DIY Photography: How to Make Your Own DIY Lightstick for Cool Photos!

Tags: Photography for beginners, Lightstick, DIY

 

 

A Post By: Simon Bond

In this article, you’ll learn how to make your own DIY lightstick.

You’ll be able to use this to create fascinating light paintings, and the best thing is, you can do it on a budget!

The simple DIY lightstick is made with easily available household objects and a set of fairy lights. Once it’s made, you’ll be able to create beautiful light patterns during long exposure photos.

Using a light stick for light painting can transform a scene.

What is light painting

Light painting is a long exposure technique.

To achieve this kind of photo, you’ll need a camera on a tripod, and usually, the photo will be taken at night. The exception to this would be a studio that is completely dark – this too can be used for light painting.

Most people will know light painting as simply spelling something in the sky with a torch.

There are two main forms of light painting, kinetic light painting, and regular light painting. In this article, you’ll learn about using a light stick to create regular light paintings.

There are light sticks out there you can buy. This photo was taken using a pixelstick.

Lightsticks you can buy

You can buy a ready-made lightstick.

Indeed, some of these are already quite cheap and will give you the chance to practice some of the ideas presented in this article. There are also those sticks that are more expensive.

It’s worth keeping the more expensive sticks in mind, as they will give you more options when compared to a stick like the one you’ll be shown how to make in this article.

• LED light sticks – The creme of the crop are the LED light sticks made by pixelstick and magilight.
• Glow sticks – The glow sticks often seen at parties and festivals. They’re cheap, and can be used for light painting.
• Toy light stick – Head down to your local toy shop and pick up a light saber. Indulge your inner child, and it also makes some great photos!
• Light painting swords – These are similar to kids’ toys, but are made specifically with photographers’ needs in mind. They are available through this site.

You’ll use tie straps to attach the wire to the tube.

How to make a DIY light stick

There are some very good cheap options when it comes to light sticks, and you might decide to pursue one of those instead of making a DIY lightstick. If you want a little challenge, then read on and see what you can make.

The supplies you’ll need

First of all, let’s gather the supplies you’ll need. You can find most at home, however, you may need to visit your local DIY store or look online for some too.

• Battery operated fairy lights.
• A piece of plumbing pipe. Around one meter long, and 2cm in diameter.
• A plumbing pipe connection piece. A t-shape variety is best, and also 2cm in diameter.
• A set of tie straps.
• A copper piping half-circle bracket.
• Wire cutters.
• A saw.
• Solder and soldering iron.
• Electrical tape.
• Glue gun.
• Bungee cord.

The battery pack needs to be glued onto the stick as well.

Putting the whole thing together

Now you have everything you need, take the following steps to put it all together.

The task is fairly simple. It’s really just attaching some fairy lights to a stick. Why the plumbing tube? That’s so you can break it down to a stick that’s half of its size in an easy way.

Attaching the fairy lights

1. Take your length of plumbing tube and use the saw to cut it in half. The length of the 2 halves is optional. In my case, I went with 50cm.
2. Attach the two pieces together using the connection piece.
3. Now Attach the end of the fairy light wire to the end of your tube use a tie strap.
4. Pull out the fairy lights to the length of the tube. Then give a little slack to allow the tube to be detached at the connection point.
5. Use another tie strap to attach the fairy light wire to the other end of the tube.
6. Run the wire back down the length of tubing again, and then attach the wire to the tube using another tie strap.
7. You’ll now have excess wire and fairy lights left over. You could repeat steps 4,5 and 6 if you wish, or continue to the next part.

This stick divides into two. This makes it easier to carry around and gives you the option of using the 

stick at half its full length.

Putting the battery pack on, and finishing the stick.

1. Use the wire cutters to cut away the excess wire, leaving around 20cm to the battery pack.
2. Strip away some of the plastic coatings on the wire on the side with the battery pack, and the side attached to the piping.
3. Solder the two pieces of wire back together again. Make sure the correct wire is soldered together or the lights won’t work. When you cut the wire, two wires will be revealed on each side of the wiring. You need to solder this back together to re-complete the circuit.
4. Use the electrical tape to cover up the soldered wire, or if you have it, plastic that shrinks when heated to cover the join.
5. Test the lights, they should now work, and you should now have a light stick!
6. Take the copper bracket and hoop it around the pipe, and touch it to the battery pack to ensure it connects.
7. Use the glue gun and add glue to the joining section on the battery pack, the pipe, and the copper bracket.
8. Hold everything in place until the glue has dried hard.
9. Finally, run the length of the bungee cord through the piping, and knot it at both ends. The cord should be tight enough to hold the pipe together, but loose enough that you can easily detach the two halves of the stick.

The stick is now ready, it just needs the bungee cord put through the middle.

Light painting with a lightstick

Now you have a DIY lightstick you can use to create interesting light paintings.

Lightsticks work because of the repetition factor – lots of lights moving altogether in a uniform pattern. It’s best to keep your light paintings relatively simple. Use defined movements, like spinning around, to create light cones. Spin the stick around to create circles, or simply walking along with the stick to create light ribbons.

What you do creatively with the stick is now up to you, but enjoy experimenting!

It’s usually a good idea to keep light paintings simple, with a defined message.

It’s always fun to make something for your photography. Have you ever tried to make an accessory yourself? Maybe it was for flash photography, something like a snoot?

Here at digital photography school, we love to hear from you, so please share your experiences. If you have any light painting photos taken with a light stick that you would like to share, that would also be great!

 

Nine Ways to Boost Your Kit Lens Creativity

 Tags: Photography for beginners, Kit lens, Light Painting

 

 By: Simon Bond

The first lens many photographers will own is the kit lens. This lens typically covers a focal range of 18-55mm and has a variable maximum aperture. So before you move onto other lenses, how can you get the most out of this particular lens? Well, there is an awful lot that can be achieved with this lens when you put your mind to it. There are limitations of course, but there is even more room to experiment with your kit lens creativity! So let’s look at some of the ways you can do just that.

This photo used the kit lenses ability to zoom to do some kinetic light painting.

1 – Kinetic Light Painting

Light painting is an exciting form of photography and one that you can experiment with using a humble kit lens. What the kit lens is well suited for is a niche form of light painting, called kinetic light painting. This form of light painting involves moving the camera, as opposed to moving the light source. Light painting uses a long exposure, and as with all long exposure shots, it’s a good idea to use a tripod. So what types of kinetic light painting will work well?

• Camera rotation – This is a type of light painting that involves moving the camera around while it is attached to a tripod. Use a wide focal length, and experiment with light sources that are above the camera. Tall structures like skyscrapers often work well for this technique.
• Zoom – The 18-55mm focal range is ideal for zoom light painting work, good for kit lens creativity. In fact, perhaps the only better lens would be a superzoom 18-300mm. This time you’ll change the focal length of the lens during the photo, causing light to be painted across the scene.

Panning is a great technique to practice, and it’s fun.

2 – Panning

While it’s true you can use more or less any lens for panning, you don’t need an upgrade from your kit lens to make this type of photo either. In fact, a focal length of around 55mm is often ideal for this particular technique. You simply require a shutter speed of around 1/20th second. There are some excellent guides on this subject, and the technique is simple and fun to master.

1. Find an area where you’re moving subject will move across the area you intend to photograph. You’ll want your moving object to run parallel to you, relative to where you’re positioned.
2. Use a shutter speed of around 1/20th. You can increase or decrease this if you wish. At slower shutter speeds the chance of camera shake increases, so you will need to be very steady when tracking the motion of the object you’re panning. It’s possible to use a faster shutter speed for panning, but then you’ll need a fast moving object to pan with.
3. As the object you’re panning approaches, begin to follow the motion with your camera. When you’re confident you’re following the motion steadily, press your shutter gently as you continue to move with the object.

Using your lens for long exposure photos can be creative.

3 – Zoom Burst

You’ll notice zoom is a kinetic light painting technique. It can also be used during the day, to create a dynamic feel to your photo. The shutter speed needed is similar to that of panning, so around 1/20th. You can also use a tripod for extra stabilization of your photo. It’s best to zoom into your subject when practicing this technique, which can work very nicely for portrait photos. Once again the kit lens is well suited to this since it allows a zoom range from 18mm to 55mm.

4 – Glass Ball Refraction Photography

Refraction photography is a niche that can use any kind of camera. You can certainly use a kit lens to get this type of photograph. The technique revolves around using a crystal ball, though other objects such as wine glasses filled with water will work. When you consider that a glass ball works like an external lens optic, in a sense, you’re getting your creativity from another lens. However, you still need a kit lens to take the photo! As these photos work best with a blurred background look to photograph at 55mm, and with the largest aperture you can.

In this photo, a wine glass was used to show refraction.

5 – Low-Key Light Portrait

You don’t need low light to create low-key portraits, and with that in mind, the kit lens can be a very useful lens. Using your lens at around 50mm will work nicely for your portrait, and you can use your camera body to expose at -2 or -3 exposure value. You’ll need to set your aperture and shutter speed to the appropriate settings to get this exposure value, depending on the environment you’re in. To make a low-key photo you’ll need a large difference in light from model to the background. This can be achieved through finding a place where a shard of sunlight comes through a gap in the roofing, perhaps at a market. You now need your model to be lit up by the sun, while the background will be underexposed, and therefore dark.

You can use any lens for low-key portraits, including the kit lens.

6 – Long Exposure Photography

Your kit lens will not restrict your ability to take long exposure photos. The limiting factor here will be a lack of a tripod, and perhaps a lack of the correct filter. That means you can take amazing long exposure photos with a kit lens, so long as you have the correct additional equipment.

• Car light trails – Find the right location above a road with plenty of traffic, and you can take photos of light trails produced by cars. Close down the aperture, and you’ll also create a starburst effect with any street lights nearby. You’ll need exposure times of 5 seconds or more for this type of photo.
• Moving water – Moving water can look attractive in your photo, and a kit lens can certainly capture this. Exposure times of around 1 second or more will give moving water a silky look when photographed.
• Light painting – The merits of the kit lens for kinetic light painting has already been discussed. It’s no surprise you can also up your kit lens creativity with light painting of any type.

Fireworks can be recorded using a kit lens, and it’s great for capturing the whole scene at wide focal 

lengths.

7 – Attaching a Filter

A great way to increase your kit lens creativity is to add a filter, and that’s not the digital kind. There are a good variety of filters you can add to your kit lens that will give you extra options as a photographer. These can be graduated sunset filters, that add warms tones to the sky. Alternatively, a strong ND filter will allow you to take long exposure photos during the day, using your kit lens and a tripod. This article will give you an idea of some of the available filters you can use. You’ll need to use the correct sized filter, with 52mm or 58mm being typical for a kit lens.

 

Filters can be attached to your kit lens. This photo was taken with an infra-red filter attached to a kit lens.

8 – Get Wide

At 18mm your kit lens is wide enough to capture a good amount of the scene in a landscape photo. This means as you travel with this lens you can take some photos of amazing viewpoints. Combine this with a technique such as long exposure or kinetic light painting and you will get your kit lens creativity! Note that if you’re using a crop sensor APS-C camera 18mm is effectively 28.8mm on a full-frame camera.

9 – Portrait Work

At the other end of the scale with your kit lens is 55mm. Once again when using an APS-C camera this will effectively be 88mm if this was used on a full-frame camera. These focal lengths are ideal for portrait photography though. Any compression of the face won’t be too extreme at the effective focal length of 88mm. So focal lengths from around 30mm through to 55mm will give you some good compression ratios to work with for portrait photography.

Whether your portraits are street photos, posed, or travel, the kit lens is going to give you nice results.

How Will You Get Your Kit Lens Creativity?

The drive for more creativity is always there with photography. There is a lot you can do using your kit lens if you choose to. The list above gives you some examples of how you might go about doing that. Have you tried any of these techniques with the kit lens? Are there any other ways you’ve taken interesting photos with this particular lens? Please share your thoughts, and photos in the comments section.

 

Shooting in the Twilight Zone

 Tags:  Photography for beginners, Twilight

 

By: Anne McKinnell

For most photographers, the best time to shoot is during the golden hours – those times right around sunrise or sunset when the sky is full of drama.

For me though, the best time to shoot is a little while after all that drama happens and all the other photographers have packed up and gone home – twilight – when the skies become calm and peaceful.

Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California

The length of twilight varies dramatically depending on the time of year and your position on earth. At the poles twilight can last as long as 2 weeks! But generally speaking, twilight usually starts shortly after the sun drops below the horizon and continues for another 40-60 minutes or so before the sky is completely dark.

During this time the sky still has plenty of rich colour but there is no longer any direct light. You might be surprised how much colour there really is in the sky during twilight since a camera’s sensor can pick up more light than we are able to see with our eyes.

The images in this post demonstrate how different the sky can look between the early stages of twilight to the end of twilight.

Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, Georgia

I prefer to shoot twilight after sunset, but of course it happens in reverse order in the morning too!

Assuming you are shooting after sunset, the first stage of twilight is when the subtle pinks begin to show in the sky. Slowly the blues will begin to appear. I love to shoot landscapes during this early stage when there is still a lot of ambient light so the land is not entirely dark.

Basin Head, Prince Edward Island, Canada

During this early stage the sky is often much brighter than your subject which makes exposure difficult. It’s a great time to use high dynamic range (HDR) photography and blend multiple exposures to maintain detail in the landscape. Or, depending on the type of scene you are photographing, you can use graduated neutral density filters to even out the exposure.

Soon the sky will begin to get darker and the pinks and blues will deepen. The exposure will even out so that neither HDR nor graduated neutral density filters are needed.

Mule Ears, Bid Bend National Park, Texas

During the later stages of twilight the pinks will fade and the blues will intensify to a dark cobalt shade. This is a great time to photograph cityscapes. The combination of natural light in the sky and artificial city lights is magical.

Seattle, Washington

To make the most of the limited amount of time you have to shoot during twilight, scout out your location before hand. Twilight doesn’t last long so you need to be prepared. If you can’t make a separate scouting trip at least go an hour or two early so you have plenty of time to explore before deciding what to shoot.

Find a subject with a distinct shape and take some test shots to figure out the best composition and perspective. Keep your eye out for good foreground elements and any artificial light sources that might be present later.

Tips:

• Use a low ISO to reduce the amount of noise in the image.
• Long shutter speeds will allow the camera to pick up lots of colour.
• If there are city lights in your image use a small aperture, like f/22, to turn the lights into star bursts.
• A tripod is an absolute requirement if you want a low ISO, long shutter speed, and small aperture.
• You may need a polarizing filter and/or a graduated neutral density filter for the early stages of twilight.
• Use a cable release and/or a 2 second timer so you do not introduce camera shake.
• Use your mirror lock-up feature so the movement of the mirror does not introduce camera shake.
• Your camera’s auto-focus may not work in low light conditions. If you set up ahead of time, you can use your auto-focus while there is still light in the sky and then turn auto-focus off to prevent your camera from attempting to refocus when it is is darker outside. Otherwise you will need to focus manually.
• Use your histogram to ensure you are getting a good exposure.
• Bring a flashlight so you can find your way home.
• Wear or bring bug spray so the little bugs don’t ruin your good time.
• Bring warm clothes! Don’t miss the perfect shot because you got cold and left too early.

Shooting at twilight can sometimes take a little preparation and planning but the rewards are definitely worth it.  Share this article.

 

How to Make Unique Portraits Using Light Painting

 Tags: Photography for beginners, Photography, Light Painting

 

By: Lea Hawkins 

Using the surprisingly simple technique of light painting you can create a wide variety of portrait styles using only a small flashlight as your light source. I should warn you though, light painting of all kinds can be highly addictive. Once you start, you may not be able to stop.

Light painted portrait

One of the main things to understand with light painting is that the camera sensor only reads light, if there isn’t any light hitting the person shining the flashlight, they simply do not show up in the image. This allows you to move around in front of the camera while the shutter is open, and gives you ultimate control of what areas of your subject are lit. This is great for portraiture, especially in situations where you might have a complicated background, or one where you only want to light certain sections.

Below is a list of what you will need for any light painting, and a guide on how to use the technique specifically for portraiture. For a more detailed information on light painting have a look at this two part tutorial .

What you will need:

A hand held light source. Any cheap flashlight or LED light will do, you can even use your mobile phone.

Any small LED or flashlight will do, even your mobile phone.

For light painting a portrait subject a directional beam of light is best, non-directional (or diffused) light will illuminate you as well. Different flashlights give off different types of light. Some have blue cast, which isn’t great for portraiture so you might want to experiment with your white balance, or add a warming filter in post-processing. You can also add color to your light source with cellophane (colored gels) or colored sheer fabric.

Tripod and camera settings

Light painting needs a long exposure, so you will need your camera set up on a tripod. Setting your shutter speed somewhere between 10 and 30 seconds is a good place to start, then play around from there. Your ISO should be at its lowest to avoid the grain (noise) caused by a long exposure.

The cover of darkness

You’ll need a completely dark room or studio, or you can shoot outside at night. If shooting outside, you’ll have to be careful of incidental light, such as street or car lights, overexposing your image. But these things can be used to your advantage in creating interesting backgrounds for your portrait subject.

Light painting a portrait outdoors

Ready, set, light paint

Have your portrait subject in position and turn all lights out. Shine your light source on your portrait subject to help you get focus. You’ll want to focus on the face, so it’s possibly best to have your subject close their eyes before you shine your light directly into their face.

Note: to keep the focus locked when you press the shutter button, you will either need to switch it to Manual Focus or use back button focus.

Then click the shutter, and try not to trip over anything in the dark as you move in toward your subject. How close you get to your subject depends on your light source strength, how fast you move it, and the effect you are after. You’ll have to experiment, but for a small LED, a few inches from your subject is a good starting point. Keep the torch (flashlight) moving constantly, and pointed away from the lens.

Getting sharp images of people when you are using long exposures usually doesn’t work so well due to people’s inability to sit perfectly still. With light painting, you are only exposing a small part of them at a time, and only for a brief moment, so while it can be a bit tricky with fidgety subjects, for the most part you will be able to get sharp images. Sometimes a bit of motion blur can also be effective.

Making the most of motion blur

Help your subject stay still during the exposure by letting them know when you release the shutter, and when you are about to shine your light on them. They’ll be in the dark, literally, so they won’t know what you are doing.

Have them take a deep breath in and out just as, or after, you release the shutter. Don’t have them hold their breath, you don’t want them to look strained. Start your light painting with the face so they don’t have to hold their head still for your entire exposure.

Letting your portrait subject have a look at your camera preview can help them to understand what you are trying to do. If they are unfamiliar with the technique, it can seem a bit odd, all this waving a torch in their face in the dark.

You can set a flash to a slow sync so it fires off at the beginning of the exposure (or you can just set your flash to manual mode and fire it using the Test button), sharply lighting your subject, and then move in with your light source or have your model wave it around. Alternatively you can give a quick burst from a studio light.

While still technically a light painting portrait this method is more of portrait with some light painting added in as opposed to light painting the portrait subject themselves.

It will probably take you and your portrait subject a few attempts to get the hang of it, but once you’ve got the general idea, and have tested out how your light source plays on your subject, you can then experiment. Below are some ideas to try out.

Creating light trails

Adding light trails

To get trails of light, shine the torch directly at the lens as you move it. You can move it anywhere, including in front of your subject.

Multiple sources of light

In the first image above I’ve used a small LED light to paint the face, and a laser pointer for the red patterns. The laser pointer shines in very short bursts creating the broken lines. In the second image on the right, I put fairy lights in the model’s hair. The subtle movement as I light painted the rest of the model caused the fairy lights to take on the wiggly forms.

Using an iPad or tablet

For this effect I downloaded an app for my tablet that lit the screen with a solid block of bright color. The colors could be changed with a slider, so with a few attempts I managed to get coordinated enough to change the colors as I moved the tablet around the subject.

Have fun with movement

For both these images I shone the light over the model in one position, then had her move to the side and lit her again. As you can see, two fairly different effects using exactly the same process.

I confess I am thoroughly addicted to light painting portraits. I love that no two shots are alike, there’s plenty of room for getting creative and having happy accidents. You can use it for many styles of portraiture, and it costs basically nothing in lighting gear. So what are you waiting for? Grab a flashlight and get started! Share your results in the comments below.  Share this article.

 

A terrible grainy image but my friend was having so much fun she needed to take a quick selfie.

How to Make a Dramatic Portrait with Light Painting Using Items Found in Your Home

 Tags: Photography for beginners, Photography, Light Painting, models, Eric Pare  

 

By: Erin Fitzgibbon  

In this article, I’ll show you how to do a fun project you can do with friends and a little light painting. You can do this, using things you likely already have in the house.

It’s always fun to experiment with different and creative ways of using light in photographs. It’s also a lot of fun to take some risks and experiment with a technique that may or may not produce good results. The reality is you can learn from every photographic experience. It doesn’t matter if the results are perfect or not. Each time you pull out a camera you create something that adds to your knowledge base and helps you to grow as a photographer.

Learning lessons

In the case of a project I did recently with light painting and live models, several lessons were learned. The first was the importance of finding enthusiastic people to assist with my projects. The second was the importance of a reflector in adding light to a photograph.

Lastly, the third lesson involved pushing the limits of human abilities. I asked my friends to hold very still for these images, sometimes in some slightly awkward poses. How much was too much for my models?

This was our final image of the evening. It took a lot of trial and error to reach this point.

 

The light painting project

The whole concept for the photo project was inspired by the light painting of Eric Pare. He creates dramatic images in stunning locations with the help of dancer Kim Henry. Eric uses an easily created light tube and a strong flashlight. It’s winter here in Canada, and at -30c it’s not reasonable to ask a friend to pose outside in a landscape while wearing skimpy clothing.

So using his idea of long shutter speeds, it was time to craft a different project. The goal was to create dramatic images that you could easily reproduce within your home at a fairly low cost.

The following images were created in my kitchen using a large piece of black velvet (a black sheet will also work) draped across my portable backdrop stand, a reflector, an extension cord, and a string of Christmas lights. Of course, three friends were also recruited to assist with the project. They were more than willing to participate in the fun. In the end, there were a lot of laughs, and everyone was quite dedicated to the effort to get the images correct.

The Setup

Setting up was very easy. A backdrop was attached to the narrow walls of my kitchen. Black velvet is a lovely fabric for absorbing light and creating true black in photographs. I love black velvet and I’ve used it to create some very dramatic still life images and portraits in the past.

Wait until the fabric is on sale or pick remnants. The only trick to black velvet is to use a lint brush to remove white fuzzy bits. These show up quite easily in images, and it’s a pain to clone out all those little white spots.

Here we set the lights and the background. The kitchen is pretty narrow so it was a challenge to set up the backdrop. In the end, part of the backdrop was taped to the wall.

A shot from above. My friend stood on the countertop to spin the lights. As you can see they were loosely draped over the fan.

The reflector was placed just below the model’s belly button and the light was directed up towards the face.

After setting up the backdrop using tape and the cross piece from my backdrop kit, we then hung the Christmas lights from the ceiling fan.

In the original plan, we intended to turn on the fan and let it spin. It’s a good thing we realized that the lights would tangle around the fan and cause an issue. So it then became the job of one person to spin the fan 340 degrees during the exposure manually.

The Camera Gear

We used a Canon 5D Mark III mounted on a tripod and the 2-second self-timer. That allowed the person manning the fan to begin spinning the lights.

This image is getting better. It’s still soft. My exposure time wasn’t quite correct yet here.

The Procedure

It was time to establish the proper exposure for the whole project.  The trick here was to balance the exposure so that there was a long enough shutter speed (exposure time) to blur the lights but we also needed to keep the models in focus.

It’s awfully hard to stay still for even just a few seconds. In fact, it’s almost impossible. After several experiments and through trial and error the final exposure used was 0.8 of a second at f/3.2 with an ISO of 100. We also used a large reflector to bounce the light back up towards the models face.

This one is a little better. I ran it through a sharpening editor to help. It’s not perfect but I love the way 

the lights curved around their hair.

The whole experiment required us to use two people to create the photo and one or two people as models in each shot. The photographer triggered the camera timer as well as held the reflector, while the fan operator stood on the countertop and spun the fan at the proper moment.

This image didn’t turn out as planned. You can see how important timing and communication are to this kind of project.

The Keys to Success

The keys to a successful photograph were quite simply communication and timing. The lights had to be spun at exactly the right moment, and the photographer needed to communicate timing to everyone else.

It took a lot of tries to get the whole thing correct, but in the end, we were able to produce the desired images.

The creative person in me is able to ignore the slight ghosting from motion because I love how the lights spin above and below her eyes.

The goal was to create dramatic images with a neat light painting effect. I wanted to encircle the model with light, almost as if she were standing within a light tube. There were many failed attempts.

Sometimes our timing was off, and the lights did not spin around the model or got caught in her hair. Other times the lights moved too slowly and didn’t make it all the way through the image. Other times the issue was the lights themselves. Sometimes the lights spun right across the model’s eyes. I like a few of these images, but at the same time, some ran across the face in a way that was not attractive.

Have fun with it

The whole experiment was a lot of fun. It made for a great night out and some fun pics to post on social media. My friends were happy to post the pics to show their friends. As an artist and a professional photographer I also wanted to see if I could use the technique for other purposes.

Is it possible to use this technique to create some interesting fine art images or perhaps for some interesting portraits? The answer is yes! There’s a lot that can be done with this technique. It’s well worth experimenting with and seeing what kind of results can be created.

In this one, we achieved exactly what I was hoping to do. She is standing in a circle of lights.

 

The Pros and Cons of Using Teleconverters (Extenders) on your DSLR

 Tags: Photography for beginners, Photography, Teleconverters

 

By: Darren Rowse 

Have you ever been out and about with your DSLR and wished that the lens that you had fitted could zoom in just a little more? That extra reach can be handy in many situations – but for most of us a new lens is out of our budget – so what’s a photographer to do?

One solution to the problem is to consider getting yourself a teleconverter for your lens. Teleconverters (sometimes called extenders or multipliers) are generally much cheaper than a new lens and can multiply the focal length of your lens by anything from 1.4 times to 2 times.

In this tutorial I’ll explore some of the pros and cons of teleconverters.

Last year I took a trip to the Australian Open Tennis and in preparation for it I treated myself to a Canon 1.4x (L) Teleconverter EF (also called extenders) to use with my 70-200mm f/4 lens.

I’d previously used this lens at similar events and while it produced some wonderful results it left me thirsting for more focal length to get even more closely framed shots of players.

Canon make two teleconverters for DSLRs – the 1.4x and 2x versions (and other manufacturers make similar models – for example Nikon’s 2x, 1.7x and 1.4x). Keep in mind that extenders don’t work with all lenses. You should check with your manufacturer before purchasing to see if you own compatible lenses. I’ll profile a few more teleconverters below.

The Pros of Tele-converters/Extenders

Focal Length – The obvious benefit of using a teleconverter on your camera is that it extends the effective focal length of whatever lens you use it with. A 1.4x converter will give you an extra 40% (extending my 200mm maximum to 280mm) and a 2x converter will give you a 100% boost (effectively giving me a 140-400mm zoom.

The benefits of this extra reach are obvious – it could turn the framing of a tennis player shot from court side from a full body shot to a tightly framed upper body shot which reveals rippling muscles, dripping sweat and the grimace of their face as they strike the ball….

Cost – In comparison to the cost of buying a 400mm lens a teleconverter is a much more economical way to go.

Weight – I don’t know if you’ve seen some of the longer lenses going around but they can be quite huge. Add a 2x extender to a smaller lens instead of getting one of the larger ones and you’ll save your back some hardship.

Minimum Focus Distance – using an extender means you can keep the minimum focus length of your lens. This can be handy when you don’t have a macro lens handy and want to get close in on a subject that isn’t far away. It won’t really compare to a dedicated macro lens – but can be handy.

The Cons of Tele-converters/Extenders

So why wouldn’t you rush out and buy a teleconverter?

There are a couple of costs (in addition to the monetary one) associated with them.

Lens Speed – The first thing to consider when using a teleconverter is the impact it has upon how much light gets into your camera.

Using teleconverters means less light gets in which means your maximum aperture will be decreased. When using a 1.4x converter this means you’ll lose one stop and when using a 2x converter you’ll lose two stops (It was for this reason that I went for a 1.4x teleconverter instead of the 2x one as I didn’t want to slow my lens down any further than f/5.6).

So last year at the tennis, instead of being able to shoot at f/4 with my camera I had a maximum aperture of f/5.6.

I was lucky that the weather was excellent on the day and there was plenty of light so this didn’t really impact my shots too much – however if you’re shooting in low light or indoors you’ll notice the impact of this more.

Camera Shake – As you extend the focal length of a lens – any movement of your camera will become more noticeable.

Using a teleconverter magnifies both your subject and any movement in your camera so you’ll want to think carefully about how to reduce it, either by increasing your shutter speed and/or using a tripod/monopod or some other technique to secure your camera.

Focusing Speed – Another consideration with tele-converters is that they slow down the speed at which your camera will focus. This will vary from lens to lens but is particularly an issue in lower light. Some lower end DSLRs will not be able to use Auto focusing at all with some teleconverters at certain aperture settings (or at all) – so do check your camera’s compatibility before buying. To get around slow focusing switch to manual focus mode and learn how to use it – you’ll be surprised how quickly you get the hang of doing it yourself – it’s a useful skill to have.

Image Degradation – Extenders multiply not only the focal length but also any aberrations of the lens you pair it with. As a result you’ll notice on many lenses that image quality suffers – I’m told this is particularly the case with longer extenders (x2) where sharpness and contrast suffer – particularly when shooting into light (where flare and ghosting can be a problem). Using the best quality lens possible will help keep such degradation to a minimum.

Overall Verdict

Using extenders/tele-converters is a more affordable way to extend your focal length than to purchase a longer lens – however the cost can be to your image quality and camera performance if you are not working with a high quality lens in decent light.

I think they are well worth using if you need the extra reach but wouldn’t use them for every shot. I definitely travel with my 1.4x extender at all times when shooting with my 70-200mm lens.

When using one try not to use them at the maximum aperture that your camera will allow – but stop it down at least one stop and you’ll find the results are significantly better. Also keep in mind that longer focal lengths will leave you with less depth of field to play with – so your focusing needs to be spot on!

Teleconverters vs Cropping

Of course the alternative to using a teleconverter or extender is to take your images with what ever lens you have and then to crop those images later in your post production phase. This is definitely the cheaper option – however in my own testing I’ve seen better results with a teleconverter. You can get away with cropping – but if you want to really blow up your images a lot the converter will be an option to consider.

Teleconverters to Consider

Canon Extender EX 1.4x II – the one I use and love. It’s not cheap when compared to some other manufacturers but does a good job. Works best when you don’t push it to the maximum aperture (pull back a stop and it produces some nice results).

Canon Extender EX 2x II – double your lens focal length with this one. Doesn’t work with all lenses and I’ve heard it can produce slightly ‘soft’ results.

Nikon AF-S TC-14E II 1.4x – I have friends with this one and the results they get are excellent. Not compatible with all Nikon lenses – but where it is it’s a great little extender – although not cheap!

Sigma 1.4x EX DG (pictured right) – I hear a lot of positive things about this 1.4x extender. Sigma make them for all the major DSLR manufacturers and they are compatible with many lenses (check first though). It works best with a smaller aperture than wide open but for it’s price it looks like one to consider. You can get it for Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Minolta and Sony lenses.

Sigma 2x EX DG – another sigma option which also gets good results by all reports. Sigma again make it for all the major manufacturers including – Canon, Minolta and Sony, Nikon, Sigma, Pentax lenses.

Feel free to leave your own recommendations and experiences of Teleconverters and extenders below.

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3 Lighting Setups for Photographing Headshots

Tags: Photography for Beginners, Children, Portrait Photography, 

 

By: Dennis Drenner 

 I do a lot of corporate and actor headshots around Washington, DC, and I wanted to share some of the simple but effective lighting setups that I use over and over, which you can easily copy and use yourself.

The One-Light Wonder

My standard setup consists of a large soft light source to the left or right of the subject, a reflector under the face, and another reflector opposite the main light source. I shoot hundreds of headshots per year using this simple setup.

I use a Paul C. Buff Einstein unit with a large octabox in my studio, but you could easily put together something similar with a cheap speedlight, an umbrella, and a couple of $20 reflectors.

You can see this setup in the photo below, with my poor wife Karen standing in as a subject. She was just coming downstairs to make some tea and got ambushed!

Reflectors and adjustments

Once my subject is in place, I do some tweaking. First I will adjust the light source so it is slightly above their eye level. For most people, I think it looks best to have the light coming from above to cast subtle shadows under the chin, accentuating the jaw and helping to hide any double chin.

Then I will adjust the reflector underneath their face and bring it up to about their mid-chest level. This reflector helps fill in shadows on the face and provides a really nice extra catch light in the eyes. Some folks will use another (powered) light source down here, but I find the reflector to be much simpler to set up, and it also has the virtue of being idiot-proof.

For example, if you have another light instead of a reflector below the subject and you accidentally overpower it (so it is more powerful than the main light), you have created some horrible Frankenstein lighting! It is physically impossible to do this with a reflector, which can save you from costly mistakes.

You can see the side reflector in my studio in the photo above (it’s just to Karen’s left).

Finally, we have the reflector opposite the light source. For this one, I will often use a black-sided panel to create a darker shadow on that side of the face. This effect can be very dramatic, and has the added benefit of slimming the face. The downside is that, if your subject is very wrinkly, you’re not filling those wrinkles with light from that side. So it doesn’t work for everyone.

Here’s an example of a headshot where I used this effect to create a nice dramatic edge:

Some additional tweaks

With this simple setup, it’s very easy to make tweaks and see what works best with a particular person’s face. Often I will leave the basic setup in place with the black reflector, but a few examples where I might make changes are:

• The subject has a double chin, so I really want to define the jaw. In this case, I may raise the light up extra high to cast more shadow under the chin (but make sure you don’t go too high and lose your catchlights), and/or lower or remove the reflector under the chin.

• The subject has long, dark hair. In this case, the dark reflector is not necessary, because we already have a dark edge there from the hair. So in this case I would go with a white reflector on the side or bring in a hair light from behind (more on that in the next section).

In the photo below, you can see a lot of detail in her hair on the shadow side. That’s because I brought my big white reflector in close.

• The subject has deep-set eyes. We want to fire more light into those sockets or our poor subject will end up looking like a serial killer or a caveman! In this case, I might lower the main/soft light so it is right at eye level.

Two Lights

You could run a whole business just using the one-light system, but if you’re anything like me you get bored and like to try new things. So let’s bring in a second light.

The second light for me is usually a “kicker” (also called a rim or accent light) coming from behind and opposite the main light. I use this to accentuate the jaw, especially in men, or to accentuate the hair in women. It’s especially nice to create a little highlight on darker hair.

In the photo below, I needed a way to separate this young man from the dark background. My kicker light did the trick!

In my studio, I use a strip softbox for this purpose, but you could also use a bare head with a grid or even an old speedlight with a paper towel roll taped to it to make a simple snoot. The important thing is that you want to control the light so it doesn’t spray into your lens and create flare or lack of contrast.

You can see my kicker light in this setup shot with Karen.

Three and Four Lights

I use lights three and four to create a clean white background. You can either use one light fired at the background from just behind the subject, or two lights off to either side.

The white background is my favorite look these days for a lot of reasons. I think it looks super bright, modern, and happy. It also really pops on LinkedIn and other online profiles.

It is also a great way to go for companies because it is easy to replicate and get a consistent look from shoot to shoot (for example, when photographing a new employee months after the initial shoot, or replicating the same look with shoots done across the country by different photographers).

Whether you use one or two lights for the background depends on your budget and the space in which you are working.

Two lights can give you a larger, more even spread of light, whereas with one light you might have some fall off around the edges that you need to clean up in post-production. So I usually stick to two lights unless I’m on location somewhere and space is tight.

Conclusion

So I hope you found this article helpful, and you can use the lighting setups for your headshots.  Share this article.