Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
I this is Joe McNally for AdoramaTV
and today I'm going to talk to you about exposing your foreground to gain control
over the exposure
your background Adorama TV presents photo on the go
with Joe McNally where you'll go behind the scenes to see how great photos
arming
okay so
for this example we're going to deconstruct a picture that was published
in national geographic
the pilot Ken Collins is one of the last pilots are the sr-71 Blackbird which was
this
formidable amazing looking incredibly fast airplane the fastest airplane we
know about
actually to do a portrait can actually want the plane
where at Edwards Air Force Base out in the open desert california
blue sky country so I have an existing exposure down on the tarmac
let's call it around 250 at f8 it's still fairly bright Sun even though the
Sun is going down
to get the plane edging into my frame like this big
kinda needle nose thing right in here okay
so improbably II
stood among the airplane so he's up here
standing there okay there's my subject
cell behind them is blue sky
over in this direction is
fading sunlight right
and a star to pick up a collar because it is getting
towards Golden Hour my cameras here okay
ready to expose if i expose
at the existing available light exposure I will get a nice exposure
it'll be properly exposed in here but what happens up in here
to the sky if i expose here the sky goes very pastel
maybe even edging towards white remember your eyes is amazing instrument
and seamlessly make the adjustment between the perceived exposure here
and the exposure up in here we transfer back and forth
no worries the camera chip can't do that so what we need is to do is to boost the
exposure down in here
so to make that happen in a seamless way and non noticeable way
I simply put up a big power pack right here
with a long throw reflector head okay sis a 1200 watt second Profoto pack
and I put over the long throw reflector
jail a warming gel CT 0 okay it takes that white light and makes it more the
collar
up defeating sunset it warms it up and then
nothin fancy no light sabers nothing like that the light is a considerable
distance from my subject probably thirty feet or so
and i jus ramp that power pack up full blast
and I just slam in at him so the late looks like
Raleigh daylight as if it emanating from the Sun
and what does that do it amps up my exposure in the near term
which allows me to us top-down
effectively up front which increases my saturation level
he still well exposed because the additional item supply but what gets
more rich
more textured more saturated the sky the sky becomes this cobalt blue
sold by gaining I handle on the exposure up front
I also and able to affect the exposure
in the background and the key to it is to use
a light up front that doesn't draw attention to itself
hence this like is the same colors the fading Sun
it's also on the exact same angle is the fading Sun I don't know here for Adorama
be sure to check out at RMS latest contest to win prizes
what are the keys to a shot like this is actually using what's called a long
throw reflector
highly polished very deep dish parabola
which collects your flash your strobe light
in here and really punches at a great distance this isn't Ellnchrom
long-throw reflector back at the time I was doing this picture I used a Profoto
pack
now for this I would use an Elinchrom Ranger which is our system that we're
using currently
hence we have been telling crime long throw it's a really great way to take
lightly
and throwing a great distance once again this is Joe McNally for Adorama TV
and stop by at around the TV I've got a whole bunch of the
deconstructing videos up and running with a whole bunch of
hopefully helpful tips
you great-looking print low-cost be sure to visit our
easy to use online printing service Adorama
pics has professionals to treat your images with the utmost care that you can
count on
for quick turnaround on photos cards or albums
use Adorama dot com