Daniel Jester 4/4/16 Daniel Jester 4/4/16

Fake The Setting Sun with Off Camera Flash

My wonderful and beautiful wife Alesia from our maternity shoot for our third child Rockford. The sun had gone down behind some low clouds and foothills when we saw this patch of flowers. To recapture that sunset feel, I faked the setting sun with m… — My wonderful and beautiful wife Alesia from our maternity shoot for our third child Rockford. The sun had gone down behind some low clouds and foothills when we saw this patch of flowers. To recapture that sunset feel, I faked the setting sun with my LumoPro LP180 and a CTO gel.

I really like having light sources in frame. Or at the very least, shooting light towards my lens. When I’m shooting outside, I pretty much always try to shoot INTO the sun.

I know, it’s a little outside of some peoples understanding of the "rules" of photography.

I’ve tutored new photographers who think I’m crazy when I set up a portrait shooting into the sun. I just love it.

However, on more than one occasion I’ve been shooting away and the sun dips below the horizon. Or it was obscured by some low cloud cover. Or it was 1pm in July. Sometimes the sun isn’t where I need to it to be, in order for it to be visible behind my subject.

So, I fake it. Here are a few examples.

This was shot at approximately 1pm. The sun was obscured by tree canopy and we faked the setting sun with OCF.

This one is a little more subtle, just a very slight lightwash, from just out of frame.

Fake setting sun (the sun had already dipped below the ridge line and some low clouds). Note the placement at the edge of the frame and just above the distance hills.

This set up also included a reflector to bring some light back onto Blanca's face.

This set up is a little more in your face in a sense. This is designed to look like the sun coming through a gap in the tree coverage. The actual sun was higher up in the sky in roughly the same area.

You can achieve this look with a single speed light, a half or full CTO gel (gelled to taste), and a little know-how.

Step One: Understanding

The key thing to remember here is that the strobe is not your main light. This lighting method is the very essence of blending off camera flash with ambient light. In all except for one of the above examples, the ambient light is the main light and the “sun” light is kept relatively low output to blend in with the ambient exposure. Like the secret to a good haircut or a killer smoothie, its all in the blending.

Step Two: Expose Properly

Get your ambient exposure at or a little above where you want it. If you’re working on a close in portrait (chest, head, and shoulders) you can bounce light off a reflector and back into your subjects face. Overexposing the ambient light slightly will go a long way in making your strobe blend with the daylight.

This was the ambient for this shot. You will see we need to expose OVER this to help the strobe blend with the natural light.

This is a great example of the ambient light being too low and making your cone of fake sunlight obvious. Blend Blend Blend!

Step Three: Place and set your light

Get your CTO gelled flash in frame or JUST out of frame and set power output to your desired effect. play around with the blending of it until it looks natural.

We finally hit the goldilocks ratio of ambient and strobe. The result is a totally convincing setting sun.

Step Four: Realize this doesn’t always work

This is a little hard to explain, but there are a few situations where this just wont work. It will look fake and contrived. The most common situation is where there are a lot of objects between your flash and your subject. The cone of light is not sufficient to fake sunlight on all objects in the frame. You want to make sure that any objects aside from your subject are being hit by this fake sunlight also, otherwise it will just look really fake. Observe the image above, where our cone of light is obvious. It is a combination of underexposure of the ambient light, and the viewer seeing too many background elements that SHOULD be affected by the "sun" light, but aren't.

Step Five: Remove light stands in post (if necessary)

Whenever possible I hide light stands or use a LumoPro studio clamp to reduce the amount of post processing I have to deal with. In general however, it's not terribly difficult to remove a light stand in Photoshop.

Daniel Jester 3/18/16 Daniel Jester 3/18/16

Shooting Your Kids - 5 Tips From a Photographer and Father of 3

Top 5 tips for shooting your kids from a photographer and father of 3

Far and away the best part about being a photographer is that I have access to solid photography all the time. As a father of 3, that comes in really really handy. I've been thinking a lot about how to get great shots of your kids, and here are the top 5 things I came up with.

Disclaimer: These are more philosophy related, than technical tips, although I will include a few quick tips at the end of this post.

Here we go!

Patience

Arnold H. Glasow said “The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.” As parents, you and I understand this concept probably more than most people do. Children have a way of requiring seemingly inhuman amounts of patience. This virtue is the number one key to getting great photos of your kids. I can’t stress enough how critical it is, and there are a few aspects to it.

You need classic, good old fashioned patience. Not losing your cool. Going with the flow. You don’t want your kids on edge when the camera comes out because they’ve come to associate it with mom or dad getting snippy and pushy.

You also need patience in the form of restraint. Don’t try to snap away at every moment. Be selective in what you shoot, and leave the image reviewing until later. It’s a hard habit to break, but burying your nose in the LCD screen is a surefire way to lose your kids cooperation. Be present in the moment with them (more on this in step 5).

Lastly, you need to recognize that you may not get a great shot this time around, but with perseverance you will eventually get some incredible pictures of your kids.

Sometimes you just don't get the shot you want. And sometimes the result can still be pretty fun.

Technique

The second most important thing is having a good grasp on photographic technique. Understanding how the functions of your camera work together to achieve exposure is critical. If your kids are moving around a lot (which they definitely are) you probably want a pretty fast shutter speed in order to freeze the action. But you also probably want pretty generous depth of field if they are moving toward you or away from you, which means a smaller aperture setting. The only way to reconcile those two things is to increase ISO.

There are a lot of ways to get the right exposure, the example above simply illustrates that you need to understand and be thinking about photographic technique and fundamentals during your session. If you don’t know the basics, take a class. A simple community college course will be enough to get you started, and the rest is practice and patience (see above).

Hannah runs away from me, but with the right shutter speed and aperture (thus, depth of field) I still get a killer shot

Planning

If I had to take these 5 tips and cut them back to 3, planning would make the cut. Even when keeping it simple and casual, planning is vital. You have a secret weapon when it comes to planning! They are YOUR kids. That means you shoot on your schedule, and because you control meal time, nap time and bed time, you can leverage all of these things to work in your favor.

Maybe Jackson is usually a little grumpy right after nap, but tends to open up and get silly about an hour before dinner. That might be the time to strike. Maybe Hannah is really cuddly and sweet first thing in the morning, that might be the right time for a quick mother daughter photo shoot. Leverage your kids naps and bed times to work in your favor also. If you want to shoot with strobe, use the kids nap time to dial in light. Use a stuffed animal as a stand in so there is no guess work once the clock is ticking. All parents understand that good behavior in children is basically equity that can be depleted, so wasting it is generally not wise.

This family Christmas portrait took tremendous planning and testing, all of which was done before the kids ever got in the shot. Even so, we still had to just put Hannah to bed and then bring her out while asleep. Sometimes they just don't want to c… — This family Christmas portrait took tremendous planning and testing, all of which was done before the kids ever got in the shot. Even so, we still had to just put Hannah to bed and then bring her out while asleep. Sometimes they just don't want to cooperate.

As an aside, here’s another pro tip that is planning at the macro level. Give your kids the bedroom that gets the best light in the house. Seriously. Your kids are comfortable in that space and will open up and you can get some incredible photographs right in their own bedroom.

See what I'm saying about the room with the best light? Shot on film: Kodak Portra 120mm, Yashica 635

Routine

By routine, I don’t mean it should be a daily or weekly occurrence that should be treated like bath time or church. I mean do it often enough that it’s not out of the ordinary. And when the camera comes out, don’t make it a big deal. Just have it there, engage with your children, and snap a few frames. Making it an ordinary part of your life does two main things for you:

1. It desensitizes your children to the camera and your behavior while shooting. This will allow them to be more comfortable and act natural, allowing for more opportunities for those delicious candid moments.

2. It increases the likelihood that you will get something really magical, just because you will be shooting more often.

Since Dad always has a camera, Hannah just goes on about her business.

Playfulness

Just play with your kids. Have your husband or wife play with your kids and when they run away from you, or toward you, or turn to pour tea into Banjo’s teacup, lift the camera and snap your shot. No fuss, just be present, be playful and occasionally snap a frame or two.

Remember: You’re a parent first, and photographer second. Don’t sacrifice their desire for your attention in order to get the shot. They will reward your patience (that word again!) with cooperation and candidness that will result in images you will cherish for the rest of your life.

A Few Final Thoughts

I promised a few technical tips, so here you go:

Get down to their level, or lower. There are very few interesting shots of kids from an adults perspective
Don't ask them to smile or say cheese. Make them laugh instead. Kids do weird things when you ask them to smile.
Use strobes aimed at the ceiling in two or more corners of the room for indoor shots, if you are short on light. This will create a natural looking boost in the overall room light.

The light in this room was boosted with 2 LumoPro LP180 manual speedlights in opposite corners aimed into the corners.

Daniel Jester 8/19/14 Daniel Jester 8/19/14

Photo Studio Challenge - Portrait of a Loved One

A couple of weeks ago the team of photographers, stylists and support staff that I work with kicked off a bi-weekly studio-wide photo challenge (images were posted here). Every two weeks we pick a theme and each person can shoot an image that relates to that theme.

This week our theme was: A portrait of a loved one, without showing them in the image. So in other words, an object, person (other than the "subject" of course) or place that reminds you of that person.

Here are the results!

Ashley Paulus

Bonnie Warrington - BonnieWarrington.com

Photographer Bonnie Warrington shot this still life with her DSLR ann Natural Light. These items represent her boyfriend Scott.

Dani Alvarez

Daniel T Jester

A Glenfield Model 60 just like the one my Grandpa took me to shoot when I was a child.

Dave Uzzardi - DavidUzzardi.com

Dave Uzzardi's submission to the challenge, a subtle and somewhat abstract image where the subject slowly reveals itself to the viewer after some time.

Emily Wilkerson

Karen Utley - KarenUtley.com

Photographer Karen Utley shot this still life in remembrance of her mother

Karyl Alvarado

Studio Coordinator Karyl snapped this shot of a song her and her grandmother played together during their short meeting before her grandmother had to head back to the Philippines.

Kimmy Ann Snow

Product Stylist Kimmy Snow set up this shot of her Father In Law's dog tags and ashes. She never met the man, but he is an important part of her husband life, and feels a connection.

Lindsay Barker

Vanessa Celotto - StyleeGrace.com

Stylist Supervisor Van Celotto snapped this to represent the staff of the studio as her loved ones. Awwwwwww.

Vivian Nguyen

As you can see, the turn out for this weeks challenge was BIG. It was so exciting to see how everyone interpreted the theme and what they submitted. Stay tuned for the next Studio Photo Challenge, where the theme is Food.

Daniel Jester 8/13/14 Daniel Jester 8/13/14

What's in my Bag - My Everyday Photo Kit

My everyday photo kit. A small but powerful kit that is perfect for everyday carry and can net you some solid results on the fly.

I carry a bag every day, where ever I go. As a photographer, I like to always have the tools I need to get that quick candid moment, or snap that impromptu portrait wherever I am.

When I purchased the Fujifilm X100s, a lot changed for me as a photographer. One of those changes was my realization that most of the camera bags I own are not at all aesthetically pleasing to me. Way too much black or grey nylon and little to no personality. So I began the search for a new bag. I settled on swapping out my camera bags for two seperate Domke bags. The one shown above would be my everyday bag, and another larger bag for bigger jobs requiring more gear.

I have now settled on a small, but very powerful everyday photo kit:

Domke F-10 Medium Shoulder Bag in Rugged Wear finish

I adore this bag and this finish. The bag is solid, durable, exactly the right size for me, and looks great. In addition to this bag, I bought a larger messenger bag when the job requires more gear, so I have matching bags that look awesome, for what that's worth.

Fujifilm X100s

There is not a lot I can say here that I or others haven't already said. I love this camera and carry it every. single. day.

LumoPro LP180

This flash is everything. I recently bought 2 more, in addition to the this one AND the two LumoPro LP160s I have. These flashes are powerful, consistent, reliable, versatile, and inexpensive. Almost everything I shoot is with a LumoPro flash.

2x Pocket Wizard Plus III + Sync Cable

Carrying these in my kit offers me two sync options: Via optical slave triggered by the X100s' on camera flash, or with these radio triggers.

Inexpensive Two Sided Reflector

Purchased from amazon.com, silver on one side and white on the other, packs up just small enough to fit in the bag. An essential part of this kit.

Batteries and Memory Cards

In the bag is a small CaseLogic wallet for carrying memory cards and spare batteries.

Field Notes 48 Page Graph Paper Memo Book + FN Pen

I am completely and totally addicted to Field Notes and their products. I carry at least one notebook with me everywhere I go, and I have multiple books filled with lighting diagrams, notes, and concepts for future projects.

Odds and Ends

No kit would be complete without a pack of gum, business cards, Advil, tweezers, a pocket knife and a bongo tie.

Not Pictured

Although I don't carry it everywhere per se, I always have a light stand and umbrella nearby, generally in my car. You never know.

Examples

These are the kind of results this kit can get you

Shot with the Fuji, LP180 flash and reflector

Daniel Jester 5/27/14 Daniel Jester 5/27/14

So long Canon, I'm seeing someone else

For the last couple of months, I've been spending a lot of time with someone new. Her name is the Fujifilm X100s and I think it might be true love.

Ever since I rented the Fujifilm X100s, my shooting habits have not been the same. It's so easy to carry, shoot with, and process from, that I find that even with a wide fixed focal length, it's my go-to camera for both personal and professional work. I've been carrying it everywhere I go, which is not something I have done with a DSLR in some time. The weight, bulk, and conspicuousness of the system is just more than I want to deal with 90% of the time.

The tech and features of the X100s and other X series Fujifilm cameras have been explained and re-hashed all over the internet, so I won't do that here. Suffice it to say that the quality I get and the control I have are more than enough to satisfy me in both personal and professional work.

What I do want to say about these cameras is this: I haven't felt this way about taking pictures in a long time. The Fuji X100s has been a pure joy to use. Maybe I'm still in the honeymoon phase, but it has been so long since I've felt this way about a piece of gear. I honestly love to take pictures with it.

This got me thinking: Should I ditch Canon and go all Fuji for my kit?

YES.

I haven't sold anything yet, don't worry. I am going to ease into it. The camera I am looking at to replace my DSLR is the Fujifilm XT1, and a handful of lenses. My plan is to rent it, shoot with it for a week or so, and then make a decision, but I think I already know what it's going to be. I am going to become one of those crazy photographers who shoots a brand other than Canon or Nikon.

Please, weigh in by commenting your thoughts. I'd like to know if I'm crazy.

Here is a sampling of some of my recent tabletop shots with the Fuji. This series is all about summer stuff.