![]() If you want to take good photographs, you have to get out and shoot. Invariably I reply, “The pro photographer takes more pictures.” Of course, this isn’t the whole story-most pros have advanced technique and a strong style. Sometimes during photo workshops, a participant asks me what separates the pro photographer from the amateur. And I have another option with natural light: I can alter the direction and quality of available light using light modifiers. If it’s overcast with pasty-white skies, I’ll focus on smaller scenes or shoot in the forest. If it’s sunny, figures in a landscape with lots of blue sky will work great. What I see determines how I will proceed on a shoot. On overcast days use a slower shutter speed (since there is less light) to create pan-and-blur images (Chapter 6, “Photographing Water Sports”).Įvery time I head out the door on a photo shoot, the first thing I do is evaluate the light ( Figure 4.2). Put your model in the sun with a dark-shadowed background and you should have a dramatic image. Seek out warm light for pleasing landscapes. If you use the lighting and design principles outlined in Chapter 3, “Creative Composition,” your images should look good. ![]() And the good news is, natural light creates stunning images. Adventure sports take place outdoors, so the easiest and most logical source to use is available light. Natural light has been the mainstay of adventure sports photography for years. But I had my shot ( Figure 4.1).Ĥ.1 Climbers roping up on a ridge on the Matanuska Glacier, Alaska. I squeezed off a few shots, and then the clouds pinched the sun out. But then the sun broke through a hole in the clouds and perfectly illuminated the climbers. I was sweating bullets since the shoot depended on good light. There was no scene only dull shapes on featureless white. The climbers had climbed up a ridge for a shot, and I had set up a quarter-mile away with a telephoto lens to compress the scene. I had hired climbers to be the models since they would actually be climbing in serious situations. We had decided mountaineering would be a great way to illustrate what the new clothes could do. Once I shot a new clothing line for Columbia Sportswear in Alaska. The climber’s Gortex jacket brightens, and his skin tones rosy up. Detail emerges in the snow, and steep ridges and deep crevasses are revealed. Not good.īut then the sun comes out, and this mountaineering scene is transformed. If the climbers are wearing drab clothes, they look like brown boulders in a snowfield. The viewer can’t see any detail in the snow it’s a featureless, foggy mess. Everything is flat and murky with no contrast. Photographing mountaineers on a glacier on an overcast day is like shooting flies in pea soup. Photographers are joined at the hip with light.Īdventure sports photography relies on good light to make compelling images. Without light, there would be no photographs. Lighting is key to the success of any image. One added benefit is that with the gold side I can counteract the large amount of tungsten lighting that is often in hotels.Using flash on this wake surfer adds drama and tension to the image. I think I’ll be using the reflector at a convention next weekend. In the case of the mini softbox, you can see how much light it wasted and how useless it generally is. Normally I’d use manual for a test, but this worked out just fine. The camera was in a balanced flash mode and in aperture priority. Shadows are pretty soft and lighting in general is more even less harsh than the others. I think the reflector turned out really well. – the cloth diffuser/reflector has been my go-to accessory for the flash. In this case with a small room I think it worked a bit better than it would in most circumstances. ![]() – the built-in bounce card also had the plastic diffusion panel covering the flash. Put them together and it makes a pretty serviceable flash bounce.Ĭheck out the image below for a quick test of the setup: There are a lot of options added with a simple small reflector. I also have a few Rogue filter gel rubber bands (2 work a lot better than one in this case). I have a small 12 inch Promaster reflector that has silver on one side and gold on the other. Why I had never tried this before I don’t know… Basically strapping the reflector to the flash. If you are interested in this product, find it on Amazon here.
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