Photo Notes A place to talk about making images.

March 13, 2013

Candlelight Home Tour #2

Filed under: Architectural Lighting,Indianapolis,Lighting Technique,Photographic Education — John Siskin @ 9:46 am

I hope you’ll check out my books: Photographing Architecture and Understanding and Controlling Strobe Lighting. I hope you’ll get copies, if you haven’t already. Of course you know that one reason for this blog is introduce the books and get you to consider one of my classes at BetterPhoto.com: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting, Portrait Lighting on Location and in the Studio, Getting Started in Commercial Photography


This week I shot another home for the Candle Light Tour of Indianapolis’ Old North Side. This is also a fabulous home, but why would anybody put a home on a tour that wasn’t fabulous? The interior of this home is very different from the last home, more of an Italian flare, and less of a period piece.

I knew that there would be less time to do this shoot, which reduces what can be done. It’s hard to set up to light a room, do the shot and clean up in two hours, which was all the time I had. In this case I did one very difficult shot that included several rooms and a simple shot of the kitchen. And I did leave the house in the required two hours.

This is the final version of the dining room shot. The exposure was 1/30th of a second at f11
and an ISO of 400. Six strobes were used.

This is the first shot. As you can see the dining room opens onto two other rooms, one with a piano and another room on the right. To add difficulty both these rooms open onto other rooms. The room on the right opens onto a stairway and the music room open onto a front parlor, at least that’s what I think it is. Because I knew I had very little time I brought less lighting gear, just three Norman LH2 heads, three power packs (the 200B units) and a pair of Sunpak 120J strobes. Of course I also brought the camera, and a bag of assorted stands, tripod and umbrellas.

I set up the camera at the far end of the dining room, so that I could see into all the rooms I mentioned. The first light was a 200B placed at the opposite corner of the dining room. I used the 60-inch umbrella on this light to give a softer look to the light in the dining room. I also held a Sunpak 120J in my outstretched arm above the camera to help light the dining room. The Sunpak 120J strobes have about half the power of a Norman 200B, but they do have simple automation and can be set to much lower power settings then the 200B. One nice thing is that the two strobes use the same strobe tubes and can use the same accessories. I placed a shoe cover over this 120J; it was a quick way to modify the light.

 

In the room on the right I set up another Norman 200B. I used a 30-inch shoot through umbrella because it threw light in every direction. Even so my original placement of the light, to the left of the door, didn’t work because the light was visible in the shot. So I placed the light to the right of the door. Perhaps it would be easier to say nearer the camera? Anyway this hid the strobe. This light also gave enough light to show the stairway. The strobe was set to full power. I used a 1/4 CTO filter to give warmth to this light and add separation from the dining room.


Now the biggest problem is the room with the piano. At first I thought the slave wasn’t working because the room stayed so dark. The problem was that room was really dark. The walls are medium gray and the piano is black, so you can see this might be a challenge. I started bouncing light off a white satin umbrella, but wasn’t happy with the shot until I took the umbrella off and used light directly from the strobe onto the room. Even after this I had to lighten this area a little in post-production. By the way this light had a 1/8-CTO filter for the same reasons as I mentioned above.

So that brings us to the front parlor. If you’ve been keeping track you’ll know that the only light I have left is a Sunpak 120J. So I put that on a stand. I used it bare bulb, no reflector at all. I though it would help the separation between the front parlor and the music room. I think it did help. No filter on this light.

If I had more lights I would have used a second more powerful light in the music room, maybe my Calumet 750 Travelite. I would have had lights on either side of the music room. At the time I would have used two lights with umbrellas for the front parlor, but now I’m not sure it would be better. The bare bulb was good, and it didn’t show in the mirror. Did I mention the large mirror in the front parlor? I’m sorry there’s no diagram for this shot, but the diagram was becoming as complex as the shot.

Here’s the shot with the lights turned off. I think lighting makes the picture. Most of the post-production was dodging and burning. I also adjusted the perspective a little and removed a few things at the edges. You can see the image without these fixes below.

I had a few minutes left so I dragged the 60-inch umbrella into the kitchen. I liked this kitchen because it fit into the overall design of the house so well. As people who have taken my class: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting will certainly know kitchens can be a challenge to shoot.

The strobe, with the large umbrella is on the left side of the camera if you’re looking into the shot. I used the full 200 watt-seconds with this light and a 1/4-CTO filter to warm up this side of the shot. I used a shutter speed of 1/30th of a second to keep the windows bright. The view out the windows wasn’t very interesting. I had to adjust the angle of the chandelier in the picture several times to remove reflections. As before I did a little dodging and burning, as well as fixing the perspective. I also warmed up the shot a bit; I like warm kitchen shots. I think the lighting really helped the shot; below is a version without my light.


March 4, 2013

Candlelight Home Tour #1

Filed under: Architectural Lighting,Indianapolis,Photographic Education,Photographic Equipment,Post-Processing — John Siskin @ 2:49 pm

I hope you’ll check out my books: Photographing Architecture and Understanding and Controlling Strobe Lighting. I hope you’ll get copies if you haven’t already. Of course you know that one reason for this blog is to sell the book and get you to consider one of my classes at BetterPhoto.com: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting, Portrait Lighting on Location and in the Studio, Getting Started in Commercial Photography

I am involved with Candlelight Home Tour in the Old North Side of Indianapolis. The tour will happen on Halloween this year. I’ll add more information about the tour in later entries. I am also doing this with a few people from the Indy MU Photo Club. So I have a small audience for these shoots. The plan is that I’ll shoot one room, with my lights, and they’ll shoot the rest of the house. Yesterday was the first shoot, and it went very well, although more time would have been welcome, especially for the people from the club.

I started by looking around the house, and I settled on the dining room, because of the look of the room, and also because of the complexity. I was particularly interested in shooting into the two connecting rooms and the windows at the same time. The second camera angle was interesting because of the way the staircase was framed in the door. It was easier to shoot, first because the lights were set up and because there weren’t any windows.


You can see the position of the lights in this diagram, of course everything isn’t exactly to scale. The A light is a Calumet 750 Travelite set at 1/4 power. It creates the overall light of the shot, and is positioned near the camera so that the shadows are less visible from the camera. I bounced the light off a 60-inch umbrella, with a black back, to create soft shadows. Of course there is a lot of information about placing lights in my book: Photographing Architecture: Lighting, Composition, Postproduction and Marketing Techniques The B light is a Norman 200B modified with a 30-inch shoot through umbrella. I normally don’t use umbrellas in this way, but here I’m trying to add light quickly to a small ancillary room, and this is a quick way to do it. I used a 1/4 CTO filter over the light because I wanted the two rooms on the side of the shot to have different colors of light. Rosco makes these filters that enable you to modify single lights in a shot. Of course you can modify all the lights in a shot in the camera and in post-production. Light C is also a Norman 200B with a 30-inch shoot through umbrella, but it doesn’t have the 1/4 CTO filter so the color is cooler. This fits because there is a window this room. The light moved from the first position, which is shown to the other side of the room to keep the reflection of the light out of the mirror. In the first shot I placed the D light to open up the left half of the room. I used another Norman 200 B and a silver umbrella. The silver umbrella is a little brighter than the white satin umbrellas I use most of the time, but the light is a little harder. In this case the extra brightness helped. I also used a 1/8 CTO filter to add just a little warmth to the edge of the room. When I made the second shot I pulled this light back just a little and changed its direction so it lit the hall rather than the room, position D2. This wasn’t quite enough to create separation on the staircase so I added a Sunpak 120J light at about 1/4 power. I used the standard bowl reflector on this light, so it was hard light, and pretty bright. I like the sparkle it added to the staircase. I just got a couple of the Sunpak 120J units, they are similar to an older Quantum strobe, but use high voltage batteries I already had. I use a lot of older equipment mostly because I started buying strobes a long time ago. I spend a lot of time helping the students in one of my BetterPhoto classes identify the type of equipment that will work best for them. The exposure was f11 at 1/15 and ISO 200. The exposure needed to be long for the windows and the lighting.

 

I looked at the shots in Adobe Bridge, and of course it was easy to choose the shots I wanted to work on. When I do architectural shooting the last shots are usually the ones I want to use. Next I opened the horizontal version of shot 1 in Adobe Raw. I reduced the blacks to 3, and I moved the fill light to 12. The exposure was a little dark, so I increased the exposure using the exposure slide. Then, since the right wall was too dark, I opened two separate versions of the file. The second version was much brighter than the first, almost a stop. I mixed the two versions of the shot using layers in Photoshop. I also did a little sharpening and use the dodging and burning tools here and there. The result is at the top of the shot, and I think it worked really well. Oh, I also adjusted the perspective just a little to get the verticals right.

This version was handled the same way, except that I used a little vibrance and saturation to make the carpet a little more colorful.

On this shot I increased the exposure a little and added just a little fill light. I only needed one version of this shot, so it was quick to process. I didn’t have as much time to do this shot, so I’m quite pleased at how well it turned out. About the only thing I had to do in Photoshop was use the burn tool to darken a couple of highlights.

February 4, 2013

Large Format Lenses

Filed under: Basic Photo Technique,Film Technique,Large Format Photography — John Siskin @ 11:06 am

I hope you’ll check out my books: Photographing Architecture and Understanding and Controlling Strobe Lighting. I hope you’ll get copies if you haven’t already. Of course you know that one reason for this blog is to sell the book and get you to consider one of my classes at BetterPhoto.com: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting, Portrait Lighting on Location and in the Studio, Getting Started in Commercial Photography


I was going to write about some more handy equipment in this issue, but I decided to put that off. I think I’ll be back to talking about stuff, particularly DIY stuff soon. I had breakfast with another experienced photographer, I don’t want to say old, a couple of days ago. We talked about some of the things we miss from the old days and both of us missed watching a print come up in a tray of developer. Whenever I talk about this with someone we end up using the word magic. When you put an exposed piece of silver gelatin paper into a tray of developer there is no picture, it’s just white paper. As you agitate the print in the developer the image slowly appears on the paper. If you’ve ever seen a Polaroid SX-70 print develop, it’s like that, only better. I know I’ve written about this stuff before, but I find it interesting and, well, magical.

8.25 inch Gold Barrel Dagor on 8X10 film

Photography, before digital was mostly about magic goo. Like baking a cake you followed a recipe, and if everything was done properly, you got a picture. If everything was done well the picture would last. It’s been that way since William Henry Fox Talbot first made a paper negative. Fox Talbot used sodium chloride, table salt to make his images safe in daylight, so salt was the first magic goo. The thing is that few people really understood how the chemicals interacted, but a lot of us understood how to control what they did. Perhaps the person who understood the interaction best was C.E. K. Mees who ran Kodak Labs.

63mm Zeiss Luminar on 6X7cm film

 

I bring this up because, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m doing some personal work with my 8X10 Toyo camera. This brings me back into the land of magic goo. I’m testing different developers in an attempt to make a more perfect negative. I used Kodak chemicals, both HC-110 and, more recently, Xtol, to develop film for decades. Now, however, Kodak is imperiled, so I need to look for another supplier. It’s amazing how many things that I relied on Kodak for. At breakfast I discussed the Kodak Camel Hair brush with my friend. Kodak made things that couldn’t possibly have made a difference to their bottom line, but made a difference to photographers everywhere, like a good brush for cleaning film holders. I’ve been mixing a version of a Kodak developer, D-23. I got the recipe from The Darkroom Cookbook. Those of us working in the old ways are going to have to make a lot of things from scratch.

48cm Goerz Berlin Dogmar 8X10in. film

 

The problem is to know if everything is working well. Today I processed test negatives in D-23 and in Xtol. I’ve ordered some ID-11, an Ilford developer, and I’ll process a negative in that next week. I find that I do a lot of testing. I’ve mentioned before that a photographer needs to test equipment. If you don’t test you’ll never really know what you’re doing. Then you’ll not only believe in magic, you’re relying on magic that you don’t understand. I’ve attached copies of the negatives I processed in Kodak Xtol, they have a longer contrast range than the negs I did in D-23.

65mm Schneider Super Angulon 4X5in. film

 

Another magical area of large format photography is lenses. Although I’ve studied the physics and worked with the thin lens equations, I still find the way in which lenses bend light quite magical. At least as far back as 1840, when Joseph Petzval developed the first portrait lenses, people understood how much the lens affected the image. The goals of lens design, at least until the 1960s, were to make a lens that was sharp, had large coverage, even illumination, strong contrast and was fully corrected for spherical aberration and chromatic aberration and eliminated coma, unless you were trying to make a soft focus lens, in which case none of these might apply. It’s important to understand that you couldn’t, and still can’t, make a perfect lens: all lenses designs are compromises. But older lenses made different compromises so some are considered classic and others crap. I’ve always been very interested in lenses from Goerz and Schneider. I am pleased that I currently own two Goerz lenses, an 8 1/4 inch Dagor from the American version of Goerz and a 48cm Dogmar that is from Berlin Goerz. I’ve already mentioned that I recently acquired a 14 inch Dagor that is a Schneider Dagor. The Schneider Dagors are the last of this noble design. I am also getting a lot of use from my older Schneider Angulon (actually it is old enough to be a Jos. Schneider & Co.) and I also use a wide angle G-Claron from the modern version of Schneider. Of course I also carry a bunch of diopters to create soft focus lenses, for more about these check out this article.

135mm Schenider Xenar 4X5in. film

 

The pictures this week are all large format images. I put the format and the lens name in the caption.

65mm Super Angulon 4X5in. film

 

I’m looking at apps for my phone that will help with metering and other aspects of large format photography. So far I’ve found that beeCam Lightmeter is interesting. If you have any suggestions let me know at john@siskinphoto. I’ll put up people suggestions in a future blog. By the way I’m using an android phone, but if you have a suggestion for an iPhone I’ll be happy to pass it along.

Please consider one of my classes at BetterPhoto.com:

An Introduction to Photographic Lighting

Portrait Lighting on Location and in the Studio

Getting Started in Commercial Photography

If you’re in the Indianapolis area there are other opportunities as well. I’ll be showing much of my personal architectural work in June at Indiana Landmarks. Please come look.

January 17, 2013

More Tools and Tips!

Filed under: Basic Photo Technique,Commercial Photography,Do It Yourself,Lighting Technique,Photographic Equipment — John Siskin @ 12:33 pm

I hope you’ll check out my books: Photographing Architecture and Understanding and Controlling Strobe Lighting. I hope you’ll get copies if you haven’t already. Of course you know that one reason for this blog is to sell the book and get you to consider one of my classes at BetterPhoto.com: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting, Portrait Lighting on Location and in the Studio, Getting Started in Commercial Photography

I wanted to continue with the equipment and tips I was talking about in the last entry. I always enjoy talking about these sorts of things. I feel that the equipment manufacturers often try to make us all create images in similar ways, and I prefer to be creative about making pictures. For instance there are a lot of lenses built with vibration reduction technology, and this is a great thing. But, as I mentioned in the last entry, you can use a chain pod, which will also reduce vibration. The chain pod will work with almost any camera and lens, including the stuff you already own.

I've put a radio trigger on an optical slave so that I can use multiple sets of radio slaves.

The first thing I want to mention, because I just figured it out, allows me to use two different radio slave systems together. I try to buy a lot of receivers when I buy radio slaves because I have a lot of strobes. The problem is when I need even more receivers the signals of the two radio slave systems don’t always match up. I discovered I could put the sending unit from a second set of radio slaves onto an optical slave and trigger both sets of slaves together. One thing I’m looking for now is a very sensitive optical slave to extend the range of my radio slaves. Please note that I am still using inexpensive Chinese radio slaves with good results overall.

Cine foil is a flexible aluminum foil that can be used to block light and as lens hood.

A couple more things that are in my camera case, that I didn’t mention last time, model release forms, cine foil and a GretagMacbeth ColorChecker. Of course it is always wise to have a release form whenever you shoot a person or private property, because there are severe limits on publication without a release. Because so much of my work is for clients there are times I can’t get a release, and so can’t use a shot in a book or article. Here’s a link to a good release form. I really like Cine foil, which is black aluminum foil. It can be used to control

GretagMacbeth ColorChecker, gives me good gray samples and pure colors.

the spill from a light or as a lens hood in a pinch. A couple of pieces take up no room, and can be a real lifesaver. I keep a roll in the studio. The GretagMacbeth ColorChecker is the most accurate gray and color sample I own. Since I always shoot in RAW I will shoot a sample image with the ColorChecker after I finish the set-up. I can use this sample to make the color accurate on all of the shots with the same set-up. You can also use it to help you make pleasing color, because you can see how a particular setting will affect the colors you’re using.

Perhaps I should mention that I have several camera cases, not only do I have cases for my lights but I also have hard soft and small camera cases. I store my main camera in a Pelican case. I really like this large hard case because I can store almost my entire system, everything I would take on location anyway. Also the Pelican case provides very good protection and it is pretty easy to ship. Another good thing: the Pelican cases are ugly. I avoid the fancy cases that draw peoples’ attention; you don’t want to have your camera gear stolen. The problem with a hard case is that it’s difficult to work out of, so I have a couple of soft cases for when I have to keep moving. I have different sized cases so that I can reduce the load when I need less equipment. I’d like to see a case that would allow you to add external sections, so you could create the right space to fit your gear. Of course I have a lot of gear so being able to customize a case would make it easier to work.

Almost all my cases are used. I buy inexpensive used cases from camera stores, thrift stores, surplus stores and even antique stores. I will get a case even when I don’t have anything specific to put in it, if it is cheap and in usable condition. I stuff cases inside cases to store them; otherwise I’d have run out of room long ago. It usually turns out that I need most of the cases I get. I even keep much of my studio gear in cases; you never know when you’ll have to do something unusual on location.

A useful case from Home Depot

Most of my lighting cases have come from military surplus stores or hardware stores. I’ve used a lot of ammunition cases over the years because they are very strong and also waterproof. I often add a 1/4X20 threaded nut to the cases. This allows me to put a stud to mount a light onto the case. This means that I have a short light stand, or a stand I can put on a table, without having to carry another stand. I have a lot of lighting cases because I can’t use a case so heavy that I can’t actually lift it. I also have a wheeled cart, which can make it a lot easier to get lights and cameras to location. Light stands and tripods go into a large duffel bag.

These cases have 1/4X20 threads so I can attach studs for my lights.

Rolling cart, ammunition cases and duffel bag. Ready for a location shoot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I saw this on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4aE2f07ON4&feature=player_embedded. As a long time fan of Edward Weston’s photos it was nice to see it again.

Please consider one of my classes at BetterPhoto.com:

An Introduction to Photographic Lighting

Portrait Lighting on Location and in the Studio

Getting Started in Commercial Photography

If you’re in the Indianapolis area there are other opportunities as well. I’ll be showing much of my personal architectural work in June at Indiana Landmarks. Please come look.

December 20, 2012

Handy Tools

Filed under: Basic Photo Technique,Do It Yourself,Photographic Equipment — John Siskin @ 3:43 pm

I hope you’ll check out my books: Photographing Architecture and Understanding and Controlling Strobe Lighting. I hope you’ll get copies if you haven’t already. Of course you know that one reason for this blog is to sell the book and get you to consider one of my classes at BetterPhoto.com: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting, Portrait Lighting on Location and in the Studio, Getting Started in Commercial Photography

There are things in my camera and lighting case that aren’t cameras or lights. Some of these are pretty obvious: if you have lights you must have light stands. If you have cameras you’ll have lenses. This post is about the other things, some of them are used constantly and others hardly used. But they are all critical once in a while. If you have some favorite gadgets please let me know. I’ll post the information. Because this site got spammed you’ll need to let me know by e-mail.

This is probably my favorite. It’s a vice grip that has tripod sized threads welded onto it. I can put on a small ball head and use it to hold the camera or a light stud and it’s a light stand. Vice grips can attach to almost anything. I don’t know of a commercial supplier for this, so, if you want one, you’ll need to visit a welding shop. Here’s the ball head and the lighting stud. This is the small lighting stud that fits all my lights.

I also have this clip that I put a tripod thread on. It can hold a small light, or notes. By the way tripod thread is 1/4X20, unless you are European.

This is another sort of lighting stud, basically it allows you to mount two lights on a single light stand. This is useful when you need more power. It used to hold four lights, which is why there’s a hole. This is another thing I don’t have a supplier for. Any suggestions?

I know a lot of people have 5 in 1 reflectors but they don’t really appeal to me. I do have a piece of bubble wrap with a silver and a white side. Good as a reflector and extra padding. The piece I carry is about 18X24 inches. I also have a piece of duvatyne in the case. Duvatine is a very black cloth used for blocking light.

This is another old friend: the chain pod. Here’s more information. They’re easy to build. If you must spend the money you can get one from Calumet.

This is another one I wrote about before. It’s a shoe cover that helps modify light. For more check out this link.

I don’t use this much, but it doesn’t take up much room. It has been important on come occasions. It’s basically a raincoat for the camera. Here’s a modern version.

I also have a laser pointer. This helps me focus in low light by giving me a target. I have to remember to check the batteries once in a while. I don’t use it often, but when I need it I really need it.
pointer

The next two items are still in my case, but I find I use my smart phone for both: a level and a flashlight. Especially with architectural photography leveling the camera is important, and I often need to see things in low light.

There are other things I should at least mention:
Model release, adult and child
Property release
Gray card
MacBeth Color checker
Cine Foil
Gaffer Tape. This is actually on the cases, which makes it easier to find

Clothes pins. I use these to hold filters on lights.
Please consider one of my classes at BetterPhoto.com:

An Introduction to Photographic Lighting

Portrait Lighting on Location and in the Studio

Getting Started in Commercial Photography

If you’re in the Indianapolis area there are other opportunities as well. I’ll be teaching a class in commercial photography next spring at Ivy Tech.


Happy Holidays!

November 27, 2012

Lighting Kits?

Filed under: Lighting Technique,Photographic Education,Photographic Equipment — John Siskin @ 11:49 am


Most people buy strobes twice. I’ve said this before. They buy a cheap kit first, and unfortunately most kits aren’t really cheap. They can learn a couple of things from this kit. The first thing they learn, and this is an important thing to learn, is whether or not they enjoy controlling the light in their pictures. What most people want to do with a camera is to capture a scene, to keep it as a memory, or to share with others. A few people want to make a photograph, control the light subject and background to make an image that wouldn’t exist without the photographer stepping in. For instance few families stand in order of height around the holiday decorations, unless someone is making a picture. Since I’ve been teaching lighting for more than twenty years, the people who want to control the light, make good light, in their pictures, are the people I’m working with. As people who read this blog know, I often write about light and I’ve written a couple of books about light Understanding and Controlling Strobe Lighting: A Guide for Digital Photographers and Photographing Architecture: Lighting, Composition, Postproduction and Marketing Techniques. These books might make good gifts for other photographers. You might consider giving a photographer one of my classes: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting, Portrait Lighting on Location and in the Studio and  Getting Started in Commercial Photography Or buying a class for yourself. By the way, all the images this week are strobe image, and most of them are from my books.

In addition to teaching you about whether or not you want to make good light, that first lighting kit often teaches you about what you want when you buy lights again. Of course you learn this by being frustrated by the problems with your first lights. Many inexpensive kits use fluorescent bulbs for light. These can only be used effectively in rooms without other light sources, and they have little or no control over the relative power of the lights. These and other continuous light sources might be good for cheap video lights, but they aren’t much use for still shooting, because you won’t have good depth of field and a short shutter speed. Strobes, or flash if you prefer, are much better lights for still cameras. They give you more light, better color balanced light, and they stop action. Unfortunately there are many strobe kits that have too little light power to do any of this. In my An Introduction to Photographic Lighting class at BetterPhoto.com I ask students to work with a couple of very cheap clamp lights. You can learn the important first lessons from $15 worth of lights as well as from a $300 kit. Plus you can use the clamp lights in the garage when you’re through doing photography with them.

Here’s the way I think about power on a strobe, or even on a continuous light: I might want to shoot in a room that had direct sunlight, and in that case I would want my lights to be much brighter than the sunlight or whatever other light there might be. If my light isn’t much brighter than the existing light than the existing light will define the kinds of pictures I can make. Of course the size and color of the room will have a lot to do with how much power I’ll need. The other big consideration is the way I modify light. If I was using hard light, direct from the strobe, I’d need much less strobe power than if I was using a large light modifier, like a soft box, umbrella or a light panel. Since I often use an umbrella and a light panel together, and the combination is inefficient, I need a lot of power. I find, based on extensive experience, that I need at least 600 watt-seconds to be able to overcome ambient light in most situations. I have and use many lights with less power, but in most situations I have at least one strobe with 600 watt-second to set the tone of my shot. Keep in mind that raising the ISO will raise the sensitivity of ambient light as quickly as the sensitivity to light from the strobes, so a higher ISO won’t always reduce your need for powerful strobes. In my classes I often recommend the Alien Bee B1600. I like this unit because of both the power and the quality.

If I were doing location work, where portability was critical, I would compromise on this. I might also accept longer recycling times, but in most location situations I would really want to have quick recycling. Keep in mind that one common location situation is shooting an event, and picture opportunities can happen very quickly. The first choice for a location strobe will probably be a powerful dedicated strobe from your camera manufacturer: perhaps a Canon 580 IIEX or a Nikon SB900. Many will get additional dedicated units from the manufacturer when they want to do more complex lighting. I can see that a second dedicated unit might be useful for shooting events, but only if you have an assistant to position the light, but for most situations a manual unit would do as well, and it would save a lot of money. I particularly like the Lumopro unit.

Of course the type and quality of the accessories is really important to evaluating a kit. Much of the advantage in a kit is the discount you get on accessories. Unfortunately many kits include poor accessories. For instance I like to see umbrellas in a kit, as I think they are good tools. If the umbrellas don’t have a removable black back they are pretty much useless as light modifiers, because you can’t control the direction of the light. Many people selling kits save a couple of bucks and include only translucent umbrellas, which is too bad. Here’s a list of the tools I would like to have with one light: light stand, barn doors, bowl reflector, 45 inch umbrella with a black back, a light panel and a sync wire or a radio slave. Here’s an article about shooting with one light, there’s a lot you can do! Additional useful accessories include: a snoot or a grid spot, a small light stand and a large umbrella, maybe 60 inches. I already put a list of the basic kit I often recommend on this blog here

Happy holidays. I hope that you receive light for the holidays!

November 12, 2012

Shooting Large Format at Indiana Landmarks

Filed under: Architectural Lighting,Film Technique,Indianapolis,Large Format Photography,Photographic Equipment — John Siskin @ 1:13 pm


Since I’ve been writing about architectural shooting lately, I should start off by mentioning my book Photographing Architecture. Available at Amazon and other fine booksellers.

Of course my other book: is also available, why not get the set?

And my classes continue at BetterPhoto.com. I’d like to meet you in class.
An Introduction to Photographic Lighting,
Portrait Lighting on Location and in the Studio,
Getting Started in Commercial Photography

I’ve been continuing to shoot architecture with the 8X10 camera, and I must say I am having a fabulous time doing it. I did a shoot at a building called the Indiana Landmarks Center, which was formerly the Central Avenue Methodist Church. After restoration the facility is just stunning. I did several shots with the big camera. Two of my favorites are reproduced here. These are scans of the Vandyke prints. As I mentioned in previous blog entries the reproductions are very different from original prints. I will be selling originals soon, so you’ll be able to have an original for yourself. I am going back to the Indiana landmarks Center, probably tomorrow, to do some more shooting.

I should add a few technical details, in case anybody is keeping track. Both these images were made with my widest lens: a 165mm Angulon. This lens has about an 85º angle of view, which is very wide for large format, but not quite as wide as a 20mm lens on full frame 35mm film. I’m continuing to process in a two-bath version of D-23. The first bath is 5 minutes and the second just 3 minutes. I’m pretty happy with this, but I do need to increase the exposure a little. I’m using HP-5 film from Ilford currently, but I’m looking at other options. A box of 25 sheets of 8X10 film costs almost $90, so I want to be careful about what I choose. I’m actually shooting two 4X10-inch images on a single sheet of 8X10-inch film. I use a dark slide I’ve cut in half to protect the unexposed side of the film in the camera. This works really well, but I have to be careful not to double expose.

The image on a Vandyke print is made from silver, like modern black and white photo papers. However the light sensitive coating is mixed by hand and the chemical reactions are very different from modern photo papers. The coating is then brushed onto watercolor or other fine art paper. I’ve been having some difficulty coating the paper, but I think I have it figured out now. If you’re interested in more information about hand coated papers and the chemical/mechanical history of photography you should check out The Keepers of Light by William Crawford. Since it is out of print a new copy can be quite expensive, but Amazon offers used copies at reasonable prices.

After shooting digital for the last few years it is really interesting to travel back in time to large format cameras and older printing processes. As always shooting a big camera makes me a more careful shooter when I return to shooting digital.
Please consider one of my classes at BetterPhoto.com:

An Introduction to Photographic Lighting

Portrait Lighting on Location and in the Studio

Getting Started in Commercial Photography

If you’re in the Indianapolis area there are other opportunities as well. I’ll be teaching a class in commercial photography next spring at Ivy Tech.

October 15, 2012

Updates and Light Opinions

Filed under: Basic Photo Technique,Film Technique,Indianapolis,Large Format Photography,Lighting Technique,Photographic Education — John Siskin @ 8:17 am

I hope you’ll check out my books: Photographing Architecture and Understanding and Controlling Strobe Lighting. I hope you’ll get copies if you haven’t already. Of course you know that one reason for this blog is to sell the book and get you to consider one of my classes at BetterPhoto.com: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting, Portrait Lighting on Location and in the Studio, Getting Started in Commercial Photography

Updates on my project with the 8X10 camera: I went back to the Indiana Historical Society and made another negative. This didn’t have the defects on some of the last set, so I think it is time to go forward. Here’s the latest shot from the conservation lab:


I also made a Vandyke print of one of the original negatives. I need to stress that seeing this scan on your monitor isn’t like seeing the actual print. It never is. If you want to see original images you need to go to galleries or buy prints. At least look at well printed books made with the photographer’s supervision. Anyway, here is a scan of my print from the first shoot.


I wrote most of what follows for one of my students at BetterPhoto. I’ve said these things before in this blog, but that’s no reason not to say them again. The heart of the matter is: if you can’t make light, if you have to find light to take a picture, or if you believe that light designed by a photographer is inferior to found light, you will limit the pictures you can take and limit there quality. It is better to learn more skills, and get more tools, in order to allow yourself to be a better photographer.


I am aware that many people use the terms artificial light and natural light, but I don’t think that when a great number of people use a term that actually makes the term accurate. A photon doesn’t act differently because it comes from the sun or a light bulb. A given light source may have a different color balance, but that doesn’t mean that it is natural. Sunlight and lightning (note the word is lightning with an n. Instantaneous light from storm clouds) have a similar color balance, but a cloudy day, or a volcano or natural phosphorescence have very different color than daylight. People most often refer to strobes as being artificial, but call a light bulb is a natural light source. In fact a strobe is really a kind of controlled lightning, which is natural, while light bulbs doesn’t occur naturally. The real problem that people have with strobes is that they can’t visualize what the light will look like, so they find that their pictures look very differently from what they hope. This is why you need to practice with light in order to understand and visualize light, which will make it easier to work with any light source.


I do think that natural is a value laden term. Natural foods are assumed to be better than artificial food; natural fabrics are assumed to be better than artificial. I often hear people describe themselves as “natural light photographers.” I am sure they wouldn’t like to describe themselves as photographers who are handicapped by an inability to create and control light in their photographs. The term photography is from the Greek and can be translated as “writing with light,” and I do think a photographer is a better photographer when she/he can actually create a photograph by controlling the light. Lighting is not the only way to make better photographs, but it is one of the most important tools for creating better photographs. This is why I teach lighting courses, and write books and articles about lighting. If I can help more shooters learn to use this tool I can help a lot of people make better photos.


Some years ago I did a job for the Huntington Library in Pasadena, actually San Marino, at the same time [a well known photographer who I shouldn’t disparage on this blog] was shooting for them. He is known for using “natural” light. I talked to my contact about my shots and his after the shoot was over. My contact was much happier with my work because of issues with focus and light control and color, all the problems in the other photographer’s images existed because he had little ability to control the light.


People that I know and respect use the term natural light, which is too bad. The term has even slipped out of my mouth once or twice, which is unfortunate because natural isn’t precise. There, I am glad I got that off my chest, again. You might want to say: “I use ambient light” rather than “natural light” in order to be accurate.


The important thing is to learn to pre-visualize what the light will do. You can walk around hunting for good light outdoors, or even inside. But if you don’t understand the way light defines a subject you will be hunting for good light randomly, which may be a fruitless search. This is why I think that practice, with lights, is so important: it gives you a real sense of how light works. So if you think you need soft light for a portrait you’ll start with a large light modifier, perhaps the light panel. Then you might want to define the face a little more so you may add a hard light. Regardless you won’t have to just keep moving the lights around. The goal is to be able to see the portrait you want to make, or still life or architectural shot, in your head. This will enable you to make choices about the light. It is important to know there isn’t one right light that will fit everyone, or even a few lighting set-ups that will work in any situation. Lighting is not something you can set your camera to do automatically. Lighting requires you to take control and create the right situation for your subject.


Strobes create light by passing a spark though a tube filled with xenon gas. Both a dedicated on camera flash (say a Nikon SB900 or a Canon 580II EX) and a mono-light like an Alien Bee (http://www.paulcbuff.com/b1600.php) create light in exactly the same way. A dedicated unit (SB900, 580II EX) is better for work where you travel or cover events, like weddings. It is much lighter and will mount on the camera. It will expose automatically, but of course automatic light often looks bad, even when it is properly exposed. Mono-lights, or studio strobes will work all day without running out of batteries or taking longer to recycle because they run off AC power. They often have more power and better light modifiers. They are much better for studio work, and can be better for many location jobs.


The images I put into the lighting discussion are all strobe images. I’m aware that I use some images repeatedly in this blog. I am building a new portrait portfolio so I should have more shots where I can find them for the blog.


Please consider one of my classes at BetterPhoto.com:

An Introduction to Photographic Lighting

Portrait Lighting on Location and in the Studio

Getting Started in Commercial Photography

If you’re in the Indianapolis area there are other opportunities as well. I’ll be teaching a class in commercial photography next spring at Ivy Tech.

September 25, 2012

Project Begins!

Filed under: Basic Photo Technique,Film Technique,Indianapolis,Large Format Photography,Photographic Equipment — John Siskin @ 11:06 am

I hope you’ll check out my books: Photographing Architecture and Understanding and Controlling Strobe Lighting. I hope you’ll get copies if you haven’t already. Of course you know that one reason for this blog is to sell the book and get you to consider one of my classes at BetterPhoto.com: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting, Portrait Lighting on Location and in the Studio, Getting Started in Commercial Photography If you’re in the Indianapolis area there are other opportunities as well. I’ll be teaching a class in commercial photography next spring at Ivy Tech.


I did my first shoot for the project I discussed in the last blog entry. These are the images I used in this entry. Of course these don’t really look like prints, they look like the way you balanced your screen. My working title is Interiors. This shoot went well, there are, however, some defects in some negatives. I did the shoot at the Indiana Historical Society. They were very accommodating about my large camera and tripod. Many of the people in the building seemed to assume that I was one of the displays. There was more light inside the building than I had expected so the exposures were a little shorter than I expected; ranging from 1 to 12 seconds. I shot at f32 or f45 and used my two Dagors; the 8.25 inch and the 14 inch I discussed in the last blog. When you use a larger image area you need a longer lens to create the same field of view. So a 12 inch (300 mm) lens on an 8X10 camera sees like a 50 mm (2 inch) lens on my full frame Nikon D800. When you use longer lenses and a larger capture area you also need to stop the lens down further to get the same depth of field. A 12 inch lens will need to be stopped down to f64 to get the same depth of field as a 50mm lens at f16. Of course this means the shutter will be open eight times as long.

I have to work out shutter issues on some lenses before I can use them in the field. When you use long exposures you don’t need a very sophisticated shutter, in fact a lens cap will do! The problem with a lens cap is that you may shake the camera when you remove it. I have used Packard shutters, which are air driven, in the studio. These work especially well with strobes, but I’m not sure I can mount them on the camera in the field. My Dagors are both mounted in leaf shutters.

I have been using a recipe for developing the film I got from The Darkroom Cookbook, Third Edition. I used a recipe for a divided developer: D-23. The developing agents are separate from the accelerators. There are several reasons that this is advantageous for this project: one is that I can process several types of film in the same way. As I may change films, or use older film, this will help me get printable negatives. I had processing problem with the second sheet of film I shot at the Indiana Historical Society. I think I contaminated my developer. You can see streaking in one of the images I’ve attached to this blog.

As I suggested at the top of this entry, the images I’ve attached aren’t really my goal. I will be contact printing these negatives onto watercolor paper using the Van Dyke process. This is the next step in this project. I may consider other processes, like Cyanotype or Kallitype, but I hope that Van Dykes will work out. More as the project evolves.

 

September 10, 2012

Shooting Large Spaces

Filed under: Film Technique,Large Format Photography,Photography Communication — John Siskin @ 9:35 am

I hope you’ll check out my books: Photographing Architecture and Understanding and Controlling Strobe Lighting. I hope you’ll get copies if you haven’t already. Of course you know that one reason for this blog is to sell the book and get you to consider one of my classes at BetterPhoto.com: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting, Portrait Lighting on Location and in the Studio, Getting Started in Commercial Photography If you’re in the Indianapolis area there are other opportunities as well. I’ll be teaching a class in commercial photography next spring at Ivy Tech.

This is an image I made with the Toyo on the 4X10 format. The original has a great level of detail. I made a couple of prints that were more than 6 feet wide.

Most of the time I try to make photographs. That means individual images that I create in whatever way is appropriate or available for that particular image. If I am shooting with my fish eye camera or my super-wide camera I am going to make images that have a particular view of the world. If I shoot with my new digital camera I can make images with a very extensive pallet because that camera is such a flexible tool. It is also possible to create a series of images that have an internal constancy because they are made in a similar way with a set of basic rules. It isn’t better to make a group of images in this way, but it is an interesting way to approach photography. I have made a couple of portfolios in this way, and I found the work and the results very rewarding.

This is a cyanotype print. I made the sensitive emulsion for the image and coated it onto paper. While the cyanotype is blue the Van Dyke print is dark brown or black.

 

I have decided to do a project that is a little more challenging in this manner. I am going to shoot large format images of public spaces here in Indiana. I will be shooting auditoriums, halls and religious sanctuaries. I may include such places as hotel lobbies or malls. I have seen many photographers shoot the remains of great buildings, but I think it will be interesting to shoot buildings that are in use. I want to shoot these places with my 8X10 Toyo Field Camera, which is a fantastic tool for architectural subjects. The biggest reason for using the 8X10 Toyo is that I can create alternate process prints with the large negatives. I have done considerable work with cyanotype images in the past, but in this case I expect to make Van Dyke prints. I will also be able to scan the images so that I can make very large prints from the same negatives.

This is a shot of a public space that I like very much. I hope to work with more images like this one.

 

Although I expect to shoot with the 8X10 camera I will probably actually make 4X10 inch negatives. The more panoramic format is well suited to the project and I can make two images on each piece of film. The 8X10 film is quite expensive, about $4.00 a sheet. I’ve decided to start the project shooting HP5 Plus from Ilford. I like the high ISO, 400 and the film has good detail. I considered Kodak T-Max, but it is much more expensive; also I do not know how long Kodak will continue to supply large format film.

This shot was made on my super-wide camera. It makes great images but isn't good for very large scans or alternative process prints.

 

In this blog entry I have picked images that are related to this new project either by subject or by methodology or both. The captions will give you information about the relationship between the image and the project.

Made with my super-wide camera. I am interested in how people interact with a public space.

One of the great pleasures of shooting a large format camera is the lenses. Both Nikon and Canon make very fine lenses for their digital cameras, but there is a more individual characteristic to large format lenses. Just the names: Dagor, Angulon and G-Claron conjure up a certain magic. I will start with a 165mm Angulon, which is extremely wide for the 8X10 format. I will also use an 8.25 inch Gold Barrel Dagor and a 14 inch Gold Dot Dagor, for my first shoots. I also have a 270 wide angle G-Claron and a 480mm Dogmar which might be used later in the project. I did some earlier work with home made large format lenses, which was quite successful. I may use these lenses as the project develops.

There are wonderful opportunities to shoot in public spaces.

 

If you are interested in large format lenses I am going to sell one that you might want: a 360 f5.6 Schneider Symmar. Please send me an e-mail if you are interested. I will probably put the lens on eBay soon. This is a fascinating convertible lens that is very fast. This is the link to the auction at eBay.

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