Zenologue

This is a short overview of Photovision #73 from www.photovisionvideo.com, hosted by Ed Pierce, a periodical educational DVD for professional photographers. To be clear about this article – I am not affiliated with Photovision in any way and the overview is intended as my opinion only.

2009 is well underway and time is going by faster than expected already! I always look forward to receiving my Photovision DVD in the mail every two months and issue #73 is the first one to appear in my mailbox for this year.

As usual, the DVD is well presented and very professionally put together with just under two hours of great material on it. In addition to some information on the sponsors and some industry news, this issue has five major sections: 

1. Sarah Petty – “Feather Angel”
2. S. Antisdel & K. Bondurant – “Senior Boys Insight, Part I”
3. Parker Pfister – “Kentucky Wedding, Part 3″
4. John Ridgeway – “The Baby Whisperer, Part I”
5. Tim & Bev Walden – “Studio Tour” 

Sarah Petty – “Feather Angel”

For any professional photographer who creates portraits of children, this is a delightful piece that really shows how creative and innovative Sarah can be when it comes to this type of work. The video follows Sarah and her assistants as they create some beautiful portraits of a young girl outdoors, using a bed as a set.

My first reaction was that a bed seems quite unexpected and incongruous in an outside setting, but it really does work very well. The final images are simply amazing and I’m sure the child’s parents were thrilled with them.

The open shade of Sarah’s garden setting provided wonderful lighting where the only modifier needed was a reflector to fill in the shadows. It was interesting to see how Sarah made the best use of the natural light as well as different perspectives to create these beautiful portraits.

Working with children is an art, and Sarah clearly demonstrates how she maintains interest and focus by constant communication with her subject and her quick mode of shooting. I was left with the very clear impression that the young girl had a blast with it, especially as she was able to throw feathers all over the place!

I have watched this several times already and I always seem to get something new out of it. Of course, Sarah makes the whole process look deceptively easy, which we know it isn’t, however I believe being able to learn from her and others in this way makes it more achievable for the rest of us.

S. Antisdel & K. Bondurant – “Senior Boys Insight, Part 1″

I really enjoy working with young people and senior portraiture is a challenging and exciting area of photography to be in, so it’s great to see a section on it here on the DVD. In this particular episode we see the first part of a boy’s senior portrait session and learn not only the techniques of lighting and posing, but also how these two photographers approach the whole subject of senior portraits.

They start by explaining how they construct a personality profile of their subject – everything from what their parents do for a living to their hobbies and other interests. They then take this information and use it to really accentuate the subject’s personality in the portraits, to great effect. In the short time we get to work with many seniors, having a personality profile like this is a great asset in helping us get to know the subject and finding ways to bring out their character in the finished photographs.

The studio itself looked a lot larger than it really is, by virtue of the number of different sets they had managed to fit into it, and the session was made a lot easier to handle without having switch locations.

I noticed that they used primarily natural light with a reflector to create the portraits, which looked great on the screen – I’m sure they are even more impressive in the flesh, as it were.

All in all, this was one of the highlights of this issue and I’m looking forward to seeing part 2.

Parker Pfister – “Kentucky Wedding, Part 3″

I’ve been a fan of Parker Pfister’s wedding photography since I first came across him through earlier editions of Photovision and, as a wedding photographer, I thoroughly enjoy being able to watch him at work on an actual wedding. Parts 1 and 2 of this wedding were on previous editions of the DVD, and this one followed Parker as he captured the wedding itself and part of the cocktail hour that followed.

The video clearly demonstrates Parker’s method of working very unobtrusively at the wedding, yet still producing some amazing images – from almost classic portraits to candid photographs, to even the smallest details.

Then, we get to spend a little time back in the studio as Parker discusses some of his post-processing techniques with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, with some hints on organizing workflow.

John Ridgeway – “The Baby Whisperer, Part 1″

Although I don’t photograph babies myself (at the moment, at least – never say never!), I certainly enjoyed this insight into the studio, equipment and philosophy of John Ridgeway as he describes his approach to baby photography.

This segment introduces us to Mr. Ridgeway and his studio setup, with the variety of sets and equipment that he currently uses. Then we see how he approaches the task of sending the baby to sleep for the photography session – truly amazing.

I’m looking forward to seeing part 2 of this to see the actual photography session itself.

Tim & Bev Walden – “Studio Tour”

One of the many things that Tim & Bev Walden excel at is branding themselves as a high-end studio, and this short tour of their photography studio really highlights the ways that they’ve successfully created well-branded product lines as well as a distinctive brand for their studio as a whole.

In these interesting economic times in which we find ourselves, I believe it is more important than ever to make sure we communicate a solid and consistent brand to our clients and prospects. I would recommend watching this segment over and over until every last scrap of the wealth of information here has been absorbed.

All of the brands in their studio are very different from each other, yet they fit together comfortably in one cohesive whole, which is a great achievement.

Conclusion

For me, the real benefit of these DVDs is the ability to see into the lives of successful working photographers, people who are leaders in their field, or to accompany them on a live photography session – and to be able to do it again and again whenever I want to.

One of the few annoyances, for me at least, is the bias towards Canon photographers, which is unsurprising since Canon is one of the main sponsors of Photovision. I’m have nothing against Canon at all, they do have some great gear, but I feel we might be missing out on the benefit of learning from other wonderful photographers simply because they use Nikon equipment rather than Canon.

It would also be nice to see coverage of some examples of engagement or bridal portrait sessions in addition to actual wedding photography.

All in all, this was a very good issue and I’ll be watching it again and again, I’m sure, as I look forward to issue #74.

education baby photography, child photography, DVD, education, professional photographer, senior portraits, studio branding, wedding photography

Continuing on with my review of this DVD from Nikon School, I’m going to take a look at the second part of the DVD, which shows specific examples in the field and the different ways of using the Nikon CLS to produce great results.

Section 2 – In The Field:

This section of the DVD is hosted by Bob Krist and Joe McNally and is divided into the following 5 sections:

• The Boston Ballet School – Lighting Dancers
• Indoors At The Inn – Lighting a Bride
• Outdoor Opportunities – Lighting a Bride
• Historic Gloucester – A Fisherman, a Boat and a Dozen Speedlights
• Review of Images – Bob & Joe

For me, this was where the DVD really started to give out some practical and invaluable information. Being out in the field with real models, presented with the challenges of different locations and non-optimal lighting really shows us how to cope with real-life scenarios. There is a lot of information in this section of the DVD, and you will need to watch it over and over – getting new things from it on each viewing.

The session at the Boston Ballet school is amazing to see how Joe sets up each image, beginning with natural light and then adding supplemental light from the Nikon CLS to really make the photographs pop. There is a great discussion of rear-sync flash with a moving subject and wonderful examples. One of the real highlights of this section for me was seeing Joe’s wonderful creativity in turning a non-descript open space into something dynamic using odd shadows as positive creative elements.

The second & third portions of this section are specific to wedding photographers, but are also great portrait examples. When photographing a wedding, speed is critical and there is rarely time to spend thinking about what to do and how to do it. By studying these examples in detail, over and over, you will be able to extract a lot of very useful tips and information on how to create wonderful bridal portraits and wedding photographs with the Nikon CLS. The outdoor bridal portrait examples were particularly exciting for me, and Joe’s results were outstanding.

The fisherman images on location in Gloucester again delivered a wealth of detail and information. These examples can be applied to both commercial photography and portrait photography, showing how the creative positioning of speedlights, combined with available light, can produce some eye-popping results. For anyone wanting to get the best out of the Nikon CLS outdoors, this is very useful.

The final example, lighting up a fishing boat and fisherman portrait with a dozen speedlights was the culmination of all the techniques discussed in the DVD so far. Whilst I can’t imagine personally owning 12 SB-800s, I could see a lot of useful tips and ideas in this section. Perhaps the biggest thing here was the demonstration that working with the Nikon CLS, even with numerous flash units, can be quick and easy.

The final section, a review of the images by Bob and Joe, was mostly a summary of the previous sections with no really new information.

What’s Not On The DVD:

So much for what was on the DVD, but what was missing for a guide to the creative lighting system? Well, not too much really. However, there were a couple of things I would like to have seen mentioned:

Lighting ratios:

The subject of lighting ratios wasn’t mentioned at all throughout the DVD. Although, lighting ratios might be more at home on a DVD about general lighting techniques, I think it would have been useful to mention this in the initial section, at least, where Bob was talking about general lighting. The Nikon CLS offers the ability to set the power of each group of flash units to an amazing degree and this obviously plays right into the concept of establishing the correct ratio of lighting for any given subject.

Limitations of high-speed sync:

The Nikon CLS allows for certain cameras to sync with the flash at any shutter speed – a very useful tool. They did cover the subject of high-speed sync flash, but conveniently left out any real discussion of its limitations. It’s great to be able to use flash to balance natural daylight at high shutter speeds, but I’ve found through experience that the flash needs to be a lot closer to the subject to have any real effect. High-speed sync is something I am still experimenting with myself, and is not as simple to master as they seem to show on the DVD.

Line of Sight Requirement:

One drawback of the wireless CLS is the need to have all the flash units in line of sight of the commander unit on the camera. It’s important to have the sensor of each remote flash unit aimed toward the camera so that it can receive the pulses of information that tells it how to fire correctly. This wasn’t really mentioned on the DVD, except one time in the Boston Ballet School section, but was never explained.

Overall Impression:

Despite some small annoyances, such as the loud music at the beginning, and the minor omissions mentioned above, I found this to be an interesting, informative DVD that was well worth the investment. I’m sure I will watch this several more times to get even more information from it. Joe and Bob gave an excellent insight into working with the system in the field, combined with the basic information anyone would need to get started with it.

I would recommend this to anyone using the Nikon system who wants to add new dimension to their images.

I do understand that, at the time of writing, the DVD is only available in the USA. However, as far as I know, the DVD should play in a computer DVD player, if not a regular standalone player, so it might still be worth ordering even if you are not in the US.

Reviews DVD, education, lighting, review

When Nikon sent me their usual marketing email message with news of their new DVD from the Nikon School – “A Hands-on Guide To Creative Lighting”, I thought to myself, “At last! Some real material to help get the most out of my SB-800 flash units.” I checked out the promo video online and was suitably impressed, so I ordered the DVD and also a companion book to go along with it.

The DVD can be previewed and ordered here. The blurb on the back of the DVD reads as follows:

Subject matter and light are the heart of every photograph and discerning attention to both separates exceptional from everyday pictures. Learning how to make light work for you with the power and versatility of the Nikon Creative Lighting System, featuring the SB-900, SB-800, SB-600 and SB-R200 Speedlights, delivers the ability to turn an ordinary subject into something special or elevate a striking subject to a stunning work of art.

It goes on to say:

Bob [Krist] will lead you on a tour of lighting fundamentals and techniques in the studio, joined later by Joe [McNally] in the field. Watch and learn as the amazing potential of Nikon’s Creative Lighting System is unleashed in a variety of real-world scenarios – from the Boston Ballet School, to the charm of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Does the DVD live up to its promises and deliver what it says? After viewing the DVD, I thought I would post a review to give my thoughts on it and whether I felt it was worth the investment.

General:

The DVD came in a nicely packaged DVD box, with an insert about the different Creative Lighting System (CLS) speedlights – SB-900, SB-800, SB-600 & SB-R200. The insert describes how to set each one to use advanced wireless flash, both as master and remote units. It also describes the commander modes found on the D700, D300, D200, D90 & D80 digital SLRs. On the back is a nice glossary of terms related to flash lighting and the CLS.

The DVD runs for 2 hrs 34 min and is divided into two main segments:

• Lighting Basics
• In The Field

Section 1 – Lighting Basics:

Bob Krist hosts this section of the DVD, and talks about the following topics:

• Introduction
• Color, Direction and Quality of Light
• Fundamental Lighting Techniques
• Flash Sync Speeds
• Color Correcting For Fluorescent Light
• The Nikon CLS Setup Step by Step
  • SB-900 Setup
  • SB-800 Setup
• Close-Up Lighting For Online Auctions
• Bob’s Portable Lighting Kit

The first few minutes of the DVD are taken up with a basic introduction to natural lighting and artificial lighting, and the similarities and differences between them. Not too much information is given at this stage, but there is enough to set the scene and introduce us to the important section of lighting techniques.

Bob leads us nicely through his introduction into an illustration of different lighting techniques in a studio with a live model. He gently progresses from using a single on-camera flash to using multiple lighting with wireless flash and reflectors. His concise way of explaining everything is perfect, and there’s something here for intermediate photographers as well as the beginner. Even for advanced users, it’s great to sit back and refresh one’s mind about the basic principles involved. Each setup is beautifully explained and illustrated, giving a wonderful picture of the many ways to illuminate your subject with a flash.

He pays very close attention to detail, showing how to build a portrait with key lights, reflector, background lighting and hair lighting. The pace is fairly quick, but not so fast as to leave anyone behind.

Next, Bob shows us how to use slow-sync flash to capture the background in an image – very useful for outdoor portraits or those where you do want to see some of the natural background behind the subject.

One of the problems that photographers inevitably face is coping with the different colors associated with various light sources. He tackles this problem with one example – correcting for a fluorescent light source by using the camera’s white balance adjustments and gel filters for the flash. The same principles can be applied to tungsten lighting, so any explanation of this on the DVD would simply have been filler; therefore I’m glad they didn’t need to overdo things by covering that as well.

Bob goes on to explain the CLS in quite a lot of detail – way too much detail in some instances. Most of the information in this (long) part of the DVD can be found simply by reading the appropriate camera and flash manuals. I really didn’t find this section to be either interesting or earth shattering.

Moving on, there was a brief discussion of the R1C1 close-up lighting system, which was interesting and then Bob took us through a good demonstration of lighting small objects to create images for use on online auction sites. I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who would find this section useful.

The final part of the first section gives us a look into Bob’s box of tricks – his portable lighting system. As interesting as it was, I really didn’t see the point of this part, except as a short filler. It really didn’t convey any useful information about lighting per se.

One annoying feature of this section of the DVD was the music. To begin with, the volume of the soundtrack became so intrusive that I found it difficult to concentrate my attention on what Bob was actually saying. Thankfully, the rest of the DVD didn’t suffer from this problem.

In part II of this review I’ll take a look at the second section of the DVD, which deals with hands-on examples in the field with Joe McNally.

Reviews DVD, education, lighting, review