I was at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art getting ready to photograph an exhibit of prints by the late Henri Cartier-Bresson. As soon as I entered the exhibit, I made a custom white-balance reading which was, for all intents and purposes, the same as the camera's Incandescent pre-set. After scouting the exhibit for possible photo opportunities, I was directed to Martine Franck, widow of the late Cartier-Bresson, who was discussing the photographs from the exhibit and her experiences as a photographer for Magnum Photos. I decided that I wanted a photo of Franck with one of Cartier-Bresson's better known photos in the background. Because the main lights in the museum were coming from tracks in the ceiling I knew there would definitely be shadows in her eye sockets. I decided I needed a tiny bit of fill light to add some life to her eyes. I thought the SB-800 speedlight in my bag would be overkill, so I decided to use the camera's built-in flash. I knew that the light from the flash would give the shadows a bluish tint, so I taped a small piece of Rosco's Full CTO gel in front of the flashtube. This brought the color temperature down to level more compatible with the current (incandescent) white balance.
I set the flash to fire in the manual mode, at 1/32 power. Since I was shooting at ISO 6400, I did not trust TTL when flying this close to the edge of the envelope. This was just a guess, since I knew that if it was too powerful for the given shooting distance, I could partially cover the flash tube with my finger to reduce the output. As it turned out, the setting was just about right.
In a later post I'll talk about light and lighting, but there thing you should keep in mind: Fill light should never over-power the main light. You use the main light to accentuate form and texture in a photograph. You use fill light to provide detail in the shadows. Don't push your fill light too hard or you'll blow out (over-expose) your highlights.
As you can see from the illustration, it's a small piece held in place with some Gaffer Tape. Gaffer tape is tough and can be attached and removed without too much difficulty. I just position it to fully cover the flash tube.
One last suggestion. Be sure to remove your lens hood when using the pop-up flash. This goes against my belief that the hood should be left on at all times, but when a lens is used at wide settings and short distances, the hood can cast a shadow on the lower edge of your photo, something you'll probably want to avoid.
If you're interested in learning more about color correction gels, I suggest you go to the the best source on the planet: Strobist.com. Click here for David Hobby's explanation on how and when to use gels. You can buy an inexpensive sample pack here.
I always have this gel taped to the back of my press pass, just in case.
Two of my favorite Daily Journal photos were made in Museums. But whenever I see the two photos together, I am reminded of how important backgrounds are. More specifically, we are talking about the ratio of background to foreground. Both of these assignments were about exhibits that would open shortly, and the purpose of the photo was to promote interest in the exhibit.
The first shot is a photo of Martine Franck, widow of the photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, whose photographs helped define photojournalism in the post World War Two years. Franck was answering questions about a retrospective showing of her late husband's best known photographs. The exhibit included Behind the Gare St. Lazare, seen behind her.
I wanted to make a photo that showed Franck in the foreground and the iconic image, out of focus but recognizable, in the background. Since she had her well-worn 35mm Leica rangefinder camera with her, I had her hold it in her hands as though she was preparing to make a photograph. Since the museum's lights were incandescent and coming directly from above, I used the pop-up flash on my camera to provide some additional light into her eyes. I adjusted my vantage point to position the famous photo behind her. This is the photo I submitted.
While I was very pleased with the photo, the paper did not run the image, and after discussing it with my editor, agreed with her reasoning. The most important shortcoming was the photo's lack of context. With the single photo in the background, it is completely removed from a exhibit context. In addition, Franck completely dominates the image, making this photo a portrait of a photographer rather than a photo of an exhibit of a photographer's work. No one has denied that it's a good portrait, but it didn't meet the specific needs of the article.
A second assignment came with the opening of Japanesque, an exhibit showing the influence of the west on eastern art. Here Karin Breuer, the exhibit's curator, stands beside the easily recognized color woodcut “Cresting Wave off the Coast of Kanagawa” by Katsushika Hokusai. Luckily for me the light was coming from a relatively low angle so fill-flash was not necessary.
I was fortunate in both the visual elements of the background and the placement of Breuer within the image. The print on the wall is easily recognized, and the exhibit description is visible on the wall beside it. The four smaller prints add to the "museum" quality of the image. I was also fortunate that Breuer was explaining the print's significance to some journalists to my right, thereby anchoring her role as exhibit curator and allowing a more candid portrayal.
The moral of the story is this: Before you set about making a photograph, clarify the message the photo is to convey. That message will often go beyond the simple issues of choosing the foreground subject, since all of the visual elements in the background should help advance the the ambiance you are trying to convey.
