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A couple weeks ago, one of my past mentees, Karen, shot me an email with some situations where she thought she needed improvement.  I always encourage my mentees to follow up their session with questions, if they didn’t get answered during their session.  I thought Karen’s questions were great and I asked her permission to share them on my blog:

Lighting Questions:

Karen: I usually don’t have anyone helping me but if I did you suggested a second flash.  Would that person just stand behind me?  Would I still have my flash on my camera.  A few pictures from a wedding I just did.  I am getting shadows on the wall even when I am not close to a wall.  I can get the subject lit up but then the background is very dark.  I was on maunal 2.8 200 19mm Pattern with the couple and same with girls but 55mm.  I was using my 17-55 2.8 wide angel lens.

Me: Yes, a second flash would help a ton!  I usually will either put a second flash on the DJ speakers or bring a light stand (also a pocket wizard to trigger it).  I like to have the flash directly across the room from me OR to my left or right.  I will also have a second flash on my camera.  I really just play around when it comes to using flash, I move around quite a bit until I get the desired effects.  Reception lighting is very tricky and the best thing you can do is just trial and error

Karen: I was doing senior pictures and the session was over since it was dark so I attempted to use the flash on a stand with umbrella like we did in mentor session in phoenix.  I wasn’t sure of the settings.  I didn’t like the shadowing and if you blow up the one with the sunset it gets grainy.

Me:  LOVE that you tried off-camera flash!!  I think seniors are a PERFECT client to use these on.  Regarding the grain…when using off-camera flash, grain is something that just comes along with the flash…I usually need to run a noiseware program in order to make the sky nice and clear.  Just remember that your shutter speed is controlling the ambient light, so if you wanted your sky to look lighter/brighter, shoot at 1/60 – 1/80^th.  If you want your sky to look completely dark, shoot at 1/200 – 1/250^th to shut down all the light that the sky is producing.  

General Questions

Karen: I am holding out for another camera.  I have the nikon d300 which is a dx and not full frame.  I have a 17-55 2.8, 50mm 1.4, 85mm 1.8 and two speed flashes.  I saw your pictures using alien bee and beauty dish.  The colors are amazing!?  I have taken lighting classes but probably need some refreshers.  I wouldnt know what setting to use.  I am just not happy with the way my pictures look.  It’s frustrating, is it me, is it the camera??  I just want a clear crisp picture.

Me: I think it is a mix of lens choice and what aperture you are shooting at…your lenses make a TON of difference.  They should be your biggest investment.  I spend between $1000.00 – $1500.00 on each of my lenses, making sure they are the top-of-the-line.  The 85mm 1.4 is my fave and what I shoot about 80% of my work with.  I rarely shoot anything with my wide angle (16 – 70mm) because the aperture only goes to 3.5.   The alien bee is great just because it gives you a TON more output on light than your speedlights.  This is good to have if you are going to be in a lot of harsh-lighting situations.

I thought these were okay (regarding images of a senior male).  But his white shirt is glowing?  2.8 250 shutter iso 200 +.3 step Pattern A mode

Me:  Ah, the lovely white shirt. It is just the nature of the beast.  I tell all my portrait clients NOT to wear white, just because of what happens above.  It is just such a reflective color, that you get blow-outs very easily.  Part of this can be adjusted in LR, with the “RECOVERY” tool.  I use that tool A LOT to get my skies back to normal and any other hot-spot that I see in the image.  Unfortunately, it is just something that happens when a client wears white. 

If you are interested in a mentoring session, please shoot me an email or visit my Photography Mentoring Website.  Thank you Karen for allowing me to share!!  Hopefully, someone else will learn a little while reading this post.  :-)

Keri Doolittle is a Denver Wedding Photographer who specializes in local and Rocky Mountain weddings, along will destination wedding photography.