AC Johnson Photography Education » Canon

Portrait Photography: 85mm (Canon f/1.8)

Alec — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:13:19 +0000

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Hi Gang,

Today’s post is about a new portrait lens I’m using. Its also about lighting.

The lens I’m using in these images is an 85mm f/1.8 (Nikon also makes this lens, but the reviews aren’t as strong as they are for the Canon). Its amazingly sharp, gives GREAT control over depth of field, its fast (f/1.8) and its relatively cheap ($400). If you don’t have this lens, rent one for your next street photography outing, family reunion, or studio shoot.

The first image is a client/studio shoot I did recently, using the 85mm. The lighting in this is complicated, perhaps more so then necessary, but essentially there was a lot of layering of light. Some of the lighting is fairly obvious. I have a background light, “rim” lights coming in from behind and both sides of the subject. Then I used two umbrellas/lights to give a base of lighting to the full torso. The last light was a beauty dish, to finish off the exposure of the face. Additionally, I shot on a neutral gray background. This allows me, with a great amount of detailed photoshop work, to tone the background exactly the way I want it. Technical: f/5.0 with the 85mm

The second image was shot this past weekend at a Johnson family reunion and the lighting was much more simple. One strobe with a large octobox (softbox). I used a shadow cast by the house to soften the direct sunlight, dialed in my exposure to manage the background and adjusted the light to what I wanted for output. I shot 30 family portraits in the afternoon using this setup. Technical: f/13 with the 85mm

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Landscape Photography: Lake Superior Memorial Day Weekend

Alec — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:35:27 +0000

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Hi Gang,

Had a chance to get out this past weekend and do some landscape work. Today’s post features some of the color images I want to share and the following post will feature a set of black and white images.

One of the issues I was reminded of this trip was JUST HOW DIFFICULT landscape photography can be. Weather doesn’t cooperate, you have to hustle, scout, hustle more and take chances, lots of chances. You have to pay attention to everything and be willing to move. You have to pay attention to the light, the sky, the foreground. You have to be safe and you have to protect your equipment.

Image 1 was made using a 24-70mm Canon lens, a Singh Ray warming polarizer at twilight at the mouth of the Split Rock river. I was shooting Image 2 when I saw some serious changes taking place in the clouds. To take advantage of the changes, I decided to pack up and run 200 yards to an entirely different location, throw down my gear, compose and shoot as quick as I could to take advantage of the situation. Moments later it was all over.

Image 2 was shot a short while before image 1. I was struggling with compositions and sky conditions. This too was shot with a warming polarizer which was absolutly necessary to pull any contrast out of the clouds. I’m not yet sure how I feel about this image but thought it good to share in contrast to Image 1.

Image 3 was shot Monday evening at an area called Twin Points. The wind had come up out of the east in excess of 25 mph and 4′ white caps were breaking at the beach. Travis and I shot for a long time there, a number of these images seen in the next post of black and whites. This is the very last shot I took before we left, wet and cold. This was a 2 second exposure, using a warming polarizer and Singh Ray Reverse 2 stop Split ND filter for the sky.

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Death Valley Mesquite Dunes Singh Ray Polarizer 3

Alec — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 12:30:24 +0000

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This week I’ll finish with a couple more dunes images then move to some different images from Death Valley. Then we’ll take a break for the holidays and come back strong afterwards with some new images, new video content and a new….?????

Technical: Canon 1Ds MarkII, 24-70mm@43mm, ISO400, f/13, 1/200 sec hand held, singh ray warming polarizer.

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