Look Out For Those Leafy Hot Spots
The Problem
This is something that I’d bet just about all of you have experienced at least once in your photography days. Just imagine this scenario for a moment. You decide one sunny Saturday afternoon to head on outside and grab a couple of portraits under a nice big tree. You get everything set up, take a bunch of pictures, and go back home quite happy with yourself for pulling off another great batch of photos.
Then you unload the photos on your computer and take a closer look. Much to your horror, many of the pictures have these bright hot spots all over them where the sun was peaking through the leaves. Even Photoshop won’t help you here.
The Devil Is In The Details
You can learn new techniques and skills until you’re blue in the face, but where your experience really shines is the attention you pay to details and ensuring that all those skills are put together at the same time. Those leafy hot spots are one of those details that are really easy to overlook, but really show up like a sore thumb in your final photo.
This is also an area where it’s easier to make a mistake than you might think, even when you’re actively thinking about it. Let me share a mistake from my own experience.
Oops
This past spring I went out with my wife and son to a botanical garden to get some outdoor portraits. We had been shooting for an hour or so when we came across this narrow path into some bushes that ended up next to a pond. The background seemed nice and it was well shaded, so I would be able to use my flash however I wanted.
I set up a single Speedlight in an umbrella just to camera left. Because there was very little space in the bushes, the light was literally just a couple feet from my wife and son. I noticed the leafy flares coming through the trees so I set the flash power high enough to overpower it. I banged out a bunch of photos with good lighting and without hot spots.
Now it was my turn. My wife and I switched places, and with everything all set up, we spent five more minutes shooting and went home. I unloaded the photos and what do you know, I was covered in hot spots in every photo. The problem was that I had sat down about 9-12 inches further from the light than my wife did. Because light falls off very quickly at those short distances, the light was significantly less on me than my wife, and those hot spots crept in. This was a perfectly honest mistake, we’re talking about mere inches here. If there had been more space and the light was set up further away, this wouldn’t have happened. But this demonstrates how easy it is to make a boo boo.
The Solution
When you’re taking pictures under a tree, choose a spot that’s well shaded and free of those hot spots if you can. This is usually closer in toward the trunk as the canopy of the tree is thicker. If you can’t find a spot free of hot spots (as in my case), overpower them with flash. It doesn’t take much power to get nice smooth images. Concentrate on the face; having some subtle hot spots on the body isn’t the end of the world, but having them on the face is a deal breaker.
Trees make great places to shoot portraits. The next time you’re out though, try to keep those hot spots in mind throughout the shoot. It just might save the session.
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August 22nd, 2007 at 1:56 am
Look Out For Those Leafy Hot Spots | Sublime Light…
Learn why you should always keep those leafy hot spots in mind whenever you’re shooting under a tree outdoors. It’s easier to make a mistake than you think!…
August 22nd, 2007 at 6:40 am
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August 22nd, 2007 at 9:24 am
Hey!
Nice article. I like the admonition to be prepared. I made a major mistake doing some headshots last week. I set up the lights, the background, the custom white balance…but every shot was overexposed. WAY overexposed. I always shoot at f/8 because it’s only one person, 100 ISO because I don’t want any noise, and I get about 1/100 shutter speed. Sometimes I increase it to underexpose the background. I did everything imaginable to salvage it without losing credibility, but nothing worked. I eventually resorted to moving the lights far away and angled them more severely away to force less light on the subject. I was able to pop off a few good frames.
Got back home to the lab and started to mix the soup. Well, the digital soup. Opened the files in Camera RAW to see if I could fix it in post, which I hate doing. Well, the problem was obvious when I opened the files up. Right there in the title bar of the window was my crime: Canon EOS 20D: IMGblah blah blah (ISO 800…
Duh, I forgot to reset my ISO. I was shooting handheld JPGs earlier in the day and forgot to change one setting!
Anyway, real quick. I use a diffuser over the subject in bright or spotty light to kill the hot spots. Put it on a boom and angle it just right and you’re home free! Here’s a link to the one I use. It comes in handy when you don’t have a competent assistant: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/241060-REG/Photoflex__42_5_in_1_MultiDisc_Reflector.html
The picture does not do it justice. But, I find it invaluable! Heck, get two and one could be used to diffuse and set the other one up with a reflector/bounce/flag or whatever. It adds some weight to your outing, and takes a coupla minutes to set up, and isn’t family friendly (”you’re bringing that again?!?”).
For this shoot I didn’t have an assistant. Just a coupla minutes, my kit from the link above, meter, and camera. The sunlight was blinding, but you can’t tell: http://web.mac.com/giantklr/iWeb/rochelleboykinft/1.html
Tim, you should write a book. I’ll buy one if you autograph it!
Scott
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:57 am
Great point!
Thanks for the article
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Thanks for sharing your story Scott. No matter how much experience you gain, you can still slip up once in a while if you’re not actively thinking about every detail that needs to be right for a photo.
I’ve taken quite a few photos that came out noisy because I failed to notice that the ISO was set very high. You just grab the camera and start shooting and fail to check that everything is in order.
ISO controls is one of my gripes with today’s DLSRs. Having the ISO buried in a menu or a couple of button presses away keeps it out of sight and out of mind. I really think there needs to be an additional wheel for ISO so that it becomes an active part of the exposure control for a photographer.
The tip of using a scrim to block those leafy hot spots is a good tip. If you have an assistant or a stand and it’s a calm day then this is definitely a great way to solve the problem.
Great shots of Rochelle by the way. I had seen these before on your web site, you have some great work there.
Book? Nah…nobody would read it, just like this site. I think you might be the only one who reads this stuff
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:59 pm
Tim, Scott…you guys a music to me ears, I thought I was the only one that messes up & forgets to check ALL the settings BEFORE each shoot. Great info in the article but the key line is “The devil is in the details”
BTW, I’m with Scott, you autograph it, I’ll buy it.
Cheers
Bob
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:31 am
Hi Tim.
I’m glad you like my work. I’ve got a way to go. I love your stuff, too. I’m always checking it out.
So, give us all that URL to the Amazon preorder page
-Scott
August 24th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Bob, I make more mistakes than I care to admit thank you very much. It’s usually the very stupid mistakes that get me the most too.
Scott, thanks.
As for a book, well I’ll just say that I never say never.