Umbrellas Are Great For Rainless Days, Too

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One of our projects during last week's shoot here in Croton-on-Hudson (as part of the Hudson River Photography Workshops) was to master wireless, daylight fill-flash. Meaning: taking a flash picture that does not look like a flash picture.

On the left you see a simple flash set-up: One flash on a stand, triggered by a PocketWizard, bounced into an small umbrella - which softens the light from the flash and wraps it around the subject (not a professional model in this case, as you can see, but a heck of good sport when it comes to being the demo subject during a shoot).

Some folks triggered an off-camera flash with their camera's built-in flash.

We'll do more off-camera flash shooting this week and next week during the workshop. My pal Joe Brady from the MAC group will be the pro in charge of the demo - showing off the latest PocketWizards.

For more on fill-flash, click here.

So remember, keep your umbrella handy even if it's not raining!

Demo photo: Eliot Nierman.

Explore the Light,
Rick
P.S. Warning!! Hold onto your umbrella! Even a slight breeze could blow it down, damaging your set up.

Pro to Pro Tip #1: Andy Biggs on Copyrighted Images

Photograph © Andy Biggs

Remember to keep track of your copyrighted images, and which ones need to be copyrighted. You can either do this in an Excel spreadsheet or in the metadata in your files. I choose to insert metadata into my files that have been copyrighted through Lightroom, which makes it easier to keep track of.

Andy Biggs
www.andybiggs.com
www.theglobalphotographer.com

Andy Biggs and Scott Martin join forces to present a rigorous five day photography workshop in Moab, Utah. Moab is the epicenter of red rock country with its famous arches, balanced rocks and spires in Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. If you have never photographed in the Moab area, you owe it to yourself to witness some of the most famous geological formations in the American West.

http://www.andybiggs.com/content.php?page=2010-04-Moab

HDR Stands for More Than Just HDR :-)


I know, I know. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range - images that, by use of an HDR plug-in or stand-along program, have a higher dynamic range than a straight-out-of-the-camera shot.

Well, I think HDR stands for the following:

1) High Dynamic Range, of course.

2) High Depth Range, because by increasing the details in a scene, the HDR image has a high sense of depth. For example, compare the top image to the bottom image. The bottom image has a greater sense of depth.

And...

High Do-it-Yourself Rockin' Images, because you really can create some awesome and artist images with a few clicks of a mouse - or taps of a stylus.

For more info on HDR, see the pluginexperience.

Explore the Light,
Rick

Picture Your Hometown Heroes


One of our projects on last week's shoot here in Croton-on-Hudson as part of the Hudson River Photography Workshops was to document our hometown heroes at the local firehouse.

We all made some very nice end-result images, my favorite is on the right.

I'd like to thank Tim George for taking so many behind-the-scenes shots... which bring back fun memories of the workshop. Nice job Tim.

If you want to practice your on-location portraiture, arrange a session at your local firehouse. If you promise to make some prints for the firefighters, I am sure they'd say okay.

Bring your flash, reflector and diffuser – and be prepared to pump up your ISO - due to the low light conditions.

Be prepared to work fast, perhaps having a friend stand in when you are setting up a shot. That fire fighting gear gets VERY hot, and the firefighters don't want to heat up while your are adjusting your camera settings.

Watch our for reflections - or work with them.

Finally, if you can, make a small donation to the fire dept.

Explore the light,
Rick