February 1, 2019

Today was the first day of the “Hearts of Lewisburg Ice Festival” in Lewisburg, PA.  Many of the stores downtown have ice sculptures in front of their storefronts. I thought it would be a great opportunity to experiment with colored gels on a Speedlite flash.  This note explains how to use colored gels on your Speedlite flash.

For the colored gels, I used several in my Vello EZ-FLIP GEL SET ($20).  The set has 30 assorted colored gels that fit in a plastic holder that’s held on by velcro to the head of the Speedlite.  The set comes with a small case.

First, you want control of the direction of the flash.  That means getting the Speedlite off your camera!  To achieve this, I used a RF transmitter/receiver setup between my Canon 80D DSLR camera and Canon 430EXIII-RT Speedlite.  The transmitter (Yongnuo YN-E3-RT) fits on the hot shoe of the camera.  The Speedlite fits on top of the receiver (Yongnuo YNE3-RX).  This transmitter/receiver pair is a little more expensive (together $135) because they are compatible with Canon’s E-TTL (Through The Lens) protocol.  This is the same protocol used by a Speedlite when it’s on top of your camera.  This means the amount of flash will be determined by the light measured Through The Lens (TTL) by a pre-flash.  Cheaper transmitter/receiver setups mean you have to control the flash manually with lots of trial and error.

My Canon Speedlite came with a little plastic stand.  I mounted the Yongnuo receiver on the plastic stand and attached the Speedlite to the receiver as shown above.  For my ice sculpture pictures I placed the stand with receiver and Speedlite on the sidewalk near the bottom of the sculpture usually at a 45 degree angle on the right from where I stood with the camera.  I pointed the head of the Speedlite approximately at the center of the sculpture.

Here is the plastic stand, the receiver, and Speedlite with a red gel inserted in the Vello EZ-FLIP gel holder.

The Vello gel holder easily flips up so you can shoot without the gel.

Here is example ice sculpture without a flash or gel.

Same sculpture with flash and a blue gel.  The stand, receiver, and Speedlight setup was off to the left at 45 degree angle.

Dog sculpture without flash or gel.

The same dog sculpture with flash and red gel.  The Speedlight was on right side. This sculpture is smaller than the previous one so I was able to get the flash closer and throw more red light on it.

Ice sculpture in front of Bucknell’s Bookstore without flash or gel.

The same sculpture with flash and red gel on right side.  I think this image shows the real creative power that one can achieve with colored gels on a Speedlite.

If you live in the area, visit downtown Lewisburg and see the ice sculptures before they melt!

Dan

November 28, 2018

Neat image isn’t it? How did I do it?  I used ICM!  Here are the details on how you can do it!

ICM or Intentional Camera Movement is when the photographer intentionally moves the camera while he or she presses the shutter. This is done for artistic reasons or special effects.

    The first shot is an ICM image of our Christmas Tree.  The camera was set in Manual mode, ISO of 100, aperture of f/3.5, with a exposure of five seconds. I held the camera in my two hands, pressed the shutter, and during the five seconds moved the camera in a circular motion.  I had pre-focused on the lights on the tree and placed the lens in manual focus before I took the shot. That way, the autofocus mechanism didn’t try to find the focus in the dim light.

    With ICM, start with a five second exposure.  I find an exposure of five seconds to be about the amount of time for one to smoothly move the camera through the pattern one plans.  You may need to adjust the camera’s aperture or ISO in your shots depending on your situation.

    The first shot also demonstrates a common ICM problem. A jerky start! If you look at the top of the image you will see little “hooks” where I started the motion after I pressed the shutter.  The way to avoid these jerky starts is to begin the motion of the pattern then gently press the shutter.  I did that on the other three images. Performing a clean start and moving the camera in a smooth motion takes practice!

    For this next ICM shot, I zoomed in closer to the middle of our Christmas tree.  Again, I used a five second exposure where I moved the camera in a circular motion.  Because I was closer to the lights, I needed to change the aperture to f/5.0.  Actually I took a bunch of shots at different aperture settings and I liked the f/5.0 one the best.

    Note: The dashed line effect is due to the blinking of the LED Christmas lights that we use on our tree.  LED lights are like fluorescent lights, they blink 60 times a second in sync with the AC power.

   The next shot is another ICM where I moved the camera in a circular motion during the five seconds but with an aperture of f/11.  They look similar in exposure because I adjusted both in Lightroom.

   The last shot was taken similar to the previous one–ISO 100, aperture of f/11, exposure for five seconds–but I moved the camera in a figure eight several times.

Use the holiday lights in your own home to take some ICM photographs!  They are easy to take and lots of fun!  And when you show them to your friends and relatives, they will be impressed by your photography skills! 🙂

With ICM photos, one needs to do a  lot of experimentation. Typically one takes many shots and selects only a few good ones.  But the results can be amazing!

Have a Happy Holiday Season!

Dan