Developing View

location, exif, and how to use this photo for free

I took this at the San Diego Wild Animal Park in the Gorilla enclosure.

The look on this gorilla’s face is priceless. She was eating quietly, and then looked up and glared at one of the people in the crowd at the rail.

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exif, and how to use this photo for free

The shoot was simple, 4 strobes fired with a PockwtWizard®, and a laptop for parents to sit and watch the shots come up on the screen as they are being taken.

My best tip for shooting any group that have kids and parents; use a laptop, and have a chair for parents to see the shots being taken in real time, and make sure you make them happy before you leave (the software and USB cable comes with every canon. You will need a USB extension cable to be able to move around). This is much better than dealing with mad parents later. I shift the responsibility to them. I say, "now watch the screen, we will take a series, and then go back and make sure you have one you like… OK?". Then you watch the parents take control and help pose, give feedback etc…. way better. Some shooters don’t like others instructing subjects, but trust me this is the way to go with kids and parents.

Another tip that many photogs don’t think about is the fact that strobes will freeze the action at a low shutter speed as long as the ambient light is not that bright. I was able to freeze jumps at 160th of a second! The reason is fairly simple, the duration of the flash is what freezes the action, and if the ambient light is not a factor, then it will look clean and sharp. You can test the ambient light by taking a shot without the strobes firing, and using the same shutter and aperture. The action will be frozen ad long as the movement isnt super fast. For that use speedlites in high speed sync mode. For most things, like karate kicks etc, this works fine.

Example: I took this shot in a studio (on a white background), and she jumped into position, and really whipped that fabric around, and the shot is sharp.

My last tip is to shoot the setup like I did above (I shot this through the mirror that was on the opposite wall), and use the white of the umbrella’s to set the temperature for the session. Gray cards cam also be used, but I always take a setup shot just in case.

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