Photos by ©Frank Siteman, DPA instructor, Boston The studio lighting portraits above shot by DPA instructor Frank Siteman, are two very different techniques and styles shot for different projects. Notice the even lighting on the dancer lit from more than one direction (see the multiple shadows cast by the dancers foot). The close up black and white portrait by comparison illustrates more contrast and more directional lighting. Each photo is significant and poignant for it’s purposes and distinct style. Studio Lighting and Equipment: I recently got an email inquiry from one of my DPA students, an avid photo enthusiast who had attended a number of my previous advanced workshops. Chris was looking to expand his gear and purchase a studio flash lighting system. This can be a big step, and is especially daunting if you don’t really know what you need, or what you’re looking for. DPA instructors across the country are all working professional photographers, as was the initial concept behind DPA when it was launched in 2007. Find working pro photographers who are interested in sharing their knowledge ... Pros with experience in the real world of photography. Thus if you want to get some real world insight or advice on lights or other equipment you should turn to the pros, people who actually use the gear on a regular basis. Any of the DPA photographer/instructors will happily provide advice during the workshops on how to expand your camera system. My student Chris had noticed a lighting system on eBay that sounded too good to be true. It in fact was not a complete wash it just comes with a caveat. With photography equipment you often (if not always) get what you pay for. That said if you are gentle with it and don’t’ shoot in adverse conditions, and don’t use it consistently as most pros do a cut-rate lighting system might actually last you a long time. Pros spend significant money on lights that will recycle fast, shoot day in and day out and take a beating on location, we have to. As a semi-pro or enthusiast with a basement photo studio that gets used 3 days a month you have a bit more leeway with the quality of your equipment. Photos by ©Carlos Javier Ortiz, DPA instructor, Chicago Two different frames from a shoot by photographer Carlos Javier Ortiz show the subtle difference direct eye contact can make in a portrait. Both shots are credible and striking but each projects a different mood and style. Chris first had me look at a system that was a continuous light (no Flash) kit. The seller had camouflaged that fact to the point Chris could not tell it would not shoot flash. Devious. Again, another reason to have the advice of a pro, they can look for things you wouldn’t know to see. The first decision is continuous light (Tungsten, Hot Lights) VS flash? With low budget lights you can be assured you’re getting a knock-off Chinese brand, not great quality. When considering Hot Lights a good system for $250-400 for two or three lamps plus stands, umbrellas, case etc is standard. But considering all you get it’s a complete system. Downside is the Hot Light lamps are HOT and don′t put out much light. You will probably get a maximum aperture of f8 at 200 ISO. Many lamps have dimmers, which is good, it’s difficult to control hot lights without them. The more powerful lights of 1000 watts per lamp could also be an issue for household AC; you′ll need to run off different circuits to avoid tripping breakers. I′d say these are good at a low price for still life photos (for listing sale items on eBay etc) but if you want to photograph people you should look at a flash system. Studio flash systems have more power, they generate flash AND continuous light (modeling light), and are generally better quality. Unless you buy in a kit you′d still have to buy the soft boxes, case etc. Next I found a bargain priced Flash System for Chris but thus began a debate over the merits, pros and cons of such a low priced kit. The ultimate question being would the system hold up to use over time. Chris asked: Flash kit $339. This is too good to be true!! lol.....I′m wondering if this system would still work after one photoshoot. 3 FLASH STROBE LIGHTS HOME STUDIO KIT 18 Month Warranty, 600W/S Radio Wireless Trigger. If this system would still work after one photoshoot  ... Well that is the question. It says the item is located in California, but also says international shipping takes 2-4 weeks. Either way it’s a Chinese knock off. I’m sure the quality is not great but anything of good quality is going to cost you 3+ times as much. There is a reason good flash units cost $3000+. If you don’t use it too much it might last a while. It says 18-month warranty but I suspect you would have to ship it back to China to make a claim, which would cost $50+. It is a risk but at a relatively low cost it’s an acceptable one. I would definitely use this with a Power strip (circuit breaker) in case of spikes. The alternative would be to buy a used good quality system but that will still cost $1000. If a system comes with a number of different light modifiers, such as one umbrella, one soft box etc you would do well to spend a little extra to get two modifiers that match (two identical umbrellas). This can be very useful when trying to light specific subjects or spaces. If you buy a lighting kit with only 2 lights you can easily purchase a hot shoe bracket, to mount a portable Speedlight, an auxiliary on-camera flash, on a stand, using it as 3rd light in the background. You can light almost anything with 3 lights. Photo by ©John Bentham, DPA instructor, New York. This production shot from one of John’s advanced lighting workshops shows a lighting set-up with an Octobank and lighting panels to cut flare from the background. Having talked about working on a budget there is however a rational for buying good lighting support, stands, umbrellas etc. This stuff takes a beating ... And working with bad stands is very frustrating. This equipment, traditional called GRIP is typically the least expensive part of a lighting kit. The lights being the most costly. Thus if you save a little money on lights you can spend a bit more on good Grip gear. Manfrotto tripods, Avenger stands, Century stands, and Lastolite reflectors ... All these are good products that you will benefit from using. If your stands cant support the weight of your lights or background, and stuff starts hitting the floor, or worse the models head, you don’t want to learn the hard way you should have $50 on a stand instead of $16. Some things you should not skimp on. Tripods I have found are one item to invest more money in initially. Over the years I have spent approximately $2500 collectively on tripods. I bought a cheap one that didn’t really work well, then a bigger and better model that worked OK for a while. But I still had to invest more later to get a stronger sturdier model, then spend additional money on a lighter smaller tripod for traveling. After trial and error and experimentation I finally ended up with the system I have now ... A very heavy, sturdy, tall (9 foot), metal Gitzo tripod for advertising shoots and studio work coupled with a smaller, much lighter Carbon Fiber Manfrotto tripod that I use on location. The retail cost of these two would be approx $1200. If I had bought them initially I’d be ahead by $1300. Sometimes it doesn’t pay to try and save money, especially when you’re talking about professional photo gear, tripods, lenses, cameras etc. Photo by ©John Bentham, DPA instructor, New York. A more directional and stark lighting design is displayed here using a 2x2 foot soft box with the subject against a black background. This contrast intense type of lighting produces a moody and dramatic lighting effect with heavy deep shadows. As with any tools, buy the best possible tools you can afford. I have an Estwing claw hammer that cost $30 in 1979. Back then, as now, you could buy a hammer for $5 but this is an indestructible hammer and has been used heavily for over 30 years. I doubt a $5 hammer would last more than a couple years. There are also technical reasons why pros spend $1200 on a fast f1.4 24mm lens VS spending $300 on the f2.8 version. Photo by ©John Bentham, DPA instructor, New York. An alternative lighting set up above shows with the main light provided by a large 36x48 inch soft box. This type of light is soft, big and even but still has a punch with nice deep shadows. The more a reflector is pulled into the dark side the softer and brighter the shadow will be. By pulling out the reflector, or as shown in this shot by putting in a black flag close to the model, which absorbs light the shadow is actually increased. Lighting takes a while to learn since there are so many ways to approach and light any subject ... remember - practice, practice practice. Webinar Submission Specs: All DPA students can submit photographs for inclusion in the Digital Photo Academy, LiHD Webinar, and Online Photo Class Series. If you would like to submit your photographs for an upcoming webinar, read the following. Each webinar has a specific theme or topic. You can see the date and topic of the next webinar at LivinginHD.com, Tip of the Day, Online Photo Class. Note that webinars are edited and formatted days in advance, thus please submit your photos at least a week in advance of the webinar, late submissions can not be added. Photographs are chosen, and edited, for their applicability to the webinar theme, artistic and technical merit, and content length. If your photograph is NOT chosen, it will be archived and may appear in a more appropriate future webinar. Submit your photographs to [email protected] By submitting your photographs for consideration, you grant and authorize, The Digital Photo Academy, LivinginHD.com and Panasonic, the following rights: The right to use your photographs in the content and promotion of the webinar series, and for use on each company’s respective website. You further authorize your photographs may be archived online and/or in a database, and allow unrestricted internet availability of any webinars containing your photographs. You further authorize the use of your photographs in any future webinars. By voluntarily submitting your photographs for consideration you agree to the aforementioned without any legal claims, or claims for remuneration, whatsoever. You, as the photographer, retain the copyright © of any submitted photographs. The aforementioned companies will make best possible efforts to apply proper photo credit and acknowledgement with your photograph whenever possible and practical.  

Digital Photo Academy and LivinginHD present a free monthly series of photography webinars on LivinginHD.com. Your host, John Bentham answers many questions live during the webinars. Additional questions, answers and tips are posted here on digitalphotoacademy.com where you can also view the archived webinars. Photos by Russ Burden, DPA Instructor Denver The parrot photos above illustrate a Flash Off version (Left), and a Forced Flash On version (Right). The daylight balanced flash source cleans up the too warm/green color balance on the plumage caused by sun filtering through the foliage. This results in a more correct color balance with neutral gray and white tones. The following question regarding shooting in bright sunny light with dark shadows (difficult, tricky lighting in high contrast situations), was submitted by The Wirgau Family from the LiHD website. Wirgau Family Q: In taking pictures of my son for his Senior year, I did get some nice shots. I′m kinda a ′lucky′ photographer.  I get good shots but don′t really know how I do it.  Unfortunately, I did get a lot of shadowy shots or sunny, squinty shots.  I just don′t know how to deal with the sun/shadows. Any advice? John Bentham replied: Sunny, shadow photos, difficult or tricky lighting in contrast situations. If you are experiencing difficulty exposing photos in high contrast lighting conditions you might do well to watch the archived Tricky Lighting Webinar for tips on camera exposure: http://www.livinginhd.com/go/promo/opc_archive There are a number of situations where sunny high contrast situations can trick a camera and render an incorrect exposure. I have linked a number of DPA Tips below that the LiHD family should refer to, alternatively a DPA class might be beneficial. It may help a lot if you set your camera to Forced Flash On. When shooting in any of the Auto Modes and outdoors in bright sunlight a camera meter determines there is more than enough light to shoot without Flash. The camera typically shuts down the flash and exposes the photo with ambient light only. By setting the flash to Forced Flash On you over ride this reading and add a boost of flash to dark areas, thus filling in the shadowy parts (under baseball caps or backlit subjects. This is an easy method of controlling differences in contrast between very dark and very bright areas within the same photo. Photos by DPA student Julia Spring, student of Russ Burden, DPA Instructor Denver The “squinty” shots can be addressed in a similar way. Turn your subject(s) around, with their backs to the sun and turn the feature Forced Flash On in your camera menu. The sun will illuminate the background of the shot and give you a nice separation (hair light) between the subjects and the background. The flash will illuminate the faces rendering a well exposed photo in both foreground and background without the squinting. The addition of a burst of Fill Flash (Forced Flash On) in the beach wedding shot would have added more light on the front of the subjects in relation to the bright backlit sunlight. The photographer, Julia was able to clean up the photo and brighten the bride and groom against the background with NIK software. I always say, get it right in the camera whenever possible then use software to fix the little things. Julia used Viveza 2 and Color Efex Pro to brighten the image, bringing the contrast and color more in line between background and foreground, a nice solution and a fun photo. The photo below from one of John Bentham’s NY fashion lighting workshops shows the students on location with cameras, on-camera flash units and a large Octobank Strobe powered by a Lumedyne battery location system. The model has her back towards the sun but the addition of flash from the Octobank brightens the exposure on the model in relation to the bright sun. Photo by Marianne Ryan Swanson, DPA student of John Bentham, New York The resulting photo below shows a good balanced exposure between the ambient light (available sunlight) and flash from the Octobank. The lens flare visible in the photo is a result of including the sun in the frame, resulting in lens refraction and glare. This is often a desirable effect, a sexy look for fashion or beauty photography. If you prefer to avoid this you need to reposition the camera slightly. Just make sure the light source (the sun) is out of frame and utilize a lens hood on your lens. The hood will cast a shadow on the front of the lens and eliminate the refraction and lens flare caused by direct sun hitting the front of the lens. Photo by Karen Wu, DPA student of John Bentham, New York Additional DPA Lighting and Flash Tips: Fill flash, Outdoor lighting: http://www.digitalphotoacademy.com/Home/UserArticleCategories/UserArticles/d etails/params/object/8234/default.aspx Daylight Fill Flash: http://www.digitalphotoacademy.com/Home/UserArticleCategories/UserArticles/d etails/params/object/13823/default.aspx Bright Sun Fill Flash: http://www.digitalphotoacademy.com/Home/UserArticleCategories/UserArticles/d etails/params/object/1576/default.aspx Lighting, Existing Light, Flash: http://www.digitalphotoacademy.com/Home/UserArticleCategories/UserArticles/d etails/params/object/13833/default.aspx High Contrast and Saturation: http://www.digitalphotoacademy.com/Home/UserArticleCategories/UserArticles/d etails/params/object/13712/default.aspx Lighting: http://www.digitalphotoacademy.com/Home/UserArticleCategories/UserArticles/d etails/params/object/9586/default.aspx Webinar Submission Specs: All DPA students can submit photographs for inclusion in the Digital Photo Academy, LiHD Webinar, Online Photo Class Series. If you would like to submit your photographs for an upcoming webinar, read the following. Each webinar has a specific theme or topic. You can see the date and topic of the next webinar at LivinginHD.com, Tip of the Day, Online Photo Class. Note that webinars are edited and formatted days in advance, thus please submit your photos at least a week in advance of the webinar, late submissions can not be added. Photographs are chosen, and edited, for their applicability to the webinar theme, artistic and technical merit, and content length. If your photograph is NOT chosen, it will be archived and may appear in a more appropriate future webinar. Submit your photographs to [email protected] By submitting your photographs for consideration, you grant and authorize, The Digital Photo Academy, LivinginHD.com and Panasonic, the following rights: The right to use your photographs in the content and promotion of the webinar series, and for use on each company’s respective website. You further authorize your photographs may be archived online and/or in a database, and allow unrestricted internet availability of any webinars containing your photographs. You further authorize the use of your photographs in any future webinars. By voluntarily submitting your photographs for consideration you agree to the aforementioned without any legal claims, or claims for remuneration, whatsoever. You, as the photographer, retain the copyright © of any submitted photographs. The aforementioned companies will make best possible efforts to apply proper photo credit and acknowledgement with your photograph whenever possible and practical.

Flash, Sharpness and Detail In Flowers and Macro Photography Flower and Flora Photography and NIK Image Enhancement Webinar John Bentham Digital Photo Academy and LivinginHD present a free monthly series of photography webinars on LivinginHD.com. Your host, John Bentham answers many questions live during the webinars. Additional questions, answers and tips are posted here on digitalphotoacademy.com where you can also view the archived webinars. To capture detail and sharpness in close-up macro flower photography there are a number of techniques available to a photographer. When shooting Flowers, especially in macro photography it is often useful when striving for sharpness, contrast and saturation to add a little flash. Very often the camera and or the photographer are so close to the flower a shadow is cast on the subject itself. By adding a little lighting boost with some supplemental flash you bring that extra sparkle back into the photo. This also works well in overcast conditions, rainy days or when the subject is situated in shadow such as shooting wild orchids in deep forest. Photo by Frank Siteman, DPA Instructor Boston Another technique, applied in post production and evident in the photo above, shot by Boston DPA instructor Frank Siteman is the use of NIK Software Viveza 2. Specifically Frank has utilized added structure accessed via a slider control in Viveza 2, adding structure is a great way to bring out hidden details and clarity, either globally in a photograph or selectively to areas of a photo. With the Control Point system in NIK you are afforded great fine control over very specific parts of the image as evidenced in Franks photo, where the anther and stamen of the flower appear very sharp and precise. If you are incorporating flash into your photo system there are a number of different options but for the most part you must move beyond the little Pop Up flash built into your DSLR. This pop up flash often casts a shadow on the scene. Depending on the length of the lens mounted on the camera the lens itself will block the light from the flash. This shadow which appears as a semi-circle in the bottom part of the frame. Dedicated Macro flash units are sold for many camera systems in addition to Ring Flash units which can be very useful useful. Alternatively you can use an auxiliary external flash unit Off-Camera with an adapter cord. The cord will allow you to position the light off camera for a more natural or pleasing light yet still retain the TTL features of your camera for better exposure (TTL=Through The Lens exposure). Photo by David Sanders, DPA Instructor Tucson The haunting, eerily beautiful image above photographed by Tucson photographer and DPA instructor, David Sanders includes the fortuitous flash of one of Davids students in the photo. David has utilized a slow shutter speed to sync his exposure with the flash from another camera thus providing a backlit light source for the desert blossoms. The slow shutter speed also bleeds in the blue sky of the background accentuating the silhouetted figures adding depth and complexity to the image. There are a number of situations when using a flash outdoors in daylight is helpful. If you are photographing a flower positioned in shade, but the background is brightly lit, you may have an exposure difference of 3-4 stops between the two. You can use flash to narrow the gap and correct the contrast. Flash power, no matter how much you dial it up will usually NOT overpower the sun (unless youre using a very large powerful, studio type unit). That means you should be using the flash to supplement the ambient light, usually the sun, not provide the main light. To control the output of your flash use the Plus / Minus flash power adjustment and a little trial and error. This is available on in the camera menu or on the back of an external flash unit. Determine your ambient exposure first (the regular exposure without using flash). Get a good exposure without flash and then add a low power flash to see the result. You then dial in the flash incrementally to achieve the effect you want. Photo by John Bentham, DPA Instructor New York Another example of utilizing software to enhance the detail of a floral image appears above in an image shot by John Bentham, DPA instructor in New York. John shot this image at Wave Hill a park loacted in The Bronx outside one of their greenhouses. The image on the left is the original jpeg, the final image on the right having been enhanced with Photoshop and NIK Software. The right image shows a little clean-up of imperfections using Photoshop to remove blemishes and a few marks caused by dust on the digital sensor (what photographers refer to as housekeeping when retouching). Then John has applied structure to selective areas of the image to bring out the detail in the sky and the leaves, then boosted the contrast and saturation to make the image pop.  A simple, quick and easy fix to add impact to an image giving it a more vivid colorful look.

Using Flash in the field and On Camera Flash Modifiers text by John Bentham When shooting animals or other subjects outdoors in bright sun your initial assessment would be -  It’s bright outside, I don’t need a flash? However shooting outside with flash is helpful for certain subjects and necessary more often than you think. There are times when areas of the scene are just too bright in comparison to others. A flash can help to bridge narrow the gap between the two exposures giving you a better more even exposure. At other times you need the flash to lighten up an area in shadow. Or to freeze the action a little and draw attention to parts of the scene. Image © Denver DPA Instructor Russ Burden This stunning photo of a mother bird feeding her young, shot by Denver DPA instructor Russ Burden is a perfect example of a situation where flash serves to bring out the details in a photo, freezing the action, effectively stopping the motion of the chicks in time. A touching scene, a snapshot of nature hard one by Russ with some preparation, the right equipment for the situation and a little luck. If you are considering an external On-Camera flash you should buy a unit specifically dedicated to your camera. The advantage here is the camera, lens and flash will all communicate to each other and provide feedback to produce a better exposure. If you are then considering expanding your kit with a Flash Modifier basically there are a few elements to consider, size, cost and durability. In any situation the larger the light source the softer and more pleasing the light, thus a small 6x10 inch soft box mounted on your flash will give you a softer look than a bare head which measures 2x3 inches. However a small box is still pretty large when you’re working in a very crowded setting or if your trying to traverse though some bush to get to that eagles nest. If you’ve got people behind you also trying to see or photograph the eagle they will be annoyed its in their way, or in their shot etc. Image © NY DPA Instructor Tiago Nunes The Micro Apollo looks fine and is not too expensive, but it could get crushed in some situations. I use the small slip on plastic Stofen diffusers because they are small, durable and cheap ($20). The softness comes from how you use them, how you position them. By swiveling the light and pointing it into a 10x10 foot wall, the wall becomes your light source not the small flash. Obviously if you’re shooting wildlife there are no walls to take advantage of, however you can sometimes take advantage of walls at zoos. In situations where the animals are at any distance, further than 25 feet, you probably should remove the modifier and just shoot bare head. You generally need the power and throw of the flash zoom head system (the flash tube inside the flash unit will actually zoom back and forth when you zoom the focal length on the lens. With the modifier off the flash will narrow it’s beam at long focal lengths to produce a longer throw. I have also heard good things about heard Gary Fong modifiers, although they are kind of expensive for just a piece of plastic.

Digital Photo Academy and LivinginHD present a free monthly series of photography webinars on LivinginHD.com. Your host, John Bentham answers many questions live during the webinars. Additional questions and answers are posted here on digitalphotoacademy.com. You can also view the archived webinars for reference.   Photo by David Sanders, DPA Instructor in Phoenix, AZ Don’t Use Flash! Sometimes, even though technically and intuitively the scene calls for it, you are better off not using flash at all. There are instances where a scene is very dark, under lit, with black holes, areas without any detail at all. Your first inclination is to turn on the flash and add light to the scene. Sometimes you’ll get a better photo if you learn to fight that urge. The photo above shot by David Sanders, DPA Instructor in Phoenix, AZ is a perfect example of one of those moments. By dialing in a correct exposure for the end of day setting sun and fading sky, and keeping his flash turned off, David has reduced the other elements in the frame, notably the cowboy, pick up truck and lariat to a silhouette. David could easily have added a little on-camera flash to lighten them up, balancing the flash output with the sky, but by choosing what some would consider an incorrect exposure he has created a timeless photograph of an American Icon, resulting in a more unique image, with more power and impact than the expected and typical well illuminated photograph. This photo makes me want to be there, and that’s the best you could hope from your photos. Submitting your photographs for webinar consideration: Specifications and requirements. Anyone can submit photographs for inclusion in the DPA, LiHD Webinar, Online Photo Class Series. If you would like to submit your photographs for an upcoming webinar, please read the following. Each webinar has a specific theme or topic. First go to LivinginHD.com, Tip of the Day, to determine the theme for the next webinar. Then review the submission requirements below and submit your photographs to [email protected]. Note that webinars are edited and formatted days in advance, thus please submit your photos at least a week in advance of the webinar, late submissions can not be added. Photographs are chosen, and edited, for their applicability to the webinar theme, artistic and technical merit, and content length. If your photograph is NOT chosen, it will be archived and may appear in a more appropriate future webinar. Please submit your images in the following specs: Compressed JPEG Approx size 1MB per image 200 dpi 10 inch size longest edge Please include your name and city in the image file name as below: First_Last_City_01.jpeg Please also include brief captions including subject, location and any pertinent tech info. If it is not immediately clear from your image, for which webinar you are submitting photos, please indicate this as well. By submitting your photographs for consideration, you grant and authorize, The Digital Photo Academy, LivinginHD.com and Panasonic, the following: The right to use your photograph(s) in the content and promotion of the webinar series, and for use on each company’s respective website. You further authorize your photograph(s) may be archived online and/or in a database, and allow unrestricted internet availability of the webinar(s) containing your photograph(s). You further authorize the use of your photograph(s) in any future webinars. By voluntarily submitting your photographs for consideration you agree to the aforementioned without any legal claims, or claims for remuneration, whatsoever. You, as the photographer, retain the copyright © of any submitted photograph(s) and proper photo credit and acknowledgement will appear with your photograph whenever possible and practical.

Digital Photo Academy and LivinginHD present a free monthly series of photography webinars on LivinginHD.com. Your host, John Bentham answers many questions live during the webinars. Additional questions and answers are posted here on digitalphotoacademy.com. You can also view the archived webinars for reference.   Photograph by Josh Anon, DPA Instructor, San Francisco   Stop Action Flash, Flash Duration and Trip Shutters, Stop Action Photography, High Speed Photography To stop action in a bright room, or when shooting outside in daylight you need a fast shutter speed, 1/1000 of a second or higher depending on the subject. But to stop action in High Speed photography you need a Fast Flash Duration. Shutter Speed is the actual speed, the duration of time the camera shutter is open letting light hit the sensor. Flash Duration is the actual duration of time that the flash is lit. These are two very different things. Camera shutter speeds can be as high as 1/4000, or 1/8000 of a second, but flash duration speeds can be much faster, upwards of 1/10,000 of a second. These very fast flash duration speeds are what photographers use to freeze water droplets, or freeze the wings of a Hummingbird in flight. There are a number of factors that determine flash duration. 1. The equipment produced by the manufacturer: There are a few units available specifically designed for fast action photography to achieve a short (fast) flash duration. 2. The lower the power output of the flash unit the faster the flash duration will be. Capacitors store the energy in the flash and release it when the flash is triggered. It takes a certain amount of time for the energy to release, thus less energy stored means less time to expend, resulting in a shorter flash duration. The shorter the flash duration means the more stopping power a flash will have. 3. When using on-camera dedicated Speedlights, which have flash sensors built into the unit, the flash duration is shorter the closer the subject (object being photographed) is to the camera. The Flash unit measures the light bouncing back off the subject and cuts off the flash output when it measures a correct exposure. Obviously a closer object requires less light that one further away, thus a closer object will result in a faster flash duration. To stop action you use the lowest power setting you can to still achieve a correct exposure. Very often these exposures are made in a blacked-out room to avoid any ambient light from influencing the exposure, also allowing for a slow shutter speed which means the camera shutter can remain open indefinitely without exposing the sensor until the flash fires.   Photograph by Allen Birnbach, Denver, DPA Instructor Trip Shutters When doing high speed photography very often the action you are trying to record happens faster than the human eye or your brain can see, or comprehend. Hence the need for an activated shutter, one that is triggered by an event rather than the human hand. Photographers utilize a number of different devices for this purpose, commonly sound, vibration, contact or beam interruption (motion) activated shutters. As each name suggests these devices are triggered by an action (eg: sound) causing a reaction (flash and camera operation) resulting in an exposure.   Photograph by Milton Heiberg, Orlando, DPA Instructor Submitting your photographs for webinar consideration: Specifications and requirements. Anyone can submit photographs for inclusion in the DPA, LiHD Webinar, Online Photo Class Series. If you would like to submit your photographs for an upcoming webinar, please read the following. Each webinar has a specific theme or topic. First go to LivinginHD.com, Tip of the Day, to determine the theme for the next webinar. Then review the submission requirements below and submit your photographs to [email protected]. Note that webinars are edited and formatted days in advance, thus please submit your photos at least a week in advance of the webinar, late submissions can not be added. Photographs are chosen, and edited, for their applicability to the webinar theme, artistic and technical merit, and content length. If your photograph is NOT chosen, it will be archived and may appear in a more appropriate future webinar. Please submit your images in the following specs: Compressed JPEG Approx size 1MB per image 200 dpi 10 inch size longest edge Please include your name and city in the image file name as below: First_Last_City_01.jpeg Please also include brief captions including subject, location and any pertinent tech info. If it is not immediately clear from your image, for which webinar you are submitting photos, please indicate this as well. By submitting your photographs for consideration, you grant and authorize, The Digital Photo Academy, LivinginHD.com and Panasonic, the following: The right to use your photograph(s) in the content and promotion of the webinar series, and for use on each company’s respective website. You further authorize your photograph(s) may be archived online and/or in a database, and allow unrestricted internet availability of the webinar(s) containing your photograph(s). You further authorize the use of your photograph(s) in any future webinars. By voluntarily submitting your photographs for consideration you agree to the aforementioned without any legal claims, or claims for remuneration, whatsoever. You, as the photographer, retain the copyright © of any submitted photograph(s) and proper photo credit and acknowledgement will appear with your photograph whenever possible and practical.

Digital Photo Academy and LivinginHD present a free monthly series of photography webinars on LivinginHD.com. Your host, John Bentham answers many questions live during the webinars. Additional questions and answers are posted here on digitalphotoacademy.com. You can also view the archived webinars for reference. Daylight Fill Flash Photos by Allen Birnbach, DPA Instructor Denver, CO A very useful, and greatly utilized technique for professional location photographers is Daylight Fill Flash. This technique supposes there is ample light to photograph a scene, as one would expect when shooting in bright sunlight, but goes one step further by adding just the right amount of Fill Flash where it’s needed, primarily to brighten up the shadows. Looking at the photos above, shot by Denver DPA Instructor, Allen Birnbach, you can see before and after image samples of this technique. The left photo is shot using ambient light only. The right photo is the same exposure (same camera settings, shutter speed, aperture and ISO) but with the addition of flash into the photo. Using a large light source, a softbox with a powerful off-camera flash unit, Allen has added enough light to brighten up the dark shadowy areas and make the photo more legible, in addition to altering the mood of the photograph. Notice how the light on the jogger is much brighter, more even and the very dark, contrasty shadows on her face, arms and legs have been eliminated. Look also at the large rocks behind her, they too are brighter and look less ominous and weighty. Overall a brighter, softer, more pleasing image, just by popping in a bit of supplemental flash. You don’t always need a large flash unit to take advantage of this technique, you can get a similar result using an external on-camera flash mounted on your camera hotshoe. The trick to achieving success is to get the balance right between the ambient light and the flash. Too much flash and the shot looks contrived, too little and you don’t achieve the soft shadows you desire. It sometimes takes a little trial and error but you just walk in the exposure using  the screen on the back of your camera, adjusting the flash output to the desired level.   Photo by Frank Siteman, DPA Instructor, Boston, MA The same technique is incorporated here by Frank Siteman, a DPA Instructor in Boston. Frank has positioned his subject with his back to the sun. You can just see the sun sneaking into frame in the upper right corner of the shot. In most circumstances this would result in a blacked out subject, with the young mans face in deep shadow, if not totally in silhouette. Frank has added Daylight Fill Flash coming in from the camera position to brighten up the subject rendering the dark areas legible. By very accurately balancing the light output of his flash with the surrounding daylight. and most importantly with the light hitting the background of the scene, Frank has achieved very natural looking lighting in an impossible situation. This technique allows the photographer to control the relative darkness or brightness of the background, which enables you to achieve a shot with darker richer colors in the background, especially in the sky resulting in a more interesting and dramatic photograph. Submitting your photographs for webinar consideration: Specifications and requirements. Anyone can submit photographs for inclusion in the DPA, LiHD Webinar, Online Photo Class Series. If you would like to submit your photographs for an upcoming webinar, please read the following. Each webinar has a specific theme or topic. First go to LivinginHD.com, Tip of the Day, to determine the theme for the next webinar. Then review the submission requirements below and submit your photographs to [email protected]. Note that webinars are edited and formatted days in advance, thus please submit your photos at least a week in advance of the webinar, late submissions can not be added. Photographs are chosen, and edited, for their applicability to the webinar theme, artistic and technical merit, and content length. If your photograph is NOT chosen, it will be archived and may appear in a more appropriate future webinar. Please submit your images in the following specs: Compressed JPEG Approx size 1MB per image 200 dpi 10 inch size longest edge Please include your name and city in the image file name as below: First_Last_City_01.jpeg Please also include brief captions including subject, location and any pertinent tech info. If it is not immediately clear from your image, for which webinar you are submitting photos, please indicate this as well. By submitting your photographs for consideration, you grant and authorize, The Digital Photo Academy, LivinginHD.com and Panasonic, the following: The right to use your photograph(s) in the content and promotion of the webinar series, and for use on each company’s respective website. You further authorize your photograph(s) may be archived online and/or in a database, and allow unrestricted internet availability of the webinar(s) containing your photograph(s). You further authorize the use of your photograph(s) in any future webinars. By voluntarily submitting your photographs for consideration you agree to the aforementioned without any legal claims, or claims for remuneration, whatsoever. You, as the photographer, retain the copyright © of any submitted photograph(s) and proper photo credit and acknowledgement will appear with your photograph whenever possible and practical.

There are a number of situations when using a flash outdoors in daylight is helpful. Its not mandatory, nor essential but can often help out a photo. If the sun is high (approx 11am to 3pm) and the person you are photographing is wearing a hat (like a ball cap) there will be a shadow on their eyes. You can use flash to lighten up the shadow, making their eyes more legible. © John Bentham There may also be scenes without people with shadows you want to lighten up with flash. The trick is to use it carefully, subtly, so it doesn’t look over lit and fake. If you are photographing a person who is standing in shade, but the background is brightly lit, you may have a difference in exposure of 3-4 stops between the person and the background. You can use flash to narrow the gap, close the difference in exposure, and narrow the difference in contrast. With outdoor portraits adding a flash outdoors produces a catch light in the eye. A catch light is the little sparkle of brightness in the subjects eyes, caused by the flash. It is a nice feature and gives the viewer a precise point to focus on when looking at the photo. Flash power, no matter how much you dial it up will NOT usually overpower the sun, unless youre using a large powerful, studio type unit. That means you should be using the flash to supplement the sun, not trying to use it to provide the main light. Determine the throw distance of the flash, how far the flash will work, the effective range of the flash. Typically this is only 10 feet on a little pop up in-camera flash, and maybe 20-25 feet for an external on-camera flash. Anything further away and the flash really wont do anything. © John Benthm Change the flash power, the output. To control the output of your flash use the +/- flash power adjustment and a little trial and error. This is usually available in the camera menu. The same feature is available on many external flash models. Determine your ambient exposure first (the regular exposure without using flash). Get a good exposure without flash and then add a low power flash to see the result. You then dial the flash power up or down incrementally to get the effect you want. Both photographs here are shot outdoors with fill flash which brighten up shadows and give the photo a bit more crispness and sharpness. The colors pop more with a little fill flash during the day.

Southwest Arizona: Composed using a tripod, flash, and colored gel filters. First, I taped a green gel filter onto a camera flash unit.  Then, I manually fired the flash into the cactus while exposing for the background cactus and lights.  Throwing colored light onto the same colored object will make that object super-saturated. The hardest part here was stringing those Christmas lights on the background cactus! © Chris Michaels, San Diego DPA Instructor

A saguaro cactus offers up its yearly bloom along the Mount Lemmon Highway in Tucson, Arizona, where each Spring the large cactus can be seen flowering toward the end of April and through May. Mount Lemmon is an excellent area to take great springtime photos as its vegetation offers a wide variety from desert cactus to mountain top pinetrees. Deer, javelina, coyotes, and gila monsters make the mountain their home, which is in the Santa Catalina Mountain Range in the Northern part of Tucson. Photo tip: Use your off camera flash to help illuminate a subject as was done here,even "painting" a subject with many flashes, and just because the daylight is gone, doesn′t mean you can′t stop taking pictures. © 2007 David Sanders, Phoenix DPA Instructor