Wedding Photography Insight with Jeff Ascough

Jeff Ascough has been a professional wedding photographer in the United Kingdom since 1989. He has covered over 1000 weddings with a documentary photography style. Ascough emphasizes capturing the moment without any prompting or interference and using available light. American Photo voted Ascough as one of the ten best wedding photographers in the world.
He is also a Canon Ambassador and uses the Canon 5D Mark II’s due to the low light capabilities. Frank Van Riper in America’s Washington Post described Jeff as “A master at shooting by available light” and went on to describe his images as “…among the best I ever have seen—an absolute pleasure to see.”
Jeff took a moment to answer questions from photo.net members in the Wedding Photography Forum. Here’s the original Q&A thread.
To familiarize yourself with Jeff and his work, you may want to read an earlier interview Mary and photo.net members did with him in 2008 first:
http://photo.net/photographer-interviews/jeff-ascough/

Jeff Ascough

Wedding Coverage

I never tell my clients to do anything on the wedding day. I prefer to document what actually happens rather than what I think should happen. I also believe that once you give a couple some direction, they spend the rest of the day looking for more direction.
In terms of picture aesthetic, that is down to my skills as a photographer and the way I see the world. I honestly don’t believe a picture can be improved by interfering, because then the picture isn’t a moment—it is a photographer’s idea of what that moment should be.
Having this approach forces you to look for images. Controlling the situation would take all of my concentration, and would prevent me from seeing other, possibly better images that could be happening around me.
In terms of posed photographs, I usually cover six groups and a couple of bride and groom pictures. These are done right at the end of the drinks reception (cocktail hour) so the clients have the greatest amount of time with their guests, and I have the most time possible for taking my documentary images. The formal images take no longer than ten minutes to complete. I don’t worry about missing images when taking the groups, because if I don’t take them, they never happened.
I also don’t deal with the parents when it comes to the coverage, even if they are paying the bill. If they do complain, they do it to the bride and groom, and I rarely get to hear about it.
My main focus is on the couple and the closest people to them – bridal party, parents etc.
It is impossible to shoot everyone at the wedding without the coverage resorting to nothing more than snaps of guests, which the guests themselves are more than capable of doing. I’m not offering a complete, shoot everything that moves coverage; I’m offering more than that, and in order for me to get the images which my clients book me for, I can’t be concerned with shooting hundreds of pictures of guests. I don’t show lots of guests pictures, not in my sample albums or on my website. I don’t know the relationship with the guests that the client has, and it would be impossible for me to ascertain that relationship.
If a client wants a flavor for the quantity and types of guest at the wedding, then I will often incorporate a lot of scene setting images with lots of guests in those shots. If a client wants to see everyone at the wedding, then we suggest a big group of everyone. Obviously there will be times when the guests interact with the bride and groom and then they will be in the pictures, but I will never take a wedding on where the client expects me to go and shoot everyone at the wedding, because that client is after nothing more than a record of who was there on the day, and I believe my skills are worth more than that.
Overhead lighting isn’t an issue normally but if it is very direct, then like you say I will often wait for a moment when the lighting works with the subject. If it is a group of people, then I will often look for the bodies creating fill light if they have light clothes on, or subtractive light to create shape if they have dark clothes on. In any lighting situation there are always points where the light is soft and usually shaded, and I try to work in those areas. Even harsh downlighters will have an area right next to the main beam of light where the light is even and soft.

Jeff Ascough

Being unobtrusive is simply a state of mind and a way of behaving. I shoot most of my weddings on 24 or 50mm. I wrote a whole piece on my blog about it which was highlighted on the Online Photographer. This pretty much explains everything.
I have covered weddings from various cultures throughout my career including Indian weddings. My approach is exactly the same as it would be for any other wedding. I will observe and document the day. The colors and lighting are simply part of the challenge.
I will be honest and say that I don’t get very many inquiries for Indian weddings these days. I get plenty of mixed culture weddings, but it’s rare that I am contacted by a couple where they are both Indian. I would dearly love to do more of them, as they are really fun to photograph.
When working alone it is quite easy to cover bride and groom preparations as long as logistics allow. Most of the time I cover just the bride and then see the guys at church. In the UK, most of the time the grooms are quite happy to let the bride take the limelight, so it never has been an issue. I refuse to work with second shooters as the more people there are taking pictures, the more intrusive the coverage becomes, and the whole dynamic of the day changes. Second shooters are really a product of the digital age and the wedding photographer’s obsession with recording anything that moves. When I started my career, photographers couldn’t afford the film and processing costs that came with second shooters, so we learned to cover the wedding properly by ourselves.
Oh god, my first four years were so tough you wouldn’t believe. No money, struggling to get my business off the ground, my wife earning a pittance and that money barely covering our bills. It was so tough. I think we turned our first profit around year five. A lot of photographers don’t realize how tough it is to start a business, even with the help of the Internet. The main thing that I learned was to learn from your mistakes. That’s pretty much it; and I made lots of them. In fact I still make them on a regular basis. I also believe that each day is a new day and whatever happened yesterday is in the past, in fact the only point of looking back is to learn how to deal with tomorrow. Be prepared to go through and hell and back with your business. There will be incredible highs and depressing lows. Awkward clients. Problems that need solving on a daily basis and a lot of hard work. It ain’t no picnic being a photographer.
In terms of what I did; I simply stuck to my guns and decided that if I couldn’t shoot in the style that I wanted, then I would go and do something else. By sticking to my style, I was able to improve my skills as I wasn’t distracted by other styles. I’ve always wanted to master my style, and if you give me another 20 years and I’ll be somewhere close to mastering it.

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Workflow

For my current workflow, which has changed since my previous interview on photo.net, I use Apple’s Aperture 2 along with Photoshop CS4. I create a new project for each wedding and use Aperture to import my CF cards into that project. Inside that project I create two smart albums: one is marked ‘picks’ and one marked ‘finished’. The ‘picks’ album is set to accept images of one star, and the ‘finished’ album is set to accept PSD files.
When editing the images I go through each image and tag the images that I like with one star. I ignore the images I don’t like. Aperture immediately puts the selected images into my ‘picks’ album. Once the editing is completed I open the ‘picks’ album and start working on the images. I do basic White Balance (WB) and density correction in Aperture and then open the image in CS4 directly from Aperture. I run my own set of Silver Actions on the image and save it. As Aperture creates a PSD when saving from Photoshop, the image is automatically placed in the ‘finished’ album. I then open the ‘finished’ album, renumber the images, and export them at the various sizes I need for the client, web, etc. That’s pretty much it.
I use managed files, so that everything goes to one library and this is backed up in vaults in two different locations.
My environment when editing photos I’ll explain briefly. In order to correctly assess color balance and density, you need to work in a subdued lighting environment which is ideally color managed. The monitor should be the brightest thing in that environment. If you edit in a bright environment, usually brightness and contrast of the image is affected as you compensate for the light hitting the screen. I tend to pretty much try and do all the selecting in one session (15-20 minutes) and then have a five minute break, then get stuck into the actual editing. I try and break every hour for a few minutes to allow my eyes to readjust. I will then go back over the last few pics that I did before the break to make sure fatigue in my eyes didn’t make me do something to the images that I didn’t want.
As far as my decision-making process goes for deciding which images are finished in color, I don’t tend to think about it too much, because I haven’t got to make a decision as to which camera I need to put to my eye, I just look for pictures. This is a good thing in one respect because you can just concentrate on the image; but on the other hand it can lead to second guessing as you mentioned. With film we made the decision before pressing the shutter and that was that, we didn’t even think about it.
What I have noticed is that I could easily keep all my images in color these days, because color is the most exciting thing for me at the moment, and I’m constantly working out colors in my head when shooting. The 5DII really helps here because I can get great looking color in really low light; something which I couldn’t get with film, or previous generations of DSLRs.
So I tend to start off looking for the strongest color images, in terms of color harmony and rhythm of the image, and keep these as color. Then I’ll look for those images which have a strong sense of line and geometry and look at these in B&W. The rest of the images will then be looked at in terms of flow through the wedding. I tend to know which images will look best in B&W or color so it’s quite an easy process.
I am offering a new set of silver actions, which are an upgrade to the old actions I used to offer. There are several actions which are designed to make use of CS4’s new functions. I use Aperture to get a basic color/density correction, and then drop the images into PS and use the actions to convert to b/w etc via my actions. Then they come back into Aperture for a final tweak if required. I have to say that I rarely have to do much in Aperture to get a decent image. Maybe an autolevels adjustment, and possibly a tweak in white balance. That’s about it.
Someone asked if because my actions are now available to the public, if I would be bothered that the “Ascough Style” would not be exclusive any more. I would like to think my style has more to do with my photography, rather than my actions! A poor image run through my actions will still be a poor image. The actions have been designed in such a way as to allow photographers to develop their own look and style. They are tools rather than effects or magic bullets that will suddenly turn a photographer into me. I like to think of these actions in the same way as choosing a film stock and developer combination. The possibilities are endless once you get to know and use them. Photographers like Josef Isayo, Matt Gillis, Paul Gero and George Weir use my actions and their work looks nothing mine.

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Wedding Business Marketing

A few weeks ago I had a client visit me regarding her wedding. She’d seen a number of photographers who were all offering substantially more pictures than I was. I got a box of pictures out, opened it up and spread all the prints over the floor. I asked her how many images there were on the floor. “I’ve no idea but there are loads of them. It’s quite overwhelming looking at them all.” There were 150 images and she was overwhelmed with the quantity. So how do you think she would feel looking at 500 images, or even 1000 images. Needless to say she booked!! I educated her into why you don’t need hundreds of pictures to tell the story of the day. You don’t need second shooters, and that one photographer can work simply and effectively and get a great set of images for her.
Yesterday I was doing a seminar with my good friend George Weir. I showed 45 photographers a complete wedding. After the slideshow finished, I asked them if there was anything missing from the coverage. All of them agreed that there wasn’t anything missing. There were 148 images in the show. The point I’m trying to make is that once you get hung up on the idea that you have to capture everything, your mindset is all wrong for the great images out there that you should capture.
As far as managing my own success goes, while I have been shooting weddings for some time now, it was not my profession. Now it is—a bit late in life perhaps, but I went 100% last January after a long career in advertising. My difficulty is that to survive with enough weddings, I can’t seem to land enough of them in my more documentary style, and to survive I must take on weddings with far more structured requirements that take me away from documenting what is really happening. If I try to manage client expectations by limiting the more structured images, they sign with someone else, even reluctantly sometimes because they like my humanistic documentary approach more. Prior to going full time it didn’t matter as my income was from elsewhere. Now it matters.
I would think it has more to do with marketing than anything else. We market my business in a very deliberate way; it is all about the images. The albums, groups, packages etc are all largely irrelevant to my clients when they inquire. I believe that clients can either afford me, or they can’t and that’s the criteria for them. What they get for the money isn’t the main factor. It is interesting that when a client inquires with a list of things they must have from their photography, I rarely get the wedding.

Jeff Ascough

Once you decide to focus solely on the images, then people book you for those images. We work in a very visual world now, and it is important to move people with your pictures, not what you are offering in terms of package, or anything else. It is all about the pictures.
To get those pictures, the clients have to allow me to do my thing. I tell them this from the moment they inquire, and reinforce it throughout every time we speak to them and so on. That’s how we manage their expectations. I’ve even given clients who want to restrict the way I work, the name of another photographer who would be able to help them, as I feel they will be a better fit.
The number of pictures I take per wedding varies depending on the coverage, but on average an eight hour wedding would result in around 150 images with approx 60-70% being b/w.

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Gear

I’ve always loved 50mm lenses. My Leica Noctilux was my absolute favourite. The Canon 50mm f/1.4 was ok but I broke three of them, so I used a 35 f1.4L for a long time instead. When the 50 f/1.2L came onto the scene, I was able to get back to the 50 and that has been my favorite lens for ages now. My first L lens I bought was the 28-70 f2.8L and that was the lens I cut my teeth on, I had a tear in my eye when I sold it last year.
As far as using smaller cameras, rangefinders are the ultimate camera for me. If someone produced a small, compact, full frame rangefinder with image quality and high ISO like the 5DII, then I would certainly consider it. Unfortunately, that camera is still the stuff of dreams.
My current gear list includes:

• 3 Leica M7’s
• 2 Canon 1D MkII N’s
• 2 replacement ditto
• 2 1Ds MkII
• 2 1Ds MkIII
• 1 Leica M8
• 2 Canon 5D MkII’s

On the software front, I use iView, Photoshop, Lightroom, Photo Mechanic, Capture One and now Aperture 2.
As far as advice for budding photographers, you should stick with one lens and one body and get used to those before running a huge amount of debt on stuff they may not use. I started with one body and a 28-70 and that served me well for many years. You don’t need more than a couple of bodies and a couple of lenses to do this job well. My back up kit is just that, a couple of zooms and a dual card body.
If I was starting my business today, and funds were available I would buy a couple of 5DMKII’s, a 24-70L, and a fast prime. That’s all you need. It’s only when you get some experience and money under your belt that you can start looking at other options in terms of equipment as you refine your style. Good photographers continually assess where they want to be, what you are seeing with me is a continual development of a very experienced way of working and a constant refinement of my style. I swapped out of the zoom as it was making me lazy. I moved to 5DMKII’s because of the high ISO. As a result my images have improved.
In terms of software, as you get more experienced and do more work, you will find yourself looking for solutions to problems – in my case the problem has always been efficiency. I’m always looking for ways to streamline everything, hence the culmination of software over the years. To start off with, Photoshop CS4 is all you really need, as it has a browser, RAW converter and image editor all in one.
I basically take four lenses with me when shooting. 50/1.2L, 24/1.4LII, 85/1.2LII, 35/1,4L. The 24 and 50 are my main lenses. The 35 is used primarily as a spare if anything goes wrong with the 50 or 24. The 85 is only used when I can’t get close enough to the subject. If I know I’m going to be inside a big church, I’ll swap the 85 for a 135/2L just so I don’t have to intrude on the service.

Jeff Ascough

I also have a 16-35/2.8LII in the car, and sometimes if I know I’m going to be shooting in decent light all day, I’ll use this instead of the 24 and 35, so that I can take one less lens with me.
I don’t use a handheld meter at all these days. I prefer to use the in camera metering. However, at my seminar with George Weir over the weekend, he extolled the virtues of using a spot meter, so I might try that. Interestingly, I always used spot metering with film, and I still have a Pentax Digital Spotmeter somewhere, so you never know.
I also don’t bring any flash kit to weddings any more. I think I have a 550 EX flash in my car somewhere, but I’m not sure if there are any batteries in it. I always use available light.
I no longer use an ST-E2 to assist in focusing in very low light as described in my 2007 photo.net interview. I prefer to manually focus as it’s less intrusive.
As far as a small compact street camera, I set up a Canon G10 similar to Gary Knight (watch this great video on how he sets up his G10), but I’ve got a Voigtlander viewfinder on mine. I also set the focus to manual and focus on 2 meters so that everything is pretty much sharp from front to back and so I don’t need to focus.
I don’t use filters as they significantly degrade the image, especially in low light. I don’t tend to use hoods unless I’m outside in full sun, as they get in the way and make the lenses look really intimidating.

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Technique

Metering is pretty straightforward. I use evaluative metering in AV mode for 90% of situations. I use the [star] button to lock the exposure and point the camera at a neutral part of the scene to avoid any hotspots. If the lighting is really tricky I’ll switch over to spot metering and meter off the main subject (usually a face). I don’t have the LCD review switched on so I’m not distracted by it. I don’t worry too much about metering as the Canon is pretty good, and the 14-bit RAW files are so easy to do any minor exposure correction on. Evaluative metering, and spot metering when the light is tricky. All you can ask of any metering system is that it remains consistent.
I just take pictures that I like to take, and appeal to my eye. That’s really my secret.
I don’t use a tripod at all, so everything is hand held. I tend to use 24mm at 1/8th sec, and I’m happy to use a 50mm at 1/15th sec. The trick is to make your body as compact and stable as possible. So arms and elbows in, and press the camera hard against your face. Then watch your breathing so that you don’t jerk the camera. I don’t actually breath at all when I’m about to shoot around those shutter speeds.
Deliberately underexposing an image just creates a lot of shadow noise, which gets worse as the ISO increases. It is rare that I get in a situation on a wedding that demands 1/10th at f/1.2 at 1600 ISO.
In low light, contrast is the key to finding good focus. Either focus manually (which I do) or try and lock onto something in the same plane of focus as the subject, which has higher contrast.
Low light is not a problem if you consider three things:

1. Noise has more to do with poor exposure than the light level. A perfectly exposed low light image at high ISO will have very low noise. So exposure has to be spot on.
2. As long as the subject doesn’t move, you can get away with really slow shutter speeds. I regularly shoot at 1/15th and 1/8th sec hand held. It is a question of bracing the camera correctly and learning to breathe properly when shooting at low speeds. You aren’t going to have much success with fast moving subjects in really low light, although the latest cameras will help you, so I try to avoid them.
3. Fast prime lenses require less work to control than zooms or telephotos. My slowest lens is f/1.4, so combine that with ISO 6400 and an ability to hand hold down to 1/8th sec, there isn’t any situation that I have come across where I have struggled to get images without having to resort to flash. I used to shoot with Leica cameras at ISO 320 and f/1 lenses, so these days it’s so much easier to get great images in low light.

Jeff Ascough

Some people claim that the 5D MkII has inferior focus as compared to Canon’s 1 series cameras. In terms of AF using the center point, the 5D MKII is a match and I would say is marginally superior to the 1DsMKIII. Looking at the other peripheral points, the 1DsMKIII is superior as it has more horizontal/vertical points than then 5DII. When I first got the 5DMKII pre-production camera back in November last year, I was blown away by its focus accuracy in low light with the center point.
For stopping motion during dancing in low light, the ISO capability of the 5DII along with apertures of 1.2 that are available to me usually means I can achieve at least 1/60th sec shutter speed, which is normally ample for a first dance. Prior to the 5DII I would have used flash to stop the motion. I also try to shoot when the couple are lit by other lighting such as that coming off the stage, or from the disco.
ISO is always set manually to either 800, 1600, 3200, or 6400 depending on the light conditions. I have shot 12800 ISO and this is acceptable in certain lighting conditions.
For those who feel limited using a 16-35mm lens, to get the best from this lens you need to be in pretty close. Have a look at James Nachtwey’s work. A lot of his stuff is done on the 16-35. If you can get hold of a copy of ‘War Photographer’ on DVD, that’s perhaps the best schooling for using the 16-35 (or 17-35 in the case of Jim on the DVD).
I shoot in single shot and each press of the shutter is deliberate. I don’t burst shoot. It may take three or four presses of the shutter to get the image that I want.
I use the center focus point and I manually focus quite a lot.
Shooting journalistically is the hardest style of wedding photography. Many people think it is just a case of pointing and shooting. It isn’t. It takes years of experience, and an eye for a picture. If you are starting up, you need to practice and study. Learn about light direction – don’t just go for the flash gun as you won’t learn anything with that thing. Look how light direction affects the mood of an image; learn about quality of light and how that can enhance your pictures. Go out and shoot pictures; analyze them and see why they work or don’t work. Decide what you could have done better. Stick to one or two lenses and get used to them, so that you don’t have to even think about which lens you will use to take the image that you have in your mind’s eye.

Jeff Ascough

I am still learning now, all the time. My head is constantly in books, exhibitions, stuff on TV anything to with photography I’m absorbing. I practice all the time. Practice, practice, practice. If I come back from a wedding and decide that something could have been done better in terms of the actual picture taking process, I’m like a dog with a bone until I have worked it out and practiced it so that it is second nature the next time I go to shoot.
Above all you should develop your own style. Don’t go with the latest fad or fashion because that’s what everyone else does. You need to stand out from the crowd. The only way you can do this is to have a look to your pictures that defines what you do. That is so important, and you should be working your way to that point.
I’m currently very happy with the pixel size of the 5D MkII. I think that I can never have enough pixels, especially as I shoot a lot of wide angles. The more pixels means more information and a smoother tonal range, and this is a godsend for wide angle images. In the past, because of the pixel count, a wide angle image that contained a lot of information would end up looking crunchy in the fine detail areas, now they don’t. Also the more pixels that we have available, the more we can do to the file without it breaking up.
I’m afraid one of the problems with digital photography is that people have become so anal about sharpness, to the point of it dominating everything else. Seeing an image at 100% on a 30" monitor is not living in the real world. The amount of wasted hours of rubbish spoken about sharpness across the Internet is bizarre. Maybe if people got out from behind their keyboards, and took pictures instead of whining about them, they would understand that sharpness is not just about a lens.
Admittedly, the current crop of sensors have immense resolving power, which will show up flaws in lens design especially at wide apertures. However, in the real world of prints and correct viewing distances, I doubt if anyone would argue that today’s cameras and lenses are just incredible tools, capable of producing amazing results.
Compare what we use now to what Cartier-Bresson had throughout his career. Or Capa, Winogrand, Brassai, Eve Arnold etc. We have never had it so good, and yet all we seem to do is moan about sharpness. Why?
I was at a Don McCullin exhibition yesterday with my good friend George Weir. A lot of DM’s images were ‘soft’ compared to what we try and strive for now. Did this softness make any difference to the power of the image? Not at all. Look at Capa’s work; camera shake, out of focus images etc. and yet he is one if the most important war photographers of the 20th century. A lot of Cartier-Bresson’s work is ‘soft’ but again who cares?? I don’t. It’s irrelevent unless you are simply looking at sharpness as a way of adding perceived visual value to your images. If as a wedding photographer you must have critical sharpness, and critical exposure, and critical flash exposure, etc then maybe you are missing the point of photography? Maybe you are missing the whole concept of what makes a picture? In my mind all that stuff simply distracts from finding images.
In the real world of prints, an image that looked soft on a screen at 100% will look beautifully crisp and sharp at 10×7, so what is the issue?
Regarding JPG vs. RAW, I don’t think it matters what you use, as long as you are happy using it. I’ve shot JPG in the past and now I choose to shoot RAW. Some of my peers still prefer to shoot jpeg. In an ideal world I would still shoot JPG but RAW gives me some latitude for error, and that is important especially with B&W work.
To me, even though JPG requires more discipline in actual shooting, that can be a very good thing. JPG also speeds up camera operation and post processing quite significantly. You don’t need as much storage, and everything just works more efficiently with JPG.

Jeff Ascough

However, I use RAW because I can see the benefits of highlight and shadow recovery. Being able to pull highlight detail back, and open up shadows was important to my B&W work, and that is the deciding factor.
In terms of quality of output, I doubt that anyone on this board would be able to see the difference between an image taken on JPG and on RAW. I often scratch my head as to why people get so protective of the format they shoot in. Does it really matter?
If I was a traditional wedding photographer, studio portrait photographer, or I was able to guarantee the lighting situation, then I would shoot JPG without hesitation. I’ve often wondered about shooting JPG + RAW and just going to the RAW files when I need some extra latitude, but that would just complicate my workflow, which is why I haven’t done it.
RAW software is getting better and faster but I still find it a PITA sometimes. I would save several hours in PP by shooting JPG, but RAW just gives me that margin for any error and that is the pay off.
Detail Photoggraphy — I do them, but I don’t show them and I don’t like them. I don’t think they add anything to a coverage. I would prefer to shoot them as part of a moment where perhaps they aren’t the most significant thing in the shot, but it isn’t always possible to do this.
I tend to use a 24mm for close ups or an 85mm and come back a bit to get the detail images.
I used to scout locations when I shot traditional work, but that’s some fifteen years ago now. I never scout a location these days. I’ll find out where the locations are and the best way of getting to them, but I won’t walk about looking for the best places to take pictures. It’s up to my clients where they decide to go on the day; and wherever they are, that’s where I’ll take the pictures, even if there is a stunning location right around the corner.
I haven’t used flash at a wedding since October 2008. The 5DMKII’s high ISO officially made flash redundant as far as my work is concerned. I find flash to be incredibly intrusive. The only time I ever used it was to either stop movement during the first dance in low light, or for the occasional formal image in low light where I needed more depth of field than the available light would give me.
The way I work now has been a product of many years of trial and error. Some years I lost money because I didn’t get my product right. The problem with weddings is that people book so far in advance, and by the time you realize you got the product wrong, the year is booked out so you can’t change it. We always work two years in advance now. So to answer your question, no it hasn’t always been like it is now.
I normally go into an environment and look for the dominant light source first. That will dictate a lot of what I do. If that environment has a lot of structure in terms of lines and shapes, then my second thing will be to position myself so that I can utilize both the structure and the light. That will give me a framework to shoot in. If the environment doesn’t have a lot of structure, then I will concentrate on the light primarily as this can give structure to an image all by itself.
This all happens very quickly, maybe one or two seconds and I’m good to go.
Some people wonder what my thoughts are on stills and video convergence.
In my opinion, video is a distraction. To do it correctly, you need a tripod which draws attention. Pointing a camera in someones face for several seconds is intruding; that’s why a lot of my clients don’t have video at the wedding. The clients that do want video will hire a videographer that can do it properly. The amount of time you need to spend editing video is prohibitive, and not cost effective.
I think in terms of wedding photography, it is a passing fad that will probably die its death in the mainstream in a year or so. It’s largely unworkable for the majority of people. Furthermore, videographers have access to the same cameras as we do, and that is more of a problem. They can now take stills as easily as we do, and they have seen a potential gap in the market. I personally think that as photographers we would be better off spending our time working on our skills so that we can always create a demand for our stills work, which will always be ahead of anything that a videographer can do.
Great photography will always have more power and presence than video, so why water down what we are doing just because we have the tools to do video?? You have to remember that adding video to a DSLR was a result of news agencies wanting that facility. It didn’t come from the wedding industry.

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Jeff Ascough

Album Creation

I have everything printed by a lab and always on glossy paper. I am a great fan of Jorgensen albums and have a great relationship with SWPM (UK distributors) and Gary Jorgensen. I don’t use any other albums other than Jorgensen. The albums are predominantly square and I don’t ever crop the image when it comes to the album design. The images are converted to b/w or color depending on their content, and aren’t converted for the sake of album design.
The first thing I think about when starting an album design – a nice big mug of coffee ;-) Seriously, the flow of the pictures influences the design, so I just relax and see what images work best with others while keeping some sort of chronological order to the images.
I supply the finished album. The clients can choose which pictures they don’t want to go into it, but the design, etc is mine. They simply see the images online, and let me know if they are happy with everything going in or do they want to take some out. Those images then make up the album.
All printing and album construction is outsourced. It takes up way too much time which isn’t productive.
I don’t look for anything specific regarding album pictures, but I always look for three things when it comes to my images. Good lighting, good composition and good storytelling. To my mind, a good image will contain two of these elements, and outstanding image will contain all three.

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Personal Style Development

I firmly believe that for a photographer to be successful they should develop their own style.
If I look at the development of my own style, I’ve always been interested in light, geometry, and rhythm when it comes to photographs, rather than the content. I guess I am firmly in the Cartier-Bresson camp here, whereby the construction of the image is as important as the content. If we take James Nachtwey’s images, many see the human condition, suffering, anger, depression, hatred, fear; I see lines, shapes, and the beauty of the construction of the picture. The content, while often harrowing, is largely irrelevant to me in terms of what excites my eye.
This love of geometry is transposed over to my own work, which just happens to be weddings. It could be commercial, portraiture, landscape; it doesn’t matter what I’m photographing, as long as what gets me excited visually is present in my images. As my understanding of photography increases through experience, so my style develops naturally and I see work from 10 years ago not being as well constructed as my work from this year.
I think it is important that a photographer finds the thing that turns them on visually in an image, and take that as their starting point. It’s easier to be passionate about something you like, rather than something that people say you should like. You may find that color is your thing, or movement, or contrast. It doesn’t matter. Simply take that element and make it work for you. Don’t be influenced by other wedding photographers, as you will end up developing a style based on what they like, rather than what you like. Then once you have taken your pictures, ask yourself if you like the image. That is all that matters. If you do, ask yourself why you like the image, and if it can be improved and how it could be improved. That’s how you start to develop your style. Experience will ultimately add to that style, and that is a good thing.
In terms of critique, I’m often reminded of Marco Pierre White’s comments when he returned his three stars back to Michelin. He said something on the lines that the Michelin inspectors knew less about his food than he did, so what was the point of having them? I believe that to be the case with my work. I haven’t had a critique for over ten years. When I did have a critique, the wedding photographers based that critique on their work and approach, often trying to shape my work into their mold.
Critique can be good if it is constructive and comes from outside of the genre you are working in. If you seek critique from within wedding photography, often ego comes into play and negativity can often put people off. It is not easy to critique, and it is more valuable if that critique is impartial. For me, the biggest critic of my work is myself. As long as I am happy with it, then I care not what anyone else thinks about it.
I don’t use handstraps or battery grips. I carry both 5D MkII cameras on my body, sometimes one around my neck and the other on my shoulder. Sometimes both on one shoulder. Sometimes one on each shoulder. It depends on what I’m doing at the time. The straps are set at different lengths so that the cameras hang at different heights. This prevents them from bashing into each other.

Jeff Ascough

I didn’t start resisting any initial direction until 1992/1993. For the first couple of years of my career I was just excited to be a young guy taking pictures for a living. Once I started to understand what Cartier-Bresson was creating with his work, that’s when a light bulb went off in my head and I moved forward in a new direction. It took me maybe three – four years before I really understood what it was to be a photographer. I wasn’t really interested in architecture, it was always people that were my focus.
My thoughts on geometry and rhythm relate more to the construction of an image rather than physical objects such as buildings. An image has a rhythm when the eye is able to relax and look around the image with ease. You know if you hear a piece of music and subconsciously you tap your feet, because your ears and brain are relaxed with that music? To me it is the same with pictures. If your eye can just wander round an image without any discord, and without you being aware of it happening, then that image has a rhythm to it. Geometry in terms of physical or implied lines, shapes, composition etc is important to create that rhythm.
“I don’t worry about missing images when taking the groups, because if I don’t take them, they never happened.” Wow I wish I could get away with that. How do you educate your Bride and grooms to your style and what they should expect to get in the finished proofs when you are booking them.
It is all about managing client expectations. I truly believe that a lot of photographers are actually frightened of their clients. If I’m shooting groups how on earth can I be somewhere else taking pictures? It’s impossible. The clients know it is impossible, and if they want groups then I can’t be taking other images. So if I don’t see and take those images, they never existed. If you miss something minor, does it matter in the scheme of things. Will your clients be standing around taking notes of which pictures you took? No way!! They don’t want to; they don’t need to; and they should have confidence in what you are doing. The confidence comes from you, and how confident you are when dealing with them.
As an aside, I think wedding photographers are getting all hung up on trying to shoot vast quantities of images in an attempt to instill confidence in their product. A good caterer will supply beautifully presented, great tasting food in small portions so that they don’t overwhelm their clients. The smaller and more beautiful the portions, the more the bride will be prepared to pay. What a good caterer won’t do is supply a huge plate of tasteless stodge, because a bride won’t pay for it. Wedding photographers are becoming so hung up on quantity rather than quality that they are starting to produce great plates of stodge – mediocre images, with poor content and lots of them. Given the choice I truly believe that a client will always prefer 150-200 fabulous images over 2000 mediocre ones. The problem is photographers don’t give them that option anymore, and the floodgates have opened.
If you have to shoot that many images for your clients, when on earth do you find the time to actually look for pictures? You can’t physically do it, simply because you are shooting everything that moves without thinking. On a twelve hour coverage I will supply less than 200 pictures. I have never, ever had a complaint from a client over the quantity of the images supplied. I have hundreds of testimonials about the quality of my images though.
As far as composition vs. light, I look for light direction first, and then look for elements within the scene that I can use to construct an image from.
In an interview with BIG Folio, I mentioned: “My favorite place to go is France. I love the light there, it has a magical quality to it. No wonder so many artists and painters were inspired by it.” Someone asked me to elaborate on this. If you go to France you will know exactly what I mean. The light has a quality to it that we don’t have in the UK. It could be weather, pollution, thermals, climate. I’ve no idea what causes it, but it is softer than UK light. I like low diffused angular light the best, as this gives direction to the light, and is easier to deal with. In the Autumn in the UK, the sun never gets very high in the sky and is often diffused by cloud. This is lovely lighting to work with.
I am fascinated by people, and fascinated in particular by people on a wedding day. I do have a strong empathy with my clients, and I often get wrapped up in the emotions of the day. I guess I am quite perceptive to other people’s behavior.
I put in effort to not look like a photographer at a wedding so as to not cause people to stiffen up. It has nothing to do having two (albeit small) cameras, but how you behave in front of people with those cameras. If you behave in a way that attracts attention to you, it doesn’t matter if you have a tiny point and shoot, you will still be obtrusive. If you behave quietly and with respect, you can easily remain unobtrusive with four or five cameras, and people will not pay you any attention.
I photograph my clients sympathetically, and honestly, but I will never shoot anything that is unflattering to them.

Jeff Ascough

The environment is ultimately a big part of the wedding story, so I don’t try to hide it. Obviously I don’t want it to distract from the images, but an environment can be used as part of the storytelling process. Part of what challenges me is getting images in situations where most photographers would give up.
I don’t do any mental preparation as in psyching myself up, but on the way to the wedding I do run over a few things in my head in terms of logistics. I like to be very relaxed and open minded when I start a wedding. Once I start shooting, I make sure that I stay hydrated and take plenty of small five minute breaks. This allows me to keep shooting for 12 hours or more. Last year I also started to take my health a lot more seriously, and lost 10kg in weight. That probably made the single biggest difference to me in terms of being able to shoot for longer. My stamina increased as did my alertness.
Marcus Bell has an excellent book on wedding photography, and some great DVD’s. Joe Buissink has a great DVD called ‘Defining the moment’ which is well worth looking at.
To be a good wedding photographer, you need to be able to be calm, patient, and respectful of the people you are photographing and the people around you. Being able to take great pictures helps too.

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Inspiration

My current favorite books you should check out for inspiration. These are listed in no particular order:

• James Nachtwey – Inferno
• Elliot Erwitt – Snaps
• Cartier-Bresson – The Man, the Image and the World
• Eugene Richards – The Fat Baby
• Salgado – Africa
  Antonin Kratochvil – Incognito
  Steve McCurry – The Unguarded Moment
  Alex Webb – Istanbul
  Don McCullin – In England

Future of Wedding Photography

Someone wondered what I would like for the photography sector in the future.
Wow this is a tough question. I’d like to see a system like they have in parts of Europe whereby photographers have to undergo an apprenticeship for three years with another professional, before they are let loose on the general public, and photographers have to be registered before they can work.
I really would like to see album companies that profess to deal with the professional market, actually deal with the pro market and not just anyone with a camera and checkbook.
I’d like to see pro wedding photographers charge properly for their work, so that we can all benefit.
Ultimately I would like the world to see the wedding photographer in the same light as fashion photographers, photojournalists and so on, and not the genre of photography that most other genres consider to be beneath them. Some of us are making in roads, but the whole industry needs to wake up.
There are too many photographers selling a false dream to others, just to make money out of them and it sucks. I’d like to see that stop. I would also like to see an end to the ‘rockstar’ mentality that proliferates the industry. This must be the only genre of photography where we worship others in one breath, and spit venom at them in the next. For this industry to have any credibility, we need to start thinking about what is important – great images, at a good price, and lots of happy clients.

Advanced Masking

Layer Masks | Smart Objects | Advanced Masking | Image Sharpening | Burning and Dodging
Now that you’re comfortable working with Layer Masks and Smart Objects, it’s time to dive a little deeper into the advanced technique of layer masking.
In the Intro To Layer Masks article, you created layer masks by using Photoshop’s brush tool. This works well when brushing in a subtle correction, but can be time consuming if your correction is more pronounced or if you need to remove your subject from its original background and composite it with a new background.
Most advanced masking techniques require a combination of existing masking/selection techniques. Rarely does one technique work in all situations. For that reason, it is beneficial to be able to draw on a large bag of tricks. In this article, I’ll introduce you to some of the advanced techniques used by photographers and professional retouchers to take full control of the presentation and style of their images.

If you’d like to follow along, click on the Harborboats.jpg image link and right click on the image to save to your desktop. Do the same for GrassyMeadow.jpg. Open the images in Photoshop.

Creating Complex Masks Using Color Range

Harbor Boats

Regardless of the correction you wish to make, or the effect you’re trying to achieve, your goal is to isolate the portion of the photo you’d like to correct from the rest of the image. For example, in the Harbor Boats image (right) the sky is too purple.
This is a problem often arises when converting photos to CMYK for reproduction on a printing press. We know skies should be blue, not slightly purple. To fix this, we must first isolate the blue sky from the rest of the image. Attempting this correction with the lasso tool would be impossible due to the complicated tangle of lines from the boat masts and rigging lines. The Magic Wand tool may work and would be worth a try, but would be time consuming to select each portion of the sky between the boats. So, for this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to use the Magic Wand tool’s more efficient big brother, the Color Range command (Select>Color Range).

Color Range 1

The Color Range tool is significantly improved for Photoshop CS4 and can now be considered a valuable tool in your selecting and masking arsenal. Prior to CS4, the Color Range lacked a couple of key options that make selecting complex objects much easier. I’ll address these new features now and next offer advice for readers working in earlier versions of Photoshop.
Step 1. To begin, let’s take a look at the Color Range dialog box. Remember, in earlier versions of Photoshop, it looks a little different than my screen shots.

Color Range 2

Step 2. At the top of the dialog is the Select pull down menu. This allows you to choose from several predefined colors (red, green, yellow, etc.), tonal ranges (highlights, shadows, midtones) or create your own selection using the Sampled Colors option. This is the best way to get a clean selection in Color Range, so select Sampled Colors if it isn’t already selected.

Color Range 3

Step 3. For all versions of Photoshop, you can select colors in Color Range by creating a selection with the eyedroppers to the right of the preview and refining the selection using the Fuzziness slider. The eyedroppers allow you to click inside of the image or on the preview within the dialog to target the color you wish to select. Add to the selected color range with the Add to Sample eyedropper (the one with the + next to it) or subtract from the color range with the Subtract from Sample eyedropper (the one with the – sign). You can also add or subtract from the color range selection using the selection modifier keys. Holding the Shift key while clicking on the image or preview adds to the selection, using Alt/Option (Win/Mac) subtracts from the selection. I recommend clicking once to set your target color range, then Shift-clicking several times to add to the selection.

Color Range 4a

Color Range 4b

The image on the left shows the Color Range preview after a single click with the Eyedropper tool. The image on the right shows the same preview after Shift-clicking several times in the sky to select the entire sky. The whiter the area in the preview, the more the area is selected.
Step 4. After creating the selection, it is time to refine it using the Fuzziness slider, which helps you select the range of colors you want to affect with your mask. The Fuzziness slider determines how similar two colors need to be in order to be selected. For example, when using a low Fuzziness setting, the two colors need to be almost exact matches to be selected. A high Fuzziness setting will select a broader range of colors, all blues, for example. The trick is to use the lowest Fuzziness setting that still achieves the goal of your selection.
In the Harborboats.jpg image (download link at the beginning of the article), the goal is to select the sky. After Shift-clicking several times in the blue sky to select the sky, I’ll begin adjusting the Fuzziness slider up and down to refine the selection. Too high of a Fuzziness setting selects the sky and the water, which is too wide a color range for this correction. Too low of a setting leaves the sky along the horizon unselected. I found a Fuzziness setting of 65 to select all of the sky without selecting the water.

Color Range 5

If you’re using Photoshop CS3 or earlier, press OK to accept the selection. If you’re using CS4, stick around, we have a couple extra features to play with.
As I mentioned earlier, Color Range is significantly improved for CS4, both in the math Color Range uses to create the selection and the addition of the Localized Color Clusters. Given the name, the feature sounds complicated, but it isn’t. When you check the Localized Color Clusters option and click to set a selection point, Photoshop activates the Range slider as well. Localized Color Clusters allow you to select blues in one portion of the image without selecting all the blues in the image. For example, if you’ve taken a landscape photo of a meadow on the edge of a forest, you can select the green grasses in the foreground, without selecting the green trees in the background. The Range slider gives you this control—control over how close a color needs to be to your original selection point in order to be selected. A low Range setting will only select similar colors in close proximity to your selection point. A high Range setting will select colors throughout the image matching the color in your selection point.

Color Range 6a

Color Range 6b

In these two examples above, I placed a single sample point in the sky. The image on left the uses a Range setting of 26 to select only the blues within a short distance from the original sample point. The image on the right, shows the effect of a Range setting of 80. Notice how much larger the selection is.
The Fuzziness and Range commands are powerful tools for isolating specific colors within your photo. Fuzziness refines your selection based on color characteristics (Hue, Saturation and Luminance) while Range allows you to refine your selection by proximity to the original sample point.
CS4 users, use the Fuzziness and Range controls to see if you can improve upon the selection you made with Fuzziness alone. When you’re satisfied, press OK to create your selection.
Step 5. Now that you’ve created your selection, create a new Hue-Saturation adjustment layer from the Create New Fill and Adjustment Layer at the base of the Layers panel, or using the Hue-Saturation button in the Adjustments panel.

Color Range 7

Step 6. Set the Hue to -12 and the Saturation to +33. The sky is now a much cleaner, more vibrant blue than before. Toggle the layer preview button on and off to check your work. You shouldn’t be able to see any obvious lines that may give away your work. If so, you’ll want to feather the mask using the Masks panel (CS4 only) demonstrated at the end of the article.

Harbor Boats (corr)

Creating Complex Masks Using Color Channels

Grassy Meadow

Color Range can help make short work of difficult selections, provided there is enough color difference between the object you’re aiming to select and the rest of the image. In the GrassyMeadow.jpg image, the yellow in the flowers and the green of the grasses can be difficult to separate using traditional selection methods. The yellow flowers are far too numerous to select using the Lasso or Magic Wand and using Color Range can be tricky because the colors are so similar. For this image, we’re going to dig deep into the bag of selection tricks to create our selection from the red, green and blue color Channels to change the color of the yellow flowers.

What Are Channels?

The digital photos created by your scanner or digital camera stores tone and color information as three separate components, called channels; one each for red, green and blue. When merged together, these three color channels give you the full range of color and tone in your digital photos. When needed, we can examine these color channels separately to perform advanced corrections, like creating a complex mask. Consider the three color channels of the GrassyMeadow.jpg image. Notice in the red channel, the flowers appear distinctly separate from the grasses, while they are virtually the same tone in the green channel. In the blue channel, the grasses are a dramatically different tone than the sky. These differences can form the basis for complex masks.

Grassy Meadow (red)

Grassy Meadow (green)

Grassy Meadow (blue)

To view your photo’s color channels, open the Channels panel (Windows>Channel). Single-click on the composite RGB channel, then click on an individual color channel to view it. Look for any channels containing high contrast between the portion of the image you wish to adjust and the rest of the photo. For example, in the red channel of the GrassyMeadow.jpg image there is a high degree of contrast between the flowers and the grasses. The flowers are nearly white, while the grasses are middle gray.
If you remember from the Intro to Layer Mask article, a mask is white in the area affected by the correction and black in the unaffected areas. If you wish to adjust the color of the flowers, you simply need to force the flowers to white and the rest of the image to black. The red channel gives us a starting point for creating this complex mask.

Channels 1

Step 1. Drag the Red channel on the Create New Channel Icon at the bottom of the Channels panel. This creates a duplicate channel titled Red Copy.
In order for the Channel to be effective as a mask, we need to force the pixels in the channel to pure white and pure black, otherwise, the correction to change the yellow flowers will be applied to the rest of the image as well.
You can use Levels, Curves or the Threshold command to perform this correction. For this example, I’ll use Levels.

Channels 2

Step 2. Open the Levels dialog (Image>Adjustments>Levels) and begin moving the Highlight and Shadows sliders toward the center to force pixels to white and black. Adjust the midtone slider to push the midtones toward either the highlights or shadows.

Channels 3

Step 3. For this image, setting the Shadow slider to 151, the Midtone slider to 0.12 and the highlight slider to 179. This forces the grasses to black while keeping the flowers white. The sky and rainbow are still white, but you’ll take care of that in the next step.

Channels 4

Step 4. Select the Lasso tool (L) and drag a lasso around the white and gray portions of the sky. Be sure your lasso selection doesn’t extend into the flowers.

Channels 5

Step 5. Fill the selection with black (Edit>Fill>Black). This removes the white areas from the sky.

Channels 6

Step 6. The mask is now complete and ready to use. Click on the Load Channels as Selection icon at the bottom of the Channels panel. This creates a selection from the mask.
Click once on the composite RGB channel to return to the full-color image, then return to the Layers panel. Create a new Hue-Saturation adjustment layer using the Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer icon. Using the Hue, Saturation and Lightness controls, change the color of the flowers to your liking. I changed the flowers from yellow to pink by setting the Hue at -111, the Saturation at -49 and the Lightness at +33. To make the pink color blend with the detail in the flowers, change your layer blending mode from Normal to Color.

Channels 7

Channels 8

Grassy Meadow (pink)

This is an effective way to quickly change flower color, but the edges of the mask look fake and show a clear transition between the masked and unmasked areas. In order to convincingly change the color of the flowers, we need to refine the mask. Fortunately, the Refine Mask command in Photoshop CS4’s Masks Panel can help us do just that.

The Masks Panel

Masks Panel 1

The Masks Panel, introduced in Photoshop CS4, simplifies and consolidates many of the commands for refining and improving layer mask quality. You can replicate most of the commands found in the Masks panel through other methods, but the simplicity and convenience of the Masks panel is hard to beat.
With your Hue-Saturation adjustment layer still targeted in the Layer panel, open the Masks panel (Window>Masks). For many subtle adjustments, you can use the Density and Feather sliders to quickly refine the mask to suit your needs. The Density slider makes the mask more transparent?, allowing some of the correction to show through. This is helpful if you add a local correction, like a saturation adjustment, and decide a subtle saturation boost would be helpful throughout the photo. Increasing the Density slider allows a percentage of the saturation adjustment to apply to the masked pixels.
The Feather slider feathers the edges of the mask, blurring the transition between the white and black areas. This smoothes the edges of the mask, making it appear more natural. For this image, select the Mask Edge button in the Masks panel to open the Mask Edge dialog. The commands in this section are identical to those found in the Refine Edge command in Photoshop CS3 and CS4. The Mask Edge command is used for adjusting masks, the Refine Edge command is used for selections.
In the Refine Mask dialog, begin by setting all five sliders at zero. This displays the current state of your mask. Near the bottom of the Refine Mask dialog are five different preview modes. Select the one that best matches your current need. For example, if you are creating a cutout, previewing the masked pixels against either black or white allows you to see any color contamination from the background. For our sample image, the first option is the most effective because we can see the edges of the selection and the effect it has on the image.
Your controls in the Mask Edge dialog are as follows:

• Radius: The Radius command smoothes out the edges of the mask and uses built-in intelligence to attempt to automatically find the edges of a selected, or masked, area.
• Contrast: The counterpart to the Radius slider, the Contrast slider is most often used to improve the integrity of the edge when using a high Radius setting.
• Smooth: Eliminates any rough edges and rounds sharp corners created when using the lasso tool or hand-drawing masks.
• Feather: Blurs the edge of the mask slightly to make the mask edge blend more naturally with the surrounding area.
• Contract/Expand: Increases or decreases the size of the masked areas to reduce color contamination. The Contract option is particularly useful when performing cutouts as shrinking the selection slightly removes any remaining background pixels which may not have been masked properly.

Because you’ve already gone through and generated a highly detailed mask, you can safely ignore the Radius and Contrast sliders, focusing instead on the Smooth, Feather and Contract/Expand sliders.
When using the Smooth slider, begin increasing the value until problems, like rounded edges or mismatched mask edges begin to appear. Since this is a low-resolution image, and the mask already has a lot of variance along the edges, a Smooth setting around 4 appears to be ideal.

Masks Panel 2

The Feather command blurs the edges of the mask slightly to create a natural-looking mask. Because this is a low-resolution image containing lots of fine detail in the mask, a low Feather setting of 0.9 pixels blends the edges of the mask without allowing the original yellow of the flowers to show through.

Masks Panel 3

Finally, the Contract/Expand slider is used to expand the mask 17 percent to cover any of the yellow tips of the flowers still peeking through the mask.

Masks Panel 4

Pressing OK applies these changes to the mask. The new color of the flowers in the foreground appears quite natural.
Note: Due to the small image size of this image, a few yellow flowers were ignored by the mask. On a full-resolution image, the mask will be more complete due to the larger pixel sizes of each flower. Generally speaking, you’ll have better results building your mask on a full-resolution file, then resizing a final version for the Web.

Grassy Meadow (final)

Conclusion

This article introduces you to two of the many masking techniques professionals use to isolate specific elements within their photo, either for corrections, compositing or for cutting the subject out from the background. No single technique works in all situations, therefore, it is essential to have a variety of different masking techniques to use. When assessing a masking problem, you’ll evaluate a variety of masking methods, from simplest to most complex, to derive a solution. Often, more than one technique can be used to perform your correction. Select the one requiring the least amount of effort and providing the best result. The fewer manual brush strokes necessary to complete a complex mask, the better.
Your experiments with advanced masking techniques will pay dividends in other areas of your image corrections as well. For example, learning to look at your color channels for detail and contrast is useful when you have to recover highlight detail in saturated colors, or remove noise from an image taken at a high ISO setting.
These techniques, and others presented in this series, help pave the way for deeper mastery of Photoshop for correcting and enhancing your digital photos.

Intermediate's Guide to Lighting Kits

In our Beginner’s Guide to Lighting Kits we looked at some of the basic choices to make in getting started using artificial light. The next step up is one we’ll call the Intermediate’s Guide, to signify that for one reason or another you have decided to build on your initial investment of photographic lighting equipment. The reasons for doing so usually are the desire or need to do more professional (as in income-producing) work, wanting to expand your capabilities for artistic reasons or (like many of us) the desire to play with fancier toys.

Rent Before You Buy

Before we get into specifics on types of lighting kits and modifiers to expand your light kit, let’s talk about renting lights before you buy. Are you using lights professionally? The pro who must come back with images cannot blame his or her lighting equipment. This is one reason the combination of renting lighting gear and owning is the most popular. You cannot possibly own every piece of gear you’re ever going to need. So, most professional photographers have a basic kit—either monolights or a pack-based system—then add to it when necessary by renting.
This is also a good way to try out other types, brands and modifiers of lighting gear. If, after a few assignments, you find yourself renting the same piece(s) of equipment, you may find it makes sense to go ahead with the purchase, knowing a lot more from experience than what comes from just reading the company’s literature.
And, depending on the client and type of assignment, many rental fees will be paid for by the client, as long as the arrangement is discussed in advance and both parties approve.

Before You Call the Rental House

Wouldn’t it be great if we could call a rental house and say, “Hmmm, I’m thinking of doing a shot of a light-skinned, light-haired model in a large room, with mostly light furniture and surroundings. I need the right lights for that. I’ll be by tomorrow to pick them up. OK?”
All kidding aside, when renting gear, you need to sit down and carefully plan your shoot, down to the last C-stand. All rental houses put together gear packages on an individual, or a la carte, basis, and as a result can’t (or more accurately, shouldn’t) read your mind or guess about what you need.
Draw a simple lighting diagram—or more than one—and label each item. Then transfer those items to a list, checking off each as you do. On critical items i.e. sync cords or extra flash tubes or modeling bulbs, make sure you order a few extra for good measure.
Most rental houses do have some gear available as “packages.” That usually consists of a strobe, head(s), umbrellas and stands, which will take care of your basic needs but you still have to carefully itemize everything else.
Don’t forget expendables like gaffers tape. Most rental houses will supply them but charge you purchase price—so you get to keep them.
Lastly, don’t wait until the last minute to pick up the gear. Allow sufficient time to get it to your studio or location so you can test it and call the rental house if you have problems or questions.

Renting a Studio

As your photography style grows and you tackle larger assignments, your need for a studio usually grows as well. Like buying lighting, it makes sense to rent before you go out and plunk down $2 mil for that state-of-the-art penthouse studio you’ve been drooling over.
An added advantage to renting is it enables you to procure only as much space as you need. If you’re photographing the latest sports car with people all around, you can rent the kind of space necessary for that assignment. But why rent 20,000 square feet of space for simple fashion or people shots? That’s definitely one advantage to renting.
How do you pay for the rental? Simple: ask the client. Explain that one of the reasons your rates are so reasonable is that you don’t have high overhead to pass along. But it also means renting a studio in certain situations, i.e., for this assignment, we recommend this studio with xxxx square feet, client space, set facilities, etc. Your client will appreciate your honesty and transparency, have a chance to weigh in on the kind of studio, and everybody will be happy.

What Kind of Lights?

As your expertise in lighting grows, you probably have formed a creative style or approach. Or, you may have just narrowed down your area of interest to portraits, interiors or outdoor action. This combination of factors has also probably given you a desire to build more artificial light capabilities in a certain direction.
In many situations, the choice of lighting is mostly arbitrary. A good photographer can make the same image with speedlights, monolights, packs, tungsten or HMI’s. In fact, the really creative ones will use a combination of light sources. One of the best photographers in the world and certainly one who uses lighting more creatively than most is Gregory Heisler. With more than 70 Time magazine covers to his credit, I have seen Greg use a theatrical spotlight from 500-feet away to illuminate then Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange John Phelan. This is not to say theatrical spotlights are the perfect portrait light. It says you have to think about how and why you want a photograph to look before you nail down the lighting.
Many photographers are also shooting video as well as stills. This would make a good case for constant lighting (quartz or fluorescent) or pack systems with modeling lights.
So let’s take a look at expanded kits, organized from the least expensive to the most expensive.

Speedlight Setup

Speedlights

We’ll begin with the ubiquitous speedlight or shoe-mounted strobe. Perhaps you have purchased one or two of them, and have started to play around with an umbrella or other diffuser. Do you like working with them? There’s something to be said for being able to grab a couple of small bags containing enough gear to do justice to portraits, tabletops, small interiors or fashion work. Well, what’s the best way to expand your equipment arsenal?
My career has been largely on location, often in remote places with no electricity: Offshore oil wells, thousands of feet down in a mine or the middle of agricultural settings. In these instances you have no choice but to use battery powered strobes. Fortunately, today’s choice is wider than ever and includes units up to 1,200 watt-seconds (with modeling lights, no less). Being able to be free of AC power is one of the beauties of the speedlight (and now battery-powered monolights).
The other advantage of speedlights is low cost. Very often I needed ten or more sources of light, and the low cost of little lights made this concept a reality, both in terms of investment as well as portability.

Speedlight Portrait Outfit

Your decision-making, of course, depends on the kind of photography you do. Let’s take the portraitist. You have probably begun with an umbrella-mounted unit for the main light. Have you sometimes wished for more power? Simple! Put two strobes on a "bracket (such as the Photoflex DualFlash Hot Shoe Adapter Kit, (compare prices)) that holds flash units and remote radios. This will afford you the option of using a larger "umbrella (such as the Creative Light 41" Silver Umbrella, (compare prices)) or, my favorite, the Creative Light 41" Umbrella Softbox, (compare prices). If you already have a setup for the main light, a good addition is a shoot-through umbrella (such as the Creative Light 41" Translucent Umbrella, (compare prices)) that allows for positioning the main and fill and roughly the same distance but giving you a relatively softer fill.

Gary Miller

Gary Miller

Your third light should be a hair or backlight. The first requirement is to shield this light so it won’t spill on other areas, especially into the camera lens. The easiest and quickest is to fold a piece of shirt cardboard to fit around the flash. But how inelegant! My favorites are some of the ingenious products from HonlPhoto. In this case, the 1/8-inch HonlPhoto 1/8" Honeycomb Speed Grid, (compare prices) is just what the lighting doctor ordered. You need a HonlPhoto Speed Strap for Shoe Mount Flashes, (compare prices) to attach most Honl accessories, but this is simply a small wrap-around Velcro™ strap onto which you attach various accessories. Honl’s line of gear is very well constructed, uniquely designed and in this writer’s opinion nothing short of brilliant.
The fourth light is a background light (as opposed to a backlight). In a typical portrait situation, you would probably put it on a short light stand (such as the Creative Light LS-22 2' Backlight Stand, (compare prices)) so it is hidden, yet doesn’t have to hit the background at an extreme angle (which would happen if you put it off to the left or right of the subject). Both the backlight and background light can be filtered, that is to change the color temperature of the light warmer or cooler. On speedlights, you can simply tape a Rosco Filter (from their sampler book: Rosco Strobist 55 Piece Cinegel Filter Kit, (compare prices), which has more colors than you could use in a lifetime. There are also filters and filter sets available for specific brands (you can search for these here).
With four speedlights you can tackle a lot of assignments, for example:

• head-and-shoulders portraits
• full-body shots i.e. fashion
• environmental portraits i.e. surrounded by a related scene
• tabletop shots (products, how-to, etc.)
• simple interiors
• night time exteriors (using strobes to accent specific areas)
• outdoor fill (weddings, sports, etc.)

Monolights

I happen to favor the monolight for the intermediate user for a couple of reasons. First, if one goes down, you usually have at least one more as a backup. For generator or pack-based systems, you need to have an entirely redundant pack and head to insure against failures. For the really high-priced studios this is not a problem, but most of us are on a tight budget these days so thus it’s an important reason.
The second reason is you don’t have to deal with the cabling (and potential for cable failure) that runs from the pack to the head. Everything is self-contained; all you need is a common extension cord for AC.
Third is cost per unit or cost per watt-second. You can generally buy a three or four monolight system for less of an investment than for the generator route (remembering you need at least two generators for redundancy). However, when you’re buying top-of-the-line monolights the price evens out a little, leaving the choice more open to personal favorites.
If you’re doing architectural work, pack-based systems require cabling for every head, and it’s not unusual for pros to have a dozen lights hundreds of feet apart. With monolights, you just need to find a nearby AC outlet.

Bowens

For portraits, for example, it’s hard to beat a set of high-quality monolights, such as the Bowens Esprit Gemini Digital 250, (compare prices). Their 250-watt second unit is a great buy. This new digital unit is smaller than their manually controlled counterparts but comes packed with extra features. Power is controlled via a single rotary dial allowing control in exact 1/10 stops over five stops from full to 1/32 power. The large and clear digital display shows the current power level as well as other important information at the touch of a button; the display can even be inverted while using ceiling rail systems (way cool!). Trigger voltage is a safe 5 VDC.
The smart photocell on Esprit Gemini Digital units allow the photographers to set the cell to ignore pre-exposure flashes from their camera or even to learn the pre-exposure sequence to ensure perfect flash synchronization. And the advanced modeling can be set to Off, Proportional and 100%; the Gemini digital units allow users to set their own level of modeling light from f/5 to f/10. The modeling lamps can also be set to pulse when the unit has recycled to full power as a visual indication that the flash is ready to go again.
These are pretty sophisticated features for a monolight in this price range.

Profoto D1 Series

I have used the Profoto D1 Series, which, at the other end of the price spectrum, is without a doubt the gold standard in monolights. The Profoto D1 Studio Kit, (compare prices) flash unit is fully digital, not just on the display panel, but in the flash output control circuitry as well. This to ensure a consistency in flash-to-flash color temperature and flash energy. The dual mode SMPS capacitor charging technology ensures flash-to-flash precision, and the 7 f-stop power range gives all the power the demanding photographer needs for creative freedom, to shoot with high speed and fully open lens.
The D1 series is designed by what the company calls their philosophy of look, listen and touch. Controls are easy to use, freeing your mind, eyes and hands, so you can focus on the image you are creating. The unique built-in reflector gives you full control and minimizes stray light. It is designed for use with softboxes and umbrellas and for use with or without additional reflectors.
Short flash duration gives images a crisp feel and the fast recycling time means that you never have to wait for the flash. If you’re really serious about getting the best monolights on the market, the D1 is your choice. They’re available in 250, 500 and 1000 watt-second models.
In between are a host of moderately-priced monolights from a variety of manufacturers. These range from about $300 to $1000 per unit. Buying a complete system is a good way to save money, and be sure to look out for specials which many manufacturers offer from time to time. One of the more popular brands is Alien Bees. They get high marks for dollar value, build quality and service reputation.

Generator or Pack-Based Systems

Before the introduction of such a wide variety of monolights, it was customary for the intermediate photographer to purchase a pack-based system. As indicated above, if you are doing assignments you must have a backup unit, so that means at least two generators and flash heads. For the less expensive pack systems, that’s not too bad, but if you go for one of the top brands all of a sudden you’re into some serious money.
Even if you’re shooting in a big city where it’s easy to rent a unit should one go down, do you really want to stop production while you go to get another strobe? Not good.
Nonetheless, there are some sound reasons to go for a pack-based system. The first is power. Most packs come in a 2400 or 4800 watt-second model, giving you a lot of light if, for example, you’re shooting medium format digital or lighting large areas.
Another reason is that some companies offer a wider variety of light shaping tools (ringlights, globe lights, focusable spots, etc.) for pack-based systems. Again, this comes at a cost, so unless you are a professional with a steady stream of assignments, it’s probably better to rent. We’ll get into more of this in our third installment, Professional’s Guide to Lighting Kits.
For most photographers, either a monolight or pack-based system will offer more than enough choices for light-shaping tools.

Dynalite

When I was shooting annual reports, back in the Pleistocene era, the more powerful strobes were big and heavy. Many pros were reluctant to carry them around, ship them, etc. Then along came a company called Dynalite, and I’m happy to report they’re still in business manufacturing great gear. At the time of this writing, the company is offering their Dynalite RK5-1100 Kit, (compare prices) for about $875. That includes one head and a carrying case. A full setup with another pack, two more heads and support gear will probably get you up around the $2500 mark, but that’s a good value for the dollar.
Another reasonably-priced system comes from Novatron, which starts at about $800 for a two-pack system and goes up to about $2900 for a four-head complete system. Other well-known and reputable brands include Elinchrom, Norman, Profoto and Speedatron.
Again, purchasing used equipment is not such a bad idea if you’re just getting started. You can save a lot of money and as long as the equipment has been in use (not using strobes for many years causes the capacitors to dry out) and works when you test it.

Light-Shaping Tools

Without a doubt, any photographer could break the bank buying light-shaping tools. Umbrellas, softboxes, reflectors, scrims, flags, barndoors, and the like can quickly add up to more of an investment than the strobes themselves. (Take a look at the variety of light-shaping tools from Profoto as an example). So what do you really need?
Again, it depends on the kind of photography you do. If you photograph cars in a studio, for example, you will find the number one tool is a huge butterfly, sometimes as large as 20×40-feet. A butterfly is a piece of diffusion material held by an outside rigid frame. They’re useful outdoors, for example, in softening the effects of direct sunlight. But if you’re just doing portraits or fashion, your needs will be much less onerous. Try this one: California Sunbounce SunScrim Butterfly Seamless Textile 6' x 6', (compare prices).
Incidentally, the number of terms and phrases in the lighting business can be mind-boggling. Lowel publishes a terrific glossary that answers all your questions and then some.

Softboxes

Softboxes

If you do a lot of portraits, one or more softboxes are essential.
A softbox produces the same kind of wrap-around, soft light as a butterfly, although it’s rare you will find one larger than 4×6-feet. They’re also mostly used in a vertical position, where a butterfly might be used at 45-degrees or parallel with the ground. A softbox consists of an outside diffusion material held in a box shape and a way to mount the “box” to a strobe head. This device is called a “speedring” and, in most setups, allows the softbox to be mounted to the strobe head by rods (either aluminum or fiberglass).
Softboxes come in two basic varieties: recessed and flush front. The recessed models offer a little “flag effect,” keeping the light from hitting the lens. The flush models allow stacking with absolutely no seam between them. So two or four flush softboxes mounted together can cover a tremendously wide area with beautiful light.

Flags, Scrims, Flats and Reflectors

One of the cheapest yet often-used light-shaping tools is a 4×8-foot piece of Foamcore. These can be used to block or reflect light, depending on your needs and where you place the foamcore. Often studios will build a “flat” with 2×4′s to which is fastened a piece of Foamcore. The flat is self-standing and can be moved anywhere in the studio.
The other inexpensive tool is a flag, usually flat black in color. This is used to keep light from spilling on unwanted areas. Foamcore can be ordered in flat black for this purpose or you can simply spray regular white Foamcore flat black on one side — that way you have both a reflector and flag at the same time. Flags can be as small as 2×3-feet or as large as 4×8-feet (sometimes larger if necessary).
A must-have for any tool kit is a toolkit of color gels and diffusion material. Roscoe and other manufacturers make assorted sizes in sheets as well as individual filters. Bowens has a neat little kit: Bowens Advanced Lighting Reflector Kit, (compare prices) with Softbox, Reflectors, Barndoors & Gels that combines a lot of often-needed tools.
If you need a stronger reflector than plain Foamcore, try this old trick. Crumple up aluminum foil, then straighten it out and spray-mount it to a heavy-duty backing like pressboard. You can make this fairly large, up to 3×4-feet or 4×8-feet, but remember if there are strong winds you’ll need a strong assistant.
There are many commercially available reflectors these days, made more compact and easier to use by the “twist and pop” design. You take them out of their case, let go and, voila!, they pop up into a full-size reflector. To put them away, simply twist and put them back in their case.
One of the more innovative — as well as educational — companies in this area is California Sunbounce. They have a catalog in ten languages, and a series of excellent how-to videos. Well worth checking out.

Positioning Lights

A task photographers always face is how and where to position lights. Sometimes where you want to put a light is in conflict with how you are going to get it there i.e. you’re working on a factory floor where it’s dangerous, there is no room because you’re at the edge of available real estate, the floor is tilted, etc. In these instances, you have to usually start with a clamp of some sort. The Bogen Super Clamp with standard stud, (compare prices) started the clamp revolution and it’s still a great choice. This can be affixed to pipes, door edges, ceiling fixtures and other places and has a reversible stud for mounting lights or other accessories.
Lowell also has an assortment of well-designed and assignment-saving support gear. Clamps, plates, flexible arms, etc. were originally designed for their tungsten lighting kits but most of them can be used for any lights. Remember, too, that Gaffers Tape is key to not only setting up lights, but doing things like covering potentially dangerous extension cords so people won’t trip over them. While on the subject of safety, if your lights hang over peoples’ heads, make sure you have a safety chain as an extra security measure. You can buy them from hardware or home improvement stores.
To properly position a hair or back light, a boom support (such as the Creative Light 13' Lightweight Boom Stand, (compare prices)) is a very useful tool. This particular one, from Creative Light, is very cleverly designed for use both as a light stand as well as a boom fixture. It comes with a sandbag for counterbalancing the weight of the head/reflector. Others, such as the inexpensive boom fixture Westcott 3.9' to 6.5' Adjustable Chrome Boom Arm, (compare prices) are more straightforward and consist of a clamp that affixes to the top of the stand and a counterweight.
You will also find a variety of simple light stands useful. I have one bag with a few small, lightweight four-section stands best suited for speedlights. In another bag I carry a few larger stands, including a big Matthews Sky High Triple Riser 15' Steel Stand, (compare prices) that can be fitted with wheels. This can hold most softboxes or other heavy setups.

When Will It End?

As you can imagine, a photographer’s light kit is always changing (usually getting larger, but once in a while we sell off some old stuff to make room for the new). How do we make sense out of all this craziness?

• Innovate when you can; use what you have in new ways
• Build or temporarily rig a fixture rather than buying a whole new strobe
• Rent a particular piece of gear before buying it – don’t buy on a whim
• Mix light sources
• Buy gear that you know will last, that has a wide choice of light modifiers

The last piece of advice in this department is to get out and use the gear often. You won’t know its features and/or limitations by sitting in your living room. Join a meetup group or camera club. Attend classes or seminars. Practice, practice, practice.
There are also a ton of books out there. Some of my favorites are:

• Minimalist Lighting by Kirk Tuck
• Basic Studio Lighting by Tony Corbell
• The Hot Shoe Diaries by Joe McNally
• Photographic Lighting Equipment by Kirk Tuck
• Light: Science and Magic by Paul Fuqua

The upcoming final Lighting Kit guide will encompass professional lighting kits. Also in this series we’ll talk about advanced techniques and how to get the most out of your gear. Stay tuned!