Cell Phone Photography - Low Light, Emotional Brightness

Smartphones are pretty incredible. I have all of human knowledge at my fingertips, on demand. I also happen to have a camera with me, even when I don't feel like carrying a DSLR camera and lens. Most of the time, I love it - I own a Galaxy S5, which has a 16 MP camera. It's not as customizable as I'd like (no manual mode or RAW shooting for me), but it's pretty darn good. For most people taking photos, camera phones are what they use. heck, even National Geographic has gotten into phone photography. Workshops or even full photo projects are out there from the masters of documentary photography.

This wouldn't be much of a photo blog if I didn't at least explore this type of shooting. So I did some shooting with my phone. At a local club. Yes, I was one of those people, taking crappy photos in a dark club of a brilliant musical artist - Big Data. But here's the thing - I came home from a great show having spent maybe a grand total of 5 minutes firing off photos while I enjoyed a couple hours of music - and the photos were crap. Don't believe me? Here are the best ones.

"Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships."

- Ansel Adams

But, here's where you have to see lemons and actually try to make lemonade as an artist. And photos of a high energy musical performance are the perfect way to do this - you're not looking for tack focus, perfect framing, or even perfect lighting. Rather, these photos can be made to convey a mood - the emotion of the show.

This was a great notion to explore - that photography isn't strictly reproduction of what you see. It's why Ansel Adams said "A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed." And that's when I got into Lightroom and had fun.

So I was proud of my experimentation - these shots felt like the show I attended. The music, the action, the emotion - these images, taken with a camera that was relatively overwhelmed with the task, captured something that I'm not sure my D7100 ever could have. As a bonus, one other person seemed to enjoy the shots, as well.

Puppy Portraiture - Speed Lighting with Speedlights

A couple of weeks ago, a good friend of mine sends me a message. "Can you take some photos of my dog? I want to put together a birthday gift for my Mom." Sure, that's easy enough! I've wanted a chance to play with multiple lights, I love dogs, and I like taking photos.

Now, before I continue, be aware that I very much like to get things right. Yes, I experiment with things - trial and error is something that I like. That said, I prefer my trials and, most certainly my errors, happen when I'm experimenting - not when I'm taking shots for someone else!

Seeing lighting has been getting more intuitive. Fill light on the dog, and then a subtle flash that I could use to bring out the background. Heck, I even made a nice DIY reflector from cardboard and aluminum foil to get a little bounce to fill in shadows! I knew what I wanted from this shoot - Eye level shots of a pooch that were well lit and had great color. Oh, and obviously, I wouldn't ever want to crop things!

Now, our pup of the day was Bianca - an adorably happy dog that, try as we might, did not enjoy sitting still. Which was an issue, when you'd find the perfect spot to shoot, get it lit, and then bring the dog over. Well, little Bianca would check out the spot - and then decide she wanted to run elsewhere. Bribe with treats, get 20 seconds of possibly good shots (but oh, don't forget to shift the camera position a little, because now poor little Bianca is showing off that nice cardboard reflector in the background! After 15 minutes or so of this rather silly endeavor, the dim bulb begins to illuminate, and I start finding other places that I can make super fast lighting arrangements. Ah, here's a nice section of carpet - Get those lights set!

Thoughtful Dog - Unsightly Reflector

That's how you end up with a couple hundred photographs, many of which are of a hyper little pup dodging the camera in the name of excitement! And that is also how you end up with one sad photographer, when he begins looking through his shots, and is struggling to find usable ones. But they come. Gradually, but they come. More and more usable shots - more than enough with which a friend can craft a gift.

Equipment Used

Nikon D7100 Camera
2 x SB-600 (used gear from solid resellers like B&H or Adorama, amongst others, is awesome)
3 x Cactus V5 Wireless Triggers
DIY Cardboard-foil reflector

Images