Timing The Shot

In photography, to create compelling images, timing is everything. All the other photographic elements certainly come into play; light, composition, depth of field...and so on, but in certain photographs, timing is the one critical element that will make or break the image.

With people the eyes are the most important for they are what connects the viewer to the person in the photograph. A simple shift of the eyes combined with a frisky expression says it all. It's not always a matter of luck to catch these kinds of moments, but luck certainly helps. Anticipation and being observant are the two ingredients most necessary to consistently capture these great opportunities.

Action shots are another category of photography that requires an element of timing. Whether it be sports related or moments with a great deal of movement, timing is the critical element in capturing the story of the moment. The trick is to incorporate not only the movement, but all the supporting elements as well. Wildlife action shots are perhaps the most difficult to capture simply because you must wait for the wildlife to perform in front of you, and they seldom ever cooperate in such a way as to accommodate what you want to capture.

Your presence alone will often alter their behavior and in many cases simply spoil the opportunity. It takes a great deal of patience and an understanding of the habits of the wildlife you are photographing. Cold fingers and numb toes will become a common predicament when photographing wildlife in the winter. But, to get the close in, compelling shots, you must be willing to alter your situational comfort to meet the wildlife on their terms.

Timing also includes not only those precise momentary captures, it also includes a broader more seasonable elements and this includes time of day. Finding an interesting subject is only the beginning of timing a great photograph. You must learn to think beyond what you are looking at and project how the scene will appear at different times of the day or even in different seasons. A snapshot of a windmill in the middle of the day is not necessarily a very compelling shot regardless of how interesting the subject. Move time forward a few hours and catch it at sunset and this rather ordinary subject now becomes engulfed in a magical moment of light.

Swap out the windmill and insert a tree and once again the timing of the shot generates a eye stopping image. This tree if taken in the middle of the day would simply be a photo of a tree, but add in a bold summer setting sun, it becomes an iconic symbol of what the art of photography is all about.

Timing the shot as a photographer becomes a process requiring a great deal of practice and observation. Knowing and understanding how your camera reacts to light and having a command of your camera is also critical because you do not what to be guessing about your exposure when those often fleeting moments present themselves. Great timing combined with a commanding grasp of how your camera does what it does will lead you toward capturing amazing images that stir the imagination.

Exploring The Possibilities - Taking That First Step

Photography often becomes a connected series of events that ultimately results in a finished photograph exhibiting a unique look. To arrive at the end of those events requires us to travel down a path of exploration, and those travels always begin with a first step. Therefore, we must be willing to take the first step, if for no other reason, but to discover the possibilities that await us.

The winter of 2018 and 2019 in Kentucky was a rather dreary and wet affair. Not much snow, but a great deal of cold rain along with many days of overcast skies. Not often for several months did the sun manage to burn through the overcast. But, on one occasion, I managed to be at the right place at the right time to capture an amazing sky when the sun decided to appear.

It began with a first step when the skies began to break apart late one afternoon. No plans were made for any kind of outing, but I realized an opportunity was developing that just might lead to an interesting lighting situation. An instinctive warmth swelled up inside as I gathered my camera and gear and headed out. I just drove at first not knowing for sure where to go, then I remembered a location from a previous outing I thought might work out. Well, it proved to be rather ordinary, but I was not far from another place and decided to head over that way. It proved to be a good decision.

Originally I hoped to capture some long lens images of an old brick house that sat off in the distance along a country road  that split two harvested cornfields. As the afternoon wound toward its climax, the light began to improve and I captured several long angle lighting shots of the old house, but I noticed how the clouds and the sun were going to interact as the sun dipped below the cloud line along the horizon. It became obvious that a spectacular light show was building and I shifted my focus away from the house toward the setting sun.

As I thought it would do, the sunset proved a welcome respite from all the dreary days we had endured all winter and I snapped away. It is amazing just how quickly the light changes at the transitions of the day. Between each shutter release the clouds shifted and the light swung in great arches of red and orange mixed and blended themselves between the muted gray of textured clouds.

I moved here and then there, changing my camera angle as the clouds moved ever so slowly carrying with them the full color spectrum of a setting sun. As I moved along a gravel access road that lead down to one corner of one of the cornfields, I noticed a single tree standing broadside to the sky. I raised my camera, framed a couple of quick images then paused for a moment.

Something unique began to develop across my field of view. The clouds moved to either side of the tree and grew dark red as the last moments of the afternoon display transformed into its final act.

I moved back a few yards...then a few more...and there it was, the final possibility...a flaming tree silhouetted against a sky engulfed with a magnificent arch of fire and smoke. I made a few final shots and then, almost without hesitation, the light dropped, grew dim, and the curtain of darkness implied an end to the afternoon performance.

That image alone was worth the taking of that first tentative step of anticipation. Yet, several weeks weeks passed and I kept looking at the images from that shoot. I realized the possibilities were not yet finished and started playing around with what was there.

Photography is a series of events that ultimately leads to a finished photograph. The trick is to recognize the possibilities, then wade deeper, taking what you capture to another level of exploration.

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.