Portraits with Speedlights

Many people don't realize this but I threw away all my studio lights about seven years ago. I started using speedlights when Nikon introduced CLS and never looked back. I can easily set up portrait type lighting anytime, anywhere. The pictures above were shot in a basement with low ceilings against a white wall. I used four speedlights to make this portrait. One as a main 1/4 power with shoot thru umbrella, one in a strip box at 1/16 power from underneath in front of the camera, one from above pointed straight up into the rafters at 1/2 power, and one in a strip box off to the right pointed back at my subjects at 1/8 power. This system is easy to use and set up quickly and allows you great mobility.

Last Light

Beautiful lighting on the battlefields of Gettysburg.

Lighting Dog Portraits on the Fly

One of my many gripes about photographers, pro or amateur, is they go to great lengths and expense buying and using all kinds of fancy lighting and light modifiers for in studio work, then when they are not in a controlled studio environment they go back to shooting badly lit candids. My opinion is if you want to run with the big dogs then you run with the big dogs 100% percent of the time not when it's convenient. The picture above was taken in my daughter's living room with dark blue walls and a white ceiling. I placed her dog on the brown leather sofa and I sat on the floor about 6 feet away. I used two Nikon sb 600 speedlights placed facing straight up. One to the left on the TV table at 1/4 power and one to the right of my subject on a regular end table at 1/2 power. Flashes were triggered on camera with cowboy remote flash triggers. This whole portrait session took me 3 min. to set up. Just because you are out of your studio doesn't mean you shouldn't always strive to take the best picture possible.

My Lucky Break in Gettysburg

Gettysburg is a popular tourist destination, especially during Christmas vacations. The historic battlefields are great places to photograph. I always try to find unique or different angles when photographing landmarks, principally because they all photographed to death and I don't want my photos to be like ho-hum same ole photos. I was slowly cruising through the battlefield looking for an opportunity when I came upon a local re enactor dressed in full rebel uniform. None of the tourists seemed to notice him as he walked along. I walked up to him and quickly struck up a conversation. During our talk I asked if he would be so kind to pose for a few pictures for me. He agreed and I quickly looked for a good spot with a clear background. I wanted to show the realism of what it could have looked like back in the day. The sun was setting so the light was great for portraits. I found a lone canon and decided the best angle would be shooting in to the sun. This would normally be ideal if I had some sort of reflector or some fill flash to bounce some light back at him, to make sure I didn't lose too much detail in the shadows. I decided to HDR, ( high dynamic range ) a burst of five images spaced one stop apart would be my best approach. I used my Nikon D3 with 24-85mm lens at f8 aperture priority, iso 400. I also used a graduated neutral density filter to drop the exposure of the bright sky. I moved around my subject and shot various angles to get a variety of images. In my hast to work fast I stepped into a puddle of very cold water in the field...lol. I thanked him very much for posing for my camera and he went on his way. I felt very fortunate to have run in to him, and I knew I had some really great images to bring home. The images above were then uploaded to Adobe Camera Raw, processed in Photomatix and finished in Photoshop CC. I used various techniques ( sepia tone ) to replicate an old photo look.

Grand Opening

This blog, formerly Niagara Falls Wedding Photography blog, run by The Portrait Gallery Niagara has been changed to our new blog simply called Gary Muth PHOTOGRAPHY. It will not be a wedding based photography blog but I plan on covering my personal photography with pictures and tutorials and just general things of interest. I thank you for following my photography.

WWII tribute 2014

A few images from the WWII tribute held at the Dillsburg Tavern in Pennsylvania.

Gorge Walk by Gary Muth

We had a great opportunity to stop in Dansville and visit Stony Brook. A wonderful state park with nature trails and a gorge walk with plenty of photo opportunities. The waterfalls had a nice amount of water flowing which for August is probably rare. The park was packed with people and getting pictures of the waterfalls without people frolicking in the water was a little tricky but with a little planning and patience I got a few images.