posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2007 in Photographers Matt Adcock
As I study my lighting techniques, I try to understand why it is I do what I do. Sometimes, I have no idea why I do something....it just works so we shoot and move on to the next scene. As I develop this blog, I am beginning to think more about my techniques, putting a label on the 'whys" and "hows" of our approach...
For this photographic example, I would like to direct you read Strobist | Lighting 102 "Angle / Position" so you can have a better understanding of the content written below. Then, I want you to realize that you already have been developing your off camera lighting skills since the day you opened your eyes.
If you own a speedlight, remote flash, or a little device that you can sync up to a transmitter of sorts that omits powerful bursts of light, you have the power of the sun in your pocket... (relative to the camera's ability to record certain tonal ranges). Basically, that flash can be balanced to transmit light to work in tune with a natural light source, whether you are outside in direct sunlight hacking out your camera's top sync speed OR if you are simply taking advantage of the available light in the space where your session is occurring.
So how do you practically apply this?
In this photo example, we had just finished up shooting the bride getting ready, I then walked downstairs and as i did, I noticed small window channeling this well defined beam of light across the wall. The light was the late afternoon sun, whose rays were less intense, giving us the ability to balance our available exposure and "paint with light" with our speedlights. I thought about placing our subject in its path of the sun's rays but we had missed the moment because the angle of the light put the rays too high on the staircase, lessening the impact of the composition. SO, I was going to make my own sunbeam :)
I immediately imagined a composition with light rays coming from multiple angles. The compositional lines were going to be very strong, using the line of the stairs to intersect both beams of light. We used our personal assistant to direct the flash coming from the upper balcony in the foyer, set the flash power to 1/4 to match the quality of light coming from the sun's rays. Then, we finished it off by adding a trusty homemade snoot. This particular snoot was on its last leg, falling apart. We ended up taking advantage of its old malleable corners, and squeezed the end of the snoot to create a thin and flat, wider beam of light. Our Canon 5d was set to ISO 160, f5.0 at 1/100th.
IMHO, this portrait has added interest because of the light we introduced, to mimic what the sun was doing above her. We shot multiple exposures, with and without the added flash. The snooted speedlight ended up adding a little flavor.
The next time you are in a room and the sun's rays are streaking across the wall, imagine that your flash doing the same thing...
Just remember, you have the power of the sun in your pocket!
Cheers!
Matt

Here’s the how and why ….
My goal was to create a high-fashion image which accentuated the curves of our bride. I also wanted to somehow convey the coolness of the winter light flooding through the window. To cool down the outdoor light, we setup our QFlash with a full CTO gel applied. I set my camera’s white balance to tungsten to blue the sunlight streaming in the window. We positioned the flash to both rim-light the bride and fill the right side of the groom’s face and I posed the bride on the ledge of the window. I set my exposure to blow out the mess outdoors and captured the image above. I love how the shadow of the necklace adds another element of interest to this high-fashion image.
Technical Data:
Camera: Canon 20D
Lens: Canon 10-22mm at 20mm
Shutter: 1/80
Aperture: f6.3
Flash: Quantum QFlash T5d with full CTO gel (triggered via Pocketwizards)
Be blessed ….
q
This image is 100% PJ. Raw emotions and totally non obtrusive. The remote flash flavor MADE this photo!
Sneak up on the bride and groom, use long lenses and a remote flash.... get some rockin PJ!
Cheers!
matt