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

While I am here in the Riviera Maya this week sweating big time I want to reflect on the cold weather days...geeze, today its 95 and feels like nearly 100% humidity! ouch! Often, we are left kept inside with our photographic duties due to outrageous weather conditions. It could be too hot and or too cold to snag a few photographic portraits outside. The off camera flash is your best friend if you need to be inside. I recommend that you program your mind to start thinking about accenting the image with a little added flash flavor. For this post, my friends Dave & Quin at DQ Studios were shooting in Canada and it was just -4F... that is just out of control cold.... Quin rocked out this high fashion image with a few tricks up her sleeve. Quin writes: On a cold winter wedding (-4 degrees F!), we had just finished taking a few shots outdoors and went inside to warm up. The high-fashion image below was taken in a cramped warming vestibule (20 bonus points for anyone who doesn’t have to look “vestibule” up) :). 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 DQ Studios Yin Yang Workshop Sweetness Quin, love that shot! Total Vogue! I'm diggin the slight accent on the groom in the background...NICE usage of gels! I've been having fun with this CTO as well! Cheers & looking forward to seeing some more amazing stuff from your video lights :) Cheers! matt

On a wedding assignment when the client asks for nearly 100% documentary coverage, it becomes the PJ's duty to discover moments of candid brilliance that can fill the album with beauty. This post is all about a simple technique I use at weddings occasionally to grab an awesome portrait of the bride & groom without them ever knowing it happened. This particular image comes from a reception where things were happening fast. The ceremony started at 5pm, on a December evening. It was total darkness when the bridal party started to be seated and served dinner. I have seen most photographers run away when dinner is served....which is ok sometimes, but you must be on the relentless pursuit of the image. Here, I placed a flash on the floor behind the bride and groom at 1/16 power, aimed at the sky. I manually focused my 70-200 (at 200mm) towards the head of the bride & groom table and anticipated the couple to look at each other and appreciate this amazing meal they were about to be served...amongst their best friends in the bridal party. Little did I know they would celebrate that short little private moment with a kiss... 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