Joe Baraban’s Digital Photography Blog

Bracketed and created in the camera.

Since I’m from the old School of Photography (you know the one, the school where you learned to do things “in the camera”, and as a result became a good photographer), I do my own ‘bracketing’.

Now, in the digital age of Photography, the ‘powers that be’ decided to help out and made it so that their cameras could do the work for you. The problem with that is that it’s not always in your best interest. Notwithstanding the important fact that you won’t have a clue as to what your camera is doing, and if it’s doing the right thing at the right time.

But I digress!!!

First, let me go back to the very beginning, as in the definition of ‘bracketing’. I know a lot of you will find it hard to believe, but there’s a lot of photographers out there that have no idea what I mean by ‘bracketing’. I know this because I conduct my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops around the planet, and also with a top online school called the BPSOP, so I periodically get this question.

Without further qualifications, Wikipedia’s definition of ‘bracketing’ usually refers to exposure bracketing: the photographer chooses to take one picture at a given exposure, one or more brighter, and one or more darker in order to select the most satisfactory image. Technically, this can be accomplished by changing either the shutter speed or the aperture. That is, if you’re shooting a subject or a landscape where the Depth of Field isn’t critical.

If the Depth of Field is important, you just want to bracket the shutter speed, and if the shutter speed is important, then you bracket the aperture. The point is to give yourself exposure options.

Ok, here’s an example:

Knowing exactly (to the degree) where the sun was going to rise by using the combination of my Sunpath readings and my Morin 2000 Hand Bearing Compass, I set up beforehand to take a photo of a boy looking for something using a Coleman lantern. It was  a few minutes after sunset when I began shooting, the light coming from the direction where the sun set was very soft and delicate. My Minolta One Degree Spot Meter (you can find them on e-Bay) told me that the exposure on the boy’s face lit by the lantern was 1/30^th of a second at F11. If I had taken that one exposure, the odds of my picture looking good was very small. Vegas wouldn’t have taken that bet. So to make sure I had it “in the can”, I ‘bracketed’ the exposure the meter gave me.  I took one photo at 1/30^th at F11, and then I shot one at:

• 1/30^th at F8
• 1/30^th at F5.6
• 1/30^th at F4
• 130^th at F16

These were the settings to overexpose (brighten) the picture to make sure it didn’t come out too dark. If you notice, there is only one bracket that’s underexposed from the reading of F8; that would be F16. The reason is that because the light was so low and delicate, one stop under was more than enough to cover me.

Ok, another scenario:

If I had been there later in the afternoon when the sun was higher in the sky, and the light was much harsher I didn’t need to worry about my photo coming out too dark. I would have worried about it being too bright and washed out.

Then, my meter might have said something like 1/250^th of a second at F8. In that scenario, I would want to bracket more on the underexposed side of F8, so my brackets would have been:

• 1/250^th at F11
• 1/250^th at F16
• 1/250^th at F22

And one stop underexposed at 1/250^th at F5.5, because more than likely I wouldn’t have to worry about my photo being too dark, only too bright.

The reason I do this manually, and with a hand held meter is because the meters in digital cameras are not accurate and not as precise.

A lot of my students set the meter in their camera to bracket automatically, but when you do that, it won’t consider the softness of the light. It’s going to bracket the same way all the time.  Not the best way to take photos.

Over the years of bracketing, I can feel, sense, see, and read the light and know instinctively what to do. It’s about being a well-rounded photographer that understands the light, because in all my classes, I always tell people that “LIGHT IS EVERYTHING”, and when you find the Light you’ll find the shot.

BY THE WAY, The last thing you want to do is to change the bracketing sequence all the time. Especially when you have only seconds left of that “drop dead gorgeous light”.

That’s just not a good idea. Do you really want your camera to be in charge of how your photos turn out?  I recently had a student tell me that she could only bracket three exposures because that’s what her camera would allow.

“YIKES”, I said to her. “Are you hearing yourself”, I continued. “What the camera allows? Do you have a place at the dinner table for your camera? I hope it’s at the head”.

If you ever want your photography to jump “up a notch”, I would strongly suggest that you take control.

But that’s just me!!!

View my work at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/barabanjoe/  Come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

A simple idea can tell a big story.

Through the years, I’ve collected a lot of quotes that were said by an artist of some measure and how the quote relates to my way of thinking; especially how the quote fits into my three online classes with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet.

“ I always thought good photos were like good jokes. If you have to explain it, it just isn’t that good.” – Anonymous

One of the many discussions I have at least once if not a hundred times in my four-week classes with my fellow photographers is about making sure you’ve left the viewer with a clear understanding of what message you were trying to get across. I call it a “quick read”, and unless your image is an abstract, in which case you’re leaving the viewer to decide on what the photo is saying. You don’t want him/her walking away scratching their heads.

There’s always the possibility you’ll be standing next to your print at some exhibit or maybe even your camera club’s annual show where you’ll be able to talk about it. Sometimes it’s interesting to hear the story behind the photo and see the photo in a new light. But in most cases, a photo shouldn’t need a story to back it up. It has to speak for itself….as I said, a quick read.

Right before I click the shutter I always ask myself if the viewer is going to see and feel it the way I was experiencing it when I finished my composition and was ready to click the shutter. It’s like taking an out-of-body experience and putting your mind in the mind of the viewer. Then I can step back and see if I’m getting my message across.

In the above photo, not very long after 9/11, I did a photo story on rural Texas, and how these people showed support for our country. In context with the other photos and subsequent text, I think the message came across as clear as day.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/barabanjoe/. Check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

A rainy day.

I teach three four-week classes with the BPSOP, and I also conduct my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops around the planet. Mostly in my online classes, I’m always telling my fellow photographers that just because it’s cold, gray, and sometimes raining when you want to shoot outdoors, that doesn’t mean you have to put your camera away until the sun comes out.

Think of locations that are indoors, for example, museums, churches, antique barns nearby, the lobbies of interesting buildings, historical homes, old train stations, etc. If you live in or just outside a big city, Google up the city or state’s Film Commission and or Tourist Bureau, and you’ll get a list of places that might just be the answer to your photographic woes.

For example, I live in Houston and if I wanted some indoor locations, I might go to this link: http://www.houstonfilmcommission.com/…or the Houston Tourist Bureau.

Btw, Museums usually won’t let you take in tripods, so to get low light photos take a friend (another photographer) ) and use his/her shoulder to rest your camera on…works like a charm!!!

What about a farm nearby that you could get permission to shoot at. An old barn just might be a great place to spend some time in while you’re waiting for better weather. In fact, it would be a good place no matter what the light might be.

Sitting up a still life next to a window is always a good idea to pass the time; especially if it happens to be in an antique store or a house in a historical part of town. In the photo above, it was cold, gray, rainy, and all-around dreary outside of an old house in Scotland I happened to be in. I saw this bowl, then I happen to see a bunch of fruit in the corner of the kitchen. I put the two together by a window and the two hours I spent playing around with different compositions was a lot of fun…and took my mind away from the gloom outside the window; the glass of wine didn’t hurt!!!

Always shoot variations.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram: http://instagram.com/barabanjoe  . Check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

Seeing what I’d like to see

There is a difference between looking at and looking into a picture . . . as Ansel Adams said.

It’s the difference between taking and making a photo, and as Bob Marley once said and I’ll paraphrase it ” Some people will just get wet when going out to shoot, while others will feel the rain while shooting in it.

I tell my online students that take my online classes with the BPSOP, and those that take my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct all over the place to take in the whole picture, from the foreground to the horizon.

Arranging your images this way will generate depth and by the use of a wide-angle lens, you can cheat the camera (by using all three dimensions) which has only one eye so it can only see in two dimensions.

This will initiate layers of interest, and by doing so, you keep the viewer around longer. I also speak of the importance of looking to the right, the left, and even behind you while walking. This way, you’ll be able to see in all four directions which will increase your odds of going home with a wall hanger by four.

When composing, I pre-visualize the composition before I ever bring the viewfinder up to my eyes. I don’t necessarily see what I want, sometimes I visualize what I’d like to see…but that’s another story.

So my fellow photographers, don’t just look at your picture which would constitute using the left side of your brain the analytical side, use the right side of your brain to compose, the creative side. This is the way to look into your photos and see what else is there.

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram http://instagram.com/barabanjoe. Keep an eye out for my future workshops, come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

When of the concepts I’m constantly talking about in my online classes with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around Earth is that it’s better to ask someone to do something and as a result get the shot, or not ask and wind up with a snapshot.

I realize that it’s easier said than done, especially for those that for one reason or another find it difficult to approach someone. For some, it’s even hard to ask someone they know or along the ride with them.

My background is in part, that of a photojournalist so for me it’s very easy to ask. In my way of thinking, all they can do is to say no, in which case I move on. To a large extent, this is exactly what I say to my fellow photographers.

It’s all about getting over the hump, and there are numerous ‘humps’ that we try to get over. For example, the most common hump of them all is the hump that occurs on Wednesday…the proverbial hump day. Once you get past Wednesday, the middle of the week, you get to look forward to the weekend.

It’s the same thing in photography. Once you ask someone to do something for the first time, it gets easier and easier. Once you see the potential results, as in a good photo versus a snapshot, it really gets easier.

Sometimes it’s just having your subject look out of the frame, sit one seat over, or stand to the right or left. If you’ve ever seen the difference between asking something so simple, it will really build up your confidence.

One of the best ways to get what you want is to offer to send them a copy of the photo. I always ask for their email address so I can send a copy; sometimes they say yes, and sometimes no.

While we’re on the subject of asking, remember what I refer to as the cardinal sin, never, and I repeat never, take a picture of a child without asking permission. It can get you in a whole lot of unwelcomed trouble.

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com and follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/barabanjoe/ Check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

Look ma, no Photoshop.

Here’s yet another in my series I call Life Before Photoshop. These images are from years of shooting when the word Adobe referred to a type of house in the Southwest; years before Photoshop, Lightroom, and any other software or plug-in you can readily find in the annals of those beloved magazines called Popular and Modern Photography. I’m hoping that they’re not the only source one has for important information.

As I often tell my online students with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, I’m here to tell you that I’m far from a purist. I often use Photoshop to tweak an image of mine if I couldn’t achieve what I wanted “in the camera”. The majority of my fifty-plus years as a corporate, advertising and editorial photographer were spent without any help from a computer. For me, the challenge comes in creating an image that originated in my imagination and was transposed into a photograph before I clicked the shutter…not after. I want to be a good photographer, not a good digital technician; but that’s just me.

Over the past few years, I’ve come to realize that the digital world has made my fellow photographers lethargic and apathetic; in other words lazy. “Why worry about it now when I can fix it later” is a statement I’ve heard way too many times. I always thought photography was the art of making pictures, not being a very good computer artist??????? Go figure.

I digress again!!!

The above photo was taken for Bacardi Rum…unfortunately before a lot of my readers were born.

🙁

After an initial conversation with the Art director, I decided on shooting in Sarasota, Florida. I did this for the white sand and beautiful water. We started out early in the morning, and had the company transport the pool table and set it up on the beach. As you can imagine, this took several hours to set up, while about a hundred onlookers watched in disbelief. After determining where the sun was going to set with my Sunpath program and Morin2000 (hand-bearing compass), we started setting up the shot. Right as the sun was setting we started shooting and stopped when the last rays of sun slipped into the Gulf of Mexico. Everything you see was created in the camera.

The art director checks out the composition with Rum and coke as well as Rum and soda.

Btw, the model was Miss Bacardi for the year and was flown in from LA. Great looking but apparently dead from the neck up.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com and Follow me on Instagram at www.instagram.com/barabanjoe      Check out my workshop schedule at the top of this page. Come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

I constantly see my online students with the BPSOP and those that attend my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” standing too far back from their subject. Most of the time it’s because they just don’t think about it. I’ve also been told that they are afraid or intimated to get too close. Then there are those that have admitted to being a touch on the lazy side.

There are two ways to look at it: If you’re content in making your goal to become a “halfway decent photographer” (as is the case of one of my students I talked to), then by all means continue on the path you’re currently on; you’ll be fine! On the other hand, if you’re goal is to become the best photographer you can be and work hard at taking your photos “up a notch”, then you’re going to have to get over the ‘hump’ concerning getting toooooo up close and personal.

Here’s what it can do for you: first, by getting up close and personal, you’re anchoring your subject in the foreground which in turn will create “layers of interest”. This is a key ingredient in Perspective by creating Depth. This is just one of the items you’ll find on the Artist Palette that I share with my students.

Second, by getting up close and personal, you can generate Visual Tension (another item on my Artist Palette) in one of two ways: Putting your subject close to the edge of your frame and minimizing the Negative Space between the subject and the edge of the frame. And last but certainly not least, by getting up close and personal you can hide the fact that you might be shooting on a gray day.

All these suggestions will keep the viewer looking at your photos longer by taking control of what he or she processes and perceives while they’re hanging around.

Andy, one of the students that took my workshop was shooting along with the rest of the class on a fishing pier, It was right after sunrise and the light was not very strong as it was hidden by clouds filled with water vapor. The water vapor that makes up the humidity is usually not a photographer’s friend.

 Andy was taking a photo of a fishing rod and reel, but was too far back to create anything worthwhile…by his standards, not mine! Just too much gray and uninteresting environment. I walked up to Andy and reminded him of our discussion back in the classroom about getting close to his subject. He took my advice and was able to walk away with a fairly interesting photo. By getting close he was making pictures, not taking them.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram www.instagram.com/barabanjoe come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

The greater the conflict, the greater the tension.

As I tell my fellow photographers that either take my online classes with the BPSOP, or participate in one of my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops, we want our viewers to stick around as long as possible. The goal is to make them active participants when looking at our images.

I tell them that the greater the conflict, the greater the tension. Tension as in Visual Tension.

In my class on Gestalt, one of the six concepts is Figure-Ground. This is the way to separate the Figure, the subject, from the Ground, the background. If both the figure and the background each carry the same visual weight, it can create tension; as each threatens to overtake the other.

This happens the most when either the subject is dark against a lighter background, or the subject is light against a darker background. A great way to achieve this is to have the negative space as important as the positive space.

Contrast is also one of the ways. Putting bright highlights adjacent to the shadow area. Bright areas against very dark areas.

Diagonal lines have more energy than horizontal and vertical lines. The conflict is in the fact that diagonal lines are perceived as less stable and the feeling of the lines falling forward.

Having the subject either very close to the edge of the frame or partially out of the frame. It creates an uneasiness and draws the eye to it.  When we generate Visual Tension, the viewer feels like there’s something going to happen.

As I said, all these examples will make the viewer stick around longer…exactly what we want him to do.

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram  www.instagram.com/barabanjoe Come shoot with me sometime in one of the workshops I have listed above.

JoeB

Anticipating the action

No, I’m not talking about the song Carly Simon sang in 1971…for those old enough to remember it. I’m talking about how the word anticipation plays a key role in “Street Shooting”.

In my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, I often talk about being aware of your surroundings at all times. This is when it will happen…that shot that could make your day!!!

I’m usually talking about keeping an eye out for the light, and how important it is in coming home with that elusive OMG photo. That keeper that will either go on your wall or in your portfolio…or both.

But in this post, I’m talking about anticipating the action. The action that can occur at any moment when you’re walking down a street looking for photo opts.

A good sports photographer knows the sport he’s covering backward and forwards. He knows it well enough to be playing in it, and at some level sometimes does. A good street shooter has that same instinct, or he at least should if he’s going to be successful.

I watch everything when I’m walking, and even have those proverbial “eyes in the back of my head”. If I see someone that’s sticking out of the environment around him for one reason or another, I’ll watch him/her for several minutes…with my camera halfway up my chest. If nothing happens, I’ll move on to someone else. Sooner or later I’ll see something that makes me focus in tight. I’ll watch and anticipate their next move. A move that I would maybe make myself. It’s people watching at its finest.

When I was younger and shot primarily B/W on the streets, I was always looking for that one shot, and if I was very lucky, and I mean very lucky, I might capture someone in a moment where they are expressing their thoughts in some form of body language or gesture. In the above photo, that’s exactly what happened. I was shooting and writing a story for a local Sunday supplement on Mardi Gras day and what the locals had to deal with as far as the crowded streets and sidewalks were concerned. I watched her for some time and just had a feeling that something was going to happen. In a brief moment she had summed up her day to me and because I had waited and anticipated I got the shot.

Btw, this photo is now in the permanent photography collection at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

One of my favorite things to do is to put on my longest lens and then put the camera on a tripod. I’ll position myself in a crowded area and in a 360-degree movement I’ll pan the people. An analogy for you old movie buffs is watching Robert Mitchum in The Enemy Below when he’s in a submarine panning the horizon at periscope depth looking for targets…Ok,  not actually an analogy, but for me, it’s mighty close.

I could literally do that for hours, and on occasion have come close.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram… www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog, and come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

Sal and Judy.

Years ago, I was asked to shoot a brochure for a printing company in New Orleans. The theme of the brochure was “something’s cooking at Upton”. The designer had me go to five of the best-known restaurants in and around the city; best known not to the tourists, but to the locals. I was to take a portrait of the owners and had received a free hand to approach the portraits in whatever manner I wanted.

As I tell my online students with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, if you want to take your photography what I refer to as “up a notch”, scout your locations ahead of time. Know where the sun is going to be so you’re not somewhere at sunrise when you should have been there at sunset.

The fourth restaurant on my list was Sal & Judy’s Restaurant on the Southside of New Orleans. I went there the day before to meet the owners and to determine when the best time to shoot was going to be. I pulled up in front and the pink building hit me in the face. I was ecstatic!!! A pink building…wow!!! That faced West!!!

As I stood there an idea started to form in my mind. I tell my fellow photographers that if I can visualize a photo in my mind, given the time I can re-create it on film.

As I stood there I saw in my mind three bands of color spreading across the frame from left to right. I saw a band of blue (the sky), a band of pink (the building), and I needed a third band of color. something that would tie it all together…including the portrait of Sal and Judy…an idea leaped out from my mind.

I introduced myself to Sal and told him I was the one sent to take his and his wife’s portrait. I asked him if he knew anyone that had a green convertible, thinking that the odds were not in my favor. He looked surprised and said, “Well hell yes, I have one”. This was way tooooo good to be true I said to myself.

“What do you own?” I said to Sal. “A 1966 Oldsmobile Cutlass Convertible”, Sal replied. I thought I was hearing things!!! I asked him if he would bring it the next day, and explained my idea. I told Sal what to wear and to have his wife wear something that would go with the green car. When they showed up driving the car, I knew I had struck pay dirt…a portrait for my portfolio.

As I started shooting, one of the waitresses came out to tell Judy something. I immediately saw her black and white striped uniform and knew what I had to do …to add a “layer of Interest”.  I had all three women come out with a screwdriver on their trays to add yet another splotch of color.

It was great fun and it reminded me of the days before photography when I was an art major studying painting and design. I was still painting, only I had changed the medium from a paintbrush to a camera.

🙂

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram. check out my workshop schedule and come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

Shot from the front, and with a red tractor.

I teach my fellow photographers how to use the Elements of Visual Design to create stronger compositions, as well as images that have strong visual interest. Unfortunately, it’s more than every once in a while that someone in my online class with the BPSOP, or someone that’s with me in one of my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet tells me that a friend told them not to do something.

Just the other day, one of my students said that a friend of hers, that’s a “professional” photographer, told her to never shoot buildings from the front. WHAT?????

Moreover, I’ve also been told that friends (more professionals) have also said to never shoot anything that’s red. Someone, please shake me because I must be in some kind of twilight zone episode. How about this one from a friend to another friend…”Why worry about it now, you can always fix it later”. “Always have people walking into the frame so you can give them room to walk into”, is another ridiculous statement; by yet another professional photographer.

Let me digress for a moment by saying…by definition a professional photographer is someone that at one time in their life got paid for taking a photo. All it takes is one photo to qualify for this ubiquitous title so…I’m just saying!!!

My standard answer is…’Well, I guess if they told you to follow them while they jumped off that bridge, you would? If you do, leave your camera on the ground before you take a dive so someone might get some use out of it “.

I find it interesting that a lot of photographers, especially those that haven’t been at it long don’t have faith in their abilities and creative ways to make good photos. It’s hard to be objective when looking at our work, and so we sometimes rely on what others tell us, and we take it in good faith to be the way it is. After all, they want to sound as if they know what they’re talking about when in reality you probably know more than they do…at least as much!!!

Follow what you feel is right, and stop listening to your friends that just might have an agenda other than helping out. Take workshops from people whose work you admire. More than likely they’ll lead you down a better path. Read books like Freeman Patterson’s, The Art of Seeing. It’s one of my all-time favorites.

BTW, I guess I really screwed up when I shot this building straight on and put s red tractor in front!!!

🙁

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram www.instagram.com/barabanjoe/ check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

Look ma no Photoshop.

For all my fellow photographers that fell in love with taking photos in the digital age, there was actually a time when you had to create everything in the camera. A time when you had to take a roll of film out of a canister and load it into your camera; compose, then focus all by yourself.

Now, you don’t have to do anything but bring the camera up to your eyes and click the shutter. If something ain’t right, well don’t worry because you can “fix it later”. I’ve heard this exact quote a lot in my online classes with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet.

Don’t think for a minute that I’m some old-fashioned, medicare card-carrying gray-haired old man that has not kept up with the times. I might be old and gray, but I assure you that I’m fairly good with Photoshop and use it all the time; on just about every photo I take.

I like creating as much in the camera as I can because to me that’s what a good photographer does. If there are things that I have no control over, or can’t fix before I click the shutter, I have no problem working on them in post-production.

In the photo above, I was hired by a man who collected Cadillacs. He wanted a poster to put up in his office, and he wanted to show the cars in his front yard. I scouted the location to determine whether it received morning or evening light, and determined that a late afternoon shoot would provide me with the best and latest light.

I set up my camera on a tripod and arranged the Cadillacs while looking through the viewfinder. The hard part was arranging the cars so they would reflect light, but not be blown out. It took the entire day to do it. I brought out a hose and we wet down the driveway to catch any reflections I could while creating a sense of depth. Knowing that I had a small window of light, I waited until it was the way I wanted then took the shot.

All this was created on one piece of film.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out my workshop schedule, also follow me on Instagram www.instagram.com/barabanjoe/ Come shoot with me.

JoeB

Just one white reflector.

When I’m teaching either with my online class with the BPSOP or with my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, students are always asking me the best way to use fill flash when shooting portraits outdoors. I have a simple and quick response to them.

I tell them that in my fifty-two year career, I’ve never, and I mean not once used fill flash outdoors. I don’t even like to use it indoors. I can honestly say that I’ve never missed it because my portraits do just fine without it. So, you’re thinking, what do I do?

Here’s my set-up. How much simpler can you get?

I use a collapsible reflector with white on one side and silver on the other. 90% of the time I use the white side. I’ll occasionally use a larger piece of Foam-board when I have a larger area to cover, as in a full length shot. All I ever need is a stand that won’t fall over, an A-clamp, and a reflector. It’s a hell of a lot easier than figuring out ratios when I’m losing the light. Why complicate my life? There’s enough things I have no control over that does a good job messing with my head. Why cloud it up even more with something that I love and have control over.

It’s unbelievable how many times I see an outdoor portrait lit with a flash. It’s a look that’s been beaten to death, and usually the photographer doesn’t know what he or she is doing which makes it worse. I realize it’s a matter of personal preference, and for me I like a natural look. The kind of look that has never gone out of style and never will.

Take a look at some of my portraits lit with only a white reflector or a larger piece of foam board:

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Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram www.instagram.com/barabanjoe/and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB