Make Light Real

Neil July 18th, 2008

My thanks go out to the Professional Photographers of Ontario for hosting a wonderful half day workshop for their members with me as their speaker at the Ashbridges Bay Yacht club in Toronto.

I was able to present to the group a motivational lecture, an on-location shoot, and an image review and quick post processing example after dinner.  However to extend your experience, I’m going to provide you with some original Canon 1Ds raw files shot that day to try your hand at lab color mode post processing, as well as altering the mood of the photo with a lighting overlay image you can download from the Create Cart:

Have a brand new free texture from me as you check out from the cart - there are a few more free ones and several sets of high resolution texture and lighting files if you are interested.

Now on to the full raw file downloads:

Download Test file one (13mb Canon CR2 raw file): Blue background accentuated by a tungsten gelled main flash, if you weren’t there you can download this screen cast movie file to learn to process your files for rich and vibrant blues : or view this post page on photoshop manipulating the blue in images.  This image would be a fun one to try out the texture - if you try it - post a link in the comments to your blog page, flickr page, or other way to see your results. In this image we use the principles of Make Light Real:

• provide a clear subject - by making the subject brighter than the background
• create compelling color and contrast - by altering the flash color temperature with a gel to warm it
• compose the unexpected - I waited until the boat was in the right place to add the added ’story line’ to the photo

Download Test file two (13mb Canon CR2 raw file): another gelled image of the model on the rock, this is would be a great candidate for the lighting overlay you downloaded from above.

Download Test file three (13mb Canon CR2 raw file): a strong test of balancing the very dark nigerian model with the bright summer sky on the lakefront.

Have your fun with these images and post your versions to the comments and I’ll do my photoshop edits and post back in about a week.

• Free stuff , Hear the Shadows , Inspiration , Motivation , Photography Lighting , Photoshop , Real-light Overlays , Tutorials , Workshop , learning
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Neil July 10th, 2008

Here’s the program description:

Lighting for Creativity - click here to register!

Part1: Listen to Neil’s personal journey. And share his understanding the creative power light has brought to his image making process.  Make the visual connection between creativity and light on many planes as we discuss the implications for our spirits, our businesses, and our cameras.  You will be personally challenged to break through your own personal psychological limits before moving on to part two - in the field.

Part2: Light with Neil in the field.  Neil will approach a location he has never been before, with a subject he’s never shot before and attempt to share with you the running dialog in his head as he ‘lights for creativity’ in bringing out the qualities of the location, subject and mood.  His challenge will be to transform the location with creative and expressive power.

Part3: Finish with flair. Neil will download and photoshop his raw captures live while taking questions from the audience as he goes.  If you think there’s some kind of dark magic locked up inside your computer, come check inside Neil’s as he accentuates the visual phenomenon in his photographs using Photoshop. 

Sponsored by:
Central Portrait Branch - Professional Photographers of Ontario
Professional Photographers of Ontario

Click here to register. We welcome all skill levels, you’ll get something out of it! 

• Photographic Flash , Photography Lighting , Workshop
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Neil June 27th, 2008

Continuing my explanations from the gear I use - today again the small softbox:

So I was out on an engagement shoot and had done all the normal stuff and wanted a little something extra…

But the simple daylight angle was not very flattering and the busy environment of the playground rope piece made for a very messy image - cool - but a little too messy - what could I do quickly to improve the impact of my couple in the space…

Here I am climbing around searching for the right perspective….

Read on to see the final shot and read about my camera settings making it….
Continue Reading »

• Exposure , Hear the Shadows , On Art , Photographic Flash , Photography Lighting , Shoe Flash Technique , learning
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Neil May 25th, 2008

planet neil - tangents » my choice of flash modifiers

See why Neil VanNeikerk chooses to block the light coming out of his speed light, and what advantages that gives him in achieving soft light.

The lighting principle he utilizes is:
the larger your light source, the softer your light.

• Photographic Flash , Photography Lighting
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Neil May 22nd, 2008

Tutorial: Lighting for Impact (Professional Photographer Magazine Web Exclusives)

As a piece of music has rhythm, harmony, and melody, so there are elements to lighting that must be included for the image to have impact. Light has the ability to invoke emotion on the part of the viewer. We relate emotionally to different types of lighting and even our moods are affected by light. Light is necessary to our very survival and existence.Light is a force to be harnessed for our photographs as well. One difference between a professional and an amateur photographer is that the professional is in control of the light.

And let me recommend this album for your enjoyment of rhythm, harmony, and melody with a touch of insanity, oddity and weirdly lovable tunes to listen for inspiration this Music from the Penguin Cafe:

• Photography Lighting , Tutorials
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Neil May 20th, 2008

Clerissa asks:I am shooting a new wedding in the courtyard Calle Independencia. I haven’t worked much with outdoor weddings and as you can see there won’t be much lighting. So I have a couple questions:

1. What do you think would be the best type of lighting? Should I try and rent something? I have two camera flashes and a couple of strobes. The strobes are not wireless though… but there may be a way to get power to them. There is also a second level I may be able to use to be less invasive. I think there are some places for viewing of the second level.
2. Is there a way to get that same kind of warm effect like you do with the gels on the flashes when shooting outside?
3. Is there a way to make the daytime shots look more warm? I find a lot of outdoor weddings start around 1-2pm and in Arizona the lighting is usually so bright it washes everything out.

Answers from Neil:

1. The best type of lighting is inspired lighting, you don’t need anything but your camera to find inspired lighting - just angles of approach. What controlled lighting can give you - is so many more angles and options to work with. But not forcing the shot when the lighting is so harsh is the first step to seeing more possiblities. Check out my options below for working in harsh outdoor light.
2. A warm effect is not created by gels - a harmonious effect is created by gel on the strobe. If you gel the strobe to the same color temperature of your surroundings, you can process your images in a warm or cool fashion as you are inspired to do so - changing the color temperature will warm the image. So if you’re getting blue tones in your image, try a shade white balance in camera with this icon:
3. As for lighting in bright sun or continuous light of any kind, one way to control your light is with a light panel:

Photoflex LitePanel 39×72″ kit from B+H Photo

If you combine the light panel with direct sun you can produce a blinding amount of light - so, be careful you don’ create squinters. My recommendation to achieve the summery tones in your image is to have your subjects sit in the shade, and then control the sunlight you push in with your panel(s). Taking this approach I’d suggest you ask your clients to get married in a shaded part of the court (if there is one) and then push some gentle sunlight into their ceremony from above with a panel. I know it may seem extreme, but to get unique pictures - that’s what it takes. Here are some panel illuminated shots:

The big benefit for beginners using a panel to redirect sunlight is that you don’t have to second guess your exposure or contrast levels as you will get what you see.

I believe we’re going to have an Arizona Make Light Real workshop in the near future so you can keep your eye on the workshop schedule

• Gear , Photography Lighting , how to
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Neil April 23rd, 2008

Please join me in a meditation on ancient Hebrew scripture:

Genesis 1

The Beginning

1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2. Now the earth was ^[a] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
4. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.
5. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Well, where to start with all that.

First do you have any potential biases? Have you ever considered the truth contained in Hebrew scriptures? If you can find truth in the oldest spiritual text on the planet - then you might have a chance with a lens too. Clear your mind of any haze of skepticism and find the essence of these scriptures and how they may effect you.

Vs. 1 is an intro - kinda set’s the stage with the most important summary of all. Connect with God and you’ll connect with creativity itself, more on that later.

Vs. 2 - can you actually conceptualize nothingness? Try it - oops - no you can’t do that, because you exist - I kinda see this verse along those lines. A little gotcha joke, that teaches a lesson. Quantum physics is now just learning and informing us that the mind creates the universe……another very tricky catch22, that we all find the answer to when we die.

Vs. 3 - Ok so we’ve tackled some pretty major philosophical hurdles, what’s next? Well we know a few things about light now in the Twenty First century. We admit to knowing less about God so let’s put it together. E=mc² is the best explanation that we have so far. It’s no such thing as why - but a very nice how. Energy, can become matter if it’s moving fast/slow enough. Pretty cool so Genesis has it right, God created ‘light’ and there was matter all nice and tidy in His one substance. Those ancient people knew a bit of something about reality didn’t they! they just communicate it differently than we do.

Now let’s draw some parallels that are important for our craft. God’s first creation he used for our primary interface with the world. I don’t mean to Kinda tricky how he did that eh? We are created to interact with the light. Ponder the multidimensional wonder of that thought for a while since you’ve now realized that light gives us information, as well as creates the substance we inhabit.

But wait, I have to burst that wonderful thought bubble to break in that we don’t actually interact with the light anymore - we interact with the darkness. Yep, you’re responding to the darkness around you. The darkness tells you where your keyboard is; the darkness tells you where the subject in your viewfinder is; the darkness defines color and shape in your photographic prints. The study of visual perception has been around since the Greeks were able to guess that light came into our eyes, and the first photography book that really opened up my mind to understand the intricacy of how we see was Perception and Imaging by Richard Zakias. It is always my first recommendation for those seeking to study photography and understand building a photograph with visual elements.

So here you begin to understand the levels upon which I developed the concept and the motivation for this site - to Make Light Real

As another perspective on light as a key to metaphsyics, you can watch this clip by Bob Proctor

• Color Theory , Creativity , Inspiration , On Art , Philosophy , Photography Lighting , Technical
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Neil April 3rd, 2008

I’d like to dedicate this site to one of my mentors, Don Chocran

I first met Don, on the Moose River in upstate NY.  When a guy old enough to be your dad can rip you up in a kayak, it gets instant respect.  Buy my friend who introduced him as a great photographer, and so I was curious.  A few campfire stories later and we were friends and he was giving me tips to nail some killer kayaking photos the next day.  So on various occasions for a few years, I would assist Don with some of his big projects…

Above is a shoot in which I ‘realized’ what the inverse square law could do for me and it helped us get done on time.   Below on the floor are a whole spool of fuse burning lights, two large Fresnel spots to push the light up above the proscenium into the corners. On Polaroid we had made it too hot - and we were running out of time for this view, so without a dimmer on the lights it would take me 5-10 min to move them to the exact position.  But as a trade off, I switched the angles on the lights to cross their beams and double the distance to the corners.  Exposure was good after that, and it was a visceral understanding in the aplication of the  inverse square law.

Well this is just a shot for inspiration, but on a shoot inside this building was the first time I gelled the lights for a shoot.  It just happened that I taped Roscoe gels to all the florescent lights on the ceiling in a boardroom to color correct them and dim them to match the tungsten spots.  From then on I knew what lengths one must be willing to go to in order to get good pictures.  Planning and a little bit of technique mixed with some good old fashioned elbow grease helps things progress to the point of good.

So I’d like to dedicate this site to Don, for all that he taught me by just watching him do his job.  Thanks.

And point out to those reading, that getting outside your photographic specialty can really teach you some things and inspire you to bring them back into your own practice - so contact an architectural shooter and see if they’re willing to take you along to a shoot.

• Creativity , Lightroom , Photography Lighting , learning
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Neil March 5th, 2008

This last week I was in Texas with my wedding photojournalism friends at Foundation Workshop. I was a mentor to five awesome students in a group led by Greg Gibson, a two time Pulitzer prize winner and also mentored by Jennifer Dominic, also a professional photojournalist expat working in the wedding industry also. Our staff to student ratio at the workshop is nearly 1:1 and so our team assistant was Tina Carter who was a student last year. As the first day, we assigned the students to shoot portraits of each other as an icebreaker and learning exercise, so I got to shoot Tina as part of our team.

Here’s the final image, illustrating Tina’s new business logo and her dramatic pose, read on to get the full details of the creation of this shot in the bright springtime sun. Last time I posted on overpowering the sun, this time we’ll skirt it, and flirt with it.

Continue Reading »

• On Art , Photographic Flash , Photography Lighting , Real-light Overlays , Tutorials
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Neil February 26th, 2008

Strobist: The Lighting Journey: Where Are You?

That said, I believe that all photographers experience a fairly similar series of growth phases as they strive to improve at lighting. Some people may blow through the phases, while others get to a wall - or comfort zone - and camp there for a while.

Too true, I’d love to show you one photo that blew me through that wall and into ‘the journey’ in earnest.

I shot this one in 2004, in the stairwell of a wedding reception hall in Upstate New York. Overall it was a pretty average wedding, and I was actually tired out and wouldn’t have shot this had not my wife and assistant at the time convinced me that she would do the posing if I did the lighting. So I figured something out, and I shot it - and when Liesl got the magic out of them I nailed it. But I was tired and didn’t think much of the shots until I got home and was able to edit them. Then it really struck me. Wow, still it gives me goosebumps. It’s really a timeless shot, abstracted from all location or context….

…..but it has that mood, and that energy, and style…..

This is when I realized lighting is the key. Lighting is the key to freedom, to speed, to expression in photography. Now not all photographs need be lighting driven, as in my job documentation is important, but getting to art is equally important. This shot drove me to experiment and play until I had learned the essence of lighting.

Strobist defines 7 levels of lighting competency:

1. Available Light is Best
2. Competent On-Camera Flash
3. Overdone Off Camera Flash
4. Experimentation
5. Bag of Tricks - interestingly where he suggests most professional editorial photographers reside.
6. Personal and Unique Lighting Style - financial success is a nice hallmark to have
7. Subject-Driven Light

Level seven is defined by absolute mastery of the craft to the point where it transcends into art on a regular basis. Well that’s very Hebraic numerological of him - ha! But it’s very astute, and I respect him for admitting that his average day is shooting at the ‘bag of tricks’ level - but I don’t think he’s giving himself enough credit for his realization of the craft. It’s only his job restraints that hold his craft down - because if you’ll note, the level six ‘lighting style’ is marked with financial success, it also becomes a necessary step to reach subject driven light for a commercial photographer. Because in reality, selling oneself is the hardest step - not producing art.

However, I think that I can get you to the level seven “Subject Driven Light” within one workshop experience with me. How can you make that claim?

“When you turn that fantasy into a fact, you’re in the position to build bigger and better in fantasies….and that my friend is the creative process.” - The Secret

From there you can then revert to play and experimentation to increase your regularity of reaching the level of art - but you know what it is, you can begin your journey with the end in mind and be motivated by a small taste of nirvana at the workshop. The nirvana of light transforming my vision was what it took for me to look deep enough to find it.

If the answer is what you seek

Then the question you must define.

In my philosophy of teaching, to avoid the cliché ‘do what I do’, and to avoid the pitfall of style, you must reach not for the right answers - but for the right questions.  And when you ask the right questions - the subject will give you the right answers.

And once in a great while, someone seems to transcend this process and become the lighting equivalent of Yoda, able to snatch the X-Wing fighter out of the swamp with the sheer power of will. These guys have no predictability to their lighting other than extreme quality….But very rare is the photographer who is both gifted and versatile to the point where sheer quality and elegance are their only calling cards.

All you need is a jedi photography instructor :-p …..

• Creativity , Inspiration , Motivation , On Art , Photography Lighting , learning
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