The art of the dramatic portrait
So how did I use the softbox I showed myself holding yesterday? Or rather, what picture did I get in the end?
As a reminder, I was using a Canon 1Ds MkIII with a 580 EXII flash on the camera in TTL master-slave mode in group “A”, and a 430EX II flash in my left hand as slave in group “B”. The “B”-flash had a Honl speedstrap and a Lumiquest Softbox III on it. The E-TTL A:B ratio was set as 4:1, so the handheld second flash fired two stops brighter than the on-camera flash.
I was in Aperture Priority mode (Av), and to darken the ambient light and the sky I used an Exposure Compensation setting of -2 stops.
Because my friend has dark skin and was wearing dark clothes, I also used flash compensation (“FEC”) of -1 stop. Otherwise he would have been overexposed (the camera would have tried to make him “18% grey”).
The result:
(I left the softbox and my reflection in his glasses deliberately, of course, since I was showing him the use of this softbox. Else I would have moved his head to camera left and down a bit).
Finally: his face is a tiny bit distorted because of the 35mm wide angle lens. I could have used the 50mm lens instead, or even the 24-70: but I think this look flatters him. h
One more sample:
Balance light
You know the problem. You shoot a living room with large windows and what do you get?
OK outside. A bit light but OK. But dark furniture. Like, silhouettes.
Ah no – you went to a photo course, so you know about “exposure compensation” – the “+/- button”. So you turn that up to, oh, plus two stop (to make it brighter) – and yes, now the furniture looks light. Nice.
But uh oh – the window is now all white. Nothing visible. Like a gateway to heaven in “heaven can wait”.
Fortunately, you have also done a “mastering flash” course. So you know to:
- Turn exposure compensation down to make the sky nice and blue
- Then turn on the flash (and turn it around so it lights up the wall behind you)
- Then take a test shot
- Then decide whether to use “flash exposure compensation” – the “plus minus with flash next to it”. This turns the flash power up or down. You decide you need some more light on the furniture so you turn this to plus one stop.
Now here’s your picture:
Nicer, no? Try this technique if you haven’t yet. And you can compete with the best interior photographers.
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