18.05.10

Joel Grimes: Create stunning monochrome shots

Over the last 25 years, professional photographer Joel Grimes has built up a reputation for graphic photography, despite being colour blind. Famed for his portrait work, his first love was landscapes and here he offers some advice to help you create stunning monochrome vista shots using strobe lighting.

Commercial photographer Joel Grimes has worked in almost every state across America and more than 50 countries around the world. His clients include National Geographic, Discovery Channel and Volvo. In 1991 Joel produced his first national-interest coffee table book, Navajo: Portrait of a Nation for which he received an 18-month solo exhibit at the Smithsonian American History Museum in Washington DC. www.joelgrimes.com

Most of my photographic work is portraits based and has been for over 25 years. But when I first started out, I was a die-hard landscape photographer. The cactus series you see here is a result of my going back to my roots and just having some fun. As I shoot with strobe lights on 99% of my portrait work, it was only natural to use strobe lighting in a series of landscapes. Using strobe lighting in the field allows me to illuminate the subject in the foreground while at the same time keeping the background exposure value down. In the old days I used Polaroid to test my composition, exposure and lighting. Today, with digital capture, the ability in proofing is instantaneous.

I believe a great photograph is built on the creative process, which is always unique to the individual. If you work from this vantage point it can become your greatest asset. I am colour blind, which I first thought would be a handicap to pursuing a career as a photographer, but in fact, it allowed me to see the world differently and now it is my greatest strength. I strongly feel that, if you let your uniqueness drive the creative process, there is no end to what you can achieve. Whenever I am considering a project, the first thing I try to do is build a body of work in a series. This is particularly important when you come to revisit a subject or a theme. If you do this, you will naturally build on each experience and the quality of your work will benefit greatly. Then I try to find subjects that I have easy access to. I always try to work within my geographical area. Many of the images here were shot within a 10-minute drive from my home in Tucson, Arizona.

I used to joke with my wife as I headed out the door saying I was off to shoot a portrait of a cactus. I usually enter the countryside with a preconceived idea that I want to achieve, but it is the ‘found’ moments that truly make an image. In these desert images, the sky plays a big role in the mood of the photograph, which is why, typically, I head out on cloudy days. By using strobe lighting I was able to darken the sky, but still retain detail in the plants. I feel this greatly enhances the overall drama of the image. To achieve this look, you need to overpower the output of the sun. I personally like to let the background go about 1-2 stops under exposure from the light that is striking the subject such as a cactus. Because I am limited to a flash sync speed of 1/200th, I need around f/22 light output from my strobe. In some cases I have to place my light 20ft or more from the cactus. This is why I need a strobe that has a guide number of at least 350 or higher.

Using 10-stop Neutral Density Filters

Ten-stop ND Filters are a useful addition to the landscape photographer’s kit bag. These dark panes of glass are designed to reduce the amount of light entering the lens so a slower shutter speed can be used, a wider lens aperture can be used, or both. This means the available light, even on the most overcast days, can be harnessed better and motion can be captured to create atmosphere, clouds drifting overhead, the tide coming and going and people or traffic passing by in a street scene. All will blend into the landscape with the use of a neutral density filter. When using a filter, remember to compose and manually focus your shot before you attach it. Once on, it will be too dark to see your shot. Use a tripod and a remote trigger and set the shutter to B (Bulb). Use an ND graduated filter to prevent the sky from overexposing. The below shows the correct exposures to use with ND Filter. Take a reading without the filter in place, match it up to the chart, and read across to find the exposure you need.

Ufiltered Exposure V Exposure with10-stop ND

• 1/500 second 2 Seconds
• 1/250 second 4 Seconds
• 1/125 second 8 Seconds
• 1/60 second 16 Seconds
• 1/30 second 32 Seconds
• 1/15 second 1 minute
• 1/8 second 2 minutes
• 1/4 second 4 minutes
• 1/2 second 8 minutes
• 1 second 16 minutes
• 2 second 32 minutes
• 3 second 48 minutes
• 4 second 1 hour
   

TOP TIPS

• Look for a subject without clutter around it. This may sound simple,but you would be surprised at how hard this is to find.
• Always shoot with the sun striking the subject from the side.
• Once you have the subject and background you want, place the strobe light striking the cactus in the same direction as the sun. Sometimes I might fudge the angle of the strobe light to get the look I am after, but generally the shadow of the strobe light is hitting the subject.
• From experience, I know that if the sun is fairly high on the horizon, I will set my shutter speed to 1/200th, my f/stop to 16-22 and then I will power up my strobe until I get the value I need on my subject. I constantly preview the image through my camera’s monitor. To keep the sunlight off the monitor, I cover it with a dark cloth.
• If I want a square composition, I shoot three vertical images in a horizontal row as a panoramic, one dead centre and then one to the left and one to the right, leaving room to overlap the images. I do this so I can make large prints. I use a software program called PTGui to do all the stitching, but you could also use Photoshop.

What's in your kit bag?
I use a Canon 5D MkII. I used Canon 16-35mm 2.8 and Canon 24-70mm 2.8 lenses for these images. I also have a Really Right Stuff ball head with the accessories to shoot panoramic images. The strobe I usually use is a White Lightning Ultra 1600, powered by a Vagabond battery pack. If I have to do a bit more walking, I use two Canon Speedlites stacked together with a thick rubber band. This gives me a working guide number in the mid 300s and allows me to reach f35 at 10ft. Since my shutter sync is limited to 1/200th, I need around f/22 light so that my background exposure is one to two stops darker than the light falling on my subject. I will run the two speedlites at half power, which allows me to get a faster recycler time — almost instant. I typically trigger the strobes with PocketWizards. The key is to mount these two strobes onto a rig that allows me to place them in a soft box. I usually need a total of five speedlites: four for the background and one for the overhead light in an octagon. 

This feature is from April 2010 issue
Back issues can be ordered by calling 01858 438840 or by sending an email to photographymonthly@subscription.co.uk

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