10 Things your camera bag needs - Part 2

6. Cinefoil

Cinefoil can either be bought in sheets or in a roll for custom lengths. 

Cinefoil is a very heat resistant, matte black, malleable foil. It gets used a lot in the film industry where the need for heat resistant light flags on the constant 'hot lights' is a must. Cinefoil can be moulded into any shape, from simply moulding it to the side of a light, to a makeshift snoot; shaping the foil into a cone shape for very directional light. It's not a permanent solution by any means but it can certainly come in handy when you run out of certain bespoke tools like flags and light modifiers, cinefoil can certainly fill many roles temporarily. Its also possible to puncture the foil and create masks and gobos with it, this can be especially useful if you just want to create a slightly more interesting look to the light.

Cinefoil can be moulded to virtually any surface, heat resistant and tearable.

7. Clamps

Nylon clamps in varying sizes

This is a pretty basic one, and in my mind has the same mandatory nature as gaffer tape. I cant remember the last shoot where I didnt use several of these clips, clamps and holders. Clamping backdrops to booms, holding gels, clipping flags they are done that much more quickly with a range of clamps. I personally have a wide range of sizes to assist with any task, from the very small clips to hold the gels all the way up to the monster powerful clamps to hold heavy backgrounds. I try and only the use the slighter softer nylon clamps as they are less likely to leave marks or damage some of the objects they hold.

8. Gels

Neutral density gels and CTB gels.

Gels have been a staple in many a creatives bag for a very long time, they are very thin transparent sheets of heat resistant polycarbonate. Their most common use is to change the colour of the light that passes through them, back when Shakespeare was on stage they were limited to varying densities of wine in decanters to alter the lights colour, now we have literally thousands of different colours and tones to choose from.  It's always great to play with coloured lighting but here I'm specifically referring to the gels that are often overlooked but are invaluable to many lighting situations. Specifically I'm referring to 'neutral density' gels and 'CTO/B' gels. Firstly, the neutral density gels appear grey but don't change the colour of the light but rather reduce it, they effectively stop down the power of the light much like a neutral density filter would on the front of your lens. These are especially useful when your'e shooting with monobloc flash heads that find it difficult to produce lower amounts of light, a neutral density gel in front of the light will open up more lighting possibilities when shooting on wider apertures.

The CTO/B (colour temperature orange/blue) gels are most commonly used for changing the orange of continuous tungsten lights to the same colour as flash and conversely changing the blue of flash to the orange of tungsten. This is really useful when you are trying to mix flash with continuos lighting in the same shot without any perceptible colour shift.

9. Mini Torch

Mini LED torch with one handed on/off switch.

This is one that doesn't get used quite as much as the rest of the items but when I need it I'm certainly glad I have it in the bag. I use the mini torch most often in dark situations where I'm having difficulty focusing accurately. It can be those times when I'm shooting long exposures and don't have any modelling bulbs on or it can be because the ND filter on the lens is cutting to much ambient light to focus properly. Worst of all though its for those insufferable times when I don't have my strobes and Im trying to take a shot at night with speedlights that don't even have modelling bulbs. Of course you could just use it to find your last chocolate bar at the bottom of your bag.

A couple of important things to note are that LED torches are best as they're the brightest for the size and that it has an on/off switch that can be operated with one hand, the twist ones are great at stopping it from turning on in your bag but if you have to put your camera down each time you want to use it you'll get pretty annoyed very quickly.

10. Light Meter

Basic light meter, more of a learning and development tool than a modern necessity.

I was unsure whether I would include this one, in this digital world of the instant feedback loop of image assessment surely a light meter is a bygone relic from a time when models posed in neck braces. Granted the light meter doesn't get used on every shoot but it's been in my bag for the last ten years because once in a while there will be a shoot that comes along when something just doesn't add up. There has been times when I've forgotten an ND filter on the lens, times when strobes have been intermittent and even times when the LCD screen has been set to maximum brightness from a previous location shoot.The light meter has been useful to analyse where the failure is. Granted these were complacent mistakes that I affirmed with the light meter but it really comes into its own as a learning tool. We see an image take shape over time on the back of the camera, making the hair light brighter, take another shot, review, reduce the fill light, take another shot, review. We have an idea of what looks good and we get to the image in our minds eye by trail and error but sometimes we don't exactly know whats going on in an image. Without that knowledge its harder to pre visualise and plan more complex shots in the future and so I see it as more of a learning tool than a crutch or a necessity.

Adding copyright Metadata in Lightroom 4

Here in the UK recently a legislation was passed that stated 'Photographs or other creative works can be used without the owners' explicit permission as long as a "diligent search" has taken place'.​

As unlikely and as crazy as that sounds, it is ​unfortunately true. The British government said the act made "copyright licensing more efficient", I think they are getting at the fact that it takes too long to find the artist who took the shot or created the artwork. This is surely a sign of the times and with the ever increasing tidal wave of images being uploaded to the web every minute for all to access it has changed the perception of 'ownership' and the common belief seems to be that if it's on the web, it's yours to use. I've had my images copied and uploaded elsewhere without permission, that was bad enough but also without reference or link to myself or website. Upon asking them to remove the image or pay for usage they actually tried to argue that they found it on the web so they were allowed to use it. Where this idea of free image usage on the web stems from is an amalgam of ideas under the far broader umbrella of 'everything on the web is free'. Free music, free films, free games, free images etc etc, this perception has now gone so far that some will actually scoff at the fact that anybody should pay anything at all for media.

Companies wishing to use pictures would need to carry out a "diligent search" for the owner

BBC NEWS

​As much as I would absolutely love to rant about this topic until the letters fade from my keys, this is not the purpose of this article. If you would like to find out more about it then either read the article reported by the BBC or for even more information on the ramifications stop by the campaign group Stop43 which represents a wide range of photographers and agencies.

So in short what does the passing of this new legislation mean, essentially it means that if a company finds your image on the web and wants to use it they must carry out a "diligent search" for the owner. If after this "diligent search" no owner is found they may use your image as they see fit without having to compensate actual copyright owner. What "diligent search" actually entails is hazy but I must assume that at the absolute minimum it will mean they have to look at the images metadata for the owner, hence the actual point of this article. Oh and if you're thinking I'm outside the UK it's not my problem, think again, British company's can still use foreign images under the same legislation. Sorry.

​One of the first steps we can take as photographers is to ensure people can find us through our images and we can do this by simply storing our information in those images in the form of metadata. Metadata is our digital fingerprint and we can leave it in our images so that it not only states who we are but most importantly how to contact us. Once you know how it's super easy to implement and most RAW editing software will have the options needed to embed it.

​This file has no copyright metadata attached yet

I am going to outline here how to apply copyright into the metadata using Lightroom 4.​

First open up Lightroom and navigate to the ​'Library' module (window - module), then on the panel on the right hand side scroll all the way down to the 'Metadata' panel. When you have an image selected this panel will populate like you see here. This particular image has yet to have copyright metadata attached and as such shows no data in the copyright and creator fields.

​Selecting the 'Preset' bar opens a drop down menu

Secondly we ​need to create a metadata preset to actually apply to not only this image but all our future images.

Select the preset bar and a drop down menu will show your current presets but also at the bottom the option to 'Edit Presets...'​

Clicking on this will open up a new window where we can populate our copyright fields.​

​This is where we edit the metadata presets

​In this window we can enter all the relevant copyright data that somebody would need to contact us if they wanted to use our image. Personally I've scrolled down a little and just populated the illustrated fields you see here. IPTC Copyright window - Copyright: ©Jake Hicks Photography, Copyright status: select 'copyrighted and in the Rights Usage Terms: I just wrote 'All rights reserved.' 

In the IPTC Creator window - Creator: Jake Hicks and most importantly in the Creator E-Mail my email address for contact and my Creator Website.​

That's pretty much it, choose a preset name and hit 'done'.​

“You can type the © symbol on a Mac by holding down the ‘Option’ key and typing the letter ‘g’ and on Windows by holding down the ‘ALT’ key and typing ‘0169’ on the numeric pad.”

​The finished populated metadata window

Once you've hit done the Metadata window will now be populated and should look something like this.​

This preset can be edited at any time by just accessing the preset drop down menu again.​

Granted this would be a real pain if you had to do that for every image but by selecting all the relevant images in the 'Library' you can scroll down to the 'Sync' button and apply that preset across them all.

​In the top right hand corner of the 'Import' window we can apply a 'Metadata' preset

Finally, now that we've made our copyright metadata preset we don't even have to remember to apply it to our chosen images, we can simply apply it to every subsequent image we import into Lightroom.

When you choose to 'Import' your images into Lightroom you have the option to 'Apply During Import' in the top right hand corner. Here you can select your preset and apply it to every image regardless of whether or not it will ever see the hunting grounds of the image thieves on the web.​

Now I am under no illusions that once you've applied this copyright metadata to your images you can just sit back and wait for the emails to roll in offering you compensation, this is just one very tiny step that needs to be taken to safeguard your images on the web. Until there is a law passed stating that is illegal for companies like Facebook and Flickr ​to strip all metadata from your images, thereby deleting your copyright and contact details, you may have to come to terms with the fact that if you upload an image to the web, it will get stolen.

Disclaimer: I the author am a photographer who merely takes great pictures, I am not a solicitor/lawyer. If you have found this article in search of ​legal council then please forget everything you have just read. Thank you.

10 Things your camera bag needs - Part 1

On the left you can clearly see the very shiny synthetic velvet and on the right the light absorbing cotton.

1. Black Velvet

This light absorbing material has a veritable myriad of applications, from using it purely as a backdrop, flagging unwanted flare or even blacking out windows on location, this material loves to suck up unwanted light from your setup. Black velvet is a thick fabric that resembles fine fur. Its dense structure means light hits the fabric gets bounced around in the weave and reflects very little light back out, anybody who has ever photographed pets with black fur will have experienced a similar effect. It comes in many forms so be sure to get the denser crushed velvet with a high cotton content, taking care to avoid the cheaper thinner fabric which contains more synthetic properties making it next to useless as it appears very shiny under direct light.

An all over coat of oil will give a stronger feel compared with trying to apply it exactly where it is needed.

2. Baby oil

Although at first this might seem a little odd, a little bottle of this in your bag could give your shots an edge, literally. Apart from the obvious useful applications, baby oil added liberally to skin, especially if you are photographing tattoos, can give the model's skin and ink a new lease of life. Tattoos appear fresh and brand new as the 'wet-look' appearance darkens down the colours giving them a more defined look.

Plus if you are somebody who likes to integrate a more structured look to you're images by using edge lighting or back lighting, baby oil can help the model to stand out from the background. Whether it be on location or in the studio, baby oil applied to the model's exposed skin will give a very shiny look allowing those secondary lighting effects to have extra punch, really enhancing the edge transitions therefore allowing for strong shapes to be formed by the highlights.

Leave the silver tape for the DIY jobs, the black gaffers tape won't leave a sticky residue on your shiny new equipment.

3. Black gaffer tape

This is not to be confused with duct tape, the shiny silver tape which has a habit of bouncing light strangely if used in the wrong places. Gaffer tape needs little introduction but for those who are unfamiliar with this universal crisis delayer it is a cotton cloth tape with very strong adhesive properties. Another major difference and benefit of using gaffer tape over duct tape is that it doesn't leave a sticky residue behind, this can be crucial especially where expensive equipment is concerned as well as not leaving a mark when you vacate a location. I'm sure we have all been in situations where we wished we had it so get it in your photo bag now, don't wait until the next time you want to stick a flashgun to the wall and wished you had some.

The cheapest studio fan you will own.

4. Reflectors

This might seem an obvious one to those location photographers out there but to studio shooters it can sometimes be overlooked as a useful tool when we have so many lighting modifiers at our disposal. Reflectors come in a myriad of shapes and sizes and choosing the right one will obviously depended on the job at hand. That being said it is easy to say that location shooters will want a 6ft scrim/reflector but their is no point in getting one if you are never going to be bothered to take it out with you. Be realistic with your limitations and get a reflector size the suits your mobility too.

Reflectors also come in many different forms, so it's worth bearing this in mind if your only going to be packing a 'one size fits all' approach. Some basic reflectors are just silver light bouncers whereas others can be converted into several different types and with them being so lightweight and reasonably priced there seems little reason not to get a convertible one, these usually consist of a silver and gold reflector casing with a black and white disk inside. They can also come with translucent gauze material disk inside, commonly known as a scrim. These are incredibly useful at softening/diffusing harsh light like the sun on location but it can also double as a quick softbox for strobes and flashguns in a studio. The silver reflector usually bounces light directly with little loss of exposure whereas the white bounce will normally loose a stop (half the amount of light), this is of course a crude estimation and is based on the reflector being only a few feet from the model. This idea can be useful though if you have the sun behind the model and want to bounce some light back onto the face, as long as you are exposing for the subject l this will give your background a nice brightly exposed backdrop. The gold side here will give the model a warm sun-kissed feel similar to a sunset shot. Bear in mind of course that all these techniques work in a studio too and although a reflector may not be quite as accurate and modifiable as a strobe they are incredibly quick to use and once you are familiar with your particular reflector you can quickly adapt to a lighting problem as the situation demands it. If all else fails you can even use your reflector as a makeshift fan and give those windswept hair shots a try.

One of the items in your bag you hope you never have to use but when everything else fails (tinfoil light-catching cup included), a spare sync-cable from the camera to the light source won't let you down.

5. Spare sync cable

This has saved my dignity on more than one occasion, when all the all hi-tech gimmickry fails there is nothing that will let you down about a good old fashioned physical connection from camera to flash. Shooting in a studio is one thing but on location you don't know what the situation will throw at you. Anything from high voltage interference with radio triggers to trying to bounce your infa-red slaves around corners to the back lights. I've sculpted 'light-catching' cups out of tinfoil before now and fixed them to the tops of my strobes receivers to get them to fire remotely, and although this worked all I would of needed was a spare sync cable. They weigh next to nothing, take up hardly any room and are incredibly cheap.