How to get decent portraits with on-camera flash

     So you've decided to get a speed light to go with your camera, but you don't have a way to use it off-camera, or you don't have the space for a portrait.

    What do you do?

    Gavin Hoey, one of the photographers featured on Adorama's Youtube channel (disclaimer: I am not sponsored by Adorama, but its channel is a good resource) goes over some ways to get flattering light with a camera-mounted flash.

    (Note: This is for flash units mounted on the camera's hot shoe. If you're using a pop-up flash, these tips will not work for you, but check out the diffuser we featured earlier.)

     What Hoey suggests is essentially bouncing the flash, preferably off a white or neutral-colored wall or ceiling. If you bounce off a colored wall, you're going to get a color cast.

    But what I found interesting was Hoey's suggestion for bouncing off a wall behind you if the room's small enough. Along with creating a softer light by bouncing it off a larger reflector, this over-the-shoulder move can also allow you to avoid the harsh look of a subject against a black background since the foreground/background light are now more balanced, thanks to to the inverse-square law.

    For those not familiar with this law of physics, light falls off at the inverse square of the distance from the light source. At 3 feet away from the light source, the light is 1/9 the brightness it would have at 1 foot. As you go farther out, the difference decreases, so you can actually get a more even lighting the farther back the light source.

    You do have to pay for that with either a wider aperture or a higher ISO.

     Another tip Hoey offered for overall studio photography is to first take a test shot with the settings you plan to use but no flash. The goal is to have the frame completely black, which means that the ambient lighting will not have any effect on the picture, and that all lighting will come from the flash. That can also be helpful if you're in a situation with mixed light sources. 

Power strips give you options when traveling

 

Photo by Kier In Sight on Unsplash 

 

     As the pandemic appears to be receding, we can start thinking about traveling.

 

    With more of our camera gear relying on batteries, whether it's a smartphone or a DSLR, we need to make sure we have chargers we can plug in. And let's not forget our computers.

 

    It's been my experience in my travels, that one thing hotel/motels skimp on in the rooms is power outlets. There usually aren't too many that are readily accessible, which was probably OK back in the pre-digital age, but it's more than a minor inconvenience today.

 

    And if, as I've done, you have to share a room with somebody, that can create a scramble for the available plugs or having to take turns charging your stuff. While cellphones can charge relatively quickly, battery charging for cameras can take hours, which can create friction with your roomie.

 

    Plus, if you have chargers scattered throughout the room, using plugs in the bathroom and other places, it becomes too easy to forget one and either have to buy a new one, or hope that the hotel staff will send it to you.

 

    (I had to have a hotel send me a shirt I forgot was hanging in the closet. I count myself lucky.)

 

    But there's a way to satisfy most of your electrical needs with just one outlet. Throw a power strip in with your luggage.

 

    A decent power strip will give you anywhere from three to five outlets, depending on the size of the strip. I would go for the largest strip you can afford to buy, as well as can easily pack in your luggage, as sometimes chargers can tie up two outlets.

 

    If you're traveling abroad to where the power system's different than in your country, you only need to buy one plug-in power converter. Just plug the strip into the converter, and you have outlets running with the same electricity you find at home.

 

    And if you're out in the field and you don't have the type of chargers you can plug into your car outlet, you can buy a power inverter that will convert the 12-volt DC current to regular AC electricity. Just make sure your inverter and power strip can handle the power demands.

   

 

Pencil boxes can bring order from chaos with your camera gear

    If you are taking your photography seriously, you're going to to be dealing with more gear than just your camera.

    Even if you manage to keep your Gear Acquisition Syndrome in check, you're going to wind up with stuff that you need to find a place for in your bag or studio.

    While camera bags do offer some ways to organize gear, such as dividers to create spots for lenses, cameras and other larger accessories, there are going to be smaller items that you just don't want rattling around loose in your bag.

    Sometimes there are tiny pockets you can use for some accessories such as lens cleaning cloths and memory card holders, but their space is limited, especially if you're packing extra batteries or other accessories.

    There's a solution you can find in the school-supply aisles of big-box, office supply or dollar stores that can help you put everything in its place and make your bag or studio a bit more orderly: Pencil boxes.

    These plastic boxes that are typically used for holding pencils, pens, chalk, erasers and similar classroom sundries can be used to store or carry gear. I use two to corral and organize my gear. 

    I use one box for the audio gear I use when shooting video (recorder, a couple plug-in lavaliere microphones, a USB charger and cable, patch cord and earbuds), and the other contains the batteries I need for my camera, flash and recorder, as well as a battery adapter so I can use AA penlight batteries in one of my DSLRs.

    I made labels for mine by typing up the names of the boxes' content category in a word-processing document and then used clear tape to put labels on each end of the box, so I know which one I'm grabbing regardless of how it got put back. If you have a label maker, either one that prints out the label on tape or the old fashioned ones that embossed each letter on a plastic tape, go for it.

    This setup ensures the stuff doesn't fall out of my bag, and provides some protection in the bag. It also creates a bit of a modular setup, allowing me to make it easier to better customize my gear load for a specific situation. For example, I do the online broadcast of our church services, so I just take my audio kit from my bag, taking just what I need and leaving the rest at home.

    The boxes can also be used to organize gear in your studio or storage space at home, avoiding a photographic junk drawer.

 

    The audio, left, and battery boxes inside my camera bag, sandwiching the case for my speedlight.

Get better portraits with DIY clamshell lighting setup

     One way to get good portrait lighting is to use "clamshell" lighting, and there's a way to do it without without triggering Gear Acquisition Syndrome.

    It's a lighting technique that can work with all sorts of portraits. What it does is uses a light source from above and one from below to light the subject. It's a relatively soft light and does not create harsh shadows.

    But you don't need an elaborate studio setup to pull it off, as Alastair Currill, an English photographer, demonstrates in this Youtube video. You can do it with one flash, a modifer to soften that light and a reflector to bounce the light back up to the subject.

    You can use a speedlight for the flash, and if you don't have an umbrella, you can use the DIY softbox and light stand we talked about earlier. As for the bottom light, you can use a table with a white cover or a foam board from the local big-box or dollar store.

    He also has another video demonstrating the principles behind clamshell lighting, albeit using more expensive studio gear.

Photographer's Companion a Swiss-Army-Knife app for serious shooters

    There are lots of apps on the market that can help with your photography.

    You can find apps that will turn your phone into a light meter, tell you when blue and golden hour are in your area and do a variety of functions.

    But if you have limited space on your phones (because companies will make it virtually impossible to delete some of the apps on your phone even if you'll never use them), you may find yourself picking and choosing which program to use.

    Or, you can just download one that can do most of the tasks you'll need.

    I would submit that the Photographer's Companion, available for both Android and iPhone, fits the bill nicely. Developed by Stef Software, it comes in free and paid versions, with the main difference being that the paid version has no ads and a few extra features.

    Personally, I've found the free version suits my needs, as most of the additional features in the paid version are things I wouldn't use or, in the case of flashlight and level, I already have on my phone or on my camera.

    

    For starters, this program gives you at the very minimum a reflected light meter. If your phone has a light sensor on it (this is usually used to adjust your screen brightness in relation to ambient light), you also get access to an incident light meter. This can come in handy when you're shooting manual or, as I did when I did a little photo project with my mother's old Argus C-3, the camera you're using doesn't have a light meter.

    You can also select your camera model or input the specifications, so it will be able to calculate things such as field of view and depth of field for your specific camera and lens combination. You can also use it to calculate proper flash settings, which is helpful in studio work or if you're using a non-dedicated flash on your camera.

    It can also show you when sunrise and sunset will occur in your area, as well as when to expect blue and golden hours, those times when light is at its most magical for photography. It can also show you the phase of the moon and the optimal exposure time for getting a picture of the moon or a moonlit scene.

    For those into astrophotography, it also uses the NPF rule for calculating the best exposure time to get no star trails.

    And each section has a help button that takes you to the website to get a tutorial on how to use that particular part of the app, as well as explain the principle behind it.

    This is not sponsored content, and I only use the free version, but I recommend it as a way to get some good high-quality photo apps without straining your phone's memory.