Things I need: More Flash

Soldiers from the U.S Army Civil Affairs & Psychological Operations Soldiers prepare to hook up a load to a UH-0 Blackhawk during Pathfinder School at Fort Bragg N.C. on March 27, 2013. These soldiers where able to earn their Pathfinder Badge, thanks to the National Guard Warrior Training Center Mobile Training Team.

   In my dream world I'd have a big flat bed truck with a couple of spot lights and filters at my beck and call ready to provide fill light everywhere I went. Unfortunately for me, I don't have access to something like that. So, sometimes I have to use the power of Photoshop to add light.

Yes, adding light in post does in fact tear me apart inside.

   In this photo I did in fact use my flash. I channeled my inner Captain Kirk and screamed for more power, to which my flash responded, "I'm giving all she's got!"

   You can see that the flash was able to highlight the dust flying at me, but it kind of made it look like snow. It was also able to add a little bit of light to the cargo and the backs of the Soldiers. It also added a little bit of pop to those yellow strands. I would have liked this better if I had more power, because it would have brightened everything up. As it stands it's a shade dark in my opinion.

Step 1: ID Subjects Step 2: Wait for something cool 

Step 3: Press Shutter Button. Step 4: Blog about it.

   You can see that we had cloud cover, so the light was already diffused, there wasn't too much in the way of harsh shadows I really needed to fill.

   Also, the underbelly of the helicopter was dark; and even after some touch up in post is still is darker than I would have liked. But without that flat bed with spotlights there wasn't a whole lot I could have done about that. (I probably don't need a flat bed, a few well placed strobes connected via wireless would do the job as well, but that's a whole other discussion.)

   So how exactly did I find myself in this situation? Well I got a phone call from my Captain,

   "Do you want to go out and take photos tomorrow afternoon? I'm swamped, " she said.

   "Of?" I asked, knowing I didn't have much of a choice.

   "Oh, a bunch of our Soldiers are becoming Pathfinders and their going to be hooking up heavy loads to helicopters hovering over their heads?" She replied

   "Yes. Yes I do."

   I showed up expecting a wait; and wait I did. The students where learning how to communicate with the helicopter pilots and where practicing dropping supplies. Which looked cool, but it's hard to show a soldier on the ground and a helicopter a few hundred feet up in the air dropping supplies, visually it's hard to capture without a huge lens.

Note: A telephoto lens condenses space, so if you want to make it look like two things are closer than they actually are, use a telephoto lens and it'll look like they are much closer than they are.

The red arrow is where I wanted to be, on my back, with a 

super duper wide angle lens. I wanted the tips of the rotor,

the cargo and the soldier hooking up. If anyone gets this shot

after reading this and wins an award for it,  I fully expect a 

thank you card.

   Regardless, I stuck around waiting for this shot. Okay, I actually was thinking of a different shot, using a super wide lens from underneath the belly of the beast, but we didn't have a super wide. But I persisted.

   Luckily for me, this event happened about 10 times, giving me ample time to see what was happening, think about different angles, and fail a few times.

   The first time I stood back and just watched. I could see the wind from the rotors just whipping all sorts of dirt in the air. I knew from previous experiences it wasn't going to be fun. But I can't say I was entirely prepared to be just a few feet from the rotor wash.

   Lets just say, unless you're under the belly, it's not a fun time. I went out each and every time, experimenting with different angles and positions aka the 30-30 rule. I really wanted the faces of the soldiers and their unit patch because a big part of public affairs is showing off your "brand." But I realized getting everything in one shot probably wasn't going to happen. I decided the most compelling thing about this event was a 10,000 pound metal monster bearing down on a few soldiers.

So I got behind these soldiers, put them in my points of interest and just waited for the helicopter to get in my frame.

At the end of the day I can say I got a shot I liked. It wasn't the shot I wanted; I still would like to go back and try again, but I'm happy with it.

Interested in reading more about my adventures with flash? Check out: Felix and the technicolor dream coat, 

Flash, Huh, what is good for? Absolutely Everything, and Flashing at Night

Balancing Act: Light v. Dark

There I was walking on a side walk and I saw this shadow. Instead of just taking any old photo I too the time to compose it. Is this going to win me an award? No. But it's certainly better than had I not taken any time to compose it. 

   It's Sunday, that means this weeks theme, balance is officially over. We talked about asymmetrical balance, finding balance, twisting balance, and almost balance.

   I found the photo above while walking along a sidewalk. I pulled out my cell phone and took the shot. It's not super fancy, it is after all just grass. But I took my time and composed it. It is, in my opinion, and pretty good photo considering it's not a particularly amazing subject. You can't always shoot pictures of things most people will never see at unique perspectives.

   I'm sure you've found yourself walking around and your eye caught something really amazing. So you pulled out your phone and pressed the button. Later you looked at it, found it unimpressive and thought, "Ugh, I'm not a good photographer," or "If only I had a really good camera."

Shadows of the grass are in my points of interest. check. This is about 50%

light 50% shade, so that's pretty well balanced. It's full of lines, I don't know

if I would consider them leading lines per say.

   Maybe the problem was that you just didn't think about what exactly you wanted to take a photo of.  Your subject, after all, is the most important consideration. With your subject in mind pick a rule and compose your photo.

Asymmetrical balance is still in fact balance, but I feel we lost our true

subject, the blades of grass, not just the shadow itself.

   So, lets take a look at this shot. what's my subject?

It's not just the shadow, it's the single blades of grass.

   It was important for me to make sure I didn't have just a big blob of shadow filling up my frame, I needed those single blades to stand out. You'll notice in the shot on the right, which was a quick crop, that my shot just isn't the same. I have shadow in my points of interest, but it's not as balanced. And in my opinion my true subject, the blades of grass, are lost.

Yes, this is just a shadow, but regardless of what you're taking a photo of, it's not excuse to not use composition.

Leading to Balance

Sgt. Maj. Brian Card and Brig. Gen.Gary Beard take a moment to chat on Sicily Drop Zone on September 10, 2010. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Felix R. Fimbres)

   This might be a harder series for me to write about simply because I personally don't often see balance, except in in it's most basic forms. Balance in art and photography can refer to a number of different elements.

   However, if you haven't noticed I have a serious addiction to clearly defined subjects. And in my head when I'm looking for subjects I tend to single them out, this means that I have to deliberately seek out balance. The easiest way for me to add balance to my photos is to simply look for look for two subjects.

No, balance doesn't just mean having two subjects in your photographs. But it's probably the easiest way to understand balance.

   In the above picture there's an equal amount of ground and sky. That in and of itself is balance. A lot of times nature photography has at a minimum that balance.

Did I miss getting one of the soldiers fully in two points of interest? Yes. Are

there more than a few leading lines? Yes, from the sun to the invisible ones of 

eye contact. You could argue the horizon itself adds a line to our subjects as 

well.

   However, you notice my subject isn't, a soldier, but rather two soldiers. By virtue that it's two subjects the photo has balance. However not symmetrical balance. Had I put one soldier on the left point of interest and the other soldier on the right points of interest it would have been symmetrical.

   However, there is one more major element to this photograph  and that is the sun itself. It's tough to compete against the. Sun, it's a big ball of light with leading lines exploding from it. And as we discussed yesterday light naturally draws the eyes toward and away from it.

   Does it compete with our two soldiers? Yes. Does it add balance? Well, a big heavy object like the sun adds weight. Is it equal to our two soldiers? Not quite.

In many respects this photo has asymmetrical balance.

   What else does this photo have? Well invisible leading lines. The two soldiers are looking at each other, and the eyes naturally pull us to other parts of the frame, we want to see what those eyes are looking at.

So in one photo we've used balance, leading lines and paid attention to the rule of thirds. Does adding more elements make this photo better? Debatable. But when you're out and about the first things you should be thinking about are your subject and what element of composition your're going to pull out of your tool box.

Continue reading about balance in these posts:
"Balance with a twist"
"Beach Balance"
"Balancing Act: Light vs. Dark"

The three rules of photo club...

The first rule of photo club is to always shoot beautiful subjects. The second rule of photo club is to always shoot beautiful subjects. The third rule of photo club is that if your friend shoots a photograph "dead center" he better have a damn good reason for it. (Photo by Felix R. Fimbres)  Photographers Note: The light on the side of her face is a little "hot" or white, this could have been exposed a little better.

Lots of things come in three's. It just so happens to be my lucky number. But more importantly as it relates to photography there is the rule of thirds. Okay so it's not quite a three, but it's close enough.

So what is the rule of thirds? Basically, you divide the frame into thirds. Those thirds then create 4 intersecting points. Those points are the points of interest. Your eye naturally gravitates to them like pooh bears to honey. And what happens when a pooh bear finds his bee hive has no honey? He gets sad.

And what happens when I see a photograph without a subject in a point of interest? I get sad. Me and pooh bears, basically one in the same.

Here on the left is a visual representation of what I mean.

Those circles (bee hives) are the points of interest. All you need to do is put your subject (honey) into the bee hives. Presto good chance you just took a good photo.  You also saved some bear tears.

"Is it really that easy? Yes. Yes it is. You can stop here and start taking better photos each and every time.

It's not art, it's science. I've never considered myself much of an artist. The rules of composition are pretty simple and this one of them.

What about those other two points of interest on the left? Sure, go crazy and use them too. Even crazier? You can even use the top left AND the bottom right points, or the bottom left and the top right, diagonals are fun. You can use the bottom two or the top two. It's a very mix and match system.

You can also just use one of them, but in my opinion using just one doesn't help you clearly identify the subject.

In a previous post about subjects I said the subject is the most important thing to a photograph. The subject has to be clear. Those trees, that sunlight, the farm behind, they all add to this photograph, but the subject is what drives the photograph. So I put her in two points of interest. She dominates this photo, not just with her beauty but with her relative size as well.

I could have stepped back about 20 feet and she would have been the same cute little girl. But the things around here would have dwarfed her. The eyes, face and hair just wouldn't have popped nearly as much.

Also, I want you to notice that the subject has golden light on her. No, I didn't use a reflector only because I was trying to manage the subject and my camera at the same time. I used a flash with a colored gel. More expensive? Yes. Would a reflector had accomplished the same thing for cheaper? Of course, but I didn't have an assistant to aim the reflector.

Point being, putting light where it isn't naturally is important. Bending and capturing light is what a photographer does.

Learn more about the rule of thirds in "Nit pick: The eyes have it," "This is award winning?" and "Because how can you say not to those cheeks."

Reflectors and You

So, if you've ever bought a fancy new camera you probably got about a half dozen inserts for accessories. And to be honest, they're usually pretty solid. I'm always drooling over new glass and fancy new flashes that recharge faster and network better.

But what if you're on a budget? Well, this is the post for you.

Okay, so this isn't the most amazing photo ever, but it illustrates a point. You'll notice [or maybe you won't so you'll have to take my word for it] the sun is setting behind the tree.

I would also like to point out that the [Ivy?] little leaves that are in focus are lit up pretty nicely. If you look slightly above said leaves you'll notice it get darker and darker.

I didn't use a flash, I used a reflector. A reflector is what it sounds like it, it reflects light.

In this case I have a decently sized 3 foot reflector hanging out on my knee bouncing light onto those leaves. Ideally, you'd have an assistant lighting this up, but a knee works just fine for still life. You could probably make do with a backpack if it's not too windy.

Not only am I getting golden light where I want it, but I'm also able to expose for the leaves AND the sky behind it. That helps gives us a blue sky, instead of a white one.

"Why would it be white? The sky is blue, duh"

Well, if I didn't brighten up those little leaves my camera would have had to open up the aperture or increase the shutter speed to expose them correctly. That would have meant that area behind the tree would have been really bright, really bright.

That's because if you let enough light collect on the sensor or the film it eventually turns white. Imagine adding a drop of dye to water. The more dye, the dark it gets. will it get black? not unless you're using black dye. But light on a sensor turns white, regardless if it's from a blue sky or a yellow sun. It's science.

So, to review. Light reflectors are good. If this was a face you could have a beautiful sunset behind your subject AND beautiful golden light on his/her face. All of less than 40 bucks. A good deal if you ask me.