Uniforms with black and white. How to get details in both areas ?
Antonio Correia
Registered Users Posts: 6,241 Major grins
The practice of Aikido requires the use of an uniform which is black and white like the ones we can see in the photo I retrived from Wikipedia.
I am going to take pictures of practitioners in action. I want to take their pictures in action but completely still/frozen and for this I intend to use flashes or strobes.
It can be inside a studio or even outside. I was expecting to be able to do this in a park at night in spite of the public lamps. Inside I can control better the darkness and with the use of a movement detector fire the flashes at the precise moment the action is rolling.
No second curtain flash, nothing of that kind.
My problems: how am I going to get some detail in the black trousers and white shirts areas at the same time ? Braketing perhaps ? Just kidding
And the background ? White or black ? Grey perhaps in order I can separate the human figure later in Photoshop.
This is like taking pictures to brides and grooms...
I am going to take pictures of practitioners in action. I want to take their pictures in action but completely still/frozen and for this I intend to use flashes or strobes.
It can be inside a studio or even outside. I was expecting to be able to do this in a park at night in spite of the public lamps. Inside I can control better the darkness and with the use of a movement detector fire the flashes at the precise moment the action is rolling.
No second curtain flash, nothing of that kind.
My problems: how am I going to get some detail in the black trousers and white shirts areas at the same time ? Braketing perhaps ? Just kidding
And the background ? White or black ? Grey perhaps in order I can separate the human figure later in Photoshop.
This is like taking pictures to brides and grooms...
All the best ! ... António Correia - Facebook
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Comments
If you must use flash, make sure you bounce it off the walls or the ceiling, and not a direct flash. Keep the contrast ratios as low as possible, and keep your camera in manual mode. If you have an incident meter, this might be a time to consider using it. Think of this like trying to capture a Kodak grey scale.
I like that nice white fill reflector on the floor. I think that should help quite a bit.
With these light walls and floor tones, I might try two strobes on stands, in opposite corners, bounced off the ceiling.
Shoot Raw, and to the right if possible.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
If your looking to extract the martial artists wearing black and white clothing later, I don't think a black or white background would be a very good choice, and gray could be problematic as well.
Look for a green screen.
Also if they are performing on any type, and color fabric on the floor you need to be very careful about the movement and action moving and or scrunching up the fabric on the floor and covering feet. Makes extraction very difficult.
Also I would try to keep the ambient light low enough so it will not add to the image exposure. To freeze the motion you only want the flash to contribute to the exposure. Basically your shutter speed won't affect the exposure. Your aperture will.
Good Luck,
Sam
I will try to answer both at the same time.
I will take the photos in a confined environment or ... outside in the open air, in a park where the ambient light is dim, at the end of the day.
Tripod sturdy ! One shot for the ambient and then one shot with the strobes and the athlete. Then in CS5 I align the layers and erase the strobes. I will have him popping out in the environment.
The other option is to shoot him in a confined environment. But here I do have a small problem: a do not have a green background and I don't want to buy one.
One thing is sure: I want to freeze completely the action and I will be using 1/8000 at the possible aperture adjusting the distance of the strobes.
I will be using a light meter for the job.
14-24 24-70 70-200mm (vr2)
85 and 50 1.4
45 PC and sb910 x2
http://www.danielkimphotography.com
Thank you Qarik
Easier if your main light is flash. Push the whites right to the edge and a bit beyond, that will give you all the light possible into the blacks. You can save that bit you pushed the white back in processing, if you blow them.
I just set my blinkies and stay right at the edge of them going off.
Whatever you do don't shoot natural light outside in the green light shade.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21695902@N06/
http://500px.com/Shockey
alloutdoor.smugmug.com
http://aoboudoirboise.smugmug.com/
What type and number of flash units do you have? Studio strobes, or speed lights? What camera body are you using?
The only way I know to use a shutter speed of 1/8000 would be with speed lights, and high speed sync. This would reduce your flash output to pretty much nothing. So for this to work you would need multiple (4 or more) speed lights at each light location. If you have a Nikon D70 you can sync at any shutter speed, but that's the only camera that I know of that will do this.
I think in the real world your going to have to stop the motion with the flash. Different studio flashes have different flash durations. You will see 2 specs for flash duration (t.5) and (t.1) If your strobes don't specify (t.1) it is normally about 1/3 of (t.5). (t.5) represents the length of time it takes for 50% of the flash power to dissipate. (t.1) represents the length of time for 90% of the flash power to dissipate. (t.1) is much more representative and akin to shutter speed when your looking to stop motion.
I hope that helps.
Sam
What ISO do you need for your final output in your image?
If you can use ISO 400 or 800, a pair of speedlites in opposite corners of the room ( with the white walls and floors in the image you posted ) should give you plenty of light I would think. Shutter speed 1/200th, with an aperture of f5.6 or so, maybe?? 2nd curtain flash, maybe. Why did you not want to use it?
A green screen works well when you can control the reflections of the green light, but in a small room, with the subjects close to the screen, if you aren't VERY careful everything will be outlined in a green line along the highlight edges.
I think the subjects in your pasted image will select out pretty easily if that is your final goal...
Bear in mind that even with 1/8000th of a second, in HSS (which is the only way to get 1/8000th with a flash), your shutter sill still be open somewhere for about 1/250th of a second, as that is the nature of a focal plane shutter. One side of the curtain opens, and then the second curtain starts to close almost immediately so that you have a small slit opening crossing your sensor, but it takes much longer than 1/8000th even though that is the effective shutter speed in terms of light allowed to pass due to the small slit.
I think you will get more delineation with a single pop of your flash, than a longer, slower, dimmer burn. I think that is what Sam is saying as well.
And you do want these images to be due to flash, not ambient light. But it does not have to be harsh, focal light, but soft, bounced light that surrounds your subjects gently with lower contrasts to capture the whites and blacks.
I'm kind of thinking of a system kind of like these images which I am sure you remember Antonio. - http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=49999
Shoot a white target for a custom white balance jpg also, since you will have some color effect from ambient as well.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
The reason is demonstrated here:
Notice the image distortion that can occur, even with HSS/FP flash.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-1991-1209-503,_Autorennen_im_Grunewald,_Berlin.jpg
Stationary target:
Spinning target with HSS/FP mode flash (1/4000th):
Spinning target with normal flash sync, but low power (1/250th):
Conversely a speedlite used in a single pulse has a typical duration of 1/600th or so, effectively much better at stopping subject motion. At lower power output the flash duration is even shorter. Hummingbird photographers often use multiple, synchronized, low power flashes to produce sufficient light but with extremely short durations.
The current best technology for sports shooters who need more power than speedlights/speedlites can deliver:
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
They are a real bargain for what they offer, aren't they?
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
Coupled with the silver PLMs, which give very good reach and beam control, it's a very compelling system for sports especially, but it's versatile enough to work in almost every situation.* I'm also expecting a multiple tube version which will increase power as well as allow some special modes of operation.
Wait until he develops a studio flash with FP/HSS support, which should be possible given the type of digital flash power control the Einsteins use.
*(For applications other than sports I would recommend the use of the diffusion cover on the silver PLM.)
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
Thank you all for your great help and will of being useful and kind
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Two options.
1. Take the picture in almost total darkness and fire the flash at the "right moment". As you know better than I do, the duration of the strobe is for example, 1/6.000 and this speed will freeze the action. The camera will be in bulb mode. Darkness all over.
2. The other is on the contrary, to take advantages of low speeds and register the movement / motion.
Here are two examples.
I also plan to work with Smart objects and masks
Have you seen this ? It works fine.
In this image here I used this technique with lots of success. Two layers as smart objects
The image belongs to my Theme "Postal Cards"