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Today I am going to revist and update a topic I've covered in the past on my blog: backlighting. Backlighting is my favorite, favorite kind of light. I more often than not choose my shooting locations based on light and I'm always on the look-out for opportunities for backlighting. The above image is a great example of backlighting along with this next image.
I didn't get to set up this shot - the couple was just walking down the aisle - but I did make sure I shot it from the right side of the aisle to make the most of the effect. |
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| What I do to find locations that work well for backlighting is to look for the end of a shady area -- where the shade ends and light begins and where the sun is partially diffused, making it less harsh. Trees and buildings work well for this. Trees are excellent because they can be used to block part of the sun but still let some of it through. I place my subjects' backs to the sun in the spot where the sun is still hitting their heads but the bulk of the background is shaded (this is KEY!). This means that the exposure will be the same on their faces as it is in the background. But instead of it being a flat photo -- like photos that are in full shade -- this scenario creates some nice hair light that separates the subjects from the background and often gives a nice glow to the photo. Check out this super artistic visual I came up with in photoshop that depicts this scenario: |
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I usually over-expose these types of shots by 1/3 or 2/3 of a stop. I care more about getting the subjects' faces properly exposed and I don't care so much about whether or not the hair light is blown out.
Here is another great example of backlighting: |
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There was nothing about this background that made this location particularly inviting to shoot in, but the light was perfect for backlighting. You can see how the shade transitions to sun at the subjects' feet -- that's what I'm looking for -- as well as a mostly-shaded background.
Depending on how much light is coming through and where you position yourself you can get some flare or haze in these types of shots. You have to experiment with your positioning while shooting (moving around your subject 90 degrees to the left or 90 degrees to the right) to get different effects. If the sun is nearly directly behind the subject, you may get a hazy effect over their faces.
I made sure not to fully edit these next two images to show you how your positioning can control this haze. In this shot you can see how there is a haze over Aaron and Sarah's faces: |
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| It's still not a bad photo and I can correct for the haze in Photoshop (I use Kevin Kubota's smokeless burn tool to selectively burn in the areas effected). But as I was shooting it, I realized I didn't want that effect in this shot, so I simply moved around them to my left to get this: |
- and their faces became much clearer while retaining the effect of the backlighting. So you can see how simply moving your position in relation to the sun can change the amount of haze and flare in the image. At times I WANT a little haze -- it can give a great effect to the image -- just not usually over a subject's face.
Happy shooting everyone! Have fun playing with backlighting! |
Thank you all so much for filling out my blog reader survey! There have been over 700 participants so far and I know there are more of you who haven't had the chance to fill it out yet, so I'm going to continue gathering responses for another week or so before I share the results with you. Click here to go to the survey if you haven't taken it yet!
I've been having a blast reading through the responses. I feel so blessed to get to do what I do and interact with great people on the web. Many of you are sharing that you love the tips, to keep them coming and that you'd specifically like to know more about my editing process. You'd also like to see more Behind the Image posts. I'm happy to do more, I just need to know which images you'd like to learn about! Leave a comment or drop me an email!
I've covered so many FAQs over the years and have some great stuff in the archives. If you love tips, make sure to click on the FAQ category of my blog to see more!
I thought it would be fun to revisit some of the FAQ topics I wrote on back in the day -- revisit and update. So I'm going to start today by talking about skin tones. To see the original post from over 2 years ago, click here.
I do have some strong opinions on skin tones. I know that the choices photographers make in this area can be somewhat subjective but in my subjective opinion, they should look as natural and clean as possible. Unfortunately, as I scan through some blogs out there I grimace at some photographers' color correcting choices. In this area, I think actions have hurt us more than they've helped us. We think that we can just run an action that we like on any photo and it will look good. Not so much the case.
First of all, I shoot everything in RAW on auto white balance so I can make my choices for white balance when I have more time on the computer after the shoot. I know many photographers are trying to get their white balance correct in camera and I applaud them. If you can -- go for it! For me it's just one more setting to change and pay attention to. I feel like when it comes to white balance, it is easily tweaked on the computer and there's really no harm done to the image if you don't get it perfect in camera.
I shoot a Canon 5D mark II and the auto wb actually works pretty well. Then I color correct my images in Camera RAW in Photoshop. These two little sliders are the only things I use to adjust the skin tones:
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Side note: For those of you who use Lightroom, these sliders work the same way. Another side note: the screen shot of these sliders does not reflect the actual temperature and tint settings in the following examples. And I don't really pay attention to the numbers -- I just work by sight.
I'll now give you some examples to show you what I think is the good, the bad and the ugly in skin tones and show you how I fix the ugly with these fun and o-so-easy-to-use sliders. This is a little tough to do on a blog because each of your monitors is calibrated a little differently than mine so it's hard to know if you are seeing what I'm seeing with these little changes. But we'll give it a go if you will note this disclaimer :).
The most common faux pas I see on blogs these days is the too-warm image: |
| Not so clean and natural looking. In this case, I would bring the temperature down just so: |
| A second less-common blunder is to have too much magenta in an image: |
| In this case I would bring the tint down a tad: |
| The opposite of too much magenta is too much yellow/green: |
| This is the case in which you should bring the tint up: |
| This final case I rarely see but thought I would mention nonetheless. This is what an image looks like that is too cool: |
| To add warmth bump up the temperature (but be careful not to go crazy as this is where many photographers slip up): |
Any combination of sliding the temperature and tint up or down could be the right combo for the skin tones in any given image. The challenge is to train your eye to see color in an image, much like we train our eye to see compositional elements that make an image interesting or the way we train our eye to see how light is affecting a subject.
For what it's worth, I find myself most often bringing the temperature slightly down and the tint slightly up (more magenta). This is a total generalization but that's the most common combo I find my images needing for the desired result.
That concludes Color Correction 101. All comments, questions and snide remarks are welcome below. :) |
In the past I've done a bunch of flash-related posts for photographers sharing some of my tricks and techniques. If you're a newer blog reader and want to catch up on some of them, I'll provide the links here:
Off-camera flash
Using shutter speed
Low-light focus trick
I realized recently after talking with my second shooter about her tendency to underexpose reception shots, that I have never shared one of the simplest, most basic things you can do to more accurately expose using flash. Many of you may already be proficient at this but since I've talked with a number of photographers lately who have never heard of it, I thought I would slap it on the blog.
Do you find that most of your images shot with flash (when it is set to ETTL mode) -- whether you use just on-camera flash, or a combination of on and off-camera flash -- tend to be underexposed? The reason for this is that most images taken at a reception have some type of ambient lighting - whether it's candles, wall or ceiling lights or twinkle lights - in the background. Note the lights in the background of both of these shots: |
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When your on-camera flash is set to ETTL mode, your camera evaluates how much flash power should be put out and includes these lights in the equation. So in trying to accurately expose for the ambient lights in the shot, your flash under-exposes your subjects. This scenario is much like shooting a subject in a room with window light behind them. You need to over-expose (according to your in-camera meter) in order to properly expose your subject. In the case of our reception scenario, you need to ask your flash to put out more power than your camera is telling it is needed.
Flash compensation is the setting you use to ask your flash to over-expose. As each camera is different, look for this symbol on the top of your camera: |
| On the 5D mark II the button used to access the flash compensation settings is shared by the ISO setting: |
| Once you find that button, push it and then try both of your wheels to determine which is used to control your flash compensation. Look for a meter like this on the top of your camera: |
This meter is just like the one in your viewfinder expect that it is used to over or under-expose your flash when it is on your camera and in ETTL mode. It's really a brilliant thing.
Because I am always dealing with ambient lights in my reception shots, I tend to leave my flash compensation setting on +2/3 or +1 full stop for the entire reception. But I check my LCD screen to see if I need to make adjustments.
Yay for saying good-bye to under-exposed reception images!! |
I've gotten a number of questions lately about how I'm able to retain the color and sharpness of my images when uploading to my blog or Facebook. I remember running into this issue early on when uploading images to the web. I'd spend all this time getting the image perfect on my monitor and then after uploading it, the color would be all faded out and it would just look like poo. There's nothing more frustrating!
Back in the day I did some googling and figured out what my issue was. I believe it had to do with my "save for web" settings but I can't remember exactly so I thought I'd just share my process with you so you know all of the settings I use.
I shoot in sRGB color space. I shoot in RAW. When converting from RAW to .jpg I have the following two boxes checked: "convert Profile to sRGB" and "Include ICC Profile." |
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I resize my .jpgs for the web to 880 px wide (for horizontal shots) then run Kevin Kubota's Magic Sharp action on them. I always use the history brush to erase the action on part of the image and to dilute it on the rest. I use it sparingly because over-sharpening looks gross. I used to be a photographer who over-sharpened but I realized the error of my ways.
Then I save for web. Make sure to use the "save for web" setting rather than just the "save as" setting because it will help your images load more quickly on your blog and website. The following is a screen shot of my save for web settings. Note the three boxes checked in the upper right quadrant: |
| That's it! Beyond these settings I have no other magic formula to share with you. But I hope this helps! |
I get a lot of questions from photographers related to 2nd shooting -- what typical pay is, how image rights are handled, what is expected and the most common of all -- can I 2nd shoot for you? So I thought I'd do an all-encompassing FAQ post to cover all questions relating to 2nd shooting. Second shooter roles, policies and pay vary widely throughout the industry. I'm sure my understanding of these issues is limited as well, but I am happy to share it nonetheless. Feel free to weigh in to the conversation in the comments!
PAY
There are about 4 different tiers of pay for second shooters and they are largely determined by the experience of the 2nd shooter and success of the main shooter.
1. FREE
When I was newer in the business, I didn't have money to pay a 2nd shooter. But there always seems to be someone who is even newer that you are, and I had some folks who volunteered to shoot with me just to gain experience. When you're just starting out, 2nd shooting is a great way to familiarize yourself with weddings and build your portfolio. But generally speaking, you need to 2nd shoot with another newbie who is just at the same level or a little further along (I'll talk about why in the next section). I always encourage new photographers to get together with each other and shoot with one another for free. It's a great trade, you both have back-ups and you each gain even more experience by shooting with each other. Every once in awhile my friends and I will second shoot for each other still just to have fun and enjoy shooting a wedding without the responsibility of being the main shooter.
2. $200-$300/day
As I became more experienced and started charging enough to be able to pay a 2nd shooter, I wanted to bring along a photographer who I felt I could rely on more to capture parts of the day that I couldn't shoot. For instance, while I shoot the girls getting ready, I need someone who can cover the guys and while I shoot reception details, I need someone who can cover the cocktail hour. While I work on the slideshow for the reception, I want to have someone I can rely on to shoot the toasts. So I currently pay a 2nd shooter who has their own business and even shoots weddings on their own, but hasn't yet reached the stage where they are "too cool" to shoot with me :). I pay between $200-$300 a day (9 hours of shooting) depending on their experience and the level of their work. I love having someone along who I feel like I can rely on to get some of the shots I don't get. At this level the 2nd shooter is not just there for their own experience and to build their portfolio, but they are there to shoot primarily for your business.
3. Rate determined by 2nd shooter
This tier involves a main shooter and a 2nd shooter who both are experienced and have established businesses. I don't see this happen too often, but sometimes a client wants two photographers who are really good and the client is willing to pay top price to get them both. So they will contract with one photographer and ask them to bring along a colleague who is equally talented and experienced. The rate for the service is determined by the 2nd shooter and that cost is passed on to the client.
4. 2nd shooter is asked to pay main shooter for experience
I've only seen this done a few times, but really well-known and talented photographers sometimes offer 2nd shooting experiences to newer photographers and ask them to pay for the experience. This may initially seem unreasonable and arrogant but I think, when viewed from the main shooter's perspective, it makes sense. It's kind of like offering a workshop but better in some senses -- you get to see the photographer working an actual wedding. In this instance, the main photographer doesn't expect anything from the 2nd shooter by way of images but the 2nd shooter gets to come along for the ride to shoot a really cool wedding and watch the main shooter in action.
IMAGE RIGHTS
The copyright for all wedding images -- including those of the 2nd shooter -- always remains with the contracting shooter's business. The main shooter has the right to use all of the images shot by the 2nd shooter for whatever purposes he/she sees fit. But the usage rights for the 2nd shooter vary widely and are determined by the main shooter. It is important that before you 2nd shoot with someone, you ask them what their policy is on how you can use the images after the wedding. And it's a good idea, if you are a main shooter, that you have a contract for your 2nd shooters to sign that delineates your policy.
In general, most photographers allow 2nd shooters to blog the images they shot at the wedding as long as they say they were 2nd shooting and link to the main photographer's website. I allow my 2nd shooters to use their images on their website portfolio if they are working toward building their businesses, but I ask them to move toward filling their website portfolio with images from weddings they contracted for. Many photographers are not comfortable with their 2nd shooters using their images on their website or anything beyond a blog post. Again, policies vary and communication is of utmost importance. I think it's safe to say that it is ALWAYS inappropriate for a 2nd shooter to use images they shot for publications or ads of any kind. I've heard horror stories of a 2nd shooter getting a wedding they shot with another photographer published on a wedding blog, being listed as the photographer, and the main shooter finding out after the fact. This is BEYOND over the line.
ROLES
Second shooter roles vary widely too, depending on the main shooter. I bring along a non-shooting assistant as well as a 2nd shooter to all of my weddings, so my 2nd shooter is not asked to do many tasks beyond shooting, but I know that some photographers roll the 2nd shooter and assistant roles into one. In this case 2nd shooters can be asked to help with carrying equipment, setting up lighting, and a variety of other tasks. These are the things I ask of my 2nd shooter:
-Dress appropriately. Dress to blend in at the wedding. Each photographer has different clothing protocol so it's good to ask ahead of time. We wear all black, black slacks and closed-toed black shoes.
-Show up on time/early. Don't stress your main shooter out by being late!!
-Ask if there is anything specific the main shooter wants you to cover that day. There may be a few specific things that they want you to cover. At all other times, shoot something different than the main shooter or shoot from a different angle with a different lens. Chances are if you shoot over the shoulder of the main shooter the whole time, you are going to end up being useless. I am beyond thrilled with my 2nd shooters when they capture something I didn't see. In general, I'm more focused on the bride and groom throughout the day so I love when my 2nd shooters capture lots of tight shots of guests and kids and moments happening at the periphery of the day.
-Pay attention to which lens the main shooter is using, where they are pointing it and stay out of the way. If the main shooter is using a long lens like the 70-200mm you most likely won't be in the shot unless it is pointed straight at you. But with wide angle lenses, you have to pay a lot more attention and make sure to stay clear. Usually I'll mention to my 2nd shooter that I'm using a wide angle lens and just ask them to step to the side for the moment. But it's good to be sensitive and pay attention to what the main shooter is doing when you're 2nd shooting.
-This one seems obvious but don't pass out your business cards! You are an employee of the main shooter on that day so you are there to represent and promote their business.
-Do whatever you can to reduce stress for the main shooter. Don't come to the wedding with a lot of goals for what YOU want to do that day. Be there to serve the main shooter. Sometimes my 2nd shooters don't get the chance to shoot portraits of the bride and groom because I ask them to cover cocktail hour during the time I'm shooting them. This is a bummer but they do it because they're not there for themselves; they're part of a team.
COULD I 2ND SHOOT WITH YOU?
My answer to this question is generally: Thank you for offering, I'll keep your info on file, but I'm all set for right now. At the point I'm at with my business, I'm all about optimum performance and stress-reduction at my weddings. I'm willing to pay a 2nd shooter who I can rely on and I like to use the same team as much as possible to develop a rhythm and keep my stress at a minimum. I love helping other photographers -- I'll meet with you for lunch, share info on my blog, during mentoring sessions or my workshops -- but on a wedding day, I'm all about serving my clients. So I can't use the wedding day to teach another photographer who is tagging along to learn. I need someone I can rely on who will do the job and serve me rather than relying on me for anything. This may sound harsh, but it's just the reality of where I'm at. Currently I use two 2nd shooters -- Michelle Meyer and Lizzie Kimball -- and they have both shot with me for some time. I plan to keep them around as long as I can. But inevitably, they'll become too cool for me and I'll need to find other 2nd shooters. So feel free to email me your info, but I'm all set for right now!
Phew! That is a PLETHERA of info about 2nd shooting. I hope I covered it all! I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments! |
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