Cross Polarization of Plastic – Magic

I learned this way back at the beginning of my career, from a very technical photographer and one of the original Harmonicats – (goes back to the old Ed Sullivan Show days – look them up!).

This technique, I was told, is a way to check stress in plastic manufacturing. I adopted it as a creative tool.

The set up is a gel polarizing filter on a light box or light source. Position the plastic subject between your camera and the light. Add the polarizer filter on your lens and rotate until all the light from the source goes black. The light coming through the plastic gives you the magic swirls of color. I’ve used this on assignments as well as stock illustrations.  Great unique look and you always get asked, How did you do that!

HDR Re-Purposed
Popular now, is the long exposures to smooth motion in water, clouds, etc. This is a good technique via tripod, heavy ND filter and very long exposures. An alternative to long exposures is taking multiple exposures using HDR (High Dynamic Range) and processing into one image. The effect is not better nor worse – only a bit different.

1. Flag in Wing
First, here’s to all those who serve, and have served our country. To create the multiple positions of the flag in the wind, the camera was set on a tripod and multiple exposures mere made for HDR (high dynamic range). Knowing that the flag positions would not line up and register, this created my intended vision.
After processing the HDR image, the background colors were desaturated to bring the emphasis to the colors in the flag. This was a unique re-purposing of HDR.

2. Peanut Warehouse and the Sky
In the old warehouse shot, HDR was purposed for the high dynamic range and with the slower shooting in manual, the clouds showed movement. Here we achieved a dual effect, the high dynamic range in the photo as well as movement in the clouds.

QCC — Quick Contrast Control

“How To Change the Contrast On Your Subject In Two-Seconds!”

Here is a fast and efficient method of controlling contrast using a shoot through panel (this one is from Chimera).

Our assignment is to shoot an environmental portrait in a work place.  We position a 42×42″ frame with a standard diffusion for a “shoot-through” main light.

The subject is seated on the edge of a desk, a window view in the back ground and the panel frame in position for the key light plus another panel with silver reflective panel as a fill reflector.

The top row shows a Hensel monolight strobe at a distance from our panel frame, filling the diffusion panel evenly to produce a soft wrap of light around our subjects face.

Then in seconds we can change the contrast on our subject (bottom row) by moving the strobe closer to the panel frame creating a small concentrated spot of light on the panel and Viola – we have changed the contrast without any major effort. We never had to move the panel. Now make a quick adjustment to your exposure or power down the flash.

Tips on Exposure:  in the above examples, the camera exposure was changed in the higher contrast image and the background went darker.  To keep the background the same density as in the first mage, the power of the strobe could have been reduced so to maintain the same exposure.  Either way works, it is just a matter of how you want your background to look.

Gear:  Hensel Flash and Chimera Panel/Frames.

VARIATION -LIGHTING HIKEY SET
This is my variation on lighting the background for high-key portraits.
Most solutions I’ve seen others use to light the background, requires two lightbanks or strip lights. I eliminated these two modifiers and made the V-flats do both – light the background and control the “spill-around” light coming from the background.
The V-flats I use are the Chimera Panel Frames with the elastic corners on the interchangeable fabrics. Each V-flat uses a Black/White and a Black/Silver panel. The diagram shows the arrangement in relation to the light source. Ah, the light source … a pair of DynaLite bare bulb flash heads bouncing off the back sides of the V-flats.
I came up with this to be able to set this up in smaller areas. The Lightbanks take up considerably more room.
FYI – The key light here was a three-foot Octabank.

See diagram below…

Gear:  Nikon D750, Sigma 24-105, DynaLight M1000 packs, 4040 and NE1 heads plus Chimera Beauty Dish.

The BackgroundLighting:  The solution was to roll the bike and platform into a corner of the show room in front of clean neutral colored walls. Then two DynaLite flash heads were pointed into the walls, one on each side of the motorcycle.  Both flash heads were equipped with red gels. I carry 4 sets of lighting gels on location – diffusion, neutral density, color conversion and color effects.  This lighting was bounced off the wall to illuminate the diamond plate and the exposure had to be adjusted to match the main light on the front of the motorcycle.

The Main Light:  I travel with a Bogen / Manfrotto 3-piece location boom and used one section of the boom to be able to put my DynaLite flash head directly over the camera, centered to the front of the motorcycle.  The motorcycle is a highly reflective subject which would normally require a very large light source – impractical in my situation.  A flash head alone, a very small source, can illuminate the front of the motorcycle producing a very small highlight that is not intrusive. I left the highlight in the shot, but it could have been retouched out in post.

In this stylized shot, two different reflective surfaces were lit to enhance and balance the subject and background with similar color.

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As I look back at a past lighting/rigging solution, this topic covers a translucent subject (petri dishes) requiring light from below as well as from above.  Some used to call this “Hamburger Lighting”.

While shooting an annual report,  a topic on the shot list centered around growing cultures in petri dishes.  Spreading two tables apart in a meeting room and suspending a lighting grid (from the overhead fluorescent fixture) between two tables , I then slid a Lightbank under to create the light needed to come through the transparent petri dishes.

Two top lights were, a weak light bounced from the ceiling and a glancing accent light going across the subject from a low angle.

I wanted a lot of drama so used the “Less is More” idea, got close to a few petri dishes with the perspective of a wide angle lens.  Locations can offer unique opportunities for creative solutions!

Olympus OM1  //  21mm  //  Wafer Light Bank // Tmax Film  // For:  for Rutgers’ Waksman Institute Annual Report.

Having the right tool at the right time doesn’t always happen when on location.  There are the standard tools and then there are those hidden gems.  This is about the later.

> Multi Tools – good to have anytime.

> Small Dog Collars – I use them to hold electronics up off wet floors.

> Multi Clamps – holds small reflectors on set; with a black card, becomes a barn door.

> Fun Tac and Gaffer Tape – I keep some fun tac in the center of a small roll of gaffer tape.  You’ll find a lot of uses for these staples.

> Misc.  Lens brush; black marker; clothes pins; rope and carabiner for suspending items, counterweights, etc.

These are just some of the handy things you can have around for location shoots.

Controlling Depth Of Field is a choice dictated by necessity for each situation.

Some choices:

1. stop down aperture

2. shoot image smaller and later crop in

3. use Stack Focus technique – needs post processing

4. use a perspective control lens – expensive lens

Example 1 – a small product – macro range

Here, stacked focus was employed.  Choices 1 and 2 were not best options.  With the camera locked down on a tripod, I used #3, successive exposures were taken with the focus on the front, the back and many steps in between – stacked focus.  The images were then processed to make one image for focus throughout the entire range.  I mark the focus ring on the lens at the front and back focus points with tape, so I know where to start and stop the successive exposures.

This is not a creative shot, but this image needs to be technically perfect for commercial use – tacky sharp from end to end.

Nikon/105 Macro  //  Exposure: 1/125 @ f/16  //  DynaLite Studio Lights  //  Photoshop to process  For: BK Media Group – Product Literature

(also see Youtube for stack focus details)

Example 2 – location pizza pie shot

Here, a wide angle perspective control lens was used. Now this was a creative choice, for an “in-your-face” view of the pizza — I was positioned in close and over the pizza for a dramatic view.  (camera on a tripod side arm to get over the pizza) The lens was tilted to create the horizontal plane of focus, across the pizza, to the booth behind the set.  The key light was a boomed octa bank and the background light had a grid and red gel for the wine bottle and glasses. Tethered shooting allowed complex control.

Nikon/24m PC lens  //  Exposure:  1/60 @ f/9.5   //  Speedlights    For: Social media video  (also see CamRanger for tether;  see “Scheimpflug” – for focus control)