Moody Blue

[myfotoguy]

I thought I would try something I learned from professional photographer Dave Black (reading his blog). It’s a style he calls “Moody Blue”. Joe McNally has written about similar techniques in his books too. Hopefully I'm not repeating a previous post, I searched but couldn't find anything. So here you go, hope it give some ideas to you!

"Moody Blue"
(I couldn't think of another name, so I am using what Dave Black calls it, if anyone has other ideas I woudl love to hear them).

This works a little better outside nearing dusk. But you can still create drama inside the house too. The bottom line is you use a white balance that turns the scene blueish in color, and use a CTO warming gel to offset that blue cast on your main subject.

You can create drama by setting your white balance to 3030K, then use a remote speedlight with a warming gel on it. (I used full CTO, which is the darker orange tungsten gel that comes with Nikon SB-800 and 900's).

The cool white balance turns everything blueish, but the flash with the orange gel warms up your subject with a "sunset" type glow. (if you do it right).

This whole blue effect happens outside. Inside the light source will sometimes, but not always turn the deep blue you’re after. You may simply end up with moody lighting where the scene is dark but you control the remote flash with warm light and where it falls on your subject. Which can be a nice effect to work with, but it's not really "moody blue".

In this shot you can see the light from outside at the windows beyond my daughter, that's moody blue peeking in.
More shots available for viewing in my gallery at Timothy Bury Photography | Moody Blue



I kind of dig moody lighting. This is my first real go at "moody blue", it was a good experience.

Believe it or not, the room lights were on. Part of creating the effect is underexposing the scene anywhere from -.7 to -2.5. Then using flash compensation, the remote speedlight can be left as is, or dial in up to +1.0 as needed.

Other Info (Equipment and Settings):
Nikon D300, picture control = portrait
ISO 200, 1/60 @ f/6.3, -1.0 to -1.7
Camera WB = 3030K
Remote SB-900, gelled full CTO, 85mm, Center Weighted light pattern, 0.00 up to +.7 flash compensation.

Post Processing: Most of the images were as shot, with minor contrast and sharpening. Maybe some levels, but little is needed when lighting subjects this way. In some of the shots I boosted the blue tones using the color EQ in ACDSee Pro 3 (Beta).

[aspencade]

Fabulous photo.....love it...Paul

[sybren]

I like the shot, but I'm rather distracted by the shadow of your lens(hood) on the book.

[myfotoguy]

Originally Posted by sybren

I like the shot, but I'm rather distracted by the shadow of your lens(hood) on the book.

Thanks. Yep, I saw that when reviewing the images. The pop-up commander will cause that and I forgot about it until I reviewed the image. Good catch!