On-Camera Flash: Intern Edition

I don't know about you, but I definitely have a love-hate relationship with my speedlight. I'll use it if I have to, but most of the time I'll go to extreme lengths to avoid pulling it out of my camera bag. Probably 90% of the time it makes a better paperweight than it does a piece of camera equipment.

Anne showed me a nifty trick last week that will tip the scales more toward the "love" part of the equation. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll post a few by way of demonstration. You definitely have to see it to appreciate it (that, plus the fact that I don't really feel like writing a 3,000 word blog entry. I'm sure you appreciate THAT, too.

Just to preface this, I was shooting at f/4.5 at 1/50s (manual mode). My speedlight was set to E-TTL, with no light modifiers on it.

Exhibit A: Neo (yes, named after the Matrix. No, don't ask me why, it's been like 5 years and I have no flippin' clue anymore) relaxing on an unseasonably warm spring evening. The flash is on-camera, pointed straight at him. The verdict? EW. Ew ew ew. Nasty shadows, cold, harsh light...just...ick. We can do better.


Exhibit B: Neo, looking much healthier than before. The flash is still on camera, but is now pointed straight up at the (white) ceiling. Ah, my optic nerves can relax a little bit. This is MUCH better than what we had before. The shadows have softened, and the light is much warmer and more flattering. Well...as flattering as it can be to a stuffed dog. I'm not such a fan of the shadow under his chin, though...that wouldn't look good on a person either. You can imagine that you would get the same kind of shadows under a person's eyes, since the ceiling has essentially become your light source. I think most people are tired enough as it is without us accentuating that lovely raccoon-eye look.



Exhibit C: Success! Here's where Anne's trick comes in: the flash is still on-camera, and I'm still bouncing the light, but I've pointed it behind me and over my shoulder. There is a white wall about 7 feet behind me, and now that is pretty much acting as a giant softbox. Look at that light! Soft, even, no harsh shadows...extremely flattering. If anything, this might be a little TOO even, but that is much easier to correct in post processing than super contrasty light and terrible under-eye shadows.


So, there you have it! And remember: fear not the flash, grasshopper. At least, that's what Anne tells me.

Life As An Intern - Episode Four

My last few weeks can pretty much be summed up by the pie chart in the post by Alexis. (Loved that, by the way!!).

While I always enjoy my time with Anne, the last few weeks have been very simple and well usually involved time waiting for technology to work. I finished designing the guestbook from my last post. I made Anne promise I could see it before she gave it to the couple. It looked awesome!!

Last week I also spent a majority of my time doing the first edit through on a wedding. It was very interesting to see someone else’s images from an entire wedding. It made me realize I’m not the only one who misses focus here and there. Anne taught me that it’s all in the way you present your very best images from the day that can really make an impact.

Anne had me edit in the good photos versus editing out the bad ones. I’m still deciding which way I like better, as I normally edit out. Please leave a comment on which way you prefer to edit and why. Thanks!

I discovered it was also much easier to edit through someone else’s photos then my own. I often get too over attached to images that really aren’t good simply because I remember the day and I have an emotional connection to the images. Now this isn’t in itself a bad thing but when I’m giving too many images that are sub par because I’m attached, I can detract from the overall quality of my work.

When I edit through my next wedding I’m going to try to focus the way I did when editing Anne’s images. She told me the first thing to look for is high emotion and then having the most faces visible in a shot. I'll let you know how it goes :-)

I'm actually at home today instead of with Anne because one of our cars broke down. While I'm bummed I had to miss a day with Anne, it's so nice outside that I'm glad I was able to spend some of the day outside. Our landlord just got three new piggies. There has been so much bad press about pigs and the swine flu recently, that I thought I would share a few pictures of the piglets to remind everyone how cute they are. Plus every post needs a picture!! 

A Purple Kind of Day

It wasn't purple originally,
but I was feeling purple
when I looked at it.

Feelings affect the way we see the world
- not just in art,
but in life.

What color is your world today?

(Want a copy for your desktop? Go ahead and click the image to download it.)

How We Spend Our Time - Intern Edition

Being a photographer is a super glamorous job. I mean, how could it not be? You get to spend all your time at weddings, sneaking hors d'œuvres off the appetizer trays and hobnobbing with the guests.

No, grasshopper, you have much to learn. That's not how you spend most of your time. This intern's lesson of the day is that as a photographer, the bulk of your time is spent getting things to work. No joke.

It makes sense, when you think about it (well...I suppose it would make sense regardless of your thinking about it, but that's beside the point). The actual "taking pictures" part of being a photographer is probably something that we spend the least amount of time on. We rely so heavily on technology, which can be extremely temperamental and seems to require begging, pleading, praying, and promises of your firstborn child in order to convince it to work.

It's not easy. There's a lot of behind-the-scenes work that goes on, and it can be frustrating at times. Creating images that give people a way to relive their fabulous wedding day, or transport them back to a time when their now-teenager was just a wee little baby, that's the fun part, but it's just a small piece of the pie. And speaking of pie...let me present to you the graphical representation of the breakdown of a wedding photographer's time (click to embiggen if the print is too small)

Real Wedding Details & Inspiration Boards

I love all of the amazing inspiration boards that are put together by designers- it's such a beautiful display of possibilities. However, when I was a bride, I also loved seeing what real brides had done. Brides who had to work on a budget or for whom the crystal chandelier in the tree wasn't going to be a practical reality. So, a while ago I decided to start doing inspiration board style layouts of wedding details from real weddings. There are about a dozen here and while many revolve around strong color combinations, sometimes more subtle themes emerge from the set of details as well. One thing is for sure, I can't wait to see what creative details the 2009 brides come up with!!

Mobile Monday - Week 4

Mobile Monday is a weekly collection of iphone photos and twitter captions from my daily adventures.


Not quite boat weather yet in Boston.


I was taking photos for the Lowell Creative Economy Awards.


I heart science.


My first Korean meal enjoyed with a very good friend who knows a lot more about Korean food than I do.







Some 12seconds.tv mini videos from my phone this week as well:

[iPhone] Earth Hour Tonight on 12seconds.tv


[iPhone] Neighborhood Food Drive on 12seconds.tv

LOVE IT: Validation

I wish I could remember where I found this, but I love it. It's a mini movie and it really speaks to photographers and anyone in the pursuit of happiness. ;-) (Press play on the embedded video to watch.)

Life As An Intern - Episode Three

Good-Morning World! It's another exciting day hanging out with Anne. It is so beautiful out today. The large dose of sunshine I got driving down was awesome. If you have the time today go for a walk. You will get some fresh air and sunshine and I promise you will feel great!

Last week was pretty low-key but it was filled with photo related activities so I had a great time! I started the day off with prepping the images for Anne's mobile Monday. I'm fairly new to Photoshop and it was nice to have someone who knew the program to show me how to use it. Much easier then just playing around and trying to figure it out as you go :)

We had an awesome lunch at Brewed Awakening. I had the best Nutella and banana filled crepe ever! It was seriously delicious. Of course it will take a month to burn off all the calories from the Nutella, but it was worth it.

The afternoon was spent preparing some images for a magazine. I was simply resizing them and adding a copyright to the border. It's better to have a border with a copyright versus a watermark when images are going to be published. That way there is nothing directly on the image but they will still be printed with your name on them. Doing this reminded me that I had found a video tutorial a while back that shows how to add a border and your logo to your images, as well as how to run it as an action. I thought the link may be helpful for others who would like an easy way to do this. Here you go....  http://www.pictureinfinity.com/tutorials/actions002/index.html

I have no idea who actually created this tutorial. If you know please let me know so I can give them credit. Thanks!!
(Anne's Note: The video was created by Matt Antonino, owner and photographer of Picture Infinity.)

I spent the rest of the day putting together a guestbook for a gorgeous couple. It was really fun designing the album. It was also nice to see a full set of images from Anne and how she works a scene. The guestbook is going to be a gift for one of her clients. I love this idea!! My plan for the year was to give each client a slideshow of their images set to music, but I will be keeping this idea in mind as well.

I hope everyone has an awesome day, and remember it's now spring so get outside and enjoy it!!