How was this shot taken?

[amy.lee]

How do you shoot into the light to get lens flare and blow the sky, at the same time keeping the subject properly exposed and retaining their colour?

http://www.theblogisfound.com/index.cfm?StartRow=41

The image I want to reference is the Asian couple half way down the page, with the guy's head on the girl's leg and the sun is right behind him. I origainally posted the image here and referenced the source and the photographer but I was told I can't even do that…

[canonnoob]

Hey just a heads up.. go ahead and take the shot down.. your not allowed to post other people's work without permission... copyright law.. so just link us to the page and tell us what photo it is...

[Michael Vermont]

How do you shoot into the light to get lens flare and blow the sky, at the same time keeping the subject properly exposed and retaining their colour?

p.s. - the image attached belongs to Theimageisfound Photography from the link below. I only posted it since there are tons of photos on this link.
http://www.theblogisfound.com/index.cfm?StartRow=41

You'd switch to manual, spot meter the dress or the skin tone, taking the bright sunlight into consideration and underexpose, you'd need to trial and error a bit until you get it just right.

[Shamir]

I think the flare is done in Photoshop.

[mattograph]

I agree. Look at how perfect the circles are.

[breathless]

Use any mode. Let camera meter any way it wants. Shoot. Bump contrast in post. Really - it is that simple.

[gixxnrocket]

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong,
Facing the front of the camera, look inside the lens. If you can see flare, so can your film or sensor. (Lens hoods are used to eliminate/reduce flare.)

If you want to experiment, it is easily accomplished with direct light (sun, hot lights, strobe, whatever..)
Flare will appear diffused if the light source is diffused. ( like your film fogged /.... I'm not sure how to relate this to digital, my apologies, but more likely to look like user error)

setup a camera on a tripod facing your subject. look between your subject and camera lens. If you see flare in the lens, Brilliant! If not adjust your vantage point.

[Michael Vermont]

Use any mode. Let camera meter any way it wants. Shoot. Bump contrast in post. Really - it is that simple.

You can't be serious...

[Jim M]

I agree. Look at how perfect the circles are.
I don't think the flare was Photoshop. I believe the round, perfect circles are the result of the lens being wide open. You only get polygons when the lens is stopped down.

I agree about shooting on manual, metering for the couple or very slightly under exposed for them. Let the flare take care of itself. All you have to do is point the lens so that the sun or other light source is in the photo to produce that kind of flare. It helps to use cheap optics that aren't very well coated.

[breathless]

You can't be serious...
I am serious :)

[amy.lee]

Why do I need to under expose? Is it because the skin I meter on is somewhat in silhouette so the camera will try to make it middle gray and if it does that then the skin would be over exposed?

[gixxnrocket]

I agree why on earth would you want to under expose?

Amy.Lee, is your intent to capture Lens flare as your subject? If yes, then meter the light source for correct exposure then pick the vantage that captures the flare. Viola! perfect lens flare.
If however, the person/object is the subject, you should meter for the person/object. This may mean you need to get close to the subject to meter and then step back for the shot. If the flare is over exposing your image, adjust your vantage so there is less flare (seen from the front of the lens as stated before, or simply use your hand to block some of the flare from entering the lens) If you have a keen eye you may see the flare over expose your frame by looking through the viewfinder.

If you shoot raw and rely on post processing to adjust image/print exposure... which IMO is not bad (no different than working in a Wet Lab) You can capture more detail in the shadows by over exposing 1/2 to 1 full stop. Followed by PS, LR, whatever your flavor PP to adjust exposure.
You also will have the added benefit of reducing grain in your final image, unless grain is your thing.

Listen, Go out and take some pictures!http://photography-on-the.net/forum/images/icons/icon7.gif nothing like trial and error to perfect your idea.

[ChrisRabior]

Take a look at his eyes. You can see the reflection of the stofen/speedlite. Looks to me like the photographer used a fill flash to help expose for the subject. Meter for the ambient and your subject is underexposed. Toss in the flash, and you adjust the exposure of your subjects. That's where I'd start if I was trying to recreate.

[gixxnrocket]

The fill is very even, maybe foam core as a reflector. The image looks slightly on the wide side of normal and I'm not sure on-camera flash with a stofen in such a close proximity would fill the guys' left arm properly.. that is with out giving a shadow to the bottom of his arm and a hot spot to the top.

Although the catchlights are pretty small so you are probably right.

Or just natural light and maybe photographer was wearing a white shirt and standing camera right

[ChrisRabior]

I'd agree with you on the reflector.. probably just off to camera left to bounce some of the sunlight.

Always good to grab photos that 'wow' you so you can reverse engineer the lighting. Helps to keep a lighting file, until it becomes second nature.

[Mike]

Use any mode. Let camera meter any way it wants. Shoot. Bump contrast in post. Really - it is that simple.

You can't be serious...

I am serious :)

Do you suffer with lots of noise in your photos? :confused:

[breathless]

Do you suffer with lots of noise in your photos? :confused:

Hrm... No. Why do you ask? :)

[Michael Vermont]

Hrm... No. Why do you ask? :)

The reason why I said you can't be serious is because the mentality of "shoot however and retouch in post" is a terrible way to teach someone photography, granted yes there's almost nothing that can't be fixed nor done in post, there are photographers out there that's down right horrible at what they do, open in ps, drop an action script or two on it and viola, hollywood poster and half is revealed, is it not noteworthy to spread the techniques of how it could be done properly to the best of one's ability through the camera?

[breathless]

The reason why I said you can't be serious is because the mentality of "shoot however and retouch in post" is a terrible way to teach someone photography, granted yes there's almost nothing that can't be fixed nor done in post, there are photographers out there that's down right horrible at what they do, open in ps, drop an action script or two on it and viola, hollywood poster and half is revealed, is it not noteworthy to spread the techniques of how it could be done properly to the best of one's ability through the camera?
I respect your thoughts wholeheartedly. The reference image is not one which requires a whole lot of technique. It is a very simple shot - add assistants with reflectors, flash, metering, etc., the shot becomes harder than it has to be. If the image can be made by simply shooting, then boosting contrast in post, why not?