Photography.ca » lighting

100 — Shoot in any light

Marko Kulik — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 04:38:29 +0000

Photography podcast #100 celebrates our 100th photography podcast and focuses on the tag line of the podcast which is ‘keep on shooting’ in any light.

I’d like to take this moment to thank all our listeners! Your support and encouragement during these past 100 episodes has been awesome. Thanks for all the feedback, all the comments and all the contributions. Special thanks as well to all the guests that have shared their knowledge so freely. More interviews are planned for the future.

In this podcast I offer up tips on how to shoot in any light so long as it suits the subject.

: I shot this image at about 2pm. The light that most of the ducks were resting in was bright and harsh. Had I shot this duck in that direct light, the shadows would have been too harsh. This particular duck though was resting under a shelter that softened the light and the soft light suited this subject far better and holds details in the blacks and the whites. Straight shot — No flash was used here.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
– How to photograph with hard light — Podcast #97
– Rain photography — Podcast #88
– Studio lighting for beginners — Podcast #33
– September’s regular assignment on the Photography.ca forum — Yellow
– September’s level 2 assignment on the Photography.ca forum — Macros of any kind

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( A T ) G m ail Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

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If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to Rob vE, Rich, Anuj, Photo art cafe and Best who posted blog comments about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

If you are looking at this material on any other site except Photography.ca — Please hop on over to the Photography.ca blog and podcast and get this and other photography info directly from the source. |Subscribe with iTunes|Subscribe via RSS feed |Subscribe with Google Reader|Subscribe for free to the Photography podcast — Photography.ca and get all the posts/podcasts by Email
You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player below.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

97 — How to photograph with hard light

Marko Kulik — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 16:13:34 +0000

Photography podcast #97 is a primer on how to use hard light. Hard light is trickier to use than soft light but there is NO reason to avoid using it. It just needs to be used appropriately. Part of using hard light and shadow in photography is being very aware of where the shadows will fall and changing your position or your lighting if you don’t like where they fall.

Here’s a couple of basic points when using hard light in photography:

- Hard light comes from a small light source relative to your subject. The sun IS a small light source in this respect because it is 93 million miles away from the earth.
- Hard light produces hard shadows which are good in many cases especially to reveal form.
- The farther the light source is from the subject, the HARDER the shadows.
- The farther away the light source is from the subject, the SHORTER the shadows.

To prove this to yourself take a flashlight into the bathroom and shut off the lights. Shine the light on your finger in front of the wall. Move the light around and you will learn a ton about shadows.

Hard light demo — The image at left shows a shadow from direct hard sunlight. Moments later some very light clouds diffuse the sunlight to create a softer shadow at right. Had the sky been completely overcast (very soft light) almost no shadows would be present and this image would lose its punch and be totally boring. © Marko Kulik

Image by BzdegaPhotography — The hard light totally works in this image despite the flare.

Carmy Working by Marko Kulik — One hard light at camera left creates a shadow that adds to the gritty flavour of the shot

Their Objects by Marko Kulik — Candle light is hard light. This shot took quite a while to set up due to thinking about where the shadows would fall.

Judy Garland by George Hurrell — 1944. This striking portrait was shot 67 years ago by lighting master George Hurrell. The very dark shadows attest to the hard light used here.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
June’s regular assignment on the Photography.ca forum — Breaking the rules
June’s level 2 assignment on the Photography.ca forum — Creative self portraits

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( A T ) G m ail Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to forum members NorthStone, Wicked Dark, Howard J, KawarthaBob and Jonny Hotshoe who posted blog comments about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

If you are looking at this material on any other site except Photography.ca — Please hop on over to the Photography.ca blog and podcast and get this and other photography info directly from the source. |Subscribe with iTunes |Subscribe via RSS feed |Subscribe with Google Reader|Subscribe for free to the Photography podcast — Photography.ca and get all the posts/podcasts by Email
You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player below.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

54 — Making the eyes sing — Photography podcast

Marko Kulik — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 15:10:08 +0000

Photography podcast #54 talks about how to make the eyes sing in a photograph. When we take a photo of a person or something that has eyes, we really need to pay attention to what we are doing. The eyes are normally the most important part of any portrait and they need to be sharp and bright. Through a few basic techniques this podcast tells you what you need to do to get your subject’s eyes to ‘sing’.

Even in this medium range shot you can see sharp bright eyes

The bulldog’s eye (stock) sings because the iris is sharp & bright

Links mentioned in this podcast:
The eyes have it thread from the photography forum
Accessories podcast (check image of the light stand holding reflector with magic arm)
A dodging technique for the eyes described in paragraph 2 of the post
Gary Fong diffuser at B&H
Podcamp Montreal
CC Chapman

Thanks as always to Benny and Susan who posted a blog comment about our last podcast and for her suggestion that inspired this podcast. Thanks also to Ram, Hallow’s maiden, Rabiakamaran, Gatepc, BenH, MikeS, Dabow,‚ Inukamori, svantland & PKMax who recently joined the photography.ca forum and posted a few times. We LOVE comments and suggestions so please send more.

You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player below.

Using backlighting outdoors — Photography Podcast #45

Marko Kulik — Fri, 30 May 2008 13:06:55 +0000

Photography podcast #45 talks about how to use backlighting outdoors. We talk about taking that classic photo on the beach in front of a sunset and doing it properly. We also describe how to take a nice portrait using backlighting and the whole podcast and is based somewhat on an email from Cindy;

“This summer my family is going to the beach. Of course, I want to take lots of pictures. What is the best time of day? I love sunset pictures, but how do I take pictures of the people with their backs to the ocean (sun in background etc.) and see their faces clearly? ”

The images below (done really quickly with almost no post processing) clearly show the differences you can obtain using backlighting and flash at different settings. Personally I like the Minus 2 shot the best. You best see the differences in flash output by looking at the face.

Photography links mentioned in this podcast:
Accessories that you can use to hold reflectors etc. — photography podcast 35
Photography and the law

Thanks as always to Cindy, Jason and Alex Wilson for recent comments and suggestions. We LOVE comments and suggestions so please send more.

You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player below.

One light portraits — Photography podcast #38

Marko Kulik — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:10:18 +0000

Photography podcast #38 talks about creating dramatic portraits using only 1 light. Using 1 light creates very harsh shadows which is PERFECT for a dramatic portrait. The following 2 shots illustrate this dramatic effect. In the first shot Lorne and Boog are being lit by 1 light located 45 degrees toward the right. The second shot is sidelight. Both these shots use no reflector to bounce light back into the subjects’ faces. Note that the light in the second photograph reveals a lot of skin texture, so this type of lighting would not be good for a ‘fashiony’ shot in most cases. Thanks to Lorne and Boog for being the models. I Love how little Boog is staring me down in the first shot. You can click all the shots to make them tastier on the eyes.

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You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player below this image.

Photo of the week
This week, the photograph is by Zseike and I comment in the podcast on why I think this photograph is fantastic.

Thanks as always for the comments by‚Gary H, ‚Andre, Tom, Yves Janse, David and Mikael. We LOVE comments and suggestions so please send more.

Lighting round faces — baldness — blemishes — Photography podcast #36

Marko Kulik — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:53:50 +0000

Photography podcast #36 focuses on thinking about how different types of light suit different types of faces. We talk about how both short lighting and side lighting are good for rounder faces. We also talk about blemishes and baldness.

Many thanks to Mark McCall for allowing me to use this image (and explanation below the image) clearly showing the the slimming effect of short lighting and the broadening effect of broad lighting on a model’s face.

Broad Lighting vs. Short Lighting
Broad lighting refers to lighting up the face from the “broad” side, (widest part of the face from nose to ear from the camera angle).
Short lighting refers to lighting up the face from the “short” side, (side of the face turned away from the camera)

Short lighting makes the face appear thinner in the image, and is the best choice for most subjects. Broad lighting works best for thin faces.

Thanks as always for the comments by Yves Janse and Mikael. We LOVE comments and suggestions so please send more.