We have dedicated this post to questions, answers and solutions on our Lighting Workshops. Please feel free to post any question you would like us to cover at the workshop and we will do our best to address them. After the workshop, you are welcome to post additional questions and insight to what you have learned.

Sharing knowledge is a great way to grow!

* Note: these settings must be the same as the Flash unit.

Plan:  a flexible intention of action.
When starting a new project, it’s important to have a flexible plan of action and understand plans may change. The first wedding I photographed, the bride requested 8 x 10′s I realized I cropped too tight in the camera and the photos looked great for an 8 x 12! Start with your end result in mind.

Photograph: using light to make pictures.
With the advent of digital cameras, more and more people are involved with photography. Leaving your camera in auto mode generally produces great snap shots. To produce a photograph, understanding ISO, Aperture and Shutter is paramount. Using light, color and textures help tell the story when the photographer isn’t there to explain it. The workshop will teach these principles as we photograph beautiful local landscapes. Location lighting and studio lighting will also be covered.

Process: a series of creative actions directed toward enhancing photographs.
Lightroom and Photoshop have replaced traditional dark rooms. The workshop will teach how to streamline these powerful tools giving us more time in front of the camera instead of the computer.

Print: a work of art made by inking a surface with a raised design.
There are many options for printing your photographs these days. From self printing to professional services, the workshop will give you valuable insight on affordable and creative ways to print.

Post: a modern way of using Social Media to display your photography.
Social media uses Internet and web-based technologies to talk about and showcase your work. Using the most popular media, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter, (to name just a few) you can share your photography privately for family and friends or allow the world to enjoy them. The workshop will teach you how to prepare and upload your files to these services.

On the surface, these two motivated instructors taught the fundamentals of HDR. The more I listened, the more  I realized they were teaching more than HDR. It takes a masterful instructor to teach one topic and sneak in concepts and theories that can be applied to any subject.  To keep this post simple, I’ve outlined the philosophy I came away with from the workshop.

Trey Ratcliff:

• Blues give other colors their vibrancy.
• Important to put complimentary colors together.
• Lens choice 14-24.
• uses google earth to scout out his locations.
• communicate feeling through temperature.
• perspective crop
• Nik color Efec 3.0 – tonal contrast for HDR look

My favorite quote from Trey: When you can’t get the shot you really want, there are always plenty of other shots around.

When shooting HDR

• Aperture priority mode
• Tripod level
• Auto bracket
• Cable release
• Nikon VR or Canon IS off
• Use PhotomatixPro for tone mapping
• Use Photoshop to complete your image

Scott Bourne

• HDR doesn’t have to stop with color, convert it to black and white.
• Recreate the image the way YOU saw it.
• The human eye sees about 11 stops of light, the camera only sees about 4
• Try vertical Landscape panoramics
• Photography protects memories
• Every photo or painting should have a little mystery in it.

My favorite quote from Scott: Be authentic, be yourself. That’s how you become different.

A Few Guidelines (not rules)

• Look for leading lines
• make the photo lead the viewer on a path
• Watch horizontal lines; either on top or bottom avoid the middle
• Study the old masters.
• Look for odd numbers like 3 trees or 5 benches.
• Look for shapes and colors.
• Landscapes need a strong foreground.
• Focus 1/3 into the landscape.
• When taking photos of people or anything with eyes, try to take the photo at their eye level.

Acronyms

Subject
Attention
Simplify

Entire shot
Detail
Focal length
Angle
Time

Look up
Look down
Look all around

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ED: Extra-Low Dispersion glass
High-quality glass that corrects for chromatic aberration, a type of image and color distortion that occurs when light rays of varying wavelengths pass through optical glass and don’t converge or focus at the same point. Nikkor lenses with ED glass deliver superior sharpness and contrast, even at maximum aperture. Super ED glass is a new type that is used together with ED glass in some lenses to achieve an even higher degree of freedom from chromatic aberration.

D: Distance
D-type AF-Nikkor lenses relay subject-to-camera distance information to Nikon SLR cameras that feature 3D Color Matrix Metering, 3D Matrix Metering, and 3D Multi-Sensor Balanced Fill-Flash.

G: The lens has no aperture control ring and is designed to be used with cameras that allow setting the aperture from the camera body. G lenses also provide Distance information to the camera.

AI-P: A manual-focus Nikkor lens with a built-in CPU which transfers data from the lens to the camera’s metering systems.

IF: Internal Focus
Focus is accomplished without the lens barrel rotating or changing length, an advantage when using a position-sensitive filter such as a polarizer or split neutral-density.

AF-S: Autofocus Silent
Focusing is driven by a “Silent Wave” motor in the lens instead of the focus drive motor in the camera. AF-S lenses focus faster than standard AF-Nikkors and almost completely silently. AF-S lenses with a “II” designation weigh less and are generally smaller than their equivalent predecessors.

DC: Defocus Control
A lens which allows the photographer to control the degree of spherical aberration in the foreground or background by rotating the lens’ DC ring. This will create a rounded out-of-focus blur that is ideal for portrait photography. With the DC control set at zero, a DC-Nikkor lens operates in the same way as a non-DC lens with the same focal length and maximum aperture.

CRC: Close Range Correction
Improves image quality at close focusing distances. The lens elements are configured in a “floating element” design wherein each lens group moves independently to achieve focusing. This ensures superior lens performance even when shooting at close distances.

PC: Perspective Control
A lens whose axis can be shifted laterally relative to the film plane, allowing the camera to be repositioned to reduce the convergence of vertical lines in architectural photography.

ASP: Aspherical lens elements
Aspherical lenses minimize coma and other types of lens aberrations, even when used at the widest aperture. They are particularly useful in correcting distortion in wide-angle lenses and help contribute to a lighter, more compact design by reducing the number of standard (spherical) elements necessary.

RF: Rear Focusing
A focusing system in which only the rear lens group moves to achieve focus. This design technique makes autofocusing operation smoother and faster.

VR: Vibration Reduction
An optical innovation that minimizes image blur caused by camera shake and offers the equivalent of shooting at a shutter speed three stops faster, allowing sharper handheld pictures with longer lenses. The system even automatically detects when a photographer pans while photographing a moving subject. VR operation is available only with specific Nikon cameras.

M/A: A focusing mode on some AF-Nikkor lenses which allows switching from automatic to manual focusing with virtually no lag time by simply turning the focusing ring on the lens.

AI: Automatic Indexing
AI became standard on Nikon cameras and Nikkor lenses in 1977. Non-AI lenses coupled to the camera’s meter through a system that required a pin on the camera to be mated to a slotted prong on the lens before the lens was mounted, then the aperture ring on the lens had to be turned from one extreme to the other to index the meter to the maximum aperture
of the lens. AI eliminates this entire procedure because meter coupling and indexing occur automatically when the lens is mounted on the camera. Most AI lenses made until a few years ago were also supplied with the coupling prong so they would be compatible with either metering system.

AI-S: Automatic Indexing (modified)
AI-S coupling is a refinement of AI and became standard in 1982. The diaphragm action in an AI-S lens is compatible with Nikon cameras that allow the aperture to be controlled from the camera, as is required for programmed and shutter-priority automatic exposure control. All AF-Nikkor lenses, as well as most manual-focus Nikkor lenses made since 1982, are AI-S.

DX: The lens is specifically designed for use on Nikon digital SLR cameras. It produces a smaller image circle for more efficient coverage of the imaging sensor in these cameras, which is smaller than the 35mm film frame.

Exposure is the amount of light that contacts the imaging sensor (either film or digital chip) of your camera. There are two components of exposure: brightness and duration. In the camera, brightness is controlled with the lens diaphragm and duration is controlled with the shutter. Equivalent exposures can be made with many different combinations of diaphragm openings (also called aperture or f-number or f/stop) and shutter speeds. Although the exposure can be equivalent using different combination of aperture and shutter speed, the visual effects of these different settings will vary greatly. For this reason, it is good to have some understanding of how changes in f/stop and shutter speed will effect the final image.

Aperture and Depth of Field

The amount of light that passes through a camera lens is regulated by an iris diaphragm. The opening size, or aperture, of this diaphragm is referred to as its f-number or f/stop. The f/stop is derived by dividing the focal length of the lens by the aperture diameter. This leads to the counter-intuitive situation where a small number f/stop actually represents a large aperture, and a large number f/stop denotes a small aperture. More light will pass through a lens set to f/2.8 than one set to f/22.

Depth of field, which is the distance in front and behind the plane of focus that can be considered to be also in focus, is dependent on the f/stop. At a low f/stop (large aperture, say f/2.8) there is very little depth of field, while a high f/stop (small aperture, say f/22) exhibits much more depth of field. This can be visualized easily by photographing a ruler, tilted to a 45 degree angle, at these 2 f/stops. For this test a 60mm lens was focused on the number 6. At f/2.8, the depth of field extends from approximately 5.5 to 6.75 on the ruler. At f/22 the depth of field is greatly enlarged as the picture shows.

In real world terms this means that you can control the amount of your subject that will be in focus by choosing different f/stops. When photographing flat objects, the aperture setting is not critical, for if you have the camera back parallel to the subject it will all be in focus. When you photograph a 3D object though, you must decide which plane of the object you wish to be in focus and how you want to use depth of field. You can decide to use a shallow depth of field (low f/stop,2.8) to highlight one plane of the subject while blurring the rest. Conversely, you may decide to have as much of the subject as possible in focus by using a high f/stop like f/22. Remember though that if you have less light entering the camera, the exposure time must be longer in order to get a proper exposure on the image sensor.

Shutter Speed and Movement

The shutter on your camera controls the length of time that light exposes the image sensor. The numbers on a shutter speed dial refer to fractions of a second, thus the numbers 8, 15, 30, 60 really mean 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, and 1/60 of a second. It is not a good idea to hand hold a camera at exposure times longer than 1/60 second (unless blurs are what you’re after). For these longer times it is advisable to mount the camera on a tripod. If a tripod is unavailable, try bracing yourself against a wall or tree for added stability. Slight camera movement during exposure will result in poor quality pictures. If you notice directional streaks when viewing images at high magnification you should use a higher shutter speed or tripod.

When photographing botanical specimens it is also important to keep the subject from moving. This might require turning off fans, closing off drafty rooms, or blocking wind with sheets of cardboard.

ISO

The ISO setting refers to the sensitivity of film or digital chip to light. The ISO number of film is set in the factory when the film is manufactured. Film with a low ISO contains relatively less sensitizing material (usually silver), will require more exposure, and will exhibit finer grain than film with a high ISO. Some film cameras will automatically set the cameras light meter to the correct ISO by reading a bar code on the cassette while others require manual setting of the proper number.

The ISO setting of most digital cameras is variable and can be changed to fit the lighting conditions. On some cameras this is done through a menu system and on others it can be changed on a dial. It is best to set your digital camera to the lowest ISO that allows you to expose the subject with the settings (f/stop and shutter speed) you want. At higher ISO settings a digital image will get increasingly “noisy” and degrade the quality of the image.

Ambient Light
The available light completely surrounding a subject. Light already existing in an indoor or outdoor setting that is not caused by any illumination supplied by the photographer.

Angle Of View

The area of a scene that a lens covers or sees. Angle of view is determined by the focal length of the lens. A wide-angle lens (short-focal-length) includes more of the scene-a wider angle of view-than a normal (normal-focal-length) or telephoto (long-focal-length) lens.

Aperture
Lens opening. The opening in a camera lens through which light passes to expose the film or digital sensor. The size of aperture is either fixed or adjustable. Aperture size is usually calibrated in f-numbers-the larger the number, the smaller the lens opening.

Aperture Priority
An exposure mode on an automatic or autofocus camera that lets you set the aperture while the camera sets the shutter speed for proper exposure. If you change the aperture, or the light level changes,

Aspect Ratio
The ratio of width to height in photographic prints – 2:3 in 35 mm pictures to produce photographs most commonly measuring 3.5 x 5 inches or 4 x 6 inches; Advanced Photo System cameras deliver three aspect ratios as selected by the user. The Advanced Photo System’s three user selectable print formats:

“C” – 2:3 aspect ratio used in 35 mm photography

“H” – 9:16 aspect ratio used by high-definition television (HDTV)

“P” – 1:3 aspect ratio produces prints of 3.5 x 10.5 inches or up to 4.5 x 11.5 inches; suitable for panoramic shots

Autofocus (AF)
System by which the camera lens automatically focuses the image of a selected part of the picture subject.

Automatic Camera
A camera with a built-in exposure meter that automatically adjusts the lens opening, shutter speed, or both for proper exposure.
strong>B (Bulb) Setting
A shutter-speed setting on an adjustable camera that allows for time exposures. When set on B, the shutter will stay open as long as the shutter release button remains depressed.

Backlighting
Light coming from behind the subject, toward the camera lens, so that the subject stands out vividly against the background.

Balance
Placement of colors, light and dark masses, or large and small objects in a picture to create harmony and equilibrium.

Bounce Lighting
Flash or tungsten light bounced off a reflector (such as the ceiling or walls) to give the effect of natural or available light.

Bracketing
Taking additional pictures of the subject through a range of exposures-both lighter and darker-when unsure of the correct exposure.

Camera Angles
Various positions of the camera (high, medium, or low; and left, right, or straight on) with respect to the subject, each giving a different viewpoint or effect.

Close-Up Lens
A lens attachment placed in front of a camera lens to permit taking pictures at a closer distance than the camera lens alone will allow.

Color Balance
How a color film reproduces the colors of a scene. Color films are made to be exposed by light of a certain color quality such as daylight or tungsten. Color balance also refers to the reproduction of colors in color prints, which can be altered during the printing process.

Color Noise
Better known as chrominance signal-to-noise ratio. A measure of how accurately the color signals are reproduced. Poor chroma signal-to-noise ratios are evidenced in color fringing on edges of objects and what appears to be thousands of moving dots in large areas of highly saturated colors (especially red).

Composition
The pleasing arrangement of the elements within a scene-the main subject, the foreground and background, and supporting subjects.

Contrast
The range of difference in the light to dark areas of a negative, print, or slide (also called density); the brightness range of a subject or the scene lighting.

Cropping
Printing only part of the image that is in the negative or slide, usually for a more pleasing composition. May also refer to the framing of the scene in the viewfinder.

more to come soon!