A collection of transformation, identity, and the stories that shape who we become.
THE BOOK of BECOMING
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7. No-nonsense Tips to Flash Lighting! The secret to using an external flash is where you point your flash (Yep, the flash head moves.). As Brian explains, “Think of holding a super ball and wanting to hit your subject in the head with it. What wall should you throw your super ball against so that it bounces back and hits the subject in the face?” (Isn’t that great of Brian. That’s what he’s thinking when taking pictures of a bride! How can I hit her in the face with a super ball!) 🙂
BEFORE: The flash is pointing right at Pascaline and Blaze. This is what you get with the pop-up flash that points right at your subjects. See those nasty shadows around them and the black cave effect behind them? Yuck! Blaze looks like someone took charcoal from the fireplace and blew it on him.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:35 am
Thanks MeRa! Love these posts. They remind me to keep it simple not overthink or get too frazzled. Looking forward to the Chicago Workshop!!
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:04 am
Awesome tips, as always! Thanks!!
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:33 am
GREAT tips! Thank you so much for sharing!!!!
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:46 am
you are so sweet to share all this! I love the last photo – and tip number 7 -too funny!
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:09 pm
I love a flash that swivels! I’ve been using a Gary Fong “dome” lately. I prefer to swivel backward though. The Fong requires extra power or stops. I don’t like to give up stops.
Didn’t you say you would be offering some Lightroom Presets at some time, or am I confusing you with someone else?
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:30 pm
The tips are immensely helpful, you two are immensely creative, and I can’t wait for Chicago. 🙂
Now, to dust off that old Speedlite and give her a whirl…
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:31 pm
These are great tips! Thanks for the encouragement to make mistakes. It’s a releif to not try to be perfect all the time!
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Those tips are awesome! Thank you Mera!!!
July 24th, 2008 at 7:20 am
hi mera
July 24th, 2008 at 7:24 am
Hi Mera..
Thanks again for the tips. Question. I am diligently working on putting together my portfolio to show. I know in your dvd you explained how you were using your portfolio to show when you were starting out..doctors office was one of the examples.And my pediatricians office is alarmingly bland! My question is..were all of your pics color black and white…what size? I just want to make sure it looks as professional as can be before I show it off. Any tips would be great! Thanks..K
July 24th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Love this, thanks. Just what I needed. My brain was starting to get fuzzy from the San Diego Workshop back in May. Nice little refresher. I printed it out to carry around with me. LOL I so wish I could go to Chicago…hmmmm.
July 24th, 2008 at 10:19 am
I hit send on my comment too quickly, must need some caffine or something.
I shoot Nikon, can anyone recommend a good external flash?
July 24th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Hi Katie..I shoot nikon also. I use the SB800 external flash…very happy with it so far.
July 24th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Thanks for these posts… I too print them and carry them in my camera bag! I love going down the list and trying all your wonderful tips one by one. Thank you for the words ” You Can Do This!” and thank you for sharing your talent and wisdom with all of us.
July 24th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
“Mistakes are necessary when getting better at photography–mistake away!!”
This is the lesson that I just learned at my first newborn shoot. Of course, I saw allll of my flaws. My client saw beautiful pictures of his newborn that brought tears to her eyes. I decided that I need to live by the motto “Live and learn”. I’m glad I’m not the only one!
July 25th, 2008 at 5:57 am
Thanks so much for sharing your list from the BlogHer presentation. I really enjoyed it and was typing as fast as I could, but my notes did not come out quite this organized!
July 25th, 2008 at 7:29 am
Hi Mera, I spoke with you briefly at the BlogHer Cocktail party at Macy’s, thanks so much for putting up your notes as requested! That way, even those of us working the conference can now benefit 🙂
July 28th, 2008 at 7:19 am
[…] been practicing Me Ra Koh’s Top Ten Tips For Photography, concentrating on #2: Fill the frame and #4: blur the background. Here are my results so […]
July 28th, 2008 at 9:59 am
wow…great tips on how to use the flash.
how do you change your color pictures to such a nice b/w? my professional wedding photographer changed some of our pics to b/w but it has a really cold, gray tone to them.
July 28th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
[…] got the excited “I can do this, I can do this…” flutters in my stomach when I read these Top Ten Photography Tips from Me Ra Koh Photography. I found the article from one of my favorite photography blogs, Shutter […]
July 29th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
I loved your session! I took good notes but having your images here as examples is excellent! Thanks so much for posting this.
I have a question for you – since I didn’t win the copy LightRoom!! all I have is PhotoShop :-), and I know you said it was easy to do a vignette with PS too, but I can’t find anything obvious. Or did I misunderstand you?
August 2nd, 2008 at 12:27 am
So great of you to put up the notes! So great to hear a refresher.
I have been soooo busy – as usual – but very soon I want to get up the review and giveaway for your fabulous videos. They are so great – you are such a talented teacher! So many talents you both have!!!! 🙂
Talk soon 🙂
August 2nd, 2008 at 12:28 am
Since it is after midnight – I plead exhaustion for the fact that I said “so great” THREE times in that last comment! good grief!
But I mean – you really are “sooooo great!” lol
August 6th, 2008 at 4:23 am
[…] if you didn’t go to BlogHer and are interested in photography, you can read Me Ra Koh’s photography tips, THE EXACT TIPS SHE GAVE US AT THE CONFERENCE AND WE PAID FOR! You can get it for FREE! She was a fantastic speaker, explaining things in easy to understand […]
January 20th, 2009 at 4:15 am
Thank you SO MUCH for these tips! One of my new years resolutions is to actually LEARN something about photography and not just always point and shoot. This is really helpful for getting an idea about what iso, fstop, shutter speed even means! I also love the tip about working on one thing at a time.
July 26th, 2011 at 7:07 am
[…] not have to think about camera settings and just play with composition! I was thinking about the Third’s Principle a lot, and seeing how far I could push the envelope. It was also fun having the space of a square […]