Rim Lighting with a Black Background - Help Needed

So this will be a very simple and short post!

I've been shooting some portraits with a black tablecloth background lately, and getting some really fun results with it. But, I'm running into one annoyance that I need to think through - my rim lighting from the rear of the subject is reflecting off of the subject and back onto my background, giving it too much variation in tone and color.

Here is what the set up looked like, with a little help from Lighting Diagram 

And here is the resulting image

How do I fix it, readers?

Making Your Own Light: Or How I Stopped Being Afraid of Flash

Like pretty much every aspiring photographer, I loved learning how to make better images the more I shot. Books, articles, videos - anything that explained the craft, I devoured. Until, that is, I began learning  about flash. Wasn't it enough that I had begun to master all of the functions of my camera? Why did some new device have to come into play?

But then, while reading Joe McNally's "The Moment it Clicks," everything (wait for the terrible pun)... clicked. Flash isn't something scary. It is light. Light is EVERYTHING. Light is what you're capturing. Sometimes it even looks pretty cool when you capture it! That understanding of what flash photography actually means, plus the incredible resource that is David Hobby's Strobist blog got me to experimenting.

Since I love being outside and doing things like hurtling down hills on thin sticks in the snow and ice, I thought that trying out these lighting ideas might work well in such a simple environment. One homemade jump into a gully of fresh powder at the base of a hilly driveway, and I had my chance. Before I get to the photos, let me just say that I learned some VERY important lessons here.

1) Plan what the heck is going to happen before you get out there. The guys doing the tricks had it all set, including the landing area. I got people next to the jump to get my focus preset. I did this ALL on manual focus. In the dark, there is no way you're going to get auto-focus tracking. Also, knowing where they will land is a good way to make sure you're not there.

2) Set your gear up BEFORE you're set to shoot. I played with my Cactus V5 triggers inside so that I wouldn't be fumbling about with gloves on in single digit temperatures. But this lesson is just as important even if environmental conditions were ugly - the more pre-planning, the more time you have to deal with what you want to shoot!

Note, when you want to fire multiple flashes with the Cactus V5's, the unit attached to your camera is the commander and must be on Channel 1. The other receiving units can then occupy any of the "blue" channels (1-5). Pretty awesome stuff when you consider that these all cost less than a single PocketWizard - and one PocketWizard won't do you much good.

Here is what we set up. The arrow is the direction the skiers and boarders came from. I was shooting from below the jump and just towards the main light side of things. One thing that you'll notice in a set up like this is that you get a narrow window of good lighting in the pitch black. When you miss that window? Well, cool things can still happen - like this.

Oh, and it doesn't hurt to get big fluffy flakes coming down when you shoot something like this. All of those flakes getting caught in the strobes are just tasty!

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

Images

Outdoor Photography Preperation - Gear-Hacking a Camera Holster

An Easily Accessible Outdoor Camera Rig - For Half of the Price.

 

Over the last two years, I've attempted to combine my love of photography with the enjoyment that I get from being outdoors. To put it mildly, I have had very little success. Sure, I've snagged a few nice shots, but if you're going on a multi-day camping trip, the amount of time you can spend pulling gear out of bags to get the perfect shot is limited

So, how can I make my camera more available to me, on the go? I'm going on hikes, doing alpine climbing, and paddling down rivers at times. Breaks are fine, but part of all of these journeys is reaching the destination (eventually) . If I keep stopping for the perfect shot(s), I'm going to be very late to work the next Monday!

There are a number of complex chest rigs to hold your camera in place as you hike, even with a full backpack on. Well, those cost anywhere north of $99. That's a little much for what I want to spend. But then I stumbled on Think Tank's Digital Holster 10 V2.0. (You're welcome, Think Tank. How about endorsement money now? No? Maybe a coupon?)

So, let's get this puppy all set up. See this cool super sturdy velcro tab? We can attach the camera holster to the backpack via the chest strap.You may be curious as to why I didn't just attach the holster to my waist belt. Well, I'm going to be traveling while wearing a climbing harness on occasion. The one thing that I do not want my camera to interfere with is my safety equipment. Safety first!





















Just make sure that you've got enough room on the male end of the clip to buckle the strap. You might think that this will be uncomfortable, but the chest strap isn't meant to be cinched tight and bear weight. It should be semi-loose when clipped!

So here is what we've got when it's attached to the strap and clipped in. Not too bad! But I'm putting some pretty pricey gear in this holster. I don't want to trundling down a hill, cliff, or worse when I take my pack off for a breather. After all, tired minds make mistakes. So we get out a cheap carabiner.





















Finally, I've attached the carabiner to one of the metal D-rings on the holster, and then attached that to a closed loop on the chest strap. Note - CLOSED loop. If it's just the strap, the holster can still go sliding off - this time with a carabiner in tow. And there - I've just recreated a camera set-up for half of the price that keeps my gear well protected from weather and bumps, all while securely fastened to me in an easy to reach place.

ProjectDC: Welcome to the Metro

Well, I've been out and about on the Metro a few times this summer, and on occasion I've felt that I'm in the right place at the right time (and in the right mood) to capture life in D.C. on the Metro. As some of my Twitter followers may know, D.C.'s Metro (WMATA) can be downright terrible for reasons that perplex me. But that's old hat in D.C., sadly.

So how better to begin exploring the Metro and its problems than by looking at the people on the Metro? I have a long way to go, that much I know. I've lost a bit of my street photography mojo - if I ever had it! Eventually I hope to do some portraiture in the system, but, until then, it's just about capturing life on the train.

Images

Mea Culpa

Well. I've been remiss this summer in posting content - photos, tips, pitfalls that I've encountered - everything. Fortunately, I haven't stopped shooting, and will have plenty of posts coming your way soon!

The most exciting post, in my view, is from my first set of D.C. metro shots. Some are good, some are keepers, and some are juat good learning experiences.

So, stay tuned! I will be better!

Simple And Fun D.C. Fireworks Shots

There isn't much to say about this set of photographs. I wasn't close enough to really get the best out of my wide angle lens, so these are cropped fairly heavily. Despite that fact, the colors and the motion, I feel, really came out nicely. Which is what makes me happiest about fireworks photos, so I'll call it a win!

Equipment Used

Nikon D7100 Camera
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens
Manfretto BeFree Tripod
Nikon MC-DC2 Cable Release

Images

How Good Are Teleconverters? A Non-Technical Look

So I've often wondered if it made more sense to get a really good 200mm or 300mm lens, and then slap a teleconverter on it to get that extra reach. After all, it would save thousands of dollars, and if the starting lens had a nice wide aperture, it would give you the same numbers in the end. I read reviews, I attempted to look at sample images, but I just couldn't see what the sites were saying. The images looked good to me. I didn't see sharpness falling off dramatically as you moved away from the center, I didn't see issues in the corners.

The 70-200mm f/2.8 is all-metal and surprisingly heavy.
First shots with it were canted due to the surprising weight!

Fortunately, I am able to easily rent lenses and various components, so Itested Nikon's 1.4, 1.7, and 2.0 teleconverters on Nikon's 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens (not the current VR II) with the racing ponies at Pimlico. Where better to test focusing and sharpness? So, now, without a further adieu, images and commentary based on a photography enthusiast's images, not highly calibrated lens test diagrams.

Baseline: This is how good the lens is, on its own
1/3200 at 82mm f/2.8 ISO200

The Teleconverters and Sharpness

Now I went for a little extra reach, mounting the 1.4x. The nice thing is, the autofocus system for the 70-200mm still works!

It is clear that the lens is losing a little something. Not much, but a little. Compare the original image on the left with the crop on the right. Even I can appreciate the ever so slight softness in the horse on the right. Remember, we're losing a couple of stops and the maximum aperture is now smaller.
1/4000 at 280mm f/4 ISO800



Now we move up to the 1.7x and it gets very apparent that you're beginning to really lose something in the image. But that's only if I'm cropping and zooming. At full size, the image looks brilliant. Again, at wide open and with the 1.7x, we're closing the aperture more.
1/3200 at 340mm f/4.8 ISO640



Now we go to the 2.0x teleconverter, and start losing some serious light. I decided to give zoomed in views of the corners on this one, so that the sharpness can be really appreciated. I don't know how, but the 2.0x just looks good.
1/2500 at 210mm f/5.6 ISO1600

The main image.


Upper right corner. You can really see the detail in the horse blanket, and it is fairly crisp. This surprised me.


Now to the lower right corner. Here you can see the details on the boots, but they do become a little fuzzier as you move further from the center.


Lower left corner. This is the shot that showcases the loss of sharpness when using the 2.0x. The coat on the legs has become blurry, but still detailed enough to pick out the hairs.


Upper left corner. This one vexes me. The coat is very similar to the lower left shot, save for the extreme upper left corner. The top of the horses hindquarter is full of detail and is quite crisp. VERY surprising.

Focusing Speed

But what about lens performance in the areas that you may not know about until you experience them for yourself, like focus speed? This is where the Nikon teleconverters blew me away. The 70-200mm lens is a fast focusing lens in my opinion. I expected to lose some serious performance, and probably lose some good action shots as a result. Boy was I wrong. I missed the shot on the left. But the next image, taken while the horses were still in the same stride? Boom. SHARP. It may be a slower focusing speed than the lens without the teleconverter, but that is fast enough for me.
1/2500 at 400mm f/5.6 ISO1600



And one final image with commentary, all the way out at full stretch, with the focus point (and subject matter) fully off center. I won't lie. The detail looks pretty freakin' good!
1/3200 at 400mm f/5.6 ISO1250

Equipment Used

Nikon D7100 Camera
70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens
Nikon 1.4x Teleconverter
Nikon 1.7x Teleconverter
Nikon 2.0x Teleconverter


Images