The idea is that you don’t really want the light coming in the same angle as the lens will capture the image. You could use this for putting different angles of light like for portraiture or others. This is an electronic sync. You could need a hot shoe to PC adaptor if your camera doesn’t have a chord entrance.

Optical trigger uses a flash of light to set it off. There’s almost no delay so it doesn’t really matter and is very sensitive as well so you could have multiple optically triggered flashes.

Remote triggered flash is the most expensive one. A transmitter mounted to a camera sends a signal to a flash elsewhere and triggers it to flash. It doesn’t need an optical line of sight. You could put the remotely triggered flash anywhere and not be in the line of sight of the flashes and still set it off while you take photos. Works up to about 100 feet away.

Now, mounting flashes.

You need a stand.

Parts: flash shoe, male stud, stud bolt, etc…

The umbrella stand is needed. It’s called a lighting umbrella, used to diffuse light. A white one creates a nice defused light. A black one is a reflected type of umbrella that reflects the light back at the subject. The inside is silver. This is where we become fussy with the swivel of the umbrella stand.

The smaller the light source, the harder the light is. The bigger the light source, the softer the light would be. This is relative because the further away the light source is, the harder the light is. The closer, the softer. This all depends on perspective because the closer the light source is to the subject, the bigger it is relatively to the subject.

A snoot can be quite expensive. It creates a tunnel that restricts the light. To further restrict light with a snoot, you can paint or tape the inside edge of the snoot black. A grid does the same with a structure similar to honeycombs. They force light to go in a very straight line.

Gels are placed over the flash to change the colour of the flash. You can use them to create special effects or contrasting colours. You could even use an orange one to make any picture you take look like a sunset picture.

Flash photography is not rocket science. It’s rocket art. It’s not easy, but it’s an art form. You can do almost anything you want with them.

Flags are used for blocking light. They can be used to take away flare. Big ones used in studios are called cutters. Barn doors are also used (can open and close in all directions).

The cookie, or cucoloris, can be used to change lights to be textured or patterned and also cast a shadow on the subject.

strobist.blogspot.com

“Lighting 101”

Flash Photography Vocabulary

Strobe, Speedlight, Head, Body Foot, Shoe, Contact Points, Sync, Electrical Trigger, Optical Trigger, Radio Trigger, PC Connection, Sync Cord, Light Stand, Umbrella, Adapter, Male Stud, Flash Shoe, Umbrellas, Diffuse Light, Reflect Light, Block Light, Filter Light, Snoot, Grid, Gel, Flag, Cutter, Cookie, Cucoloris, Gobo

Aperture controls the flash light. Shutter speed controls the ambient light. The flash light’s intensity can be controlled not only by aperture, but also by dialling down the flash intensity. Each dial is exactly one stop with the aperture. How far away is extremely important in the flash intensity as well. Distance changes the relative size of your flash and the intensity.

Shutter speed

Aperture

Reflect light

Distance

Move it closer

Diffusor

Reflect light

The following are images that I took to explore the basics of flash photography and its various elements.

 On-Camera Bare Flash

This was a simple shot. All that was required was that the flash was attached on top of the camera and a simple straight on image was shot, producing this rather dull and flat image.

 Off-Camera Bare Flash

Similar to the previous shot, this was very simple. The difference was that the flash was removed from the top of the camera and a radio trigger was attached so that the flash could be held to the side while the image was shot. The flash was held to the right of the camera at an angle, producing the angular shadows in this image.

 Off-Camera Bare Flash With Reflector

This shot was done by having an unattached flash pointing at a reflector umbrella which then bounced the light back at the camera. It diffused the light somewhat and the light is not as strong as direct light at the same intensity.

 Diffused Flash

This shot was done by using a diffusion umbrella (white umbrella) and putting the flash behind the umbrella so that the light emanating from the flash diffuses over the surface area of the entire umbrella and is softened as a result. The result is an image with relatively soft light which is spread out and not as intense.

 Snoot

The snoot in this image was used to direct the light more, and the shadow behind the camera turned out sharper than with normal flash or diffused flash.

 Grid

The grid in this image produced a very concentrated and low flash of light and resulted in quite a bit of darkness in the majority of the image.

 Flag

With the flag, the light was basically blocked from hitting one side of the image and was instead focused on the opposing half. This resulted in the dark left and bright right.

 Cookie

Also called a cucoloris or gobo, the cookie created texture shadows in the flash in this image. This particular image made use of a basket case as the cookie through which the flash would be shined.

 Gel

Gels are more or less used to affect the temperature or tint of the image and in this case, an orange gel was used and it resulted in a particularly warm image, as if it were sunset (although the shadows are too hard to really get the sunset feel).

Multiple Flashes

This is quite self-explanatory and simply made use of multiple flashes from multiple angels to light up every bit of the image. This resulted in the blown out image above.

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The following preliminary notes are from strobist.blogspot.com

Lighting 101

Intimidated by the idea of off-camera lighting? 
Don't be.
We are pretty much starting from scratch, so no worries. The first posts will be about what kind of gear you will need to do the minimalist strobe thing. 
When we are done having our way with your wallet (remembering that light gives you far more bang-for-the-buck than does fast glass or the latest digital camera or 300/2.8) we'll move into basic technique. And after that, we'll keep it going with periodical essays and ideas on how to improve (or refresh) your lighting ability.
When you've worked your way through the basics of designing your light kit and learning how to use it, make a point to browse some of the examples in the "On Assignment" section. Those will be updated constantly, too. So keep checking back.
You will likely have some questions along the way. Sadly, it is not possible for me to take the time to personally answer all of the one-to-one lighting questions that pop up. So try to resist asking them in the comments section. The only people reading this behind you are the people who are, well, behind you. 
You will find the one-to-one knowledge bank you seek in the Strobist Group on Flickr. There, you can ask away and get the diversity of response that you need. These are the lighting grad students, so to speak. They know this stuff, and are very enthusiastic about sharing their knowledge. 
But please do your part and be considerate enough to search the Flickr group threads for relevant keywords in your question first. You are probably not the first person to ask. Or the tenth. Just sayin'.
Most of all, remember to have fun and learn to make some cool light.

This introduction links to a series of sites on specific flash photography information. The links are:

Two Things Your Flash Needs to Have

Traveling Light
Light Stands
Super Clamps
Ball Bungees
Umbrella Stand Adapters
Synching: PC Cords and Pocket Wizards
Building a Pro PC Cord, Pt. 1
Building a Pro PC Cord, Pt. 2
Soft Light: Umbrellas
Soft Light - Wall/Ceiling Bouncing
Bare-Tube Style Lighting
Hard Light - It's Better Than You Think
Balancing Flash Intensity With Ambient, Pt 1
Balancing Flash Intensity With Ambient, Pt 2
Using Gels to Balance Light Color
Cereal Box Snoots and GoBo's
Textural Lighting for Detail Shots
Cross Lighting
Back Light as Main Light
Headshot in a Corner
Lighting for Glasses
Long-Throw Hard Light
Reverse Engineering Other Shooters' Light
Know The Flash
See The Flash
Be The Flash
Don't Let Good Light Ruin a Photo
Keep a Lighting File

Here is an example of professional photography utilising flash (it is fashion photography):

This image was shot by Bill Cunningham. The light illuminates the bottom of her face, her arms and chest, but the background is mostly left alone. The bracelet is blown out in a strip, so there should be some kind of direct light coming at the model. A speck of light is seen reflected in each of the beads of the necklace. This, I feel, is a very good example of the extent to which flash can be used in professional photography.

Contact Sheet
This contact sheet is the simple container for all classwork on flash photography, distinguishing between one type of flash and another.

This contact sheet contains original prints from my photoshoot of my chosen model for flash photography. The photoshoot was done with her express approval and knowledge of what it would entail. The name is not disclosed. The first images are pre-shoot test shots to get the exposure right for the shoot and set a good background for the artificially lighted subject.

Final Selection

The following shot is my final selection. It comes from my photoshoot.

Whilst I am satisfied with the result, I believe there are improvements that could have been made. The hairlight, for example, was positioned incorrectly and ultimately not incorporated into the image. Otherwise, I am happy despite the rather plain background. My outdoor shots did not turn out as good as they should have, thus their exclusion from my final selection. There are still highlights and I feel that the reflection in the model's eyes are especially attractive in this image.

Description of Learning

I learnt a lot about flash photography in this unit although there was a special focus on shooting models and using studio techniques or big flash techniques to control the environment. I spent quite a large amount of time with Mr Tahan trying to fully understand the techniques associated with model shooting and environmental control. It was quite a fun experience and the photoshoot I did with my model was great and the 45 minutes that I spent doing it passed by quite quickly. I am still a bit disappointed with my failure at hairlights, though.

Development Options

As I've now discovered that flash photography is great fun and the ability to manipulate the environment with only light controls, I think I'd like to for my independent work, go into shooting more people with either studio techniques or outdoor techniques and especially pursue some kind of mastery of getting the hairlight to work properly without producing at the same time, refraction, flare or glare in the shot.