Some Shade, Some Natural Back Light, and a Single Speedlight

There are times when shooting conditions offer a challenge to a photographer. As a photographer you must learn to adapt to each situation and what might appear at first to be difficult, can be used to your advantage.

Back in May 2016 a friend asked me to assist her in shooting some prom photos of about a dozen or so teenagers. Turned out to be a wonderful experience as the kids were awesome and having a great time.

The shooting conditions at first did seem to be a bit of a challenge as it was a bright sunny afternoon with a lot of speckled sun filtering through the shade cast by numerous trees. As usual I brought along all kinds of equipment not knowing for sure what I might need. Turns out all I used was a single speedlight on a stand shot through a 20 x 30 softbox.

The setup was actually quite simple: The speedlight / softbox combination was placed at about a 45 degree angle from my subjects and about six feet away. Took a little experimenting with the output settings, but once that was determined it was a matter of finding the right place to shoot.

I ended up placing the kids in a shaded area where some of the afternoon sunlight was filtering through. This filtered light became my background and a source of back light used to place some subtle highlights on their hair. Behind them was a large patch of mottled light and shadow, which by using a long lens to zoom in on the subjects, became a great source of Bokeh or those nice softly out of focus blotches of light that make up the background. I set my base exposure for the background slightly under-exposing it to reduce some of the glare from all of the mottled light splashes. The flash itself, fired remotely from the camera, simply provided some extra fill light to brighten up the faces and to make their eyes sparkle.

On one of the shots I lined up the guys in a V-like formation and made the shot from down low. On this one I used all natural light exposing for their faces and allowing the rest of the scene to simply fall where it wanted to. This created a brighter background which contrasted sharply with the dark nature of their tuxedo's.

The first key to this shoot was simply a matter of getting the kids to loosen up and be themselves which wasn't all that difficult to do as they tended to feed off each others energy naturally. The second key was allowing the light that was already there to provide the base background lighting and then using the flash to simply fill in. From the time the first image was captured until they had to move on the prom location, we had a great time.

What made it easy for me was the simplicity of the setup; some shade, some natural back light, and a single speedlight.

A Look Beyond - Discover Those Reserved Moments

There is dwelling through the night a canopy arching overhead filled with the wonders of creation. As beautiful as what we can observe using just our marvelous eyes, it is but a fraction of what harbors there, just out of sight. Those few thousand stars visible to us each night are but a tantalizing hint of what awaits those who chose to look beyond.

For as long as I can remember I have been fascinated with the night sky. As a photographer I am constantly seeking new and exciting ways of expression. Capturing the night sky is but one of those ways, but it serves to fill the void of wanting to know more about what is there. Every photograph reveals a new moment in time and becomes a reward unto itself.

Genesis explains in simple form how God created the Heavens and the Earth in six days. For some reason he chose to obscure much of what lies just outside our field of view only giving us just enough to rekindle within us a desire to find out more. It was a brilliant way to motivate and stimulate our minds so we would grow and seek out more about his creation. Sort of a teaching tool I suppose, and an effective one. 

When I step outside and observe the heavens I am doing more than simply looking or taking pictures. I am exercising the inquisitive instinct he placed within all of us. I know more lies just beyond what I can see and capturing those images becomes a means to discovery and revelation. God gave all of us different gifts. There are the biblical gifts like mercy or teaching or even prophesy, but he also gave us earthly talents and he expects us to develop and explore both the biblical gifts and our earthly talents. I suppose too that is why he chose to only reveal a small portion of his creation to allow us to discover for ourselves the wonder of what he made, for in his creation he reveals himself to us. It just seems so obvious really when you think about it. The complexity of creation simply could not have just happened from a random event out of nothing.

When I look beyond what is visible, I feel blessed to have been given the opportunity to observe and experience a part of creation that was reserved just for me for that moment of discovery. When I think about it, every photograph of creation is exactly that; a reserved moment of creation. I only wish I could do justice to what is there.

Blending Science with Photography

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I love science. Even during my youngest years, science captured my imagination. I suppose growing up watching those Walt Disney Man in Space program specials first broadcast in the late 1950's influenced my interest levels to such a high degree, I've never lost the fascination with all things scientific. Throw in Sputnik and the early years of the Manned Space program, and I was hooked for life.

Never really had the smarts to become a real, fully educated, scientist myself, but down deep lies a pseudo scientist who explores all kinds of amazing things...but, even today I enjoy watching programs with a scientific angle to it.

So how does one blend science with photography. Well, it is a matter of experimentation combined with observation of the results. Science and photography are a great blend of opportunity. There are so many ways to combine the two, it is difficult to truly define in detail all of them.

Photographing the moon is about the easiest way to break into combining science and photography. It is a big and bright subject and exhibits a different look every night.

Combine your observations and photography with Solar and Lunar eclipses and you will discover the thrills of our local celestial neighborhood.

Another exciting way is to photograph the night sky. The technical aspects of how to go about doing this falls outside the scope of this post, but there are numerous videos and articles about the subject available. The science part of the combination requires you to learn some basics about the night sky. Simple observations of the constellations is a great place to start. You can download any number of apps to help you navigate the night sky on your smart phone, or you can do it the old fashion way by using a star chart.

The next logical step is to find the Milky Way and photograph this amazing spectacle that lies just out of view from our visual abilities, but becomes a wondrous revelation a modern digital camera can capture with ease. Combine the digital camera with a tracking devise and you can accumulate the light of the night sky in such a way as to make it appear like a magical apparition.

Graduating to using a telescope/camera combination opens up a tremendous arena of deep sky objects to photograph. This area is a bit more advanced, but well within the capabilities of most photographers.

Science and photography can also be applied to the natural world. Macro photography, nature photography, weather photography, and underwater photography takes your photography into the fascinating realm of natures wonders. The idea here is to not just photograph things, but to dwell more deeply into the makeup of the world. Explore the complexity of the smallest of things, capture the majesty of a lightning storm, and explore the delicate beauty of a flower or the amazing agility of a hawk.

Learn about those smallest of things and what causes lightning to flash. Seek out the scientific nature of the different species of wildflowers and ecosystems they grow in, and the life history of migrating birds.

 Discover different ways to capture them to reveal the subtle flavor of how they are designed. You will improve as a photographer, an artist, and as a naturalist.

To me, taking the photograph is just half of the equation. The other half is understanding what I am photographing. I want to know why the Orion Nebula glows red. I want to identify the various structures of light, and gas, and nebulae seen within the Milky Way. I seek to discover the natural history of a nesting bird, or why a storm brews into a super cell. I look for new ways to use the equipment I have more effectively and to create techniques or DIY equipment to get the job done.

Combining science and photography is not just for scientist. All of us can learn more about the natural world through photography. All it takes is an inquisitive mind and a willingness to try.