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.

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)

Before and After - Intern Edition

Before I got to work cataloging Anne's hard drives last night, she was kind enough to take a look at some images from a dog portrait session that I did this weekend. She gave me some great feedback, and suggested a couple easy ways to improve the images. I thought I'd share a before-and-after with you and show you the steps that I took.



Internet, say hi to Gunner. Isn't he handsome? Except for some minor tonal adjustments in lightroom (mainly exposure and contrast), I haven't done anything to this image. Not bad, but we can make it better.



The first step I took was to crop the image a little tighter to get rid of some of the distracting trees in the background and to focus more on Gunner's sweet face.


That's already a big improvement. Because the background is still pretty contrasty, we want to tone that down so it's not competing with Gunner for our attention. Trees are great, don't get me wrong, but I want the dog to be the most compelling part of the image. I used one of Kevin Kubota's actions to burn, or darken, the edges of the frame. The amount of vignetting is purely a personal preference. I like it when it's not-so-subtle, but it depends on the image and your own personal aesthetic.


The last step that I took on this particular image is to bring out his eyes a little more. It's not a smack-you-in-the-face adjustment, but it does help. By adding an empty curves level to the image in Photoshop and changing the layer blending mode to "color dodge" (or one of the other lightening blending modes...totally up to you), you can brighten the eyes of your subject. Just add a layer mask and brush the eyes back in!




And there you go. Quick, easy, and makes a big difference. I heart you, Photoshop! And Lightroom. And Gunner. I just have a lot of feelings, ok?

Zen and the Art of Data Management

Alexis: I don't think this hard drive is going to mount. It's been spinning for 5 minutes and I don't see it on the desktop.
Anne: Ok. [Takes hard drive and puts it in the freezer]
Alexis: Does that really work?
Anne: Hopefully!
Misty: [snore]

What's the moral of the story?

• Yes, freezing a hard drive can actually work.
  

• Always, always, back up your data! Anne's storage is...well, a little scattered at the moment, but she has everything, in more than one place. If that hard drive had failed to mount even after its stint in the freezer, it would not have been the end of the world. Precious wedding memories would NOT have been lost forever. Not only should the data be backed up, but you should know where it all is. That's something I'm helping Anne out with right now - cataloging her many, many hard drives. When I'm done, she's going to have a monster file that will tell her exactly what is on every single folder on every single hard drive.
  

• RELAX. Freaking out about the hard drive really wouldn't have accomplished anything. To say that I'm a bit of a worrier is just a *slight* understatement. The whole point of having a good backup system, however, is to alleviate that worry and turn it into an annoyance at best. If you don't have a reliable system, the point at which your freezer becomes your best bet for data recovery might be a good time to start panicking. I'm just saying. Otherwise, just breathe. Anne is very much a roll-with-the-punches type of person, and I hope I can pick up some of that.

• Bullet points make everything look more official and give the illusion that you know what you're talking about.
  

Meet the Intern: Alexis

Name: Alexis Hall

Location: Newton, MA

Age: 24

Website: www.alexishallphoto.com

How did you find out about the internship? 

I've been a loyal blog stalker, um, reader of Anne's for a long time. I read the post and couldn't pass up the opportunity!

Why were you interested in the internship? 

I really admire Anne, both professionally and personally (or at least as much as I knew from her blog). Since I'm just starting out as a photographer, I wanted to learn as much as I could...plus I was hoping that some of her awesomeness would rub off eventually :)

What are you hoping to get out of the internship?  Ideally, I'm hoping to abduct Anne's dog, Misty...she's so cute!! But if that option is off the table...I want to learn the behind-the-scenes aspects of running a business. Photography school is fantastic, but there are some things you just can't learn in a classroom setting. 

What is your education  background? I earned my undergraduate degree in French, and am currently wrapping up a Professional Photography Certificate program.

Are you currently working elsewhere? Yes, I'm an Office Administrator at an investment firm. 

What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail? I would move someplace warm and launch myself full-time into pet photography. I love animals, and am not such a fan of the cold and snow. Balmy winters + spending time with other people's pets = my idea of the perfect life!