Intro by Skip Cohen

I've shared a lot of great "how-to" posts thanks to Profoto and Jared Platt. As I've talked about in the past, I love the way Jared teaches. He always shares great examples and tips to help you raise the bar on your skill set and give you a better understanding of lighting.

Wandering through Profoto's blog archives, which I love to do at least once a week I found this post from last Spring about using gels. I'm betting most of you haven't played with gels and this "What's the difference?" post from Jared is the perfect introduction.

There's a lot of outstanding information in the Profoto Blog, all worth your time exploring. And, if you haven't checked out the game-changing B1 and B2 Off-Camera Flash Systems, finding a Profoto Dealer is just a click away!

What’s the Difference? is a series of lighting tutorials. Each article responds to a single question. In this post, Jared Platt shows how to achieve different effects with CTO and CTB gels.
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Color of light is a critical part of photographic lighting, but most photographers do not pay much attention to it when using flash. Each light source has a particular color cast to it, which is why your camera has white balance settings. When you choose the proper white balance for the color of light you are photographing, the color in the exposure will be neutral, and look correct. In mixed lighting conditions, where you have multiple colors of light, the light you white balance for will be neutral, while the other light will end up either too warm, too cool, too green, etc. In most cases, you will have one primary light source and color and if you want to keep your image color neutral, you will need to alter the color of your flash to match it. This is where color gels come in.

By covering your flash with a colored, translucent gel, you effectively change the color of the light to match the light source that currently exists on the set.  The key is to know the colors of your common light sources. For instance, the sun is a slightly blue light source (measuring at 5500 K), while an incandescent bulb is an orange light source (measuring at 2500 K).  Most “warm” LED light bulbs are 2700 Kelvins and overcast daylight is even more blue than daylight (measuring at 6500 K). See the diagram below. I am going to be noting a lot of kelvin measurements in the article, but I will attempt to reference the general color as well. But you don’t have to get too exact with these temperatures, you just need to know the basic idea. And yes, I know my chart is not to scale, it is just a fun way to look at the concept.

Understanding how to match your flash light to the ambient light in your shot also opens the possibility of changing the color of your lights to create color contrast between the two light sources, but first learn to match the color of the light and then experiment with creating contrast with color.

Let’s begin by identifying the color of your flash. Your flash is the same color as full daylight, so if you took a photograph at mid day, in full sun and set your white balance to daylight and added a flash into the image, you would end up with completely matching color. This is your starting point. Full sun is a slightly blue light source and so is your flash. They both sit on the scale at 5500 K.

For this blog post, we started with a known color of ambient light, the color of overcast daylight is blue (more blue than daylight). My flash is going to be the color of daylight, which is only slightly blue. See them as about 1000 kelvins apart on the scale. If I light the model with flash (5500 K) and white balance for the flash, my model will be neutral, but the background, lit by the cooler light of the overcast sun (6500 K) will appear more blue in the photograph.

The Original Setup

Our lighting set up included one Profoto B2 Off Camera Light, modified by an OCF 2×3 soft box as the main light and one Profoto B1 Off Camera Light modified by a Zoom Reflector and a 20 degree grid as a hair light. The camera settings were set at 160 ISO, 1/200 sec at f 2.3 and we were using a Canon 5D Mark III with a 24-70 2.8L lens at 38mm. After this first shot, we added a gel to our flashes to change the color of light. While the gels will slightly cut the amount of light coming out of the flash, they do not effect the ambient exposure at all, so our camera settings could stay the same throughout the photo shoot. The only thing that changed was the power output of the lights when we added a gel. Each gel can cut the power output of a flash by 1/3 to 1 full stop. The power cut is clearly written on the edge of each Profoto corrective gel for convenience.

Adding a CTB Gel

In the next image we used the new Profoto OCF Gel Kit to add a CTB or Blue Gel to our two flashes. By adding a blue gel to the flashes the color of the flash would become the same color as the background overcast daylight. This means that when I changed my white balance in the camera to the overcast setting (6500 k), the entire photo, model and background (because they are both lit by the same color of light) became neutral.  

​You can see in the following image, that the distinct blue cast in the background is removed. Observe though, that the model’s color balance is exactly the same (neutral) because we has chosen the correct color balance for the light that is striking him.

Adding a CTO Gel

Now to go the other direction. Rather than trying to match our colors, what if we wanted to exaggerate the color differences between the model and the cold background? Simple. Rather than looking for a gel that was the same as the ambient light source, we needed to find one that was the opposite of the ambient color balance.

​Remember, the ambient color balance was very blue, so we pulled out the CTO or Orange Gel.  By coloring the flash light orange we would make the model very warm!  But by setting the white balance on our camera to incandescent (orange light 2500 k) we again neutralized the model’s color.  This is because the camera is fixing the model’s overly orange face by “cooling down” the shot.  Of course, when the camera adds blue to the shot to counteract the orange on the model, everything else in the shot also goes more blue, including the background. Therefore, you get this next shot.

The Conclusion

All three of these shots are perfect. Each one accomplishes a different goal. You can get the first shot without a gel at all. But having a set of CTB and a CTO gels gives you the freedom to alter the mood of the shot to intensify the cold,or neutralize the colors. As long as you understand the principles of the color of light and you have the tools, you can get exactly what you want, whenever you want it.

​The Profoto OCF Gel Kit includes a set of corrective gels as well as holders that clip over the outer edge of the Profoto flash head. They can be added inside of a soft box, a grid or even in between the B1 head and an umbrella so that you can modify your light and color at the same time.

Now for something completely different. The shot I really wanted: a day for night shot. By keeping the CTO Gels on the flashes, I maintained the cold feel of the background. Then by underexposing the ambient (changing my ISO to 100, and my aperture to 4.5) and making the needed changes in the flash power, I made my day turn into night and kept my model with the same exposure. The final shot is my absolute favorite from the series!

Now all of this, as you may notice was done in the rain. We didn’t go into this shoot thinking it would be raining. I live in Arizona, it doesn’t rain here. Clouds, yes. Rain? Rarely. And yet, on the day I schedule my shoot, I get heavy rain. So, when the rain started falling, we changed our shoot to include the umbrella and we added a few additional umbrellas and draped from plastic parkas on equipment and worked as fast as I have ever worked! The whole shoot from first shot to last, lasted 8 minutes (not including setup and take down). I’d say we knocked it out of the park for an 8 minute shoot.

I don’t recommend shooting with flashes in the rain, but if you are out while the rain starts, try to keep them covered, but remember, you need to let them breath as well.  I didn’t have time or enough umbrellas to cover each light properly, so we simply used whatever we had (plastic) to save our equipment. We finished as fast as possible and then turned off the flashes immediately. Then I took everything back to the studio to let it all dry out for a day or two. It was a very wet photoshoot. But, lots of fun!

​Location: Tempe Town Lake, Tempe, Arizona (yes, we have a lake and a crew team at Arizona State University, in the desert)

The Gear 
1 x B1 Off-Camera Flash
1 x Zoom Reflector
1 x B2 Off-Camera Flash
1 x OCF Softbox 2×3′
1 x OCF Speedring
1 x OCF Color Gel Starter Kit
1 x Air Remote TTL-C

Intro by Skip Cohen

Every time I wander through Profoto's archives either on their blog or like last week, in their YouTube video channel, I find something new to share. The "What's the Difference" series is one of my favorites, because first, Jared Platt is one of the leading educators in the industry and second, together with Profoto, he packs a lot of helpful content into his posts and videos. Check out Jared's website for more images and to keep track of what he's up to.

He's shooting with Profoto's B1 Off-Camera Flash System in this comparison post. Off-Camera flash is a game-changer, giving artists the ability to create great lighting no mater where they are.  

In the mean time, check out Profoto's FREE newsletter. It comes out twice a month and is loaded with content to help you become a better more creative artist!

What’s the Difference? is a series of lighting tutorials. Each article responds to a single question. In this post, Jared Platt explains the difference between a white and a silver beauty dish.

In my last post, I showed you the difference between a bare head flash and a white beauty dish. A beauty dish creates a directional, but soft light by increasing the relative size of the light and by blocking the original light source and forcing the light to spread evenly around the entire modifier. You probably already know that the relative size of your light determines how soft the light will be, but there are other factors that change the quality of that light. One of those additional factors is the surface of the light modifier itself.

A soft white surface will refract the light in multiple directions, so that the light from the left side of the beauty dish not only travels straight to the subject, but also heads to the right and fills in any of the shadow created by the light traveling directly from the right side of the beauty dish and vice versa. As a result, the light hitting the subject is much softer, with subtler transitions between highlight and shadow.
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In the first image, we used the Profoto OCF White Beauty Dish on a Profoto B1 Off Camera Light and the result is what you would expect out of a beauty dish. You can see the direction of light, but due to the size of the light and the refractive white surface, the shadow transitions are soft.

​We also added a B1 head with a Zoom Reflector behind the model to create a hair light and help separate her from the background and mimic the sun. In addition to the hair light, we added another B1 head with a Zoom Reflector and a 10 degree grid to add a very minimal light focused on the models coat because it was a bit too dark. But the main light that is illuminating her face, hands and the hood of the coat looks the way it does because of the nature of the white beauty dish.

But what happens to the shot when all we change is the surface of the beauty dish from white to silver?
The Comparison
With no change in size, but a change in the refractive nature of the surface, you will see distinct difference in the highlights on the model’s face, the sparkle in her eyes and the detail in the fur around the hood of her coat. Why?
The shinny surface of a silver beauty dish reflects the same light in one very definitive direction, rather than reflecting the light in multiple directions.

​This means that the light is traveling directly toward the subject, on a micro level, will create slightly harder shadows. Those micro shadows in areas like hair will create texture. That precise direction of light on the skin will create brighter specular highlights and intense color and in eyes will create more sparkle. You can see this in effect in the second image where we swapped out the white beauty dish for the Profoto OCF Silver Beauty Dish. Pay close attention to the added texture in the fur on the coat hood, see the extra sparkle in the model’s eyes and watch for the extra glow on her skin in the highlights. Her lips have a richer red as well.

Using the slider at the top of this post will help in comparing the two effects. Seeing the two images on their own might make it more difficult to see the difference, in fact most photographers will have a hard time identifying the use of a silver vs. a white beauty dish, even though they may have a preference toward one or the other.
The Conclusion
This is the reason I have created the What’s the Difference series with such meticulousness: so you can see even the most subtle differences in various light shaping tools. In this instance, spend some time and get a good feel for the difference between the two modifiers and identify the lighting style you prefer. That will be your “go to” beauty dish. But there are reasons to have both in your arsenal.

While the white beauty dish is my favorite of the two surfaces, the silver is extremely useful in a bright outdoor circumstance where I need more flash power. The silver surface will reflect more light than the white surface, almost a stop more. This is a very compelling reason to have a silver beauty dish in your equipment bag. In the end, both the silver and the white beauty dish produce a similarly directional and soft light because the size is the same, but the reflective quality will make a subtle difference between the two. Basically, the silver beauty dish will create more volume in your subject than the white beauty dish will. That’s not to say that a white beauty dish flattens an image, it just creates less volume than the silver surface does.

​I have the Profoto 20 inch Soft White Beauty Dish, which is fantastic, but it is also metal, so it requires a lot of space to travel. The brilliance of the Profoto OCF Silver and White Beauty Dishes are their low profile. The size of the light and the quality of the surface provide a beautiful soft light in a small package that is easy to maneuver and the light weight and collapsibility make for easy travel.
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Decide on a surface based on the look you prefer and your special needs. If you are shooting outside most of the time, you might consider the silver surface. If you are shooting women who need a softer look, start with the white surface. Either way, you’re going to get a beautiful directional light from a beauty dish.

The Gear
3 x B1 Off-Camera Flash
1 x Zoom Reflector with grid
1 x OCF Beauty Dish White 2′
1 x OCF Beauty Dish Silver 2′
1 x OCF Speedring
1 x Air Remote TTL-C

Intro by Skip Cohen

I love the way Pye Jirsa teaches on these videos, especially this relatively new one from his Profoto series, "Ordinary to Extraordinary."

Just for a second, think about the title for the series. Anybody can do ordinary, especially "Uncle Harry." Your challenge as a professional photographer and business owner is to make your work stand out. You've got to push your skill set and creativity to create images different from your competitors.

In this new video, Pye talks about shooting wide angle and utilizing effective backlighting (he's using Profoto's B2 system) to make his subjects stand out. He shares five steps to creating better images, and what I call "Wow" prints. A "Wow" print is an image so good and so strong it's the only one you'd have to show to get hired.

Check out the complete series of "Ordinary to Extraordinary." There are now eight videos in the series. Then, visit your Profoto dealer with a click on the link below. Profoto's Off-Camera Flash System is turning dreams into reality as artists like Pye can now take their lights just about any place on the planet!

And, to see more of Pye's work and images from Lin & Jirsa photography, visit their website - just a click way.

Intro by Skip Cohen

There's so much great content on the Profoto blog. Once a week I wander through their archives looking for new material to share. I'm never disappointed because Profoto is so much more than the manufacturer of the finest lighting systems in the industry - they also set the standard for online and offline education.

This post I wanted to share today is from their "Rising Light" series. The tagline says it all, meet the stars of tomorrow.  There's a thumbnail you can click on over in the right column to check out all the young artists featured to date. Harley Anderson does an outstanding job of introducing us to Adrian Rae, a student at Seattle Central College.

What I enjoy most about this series is the opportunity Harley and Profoto give us to meet some of the future leaders of the industry, while at the same time sharing great content, often including lighting diagrams. Looking at Adrian's images and reading her comments, especially her willingness to work hard and pay her dues, leaves little doubt we're going to hear more about her in the future. She may be a student at this point in her life, but she has the wisdom and the passion of a seasoned veteran. It's going to be a kick to follow her career!

Put the Profoto blog on your radar and click the thumbnail on the top right to sign up for their FREE newsletter. It's the perfect way to stay on top of everything Profoto is doing to help raise the bar on the quality of your images along with your life as an artist!

by Harley Anderson
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Rising Light is an article series highlighting promising photography students from all over the world. This time we talk to Adrian Rae at Seattle Central College, who has her aim set on editorial photography.
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In order to succeed as a photographer, or any profession for that matter, you have to see the bigger picture. Having ideals is fine, but if you plan on earning a living doing what you love best you need to understand what it takes to achieve your intended goal. Adrian Rae gets it.

After about a year of taking pictures by the seat of her pants she enrolled at the Seattle Central Creative Academy, a program offered within Seattle Central College, Washington. She chose Seattle Central specifically because they offered a curriculum that emphasized the commercial aspects of photography. As a bonus, being part of a community college, it was also quite affordable.
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“Before enrolling at Seattle Central College I was overwhelmed by the amount of information I didn’t know about photography. I felt limited creatively and I knew if I wanted to be a real contender in the industry I needed to get my technical skills down in order to succeed as a commercial photographer.”

Now in her final year, she readily admits she has also benefitted by being surrounded by other students and faculty who share her passion, many of whom she finds incredibly talented in their own rights.

Before enrolling at the Seattle Central Creative Academy, Adrian was an available light shooter with zero experience with studio lighting and was well aware this is a subject she must conquer if she wanted to move forward. Today she readily admits having lighting skills is absolutely essential for doing the kind of work she wants to pursue.
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“I’ve come to realize the fact lighting is the glue that holds everything together in a photograph – it’s what brings all of the elements into the frame and holds them there. It’s an extremely powerful tool that I use as part of my storytelling. I use light to create the mood of the photograph and guide the viewer’s eye.”

As for inspiration, Adrian Rae admires the work of fashion and editorial photographers from the 50s and 60s – the heydays of breakthrough editorial work – including Bert Stern, Brian Duffy, David Bailey and of course Annie Leibovitz.

She also respects the work of more contemporary photographers such as Joey L, Lara Jade, Sebastian Kim, Emma Summerton, and Georges Antoni, each of whom has motivated her to move forward as a photographer.

​Adrian started out using hot lights, which she found invaluable for learning about lighting ratios, lighting placement, the basics of positive/negative spaces, and how to use these attributes to create strong images. She’s since embraced electronic flash.

In the studio Adrian makes use of the schools Profoto Acute 2R 2400 lighting system. For on-location photography the Profoto B1 Location Kit is her go-to light. What she likes most about the Profoto systems is the intuitive controls that enable her to shoot without any hassles.
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Though she really likes the results she gets when using the Profoto Softbox RFi 3′ Octa, she’s still experimenting with other Profoto light shaping tools including the Magnum Reflector and the Profoto Acute/D4 Ringflash. The lighting possibilities they bring to the table really get her juiced.

As for the future, Adrian Rae fully understands that, if she wants to reach her goal of shooting editorial fashion spreads for her favorite fashion magazines, she’s going to have to pay her dues. As she puts it, everybody whose work she admires had to work to get to the top and she’s absolutely committed to do the same.
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Photographer: Adrian Rae
School: Seattle Central College
Profoto gear of choice: Acute 2R 2400
Visit her website: www.adrianrae.com

I love sharing these video from Profoto's archives because they're loaded with so much great content. Each video in the "Ordinary to Extraordinary" series is a mini-lesson to help you raise the bar in the quality of your images, not to mention helping you develop a better understanding of lighting. And, Pye Jirsa is sharing one "secret" after another to take your work from "that's good enough" to outstanding!

There are seven videos in the series and each one hits on a different technique.

Profoto totally changed the game for incredible lighting when they introduced their Off-Camera Flash System. Lin & Jersa Photography has also changed the game in great educational content, helping photographers explore the most creative tools in the 175+ year history of photography.

If you haven't checked out Profoto's Off-Camera Flash System at your local Profoto dealer, just click on the link below. And, you'll also find a lot of outstanding content in Profoto's YouTube channel, along with their blog.

Profoto isn't just the leading manufacturer of outstanding lighting equipment, but a leader in lighting education!