Engagement sessions in the mountains
heatherfeather
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With this set, I nearly canceled the shoot. It was 15 below when I woke up that morning. We were scheduled to meet shortly after sunrise, so it wouldn't have a chance to warm up before we got together. I called them up to cancel and they said that often times it is warmer up in the mountains... And they decided to drive up to see. I couldn't believe it, but it was! It was a "warm 5 degrees" up there (Which is still rather cold to my way of thinking...) And we went ahead with the shoot. And it ended up being a glorious day! And she insisted to go sans coats for several. Brave lady. I did have to pp lots of red noses and watery eyes.
1.
2. I forgot to mention that we started at the base of the mountain pass and then worked our way up the MT a little bit at a time. We deemed our car time was necessary to warm up every 1/2 hour or so. And it was too. I was frozen to the core when we finished.
3. Sun behind... brolly camera right. The couple had warned me that his nature is naturally very stoic... and ackward for photos. It was my goal to make him comfortable enough with me and the camera to get some natural looks. And we got some! Of course, her tickling him helped some too.
4.
5. Around this time my view finder kept on fogging up with the moisture from my eye. I could see the outline of their faces and I had to trust my settings and my camera's autofocus/ focal point. And it was so bright I couldn't chimp at all. But it all turned out very nicely. Oh and my flash stand blew over a couple of times... Good thing umbrellas are so cheap.
6. Processing this photo was kindof tricky... As a general rule, I only worry about colored snow if it is yellow... But in this case it was blue.
When I shoot into the sun, for some reason it gets really drastically blue. Even with your natural eyes it really does look blue the farther away you are from the snow. I think it is the same theory as why the sky is blue, why glaciers appear blue and on and on. When I choose the WB based on the snow at their feet, the snow even just down the hill behind them really turns blue! I have thought about putting a very slight blue gel on the flash to tame it down a bit, but haven't experimented yet to see how it does. To get the look I was going for, I lowered the luminance and saturation of the blue, and left everything else pretty much normal. Does it look odd? I think it works to bring the attention back on the couple for sure. Though the vistas are pretty amazing.
7. Not the best photo of the set, but you can see what I mean about the blue...
8. And he is a big snowmachine fan, so he brought it along as the largest prop I have used to date. Had to get a few shots of that...
After they put on their snow gear they could have gone on all day without warm up time in the car... But not so for me. My toes were frozen despite my boots and coat.
Another couple...
9. I had taken these guys up there a couple days before that... and it was very stormy and overcast. But there was a window of clear skies down the Valley to Pioneer Peak. And that made for some fun looks. Apparently the blue snow doesn't apply on really overcast days. I had no problem on this day with blue snow.
10. And we had some fun with umbrellas...
11.
12.
13. A ring shot...
14.
15.
And that is a nice round number to stop....
C & C are always welcome. Though I have to admit I am a bit nervous since all of the recent threads about people not being "skilled enough" to do weddings....
16... And as a tease, I have this really fun e session to process before I share.
Yes a top hat and evening gown in the snow. Doesn't she look like Queen Susan from Narnia?
1.
2. I forgot to mention that we started at the base of the mountain pass and then worked our way up the MT a little bit at a time. We deemed our car time was necessary to warm up every 1/2 hour or so. And it was too. I was frozen to the core when we finished.
3. Sun behind... brolly camera right. The couple had warned me that his nature is naturally very stoic... and ackward for photos. It was my goal to make him comfortable enough with me and the camera to get some natural looks. And we got some! Of course, her tickling him helped some too.
4.
5. Around this time my view finder kept on fogging up with the moisture from my eye. I could see the outline of their faces and I had to trust my settings and my camera's autofocus/ focal point. And it was so bright I couldn't chimp at all. But it all turned out very nicely. Oh and my flash stand blew over a couple of times... Good thing umbrellas are so cheap.
6. Processing this photo was kindof tricky... As a general rule, I only worry about colored snow if it is yellow... But in this case it was blue.
When I shoot into the sun, for some reason it gets really drastically blue. Even with your natural eyes it really does look blue the farther away you are from the snow. I think it is the same theory as why the sky is blue, why glaciers appear blue and on and on. When I choose the WB based on the snow at their feet, the snow even just down the hill behind them really turns blue! I have thought about putting a very slight blue gel on the flash to tame it down a bit, but haven't experimented yet to see how it does. To get the look I was going for, I lowered the luminance and saturation of the blue, and left everything else pretty much normal. Does it look odd? I think it works to bring the attention back on the couple for sure. Though the vistas are pretty amazing.
7. Not the best photo of the set, but you can see what I mean about the blue...
8. And he is a big snowmachine fan, so he brought it along as the largest prop I have used to date. Had to get a few shots of that...
After they put on their snow gear they could have gone on all day without warm up time in the car... But not so for me. My toes were frozen despite my boots and coat.
Another couple...
9. I had taken these guys up there a couple days before that... and it was very stormy and overcast. But there was a window of clear skies down the Valley to Pioneer Peak. And that made for some fun looks. Apparently the blue snow doesn't apply on really overcast days. I had no problem on this day with blue snow.
10. And we had some fun with umbrellas...
11.
12.
13. A ring shot...
14.
15.
And that is a nice round number to stop....
C & C are always welcome. Though I have to admit I am a bit nervous since all of the recent threads about people not being "skilled enough" to do weddings....
16... And as a tease, I have this really fun e session to process before I share.
Yes a top hat and evening gown in the snow. Doesn't she look like Queen Susan from Narnia?
0
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The scenery is wonderful!! I think I like the 2nd set the best but they are all very good (as always!) Love the last one as well....
Would overexposeing the snow (more) help the blue? I dont live in a snowy place so I am no help....
I think everyone will be happy!
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Blue snow - how's this for an explaination .... Your models are getting lit by the sun. That light is, nominally, 5500K. The light you see from the snow is really light from the sky and that's quite a bit colder in color. So, if your camera WB is set for the sun on your subjects, the snow has got to be colder color.
The thing that twigged me onto this possibility was your comment that the snow was more normal under over-cast conditions on your second shoot.
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So in bright sunlight, do you think that a slight blue filter on the flash would do the trick?
Were these shoots that came out of the wedding fair escapade?
Alaska IS a beautiful place and it's not always cold. We were there (not far from these photos) for 5 weeks one summer a few summers ago, and the temps ranged from 68-80. And with all that summer sunlight, it was near perfection in our book!
Heather - these are fantastic! I'm loving your use of light and environment. I think my faves are 9 and 10. #6 almost looks like it's been desaturated a bit, except for the pink shirt. I wonder how it would look if the pink was desaturated a bit? It just kinda jumps out at me and there isn't much color elsewhere to balance it out. If that makes any sense.
Love your stuff, Heather!
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Caroline
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I am kind of getting what you are saying...
But don't forget that the sun was behind the subjects in the photos where the blue was an issue, (and was giving all its warm goodness to their backs) and it didn't seem to be an issue when the sun was to the side of them. It could be because when the sun was behind them, we were seeing all the shadows... and when the sun was beside them everything was lit by the sun, and therefore had the sun's color temperatures.
So with either your theory of the cool colors reflecting from the sky or my theory with the scientific blather about blue being the strongest color in the color spectrum creating a cool cast to the snow compared to the light from the sun... (Which my flash was NOT gelled so its color temp was 5500K & matched the sun) The mixed lighting issues could be combated if I were to gel the flash to match the snow when it is reflecting blue sky when the sun was behind the subject.
And then we need to consider how the atmosphere actually adds to the blueness of the mountains.
Is it even necessary since we see the blue? We just THINK snow=white while it doesn't necessarily actually appear that way all the time.
I think it makes sense, but my brain hurts now.
And Wings of Love, Alaska is beautiful. And it is cold. We used to live in the midwest and had really cold times... and had no trees or mountains. I would MUCH rather be cold where I can see beauty. But I really think that Alaska is not nearly as cold as people down there think it is. And to dispel another myth....I have never actually ridden in a dog sled.
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Thanks Diva! Well, one of them was.. the others were referrals. Which is pretty neat!
Aaaw, now what a nice thing to say!
I usually like my snow at least a LITTLE bit blue, since that's the way I see it through my own eyes. Not overwhelmingly so, but when I look at Pioneer Peak from here in the Valley, it's blue most of the time. I usually adjust white balance so it's not quite pure white.
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You have such an amazing ability. And brave to boot. I would be such a weeny in that cold of temps. I can't say that I issues with any of them. They all look fantastic and what you did to remove the blue in the one did the trick. I'm not seeing any cast in that one.
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They are each quite wonderful.
I grabbed your blue snow shot and reposted here to make a point...
Now....look at it closely....and you will see that it appears only to be blue on the parts that are in shade. This is typical of the color cast we see in any photograph taken in any shade any where in the world....and is the reason I use a CTB gel when I do portraits in shade. I try to work in full shade for the sake of keeping WB in check over the entire image, but if a ray of light from the sun peeks in it will appear very warm. For a scene such as this, I would (if I were you) leave a bit of blue in the shadows to keep it natural looking. It doesny look bad to me at all.
On the other hand, I can see that the flashed couple appears rather warm as opposed to the rest of the scene. On account of that, you could try a blue gel and see if the results are more to your liking. Maybe something on the order of 1/8 CTB.....or the lightest of the Phoxle blue gels (since I knew you had those tucked away!). Shoot in "cloudy" WB in camera.
Are you using a bare flash or shoot through umbrella here. I ask because I have a new stand and a couple convertable umbrellas I just bought (havent used yet!) and am anxious to see what I can get away with in their use. It seems here is though the flash is much farther away from your subject than I would have thought possible. A nice effect.
Oh...and the snowmobile shot rocks too.....not that the rest of them don't.....but just to be sure you know!!!
Jeff
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Gee, when I was in Juneau we had 80 degree temperatures. And you might have shot these at 5 degrees, but, Heather - they are hot! I am sure your clients are thrilled.
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What is a snowmobile? Oh just kidding. Us Alaskans call those snowmachines... or a sled...
I have another shoot in a week or so where they will be bringing a snowmachine, and I think that guy will be more of a daredevil with his.
This couple in the first set were VERY reserved with their sled and would only go about 1 mph without helmets... I was cracking up at this more conservative version of an Alaskan guy... most of them are a bit crazy and make me have white knuckles...
The first couple in this set I did use the shoot through for all the photos except #4. (That was the one where it kept blowing over. I used a cloud lightsphere for that one.) The second couple (image #s 9-15) just had the cloud LS. I would say the flash was about 6 feet from them and at +1.5.
It filled pretty well.
When I met with her yesterday, I thought it was pretty funny what she said about #4... she said it was so beautiful it looked fake. I think they have never seen a photo where both the subject and the background were properly exposed...
I don't really consider myself brave.... more stupid. I need to get some snowpants and then I think I would be a lot more comfortable. I just don't like to look dorky!
I can relate....there are folks here who won't drive their bassboats wide open. I have no qualms with skimming the bayous at 75 to 80 mph.
...and are you using only the STE2 to control the flash?
Both methods look good. There is some imbalance between the color temperature of the subjects and the rest of the scene. Not enough to be a deal breaker, but I would at least experiment with a gel and see if it helps. You may be pleasantly surprised.
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Jeff
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Comments and constructive critique always welcome!
Elaine Heasley Photography
My guess....since the 580 defaults to its widest zoom setting when used as a slave is that the lightsphere....and umbrella are sucking up considerable flash power. I can see where the umbrella could throw softer shadows over a largish area.....but the size of the lightsphere would seem to limit it to results that would be similar to a bare flash at that distance...outdoors.
I personally forego the lightsphere outdoors. I am intending to use my umbrellas outdoors though...and hope the results are half this nice.:D
I havent had much free time lately...and when I have I havent been able to snatch a willing subject. Im DYING to use my new camera AND shoot throughs.
Jeff
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Can't get your lovely wife to model for you?
Comments and constructive critique always welcome!
Elaine Heasley Photography
She ...pretends at least....to be allergic to cameras.
Jeff
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-My Website - Blog - Tips for Senior Portraiture
Nik has said in the past that he always goes with a naked flash (and sometimes naked people,
There were some pretty harsh shadows before I got to it... and some of them still exist. I am not a fan, and therefore have gone to using something to diffuse. Especially as hot as you have to have it to fight against the sunlight with a backlit subject I need something to make the shadows not quite so distinct.
All that being said, I think it really only feasable to use that much flash power consistantly if you have a battery pack because the recycle time is far to long in between without one.
Heather,
I would think that bare flash with all the reflective snow in your neck of the woods would not be flattering to your subjects. My personal preference is never to use bare flash unless it's very low for fill only. I have both the Lightsphere and a Stofen and I use the Stofen all the time outside or a softbox or umbrella. Lightsphere inside.
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BTW as to all the color temp stuff. Who cares, let's face it, it was mixed light. You are going to have color temps that don't balance going from sun to shade and snow accents that. You could try to gel to match the blue in the shadowed snow (or reflected sky) but then your sunlit areas are off. Personally I like the cool background, warm subject, mix. Yellow and blue go very well together!
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