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I will be the first to admit that I used to hate using flash, I would avoid it as much as possible by boosting the ISO or using faster lenses. At least until I learned how to use the flash properly.

The problem with flash is that if used wrong it looks ugly, features are washed out, white balance is off, and of course the big ugly shadow behind the subject, or a shadow created by your lens hood (in the case of some dSLR cameras and prosumer cameras). The inherent problem with any type of flash is that you have a large amount of light and power coming from a small area.

But lets step back here for a moment and go over the four types of flashes available to most photographers. The first type of flash is the built in flash, this can be found in all point and shoot, prosumer, and almost all SLR types of cameras, they’re often small, and offer limited control. The second type of flash is a speedlight, this is a camera flash that sits on the camera’s hot shoe, often larger and powered by their own supply, gives the photographer the ability to control the amount of power it puts off, or allow the camera to control the power settings based on it’s meter. You can also in many cases move the flash head around to bounce the light (which I will discuss later). The third type of flash is a Studio Strobe, these are often big, bulky, and expensive, and not very portable. The final type is not really a flash in the traditional sense, so I will not be going into more detail later on in the post. This fourth type is a “hot light” which is basically lights that are on constantly, just like a traditional light bulb or tube style lights.

But we’re working with strobes, flashes, so I will be focusing only on the first three, built in, speedlight, and studio.

A Canon A460 with a built in flash.

A Nikon SB-800 Speedlight

A Typical Studio Strobe, in this case an Elinchrom Style RX 600.

So lets start shooting here, first off using a built in flash. Below is a photo of the built in flash on the Nikon D300, it doesn’t stand out from the body, so if I’m using a longer lens on the camera, there will be a semi-circular shadow. Some SLR’s have a taller arm on their flash to help with this problem, but it still doesn’t help with the fact that it’s such a small surface area.

The built in flash on a Nikon D300

Below is an example of a photo taken using the built in flash of the D300, as you can see, there’s a dark shadow behind Claudius (the bear), and a semi-circular shadow below as a result of using the built in flash, and at the distance, there’s no real definition to our subject.

So what you need to do is to diffuse the light, by putting something with a larger surface area in front of your built in flash, there are several options available. However it is better to get something with a little more power and control, a speed light. All SLR type cameras have what’s called a Hotshoe, also several high end P&S cameras and Prosumer cameras are equiped with Hot Shoes. The Term Hot Shoe means that the accessory shoe provides a link between the camera and the flash for firing it. Some older cameras have what’s called a Cold Shoe, it is just a place to slide on the flash unit, then you need to connect the flash to the camera using a sync cord. Below is a photo again with a speedlight with the flash head pointed right at the subject. As you can see, the results are slightly better than the built in flash, no more shadow (because the head is far above the camera body) below the subject, but there still is a harsh shadow behind them, because you’re pointing all the light directly at them again. The Built in diffuser on the flash does a little bit to help but still not enough.

Speedlight directly at the subject

Speedlight directly at the subject with the diffuser flipped down

So to help out with this problem, since you can rotate the flash head, you can bounce the flash off the ceiling or walls, if they’re white, the light will remain clean, But you might catch some colour if you bounce it off a coloured surface. So lets try bouncing the flash.

Bounced off the ceiling.

Bounced off a White Surface

Bounced off a Coloured Surface

As you can see by bouncing the flash off of a surface you cut out a lot of the back shadow, or at least soften it or change the direction it is cast. Bouncing is always a cheap option and in a pinch can work really well, I use bounce a lot when working in casual environments, it avoids blasting the person in the face with all the light energy, which also would cause them to blink, and of course the deadly red eye (yes, red-eye reduction mode, but I never use that). The problem with bouncing the flash is that it will prevent light from striking certain parts of the subject, loosing those parts in the shadow. As you can see with the shot where the light was bounced off the ceiling the lower parts of the subject are dark and in shadow. With the two bounced off the walls, the side that the light wasn’t coming from was dark, and in the shot where I bounced the light off a blue surface, there is a colour cast to the light. Of course all of these can be defeated by using a device called a reflector, but not everyone has this in their inventory, plus that’s getting into a little more advanced things.

So the next step is to combine diffusing and bouncing, Gary Fong released a cool device called a lightsphere, but you can do the same thing with a frosted plastic beer cup, or there are other options out there. I use the lightsphere simply because it was given to me and I like the way it works. How these devices work is that they first diffuse the light using a huge surface area, then blast the light all around the room bouncing it off every surface, and because the device are symmetrical, no matter how you align it, the bounce will be the same.

So as you can see with the lightsphere type device, you get a very even light and very little, if not any shadow at all. For the most part when I don’t have the space to use off camera flash, I’ll use a lightsphere because it gives you the same type of light that you’d get from a studio setup, without having an entire studio with you.

You would use a flash when the area is too better light up your shot, but if you’re outside, would you still use a flash? Well the answer is yes, as you can see with some of the shots you have fairly directional light which does cast shadows, when you’re outside your directional light is the sun, and especially on sunny days you can get a lot of shadow cast on your subject, so a flash mounted on your camera can help as “Fill Flash” filling in light where it’s needed. Most modern units are intelligent enough to use the camera meter to put out enough light energy on the subject as to not wash out their features, but to just nicely light up the darker areas.

For example in this shot, I was able to use the flash to overcome the strong backlighting, so that the girl wouldn’t just be a silhouette.

I know, I did not touch on using studio lights and other special modifiers, as that is a more advanced subject than the basics, and that will come in a later post. Keep shooting!

With the Olympics being hosted in Vancouver for 2010, the Olympic Torch and flame has been making it’s way across Canada, this past Saturday it passed through my home base, so I got up early to grab some shots of it as it passed through.

Went out for a fall photoshoot with Emily. You can view the results below.

These were all taken using one camera and one lens, one off camera flash (SB-600) using radio triggers along with an umbrella or a grid snoot.

I don’t do prints or film processing myself, especially in large quantities, the reason is I don’t have the room or equipment to pump the stuff out, and doing anything more complex than black and white in a darkroom would not yield good results. So for large print jobs and film processing (Slide or Black and White) I use Henry’s (www.henrys.com).

Today, I realized why I keep using them, I went into the Oakville store, where I do a majority of my business with the company, I just greeted the clerk on the front counter with my usual Hello and Smile, and she immediately knew why I had come into the store, and reached out to pull the two rolls of film I had in for processing, and had them rung up by the time I was at the counter. That’s customer service, and why I’ll keep using Henry’s.

The Film turned out beautifully also.

In my original post I reviewed the various choices of lenses available to those who use a interchangeable lens camera such as Single Lens Reflex camera, and those using Micro 4/3rds systems. (Sorry P&S and Prosumer users, this one isn’t really for you). So now that you have your amazing collection of glass in your collection, we can start picking and choosing for various situations.

Landscapes
The choice for this one is obvious, you’re going to be looking for a wide or ultra wide angle lens, this will easily help you capture the vastness of the shot. If you’re going for a more interesting look, especially with a cityscape, you may even choose a fisheye lens to get that rounded look. Occationally you can use a longer lens for landscape work, the photo that makes up the banner for this blog was taken using a 50mm lens on a crop sensor (so a 75mm focal length), but I was fairly distance from my subject and pulled off a wonderfully sharp shot.

Nikon F80 ~ Tameron 11-18mm 1:4.5-5.6 DiII @ 18mm (true 18mm as it’s a 35mm camera)

Architecture
This is the area of photography that I cut my teeth on. In this case again you’re going to be working with ultra-wide and wide angles for the most part here as you’ll want to capture the whole room in your shot, and when working with crop sensor bodies, your 24mm lens won’t really cut it anymore. I found this out when I first switched to a Digital SLR with a crop sensor. I still take time to go and capture the abandoned buildings that I travel far and wide for, and my ultra-wide lens is usually with me. But in many cases, I leave my versatile 17-55mm lens on my camera for ease of use and keeps the switching of lenses inside these buildings to a minimum.

Nikon D70s ~ Sigma 18-50mm @ 18mm (27mm with the crop factor).

Portrait
The main mistake that many people make when it comes to portrait work is that they use a wide angle lens, then zoom with their feet. Because they need to get that full body shot, so they zoom out to the widest they can go, and stand fairly close to the subject. Trust me, this is not flattering.

A rather brutal example of this, is my friend Alex here. I used a 10-20mm lens, set to 10mm, as you can see I got up rather close to focus on the head and shoulders area, it’s rather distorted, in this case it is a neat effect for a fun off the cuff shot, but this would not cut it for a professional portrait shot.

Nikon D300 ~ Sigma 10-20mm @ 10mm

If this was a more professional shot, I would have picked a longer focal length, 50mm or greater, and stood up higher, to keep everything in the correct proportions. So when going for a portrait work, stick to prime lenses with a focal length (before or after a crop) of 50mm or greater. I regularly use my 35mm lens to do group shots when I don’t have a lot of room to work with. That is the one downside to all this, you do need more room the longer of a lens you are working with.

Nikon D300 ~ Nikon 85mm

As you can see, similar to Alex as before, but now Amy is wonderfully proportioned, in this case I had some room to play with being on the streets, my 70-200mm lens would work great for this as well.

Event/Photojournalism/Street
This niche of photography is really dependent on the whole situation. I’ve used both Prime and Zoom lenses to shoot events and out on the street, and I’ve found that I gravitate more towards the long zoom lens, mostly because it gives you more freedom to catch the event or action as it happens in a candid manner. So grab a telephoto for this so you can keep yourself both in the action and yet just outside so that they don’t see the lens focusing in on them almost causing them to stage the action.

Nikon D300 ~ Nikon 135mm

I used a prime lens for this particular event, a protest for and against the Israel invasion of the Gaza strip earlier this year. It worked really well for a manual focus lens.

Macro
This isn’t really my area of photography, but many manufactures produce specialized lenses for the purpose of photographing things close up and detailed.

I do keep a Macro lens in my collection, but I don’t think I’m going to be keeping it much longer as I don’t use it.

You’re probably wondering why Weddings isn’t mentioned in this list, because a wedding is a merger of two general types, event and portrait, so pick your lenses appropriately. If you really want to you can get away with only two lenses for weddings, a wide to normal (17-55mm) and a telephoto (70-200mm) and that would have you covered.

At the beginning of October I got to work with a wonderful aspiring model, Amy. We took to the streets of Lindsay, ON to do a quick photoshoot. The fun part about working in small towns is that it does attract the attention of the locals, who were very curious about what exactly we were doing. Kent Street provided an excellent backdrop, from the historic downtown to the ruins of the old mill.

At the beginning of the month I had a the honor of photographing another fall wedding, the couple whom I worked with was Tyler and Erin, and they were wonderful to work with, patient, understanding, and just a joy to work with. With unpredictable weather that day we were able to use the sanctuary of Knox Presbyterian Church which provided a beautiful back drop for the portrait work.

If you use a Point & Shoot or Prosumer camera, you can pretty much skip most of what is said here, this is more aimed at users of cameras that have an interchangeable lens system. Rangefinders and SLRs.

When it comes to lens, there are two types of lenses, zoom lenses which can change the focal length, and prime lenses, which have a fixed focus.

The Nikon 17-55mm is an example of a zoom lens.

The Nikon 50mm is an example of a prime lens.

Each types have their pros and cons. Zoom lenses offer you excellent versatility especially when shooting events where you often need to have a wider view angle, when photographing groups of people, to being able to focus in on the action. If you just have a prime lens on, you have to do your zooming with you feet, or fumble around with multiple lenses at any given time for the situation. However zoom lenses with today’s technology can only have a max aperture of f/2.8 without being really expensive or very large. Prime lenses, can be a little cheaper than a zoom lens, but be much faster, my 50mm f/1.8 lens is only $150.00. Prime lenses are great for portrait work, or low light situations. I once shot almost an entire concert using my 50mm f/1.8 lens.

There are four categories into which both types of lenses fall into, based on the focal length of the lens.

The first is Ultra-Wide, this is what lenses with a focal length less than, but not including 35mm, fish-eye lenses (which offer a 180° angle of view) fall into this category. Best to use these for landscape and architecture work.

The Tameron 11-18mm lens, is an example of an ultra-wide zoom lens.

An example photo using an ultra-wide lens, using the Tamron mentioned above @ 11mm

The second category is Normal, the reason it’s called “normal” is because is almost duplicates the angle of view that your eyes have (eyes are approximatly a 50mm lens so if you’re on a crop sensor camera, use the mag factor to determain what lens will give you the 50mm length, on Nikon & Canon you’ll want a 35mm lens, on 4/3 camera a 17mm lens). This covers the range of focal lengths between 35mm and 70mm.

Nikon’s 35mm lens.

Taken with a 35mm lens, with the crop factor it is at 52mm.

The third category is telephoto, this covers focal lengths between 70mm and 135mm, often used for portrait, street, and photojournalism, as you can often get a compact lens that still give you a good reach. You can even still get a fast lens for a decent price at this range, even in zoom and prime. Again have a crop sensor, gives these lenses even more reach.

An old Nikon Manual Focus 105mm telephoto lens, a classic lens favoured by photojournalists.

An example of a photo, even on a modern dSLR, the old Manual lenses perform wonderfully.

The fourth and final category is super telephoto, this occupy any focal length greater than 135mm, there are some lenses that are 500mm and higher available. If you’re doing a lot of sports, nature (wildlife), and aerial photography (or stalking) these are the lenses for you, often bulky, and for a good fast lens, you’ll be shelling out upwards of $2000.00. However if you do spend the money, it is well worth it, even for street photography, if the area is crowded enough, you can get the shot you want without being seen.

The Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens is great telephoto lens, for moderate duty, plus if you add a telecoverter to it, you can get it to reach even further. However it is a bit noticeable, and rather bulky to carry around.

An example photo @ 200mm

Stay Tuned for Part 2, more on how to choose a lenses and why to use certain lenses for each application!

Sorry I haven’t been posting more of these, but I’ve been collecting my thoughts on what else to post in this series. One question that I often am asked is the “What type of camera should I get?” so hopefully if you’re asking this question and stumble across this post I’ll be able to answer them for you!

Today there are several different types of cameras available to users, both in the film and digital range.

First off, there’s the Point and Shoot (P&S) cameras.

The Canon A460 is an excellent example of the lower end of the P&S spectrum, often these cameras have a simple zoom lens, or a fixed focus lens very little in the way of manual overrides, designed mostly for quick snap shots on the family vacation. Of course, there are higher end point and shoots, like Contax (in the Film world) and even Canon’s G-Series. Higher end cameras often have better lenses, more manual control, and better image quality.

The Canon G7

Prosumer cameras, are exclusively digital, these cameras, often have the look and feel of a Single Lens Relflex camera, often with a powerful zoom lens, manual control, and excellent image quality.

The Panasonic Lumix FZ-7 is an example of a Prosumer camera.

Direct view cameras, or Range Finders are often associated with the brand Leica, who has legendary cameras and lenses. These cameras, especially in the film world were unique in the fact that the view finder was offset from the lens itself. In the digital world, the viewfinder has been replaced for the most part with a LCD screen. These cameras feature interchangeable lenses, and have recently been making a comeback with the Micro Four Thirds system being used in the Olympus E-P1 (pictured above) and the new Panasonic GF1. Leica also has it’s M8 and M9 digital rangefinders.

The SLR, or Single Lens Reflex camera, has been one of the most popular and well known cameras in the photography world, the design hasn’t really changed since they were first invented and released. The name itself comes from the way you operate the camera. Single Lens, easy, when you look in the viewfinder you’re looking through the lens itself, the Reflex is the mirror traveling up, blocking the viewfinder and sending the light onto the film through the shutter curtain. These cameras offer a wide range of modes of operations, making it very versatile.

So, now that we’ve covered the basic cameras that are readily available, you can work on making a choice on what sort of camera to get. The first step is to of course figure out what sort of things you’ll be needing your camera for.

If you just want a camera to carry around in your pocket to capture family stuff, events with friends, you’re going to want to go with a Point and Shoot. The type you go with all depends on how comfortable you are with photography. Have big hands, but just need a basic camera a Prosumer one would be the way to go.

When it comes to Rangefinders and SLRs, most people who go for them already are well versed in the area of photography, but even now these days most companies are building SLRs aimed at the entry level market (Canon XS and Nikon D5000/D3000). If you are considering to really ramp up your photography, or want to do most photojournalism, in addition to capturing family moments, go with an SLR.

Another type of camera that is making a come back is medium format. Again both are available in film and digital varieties, although I only have major experience with the film type, but I have used the digital ones and they are amazing to use. The film used in Medium format cameras comes in various sizes, but all share the same basic characteristics, it comes in rolls, usually with some form of backing paper, it is rolled off one spool and onto another one. The two main types of Medium format that are still readily available these days is 120 and 220, the difference between them is that 220 has twice the length of 120, and lacks backing paper.

The size of the negative on the film depends on the type of camera you shoot with, it ranges from 6cm x 4.5cm up to 6cm x 24cm. Most cameras use 6×4.5, 6×6, or 6×9 these days. Like the cameras mentioned previously, you can get range finders, SLR, and one other type, Twin Lens Reflex (or TLR). With TLRs look different from most cameras you see, for the most part you look through the top of the camera to compose the shot using the top lens. But it is the bottom lens that actually lets the light in to expose the film. TLRs are very uncommon to find new these days, but there are a few “toy” or cheap plastic ones that are still produced today.

An Agfa Box camera, produced in the 1930s, uses 120 film and produces a 6×9 negative.

A Yashica-12 Twin Lens Camera, produces a 6×6 negative.

A Mamiya 645, a SLR type medium format camera, it can use both 120 and 220 film, and produces a 6×4.5 negative. This type of camera you replace the film magazine with a digital back, another major brand of this type of camera is Hasselblad, which also has digital backs for their cameras.

Hasselblad also produces a strictly digital medium format camera, which are very expensive, yet fun to use.

Medium Format cameras were at one time used for portrait work, because with a larger negative could produce cleaner enlargements, but modern digital technology has taken over these, because of two reasons, you can get more shots on a card, and you won’t have to carry around tonnes of film. Digital Medium Format cameras are uses almost exclusivly by the fashion industry (Melissa Rodwell is known to shoot with a Hasselblad Digital Medium Format.), and commercial photography that requires huge billboard sized enlargements. TLRs and toy cameras are aimed these days at the art students, often producing strange effects on the resulting shots.

The Final type of camera is large format, these are exclusively film cameras, and use what’s called Sheet Film, one shot per sheet. Ranging in size from 4 inches by 5 inches, and upwards to 11 inches by 14 inches. Commonly you still see 4×5 and 8×10 cameras around these days.

A Crown Graphic, a common 4×5 type camera.

You would use a large format camera if you want amazing details, and no need for enlarging your shots from a smaller format, as you can easily shoot in the format you want to print. LF produces the least amount of grain in an image, with the highest definition of detail, it blows the lid off any smaller format and any digital camera commercially available. Of course You only get one shot per sheet, and 8×10 negatives are running upwards of 110.00 for a pack of 25 (4.50 per sheet), so if you mess up, you’re out almost five dollars. It is also very hard to find places that actually develop LF these days, unless you can do them yourself.

It’s been a busy fall in my normal job, so photography has been a bit lapsing, however I am going to be picking up some commission work through Sheridan college (where I’m employed) and the Marketing & Communication/Student Recruitment Office.

I was also once again published in two Presbyterian Church of Canada Publications. The cover photo of Glad Tidings, the magazine for the Women’s Missionary Society, and again in the Presbyterian Record’s September Issue.

As we once again head into October, I have a couple of Photo jobs, the first is a Zombie photo shoot in Oakville on the 26th in the evening. Then on October 3rd is Tyler and Erin’s wedding, and on the 4th to the 10th I’ll be on vacation traveling to eastern Ontario. Actually on the 4th doing a photo shoot in Lindsay Ontario with Amy.