On a local stream near Prague in Czech Republic, a family of kingfishers is actively feeding their young. They carry the fish in their beaks headfirst so that the offspring don’t have too much trouble swallowing them. How many chicks will they raise this year remains a question. Well, that’s the local news. What about in the photography world?
Photography Life
One of our favorite and longest running traditions in Click Community is our forum photo contest! In last month’s contest our community shared images that embodied the theme “three” and we can’t wait for you to see this collection of our favorites.
Congratulations to Myriam Farah Cobb for her winning image (above)! Myriam won a self paced course of her choice from Click Photo School!
You can win, too! Enter this month’s forum photo contest with your take on the theme “MONOCHROME” for a chance to be featured here on the Click Community Blog and win a self paced course of your choice!
But first, please enjoy this collection of some of our very favorite and inspiring images from this past month:
Do you want a chance for your work to be featured on the Click Community blog and to be eligible to win a seat in a Click Photo School self guided course?
And if you’re not yet a member of Click Community, we’d LOVE to have you come join us! As a member, you get access to photography tutorials, video demos, Q&A threads, image critiques, photo challenges and contests like this one, and so much more! Become a member today!
The post Beauty in threes appeared first on Click Community Blog: Helping you take better pictures one day at a time.
Click Community Blog: Helping you take better pictures one day at a time
One of the most common image quality challenges in photography is to get sharp corners. Landscape photographers (among others) often pay big bucks for lenses with high resolving power at the edges of the frame. But a new lens may not solve your problem – because blurry corners usually aren’t due to the lens.
Photography Life
I’m a fan of black and white photography. A lot of subjects that fall short in color look evocative and powerful when captured in shades of gray. But it’s not always easy to decide if a photo should be color or black and white. Today, I’ll explain how I choose.
Photography Life
Summer is upon us, quite wonderfully, bringing beach time, vacations, and barbecues. For photographers, it also means doing battle with bleached skies, harsh shadows, blazing highlights and that uncompromising superheated orb in the sky that is capricious, unforgiving, and all powerful. How do we befriend light that seeks no accommodation, and takes no prisoners?
Up above, the banner photo is simply going with the flow. Raw sun, raw flash. Match the quality of what exists, and hope the gesture of the photo gives you a get out of jail free card for the harsh quality of the light.
But there is another way. It’s perhaps hard to believe a simple silk, the photo equivalent of a bedsheet, could tame the sun, and turn the bloody scream of summer sun into the gentlest of whispers. But it does.
The above, of the talented model and mural artist, Fefa, in Lima, Peru was shot in the worst of light. But, that freight train of harsh sunlight intersected with a 12′ silk, which tamed it into a gentle photon bath. Giveaway? Look at the upper left corner where you can see the telltale shadow of the silk frame. I could retouch it, but it actually doesn’t bother me. I amped up the under-the-silk light quality with a shoot through umbrella, and a Profoto B1X , just a pop, and Fefa and her art work fairly glows.
I used the same tactic photographing Winona Ryder, years ago. She’s been in the news of late, saying directors have found her unattractive. I beg to differ. On a Maryland farm, years ago, with summer sun banging a loud drum, I simply leaned a 12″ silk frame against the wall of the barn.
Presto chango….
Or, the natural medicine doc, Andrew Weill, out there in the blazing Southwestern sun. I drove the rental mini-van over to where I wanted to shoot, and bolted a 12′ silk to the luggage rack. Tilted it to an easy angle for a portrait, supported the rest of the frame with a couple c-stands, and we were done.
For a treatment a bit more luminous? Silk the sun, add 4′ Profoto Octa.
Now, a silk is a lot to manage, to be sure. I have worked by myself with a 6′ scrim and frame, but with a 12′, you need help. To add further spark, you can throw in a low bounce, creating silked sun, overhead fill pop, and an under light. Sigh. The list goes on. But…..
Failing dragging along a crew and a grip truck, a big ass umbrella does fine out there in the heat and the light of summer. Used judiciously, with a well placed subject and a relatively fast shutter speed, you can do things simply and well. The utterly beautiful Francesca Vilogron goes from pensively smooth light (above) to exuberance on the desert highway. Different scenes, different light, different feel.
On this highway, a big silk is ill-advised. The above is an umbrella on a pole, with three Speedlights on full power, filling the brolly with soft but directional light. A quick, movable light for the occasional traffic. The umbrella quality of light also has enough of a soft punch to get under the brim of her hat.
Baffling the summer sun. It’s a game we’ll play for the next few months.
More tk….
The post A Silk in the Sky appeared first on Joe McNally Photography.
