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In a recent blog Gary Cole wrote the following:

On outdoor situations, let’s say at the beach, we have the light of the sun with which to work. However, unless you get up very early or wait until the waning hours of sunlight, you’re likely to be dealing with harsh light that can be very unkind. Our eyes either squint or we put on sunglasses. It’s best to set your alarm and start early rather than shooting with a high sun. And be very careful about supplementing the light of the sun with artificial light.

I have seen many failed shoots because the photographer in his effort to eliminate unwanted shadows on his subject has resorted to artificial light to fill those shadows. It almost never looks natural and the image yells out unreality to the viewer. Fill light can be used but only very subtly. It’s probably better to simply but carefully bounce some sunlight with a reflective board or something similar. Even then, be careful not to bounce in too much light.”

I would not only concur but go further. I find the practice of blasting daylight shots with strobe the spawn of the devil, an unholy alliance and a cheap and lazy way to facilitate an image. Rather than searching out a solution to lighting scenarios many find it less taxing merely to plonk the model down in a situation and then blast away the shadows with a strobe. ‘The image yells out unreality to the viewer’. Indeed it does. Better by far, in my opinion to find a more subtle approach with the use of diffusers and reflectors.

Michael Sheller’s image using my lighting went on to win the best shot of the seminar award. And yes, it was a trick. Jarmo passed by my set on the prep day, saw what I was putting together and called it ‘a cheap trick‘.Not that cheap tricks are sometimes effective. After many decades as a professional photographer I have a bag of them to pull out of a hat. At the Seminar in Miami earlier this year I built a lighting set up using HMI, tungsten and customised colour temperature camera settings to create an ambience of blue and orange light.

And he was right. It was a trick. Whether it was cheap on not is a matter for debate. Magic enthrals us all. Rabbits pulled out of top hats, things that appear and disappear for no obvious reason. So creating lighting that is not obvious is indeed a sort of magic. Nothing turns me off more than seeing a shot and instantly knowing how it at was lit. I wish to be intrigued and bamboozled. I think that using strobe to supplement daylight can work in the the hands of the skilled. But a lot of the time the results are just too blatant. As I said, an easy solution to a complex situations. If you wish to grow as a photographer do not settle for the easy path. Walk one that is convoluted, twisting and difficult. It will challenge you and you will learn.

 Success is usually a bedfellow of driving ambition. We were not collaborators but mortal enemies. That was then.You may be mistaken in thinking that because Jarmo and I worked for the same magazine we are somehow bosom buddies.

Time has smoothed the edges and our coming together as instructors at STC has achieved a feeling of mutual respect for each other…..I think. I have put aside the idea of slipping a dull blade between his ribs and he no longer attempts to poison the food on my plate. It was not always so friendly. I love the cut and thrust of competition and banter. The pen is mightier than the sword. A sharp tongue, the deadliest of weapons. So rather than just liking images (another easy route….just click a button) lets have some serious roasting here, a proper debate, criticism, spitting blood, tears of rage. Say what you think not what you think people might wish to hear. Do not be generous or ingenuous. Tell it like it is or how you see it. You have nothing to lose but some face.

Byron Newman

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