Blog | 36 - Nail Every Shot
| bokeh photographic (Alistair Grant): Food & Drink Photographer; Commercial Photographer, Product Photographer & Packshot Photographer; Event Photographer; Portrait Photographer; Corporate Photographer & PR Photographer; Engagement Photographer & Wedding Photographer and Photography Training Courses in Cambridge, Huntingdon, Peterborough, Bedford, St Neots, St Ives and London. Freelance Photographer & Freelance Photography Services in Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire and across the UK. | |||
 
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Alistair Grant Freelance Photographer Cambridge & London |
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bokeh photographic: Blog No: 36 → TIP: Click any image to view in LightBox |
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Nail Every Shot This is a quick snap I took of my Lastolite XpoBalance 'in action'. Of all the things I own it’s probably the most photographed albeit not necessarily by me. This is because I use the XpoBalance on all the bokeh photographic Photography Training Courses. Although I took this snap - with the sneaky aid of the XpoBalance - it is a model holding the calibration device whilst a student is using it to determine what camera parameters to set. In my training courses I go through step-by-step use of the XpoBalance to meter off black and/or white tones in any given scene as well as metering neutral tones and of course, to set white balance. Crucially, the amount of adjustment required when metering off black or white can differ between cameras including cameras of the same model. In the spirit of directly tackling the notion that expensive equipment is required for photography note that I don’t recommend that students actually purchase an XpoBalance (or for that matter a lightmeter although I do cover metering ambient and flash exposures with a digital incident lightmeter). With an RRP of £42.95 the 38cm fabric XpoBalance is relatively expensive even when you account for Lastolite's clever 'pop-up & twist-down' technology. Instead I use the XpoBalance as a stand-in for tones that people may encounter in real-life. For instance, the black of a groom’s suit and the white of a bride’s dress at a wedding. Although I do recommend a 18% grey card† (which can be picked up relatively cheaply and sometimes for free with photography magazines) the aim is to provide practical alternatives for situations when photographers have inadvertently left their grey card at home or when using a calibration tool is not possible. If you are wondering about the importance of metering let me briefly explain. A correct exposure is one where the camera accurately captures all tones in a given scene from dark through bright. Most cameras have at least two or three metering modes than can be selected to measure tonal range in different situations. However, whilst electronic metering mechanisms are highly sophisticated cameras can easily be fooled which results in an incorrect exposure. Moreover, metering cannot be turned off. Try pointing your camera at the ground and then at the sky and watch how the settings change. Accurate metering underpins a correct exposure. If I have undertaken a photo shoot for you or if you have attended one of my training courses chances are you will have heard me declare "[in a correct exposure] blacks should be black and whites should be white". In actual fact we don’t want a lot of pure black or pure white as pure black/white doesn’t contain any detail information such as texture.†† The easiest and most reliable way to obtain an accurate exposure is to formally take a meter reading using an 18% grey card - which provides a calibrated reference point - in the exact lighting conditions under which a photograph is to be taken. However, as already mentioned, this isn’t always feasible and not every scene includes a 'natural' neutral tone that can be used for metering. Therefore, I teach handy approximations such as taking a meter reading of the palm of the hand that allows photographers to nail shot after shot even if they don’t have a grey card (or an XpoBalance or a lightmeter!) to hand. † So called because 18% grey cards are a standardised neutral grey tone that exhibits 18% reflectance across the visible spectrum. †† I should probably point out that where the dynamic range (in simple terms, the ratio between the minimum tonal value - black - and the maximum tonal value - white) of a scene exceeds the tonal range a camera is able to capture, convention is to accept more dark tones where detail may be indiscernible as an alternative to over-exposing the light tones. In other words, ‘placing the exposure’ according to Ansel Adam’s Zone Theory. |
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Call Alistair Grant on 07775 365507, Email [email protected] or click Booking Enquiries if you have any questions or would like to make a booking. |
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bokeh: "the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens" Freelance Photographer offering Food & Drink Photography Cambridge; Commercial Photography Cambridge, Product Photography Cambridge & Packshot Photography Cambridge; Event Photography Cambridge; Portrait Photography Cambridge; Corporate Photography Cambridge & PR Photography Cambridge; Engagement Photography Cambridge & Wedding Photography Cambridge and Photography Training Courses in Cambridge. Also covering: Huntingdon, St. Ives, Ramsey, St. Neots, Peterborough, Bedford, Stamford, Newmarket, Sawtry, Alconbury Weston, Brampton, Hartford, Warboys, Houghton, Wyton, Godmanchester, Hilton, Hemingford Grey, Hemingford Abbots, Fenstanton, Whittesley, Yaxley, Needingworth, Somersham, Chatteris, Ely, Bar Hill, Grafham and Buckden. |
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bokeh photographic - Alistair Grant | Freelance Photographer | Cambridge, London, UK Food & Drink Photography | Commercial Photography & Product Photography | Corporate Photography & PR Photography | Portrait Photography (inc. 'Active Portraiture', 'Naturally You' & 'Poptraits') | Event Photography | Engagement & Wedding Photography | Photography Training Courses & Camera Tuition | Videography & Film Production Tel: 07775 365507 | Email: [email protected] |
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