Trying to balance your flash with bright sunlight for an outdoor portrait scares the pants off people. It’s one of those things that seems so hard to do, especially if you are using off-camera flash without TTL. In that case, it’s all math and numbers and my head starts to hurt just thinking about it. Fortunately, it’s not really that difficult to do once you learn a few tricks.
Want to have some fun next time you’re shooting environmental portraits? Then think wide! Just when you are about to pack up that gear and call it a wrap, pull out that super wide angle lens and try something different.
Last week I was talking to a potential client who was wanting a portrait session for her baby. She wanted my full session and she planned to buy three 16×20 prints. When I told her the price she said, “Oh, that’s way too much money… especially in today’s economy.” (more…)
I sometimes tend to ignore the obvious, the obvious being that which the ancient Greeks referred to as Helios, the Sun. How could I be so distracted by radio slaves, studio flashes and softboxes – not to see that ball of fire 92,960,000 miles from my house. How could I completely forget what I first learned about photography and natural light? Easy, I ignored the obvious. (more…)