The Phottix Ares Performed Admirably

The wife and I did a couple of portraiture sessions with the wife as a model. In both instances, I wanted to use off-camera flash so as to produce pleasing portraits. I would have used the built-in light commander in the Canon 7D to trigger my speedlite, but I was afraid that the outdoor condition, plus the very bright sunlight might affect the infrared light connecting the two. So, I decided to use the Phottix Ares. (My initial review of the Ares is found here.)

What can I say? The Ares, as I’ve said in the title of this post, performed admirably. Because the triggers use radio waves, the sun was not a factor. I used a 70-200 lens, so if I needed to do a whole body portrait, I would have needed to step a couple of feet back. Ok, a lot more than a couple… But, there were no misfires! The speedlite fired whenever I wanted it to. The only time it failed to fire was when the speedlite went to sleep because I wasn't shooting for some time. But that was not the Ares’ fault.

So, for just $27 or so per unit, you cannot go wrong with the Phottix Ares. It is a capable, no-nonsense trigger. It could even give the more expensive brands a run for their money. Now I just need to test the operating distance of the units…

It is Highly Recommended and I suggest you get one right away!

So get yours here!


 


PS. More of the wife’s photos are found here.

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Gear used to make this post:

-- Canon 5D Mark II (article)

-- Canon 70-200 f/4L IS USM (review)

-- Canon 430EX-II Speedlite

-- Phottix Ares (review)

-- Westcott Light Stand

-- Rogue Flashbender (Large) and Rogue Diffusion Panel (Large) (review)

-- Lowepro DSLR Video Fastpack 250 (review)

-- Joby UltraFit Sling (review)

In Praise of the ExpoImaging FlashBender and Diffuser

I love portability. The Canon Powershot G15 is my everyday camera. And when I bring a DSLR, most of the time, I only have the lens attached to the camera and one speedlite. No extra lenses. Most of the time, I don't even bring the lens hood. And yes, there are even times when I don't even have an external speedlite! (That will send shivers down spines of some photographers…)

So, when I set out to do portrait photography, I decided that I didn't want to bring an umbrella or any other big modifier: I wanted to be portable.

Enter the Expoimaging Rogue FlashBender, large, and diffuser.

Yes, it is large but it isn't too large to be unwieldy. It is no wider than a full-sized laptop. You can even fold it in the middle!

But don't be fooled by its small size. This FlashBender is a very capable diffuser.

I proved that statement, as I've said, when I made some portraits of the wife. It was a gorgeous Chicago summer day and I was able to light up my model's face with the diffused light coming from the speedlite. I placed the sun behind the wife and I added a kicker light using the flashbender with diffuser. And I was very pleased by the outcome.

Check out one of my set ups during the photoshoot. Yeah, it would’ve been more portable if I didn't have a light stand but that’s something that couldn't be helped… I would have needed an assistant to hold the speedlite.

Oh, I’ve said in a previous post that the diffused FlashBender emits even light… Here's your proof.

I underexposed the shot so you can see the quality of the light produced by the diffuser - the light produced is even.

So, do you want a no non-sense, portable light modifier that's great for head shots and half-body shots? Then get the ExpoImaging FlashBender and Diffuser Large! You won't regret it.


 


More photos from this session can be found here.

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Gear used to make this post:

-- Canon 5D Mark II (article)

-- Canon 70-200 f/4L IS USM (review)

-- Canon 430EX-II Speedlite

-- Phottix Ares (review)

-- Westcott Light Stand

-- Rogue Flashbender (Large) and Rogue Diffusion Panel (Large) (review)

-- Lowepro DSLR Video Fastpack 250 (review)

-- Joby UltraFit Sling (review)

High Key Creative Portraiture Using Gel

The wife needed a portrait for her latest Rappler article (Rappler is an online news website operating in the Philippines). I immediately set my mind to making a high-key portrait.

In the first attempt, I just did a simple one light set-up: an umbrella set up high in front of my subject. But I felt it was a little common so I decided to use a reflector to bounce up some of the light and also to illuminate my subject. Also, the background faded into grey.

I wanted to add some style to the set up so I used a second speedlite, gelled with an orange gel and with the second speedlite used to illuminate the background.

To do some variations, I placed the second speedlite on camera left. This will still illuminate the background but it has the pleasant effect of illuminating the subject's right cheek.

For the last style, I placed the second speedlite back behind the subject, but this time, I pointed the speedlite towards the back of the subject so that this secondary light source will serve as a rim light. I love this effect. The only thing that I would have corrected is to overexpose the background, something that could be done by a third speedlite.

The wife ended up choosing the one with the second speedlite on camera left. My personal favorite is the one from the last set up, but she's the client so she gets to choose what she wants to use. :)

Bonus photo... The keylight speedlite turned off - it took me some time to make an adjustment and the speedlite turned itself off - and you can see here the effect of just the second speedlite aimed at the background.

Another bonus photo: the actual shot of the second set up. There really wasn't a professional-made background... That actually was our off-white door! :)

The key accessories here are the light modifiers and the wireless triggers. The bounced light coming from the Westcott umbrella softened the light and the Flashbender, used as a snoot, limited the light to a cone. And of course, the Phottix Ares units were critical in this set up: I was standing behind the umbrella and the second speedlite was nowhere seen by the camera so there is no direct line-of-sight between the camera and the speedlites - the radio trigger still enabled me to use my speedlites despite this limitation.

And of course, my favorite go-to lens for portraitures and tight spaces is the Canon 100mm Macro (second best for a more limited space is the Canon 50mm).

Hope this lighting set up and how-to helps!

Cheers!

PS. The wife's top is from Victoria's Secret...

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Gear used to make this post:

-- Canon 5D Mark II (article)

-- Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro IS USM (review)

-- Canon 430EX-II Speedlite

-- Phottix Ares (review)

-- Westcott 43-inch Collapsible Umbrella (review)

-- Westcott 301 Photo Basics 40-Inch 5-in-1 Reflector

-- Rogue Flashbender (Medium) (review)

-- Expoimaging Rogue Flash Gel

Good Photographers Will Go to Great Lengths to Get Their Shots

What is the difference between a good photographer and a person who happens to own a camera, whether it's a cameraphone, a point-and-shoot or a DSLR? Well, a good photographer would go to great lengths to get that great shot, whether to wade through mud, stand in freezing water, or to just ignore the bees buzzing around hoping that they will not sting you. A person who just happens to own a camera will just get the shot while ignoring composition, cutting limbs of the persons in the photo, or just thinking that s/he can correct things "in post".

While I don't know if the wedding photographer here is really a good one but the fact that she really thought of her compositions speaks volumes about her "artistic" capabilities: the couple was backlit, the sun about to set, the way the couple was posed... Well, I would have added a little fill flash so as not to overexpose the background, but maybe that is her style. Maybe she really deserved to get hired!

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Shots made with a Canon 7D and a Canon EF 24-105 f/4L IS USM lens. Want the best backpack for your DSLR? Check out my review of my favorite, the Lowepro Versapack 200AW, here and here.

Having Lightroom Is Like Having A Soft Edge Graduated Neutral Density Filter

Having a ND-Grad filter is a nice thing to always have, especially if you are shooting landscapes or, in this case, a city skyline.

However, if you do not have one, then having Lightroom is a very, very good alternative! Just go to the Develop Module and press "M" in your keyboard. Then, as what I did in my photos below, I adjusted the exposure of the mask to -0.5 EV. The result was splendid!

So, if you don't have a ND-Grad filter, or you simply forgot to bring one, then just use Lightroom once you load your photos to your computer.

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Shots made with a Canon 7D and a Canon EF 24-105 f/4L IS USM lens. Want the best backpack for your DSLR? Check out my review of my favorite, the Lowepro Versapack 200AW, here and here.

Lightroom 4's Clarity Adjustment is Brilliant!

Photoshop CS6's HDR Pro is fantastic, as I show here. However, Lightroom 4's clarity adjustment can't be far behind.

Consider the photo below:

There really is nothing to write home about with this photo.

But, in the Develop Module, under Basic, I changed the "Clarity" level all the way to 100 and I got this:

I was able to pull a lot of details out of both the underexposed building and the overexposed sky. Really, Adobe has made a near-miraculous software out of Lightroom 4.

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Shot made with a Canon 7D and a Canon EF 24-105 f/4L IS USM lens. Want the best backpack for your DSLR? Check out my review of my favorite, the Lowepro Versapack 200AW, here and here.

Photoshop CS6's HDR Tool is Fantastic!

Photoshop has had HDR since CS4, but with Photoshop CS6, HDR has been mind-blowing!

Consider these three shots, taken at -2, 0 and +2 Exposure Values.

I then combine them at PS CS6 via File > Automate > Merge to HDR Pro...

And, with some minor adjustments, this was what I got:

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Shots made with a Canon 5D Mark II, a Canon EF 24-105 f/4L IS USM lens and a Joby Gorillapod Focus. Want the best backpack for your DSLR? Check out my review of my favorite, the Lowepro Versapack 200AW, here and here.

The Canon 100mm f/2.8 IS USM Macro Lens Review

You should always make photographs based on the equipment that you have. If you keep on making an excuse to buy gear just because you feel that you can't make the shot otherwise, then you are seeing photography wrong (no pun intended).

I can only think of two situations where you would really need to spend money for gear (not including highly specialized photography like astro photography and electron microscope photography): shots that require telephoto lenses, like sports and wildlife photography, and macro photography.

Wildlife photography requires really long lenses, something like 400mm or longer. Why? Well, you certainly can't get close to a lion or a bear, right? You have to be far from them. And even "tame" animals, like herons, require long lenses: you want to be as far away from them as possible so you can photograph them in their natural habitat.

Well, sports... I don't think anyone would want to get really close to a charging running back, right?

The same can be said about macro photography: you need an extra gear to be successful with it. 

You see, you need a dedicated macro lens. There are makers of zoom lenses that say that the wide end of their lens is macro capable. However, unless it's a 1-to-1 capable, then that lens is not a true macro lens (wikipedia for macro photography found here).

So, armed with a Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro lens, I set out to photograph what is commonly the primary subject for macro photography: flowers.

I set out to photograph flowers at the Lincoln Park Conservatory. It is indoors, so I thought windy conditions, in The Windy City, won't be much of a problem. It is free, so the only thing I would have to pay for is the bus fare; oh, and snacks when I get hungry - which I did...

Unfortunately, I wasn't successful due to several factors which I discuss below. So I ended up buying flowers and going home. It is a more controlled environment and I was even able to control the lighting...

So, what did I learn from this first experience?

• I couldn't do handheld macro photography. The depth of field is so shallow at macro distances that, every time I breathe, the camera moves at least a millimeter, maybe more. This throws my focus out-of-whack! Yes, there is Image Stabilization (IS), but this isn't of any help when the depth of field is in the millimeters. And of course I cannot not breathe!
• f/11 is already very shallow. I believe for macro photography to be very successful, you should start at f/16, which means...
• you need plenty of time to keep the iris of your camera open: for such a small opening, you need plenty of time to let the light pass through, otherwise your shot will be grossly underexposed.
• Use manual focus; I tried focusing at macro distances and the camera had a really hard time to get the shot in focus. It did, but it did so at such a long amount of time. And as I've said, since the depth-of-field is at millimeter distances, what the camera focused on may not be what you had in mind. So, use manual focus and you will save more time. (I thought there was a problem with the lens, but when I tried focusing at "everyday distance", the lens focused nicely, and quickly at that!)
• Since you will be shooting at expanded amounts of time, then you might want to switch on the "Long Exposure Noise Reduction" of your camera, if it isn't already switched on.
• My camera's longest allowable shutter speed, outside of Bulb, is 30 seconds. So, if I want a properly exposed shot, I need to boost the ISO. If such a thing happens with you, then you might also want to switch the "High ISO Speed Noise Reduction" to On.
• Switch the "Mirror Lockup" on.
• Use a remote trigger or timer so you won't need to touch the camera itself to trigger it.
• Oh, and lastly, switch the IS off. It doesn't help when your camera is on a tripod and it even makes your shots worse.

So, here are some samples of what I photographed.

At non-macro distances, a couple of feet or greater, the lens is very quick to focus. It is even great for portraiture and, because of the relatively long reach, some wildlife photography.

 At macro distances, and with the conditions outlined above applied, the Canon macro lens is superb!

And I was even able to do some fine art photography with this very fine lens.

The last shot was done while the lens was made to go slowly out of focus. The macro lens is a prime lens so there is no "zoomed effect", which I am very fond of (check this out), but making the lens go out of focus has, essentially, the same effect. The previous shot is shown as reference.

The lens still has a new-gadget-smell, one of my most favorite scents, but I have already greatly enjoyed it. I am sure that I will have a lot of fun with this lens and I would like to thank the wife for this: as if the love she gives me isn't already enough, she still gave me this macro lens for a birthday gift. "Much obliged!"

So get yours here:


 


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Shots made with a Canon 5D Mark II. Want the best backpack for your DSLR? Check out my review of my favorite, the Lowepro Versapack 200AW, here and here.