Lighting with FourSquare

Every year I attend the Southwestern Photojournalism Conference in Ft. Worth, Texas. Every year this conference recharges my batteries and inspires me. This years conference was incredible and will be the subject of a future writing. Today, I want to touch on last years conference when one of my all time favorite photographers spoke, Dave Black. Not only is the man an amazing photographer, he is a wonderful person with some pretty good wisdom. I'm hoping soon to write about Dave in this blog with his permission. Stay tuned for that.

Last year Dave introduced everyone to a cool little item called the Four Square. This little tool is very cool and a must have for those of you who like lighting with hand flashes. I traded my masses of Dynalights and packs in for Nikon Smartflashes a few years ago and never looked back. What FourSquare does is hold four flashes which is great for increasing your lighting output. Which comes in handy when shooting in the bright of the day. here's a link and few more shots using this wonderful tool. Oh yeah, I don't work or represent this company or gain anything for bragging it up. I just love well thought out and useful photographic tools. I rank this one up there with the Bogen's Magic Arm! Here's the link...http://www.lightwaredirect.com/ ...and a few more photos...

 

Just for the record, you can learn how to shoot using these lighting packages in my Masters of Light Workshop and the Art of Telling Stories Workshop at  http://www.texasphotoworkshops.com

PERSONAL PROJECTS

I'm a big believer in personal projects for photographers. The main reason for this is it keeps the creative juices flowing. Many of my personal projects have also turned into actual assignments. For example, I just found out a Magazine called Christianity Today wants to buy my photos for a story they are doing on refugees in the U.S. This has been a project I've been shooting on for about three years now.

Here's what I do starting a project. First I must have a personal interest in the subject. Regardless of how popular the subject might be, if my heart is not in it, then neither will my commitment to do what it takes to complete the project. That way, you will be shooting for yourself and not others. Whatever you like, go for it.

Like all communication, the more you can address the who, what, when, why and where questions, the better. So, as you prepare for starting to shoot, think about how to visually communicate the message of the story.

If your project is about some natural beauty like mountains, then you may want to first decide which mountains you want to shoot and from what angle. I like to shoot subjects many others have done before me in ways few before me have done. Most mountains are shot in clear sky conditions. So, first I'll wait for a day with clouds that will give me some dramatic sky structure. Then I decide the time of day. If most shoot at dawn, then I'll shoot at dusk. If most shoot at dusk, then I'll shoot at dawn, etc. In short shoot them in a unique and different way than others have.

If your project is about people or a person, then your approach will be different than when just collecting a series of beautiful shots. You will want to actually tell a story with photos. You'll want to shoot your subject loose and wide to show their surrounding environment. You'll also want to shoot closer to isolate your subject but still leave a sense of their environment. Finally you'll want to shoot your subject up close to provide details that reveal intimate info for the viewer.

All this takes time, but if you stick with it, you will in the end collect some great shots and continue to grow as a photographer. My workshop "The Art of Telling Stories" is a great workshop to take for learning and sharpening these skills. As an award winning former photo editor for Texas Highways Magazine, I'm just the person you want teaching you these skills. Here's a link in case your interested...http://www.texasphotoworkshops.com/node/222

TP&W Cover continued

I felt like it would benefit all if I also posted here many of the photos submitted for the request so you can see what kind of variety was sent. Along with the cover, the magazine also selected another version of the photo used as a full page photo inside the story. For this photo, I shot with the white balance set for daylight and used a warming gel on the flashes. However, I positioned the one light at about the 340 degree mark. The photo had a completely different look, even though it was basically the same shot published for the cover. This is one reason why I usually always change my lighting package up when shooting assignments. It many times will lead to more sales. The magazine also used the cover for their online edition and in the end hundreds of dollars was sent to my mail box.

As I mentioned before, I teach this stuff in my workshop called Masters of Light, which is without question one of the best lighting workshops offered. Here is a link...http://www.texasphotoworkshops.com/node/212 I also teach many of my lighting techniques on our expeditions. The next one up is Glen Rose, Texas and it will be an amazing workshop. Here is a link to that one as well...http://www.texasphotoworkshops.com/node/222

God be with you all!