CHROMAA PHOTOGRAPHER’S GUIDE TO LIGHTING WITH COLOR

NICK FANCHER

CHROMAA Photographer’s Guide to Lighting with ColorNick Fanchernickfancher.com

Project editor: Maggie YatesProject manager: Lisa BraziealMarketing manager: Mercedes MurrayCopyeditor: Maggie YatesProofreader: Patricia J. PaneInterior design and composition: Kim Scott, Bumpy DesignCover design: Nick Fancher and Kim Scott, Bumpy DesignFront cover image: Nick Fancher

ISBN: 978-1-68198-310-31st Edition (1st printing, July 2018)© 2018 Nick FancherAll images © Nick Fancher unless otherwise noted

Rocky Nook Inc.1010 B Street, Suite 350San Rafael, CA 94901USA

www.rockynook.com

Distributed in the U.S. by Ingram Publisher ServicesDistributed in the UK and Europe by Publishers Group UK

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017939951

All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may bereproduced or utilized in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permissionof the publisher.

Many of the designations in this book used by manufacturers and sellers todistinguish their products are claimed as trademarks of their respective companies.Where those designations appear in this book, and Rocky Nook was aware of a trademarkclaim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps. All product names andservices identified throughout this book are used in editorial fashion only and for thebenefit of such companies with no intention of infringement of the trademark. They arenot intended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with this book.

While reasonable care has been exercised in the preparation of this book, thepublisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages

resulting from the use of the information contained herein or from the use of the discs orprograms that may accompany it.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.Printed in China

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSI would like to thank my wife Beth, and my kids, Jack and Margot, for yourgrace, love, and support. You are the color in my life and I love you all morethan I have words for. I want to thank all the willing subjects who collaboratedwith me, sitting patiently as I moved lights fractions of an inch, clicked off ashot, studied the back of my camera, moved the light another inch, and clickedagain (often for hours on end). I want to thank Seth Moses Miller for alwaysbeing there to lend a helping hand, and for taking nearly every behind-the-scenes photo in this book. I want to thank the talented and supportive staff atRocky Nook for taking a chance on this book. Finally, I want to thank myreaders and followers who motivate me to keep pushing myself. I share mytechniques so that we can make the world more beautiful, one (colorful) frameat a time.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1 Color Theory

An Overview of Color TheoryUsing Color IntentionallyOrange You Glad I Added Blue?

CHAPTER 2 The Basics of Colored Gels

My Gear KitFollowing the RulesBreaking the Rules

CHAPTER 3 Lighting in Layers

Avoiding Undesirable ColorsBlending Colored Light on Colored SurfacesAvoiding Diluted Colors

CHAPTER 4 Blocking, Blending, and Bouncing

Color BlockingColor BlendingColor Bouncing

CHAPTER 5 Continuous Light

Exploring Color RelationshipsMixing Continuous Light with Ambient Light

CHAPTER 6 Shutter Drag

Shooting Against a Dark BackgroundShooting Against a Light Background

CHAPTER 7 Adding Color to Shadows

Shadow TypesShadow FillUnder LayerMultiple ShadowsMultiple Exposure

CHAPTER 8 Gobos

Using Found ObjectsUsing Gels as GobosFine-tune Your Process

CHAPTER 9 Projectors

Projecting on the BackgroundProjecting on Both the Subject and the BackgroundProjecting on the Subject

CHAPTER 10 Color in Black-and-White

Color Grading

EPILOGUE

“Color is born of the interpenetration of light and dark.”–Sam Francis

“Light is therefore colour.”–J. M. W. Turner

“Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”–Dylan Thomas, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

INTRODUCTION

While I suppose nearly every book on photo technique teaches “color”photography (save for maybe a book about Ansel Adams’ Zone System), thisbook will delve into the many possibilities afforded to you once you beginimplementing color into your lighting. I’ve long been inspired and motivated bybold uses of vibrant colors by photographers such as Nadav Kander and MilesAldridge. Kander’s subtle use of color in the shadow portions of his portraits arejust as powerful and exciting to me as Aldridge’s calculated, yet playful, colorschemes in his fashion editorials.

After searching the market to find photography technique books that teachcolor use in photography, I discovered that there doesn’t seem to be one solelydevoted to the topic. Though there are certainly books that touch on usingcolored gels in photography, I was set on creating a one-stop shop forphotographers on color theory and color exploration. I wanted to go as deep intocolor use as I could imagine, covering the whole gamut. I’ve used colored gelsin my lighting for years, but for this book I really wanted to immerse myself incolor and go outside my normal comfort zone to see what I could learn in theprocess.

This book begins with color theory and some of the science behind color, andthen moves quickly into creative uses of color, which is where we’ll spend themajority of our time. I’ll go over a variety of techniques, including mixingdifferent light sources, using shutter drag, discussing light modifier options,using projectors in creative ways, and making in-camera multiple exposure.Hell, I even go over how to implement color into your black-and-whitephotography to gain more control over your images. It’ll be a good time, I

promise.

“Why do two colors, put one next to the other, sing?”–Pablo Picasso

“All colors are the friends of their neighbors and the lovers of their opposites. “–Marc Chagall

CHAPTER 1

COLOR THEORY

Color theory was one of my favorite courses in college. I was fascinated tolearn that there are theories behind creating compositional balance in artworks. Much of how I use color in my images comes from the principles Ifirst learned in that course. The funny thing is, the course wasn’t evenrequired for my major—it was a theory course designed for painting majors.

While entire books (and college courses) have been dedicated to thestudy and application of color theories, this book focuses on what I havefound through my experience as a photographer to be the most fundamental,interesting, and most applicable concepts within this broad topic. The bulkof color theory has to do with the mixing of pigments, which doesn’t concernphotographers. Instead of reinventing the (color) wheel, I am going tonarrow in on the aspects of color theory that pertain directly tophotographers.

AN OVERVIEW OF COLOR THEORYThe human eye, although vastly more powerful than any camera lens, is stillquite limited in its ability to perceive color. The range of colors our eyes cansee is referred to as the visible spectrum. The visible specturm begins withwhite light, which is broken down into a mixture of red, green, and blue colorwavelengths.

ADDITIVE AND SUBTRACTIVE COLORColor interactions fall under two categories: colored pigments and colored light.The mixing of colored pigment falls under the subtractive color model, seen inFigure 1.1. In this model, magenta, yellow, and cyan overlap to create red,green, and blue, which in turn overlap to create black. This is the model thatprinters refer to. The additive model (Figure 1.2) shows what happens whencolored light interacts. Red, green, and blue overlap to create cyan, magenta,and yellow, which combine to make white, or colorless light. This, being a bookabout colored light, is where we will spend much of our time.

Though there are some similarities between the two models (blue and yellowmake green), there are some major differences. For example, in the additivecolor model, green and red light mix to make yellow light (Figure 1.3); in thesubtractive color model, green and red paint create a brown color when mixed.

When our eyes are perceiving the color of an object, such as the color of aflower, a car, or even the blue sky, what we are actually seeing are unabsorbedcolor wavelengths. For example, when we’re looking at something that weperceive as red, such as an apple, the apple skin looks red because the greenand blue wavelengths of white light are being absorbed, leaving only the redwavelengths to reflect back to our eyes.

Figure 1.1 The CMY (cyan, magenta, yellow) color model, also known as the subtractivecolor model, is commonly used by visual artists. It demonstrates what happens when youoverlap colored pigment.

Figure 1.2 The RGB (red, green, blue), or additive color model, demonstrates whathappens when colored light of different wavelengths overlaps.

Figure 1.3 While red and green pigment combine to make a muddy brown color, whenyou overlap red and green light, you get yellow light.

That said, when our eyes perceive a colored surface, both the additive andsubtractive properties will be in effect. For example, consider the white vase inFigure 1.4. The images on the left were shot on a white background, while theimages on the right were shot in front of a red backdrop. The red light on thewhite backdrop and the red light on the red backdrop yield similar results. Nowlook at the green scenarios. Green light shining on the red background makesthe the background appear black because red surfaces absorb greenwavelengths.

Figure 1.4 Red and green light overlap to create yellow light, but when green light hits ared surface, the surface appears black.

The bottom row of images shows what happens when red and green lightoverlap: we get yellow light against the white surface, but the red backgroundstill appears red. Once again, the green light is absorbed, per the subtractive

law, leaving only red light to illuminate the background. These laws will comeinto play when you’re determining how to create desirable color interactions inyour images—or eliminate undesirable ones.

RYB COLOR WHEELThe CMY color model is a more up-to-date theory of color than the older model,known as the RYB color wheel. However, the RYB color wheel is still commonlyused by painters and interior decorators (Figure 1.5). It’s a fantastic resource forunderstanding relationships between colors.

Before we begin, know that the “rules” of color theory describe how color isrendered, not how it should be rendered. How you end up lighting an imagedepends on what you’re trying to accomplish with the shot. For instance, whenlighting a person, I think that green light looks fantastic on dark skin, but canlook sickly on fair skin. You will find your preferences the more you shoot.

MONOCHROMATIC COLOR SCHEMESThe term monochromatic is often used to describe black-and-white images.However, it can also refer to the use of a single color, or various shades of asingle color, in an image, such as the use of orange in Figure 1.6.Monochromatic color studies make for fun photography experiments. Look up“Pantone Photography” on the internet to see endless examples ofmonochromatic color schemes.

Figure 1.5 The RYB (red, yellow, blue) color wheel is an outdated model of colorinteraction, though still commonly used by visual artists.

Figure 1.6 Monochromatic doesn’t mean black and white; it can refer to an imagecomprised of a single color.

COMPLEMENTARY COLORSComplementary colors sit opposite each other on a color wheel. To identify acolor’s complement, first determine which color model you’re using. In the RYBmodel, for example, the complement of red is green (Figure 1.7). In the RGBmodel (Figure 1.8), red’s complement is cyan. Because these colors are thefarthest from each other on the color wheel (meaning you can’t have a morecontrasting pairing), when the colors are placed side by side the result is eye-

grabbing (Figure 1.9). Look what happens when you make a grid out of thecomplementary pairing of red and green (Figure 1.10). The image appears tovibrate!

Figure 1.7 Complementary colors on the RYB color wheel (subtractive colors).

Figure 1.8 Complementary colors in the RGB color model (additive colors).

Figure 1.9 Orange and blue are complementary to each other, and can be usedproportionally to achieve balance in an image.

Figure 1.10 When complementary colors red and green are next to each other in a grid,they appear to vibrate.

ANALOGOUS COLORSAnalogous colors are the three colors that sit next to each other on the colorwheel, such as orange, red-orange, and yellow-orange (Figure 1.11). For allintents and purposes, in photographic use, analogous colors are pretty muchthe same as monochromatic color examples, since analogous colors arebasically just three shades of the same color. In Figure 1.12, you can see howthe various shades of orange combine to create a look similar to Figure 1.5.

Figure 1.11 Analogous colors are three colors that sit next to each other on the colorwheel.

Figure 1.12 Images using analogous colors look quite similar to those using amonochromatic color scheme because they are comprised of colors that are closelyrelated.

SPLIT COMPLEMENTARY COLORSThe idea behind split complementary color schemes (Figure 1.13) is similar tothe idea behind complementary colors. Split complementary color schemesconsist of a color (e.g., blue) and, rather than the color’s complement (e.g.,orange), the two colors neighboring the complement (e.g., red-orange andyellow-orange) (Figure 1.14).

Figure 1.13 Split Complementary color schemes consist of a color and the twoneighboring colors of the first color’s complement.

Figure 1.14 Orange is the complementary color to blue, so a split complementary colorscheme including blue would also include red-orange and yellow-orange.

TRIADIC COLORSA color triad is comprised of three equidistant colors on the color wheel, suchas red, yellow, and blue; or purple, orange, and green (Figure 1.15). Using thethree colors of a triad makes for a harmonious composition (Figure 1.16).

Figure 1.15 Color triads are comprised of three equidistant colors on the color wheel.

Figure 1.16 This image shows a red, yellow, and blue triadic relationship.

TETRADIC COLORSIf you use the four colors at each point of a rectangle on the color wheel, youhave a tetradic color scheme (Figure 1.17). Red, orange, blue, and green is anexample of a color tetrad (Figure 1.18).

Figure 1.17 If you make a rectangle on a color wheel connecting four colors, you have atetradic color palette.

Figure 1.18 Red, orange, blue, and green is an example of a color tetrad.

GOETHE’S NUMERICAL SYSTEMJohann Wolfgang von Goethe was a scientist (among many other things) whowas immensely involved in color theory. He took it on himself to devise asystem for creating harmonious color schemes. He ascribed numerical values tocolors, with brighter colors, like yellow, getting a higher value, and darkercolors, like purple, getting a lower value. Here are the values he came up with:

Red – 6Orange – 8Yellow – 9Green – 6Blue – 4Violet – 3

Thus, in order to achieve balance in a composition of purple (3) and yellow (9),the ratio would need to be three parts purple to one part yellow. Orange andblue are less intense colors, so balance is achieved at a 2:1 ratio of orange toblue. Red and green represent equal values (Figure 1.19). A more complexexample, such as a composition consisting of yellow, red, and violet, wouldneed three parts purple, one and a half parts red, and one part yellow to bebalanced according to the Goethe system (Figure 1.20).

Figure 1.19 According to Goethe’s numerical system, to achieve balance between adarker color, like purple, and a lighter color, like yellow, you need three parts purple toone part yellow.

Figure 1.20 To achieve balance in a composition of purple (3), red (6), and yellow (9),you need three parts purple, one and a half parts red, and one part yellow.

USING COLOR INTENTIONALLYNow that we have a grasp on color theory, we need to consider the meaningsassociated with different colors. This includes cultural and historicrelationships that we humans have with certain colors. Sight and colorrecognition is as fundamental to the human experience as any other sense.Recognizing what a color indicates is an innate sense in humans and animals.It’s a means of survival, just like hearing or sensitivity to heat. It’s how wedetermine whether something is edible or poisonous, friend or foe. Take yellowand black stripes for example. If caution isn’t your first instinct or thoughts ofbee stings don’t fill your mind, you’re an anomaly. Warm colors, such as red,yellow, and orange are more intense and tend to stimulate appetite or feelings

of power, passion, happiness, warmth and stimulation, which is why these areso often used purposefully in branding for restaurants and sports teams. Coolercolors like blue, green, and purple tend to draw up more calming or somberemotions such as safety, reflection, royalty, or sadness (for example, the workfrom Picasso’s Blue Period).

Figure 1.21 Red is a color that invokes passion.

Since colors have such a fundamental meaning to us—meanings that aremanifested in nature and used in universal signage—it’s only logical that welearn how to leverage it in our photos, specifically in how we light. For example,by adding a splash of red to a portrait, we are adding an indicator that thisperson is passionate, or maybe they have a wild side or a hot temper (Figure

1.21).

Figure 1.22 The blue color cast on the subject adds a feeling of melancholy or reflectionto the image.

Contrarily, if you were to flood a scene with blue light, the subject may seem tobe lost in reflection, or mourning (Figure 1.22). Photographers can use color asan additional layer of control in portraying our subject—not unlike introducingshutter drag to indicate movement or using a low camera angle in a portrait toconvey a subject’s power. We get to play God, in a sense, by coloring oursubject in a way that evokes a particular reaction in viewers when they arelooking at the final image.

While viewers will ultimately come to their own interpretations of a subject inan image, we can set them off on a specific path by the way in which we usecolor. Not only do warm colors and cool colors have their own, separate innatemeanings based on our emotional and cultural backgrounds, but thecombinations of different color types can affect the viewer’s experience of thephotograph, as well. For example, if an image is predominantly cool with thepresence of warm colors, the cooler colors will seem to recede, adding moreemphasis to the warm ones. In Figure 1.23, the red becomes all the moreprominent when emphasized against the dark blue scene. The sliver of redconveys the presence of an open door—perhaps to a source of truth orenlightenment. Brighter colors have more power than darker ones, so you needless of these tones within an image to achieve “balance.”

Figure 1.23 The strip of red light becomes all the more emphasized when set againstdark blue.

ORANGE YOU GLAD I ADDED BLUE?Now that you have a bit of basic color theory under your belt, you can add thisknowledge to your arsenal of photographic expertise. Color is simply anotherphotographic tool at your disposal, just like a lens or light modifier. The betteryou understand color theory, the more pertinent information you can call tomind when composing an image.

Complementary colors are just what I had in mind when I met to shoot with thefiery-haired Elinor. I was in London a while back to teach a Studio Anywhereworkshop. I made sure to leave an extra day for test-shooting with a model. Imet Elinor at her apartment and located a small swatch of white wall, whichwas all I needed for the session (Figure 1.24). I set up my softbox and began todial in my settings.

Figure 1.24 The setup. All I needed was a neutral-colored wall.

Figure 1.25 The softbox created flattering light, but I still felt like the image was lackingsomething.

Figure 1.26 When I want a soft fill light, I use the RoundFlash modifier, made byNeewer. It’s designed to fit over a flash on the camera’s hot shoe.

Figure 1.27 When I add the Cactus V6 transmitter (which is needed to trigger additionaloff-camera flashes), it puts the flash too high to fit in the opening.

Figure 1.28 As a workaround, I rotate the RoundFlash and secure the flash to hang belowthe camera and lens.

Though the softbox created flattering, soft light, I felt the image could usesomething extra (Figure 1.25).

Shadows in an image are perfect placeholders for other light—namely coloredlight. When I knew that I would be photographing Elinor and her fiery red hair,based on color theory and a bit of experience, I knew that a shade of bluewould be the prefect accent color to use.

My go-to modifier for soft, even frontal light is a ring light. Ring lights areusually costly and cumbersome, especially since they need to be mounted to astand, leaving you at a fixed distance from the subject. I did some shoppingaround, and I found a portable, collapsible ring light, called RoundFlash, madeby Neewer. It’s designed to fit over your camera and flash, assuming it’s anormal-sized flash sitting on a hot shoe (Figure 1.26). However, since I need myCactus V6 transmitter to trigger additional off-camera flashes, I couldn’t usethe ring light as it was designed; it made the flash sit too high to fit the spacedesignated for the flash head (Figure 1.27), so I used a small workaround. Byplacing the flash in upside down, I could rotate the modifier and let the flash

hang below my camera and lens (Figure 1.28).

When using a mobile ring flash as a fill light, keep in mind that if you movetoward or away from your subject as you shoot, the intensity of the fill light willfluctuate. My go-to portrait lens is a 85mm lens, which isn’t macro—meaning Ican’t get closer than about 3–4 feet from my subject. I am typically 5–10 feetfrom the subject, which allows composition that includes the subject from theknees up. As a rule, I start at a neutral point, with all my flashes set to thesame output. I generally need the fill light’s power setting to be three to fourtimes as bright as the main light (assuming the main light is also diffused)(Figure 1.29). This is because I am farther away from the subject than my mainlight, and because medium- to dark-colored gels absorb a decent amount oflight (generally a couple of stops, give or take).

In Figure 1.30, you can see the RAW file has some nice, soft, blue shadows.The goal now is to flesh out all the colors in Adobe Lightroom. As you likelyknow, when you shoot a RAW image, it’s up to you to grade the file, since thetones and colors of an image straight out of the camera look rather flat.However, drawing out the colors isn’t as simple as cranking up the vibrance orsaturation sliders. There are three panels in Lightroom that I utilize to maximizecolors in a file: the tone curve, the dehaze slider, and the camera calibrationpanel.

Figure 1.29 The lighting diagram. My fill light is powered four times higher as my mainlight since I am farther away and the gel absorbs a great deal of light.

Figure 1.30 The RAW file. Though the blue light is present in the shadows, it will need tobe fleshed out in post-processing.

THE TONE CURVENote: To be clear, I use Adobe Lightroom Classic in my workflow, butthroughout the book I’ll refer to it simply as Lightroom.

The tone curve is one of the most powerful panels in the develop module ofLightroom. Often I find that a tone curve adjustment is the only adjustment Ineed to make to a RAW file. In Figure 1.31, you can see that there are fourareas to a curve: shadows, darks, lights, and highlights. The tone curve panelhas a slider for each area (Figure 1.32). The problem with using the sliders tomake adjustments is that you can’t adjust the individual color channels.

I began by toggling the icon (circled in red) in the bottom-right of the panel toswitch into manual mode, where you can adjust individual color channels(Figure 1.33). I make an adjustment point by clicking on the center of the curveand pulling up, which increases the universal brightness of the image. If I wereto make a point to the left of the center and pull down, the “lights” section ofthe curve would be bumped up, which would create more contrast (Figure 1.34).If I were to pull up on that point, the dark areas would open up, resulting inless contrast (Figure 1.35).

Figure 1.31 The four areas on a tone curve are shadows, darks, lights, and highlights.

Figure 1.32 The tone curve panel has a slider for the shadows, darks, lights, andhighlights. We will need to work in manual mode in order to adjust the individual colorchannel curves in this panel.

Figure 1.33 Toggle the icon at the bottom-right of the panel to switch into manual mode.Make adjustments to the image by clicking on the curve and pulling up or down.

Figure 1.34 If I make a second adjustment point to the left of the first adjustment pointand pull down, the dark areas get darker and the light areas get brighter, meaning morecontrast.

Figure 1.35 If I instead pull up on the shadow point, the dark areas get lighter, meaningless contrast.

Once I start working my way through the red, green, and blue curves, I use myknowledge of color theory to manipulate the tones in my image. For example, ifI were to make a central adjustment point to the red channel, which controlsred and cyan in an image, and pull up, red would be added to the whole image(Figure 1.36). If I were to pull down on that point, cyan would be added to the

whole image (Figure 1.37). The green channel affects greens and magentas,while the blue channel controls blue and yellow hues.

Figure 1.36 When working in the red channel, if I made a central adjustment and pullup, red would be added to the whole image.

Figure 1.37 When working in the red channel, if I made a central adjustment and pulldown, cyan would be added to the whole image.

Using color theory and the areas of a tone curve, I can quickly figure out how toadd colorful accents to the various areas of my image. In Figure 1.38, I made aseries of adjustments in the blue channel. I lowered the darks to retain thenatural red of the model’s hair; raised the lights to add blue to her skin; andlowered the highlights to add yellow to the highlights, The image on the right ofFigure 1.39 shows what I was able to accomplish by only using the tone curves.

Figure 1.38 Knowing how the curves work allows me to bring out certain colors in thevarious areas of an image.

Figure 1.39 The only adjustments I made to the image on the right were curve

adjustments.

DEHAZEThe Dehaze slider in Lightroom (Figure 1.40) was designed to remove (or add)haze from a file. It is an extremely powerful tool. A small tweak can greatlyincrease the contrast and color in a file. How much dehaze to use will vary fromfile to file. For example, if you’re adjusting the Dehaze slider on a non-hazyimage, you won’t need as much Dehaze as you would if your subject wasbacklit. I think of the Dehaze slider in terms of salt in a dish—a little goes along way.

Figure 1.40 The Dehaze slider is designed to remove haze from an image, which in turnboosts the colors and contrast in the file.

CAMERA CALIBRATION PANELThe camera calibration panel is my other go-to spot for fleshing out color in a

file (Figure 1.41). It’s the best tool for changing color intensity and hue—evenbetter than the HSL (hue, saturation, luminance) panel.

Let’s take Elinor’s hair, for example. If I adjust her hair using the targetedaction tool in the HSL panel (the small icon in the upper-left corner of thepanel), her skin (being a similar color to her hair) will also be affected (Figure1.42). It takes many specific adjustments to alter the colors in a file, which canresult in unnatural-looking transitions between colors in the final image (Figure1.43).

The camera calibration panel is designed to match the colors in an image (onyour computer screen) to how they looked on the screen of the specific camerayou were shooting with. It’s one of my go-to spots for color grading an imagebecause it creates smooth transitions from one color to another. Instead ofmaking adjustments to the hue, saturation, and luminance of each individualcolor in the HSL panels, I can adjust large regions of color (Figure 1.44).

Figure 1.41 The camera calibration panel is a powerful tool for changing color intensityand hue.

Figure 1.42 Though the targeted action tool is good for isolating and adjusting a specificcolor, it can be problematic when it alters aspects of the image that you don’t want tochange.

Figure 1.43 Using the HSL panel to color grade an image can require making manyadjustments, which can lead to unnatural-looking transitions between colors.

Figure 1.44 The camera calibration panel is a powerful tool for changing large areas of

color.

In Figure 1.45, you can see how a combination of adjustments to the tonecurves, the Dehaze slider, and the camera calibration panel creates a vibrantimage with a smooth transition between colors.

Figure 1.45 The final image. The colors are brighter and bolder, and the transitionbetween colors is smooth.

GALLERY

“There is a logic of colors, and it is with this alone, and not with the logic of thebrain, that the painter should conform.”

–Paul Cezanne

CHAPTER 2

THE BASICS OF COLORED GELS

When it comes to implementing color into your photography, you need toconsider a few things. For example, you need take into account alreadyexisiting (ambient) light and its color. Depending on whether you’re shootingin a dimly lit ballroom or a room bathed in sunlight, your ambient light willhave a specific color temperature. Will you use it as one of your main lightsources and add accent lights to create your shot? Or will you power yourstrobes high enough to eliminate all ambient light and build your scene onelight at a time?

MY GEAR KITI shoot with a DSLR, and I use small flashes, or speedlites, though any of thetechniques in this book can also be used with larger packs or monolights.

Early in my career, my minimal gear kit was a product of necessity (gear isexpensive). Nowadays, even though I could afford to buy a larger light system, Istill prefer small flashes and battery-powered systems. I’ve grown fond oftraveling light and being able to set up quickly. I know how to use larger lightsystems and do, when necessary, but I typically don’t need a large studio andgear kit for the type of work that I do (check out my previous books, StudioAnywhere 1 and 2). If I find that I am in need of a larger space and larger lightsand modifiers than I use in my studio—for example, when I‘m photographing alarge group of people—I rent the equipment and let the client foot the bill.

My travel kit can be seen in Figure 2.1. Because my gear list is so sparse, muchof my gear fits in an Ona Prince Street messenger bag. It holds two bodies, twolenses, two flashes, several sets of AA batteries, two spare camera batteries,gels, memory cards, a 7' light stand, and my 13" MacBook Pro. The only thingthat won’t fit in the bag is my Cactus 24" softbox (Figure 2.2). With this two-light kit, I can create a white, gray, or black scene for portraits (in nearly anyenvironment), as well as a range of color scenarios.

Working with these smaller lights means I rarely need an assistant, which keepsmy production costs down—meaning more of the client’s budget goes into mypocket. Working alone on a quiet set also breeds intimacy, which allows mysubject to be more relaxed and engaged. Finally, not needing to check a bag atthe airport means my luggage always arrives.

I use a Canon 5D Mark III with an 85 f/1.2L II as my main body. I have amirrorless Panasonic Lumix GH4 with a 12-35 f/2.8 lens that serves as mybackup kit. I also use it for wide-angle shots (it’s also wonderful for video).Aside from my travel kit, in my studio I have the following: one C-stand (greatfor booming softboxes overhead); a Godox battery pack (to provide extended lifefor my main light); a macro lens (used for product work); a few extra Cactusflashes with light stands and softboxes; a tripod; and a projector.

Figure 2.1 I can fit two camera bodies, two lenses, two flashes, spare batteries, a pack ofgels, a 13" MacBook with charger, and a 7' light stand.

Figure 2.2 Here’s my travel gear kit and softbox. No checked bags for this guy.

There are several reasons I use the Cactus flash system over Canon (or otherbrands). The main reason is that I can trigger off-camera flashes without usingadditional transceivers on them (meaning fewer batteries and less weight). All Ineed is one transmitter to turn flashes on and off, power them up and down,and zoom them in and out, all from the comfort of my chair. This allows me toquickly build up layers of light in a scene and troubleshoot individual lightswithout wasting time and energy going back and forth adjusting the lights. Thisalso means that I have access to several unique lighting cues at the click of abutton, meaning more options for the client. As a bonus, Cactus recently addedhigh-speed sync and ETTL capabilities (though I prefer to shoot in manualmode). Last, but not least, Cactus gear is extremely durable (I’ve droppedflashes many times without damaging them) and affordable (they cost about

$200 brand new).

I even love the challenge that comes with using minimal gear. It creates theneed for me to improvise and innovate, which pushes me outside my comfortzone and keeps me sharp. I embrace the happy accidents that come with usingbattery-powered lights. Though I use a battery pack on my main light whenshooting at my studio, my accent and background lights still run off AAbatteries. This means that when a light’s batteries are getting low, it begins tomisfire. Though this can be maddening, it often results in a great alternateshot, as seen in Figures 2.3 and 2.4.

As I set up lights to create Figure 2.3, I I thought it’d be cool to have a halogradating outward from behind the subject, so I placed a light behind her, threestops brighter than the main light. Due to shooting rapidly at a high output, thebackground light misfired a few times. When I saw the image that resulted fromthe misfire, I realized that was the better shot, so I turned off the backgroundlight and snapped a few more frames.

Figure 2.3 This shot was taken with my originally planned lighting setup.

Figure 2.4 This shot, which I prefer, resulted from the background light misfiring due tolow batteries.

COLORED GELSWhich types of gels should you buy? The short answer is: ones that fit yourlight. There are no “high-end” gels that make for better pictures. Colored

acetate is colored acetate. If you’re using larger strobe heads, you can buy gelsindividually by the color, or in a multicolored pack, which typically come in 12x 12" or 20 x 24" sheets.

If you’re using small flashes, like I do, getting your hands on every color gelimaginable is just a click away. I use colored lighting gels by Rosco, calledRoscolux. Rosco produces a swatch sampler of all of their gels that they sell onAmazon for around $10, or even free at certain camera shops. This way you cancheck out the colors in person before committing to buying a full-sized sheet(Figure 2.5). It just so happens that the sample-sized gels perfectly fit smallflashes. The sampler comes with hundreds of gels, many of which you won’tuse because they are either a dull color, a subtle variation of a dull color, orthey are a light-reducing density gel (no one using a 60-watt flash wants toreduce their output).

Figure 2.5 Rosco makes a gel sampler pack of every colored gel in their inventory. It justso happens that the sample gels perfectly fit small flashes.

The product description says the gels in the sampler can’t be used to modify asmall flash because of the small hole in the corner where the sampler is bound,but the gels are long enough to fully cover my flash when the hole is positionedoff to the side. Once I remove the pin (Figure 2.6), I select the gels I willactually use in a shoot, arrange them by color, and store them in a small credit-card wallet (Figure 2.7).

Figure 2.6 The sampler comes with hundreds of gels, many of which you won’t need.Remove the pin and select the gels you think you’ll use.

Figure 2.7 Gels, organized by color group, in a credit-card wallet.

In Figure 2.8, you can see that the holes in the gels don’t pose a problem. Isimply fold that portion of the gel around the side of the flash and affix the gelwith a strip of gaffer tape or duct tape. I make sure to keep several extra stripsof tape stuck to my flash in case I need a piece, but forgot to bring my roll.

A quick note regarding a common misconception about gels: let’s say youselected an orange gel to light the wall in your scene, but when you take a shot,the orange isn’t saturated like you’d hoped. A common misconception would beto add an additional orange gel on top of the other gel to make the color moresaturated. However, using two multiple gels will cut down on how much light isemitted on the flash. The richness of the color will not change. Instead, makesure that you’ve selected a vibrant enough gel, rather than a diluted or evencolor-corrective hue. This will save you quite a bit of stress.

Now I have a riddle for you: what has two thumbs and hundreds of differentlycolored gels that cost next to nothing? For answer, refer to author photo.

Figure 2.8 I fold the part of the gel with the hole around the side of the flash and attachit with gaffer tape or duct tape. I also keep several extra strips of tape on my flash incase of emergency.

FOLLOWING THE RULESThe term color temperature refers to how cool or warm a color is. It’s measuredin degrees kelvin. Warm colors are on the low end of the scale, and cool colorsare on the high end, with daylight-balanced lights falling near the middle at6500K. The kelvin scale (seen in Figure 2.9) ranges from 1000K on the lowend to over 10000K on the high end. Candlelight, for example, is in the rangeof 1800K, while a clear blue sky is on the high end of the scale, around8000K. Daylight-balanced lights are right in the middle of the scale, at 6500K.

Cameras come with a number of preset white balances that will get you in therange of different lighting conditions, such as overcast, daylight, flash,fluorescent, and Tungsten. Your camera also has a kelvin preset so you can dialin the exact temperature that you’re working with.

Figure 2.9 The kelvin scale ranges from 1000K on the low end to over 10000K on thehigh end, with daylight balance falling near the middle at 6500K.

As with everything in the photography world, opinions and workflows vary fromone photographer to the next. I personally don’t nitpick over my white balance.

I find a preset that looks good on my camera screen and I start shooting. Aslong as the image is close to balanced, it’s really easy to fine-tune in post-processing. As it relates to the flash system I use, I find that the daylight whitebalance setting gives me more accurate results than the flash preset, which istoo warm for my taste.

If you’ve ever purchased a speedlight, it likely came with a small selection ofcorrective gels. Corrective gels come in several colors of varying densities. Theyare placed on your flash to cancel out or neutralize the color of the ambientlight in your environment. For example, if you’re shooting a portrait or event,such as a wedding reception inside a ballroom at night, the lights will mostlikely be dim tungsten lightbulbs, resulting in an orange coloration, as shown inFigure 2.10. When a flash is added, the cooler temperature of the flash lightbalances the orange of the ambient light for a more natural look for the model—but the rest of the environment will still be still very orange (Figure 2.11).

Figure 2.10 This shot was taken in dim tungsten light with the white balance set to flash.

Figure 2.11 The cooler color temperature of the flash balances the coloring of the model,though the color of the environment is still very warm.

Figure 2.12 For this shot, the camera’s white balance is set to tungsten in an effort todial back the warmth of the ambient light.

Figure 2.13 For this shot, the camera’s white balance is set to tungsten. The addition ofan ungelled flash gives the image a blue color cast.

Figure 2.14 A simple white balance adjustment in post-processing won’t resolve thisissue. You’ll need to match the color temperature of the flash to that of the room.

When you’re shooting in a tungsten-lit room and want to cool down the color ofthe ambient light, set your white balance to tungsten (Figure 2.12). However, ifyou were to add a flash, the subject would appear blue because the colortemperature of the flash is much higher (and cooler) than the tungsten light(Figure 2.13). You might think you can correct the white balance in post-processing, but it’s not as simple as that. Once you color-correct the subject toeliminate the blue color cast, you’ll be back where you started, with an orangeroom (Figure 2.14). You’ll need to gel the flash to match the color temperatureof the room.

This is a situation where you’ll benefit from using corrective colored gels withyour flash. To cancel out the orange of the ambient light, use a half-strength (orfull strength, if the room light is very warm) orange gel to match the color ofyour flash to the color of the ambient light, resulting in a more homogenouscolor in the final image (Figure 2.15).

Figure 2.15 Once an orange gel is added to the flash, the subject is lit neutrally, and theroom will appear less orange.

Though it may seem counterintuitive to add a warm gel to your flash toeliminate warm ambient light, think of it in math terms. Any number divided by

itself equals one, such as ten divided by ten. The same goes for color. Once youmatch the flash color to the room color, the color of the lights cancel eachother out. Orange corrective gels are used to match tungsten-lit rooms; bluecorrective gels are used to match daylight color temperatures; and greencorrective gels match fluorescent lighting.

BREAKING THE RULESWhile it’s all well and good to follow the rules, it’s not especially fun—nor doesit ensure you’ll end up with an impactful image. Now that I’ve explained how touse color-corrective gels “properly,” let’s go into how to use them “improperly.”For example, instead of canceling out the orange ambient light, what if wemade it more saturated? We cooled down the orange in the scene by matchingcolor temperatures, so let’s go the other way. By adding a blue gel to the flashand then matching the white balance to that color, the orange ambient lightwill seem even more orange.

Since there are no preset white balances on your camera that can correct forthe extreme warm shift caused by your blue-gelled flash, you’ll have to shift itmanually. Find the x/y axis in your camera’s white balance menu (Figure 2.16).Note how I’ve shifted the white balance all the way to the right, which adds agreat deal of red to my image. With this adjustment, the ambient light in thescene will be even more vibrant and warm in the final image (Figure 2.17). Now,when I light my subject with the blue-colored flash, she’ll appear balanced, butthe background will be even more orange than before we started experimenting(Figure 2.18).

Figure 2.16 Since there are no preset white balances on your camera that willaccommodate the kind of extreme warm shift you’ll need to counteract the blue-gelled

flash, you will need to go into your white balance menu to shift the red balance to itsmost extreme point.

Figure 2.17 The warmed-up white balance increases the vibrant orange colors of thetungsten-lit room.

Figure 2.18 The blue-gelled flash will balance the color on the subject without affectingthe (very) warm background.

Figure 2.19 In this image, the cool color of the flash matches the cool color of theambient light on a cloudy day, resulting in a balanced color mix of strobe and ambientlight.

Figure 2.20 In this image, my flash is gelled orange and my white balance is set totungsten, resulting in blue ambient light.

Now let’s consider a cool-temperatured scenario. Figure 2.19 was shot in anaturally lit hallway on a cloudy day, which means the ambient light had a bluecolor to it. By setting my camera’s white balance to a similar temperature (such

as flash, cloudy, or shade), I was able to neutralize the color of the ambientlight.

As I mentioned in the tungsten scenario, once you pinpoint the color of theambient light in the room, you can enhance it by gelling your light the oppositecolor (remember the color wheel for color relationships). If I want to enhancethe existing blue color of the hallway, I’ll need to add the opposite color to myflash. Adding an orange gel to the light and setting the white balance totungsten lit my subject neutrally while making the rest of the room appear blue(Figure 2.20).

Green corrective gels are generally used to cancel out the effect of fluorescentambient light. According to the color wheel, the opposite of green is magenta. Agreen gel on your flash and a white balance shifted to the magenta side of thewhite balance x/y axis will counteract green, fluorescent ambient light.However, using that green flash on something purple (Figure 2.21) willexaggerate the purple in the scene (Figure 2.22).

You can also throw out the rule book altogether, and experiment with differentcombinations of white balance and a gelled flash. This is precisely how Itransformed the boring, overcast scene in Figure 2.23: I shifted the whitebalance to tungsten, making the scene go blue; then I added a red gel to mymain light to get a punchy, red-and-blue palette.

Figure 2.21 By using a green gel on the flash and shifting white balance to magenta tocounteract the green, the final image will look magenta. Using a green gel to photographan environment that is already magenta, such as a sunset, will make the color in the

final image especially vibrant.

Figure 2.22 There’s a Purple Rain joke hiding somewhere in that puddle.

Figure 2.23 To create this image, I set the white balance to tungsten (which shifted theambient light to be blue), and used a gel to light my subject red.

GALLERY

“Color is like cooking. The cook puts in more or less salt, that’s the difference!”–Josef Albers

CHAPTER 3

LIGHTING IN LAYERS

It may come as a surprise to you, but I have a hard time keeping track ofwhich additive colors do what when they interact with different subtractivecolors—especially when I’m in the middle of a shoot and totally winging it.To understand what each color is doing in your scene, I recommend buildingyour lighting one light and one color at a time. David Hobby (founder ofStrobist.com) refers to this technique as lighting in layers. It’s a fantasticmethod to use as you build your understanding of color relationships. Inchapter 1, we discussed how both additive and subtractive properties are atwork when you’re using both colored lights and colored backgrounds. In thischapter, we are going to break down how to construct an image, oneintentional color at a time.

AVOIDING UNDESIRABLE COLORSIn this setup, I will blend two different colored lights on my subject, all thewhile keeping undesirable colors from forming on my colored background. I amusing a yellow-gelled light as my main light, with a cyan-gelled fill. The mainlight is hard, only modified with a snoot. In Figure 3.1, you can see that when itis fired onto the cyan background, a green color is formed. When the cyan filllight hits the background, the integrity of the color remains intact (Figure 3.2).

Figure 3.1 When fired onto a cyan backdrop, the snooted, yellow-gelled main light looksgreen.

Figure 3.2 This image shows the cyan-gelled fill light on the cyan backdrop.

A quick note about white balance. The camera’s white balance is a veryimportant tool when you’re lighting with color. I took a test shot using both cyanand yellow lights on the cyan background. In order to figure out the whitebalance that would give me the best colors in the final image, I tried everywhite balance preset in my camera (Figure 3.3). Shockingly, the auto whitebalance was the best. I say shockingly because there wasn’t a neutral-coloreditem in the scene; it was incredible that my camera found a good balance off apiece of blue paper in a dimly lit room.

As a rule I don’t rely on auto settings, whether it be for white balance oraperture or shutter, since any fluctuation in settings that the camera mightmake while in Auto mode—even a small one—can add hours to my editingtime. Instead of using auto white balance, I pick the best preset or dial in acustom white balance so that my shots are consistent. That way I can quicklycopy and paste Lightroom settings from one image to the next. Even choosing awhite balance setting that isn’t quite right is better than using auto, since youonly need to correct the settings of one file in Lightroom, and then sync thosecorrections to the rest of the set (as long as your settings don’t change). Afterclicking through each white balance setting to find a (non-auto) setting thatbest matched the colors I was looking for, I decided to use the flash preset.

Figure 3.3 Here is how my yellow and cyan light mix on a cyan background, as seen withevery white balance preset on my camera.

For this shot, I want the cyan light to be broad and soft in appearance, so Iback away from the subject by several feet, so it can light both the subject andthe background. My yellow-gelled flash has a gridded snoot attached to it thatprojects the light in a small circle. This makes for a small window for error:moving the light a fraction of an inch in any direction could mean thedifference between a successful shot and a failed one. If the light is too farright of the subject’s face, it would spill onto the backdrop, creating anundesirable green color (Figure 3.4).

Figure 3.4 There is little room for error when using such a tight spot of light. I want tokeep it centered on my subject’s face and off the background.

Figure 3.5 The RAW file. Now that the yellow isn’t spilling onto the background to createan unsavory green color, the yellow and blues can complement each other.

Figure 3.6 The lighting diagram. Since the yellow main light wasn’t diffused and thecyan light had two layers of diffusion, the yellow main light needed to be poweredsignificantly lower.

Since I don’t want the yellow light mixing with the cyan background, I adjustthe light so it only hits the model’s face (Figure 3.5). Since the gridded mainlight wasn’t diffused and the fill light was firing through two layers of diffusionin the softbox, the main light needed to be powered down to a significantlylower brightness in order to balance the two lights (Figure 3.6). One factor tokeep in mind when you’re calculating flash settings for lights with differentcolored gels is how dark or dense the gel is. Darker tones, such as purple orroyal blue, absorb more light than a lighter color, such as yellow or pink, whichresults in less light reaching the subject.

When you’re color grading a duotone image that consists of a cool color and awarm colorm, a small tweak to the color temperature in Lightroom can shift thelook of the image. In Figure 3.7, with the white balance set to “As Shot,” youcan see detail of the color transition on the model’s face. By bumping thetemperature slider to a warmer setting of 7,436 (Figure 3.8), the blue decreasesand the yellow increases. This shift creates a smoother transition between thewarm and cool tones. When colors start to separate, they create distraction inthe image.

My go-to tools for fleshing out colors in a file are the individual tone curves, thedehaze slider, and the camera calibration panel (as discussed in chapter 1), allof which I used to enhance Figure 3.9. Now the model looks mysterious andlovely in blue and yellow, and the image is free of that tepid green (Figure3.10).

Figure 3.7 The white balance gives you enormous control when working with intensecolors. Here it’s set to “As shot.” Note the rough transition from blue to yellow.

Figure 3.8 By warming up the white balance, the transition between colors smooths out.

Figure 3.9 The Lightroom settings. My go-to tools for color grading are the tone curves,the dehaze slider, and the camera calibration panel.

Figure 3.10 The final shot. The yellow and cyan transition smoothly while the backgroundis free of light spill.

BLENDING COLORED LIGHT ON COLORED SURFACESI was in Charleston, South Carolina, for my annual shoot with the 34 Westtheater company. Every fall I return to this historic city to photograph thecompany’s Friday evening performance and then shoot the promo material fortheir upcoming season the following morning. As I was photographing theirperformance that night, I noticed the colorful shadows created by the stagelights (Figure 3.11). I loved the way the colored lights looked on the orangecurtain. It made me think of Miles Aldridge’s shoot with the Game of Thronescast for Time magazine (look it up if you’re not familiar). That night, after theperformance had ended, I asked the actors if they had any additional curtainsin other colors. To my delight, they had half a dozen varieties in storage, and Iknew immediately that I would have to imitate Aldridge’s shoot.

Figure 3.11 I was inspired by these colors and shapes at the theater performance.

Figure 3.12 We picked this vibrant purple fabric to use as a backdrop.

Figure 3.13 I added white boxes to the shot to see how my gelled lights would interactwith both the subject and the colored background.

We worked through our shot list the next morning, making sure to leave an hourat the end to play with color. We started by hanging a vibrant purple curtain(Figure 3.12). I added white boxes to my scene in order to see how my coloredlights would interact with both the subject (once they were dressed) and thebackground, Figure 3.13.

I ended up going settling on cyan and yellow gels for my lights. I placed theyellow light to the left and cyan to the right, both at relatively extreme angles tothe fabric. The extreme angle of the lights to the curtain accentuated the foldsof the fabric rather than flattening them out, as they would if the lights wereshining directly at the curtains.

In Figure 3.14, you can see the cyan layer of light; you can see the yellow layerof light in Figure 3.15. The yellow interacted with the purple to make a

gold/brown color, while the cyan pushed the purple fabric to a royal blue. Sincethe yellow light was at slightly more of a side angle to the backdrop, it didn’tlight the deep folds of the fabric, only the surface. The cyan light, which wasslightly more frontal, not only filled in the fabric’s shadows, but helpedneutralize the overall yellow/brown color on the curtain’s surface, save for wherethe subject blocked the cyan light, creating the yellow background shadow seenin Figure 3.16.

Figure 3.14 This is the cyan layer of light. It is slightly frontal, and doesn’t create manyshadows.

Figure 3.15 This is the yellow layer of light. It is a bit more side-angled, and highlightsmore of the fabric’s folds.

Figure 3.16 This is the RAW file with both cyan and yellow layers of light.

One more quick plug for my Cactus system (no, they’re not paying me topromote them): Though I’m sure they’re not the only system to offer thisfeature, the fact that I can turn each light off and on with the click of a buttonfrom the transceiver on my camera (I put each light on its own channel) is agame-changer for me. It’s not only convenient and an energy saver (no morecountless trips to and from my light stands to take test shots and makeadjustments). It also encourages me to experiment and accelerates the learningcurve. By building up colors in a scene one at a time, I can better understandhow the different colored lights interact with each other or with differentcolored surfaces or skin tones. Not to mention, I can also get several uniquelighting setups just by turning a background or accent light on or off, which isinvaluable when working on a tight timeline.

Since the yellow and cyan gels are similar in value (they are less dense,meaning more transparent), I set both lights to the same output (Figure 3.17).My Lightroom workflow for this setup was very basic (Figure 3.18). Aside frommaking a radial adjustment to bump up the brightness on the actress’s face, allI did was make curve adjustments. I also made a brush adjustment to themirror, darkening the reflection. The final image references is inspired by theRenaissance style, with the addition of modern elements (Figure 3.19).

Figure 3.17 The lighting diagram. Since the gels were similar in brightness, the lightswere set to the same output.

Figure 3.18 The Lightroom settings. All the color grading was done using the tone curves.

Figure 3.19 The final image. It references the Renaissance style while also adding moremodern elements.

AVOIDING DILUTED COLORSAnother invaluable element that comes with building an image one layer at atime is to make sure that your main light isn’t spilling onto your background, forexample. This is vital when using colored gels and/or backgrounds because lightspill can dilute the vibrance of the background colors. Take Figure 3.20 forexample. See how my main light is spilling onto the wall? Once I add myorange-gelled background light, that light spill results in a diluted orange, as inFigure 3.21. It’s just like the first scenario in this chapter, with the yellow-gelledlight spill on the cyan background. Once you learn to troubleshoot what’scausing an undesirable element in your image, you can quickly resolve it thenext time you see it happen in a shoot.

I recently photographed B.J. Bello, a linebacker for the Cleveland Brownsfootball team. I don’t know much about sports, but being from Ohio, I do knowthat the Browns team color is orange. I knew that I wanted to create a dynamicbackground for my portrait of him, implementing the team color. By gelling mybackground light with a vibrant orange gel (Rosco #23), and placing my lightclose to the background, I was able to get an orange background with a yellowhot spot (Figure 3.22). I can make the hot spot smaller or larger by moving ittoward or away from the background.

Figure 3.20 When my main light is too close to the background, light will spill onto thebackground.

Figure 3.21 My orange-gelled background light is now diluted as a result of the mainlight spill.

Figure 3.22 By placing my orange-gelled light close to the background, I was able tocreate a yellow hot spot that gradated to orange.

You can see in setup (Figure 3.23) that B.J. is about 6 feet away from the backwall. My orange-gelled light is on the ground, about 3 feet from the wall. Mymain light is several feet in front of B.J., gridded and aimed down, in order tominimize light spill on the back wall. I also have a hard accent light, behindhim and to the left. The thing I make sure to check in background exposure(Figure 3.24) is that none of the orange light is spilling onto my subject. Next, Iturn on my accent light, which adds a bit of definition to accentuate B.J.’smuscular physique (Figure 3.25). Finally, I turn on my main light (Figure 3.26).

In Figure 3.27, you can see all of my light settings. The accent light is poweredthe lowest, since it’s an unmodified light, aiming right at the subject. The mainlight is powered considerably brighter, since there are two layers of diffusion inthe soft box and a grid. The background light is the same as the main light,since it’s aiming away from the subject, into the background.

Figure 3.23 The setup. I was shooting B.J. Bello of the Cleveland Browns in my (tiny)studio.

Figure 3.24 The background exposure. The gradient is placed where I want it and none ofthe orange light is bouncing back onto my subject.

Figure 3.25 The accent light adds a bit of definition to the left of the subject.

Figure 3.26 The RAW file. Here is the image with all three layers of light workingtogether.

Figure 3.27 The lighting diagram. The accent light is powered four times lower since it’sunmodified and aimed directly at the subject.

Figure 3.28 The Lightroom settings. I increased the highlights, lowered the blue curve,and increased the saturation of the blue primary slider in the HSL panel to add warmthand vibrance to the oranges and yellows.

In Lightroom (Figure 3.28) I bumped up the highlights in order to flush out thecolor gradient. I also made an adjustment to the blue curve, lowering it belowthe middle to add yellow to midtones and highlights. Finally, I increased thesaturation in the blue primary channel of the camera calibration panel toincrease the overall vibrance.

As you may guess by looking at the final image (Figure 3.29), this is thetechnique I used to create the cover image of this book (and the chapter-opening image). The only difference was that in the cover image, I added acyan gel to the main light.

Now that we have an understanding of how to construct an image one layer at atime, the next chapter will discuss how to blend and separate colored light justby changing light position.

Figure 3.29 The final shot. This technique was the same as the one I used to create thebook’s cover image.

GALLERY

“Some days are yellow.Some are blue.

On different days I’m different too.”–Dr. Seuss, My Many Colored Days

CHAPTER 4

BLOCKING, BLENDING, AND BOUNCING

A very important aspect of applying color theory is learning to shape, place,and direct light. For example, in a scenario using two lights of differentcolors, the distance between the lights, the ratio of their outputs, and theirposition in relation to the subject will determine whether the colors remainseparated or blend together. In this chapter, we will go into three uniqueways to handle colored light: blocking, blending, and bouncing.

COLOR BLOCKINGColor blocking is a term often used in fashion design. It refers to the use of(typically highly saturated) “blocks” of colors on a garment or in an ensemble.It’s also a perfect term to describe the lighting technique where multipledifferent-colored lights are used on a subject and the colors remain unblended.

In Figure 4.1, I am using two softboxes in close proximity to Dani, the model.One is positioned low, aiming up; the other is positioned high, aiming down.This setup is often referred to as clamshell lighting. Because the lights arespaced several feet apart (one light above the other), and within a few feet ofDani, there isn’t enough space for the lights to overlap and blend their colors. Ifshe were to back up 5 feet, the colors of the lights would overlap, combining tocreate a blended, slightly green color.

This technique involves under lighting a subject, which will not work for everysubject. Under lighting in general is really hard to pull off in a flattering way. Ithelps if the subject has a strong jawline, like Dani. When the technique is doneright, you get a vibrant beauty image with a fantastic duotone catch light in thesubject’s eyes, like the yellow and blue squares seen in Figure 4.2 (or theorange and cyan seen in the chapter intro photo).

Figure 4.1 The setup. My lights are placed close to the model, and several feet apart (inthis scenario, one light is placed above the other) to prevent the colors from overlappingand creating new, blended colors. Photo by Christopher Hill.

Figure 4.2 The RAW file. Note the duotone catchlight in the subject’s eyes.

The next element to consider in color blocking is color combination. Though it’snot necessary to adhere to strict color-theory guidelines (such as always usingcomplementary colors), I find it’s best to pair a cool color with a warm color tohelp move the viewer’s eye through the image. Depending on which colors youselect and the density of the gels, you may have two lights with vastly differentoutputs. My cyan-gelled light, for example, needed to be four times brighterthan my yellow-gelled light to achieve a balanced output (Figure 4.3). I haven’t

found a hard-and-fast rule for determining equivalent light outputs for differentcolor combinations, so you’ll have to rely on trial and error. Once again, lightingin layers will help you quickly get equivalent outputs for each colored light.

Later in Lightroom, I enriched the yellow part of the image to make it warmerand a better complement to the cyan. As you can see in Figure 4.4a, I started bymaking a radial adjustment, which raised the exposure in the top-left part ofthe image. I also increased the white level, which added a nice bump incontrast (Figure 4.4b). Make sure not to adjust this setting too far or you’llquickly lose color saturation and detail in your highlights.

Figure 4.3 The lighting diagram. The cyan gel I used in this scenario was more densethan the yellow gel, so I had to set the output of the cyan-gelled flash four times brighterthan the output of the yellow-gelled flash to achieve a balanced image.

Next, I warmed up the image by making a series of tone curve adjustments. In

the red channel, I raised the top part of the curve after first making an anchorpoint to the left of it to prevent red from increasing over the entire image(Figure 4.3c). In the green channel, I lowered the bottom side of the curve toadd magenta to the shadows (Figure 4.4d). Finally, in the blue channel, I raisedthe bottom part of the curve to add blue to the shadows (Figure 4.4e). I finishedby tweaking the colors in the Camera Calibration panel to taste (Figure 4.4f). Inthe final image, Figure 4.5, the colors remain distinct and Dani’s eyes are filledwith colored catchlights.

Figure 4.4 The Lightroom settings. I used the individual tone curves to warm up theyellow part of the image to make it better complement the cyan part of the image.

Figure 4.5 The final shot. The cyan and yellow remain distinct, and Dani’s eyes are filledwith sparkly, colored catchlights.

This clamshell setup can be done with a number of color combinations. Forexample, in Figure 4.6, I had the top light ungelled and the bottom light gelledblue.

A clamshell setup isn’t the only way to color block. In Figure 4.7, I have a blue-gelled softbox on the left and a red-gelled softbox on the right, as well as agreen-gelled “hard” light (meaning no light modifiers) in the middle—all within2–3 feet of my model, Shelby. As we covered in chapter 1, we know that red,green, and blue overlap to create colorless light, according to the additive colortheory model. However, since we color blocked instead of blended, the colorsstay distinct.

Figure 4.6 This shot uses an ungelled top light and a blue-gelled bottom light.

I set up the three lights, one color at a time, with each light on its own channel.I positioned the subject and lights about 7–10 feet from a white sweep in orderto allow some of the green light to spill onto the background. I made sure thatthe blue and red lights were positioned in such a way that they didn’t light thebackground, ensuring that the background would remain green. With eachgelled light on its own channel, I switched between them to make sure I’dachieve a proper exposure with each color; Figure 4.8a shows the red light,Figure 4.8b shows the blue light, and Figure 4.8c shows the green light. Onceeach color was properly exposed, I activated all three light channels andproceeded with my shoot (Figure 4.9).

Figure 4.7 I have three lights, gelled red, blue, and green, placed within 2–3 feet of

Shelby, to color-block the light. The close proximity of the subject and the lights to thewhite sweep allows for some of the green light to illuminate the background.

Figure 4.8a-c By building up my colors in layers, I ensure that the colors don’t overlapand blend too much.

Figure 4.9 The red, green, and blue lights remain distinct and separate on the model.

COLOR BLENDINGWith the lights placed close to the subject, the colors stay separated; however,by backing the lights far enough away from the subject that the light spread iseven across the frame, you can blend two opposite-colored lights, creating abalanced image with colorful accents.

Figure 4.10 was lit with two lights: one light was gelled yellow and the other wasgelled blue. By selecting a color and its opposite (or a color close to it), and bybalancing the light output from each light to even out the differences in tone, Iwas able to create a balanced image, complete with colorful shadows. Toachieve the image in Figure 4.11, I used the opposite colors magenta and green.Note the position of the two lights (Figure 4.12), set about 10 feet from thesubject, one on either side of the room. This setup was used to create bothimages. Due to space restraints, the light on the right was bounced into anearby white wall in order to create a large, soft light source to match the softlight on the left. In order to balance out the two colors, the magenta light hadto be set to an output four times lower than the green light.

Figure 4.10 This image was lit with two lights: one gelled yellow and one gelled blue.

Figure 4.11 This image was lit with two lights: one gelled magenta and one gelled green.

Figure 4.12 The setup. Due to a space constraint, I fired the green-gelled light into anearby white wall to get a large, soft light source.

In another recent shoot, I photographed fashion designer Jessica Daly’s newcollection. Her designs are exciting, youthful, while often monochromatic.Though I shot most of her collection with a neutral light source (in traditionallook-book style), I saved a bit of time at the end of the shoot to play with color.I knew that adding some color accents to the image would give the otherwisenear-monochromatic images some energy.

When blending two different colors of light, building your light in layers won’tdo much to help you in terms of exposing correctly. But it can still help youensure proper light placement, which is important because you want to be surethat each light covers the whole scene. That said, when it comes to getting abalance between the lights, you’ll need to take a test shot using both lights tosee if either output needs to be adjusted.

In Figure 4.13, you can see that the magenta light is overpowering the greenlight. In Figure 4.14, you can see that I over adjusted the green light, resultingin another unbalanced image. In Figure 4.15, I got the lights properly balanced,but now it’s obvious that the subject and the lights are placed too close to thebackground, resulting in multiple shadows on the paper sweep. Once I moved

the lights and model about 5 feet forward, I had a file that I could work with(Figure 4.16).

Figure 4.13 In this shot, the magenta light output was too high.

Figure 4.14 In this shot, the green light output was too high.

Figure 4.15 Though the colors are now balanced, the model is too close to thebackground, resulting in multiple shadows.

Figure 4.16 The RAW file. The colors are now balanced and the background shadowshave been minimized.

Figure 4.17 The lighting diagram. I shot at a shallow depth of field to ensure thebackground went out of focus. I also zoomed my green-gelled flash in to 105mm tomaximize the bounced light.

Note the camera settings in Figure 4.17. I shot at f/1.8 so the backgroundwould be out of focus. Since there was still a bit of green light spilling onto thebackground, I wanted to make sure that you wouldn’t be able to see anybackdrop texture. Also, note that the green-gelled light, which is being firedinto the white wall, is zoomed in to 105mm to get more out of the bouncedlight.

In post-processing this image, my goal in Lightroom was to get as close to avisually accurate white balance as possible. That meant warming up the greenand cooling off the magenta. As you can see in Figure 4.18a-e, my biggestadjustments, not surprisingly, were done in the red and green tone curves. I

started with a radial adjustment (Figure 4.18a), and then moved on to adjustingthe various color channels. By making relatively dramatic S-curves in both colorchannels (Figures 4.18b and 4.18c), I was able to further balance the magentaand green hues in the image. Lowering the left part of the curve in the greenchannel adds magenta to the shadow areas, while pushing the highlight portionof the curve upward results in more green highlights in the image. The samecan be said of the red channel, which adds red and cyan to the image. I alsolowered the highlight point in the blue curve to add yellow to the image (Figure4.18d). I finished up my color grading in the camera calibration panel (Figure4.18e).

Now my photo of Jessica’s collection has colorful accents without losing theintegrity of the neutral-colored garment (Figure 4.19).

Figure 4.18a-e The Lightroom settings. I made my largest adjustments in thegreen and red tone curves.

Figure 4.19 The final shot. Now Jessica’s garment is accented with pops of color withoutlosing the integrity of the actual design.

COLOR BOUNCINGThis next scenario is a tough one to pull off, as there is a thin margin for error.However, when done properly, you can turn one light into two light sources ofvarying quality and color.

You can see my setup in Figure 4.20. I have a roll of red paper positioned about3 feet from my model. I have my light positioned about 3 feet above her headand aiming at a diagonal. My light is gelled yellow and fitted with a snoot tokeep the light focused into a tight beam. It really is a game of inches. I wantthe light to hit the red paper at her eye-level, creating a red light source thatreflects back on her. This will serve as the main light. I also want a bit of thedirect, yellow light to spill onto her head and shoulders on its way to the redpaper, to make a different-colored accent light.

To shape my light into a focused strip (to minimize light spill), I used a lightmodifier of my own construction, since I have yet to find an equivalent modifieron the market. In Figure 4.21a, you can see that I assembled a rectangularblack box out of foam board and gaffer tape. This snoot is 6 inches long (thelonger the length of the snoot, the more focused the light will be) with two 1-inch barn doors over the open end that can be taped into the desired position(Figure 4.21b). The snoot is measured to fit the flash head snugly. The best partabout this DIY modifier is that it folds flat to easily fit in my camera bag (Figure4.21c).

Figure 4.20 The setup. A snooted, yellow-gelled flash is positioned to fire above mysubject, who is seated in front of a roll of red paper acting as a reflector fill.

Figure 4.21a I made this 6-inch DIY snoot with barn doors out of black foam board.

Figure 4.21b The snoot fits snugly over the flash and the barn doors can be taped intothe desired position.

Figure 4.21c The snoot folds flat to fit easily in my camera bag.

I selected this vibrant red paper as a bounce surface because the color is brightenough to reflect a good amount of light onto the subject (darker tones absorblight rather than reflect it), but bold enough that it won’t be easily washed outby the yellow light. I chose yellow for my light because it’s such a versatilecolor. It’s a bright tone (which I need for bouncing) that can easily be cooleddown or warmed up with a quick white balance shift. Yellow and red are also farenough from each other on the color wheel that achieving a balanced

composition was fairly easy, (Figure 4.22).

Figure 4.22 The final shot. Though red and yellow combine to create orange, thereflected light off the backdrop was red enough to create the duotone look of this image.

Figure 4.23 This setup is the same as the previous except the light is ungelled andunmodified.

One scenario in which this technique comes in handy is when you’re dealingwith lighting a reflective surface, like sunglasses, for example. In Figure 4.23,my subject, Rachel, is wearing red sunglasses and a red shirt and is positionedin front of the same red backdrop. The only difference is that, in this setup, thelight is ungelled and unmodified. The backdrop will not only once again providea soft, red light source for my subject, but it will fill in the reflection in hersunglasses.

Again, light position is critical. If the light is aimed too far to the right, some ofthe light spills onto her face, creating harsh shadows (Figure 4.24). To remedythis, I aimed it the other way, more toward the white backdrop behind her. Nowthe light is separating her from the backdrop and illuminating her sunglasses(Figure 4.25). The funny thing is that I liked the yellow/red combo from theprevious setup so much that I decided to turn up the ungelled light yellow inLightroom by lowering the highlights in the blue tone curve (Figure 4.26). Nowall Rachel needs is a strawberry lemonade to go with the colors in Figure 4.27.

In the next chapter, we will explore continuous light options, including how tobalance them with window light.

Figure 4.24 If the light is positioned too far to one side, the light can spill onto thesubject’s face, creating harsh shadows.

Figure 4.25 With the light correctly positioned, Rachel is separated from the backgroundand her sunglasses are filled with soft, red light.

Figure 4.26 I preferred the look of yellow and red, so I added yellow tones by loweringthe highlight point in the blue tone curve.

Figure 4.27 Now all Rachel needs is a strawberry lemonade to match the colors in thisshot.

GALLERY

“Let me, O let me bathe my soul in colours; let me swallow the sunset and drink therainbow.”

–Kahlil Gibran

CHAPTER 5

CONTINUOUS LIGHT

When you’re ready to begin experimenting with colored gels, start withcontinuous lights, since what you see is what you get. Being able to see newcolors form as you overlap gelled lights is not only fascinating, it’seducational. You can quickly learn how to create more- or less-definedshadows; long or short shadows; and how to eliminate colorless shadows. Itreally accelerates the learning process.

Continuous light sources aren’t limited to lamps. There are continuouslights all around you, and they each have a particular color. Try walkingthrough the streets at night—especially after rain has wet down thepavement, making it highly reflective—and you’ll see colors everywhere:amber streetlights; brightly colored traffic lights; the neon glow of storewindow displays. These are wonderful light sources to use for experimentingwith color.

The image on the previous page, for example, was lit only by streetlights.It was raining pretty heavily that night, so we picked a location that wassheltered under a bridge. The color temperature of the lights under thebridge was higher (meaning cooler) than the streetlights in the background.The large difference in color temperatures made for a vibrant image, filledwith blue and orange colors.

EXPLORING COLOR RELATIONSHIPSA continuous light source is a fantastic learning tool for understanding colorrelationships. For this image, I rented a 3-light LED kit made by Fiilex from myfriends at Midwest Photo Exchange, and picked up some gels big enough toaccommodate them. The LEDs are small, don’t get too hot, allow you to shiftcolor temperature, and have dimmer switches. Having a dimmer is invaluablesince gel densities differ greatly from one gel to the next. When I need tobalance a red-, a green-, and a blue-gelled light, for example, the red and greenlights need to be dimmed to about half power to balance with the blue-gelledlight.

I gelled the three lights and set them up side by side to light a plant vase(Figure 5.1). Once I dialed in a proper ratio between the three lights, a hot spotof colorless light was formed in the center, per the additive color model.Outside the hot spot, the individual colors become more distinct. The benefit ofusing a continuous light source to get these colors, as opposed to a flash, isthat I can easily study color relationships as I change the angle and positions ofeach colored light. I can see how different color combinations interact when Ipower each light up and down one light at a time. You can see in Figure 5.2what the different color combinations looked like from these three gelledlamps.

Figure 5.1 The setup. The three lights are gelled red, green, and blue and placed side byside.

Figure 5.2 The image on the left was lit with red and green light; the image in the middlewas lit with blue and green light; the image on the right was lit with blue and red light.

After exploring the different color options, I decided that I wanted slightlylonger shadows, so I moved the lights back a foot. Lowering the stands would’vealso worked. A lower light source will cast longer shadows (think how thesetting sun casts long shadows). After taking a shot using all three lights (Figure5.3), I wanted to eliminate the predominant black shadow. I could see that by

moving one of the lights around to the other side of the vase (Figure 5.4), Icould fill in the shadow with color, while retaining an area of colorless light toilluminate the white vase (Figure 5.5).

Figure 5.3 Colorless light formed where the three lights overlapped, and illuminated thewhite vase. Colorful shadows are visible behind the vase.

Figure 5.4 In order to eliminate the colorless shadow, I moved one of the lights to theother side of the vase.

Figure 5.5 The vase is still lit with colorless light, and the colorless shadow is gone.

Figure 5.6 This plant is lit with only green and red lights.

Figure 5.7 In Lightroom, I selected the Eyedropper tool and clicked on the neutrallycolored plant.

What studying color theory models won’t get you is practical field knowledge. IfI’ve learned anything about myself, it’s that I learn best by doing. Though I canread that green and red are opposites and that red and green light overlaps tocreate yellow light (Figure 5.6), I might not make the connection that I cancolor-correct the white balance in Lightroom (Figure 5.7) to get relatively neutrallight (Figure 5.8) until I actually try it. By taking theories about color andcolored light and applying that knowledge to what we know about cameras andlighting, we can push the limits of possibilities of in-camera image-making.

Figure 5.8 The final shot. After balancing the temperature in Lightroom, I have aneutrally lit plant, and red and cyan shadows.

MIXING CONTINUOUS LIGHT WITH AMBIENT LIGHTNow I am ready to practice lighting with color on a person. In this nextscenario, I will be using a gelled LED lamp, in addition to some window light.In Figure 5.9, I placed my subject about 10 feet from a window providingindirect light. I gelled my light yellow and positioned it to fill in the shadowarea of my subject’s face. I set the camera’s white balance to tungsten, whichshifted the window light toward blue. I exposed for the highlights, giving theimage a moody blue look (Figure 5.10). Next, I dialed in the light output toequal the window-light output (Figure 5.11). By combining the cool temperatureof the window light with a yellow-gelled light, I created a yellow-and-blueduotone with a single LED (Figure 5.12).

I bumped up the whites in Lightroom, and increased the midtones in the redand green curves. I also brought up the green shadows and added some grain togive the image a vintage look (Figure 5.13). When it comes to color grading anyof my shoots, I have a very specific workflow. I liken it to a game of leapfrog. Istart by color grading a single image. When I’m satisfied, I copy the settingsand paste them onto the next image. Often, in the 2 seconds it takes mycomputer to load the next image, my eyes have had time to refresh, and myadjustments no longer look so great when I paste them on the next image. So Iadjust the settings for that image and copy them, then go back to the previousimage, and paste them. I repeat this process until the images from that shootare all cohesive, and then I move on to the next set of images.

Figure 5.9 The setup. My subject is sitting 10 feet from a window providing indirectlight, and my yellow-gelled LED is positioned to fill in the shadow area of my subject’sface.

Figure 5.10 The camera’s white balance was set to tungsten, shifting the cool ambientlight blue.

Figure 5.11 The lighting diagram. I exposed for the window light on my subject’s faceand then matched the LED output to balance it.

Figure 5.12 The RAW file. By combining the cool window light with the yellow LED light,I achieved a blue-and-yellow duotone image with one light.

I also use the Before/After view in Lightroom when color grading so I can seethe original shot and the shot with adjustments side by side. You can find thistool in the View menu (Figure 5.14). As you can see, there are several optionswithin the Before/After tool that let you decide how you’ll view the original andadjusted images (Figure 5.15a shows the adjustments in the Left/Right viewingorientation, and Figure 5.15b shows the Top/Bottom viewing orientation). I usethe keyboard shortcut, the forward slash (/) key, to find this tool.

Figure 5.13 The Lightroom settings. I adjusted the red and green tone curves and addedsome grain to bring a vintage look to the image.

Figure 5.14 The Before/After feature in Lightroom is invaluable when color grading animage.

Figure 5.15 You can set the Before/After view to display the two images either vertically

or horizontally.

Another feature I use when I’m managing my adjustments across multiplepanels is the on/off switch. Every panel has a little switch in the top-left corner(Figure 5.16). By toggling it on and off, you can activate and deactivate thechanges made in that panel to see exactly how the adjustments are affectingyour image.

Figure 5.16 You can use this switch to toggle a panel on and off to see how youradjustments affect your image.

When it comes to color grading your images, be aware of your environment andyour mood. I find that it’s best to edit in a dark room, away from bright lightsources. If I’m working in a room where I can’t control the light, such as acoffee shop, I’ll sit away from large windows, facing a wall, ideally. Ambientroom light affects the way you see your monitor, which can dramatically impacthow you adjust colors in your image. Often, if I’m unsure of an edit on animage, I’ll export a version to my phone so I can see how the colors andshadows read on a smaller device. This is also a great way to ensure that yourmonitor is properly calibrated.

I also carefully choose which music I listen to while editing (and shooting, forthat matter). Humans are emotional creatures, and it’s wise to pay attention toyour mood throughout the creative process—not just in conceptualizing andexecuting the shoot, but also in editing and color grading. For example, whileediting this shoot, I listened to calm, introspective music, which matched themood I was in while shooting it (Figure 5.17). A more energetic photo shoot maycall for a more upbeat playlist to listen to while shooting and editing.

Figure 5.17 The final image. The mood I created in the final image matches the mood Ifelt when I created it.

GALLERY

“Color directly influences the soul. Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers,the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching

one key or another purposively, to cause vibrations in the soul.”–Wassily Kandinsky

CHAPTER 6

SHUTTER DRAG

The addition of movement or blurring can add a wonderful sense of drama toan image. When using a slow shutter speed—typically 1/30 or slower—(often) in combination with a flash, you can create an image with blurredlight and a frozen subject. This technique is referred to as shutter drag.Many times you will see the technique used in long exposures at night, or inevent photography, capturing kinetic subjects like athletes or dancingcouples at a wedding. It can be used in many more ways, which we willcover in this chapter.

SHOOTING AGAINST A DARK BACKGROUNDIf you’ve done any research into shutter drag, you’ve likely come across thephrase “rear (or second) curtain sync.” This refers to the flash firing at the endof the exposure rather than at the beginning.

Let’s say the subject is moving from the left to the right of your frame in a half-second exposure, for example. In this scenario, a moving subject lit by theambient light can make a trail through the frame from the left. When the flashpops at the end of the exposure, it freezes the subject in the shot on the rightside of the frame. If the flash were to pop at the beginning of the exposure, thesubject would be frozen on the left side of the frame, and their light trail wouldcontinue through to the right side of the frame.

I don’t use shutter drag this way. Rather than capturing moving subjects, I’musually the one doing the moving. By using a slow shutter and moving thecamera during an exposure, I can dictate which direction the ambient lightappears to travel in the photo. As you can see in Figure 6.1, the red continuouslight appears to travel left to right, up to down, and diagonally, all based on thedirection I moved my camera during the exposure.

Figure 6.1 The direction of the light trail in these images was determined by which way Imoved my camera during the long exposure.

Figure 6.2 Because I’m painting the light trail with camera movement, I can also useshutter drag on inanimate objects, as I did with this bag.

Because I’m painting the light trail by moving the camera rather than capturinga moving subject, having a camera capable of rear curtain sync isn’t arequirement. It also means that this technique can be used on inanimateobjects, such as in Figure 6.2. By positioning the continuous light at an obliqueangle to the bag, I was able to highlight the texture of the leather. I thenpainted the light trail by jerking the camera in a diagonal direction to match thedirection of the leather weave.

When using shutter drag in your images, you’ll need a continuous light sourceand a strobe. You’ll need a slow shutter and a continuous light source to createa light trail in your image. The strobe will freeze the subject, creating a sharpfocal point in the image. In Figure 6.3, you can see my setup. My strobe ismodified with a gridded softbox, which will give me soft light with a fast fall-off(meaning the light won’t reach the background). My continuous light source is asimple, 100-watt desk light, which I’ve placed on the ground and propped at anupward angle.

Figure 6.3 The setup. My main light is a blue-gelled strobe, modified with 24x24"gridded softbox. I have a 100-watt desk light for fill.

The color temperature of the lamp is warmer than the color temperature of thestrobe, so when I use the flash White Balance setting on my camera, thelamplight appears quite orange. To complement the orange ambient light, Igelled my strobe cyan, which also provides a greater separation between thelight trails and the frozen subject.

The next step is figuring out how slow of a shutter speed you should use. This iswhat will determine the amount of light trail in your image. I usually start withan exposure of 1/30 and then go down as low as 1/5 if necessary. For example,the image on the left in Figure 6.4 was shot at 1/15, while the image on theright was at 1/25. The goal is to get an exposure where you can get a good lighttrail without completely losing your subject in the ambient light.

Figure 6.4 The amount of light trail in your image will change based on your shutterspeed and how much the camera or subject moves during the exposure. The image onthe left was shot at 1/15, while the image on the right was shot at 1/25.

Figure 6.5 When using the shutter drag technique, it’s easier to control your colors whenshooting in front of a dark background.

Figure 6.6 If the ambient overpowers the strobe, the subject will get lost in the light trail.I’ll need to increase the output of my flash to remedy this.

Figure 6.7 By increasing the output of the strobe and lowering the ISO or closing downthe aperture, a balanced exposure can be achieved.

To pull off this technique, you’ll want total control over the ambient light inyour room. Your continuous light source needs to be brighter than the ambientlight, which means you need to work in a dark room. You’ll also want to shapeyour continuous light source, whether with barn doors, a flag, or simply byaiming it away from the background. Finally, for your first few experiments withshutter drag, I recommend shooting in front of a dark background, which makesit easier to control the color in your shot (Figure 6.5).

Next, strike a brightness balance between the continuous light and strobe. InFigure 6.6, you can see what it looks like if the ambient light is too bright inrelation to the strobe. The subject gets lost in the light. I don’t want to speedup my shutter to reduce the ambient light, because I need the longer shutter topull off the effect. And since my lamp can’t be powered down, I need toincrease the strobe output to change the brightness ratio between the twolights.

If the exposure is too bright, I’ll need to lower my ISO or close down myaperture. I lowered my ISO all the way to 100. Now the subject can be seenclearly (Figure 6.7).

Side note: I set up my camera to use back-button focus, meaning I canprefocus on the subject and then shoot as many images as I like without mycamera trying to find focus. If you do this, you must remember to refocus if youor your subject moves forward or back.

Now that I’m ready to shoot, I keep in mind how my camera movementstranslate to light trails in my image. I set my focal point to the center and clickthe shutter, jerking the camera upward. This makes a light trail movingdownward from the center of the frame (Figure 6.8). As you can see in Figure6.9, the low position of the lamp illuminated Kristie’s body in the bottomportion of the frame, which turned into an orange streak once the camera’sorientation was shifted upward.

Your strobe settings will vary based on the output of your continuous light,which is why I didn’t include the flash settings in Figure 6.10. If you’re workingwith a monolight rather than a speedlight, you may need to use a neutraldensity or diffusion filter on your light to reduce the output. For example, evenat their lowest settings, a Profoto pack and head is significantly brighter thanmy small flash. While having more power is typically a good thing, it can be anissue if you need to really power it down.

My goal in Lightroom was to brighten the orange streaks withoutoverbrightening the whole image. It helped that the majority of the image wasblue, so I could better isolate the orange areas. In Figure 6.11 you can see that Ibumped up the overall exposure and the shadow and black sliders, and loweredthe highlights to retain the orange streaks. In the tone curves, I raised the redand green curves to draw out the red/orange/yellow of the light trail. I alsobrought up the shadow portion of the blue curve. Next, I added a warm tone tothe highlights in the Split Toning panel to unify the orange and yellow lightstreaks. Finally, I adjusted the overall color relationships in the cameracalibration panel.

Figure 6.8 The camera movement I make during the long exposure can be described as awrist-flick. By jerking the camera upward during the exposure, I achieve a downward-oriented light trail.

Figure 6.9 The RAW file. The low-positioned orange lamplight is transformed into streaksas the camera’s orientation is shifted upward during the exposure.

Figure 6.10 The lighting diagram. Your main light output will vary depending on thebrightness of your fill light. If you’re using a brighter monolight, you may need to use adiffusion filter to reduce its output.

One last note on this shoot: Kristie, my model, is a ballet dancer in my city.We’ve collaborated many times over the years. She appeared in StudioAnywhere, she helped me when I was fleshing out the tricolored shadowtechnique in Studio Anywhere 2, and I made sure to bring her in when I wasworking on this book. Having a subject that is already confident and elegantwhen it comes to posing really makes my job easier when I’m working on newtechniques. I can focus on my light and all the other variables while she givesme “fire” with her every pose (Figure 6.12).

Figure 6.11 The Lightroom settings. Aside from my color grading, I also reduced thenoise in the image.

Figure 6.12 The final shot. Kristie is (or at least appears to be) on fire.

SHOOTING AGAINST A LIGHT BACKGROUNDOnce you have achieved a solid grasp on how to shape your continuous lightsource, and how to balance it with strobe, you’re ready to try the technique infront of a white backdrop. In Figure 6.13, you can see that my subject is sittingseveral feet in front of a white background, near a lamp and a cyan-gelled flash.The lamplight is spilling onto the background, resulting in Figure 6.14. In Figure6.15, I shifted position of the lamp to aim away from the background, pushingthe white of the background into shadow. This shadow area made a greatplaceholder for the cyan strobe, which transformed the image (Figure 6.16).

Figure 6.13 The lamplight is spilling onto the white backdrop, which will wash out thecyan strobe.

Figure 6.14 The cyan strobe fills in the shadows, which is a smaller area that I want dueto the lamp overlighting the background.

Figure 6.15 I aim the lamp away from the white background.

Figure 6.16 The reduced lamplight on the backdrop leaves more shadow areas for thecyan strobe to fill.

Figure 6.17 When you’re color grading a file comprised of dominant cool and warmtones, you can dramatically change the image by changing the temperature and tint inLightroom.

In regards to Figure 3.8, I mentioned how powerful white balance is when colorgrading a strong warm or cool duotone image. Look at how the background colorchanges in Figure 6.17 just by tweaking the temperature and tint sliders in

Lightroom. It’s nearly as powerful as changing my shutter speed to let in moreor less ambient light.

For this next setup, I wanted to have a really specific catchlight in my subject’seyes. I wanted a thin, vertical strip, which I knew I could get by using a tubelight (Figure 6.18). Though the setup shot shows my subject, Shakir, sitting infront of a black wall, I pulled down the white paper for this scenario.

I purchased a black tube light fixture at a head shop and picked up a coolwhite-balanced fluorescent bulb (in the 4000k color-temperature range) fromthe hardware store. My costs were about $30 (much cheaper than a Kino Flolamp, albeit not as bright). I used a couple of spring clamps to attach the lightto a light stand, and positioned it as close as I could to my subject withoutgetting it in my shot (the closer it is, the larger the catchlight). I also addedsome black gaffer tape to the backside of the tube to prevent overlighting thebackground.

Figure 6.18 The setup. I am using a fluorescent tube light that is in the 4000k color-temperature range.

In addition to the specific catchlight in Shakir’s eyes, I also wanted to addsome color to him and the background. I set my exposure so that the

fluorescent light was 2–3 stops underexposed, allowing the red and cyanstrobes to be the dominant light sources. I placed my redgelled flash on thebookshelf by the window and aimed it into the white wall behind it, in order toprovide a soft, red light source. For my fill light (which also acted as thebackground light), I used my round flash modifier (from chapter 1) with a cyan-gelled light.

Figure 6.19 The RAW file. Though the reds and blues are a bit washed out from the

fluorescent light, I will be able to quickly punch them up in post-processing.

Though the red still appears a bit muted in the RAW file (Figure 6.19), the factthat the background has some blue in it means that I will have some latitudewhen it comes to fleshing out my colors in post-processing.

Though there aren’t large light trails in this shot, the slow shutter speed of 1/40still allows for a bit of shake, similar to the blue portrait from the previouschapter (Figure 6.20). As long as there are sharp portions of the image, I lovewhat a bit of camera shake can add to a photograph (Figure 6.21).

Figure 6.20 The lighting diagram. The slower shutter speed of 1/40 allows thefluorescent light to fill in and allows for a slight bit of camera shake.

Figure 6.21 I love what a slight bit of camera shake adds to an image.

In order to restore the richness to the red and cyan in the file, I rely on theDehaze slider and the Camera Calibration panel in Lightroom (Figure 6.22).Because the image is more or less duotone, comprised of a warm and a coolcolor, I can easily push the saturation in the CC panel without losing theintegrity of the colors (Figure 6.23). If there had been four or more colors, forexample, with hues similar to red and blue (like green and orange), I wouldn’thave been able to get away with simply pushing the saturation, or I’d run therisk of reducing all the colors into a mass of simplified reds and blues.

You can also shoot with just a tube light and ring flash, as seen in Figure 6.24. Ipositioned the light just below the frame and had the model look down at thelight. The 4000k temperature bulb is still a warmer color temperature than thecyan-gelled flash, so I could easily push it more orange/red in post-processing,turning the catchlight into a golden glow.

Now that we’ve discussed how to balance continuous light with strobe andimplement intentional camera movement into your shots, we’ll ratchet up thecomplexity a bit in the next chapter as we explore how to create multicoloredshadows.

Figure 6.22 The Lightroom settings. I was able to quickly draw out the reds and blues byusing the dehaze slider and Camera Calibration panel.

Figure 6.23 The final shot. Shakir is looking cool as Hell.

Figure 6.24 This image was lit with just a fluorescent tube light and cyan-gelled ringflash.

GALLERY

“And so I fell in love with a color—in this case, the color blue—as if falling under aspell, a spell I fought to stay under and get out from under, in turns.”

–Maggie Nelson, Bluets

CHAPTER 7

ADDING COLOR TO SHADOWS

Shadows are everywhere. It actually takes a great deal of effort to create ashadowless image: you need several lights and some reflectors or fill cards.But shadows aren’t our enemy. They’re actually fantastic companions forcolor. Remember the scenario with orange-haired Elinor at the end ofchapter 1? I referred to the shadows as a placeholder for the blue light Iadded. This chapter will cover the technique of intentionally creatingshadows on your subject and background in order to fill them in with coloredlight.

SHADOW TYPESNow that we’re thinking of shadows in terms of placeholders, let’s go over thedifferent types of shadows.

HARD SHADOWSThink of the quality of light of a cloudless sky on a sunny day, or of a flash withno modifier. That quality of light is referred to as “hard.” The shadows are crispand dark. Smaller light sources make harder shadows, which means that a flashproduces a harder shadow than a Profoto monolight fired from the samedistance.

How defined the shadows are depends on the distance between the light andthe subject, as well as the distance between the subject and the background.For shadows with the best definition, the light needs to be a good distance fromthe subject and the subject needs to be close to the background. Note howdefined the model’s shadow is as she stands close to the background (Figure7.1). The farther the subject moves off the background, the less defined theshadow will be. Also keep in mind the distance of the light to the subject. Itneeds to be far enough back that the light spread is even across the wholeframe. If it gets too close, a hot spot will form in the middle.

Figure 7.1 Hard shadows are more defined than soft shadows. The closer the subject isto the background, the more defined their shadow will be.

Figure 7.2 Soft shadows have a less-defined, feathered edge.

SOFT SHADOWSDiffused light, whether it’s sunlight diffused by clouds or a flash diffused by ascrim, softbox, or umbrella, is considered “soft.” The shadows you get from softlight source have rounded edges and a smooth transition from light to dark(Figure 7.2). You can soften or remove background shadows by moving yoursubject away from the background. Also, the larger the light source, the softerthe light; moving the light closer to the subject reduces shadows as the lightwraps around them.

DIRECTIONAL SHADOWSThe more extreme the angle of the light source in relation to the subject, thelonger the shadow will be. For example, on the right in Figure 7.3 I have anungelled hard light at an angle to the model. It creates a long, defined shadow,as seen in Figure 7.4. I also had a cyan-gelled softbox in a more frontal position,

which bathed the scene in soft blue light and created a soft shadow to the rightof the subject (Figure 7.5). When used together, the ungelled light fills in themajority of the cyan shadow on the right side of the subject, while the definedshadow on the left remains intact, filled with the cyan light (Figure 7.6).

Figure 7.3 In relation to the subject, I placed a cyan-gelled softbox in a frontal positionto my model, and an ungelled, hard light at an angle to her right.

Figure 7.4 The side angle of the hard light and the close proximity of the model to thebackground created a long, defined shadow on the left.

Figure 7.5 The cyan-gelled softbox fill covered the scene in cyan light, leaving a softshadow on the right.

Figure 7.6 The ungelled hard light filled in much of the soft cyan shadow on the right.The cyan fill is left intact within the hard-light shadow on the left.

WRAPPING SHADOWSYou’ll need a certain light modifier to create wrapping shadows—specifically aring light. A ring light fits around your camera lens, and thus gives you lightthat is centered exactly to the lens. It’s designed to light your subject evenlyfrom every direction. If you use the ring light in close proximity to your subject(as is common practice in beauty shots), you often don’t see much of thebackground. However, if you back off from the subject 5–7 feet, you’ll see thewrapping shadow that the modifier creates.

By positioning your subject 7–10 feet away from the background (Figure 7.7),the shadow is diminished (Figure 7.8). If you move the subject closer to thebackground (Figure 7.9), you will see a soft shadow that wraps around them(Figure 7.10). Now, let’s integrate some color. I gelled my ring light cyan, andpositioned a red-gelled softbox in front of my subject, just out of the frame. Youcan see the result in Figure 7.11: a blue scene with a red subject and a redwrapping shadow.

Figure 7.7 The ring light is 5 feet from the subject, who is 5 feet from the backdrop.

Figure 7.8 The resulting shadow is soft and shapeless.

Figure 7.9 The ring light is 5 feet from the subject, who is right in front of the backdrop.

Figure 7.10 The resulting shadow is soft and wrapping, which is the goal.

Figure 7.11 The cyan-gelled ring light creates the wrapping shadow, which is filled in bya red-gelled softbox in front of the model.

SHADOW FILLThe shadows in your image don’t necessarily need to be created by yoursubject. In Figure 7.12, I positioned my light overhead and affixed the barn doorsnoot to it, closing the barn doors almost all the way shut. This created a sliverof light, which left the image bathed in shadow. I added a yellow gel to thelight, as well as a cyan-gelled ring fill, and got a colorful duotone (Figure 7.13).I used a similar setup in Figure 7.14, except the main light was ungelled andfrontal to the subject.

Figure 7.12 The barn door snoot creates a narrow light source with fast fall-off.

Figure 7.13 I gelled the snooted light yellow and added a cyan-gelled ring light fill tocreate a colorful dutone.

Figure 7.14 In this shot, the barn door is positioned in front of the subject, rather thanabove her.

In this next scenario, I created crisp shadows on my subject to fill in with color,all on a shadowless background. I placed the model right in front of the whitebackground to achieve a vibrant red color from the red-gelled bare flashboomed overhead (Figure 7.15). I used a ring flash (gelled blue) to fill in theshadows. The high position of the hard light creates a low-angling shadow,which doesn’t appear in my frame (Figure 7.16). The blue fill light, while strongenough to fill in the shadows, is placed too low in relation to the red light togreatly change the red hue, resulting in a slightly magenta and blue duotoneimage (Figure 7.17).

As always, the output of your two lights will depend on the gel colors you select.In this scenario, my main light is powered 16 times lower than the fill light, inpart because the main light is bare bulb and the fill light is passing through twolayers of diffusion; also, the red gel is a less dense color than the blue gel,meaning more light gets through it (Figure 7.18).

I didn’t like how magenta Isabella’s shirt looked in the lower half of the image,so I made a gradient adjustment in Lightroom from the bottom of the frame upto the middle of the image, shifting the temperature warmer and lowering thehighlights (Figure 7.19). I used the targeted action tool in the HSL panel totweak the reds and blues until I had the exact hues I wanted. I wrapped up mycolor grading in the Camera Calibration panel. You can see in Figure 7.20 thather shirt is now seamlessly red and the blue shadow areas have been opened upto show more detail.

Figure 7.15 I position the model close to the white sweep to achieve a vibrant redbackground.

Figure 7.16 The high position of the light creates a low-angled shadow.

Figure 7.17 The blue fill, while strong enough to fill in the shadows, is too low in relationto the red light to greatly change its hue, resulting in a slightly magenta and blueduotone image.

Figure 7.18 The red-gelled bare bulb light is powered 16 times lower than the blue-gelled ring fill, due to the difference in gel density and light diffusion.

Figure 7.19 The Lightroom settings. In order to remove the blue cast on the model’swhite shirt, I made a gradient adjust to the lower half of the image. This shifted thetemperature and tint more yellow/magenta, and lowered the highlights.

Figure 7.20 The final shot. The magenta color cast is gone, resulting in a dramatic redand blue image.

UNDER LAYERIn the previous scenario, I mentioned how powerful color temperature is whenworking with both a cool color and a warm color. With a slight shift oftemperature to my RAW file, I was able to turn the slight magenta color castback to the intended red. This next example will show you how to stack a warmcolor with a cool color. This will allow you to choose which tones emerge in yourimage based on the color temperature settings you choose in post-processing.

To achieve an even, soft red light (Figure 7.21), I positioned two lights, one oneither side of the model, and aimed them into nearby white walls (Figure 7.22).You could also bounce them into v-flats or use large, soft-light modifiers (suchas an octabank or softboxes), as space allows. You essentially want to createthe largest light source you can in order to have soft light with a good catchlightin the subject’s eyes.

Figure 7.21 The underlayer of the image is lit with soft, even red light.

Figure 7.22 To achieve the red light, complete with large catchlights in Emilija’s eyes, Ibounced the two red-gelled lights into nearby white walls. The main light is gelled cyan,and fired through a softbox.

Next, I positioned my cyan-gelled softbox close to Emilija, and powered it highenough to ensure it would be the predominant color (Figure 7.23). Dependingon how I shift the temperature in Lightroom, I can flesh out the warm tones orrender them almost nonexistent (Figure 7.24).

Figure 7.23 The main light is powered high enough to overpower the red lights, making itthe dominant color.

Figure 7.24 Shifting the temperature and tint in Lightroom makes the warm tonesincrease or disappear completely.

Another important thing to consider is how to retain drama in your image. Iwent to great lengths to make an eye-catching image, from my model selectionto who I selected to do hair and makeup to how I lit and posed my model. Allthat is for naught if I’m unable to carry the image the rest of the way to thefinish line by properly handling it in post-processing. Look at how dramaticallydifferent the same image looks in Figure 7.25, with just a few tweaks in theBasic panel and tone curve. The top image was my initial color grading. Afterwalking away from my computer screen for a few hours and returning to theimage, I could see that I was overexposing it in Lightroom, losing the dramathat I had constructing with my lighting. By lowering the Exposure slider,cooling off the temperature, bumping up the highlights (to offset the loweredexposure), and raising the shadow portion of the red tone curve, I got Figure7.26. Emilija is blue, with red highlights around her face and in her eyes.

Figure 7.25 The Lightroom settings. By lowering the exposure, cooling off the

temperature, raising the highlights, and raising the shadows areas of the red tone curve,I was able to get a dramatic color grade.

Figure 7.26 The final shot. Emilija is blue, with red highlights around her face and in hereyes.

MULTIPLE SHADOWSAs we learned in chapter 1, per the additive color model, when red, green, andblue light (or cyan, magenta, and yellow) overlap, white light is created.Accordingly, if we were to take three lights and gel them in those colors,colorless light will be formed where they overlap. The magic happens when theoverlapped light is interrupted by a subject, which creates an array of coloredshadows (Figure 7.27).

I discussed this technique in my previous book, Studio Anywhere 2: APhotographer’s Guide to Shaping Hard Light (which bore that image on itscover). Two years have passed since I wrote that book and I’ve had a lot of timeto explore the many variations this technique offers. I’ve learned that you canstill achieve neutral light without using magenta, as is illustrated by KevinHart’s yellow and cyan shadows in Figure 7.28. I’ve also experimented withdifferent methods of creating shadows, like the hair movement in Figure 7.29.Finally, I’ve minimized my gear rig needed to execute this technique.

Figure 7.27 When cyan, magenta, and yellow light overlaps, colorless light is created.Multicolored shadows result from one or more of the colored lights being blocked by anobject or person.

Figure 7.28 Neutral light can still be achieved using just cyan and yellow gels, asillustrated here with actor Kevin Hart.

Figure 7.29 Windblown hair is a fantastic shadow generator, making it perfect for thistechnique.

When I first began using this technique, I lugged three light stands with me toshoot. This was a tiring task, especially when working alone, as I often do. I’vesince come up with a lightweight (and cheap) solution: cold shoe extensionrails. In Figure 7.30, you can see that I have two 16-inch rails connected to aNikon AS-19 speedlight stand (it’s better than the one that comes with theCactus flashes). I also flattened out a small metal corner brace and used it tojoin the two rails. The joint bears the weight of the speedlights (rather than theflash stand) and levels out the two rails, which would otherwise sag under theweight of the flashes.

The greater the distance between the lights, the longer the colored shadows willbe in the image. In Figure 7.31, the three lights are positioned next to eachother, which results in short, colored shadows and a large, colorless shadowwhere the lights all overlap. When I added 1 foot of space between each light,the colored shadows grew while the colorless shadow decreased (Figure 7.32).Another benefit of having all three lights on one stand is it’s easy to quicklyreposition them for longer shadows (Figure 7.33).

Figure 7.30 I use two 16-inch cold shoe extension rails with a metal corner brace in themiddle to bear the weight of the rails and the speedlights. This allows broad spacing ofthe lights on a single light stand.

Figure 7.31 The three colored flashes are positioned next to each other, resulting inshorter colored shadows and a large, colorless shadow.

Figure 7.32 The three colored flashes are placed a foot apart, resulting in longer coloredshadows and a minimal colorless shadow.

Figure 7.33 With all three flashes on one stand, I can easily reposition them to changethe length of the shadows.

I recently did a beauty shoot with a model covered in jewels. She had gemsglued all over her face and chest. I was already planning to use this tricoloredtechnique, but I also added a Hoya star filter to my lens to transform thespectacular highlights from the jewels into starbursts (Figure 7.34).

To maximize the starbursts, I positioned my lights at an angle to the model,Maddie, so I could see the lights reflecting in the jewels (Figure 7.35). Since myflashes don’t have modeling lights, I always hit the “test” button on thetransmitter so I can see where the light is falling in the scene (making sure tofirst tell the model to look away from the flashes).

Figure 7.34 The setup. My light(s) are positioned to my left at an elevated position inrelation to the model in order to maximize the lens flare reflections in the jewels.

Figure 7.35 The lighting diagram. To achieve balance between the gelled lights, mygreen light is at 1/2, my red light is four times lower at 1/8, and my blue light is evenlower, at 1/16.

Figure 7.36 I put each color on its own channel, dialing them in one at a time. I turn onall the channels and make sure I get a neutral color in the overlaps.

Figure 7.37 The invaluable feature of the Cactus V6II transmitter is that once I get abalanced ratio between the lights, I can power them all up or down while maintainingthe integrity of the ratio.

The first thing to do when using this technique is balance the output betweenthe three lights. Your light outputs will vary depending on the density of theshades of the colors you’re working with. I’ve found that my green light (set to1/2) tends to be twice as bright as my red light (set to 1/4), which is twice asbright as my blue light (set to 1/8) (Figure 7.36). With the Cactus V6IItransmitter, I can quickly adjust each output to create a perfect balance bylighting in layers, one at a time. I can adjust each light in 1/3-stop incrementsand once the perfect color ratio is achieved, I can dial the global power up ordown, maintaining the integrity of the ratio (pretty cool, huh?) (Figure 7.37).

Once I had my settings figured out, I moved around Maddie, shooting from anumber of angles, to ensure I got the best-possible starbursts (Figure 7.38). Thebest part of using this technique is the beautiful chaos that occurs wheneverthe model moves, creating more colorful shadows (Figure 7.39). As you can seein my setup shot, I used a stool on casters, which allowed me to move to mygear rack and my light stand, as well as back and forth to alter composition,without a lot of standing up, sitting down, and walking on my knees. It saves

me a lot of time and energy.

In Lightroom (Figure 7.40), I decided to add a warm tone to the image bylowering the highlight points in the green and blue tones curves, thus addingmagenta and yellow to the image. Though I could’ve simply adjusted the colortemperature setting to achieve a warmer image, by lowering the highlight pointsof the cooler tone curves instead, I added warmth to the highlight portions ofthe image, which reduced the shininess in her skin (Figure 7.41).

Figure 7.38 The RAW file. Maddie is now both colorful and sparkly.

Figure 7.39 My favorite part of this technique is the unplanned, colorful shadows thatresult from the subject’s movements.

Figure 7.40 The Lightroom settings. To minimize the glossiness of the model’s skin, Ilowered the right side of the blue tone curve, which added warmth to the highlights.

Figure 7.41 The final shot. Maddie shines bright, like a diamond.

MULTIPLE EXPOSUREWhat’s more fun than playing with chaotic, colorful shadows? Why, adding anextra layer of chaos and color, obviously. Many cameras have a multipleexposure feature. In the Canon 5DIII, there are a few options to choose frombefore you get going. You need to select how many exposures are in one shot; ifeach exposure is saved or just the resulting image is saved; and how the imagesare blended together (Figure 7.42).

In Figure 7.43, you can see the colorful shadows on Curtis’ shirt, which werecreated using the CMY technique we just discussed. It’s a pleasant image, but Iwant to add extra punch to it, which I can do by making a multiple exposurewith the same CMY technique. As usual, I have each of the three lights on theirown channel.

Figure 7.42 When making an in-camera multiple exposure with a Canon 5DIII, you haveseveral options to select, such as how many exposures are in one shot, how theexposures are blended, and if every shot is saved or just the final image.

Figure 7.43 Here I used cyan, magenta, and yellow lights to get colorful shadows on

Curtis.

I begin by setting my camera to take three exposures with the blending modeset to “average.” For each 3-shot portrait, I start by toggling off channels B andC, leaving on just A, and take a shot. Then I toggle off A, and turn on B andtake a shot. Then I do the same with C (Figure 7.44). In the second betweeneach exposure, as I am toggling channels on and off, my composition shiftsslightly, as does my subject. This means that each colored exposure is different(Figure 7.45), resulting in an even more vibrant, chaotic image (Figure 7.46).

Figure 7.44 I made a multiple exposure using three shots. One exposure was made usingonly the cyan light, one with only the magenta light, and one with only the yellow light.

Figure 7.45 Since I was shooting handheld, each of the exposures is slightly different.Both the subject and my hand moved slightly in between shots as I toggled the differentlight channels on and off.

Figure 7.46 The result is a much more colorful, chaotic image than the original,multicolored portrait.

Figure 7.47 I often direct my subject to make movements, or I move the cameradramatically between each exposure, resulting in a colorful, abstract image.

There are endless possibilities once you start experimenting with multipleexposures. When I am making a multiple exposure, I make sure to explain tomy subject how many exposures there are in each sequence, giving them abetter idea of what I’m doing and when we’ve moved on to a new shot.Sometimes I direct them to be still, or I change the camera angle or movecloser or farther from my subject between each exposure (Figure 7.47).

You can also experiment with using a different number of exposures per shotand different blending modes. You can see how changing the blending modealters how each image looks in Figure 7.48. In Figure 7.49, I used the sametechnique that I did with Curtis in Figure 7.46, except this time I used red,green, and blue gels, with the blending mode set to “bright.” Figure 7.49 isstraight out of camera. Zero editing. The resulting images makes me think ofwhat it might look like if each colored layer of a screen print came to life andstarted moving on its own.

Colored shadows can be created in a myriad of ways. Explore layering differentcolor combinations, and combining these techniques with concepts fromprevious chapters. The exploration is my favorite part.

Figure 7.48 The image changes dramatically just by switching the blending mode. Theblending modes used in these images are (a) additive balance, (b) average, (c) bright,and (d) dark.

Figure 7.49 To make this straight-out-of-camera image, I used the same technique I didwith Curtis in Figure 7.46, except the blending mode was set to “bright.”

GALLERY

“A thimbleful of red is redder than a bucketful.”–Henri Matisse

CHAPTER 8

GOBOS

The term gobo is often reserved for lens filters and patterns that are affixedto theater lights. In my work, I place objects between the light and thesubject to shape and create color. These objects are not attached to thelight, so flag and cucoloris (often referred to as a cookie) are more accurateterms for them; for the sake of simplicity, however, I’ll use the term “gobo”to encompass all such modifiers. It could be something purchased from acamera shop or a found object, such as a tree branch or chain-link fence—as long as it modifies the light. You can even use a colored gel as a gobo.

USING FOUND OBJECTSAs I covered in the previous chapter, when using the triple colored-flashtechnique, the true magic happens when colorless light is interrupted by anobject, resulting in colorful shadows. The shadows in those examples had beencast on the backdrop by the subject. But shadows can be created by just aboutanything. Look what happens when my model’s wet hair hung in front of herface (Figure 8.1): hundreds of tiny hair gobos created hundreds of coloredshadows.

Figure 8.1 My subject’s wet hair acted as a gobo for the triple gelled-light technique.

Figure 8.2 The setup. My subject is sitting against a white wall, which allows theshadows to fall on her and the background.

Figure 8.3 The RAW file. Place the gobo close to the subject and the light at least 5–7feet away from the gobo in order to get more defined shadows.

I placed my subject against a white wall (Figure 8.2). If she had been severalfeet away from the wall, the shadows would fall on her face, but not thebackground. This way, the model and the shadows fall on the same plane.

Next, I placed a plant as close to her as I could get without the leaves gettingin my shot. If the light and gobo are too close to each other or if the gobo is toofar from the subject, the shapes will be very feathered and soft. I placed thelight 5–7 feet away from the plant in order to maintain an even light spreadacross my image frame. When it comes to shaping the definition of shadowscreated by gobos, the same laws discussed in the previous chapter still apply.Basically, the closer the gobo is to the subject, the more defined the shadowwill be. The farther the light is from the gobo, the more defined the shadow willbe (Figure 8.3).

When using cyan, magenta, and yellow gels for the triple gelled-light technique,the colors are close enough in brightness value that the light outputs are allequal (Figure 8.4). Note that your flash output will vary based on the distance ofyour light(s) to your subject, as well as the size and depth of your gobo. Iwanted to make sure that the colors didn’t get lost in the white of the wall, so Ibegan by lowering the highlight slider in Lightroom (Figure 8.5). Next, I fleshed

out the colors with a series of curve adjustments; I also pushed the saturationin the blue and red primary channels of the CC panel. I increased the dehazeslider to bring out the saturation of the colored shadows and lowered the Clarityto soften the edges of the shadows, which had darkened due to the increaseddehaze value. The final image is colorful enough for a Lisa Frank T-shirt (Figure8.6).

Figure 8.4 The lighting diagram. The cyan, magenta, and yellow colored gels are closeenough in brightness value to each other that they have equal light output.

Figure 8.5 The Lightroom settings. I lowered the highlights and increased the dehazeslider to saturate the colored shadows, and lowered the clarity to soften the shadowedges.

Figure 8.6 The final shot. The colorful shadows create a tropical vibe that Lisa Frankwould be proud of.

USING GELS AS GOBOSFor a hard separation of color on my subject or in my scene (as seen in thechapter-opening image), hang a large gel just outside the frame, as close to thesubject as possible (Figure 8.7). I purchased 2 x 2' gels from Rosco in red, blue,and yellow.

I’ve had students ask me why I don’t just tape a gel over half of my flash head,as seen in Figure 8.8. This technique results in a feathered, diluted light andcolor, as seen in Figure 8.9.

Figure 8.7 In order to get crisp color differentiation, use a large gel as a gobo, positioningit as close to the model as possible.

Figure 8.8 Some people mistakenly think they can achieve the look by attaching a gel tohalf of a flash head.

Figure 8.9 By attaching a colored gel to half of a flash head, you get a feathered, dilutedcolor.

Figure 8.10 While the background red is rich, the model’s face is a bit dark.

Figure 8.11 When I color grade the file to achieve correct exposure for her face, thebackground color gets washed out.

Figure 8.12 By moving the subject and gobo away from the background and lighting thebackground separately, I had more control over the red parts of my image.

This technique is best used in combination with a lit background. Since thecolor falls on both the subject and the background, you don’t have a lot ofleeway when pushing the colors in Lightroom. Note the RAW file in Figure 8.10.The background color is rich, but the model’s face is too dark. However, when Iadjust the exposure to get her face looking good, the red on the backgroundlooks washed out (Figure 8.11). Since all the magic of the technique is in thecolor fall-off on her face, I would need to separate my subject from thebackground, giving me only one red area to adjust, rather than two. To achievethis, you’ll need to move your subject and your gobo 7–10 feet from thebackground, and light the background and the model separately. You can seethe result of this technique in Figure 8.12. (This image is with a different modelfrom another shoot.)

An alternate use for gels is holding them over your lens and shooting throughthem to wash an entire section of your image in color (Figure 8.13). I cut a 4 x

4" section from a large blue gel, and cut a 2-inch hole in the middle of it toshoot through. It’s the same idea behind prisming—a technique wherephotographers hold prisms over part of their lens to add a layer of distortion andabstraction to their image—except you get a graduated color over your imagerather than distortion (Figure 8.14). This technique gives you a different resultthan a shot using a second, low-positioned blue-gelled light, as discussed inthe clamshell technique in chapter 4.

Figure 8.13 The setup. I removed a section from a large blue gel and cut a hole in thecenter. I held it over my lens and shot through it.

Figure 8.14 The technique is similar to prisming, although instead of distortion andabstraction, you get graduated color over your image.

Once I had shot Shelby for a few minutes at a conventional exposure, I decidedto try the shot with the addition of movement. I lowered my shutter speed to1/6 and allowed quite a bit of camera shake with each shot (Figure 8.15). Mystrobe was powered high enough that my aperture was closed down to f/8,which helped lower the ambient room light to 3–4 stops underexposed,meaning the shutter drag effect is much more subtle (Figure 8.16).

In Lightroom (Figure 8.17), I lowered the vibrance a bit, which removed some ofthe warm tones from her skin and some richness from the blue. I also made aradial adjustment for each of her eyes, opening up the shadow areas. I madeseveral curve adjustments, bumped up the Dehaze and grain sliders, andfinished it off with tweaks to the shadow tint and blue channel in the CC panel(Figure 8.18).

Figure 8.15 The lighting diagram. After using a conventional shutter speed, Iexperimented with a low speed, adding a bit of movement to the image.

Figure 8.16 The RAW file. The ambient light in the room was about 3-4 stops

underexposed, making the shutter drag effect more subtle.

Figure 8.17 The Lightroom settings. I lowered the vibrance to remove the warm tonesfrom her face. I also bumped up the grain and dehaze sliders, and shifted the shadowtint and hue of the blue channel.

Figure 8.18 The final shot. Shelby is kind of blue (so what?).

FINE-TUNE YOUR PROCESSWhen it comes to technique, my goal is to practice it until I completelyunderstand it. That way, when I am photographing a client, I am not spending alot of time and mental energy trying to figure out solutions to problems during ashoot. I want to save my limited mental resources for subject interaction. OnceI understand a range of techniques, I add them to my proverbial tool belt,allowing me to tailor each setup to what the model or creative team bring to ashoot. I might go into a project with a few vague ideas of colors or light qualitythat I want to use, but I prefer to wait until I see how the clothing, makeup,and hair look at the time of the shoot before making too many decisions.

Although a bit of preproduction planning is unavoidable and certainly advisable,I try to go into a shoot as open-minded as possible. I make most of my lightingdecisions on the spot. It feels more collaborative that way—not unlike a jazzimprovisation. This is why I make sure to assemble a qualified creative team. Itrust my hair and makeup artists’ eyes, and I trust my stylist and set designer’screative decisions.

Although, I must add that my team hates it when I offer little to no input inpreproduction discussions. My answer is always along the lines of: “I’m notsure how I want to light it. I’ll wait to see what the stylist brings. If there’sanything you’ve been wanting to explore with makeup or hair, send meinspiration shots.”

This way, for example, when my model brings a beautiful floral-print dress to ashoot, I know that using the gobo technique detailed in the first part of thechapter will make the scene mimic the pattern of her dress (Figure 8.19). If themodel comes out in a pleated dress, I know that positioning a hard accent lightslightly behind her will create a fantastic texture on her dress (Figure 8.20). Thismanner of working helps me continue to grow—and to avoid getting stuck in anartistic rut.

A note on my work process: We live in a world of constant distraction. Theinternet and social media inundate us with images all day long. I make it apoint to minimize my interaction so as not to add to the “noise.”Compartmentalizing and limiting my media intake helps to clear my head. Forexample, on Instagram I only follow photographers whose work resonates withme, pushes me, or inspires me. I don’t follow many friends or models I’veworked with; I don’t even follow many of my favorite photographers because

they post mainly personal snapshots rather than their professional work.

Figure 8.19 I used the CMY-plant-gobo technique from the first part of the chapter whenI saw the floral dress my model brought to the shoot.

Figure 8.20 I placed a hard light slightly behind the model in order to accentuate thepleats on her dress.

By restricting myself in this way, I am training my brain to acknowledge thatwhen I open up Instagram it’s only for work and research. This helps me spendmore time in the moment, seeing and interacting with the world around me,

which often leads to ideas for photo shoots. I treat Instagram (and Tumblrbefore that, and Flickr before that) like a pinboard. I quickly scroll through myfeed in a few minutes and get back to my day. I reserve Facebook for keepingupdated with my friends and family, and use Twitter for news and politics. Thispractice also helps keep me from stagnating, since when I do open Instagram, Iam only seeing images that are blowing my mind. It’s useful to be reminded ofhow vast and talented the world is, so that we never stop pushing ourselves andgrowing.

GALLERY

“Mere color, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak tothe soul in a thousand different ways.”

–Oscar Wilde

CHAPTER 9

PROJECTORS

In my opinion, there’s an extra layer of believability—a tangibility, if you will—to using practical effects in image-making as opposed to relying heavilyon creating effects in post-production. My postproduction work is limited bythe breadth (or lack) of my imagination, which is why I try to get as much asI can in-camera. For example, one time I was projecting a lighting bolt onmy subject’s face and the lightning illuminated her eye in a really beautifulway (seen in the gallery at the end of the chapter). I wouldn’t have thoughtto create that effect if I were relying on Photoshop to make the image.Projectors are a fantastic lighting tool that allows you to create customshapes and colors to accent your images, enabling you to create vibrant in-camera effects. This chapter will explore several ways to use projectors as alighting tool in photography.

PROJECTING ON THE BACKGROUNDI first used a projector as a lighting tool in 2015 in a fashion story aboutvacation getaways. It was February in Ohio, and the only available outdooroptions were dark skies and snow or ice-covered surfaces, so I projected exoticlocales on a wall behind the model. The only projector I had access to was old,dim, and would stop working every time it was bumped. Despite all theelements working against me, I pulled off an image I was happy with (Figure9.1).

Because the projector was dim, and since I needed the projector to be farenough away from the background that the image filled my frame, I had tocompletely darken the room that I was shooting in to keep the room light fromdiluting the projection (Figure 9.2). All that is to say that when it comes toselecting a projector to use in a shoot, go for the brightest one you can find. Ihave since purchased an Epson EX3240 projector; it was basically thebrightest, highest-rated projector that I could find (3200 lumens) withoutspending a fortune (less than $400).

Figure 9.1 For this fashion story about vacation getaways, I projected exotic backdrops

with the projector.

Figure 9.2 The projector I first used was so dim that I had to completely black out theroom to keep the ambient light from diluting the projection.

Figure 9.3 I mount my projector to a laptop stand with duct tape, allowing me to positionmy laptop horizontally or vertically.

The problem with using a projector as a light source is that it’s tough to get itinto desirable positions. Projectors are designed to be stationary, and allmounting systems that I have found for them are designed accordingly. Ideally,I would have the projector mounted onto a ball head so I can position it at anyangle. The best solution I have found is a laptop stand (Figure 9.3). The standrotates on a single axis point to a 90-degree angle, allowing horizontal andvertical positions. I use duct tape to attach the projector to the stand. If youhappen to have a more efficient solution, by all means let me know.

There are a number of ways to use projectors in a shoot. You can aim theprojection behind the model, as I did in Figure 9.1; you can aim it onto boththe model and background; or you can position it in such a manner that it fallson the subject but not the background. Once you determine where you will aimyour projector and you begin calculating your exposure, make sure to keep trackof what the ambient light in the room is doing. In Figure 9.4, you can see howthe tungsten light in the next room affected the ambient exposure.

Next, you need to check the resolution settings on the projector. In Figure 9.5,you can see that the projected image on the left is rendering poorly, resulting inpixelated shapes. One workaround can be shifting the projector lens slightly outof focus. Another is lowering the sharpness in the menu settings of theprojector. Side note: I’ve found that if the projector is closer to the subject,

there is little-to-no pixelation.

Figure 9.4 When using a projector, make sure that the ambient light in the room isn’tinterfering with the projector image, as indicated by the orange light in the left image.

Figure 9.5 By lowering the sharpness in the menu of the projector or by shifting theprojector lens out of focus, you can avoid projecting large pixels on your subject.

PROJECTING ON BOTH THE SUBJECT AND THE BACKGROUNDIn this scenario, I was doing a photo shoot for a local clothing designer’s newcollection. The designer had made several floral patterns that she printed ontothe fabrics she used to make the garments. We decided it’d be cool to alsoproject her designs onto the model and clothing for the shoot.

I began by firing up the projector and cutting the room lights. To takeadvantage of every lumen in the projector, it’s best to align the projector withthe orientation of the camera, allowing it to be as close to the subject aspossible. This means that since I was shooting a vertical portrait orientation,the projector needed to be positioned at a 90-degree angle to project a verticalimage.

When projecting an image on both the subject and the background, thesubject’s shadow will appear on the background (Figure 9.6). As we learned inchapters 1 and 7, shadows are fantastic placeholders for other colors. Ratherthan trying to position myself to a place where I didn’t see the model’s shadow

on the background, I added a fill color. I selected a cyan gel to complement themagenta and navy garments, and to brighten up the color palette. A warmercolor would neutralize the garment colors and a darker shade of blue would’vebeen too visually heavy with the already dark-colored garments. I gelled thesoftbox and positioned it at a high angle to the right of the subject (Figure 9.7)in order to fill in the heavy shadows with soft cyan light (Figure 9.8).

Figure 9.6 When projecting an image onto both the subject and the background, ashadow will be cast on the background.

Figure 9.7 I added a cyan-gelled softbox to the right of the subject at an elevated angleto fill in the shadow created by the projector.

Figure 9.8 The RAW file. The shadows created by the projector are now cyan.

Note the camera and flash settings in Figure 9.9. The projector needed to beabout 15 feet away from the subject to light her from head to toe. This meantthat the projected image was not very bright. As a result, my shutter speed wasdown to 1/40 at f/3.5. I used an ISO of 500 to get a good exposure for theprojector. This meant that my flash had to be powered down to 1/64 to notoverpower the projector. Had I not needed to shoot a full-body shot, I wouldhave been able to position the projector much closer to the subject. A brighterprojection means using a faster shutter, smaller aperture, and brighter flashoutput.

When I opened the file in Lightroom (Figure 9.10), I started by making agradient adjustment, beginning at the bottom of the image, bumping up theshadows. Next, I made a series of curve adjustments to flesh out the colors inthe file. Then I used the targeted action tool in the HSL panel, adjusting thehue and luminance of blue/cyan and red/purple/magenta. I finished off theimage with a slight increase to dehaze and a tweak to the overall colors in theCC panel (Figure 9.11).

Figure 9.9 The Lighting diagram. The projector was about 15 feet from the subject,resulting in a low-light scenario. As a result, I needed a slow shutter, wide aperture, andlow flash output.

Figure 9.10 The Lightroom settings. I made a gradient adjustment from the bottom of theimage, raising the shadows. Then I adjusted the colors in all three panels: curves, HSL,and CC.

Figure 9.11 The final shot. The colors and patterns from the projector and strobe helpcomplement those of the garments.

PROJECTING ON THE SUBJECTMany of the images that I use in my projections I created in Photoshop. I madesimple shapes and patterns involving a range of colors, such as the orangecircle on a blue background seen in Figure 9.12. You can see how thisprojection looks when projected on both the subject and background in Figure9.13. In Figure 9.14, you can see that my subject is about 6 feet away from thewall and about 3 feet from the projector. Note how by simply taking a few stepsto the side and changing my orientation in relation to the model, my cameraframe captured the unlit portion of the wall, resulting in a black background(Figure 9.15). No gel gobo in the world will give you a transition that clean.

Figure 9.12 I made a number of simple shape and color designs to use as projections,such as this orange circle on blue.

Figure 9.13 The projection on both the subject and the background.

Figure 9.14 Here is the pattern projected on the subject, who is seated 6 feet from thebackground. By stepping a few feet to the side and changing my orientation to themodel, my camera frame captured the unlit portion of the wall, resulting in a blackbackground.

Figure 9.15 The pattern projected on my subject but not the background.

Another way to create images for projection is to modify existing imagery. Isearched Google for my source images, making sure to set the searchparameters to only look for large images. You can also set the parameters tolook for openlicense images, which is important if you’re using a source imagein a way that it will still be recognizable (which I rarely do). Most of the time, Iam just using the source image as a way to quickly create a pattern, renderingit unrecognizable in the final image.

For example, I found an image of cracked earth that I liked and opened it inPhotoshop (Figure 9.16). I selected the magic wand tool, setting the toleranceto 50, which allowed me to quickly select most of the cracked portions of theimage (Figure 9.17). Had I wanted to make sure I got all the cracked areas, Icould Option-click and select the “similar” option to get every black crack inthe image, but my initial selection worked just fine. Next, I created a fill layer,using the “solid color” option (Figure 9.18) and set the color to red (Figure9.19). When I delete the source-image layer, I am left with just the red cracks(Figure 9.20). I finish by making another fill layer, this time selecting black, andmaking it the bottom layer (Figure 9.21). I flatten the image and save it as ajpeg. The only part of the original image left to project on my model are thevibrant red cracks (Figure 9.22).

Figure 9.16 I use source images from Google to create custom projections.

Figure 9.17 Once I save an image and open it in Photoshop, I use the magic wand tool(set to a high tolerance of 50) and select the black cracks.

Figure 9.18 I create a solid color fill layer.

Figure 9.19 I set the color to red.

Figure 9.20 I delete the background layer.

Figure 9.21 I create a new, black fill layer, and position it as the bottom layer. Then Iflatten the image and save it as a jpeg.

Figure 9.22 The final custom pattern.

Figure 9.23 The Lighting diagram. Because I am not shooting full body in this scenario,my projector can be positioned closer to the subject.

I’ve made dozens of patterns that I (or my model) will select from when makingan image. Once an image is selected, I hook up my laptop to the projector, andset my projector at a 90-degree angle (assuming I’m shooting a verticalcomposition). In this scenario, my portrait composition was from the waist up orcloser, meaning I can have the projector within 7–10 feet of the subject. Thiscreates a brighter projection, so I use a faster shutter speed, a lower ISO, and asmaller aperture to eliminate any ambient room light (Figure 9.23).

In Figure 9.24, I’ve projected the cracked earth image onto my subject. I addeda cyan-gelled softbox at a 45-degree angle from the camera, leaving the cameraside of the subject in shadow. I position my projector at the same angle as themain light, then take a test shot and determine whether or not to move

anything. One of the best parts about using projectors as a light source is thatyou can adjust the attributes of a projection in just a few seconds. Since myprojector is already connected to my laptop, I can open the projected image inPhotoshop and shift the hues, or even use the transform option to adjustthickness or rotation.

I typically pair a monochromatic projection with a gelled light in acomplementary color. As I mentioned in the shutter drag technique, when usinga dutone image comprised of a cool and a warm color, you can dramaticallychange an image in post-production by adjusting the white balance. For thisimage, I was able to emphasize the red by raising the highlight area of the redtone curve and adjusting the red and green primary sliders in the CC panel(Figure 9.25). I cranked up the dehaze to add a dark drama to the overall imageand bumped up the clarity to add muscle definition (Figure 9.26).

Figure 9.24 The RAW file. The colors are there but need to be fleshed out.

Figure 9.25 The Lightroom settings. I drew out the reds and blues by using the dehazeslider and camera calibration panel. By increasing the clarity, I was able to emphasizethe subject’s muscles.

Figure 9.26 The final shot. A quote from Pineapple Express comes to mind: “I’m gonnaflex and bust out of here. . . .”

Have fun experimenting with projections. Play with projecting video or a movingslideshow while making multiple exposures, which is what I did in the chapter-opening image. Try positioning the projection on the shadow area of the subject(Figure 9.27. Any of the techniques from prior chapters can be used incombination with projections.

Figure 9.27 Experiement with positioning your projection on the shadow area of yoursubject.

Figure 9.28 Since projectors are a continuous light source, you can use shutter drag tochange your image.

Personally, my favorite way to incorporate projectors into my image-making is touse it in combination with shutter drag, which works since the projectorprovides a continuous light source (Figure 9.28). Depending on the type ofprojector you are working with, you can get different effects with shutter drag.Look what happened when I used a short throw projector (which is used toproject large images in short distances) (Figure 9.29). Note that it wouldn’t workto use shutter drag in combination with a strobe-based alternative to a projector(such as a Light Blaster), because it’s not a continuous light source.

Figure 9.29 When you use shutter drag in combination with a short throw projector, theeffect is different than when using a traditional projector.

GALLERY

“They were color pictures of black and white . . .”–Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

CHAPTER 10

COLOR IN BLACK-AND-WHITE

You may be asking yourself why there’s a chapter about black-and-whiteimage-making in a book dedicated to color. However, if you’ve spent muchtime in Lightroom, you may have noticed that the Hue, Saturation, andLuminance sliders update to read “Black & White Mix” when you switch toBlack & White mode. This feature allows you to raise or lower the lightlevels of each indivudal color from your original image, which means thatyou can make more nuanced adjustments to specific gray levels in yourimage than you could by adjusting the contrast or tone curves. In thischapter, we will cover how to intentionally light your images with color inorder to give you more control when editing black-and-white files.

COLOR GRADINGIn Figure 10.1, I’ve projected bands of color onto my daughter, Margot, toillustrate the control the Black & White Mix offers. I began by toggling over toBlack & White mode at the top of the Basic panel (Figure 10.2). When youconvert from color to black-and-white, there is a predetermined mix already set(Figure 10.3). I always start by double-clicking the words “Black & White Mix”to zero out all of the sliders (Figure 10.4) so I can better determine which colorsliders I need to raise and which I need to lower to get the look I want.

Figure 10.1 The RAW file. I lit my daughter with a multicolored projection todemonstrate how to adjust the colors in Lightroom’s Black & White mode.

Figure 10.2 Toggle over to Black & White mode to begin color grading your file.

Figure 10.3 The color sliders have a preset “mix” after converting to Black & Whitemode.

Figure 10.4 Double-click on the words “Black & White Mix” to zero out the preset mix.

Next, I pick a cool color and a warm color, raising one and lowering the other.In this case, I raised the cyan and blue channels and lowered the red andorange channels (Figure 10.5). Now the bands that were red and orange arenearly black and the bands that were cyan and blue are light gray. To furthermanipulate the colors, you can adjust the Temp and Tint in the White Balancepanel, which will deepen or lighten gray tones. As you can see in Figure 10.6,my dark-gray tones turn black and my light-gray tones turn nearly white.

Once I get my colors the shade I want, I can add a color tone to the black-and-white file by adjusting the RGB tone curve (Figure 10.7). Note that by adjustingthe colors in the tone curve, the gray levels and Black & White Mix won’t beaffected. Next, I bumped up the clarity to define the color bands and raised thegreen slider and eased up on the red slider. I further fine-tuned the colors inthe Camera Calibration panel, shifting the shadow tint green and lowering thesaturation of the blue channel. As you can see in the final image (Figure 10.8),color bands that were previously light gray are now black, and color bands that

were previously a darker tone are now lighter.

Figure 10.5 I raised the cyan and blue channels and lowered the red and orangechannels to affect the warm and cool colors. Then I shifted the Temp and Tint in theWhite Balance panel until I got a look that I liked.

Figure 10.6 With a small change to the Temp and Tint sliders, certain colors shift fromgray to black.

Figure 10.7 The Lightroom settings. I increased the Clarity to define the individual colorbands. I added contrast by making a tone curve adjustment. I also lowered thesaturation of the blue primary slider in the CC panel.

Figure 10.8 The final shot. Colors that originally converted to light gray are now black,and colors that originally converted to dark gray are now light.

RED AND CYANEarly on in my gel experiments, I used Black & White mode as a band-aid whenI failed to achieve the colors I liked. Now I use it as an opportunity to provideclients with more options, in addition to the color images of the same pose. Iused the color bands in the previous section to demonstrate the power of toningindividual color channels; however, when I gel my lights specifically for creatingblack-and-white images, I stick to red and cyan.

These colors cover the cool and warm parts of the color spectrum, and I canadjust them in the WB or CC panels to get a wide range of tonal values. InFigure 10.9, you can see that Abby is lit with a soft red light on the left and acyan light on the right. By lowering the red channel, I can give this two-lightshot the appearance of a one-light portrait (Figure 10.10). It’s kind of like beingable to add or remove a bounce fill after the fact.

Figure 10.9 When gelling my lights for a black-and-white image, I use cyan and red tocover both the cool and warm parts of the color spectrum.

Figure 10.10 Having the ability to easily raise or lower shadows in an image is like addingor removing a bounce fill after the fact.

If you’ve learned nothing else about me in the previous chapters, it should beclear by now that I always take experimentation a step further to see how manyways I can work a technique. For instance, let’s revisit Figure 9.26, when Iused a red projection in combination with a cyan strobe. Now, knowinglylighting this subject for a black-and-white image, I position the projector todisplay a red, broken-glass pattern over my subject’s eye (Figure 10.11). I add acyan-gelled strobe, which helps create a more defined edge to the redprojection. When I lower the red channel in post-processing, the red patternturns black (Figure 10.12). I’ve dubbed the technique eliminance, as in theelimination of luminance. It’s a really fun technique to use in yourexperimentation.

Figure 10.11 I project a red pattern on my subject, and use a cyan strobe to help definethe edges of the pattern.

Figure 10.12 I’ve termed this technique eliminance, as in the elimination of luminance.

GALLERY

“How do you know, when you think blue—when you say blue—that you are talking about

the same blue as anyone else?

You cannot get a grip on blue.

Blue is the sky, the sea, a god’s eye, a devil’s tail, a birth,a strangulation, a virgin’s cloak, a monkey’s ass.

It’s a butterfly, a bird, a spicy joke, the saddest song, the brightest day.”–Christopher Moore, Sacré Blue: A Comedy d’Art

EPILOGUE

Now that your metaphorical tool belt is filled with color techniques, the bestthing to do is to start using them. You can experiment with using a combinationof techniques for interesting shots: shutter drag with a projector; a gobo withcolor blocking; triple shadow with multiple exposure. Why not throw them allinto one shot: multiple exposure of a subject, lit with a projector and a CMYtriple flash, fired through a plant, while using shutter drag. Have fun exploring.

Use the hashtag #chromaanywhere so I can see your creations. Happy shooting!

—Nick

“My skin is kind of sort of brownishPinkish yellowish white.

My eyes are greyish blueish green,But I’m told they look orange in the night.

My hair is reddish blondish brown,But it’s silver when it’s wet.

And all the colors I am insideHave not been invented yet.”

–Shel Silverstein, Colors

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nick Fancher is a photographer, author, and educator who specializes indramatic lighting, often employing the use of bold colors and experimentalcamera techniques. His work ranges from portrait and commercial photographyto fine art. He is particularly known for his efficient method of working, withminimal gear, often in unconventional locations.

Nick graduated from the Ohio State University with a BFA in photography in2005. He has authored several books on his techniques, including StudioAnywhere 1 and 2. His lighting workshops have taken him across the U.S. andaround the world. He is an ambassador for Cactus flashes.

Nick is currently based in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife, Beth, and children,Jack and Margot.

http://www.rockynook.com/information/newsletter

Join us on social!@rocky_nook

Table of Contents

Title 2Copyright 3Acknowledgements 5Contents 6Introduction 9Chapter 1 Color Theory 12

An Overview of Color Theory 13Using Color Intentionally 31Orange You Glad I Added Blue? 36

Chapter 2 The Basics of Colored Gels 62My Gear Kit 63Following the Rules 72Breaking the Rules 80

Chapter 3 Lighting in Layers 95Avoiding Undesirable Colors 96Blending Colored Light on Colored Surfaces 105Avoiding Diluted Colors 117

Chapter 4 Blocking, Blending, and Bouncing 134Color Blocking 135Color Blending 147Color Bouncing 159

Chapter 5 Continuous Light 176Exploring Color Relationships 177Mixing Continuous Light with Ambient Light 184

Chapter 6 Shutter Drag 200Shooting Against a Dark Background 201Shooting Against a Light Background 214

Chapter 7 Adding Color to Shadows 236Shadow Types 237Shadow Fill 249Under Layer 259Multiple Shadows 266Multiple Exposure 279

Chapter 8 Gobos 294Using Found Objects 295Using Gels as Gobos 301Fine-tune Your Process 315

Chapter 9 Projectors 324Projecting on the Background 325Projecting on Both the Subject and the Background 330Projecting on the Subject 338

Chapter 10 Color in Black-and-White 363Color Grading 364

Epilogue 383About the Author 384