I love my Profoto B2 Kit. However, it may not be in the budget for many reading this post. That’s why I’ll start by saying that you can still do this lighting setup with two speedlites or two inexpensive studio strobes. So don’t think you have to buy the B2 kit today. The B2 kit is a great investment if it’s in your budget without going into debt to get it. As always, buy the best gear you can afford without going into debt.

The top image is the end result and my setup is shown below the first image.

Here’s the gear list (remember substitute with what you have and/or buy what you can afford):

…Canon 5D Mark III with 24-105mm F/4 Lens with the Lens set to F/4
…Profoto B2 Kit with (2) Heads and the Air TTL Trigger
…Profoto OCF 2′ Octa with Grid and Profoto Snoot with Grid

How I shot it:

Thanks to the image taken by my assistant, John, you can see that the subject is roughly 6′ from the wall. You can also see how the lights are setup, but what you cannot tell is what I’ll share in the next paragraph.

The snoot head in the back pointing to the guitar is set at a higher power than the front light. That’s why it looks brighter. The grid on the front octa keeps the light from spreading as much as it would without the grid which is why the light on the subject looks like it does and also leaves the wall dark over his right shoulder. In addition, I exposed for the scene not the room. Notice how bright the room is but how dark the final image looks. That’s because I was exposing based on the strobes not the room lighting.

How to do the shot without breaking the bank:

Again, I love my Profoto B2 Kit. But it’s not going to work for everyone’s budget.

With the above said, here’s an alternative way to shoot this for less.

1) Use whatever DSLR you have. The Canon 70D for example would work well or a T3i or other DSLR
2) Use TWO speedlites with a wireless trigger(s).
3) Use the ROGUE Speedlite Snoot
4) Use a ROGUE Speedlite Softbox (It’s small and keeps the light tight when upclose.)

Note: No links in this post are affiliate links.

The post Profoto B2 Kit Lighting Setup With Canon 5D Mark III And 24-105mm Lens Set At F/4 first appeared on .

I am a people photographer most of the time, but this cute little creature was at a corporate networking event held at The Living Dessert in California. I used shallow depth of field to bring attention to the head area.

Shallow Depth of Field can be used in multiple areas of photography to enhance your images. In the case of the image above, I was shooting with a F/1.4 24mm lens which creates a really shallow depth of field. Most consumer kit lenses range from F/3.5 to F/5.6; however, there are 50mm lenses available at F/1.8 in both the Canon and Nikon line that are affordable ( $125 or so ).

Shooting WIDE OPEN, meaning the lowest number setting on your lens, is something all photographers should practice doing form time-to-time to see how DOF (depth of field) can change how and image looks. For example, if I had the elbow, shirt and belt above in sharp focus, the image would not be the same. But with the use of shallow depth of field, the eye is drawn to the sharply focused area (the head) thus taking attention away from other areas. It also kind of creates a 3D effect with the image kind of popping off the page.

If you are a photographer and have not tested the F/Stop settings on your camera to see how it changes your images, you should make sure you spend some time playing with DOF the next time you have your camera in your hands. Depth of field can really make or break the quality of your images and should be a regular part of your photography arsenal.

If you enjoyed this post, please use the social icons below to share it. 

The post Photographers – Use Shallow Depth of Field To Enhance Your Images first appeared on .

If you look at the eyes of the subject above, you will see one catch light on her left side which is on the right when looking at the image. That let’s you know that there was one light source in front of her to my right and her left. But it’s what you cannot figure out from this shot that makes using a strip box nice.

She was standing in a single doorway about 4 feet from the books behind her. To her left was another single doorway just after the “L” of where the walls joined. That doorway to her left was where I had the stipbox placed. It was a tight fit, but I didn’t have much of a choice to pull of the shot that I wanted. This instance is not the only time a strip box or boxes have come in very handy.

In addition, I also had a strobe with a 43 inch umbrella on it inside the room where the books were to add some light to the background. It also helped fill some of the right side of her face.

I chose to shoot this at f/3.2 with a f/2.8 70-200mm Canon “L” lens. That gives you an idea of how blurred the background will be when it’s about 4 feet from the subject. I was also almost at 200mm on the focal length.

Take, or maybe I should say make, the time to test your f/stop settings on your lens and how the focal length plays into the mix.

If you enjoyed this post, please SHARE it using the social icons below…

The post Strip Boxes For Portrait Lighting In Tight Spaces And Shallow Depth Of Field first appeared on .

In its simplest form, aperture is simply the lens opening. In the graph above, if you were shooting with an f/2.8 lens, that might be the widest opening for the lens which provides a more shallow depth of field. That simply means that the area behind your subject or even certain areas of your subject is more out of focus with a wide lens opening vs. f/16 (shown above) which would provide a background that is more in focus.

Shallow Depth of Field with f/2.8 lens set to f/5.6

An Easy Way To Understand Aperture

An even easier way to explain this is by showing an example of an image. The image on the right was shot with an f/2.8 lens which is the widest opening on the lens used. I set it at f/5.6 which is known in technical terms as stopping the lens down. Each setting change from the graph above starting with f/2.8 is considered 1 stop. So f.4.0 is one position or stop from f/2.8, f/5.6 is two positions or stops, f/8 is 3 positions or stops, f/11 is 4 positions or stops and so on. It’s important to know this because these settings control the focus of the background behind the subject or even parts of your subject when using a really shallow depth of field. The image to the right would not be the same if the background was completely in focus.

The lower the number based on your maximum lens opening the more shallow depth of field and the higher the number the sharper the depth of field. You don’t always want shallow depth of field. An example of stopping the lens all the way down or in other words setting the lens to f/16, f/22 or even f/32 (in cases that the lens goes to f/32) would be when you absolutely need everything in focus from front to back like on a large group shot that is 15 rows deep of 200 people.

Take Control of Your Aperture

Aperture is one of the single most important elements in photography. By understanding it thoroughly, your photography will get better. There are two key ways to understand aperture better: 1) Read about it, watch videos, ask other photographers, never stop learning and 2) Testing, testing, testing: Know your camera and settings, especially f/stop or aperture like you’ve never known before. It’s truly one of the easiest ways to become a better photographer. Understanding light, controlled by aperture, is another key way to improve your photography. Light is another area to dive into as you continue learning about photography.

Choosing A Lens Based On Aperture

Most kit lenses that come with consumer cameras have a range of something like f/3.5-5.6 or f/4-5.6 and are not really what is considered a fast lens ( f/2.8 or lower typically). Kit lenses not only limit you with the starting f/stop but by a varying f/stop that changes at different focal points and the quality of the glass. You can see one of my previous posts on prime lenses which will help and another post on The Glass (lens) that should also help. That way, I don’t have to repeat it all here.

The post How To Completely Change Your Photography By Understanding Aperture first appeared on .

Canon 5D Mark III with 70-200mm f/2.8 using fill flash on TTL in early morning light.

Before I dive in, my wife, Brenda, does our post production editing. She HAS NOT edited this image. I made some minor tweaks and posted it. I’m not saying it’s the best shot of a motorcycle ever taken by any means. It’s one of a few images that I popped off in about 5 minutes early one morning. Some of the dynamics of what I did may give you some ideas which is the core purpose of this post. FYI, I am a HUGE BMW fan, so the bike brand was also an appeal for me personally.

The best camera to use is the one you have with you. Fortunately, this motorcycle was sitting in my studio parking lot, so I could grab the Canon 5D Mark III, the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens and the Canon 600EX-RT flash. However, if I had not have been able to grab my pro gear, I still would have likely photographed this with my iPhone.

Always Be looking…
As a photographer, you should always be looking for an opportunity to shoot something you and/or someone else may enjoy. In this case, I pulled in my studio parking lot early one morning and this BMW Motorcycle was parked with no other cars around it. An empty parking lot made for a better shot of the bike.

Angle And Light…
The motorcycle was parked on an incline which helped give the bike a different perspective and with it being early morning (around 6:30 a.m.), the light was very soft because the sun was not shining bright on the bike. It was like having a giant softbox in the sky. I chose to use my Canon 600EX-RT flash to provide some fill flash and POP to the image. I was about 25 feet away, so I used the flash straight on set in TTL mode.

F/Stop…
I choose to shoot at f/5.6 with an f/2.8 lens, but I could have even shot it wide open at f/2.8. The important thing is that I got a shallow depth of field in order so I would not take away from the main subject …”The BIKE.” One of the key reasons to use shallow depth of field is to bring more attention to the subject of your image.

As I said in the beginning of this post, this is not the best image ever taken of a motorcycle. The post is simply meant to encourage you to always be looking for the shot and think about how you want to pull things together when you only have 5 minutes to do it. Minutes after I shot this, I looked back out and the bike was gone. Seize the opportunity!!!

The post Using Fill Flash Outside In Early Morning Light – The Details Of How I Shot This In Under 5 Minutes first appeared on .