Bokeh Assignment

To get good bokeh, you need a couple of things:

-a good fast lens (one that offers big apertures)
-space between your subject and the background, foreground

In this picture, I was using my 70-200 f/2.8 lens which is great glass and I was zoomed in at 170mm. The background is not only blurred out, but it is a very pleasant look with those little circles of blur that you see.



There was nothing in the foreground because I was zoomed in so far, so there is no bokeh to be had in front of my subjects. I'd love to see some of your shots from this week so comment below with a link to them.

Next week's assignment is:

-- Sunset/Sunrise --

One of the most common photographs is that of a sunrise or sunset, so get out there early or late and see how creative you can get!

Headshot

I did a headshot for a friend of mine today who is trying out for a part at Disney this weekend. As far as a setup, it was very simple. We hung the black background, fired an SB800 through a Lastolite Diffuser from camera right at about 45*, and that was it. With a woman, I probably would have added an extra light to fill in the shadows, but when you are shooting a portrait of a man, you can get away with more shadows because of the shape of our faces. Here's the one he chose:



Jonathan, thanks for letting me work with you on this. Good luck this weekend!

Lighting Your Background

Last week I showed you a picture of Ainsley where I used a white background, but because I did not use a light on the background itself, it actually turned gray in the picture. Here's another look at it:



Last night I took a couple of shots of her with the same exact background, only this time I put a strobe directly behind her facing the white background. This gives us the kind of look you see in many magazine shoots that look very clean and crisp. The way you do this, is to make sure the light on the background is about 2 stops brighter than the light you have on your subject. Here's the keeper from last night:



So the setup for this shot was one SB800 shooting through a Lastolite Tri-Grip Diffuser to camera right and above Ainsley (see the catch light in her eyes). I had a white Westcott reflector hanging beside her to camera left to fill in some of the shadows on that side of her face. Then one more SB800 directly behind her facing the background exactly 2 stops more powerful than the main light. I fired the two strobes with the SU800.

You can just imagine the cover:

Clean Your Sensor

Sorry about not blogging yesterday. I took both cameras in to have the sensors cleaned which led me to blog about having that done. If you have ever started having little spots (dust, hair, etc.) on your pictures that show up in the same spot on every picture, it's time to have your sensor cleaned. My advice is to NOT try to do this on your own. You've invested a lot of money on your DSLR, why not have a professional take care of it for you. You can damage your camera if you attempt this on your own without knowing exactly what you are doing.

Here's a picture from last week's family portrait session, and you can see how filthy my sensor was:



You can see in the sky, water, on their shirts and skin, all the dust and junk that was attached to my sensor, and believe me, it was a PAIN to remove all the stuff in PS. This happens whenever you are changing lenses often. So try to change lenses very quickly. Always have the lens cap off of the new lens before you take the old one off. Also, hold your camera facing down so dust won't fall right into it.

So today I got the cameras back and they look great. Looking forward to getting out and shooting some this weekend.

By the way, if you are in Central Florida, I get my sensors cleaned at:

Southern Photo Technical Service
606 Virginia Dr., Orlando FL 32803

The cost is $45 per camera and usually takes less than 24 hours which is much cheaper and quicker than Ritz or Wolfe Camera.

Blur Assignment

Welcome back to Assignment Wednesday! This week you were to capture motion by using a slow shutter speed so that your moving subject would be blurred out but keeping the rest of the frame in focus. I had thought I would take a picture at night on a busy interstate, but we've all seen those pictures where the headlights look like a long strand of neon. So I got my two favorite models (Brooke & Ainsley) to help me with this picture.

We went to the park and Brooke started swinging Ainsley around. They were moving so fast, my first few tries, I couldn't see them at all in the picture. So I didn't need as slow a shutter speed as I originally thought. Even the keeper was shot at 0.6 of a second and that may have been too fast. But... here it is:



Looks like fun, doesn't it?

Next week's assignment:

---BOKEH---

The parts of your frame in front of and behind your subject that are out of focus. Bokeh is what makes an outdoor portrait look so great to most people. A few different things can affect the quality and the amount of bokeh you will get in a picture:

1. Your aperture (the bigger the aperture, the shallower depth of field you will have)
2. The distance your subject is from the foreground or background (the further away, the more bokeh you will get)
3. Your lens (different lenses have different qualities of bokeh... aka... you get what you pay for)

Traveling Light

Next week we will be going home for Wes and Amy's wedding. We'll get to spend time with lots of family and friends and I will definitely want to take some pictures while I am there. So the question comes... what gear do I take? Obviously when traveling with two kids, you have to travel as light as possible to allow for all the diapers, car seats, toys, food, bottles, etc. Anything you want to bring is much lower on the priority list.

I could just take the Canon G9 like I did in Canada, but it won't give me the low-light performance I will need inside homes, restaurants, etc. where we will be much of the time. I do have the Tenba Sling Bag which is easy to carry, light weight, and will fit enough gear for a short trip like this (which is why I bought it). So I will be taking my D3 and two lenses: the 18-200 VR and the 50mm f/1.4. You already know that I love the 18-200 VR for almost everything because it covers such a wide focal range and with the VR, I gain a couple of stops that I can shoot handheld. However, I will still need the ability to shoot in very dark restaurants and such, so I will throw in the 50mm f/1.4 (it fits in my pocket so it won't take up any room) and probably will shoot with it most of the weekend.

You know what? I think I will also throw in one SB800 just in case I'm feeling flashy! So there's a quick rundown of an easy way to travel light yet have everything you need to be able to get great pictures. Of course, I'll have an extra battery and flash cards for the camera. Don't ever forget those!

DIY Beauty Dish

A Beauty Dish is a light shaping tool that is used in portrait photography and usually you can spend more than $300 to buy one. Many people in the Strobist community have come up with ways to make their own for much cheaper. I built one for just under $30 and it turned out pretty good. If you are interested, here is the thread to the one I followed to build mine:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/discuss/72157604541039854/?search=diy+beauty+dish

This weekend I wanted to try mine out so I set up a little studio in the garage and Ainsley modeled for me for almost three minutes. I used the DIY Beauty Dish above her and camera left and a bare SB800 behind her to camera right for the rim light. Here are the four I kept: