A.D. Drumm Images, LLC – Landscape, Portrait, and Fine Art Photography in Rochester MN Photography

 Learning from incredible photographers is part of the fun of photography and feeds my passion for it. It makes events like Photoshop World amazing. I walk out pumped, looking for how I can put to use what I’ve learned, or more often now, what I’ve felt. There is always something more to learn, another point of view worth considering and exploring.

The world of flash photography, and more specifically small flash photography, was the subject for a day of training at the Hilton in Minneapolis yesterday. David Hobby and Joe McNally are running their Flash Bus tour all across the country. David is the original strobist, one of folks who has popularized using small flashes. Joe McNally is, well, Joe McNally!

What’s the deal with flash? Early in my photography life, like most other photographers at the time, I bought my first flash to open up the world of dim lighting. SLR cameras didn’t have little pop-up flashes then, and besides, if you wanted to try filling a space with flash or reaching a subject more than 5-10 feet away, what you needed was a hefty flash unit.

We were shooting film with ISO numbers (then called ASA) like 64 or 100. When Kodak brought out Kodachrome 200, we were in heaven. There was Ektachrome 400, but it wasn’t great – sort of grainy. Dim light meant using flash. I never thought of flash as much more than a tool for shooting in bad light.

On-camera flash was horrible then just like now, so getting the flash at least a bit away from the camera was something you learned pretty quickly. And having a larger area than the 1″x2″ front of the flash unit was a must. I ended up first with the Vivitar 283 then the Vivitar 285. These were uber-popular flashes in the 1970s and 1980s and even later. Look at news photos from then where a group of photographers can be seen, and you’ll see a plethora of 283s and 285s.

Vivitar produced one of the most powerful small flashes available, plus they built a system around them. You could buy a bracket to move the flash off camera, a cord to attach it, filters that slid into a carrier in from of the flash. They were automatic using a light sensor to determine the flash duration (and, thus, its power). They had a lens to allow you to adjust the coverage of the light.

But even with these features, flash shooting can be intimidating. Lots of photographers today shoot only natural light. While natural light can produce wonderful photographs, one sometimes wonders if part of the reason for at least some of these photographers is a lack of skill or even intimidation of using flash.

For me, two things made a big difference in raising my comfort level. First is digital. Back in the film days, small flash photography was a guessing game and required tons of experience to do well. Unlike large lights used in a studio, there’s no modeling light. Those are low power lights that let you see what you’re doing – where the shadows are, how you are sculpting the subject with light. Digital provides instant feedback. In film days, some would shoot Polaroids for the same effect.

The second thing was Joe McNally. During a workshop, I watched Joe put together a photograph talking through his thought process. How he blended the flash with ambient light. How he took control of the light. No longer a slave to the ambient light, a photographer can expand his or her vision and make a photograph, not just take a photograph.

To be clear, I wasn’t one to lock the flash away and never touch it. I had owned remote cables back at least in the early 1980s, and a compatible Canon cord was one of the first purchases I made after buying a flash for my digital gear. The Canon remote commander that lets me shoot wireless was something I bought soon after that. So, yes, I was shooting with flash, off-camera, using various diffusers to help way before I spent a few days around Joe.

But Joe McNally inspired me, showed me how lighting you control is always your friend. When I saw he and David were doing a seminar, I signed up the day registration opened. And perhaps the coolest thing about the Flash Bus Tour was the differences between Joe and David. Their approaches are not the same. They think differently, light differently, use different settings usually, yet both achieve fabulous results.

Small flashes are a wonderful technology. They provide a foundation for producing a portrait like this. They give the photographer light to use, to arrange, to blend. And they pack up in a camera bag with some batteries to take anywhere. They shouldn’t be intimidating. They should be embraced, giving us a sense of peace and calm as they provide us a way to dig out from under the less-than-ideal light we find.

In July, I attended the Artists Happy Hour at RCT which I wrote about. I was intrigued by the forms, the guitar, the tattoos, the color. The fellow whose arm this is, Andy, contacted me about maybe shooting some other photos showing his tattoos. They all have some meaning for him, and he designed several of them.

I liked the idea and thought it would be an interesting creative exercise. In August, Andy came by and we did a photo session. I had a few ideas in mind, and we tried those. I also found a tripod way too confining and pulled the camera free to let me move around.

This basic pose was one I had pictured in my head. I used two lights for all these photos. Many of the shots just screamed for some creative post-processing work, although all of the Lightroom and Photoshop work was fairly straight-forward with little to no special masking or touch-ups. Basically, I just applied global effects to add to, or hopefully enhance, the character of the photograph.

It is my favorite photo from the session. I’ve printed it on canvas – it looks great that way. I then pulled out some gels to see what we could do.

The combination of red and blue gels was awesome. The colors look good together and blend into a wonderful magenta. I think they add drama to the shot. When I later removed the gels, I had to adjust to the colorless images I was taking. It forced me to think through the shots carefully, since I no longer had the bold colors.

This was my favorite of the gel’d shots. After processing this image, smoothing it quite a lot, I decided it would make an interesting metal print. These are prints embedded into aluminum. They have a hard, very glossy finish with rich, deep colors. I don’t think they work for every photo – far from it – but this shot looks good on aluminum.

I was looking for ways to highlight the tattoos on Andy’s hands. I asked if he had a harmonica, which he did. He says he uses it more as a tuning tool, but he sounded pretty good playing it. I like that this prop gives him a reason to have his hands there, and I used the lighting to show that tattoos.

Andy knocked the harmonica against his hand to dry it, and that presented a new photo. Strong, warm light works here.

How do we get a natural pose and show these tattoos on his hands? This one works, I think.

I took a few shots at the end of the session that really focus on Andy and his face rather than the tattoos. This photo is my favorite of those. I like the lighting and his concentration.

A musician and poet and a photographer. I like to think it’s art that makes us human and unique among the animals on Earth. I like to think of photography as an instrument to make visual music. Whether anyone else agrees, I guess, doesn’t really matter. But that evening, two artists made some music. Of that, I’m sure.

Children grow up, don’t they? A high school senior is nearly an adult, and senior portraits seem to provide a glimpse into the subject’s adulthood. Dani was a great subject, in part because of all the ideas she brought to our shoot. I’d take her ideas and try to make them happen. This shot was my favorite of the day. I knew it would be my favorite as soon as the viewfinder met my eye. Wow! I can remember when Dani was born, and here she is a woman. Where does time go?

But a high school senior is still a child, too. And, she’ll hopefully keep that spirit for a very long time. Adulthood isn’t always easy or fun. We need to jump with joy when the moment is right. Everyday life doesn’t need to be constantly serious.

When I pick up my camera, I think I feel a bit like this. I forget everything else, any problems and worries, and just try to make a good photograph. I think this is a value of art that we don’t often consider. It’s a meditation of sorts – it clears the mind, it frees us from the world beyond ourselves and our subjects.

Controlling the light is so important in a shoot like this. Even with the sun fairly high in the sky, we can use shade, reflectors, and speedlites to bend the light to meet our need. Post-production tools help, too, but can only polish the light the camera saw.

I had a few of my own ideas going into this shoot. Knowing we had a Ferrari available, I saw this shot in my head when I was scoping out the Plummer House. Danielle was game for it and gave me the attitude I thought appropriate for this shot. I was thinking this was a woman ready for a night on the town – a mansion, a super car, a gown, yeah – let’s go.

And some shots just show us a girl in transition to a woman. Older girl? Younger woman? Here you can see both people in one photo. And I’m happy to play a small role in capturing this time in this young woman’s life.