Shutterfinger

The Drama of Backlighting

The backlighting in this photo was so severe that even though the highlight area is overexposed, the shadows are still practically pitch-black. I shot this with a film camera; a Leica if I recall. Imagine the result if I used a digital camera or a more flare-prone lens!

Regular readers of this blog know that I have a thing for dramatic shadows and that I don't much care whether they have any detail in them or not. In fact, depending on the composition, the less shadow detail, the better. Dark shadows force the eye toward the highlights, the shapes they form, and their texture. This means the highlights have to be worth looking at, of course, but assuming they are, it can make for a decent photograph.

One of the best ways to get the sort of deep, dramatic shadows I'm talking about is to shoot in the early morning or late afternoon, when the sun is low in the sky and the shadows are long. The challenge, as with the example above, is that the sun can reflect off of dark surfaces such as asphalt or, as in this case, dark gray tile, with a mirror-like intensity. I don't care how much dynamic range your camera has, it's still tricky to find the right exposure balance between washed out highlights and inky black shadows. The one tip I can offer is to remember that it's an esthetic judgement; a matter of taste. The "right" exposure is the one that looks right to you.

The light is softer in this example and my subject is indoors, but the same principles apply: The hightlights reveal form and texture against a background of deep shadow. Anyone whose feelings were hurt by the preceding film example will be relieved to know this one was shot with a DSLR.

Backlighting exists indoors as well. The most common situation is when a subject is positioned with a window immediately behind them. Depending on the size of the room and the brightness of the walls, the room may provide a natural form of shadow fill. The more acute the angle of the backlight, the brighter the fill will need to be to compensate. If you're looking for drama though, skip the shadow fill and just make sure the highlights are where they need to be.

Indoors or out, you may occasionally find that the angle of the light is such that it intrudes into the frame, causes lens flare, protective filter flare, or all three. This too can add drama and character to what might otherwise be an average photo. When you practice "bleeding edge" photography you risk getting cut, but if you're looking for dramatic lighting, the rewards are well worth the risks.

Four Tips for Great Portraits

You can tell I used a large softbox to light this by the highlights in her eyes. The reflector opposite the softbox is less obvious. I placed it just close enough to keep the keep the shadows open but not so close that I would lose the three-dimensionality of the lighting.

Even though the bulk of the photos I shoot these days are candids and street photography, I can shoot a professional quality portrait when the need arises. In the even that you get called upon to shoot one yourself--for a friend's LinkedIn page or website for example--or you'd simply like to improve your portrait skills, here are a few tips that should come in handy.

1. Think about the background first.

In a classic headshot your subject is in the foreground while the background is, well, somewhere in back. It's generally best to choose a background that has neutral color, tone, or pattern; one that won't visually merge with your subject, yet not so bright and colorful that it becomes a distraction. A pure white background can work as long as it's not so bright that it causes lens flare.

Also think about the distance between your subject and the background. The greater the separation between the subject and background the greater your ability to use depth-of-field to control how in focus the background will be. A telephoto lens and a wide aperture can do wonders to blur away a distracting background. Separation between the subject and background also allows you the option of lighting or shading the background separate from the subject and thereby prevent tonal mergers.

2. Start with one light, preferably large and close.

A common mistake portait beginners make is to overlight the subject. There are too many lights coming from too many different directions and most of them wrong. I find it's a lot easier to get the light right when you start with one light and then move either the light or the subject until the highlights and shadows look good to the eye. This obviously takes some judgement and the best position with vary with the subject. Generally speaking, you want the light off to one side or the other, otherwise the lighting will look flat and one-dimensional. You also want to raise it a bit, so there's a slight shadow under the nose.

The size of the light and how close it is to the subject will determine how soft and diffuse the light will appear. If I'm using a 42-inch diameter umbrella or a 48-inch wide softbox  I generally place it no further away than 36-inches from the subject. If I'm a large, north-facing window, I place the subject as close as possible without getting the window into the photo.

Here the light source is smaller and the shadows darker. There is still some light filling in the shadows though, as you can see from the detail in her black shirt. As with the first photo, the background was a simple roll of white backdrop paper, lit to reproduce as a shade brighter than her skin.

3. Fill in the shadows to taste.

If you use one light you will have one shadow area. How dark it is will depend on the general reflectivity of the room or the area you're in. If you're shooting digital you have the luxury of being able to tell right away just how dark the shadows appear in a photograph. If the shadows are too dark, place a large white reflector, such as a piece of foamcore or matteboard, opposite your light source. The closer and/or brighter the reflector, the lighter the shadows will be. If you're looking for darker shadows, try a sheet of black foamcore or matteboard.

4. Be relaxed and relax your subject.

Remember that you're dealing with a human being, not an inanimate object with no insecurities and limitless patience. The more attention you pay to making your subject feel relaxed and confident, the more these feelings will show in their expressions. Even the most beautiful and "perfect" lighting will be wasted if your subject looks tense, confused, apprehensive, or annoyed. So keep the mood light. A few compliments, a few jokes, a few clear directions ("Turn your face toward the light a bit. Ah! That's it. Perfect.") and frequent clicks of the shutter when everything falls into place will do wonders for their confidence and yours.

Dozens of photographers have written entire books on the subject of how to light and pose portraits, so there's obviously more to learn than just these four tips. Nevertheless, if I were to boil what I've learned down to just four tips, these would be them. The rest is just practice, experience, knowing what you're look for, and paying close attention to what you see happening in front of you. If any of you have anything of value to add, either advisory or precautionary, feel free to add a short comment. None of us, myself included, knows so much that we can't learn a thing or two.

Dyna-Lite: Made (and Repaired) In the U.S.A.

  This is a Dyna-Lite 0834-01 flash head, which I bought back in the early-eighties. It may not look it, but the fan in the back is new. The story of how it got there is described below.

You may think I have all sorts of shiny new photographic toys at my disposal, but in fact most of the professional lighting and camera support equipment I own was acquired roughly 30 years ago, when I worked as a professional photographer in Los Angeles. One example is this Dyna-Lite fan-cooled flash head, which mates with a Dyna-Lite D404 pack. I bought the whole kit, which included two additional heads, used.

Before I bought it it had been used for a year by photography students at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. After buying it I used it for hundreds of location and studio shoots. I even took it with me to Japan and back. It has never failed me on a job. I attribute this to its old-school made-in-the-U.S.A. construction. Nothing about it is digital. The electronics, switches, connecters, and cables are all military-spec. The knobs are bakelite. The rest of the hardware is either aluminum, brass, or steel. It was built to last, and it has.

The only time I had to repair the pack was 15 years ago, when the capacitors dried out. Power capacitors are nothing to trifle with, so I had the replacement done by a skilled repairman. Two years ago, the head you see above went crashing to a cement floor when someone tripped over one of the cables. If you look closely you can see where the U-shaped handle dented the aluminum cannister that encloses the head. Believe it or not, the flash tube and modeling light weren't even cracked. The head continued to work just fine.

That is, until two weeks ago, when the cooling fan stopped working. Given its 30 years of exemplary service, I had no cause to complain. I was surprised to discover, however, that having it repaired would cost almost as much as a new head.

I didn't want a new head. Although they're built just as well as the older models, they use a different type of connector, which requires an adapter cable to connect to my pack. Besides, I saw no reason to trash an otherwise functioning flash head. So I decided to fix it myself. I ordered a replacement fan for $45. When the fan arrived two days later, I disassembled the head by unscrewing a few screws and decoupling the cable from the housing. I un-soldered the old fan, soldered in the new one, screwed everything back together, and viola! I was back up and running with a new and very quiet fan.

Needless to say, this is not the sort of thing you should try unless you're comfortable with a soldering iron and can tell the difference between a resistor and a trigger capacitor. It's also the sort of thing that's not even possible with equipment built to last no longer than the next product cycle and for which replacement parts or software are all but nonexistent. You might to keep this in mind if you ever need to buy some pro equipment of your own.

Lighten Up

I attended the Glenside Street Fair yesterday. It's one of the annual neighborhood fairs common in the Philadelphia area, where people gather to have a good time and photographers lurk about, searching for easy prey. The day was cool and overcast, which kept the temperature comfortable and kept the contrast ratios under control; too much control, in fact. When I began to notice that the lighting in my photos was flat and lacked a certain "zip," an idea popped into my head: Why not use the pop-up flash? So I did. The photo above is one of the better examples of the results. The flash adds much-needed definition to the lighting and helps separate the subject from the background. There was no help for the drool though.

Now I know that to some of you the idea of taking pictures of strangers in public places with an electronic flash on your camera is anathema. It seems overly bold, even aggressive. Depending on where you are and how you do it, it definitely can be perceived that way.

In my case I was using a small camera and lens (Pentax K-5 with 21mm f/3.2 DA) and looked like just another dad at the fair, out snapping pictures. I wasn't even the only one using flash. The overcast was so heavy at times that the pocket digicams and cameraphones were automatically triggering their built-in flashes to add much-needed illumination. In short, it was no problem.

The trick to doing this, should you be interested, is as follows:

1. Use a moderate wide-angle lens and get in close to your subject. This is particularly important when you're using a small flash with a limited range.

2. Keep the ISO low enough that your shutter speed is within flash sync range.

3. Use flash exposure compensation to dial-down the intensity by 1 - 1.5 stops, otherwise your outdoors flash exposures will look overlit and artificial.

4. Keep your rig as small and inconspicuous as possible. A large DSLR with a fat zoom and a hefty accessory flash unit would make anyone nervous about your intentions, including other photographers.

5. Strike up a conversation with someone before you ask to take their picture. For most people, electronic flash is a normal part of snapshooting and they will think nothing of it.

6. If you prefer a more candid approach, you may be comforted to know that flash used outdoors during daylight is not as noticeable as you might think. Just be careful not to startle anyone. Most people don't mind or barely notice street photographers. What they do mind is someone nearby triggering a flash in their eyes without warning.

As always, I invite anyone who's had any success with this technique to contribute their insights. I can't be the only one who's had this flash of inspiration.

Respect the Light

Yes, this photo shows a statue of young man holding a Bible and rosary beads with crucifix. Yes, I'm posting this on a Sunday.  No, there's no sermon. I was simply struck by how well lit this statue was. It was placed beside the entrance to a Catholic high school and was lit only by direct sunlight and whatever light was reflected by the surroundings. Some might assume that the lighting was therefore random or accidental. I think not. Anyone who would take the time and effort to sculpt a statue such as this would be just as careful about where to place it so that it would, at least for certain times of the year and the day, be optimally lit. This was one of those times.

We, as photographers, could benefit from being just as thoughtful about how our subjects are lit, whether it's we who are doing the lighting or Mother Nature. Having noticed or created glorious light, it's then incumbent to compose the photograph in such a way that we highlight the lighting as well as the subject. A few curve adjustments in Lightroom, Photoshop, or your image editor of choice can provide that extra bit of finesse that pushes a good image into the realm of art.

By the way, if you care about this sort of thing, I shot this with a Pentax K-5 and 18-55 f/3.5-5.6  lens that I use as my "I don't plan to take any pictures but you never know" kit. Any camera you have with you beats any camera you leave at home.

The Joy of the Ordinary

My daughter Nia was following her normal routine of reading a book in the morning before breakfast. She was lying on a dark sofa, backlit by open sky filtering through the blinds. The light from behind her was reflected back onto her face by the book. It couldn't have been any better lit if I had planned it--but why plan when everyday life offers such wonders?

It's been busy at Casa Lewis this past week. I've been working hard on three writing projects I've got due next week, my wife has been traveling out of town for work, and my kids have been wrapping up the school year in preparation for summer vacation. It hasn't been an ideal to take off half a day and wander through through Philadelphia or the various summer festivals to take photographs. So despite having a closet full of cameras and lenses that are just aching to be put into action, I've been sticking close to home--as in "barely going any further than the mailbox and back."

That doesn't mean I haven't had any opportunities to take a decent photo or two. Everyday life can be just as fascinating--maybe even more so--than life in exotic locations, if you're willing to stop and notice. So as much as I love to observe the ebb and flow of Philadelphia street life I'm just as interested in the ebb and flow of daily life. I hope the photos I take of my family reflect and honor that interest.

This coming week I'll be fortunate enough to travel and take pictures. I'll be visiting with my wife's family in scenic Martha's Vineyard. Coming along for the ride will be my favorite travel kit: a Pentax K-5 along with Pentax 21mm f/3.2, 35mm f/2.8, and 70mm f/2.4 DA lenses. You can wish me luck, but I know from experience that with this combo I won't need it.

An Enlightening Experience

Although these two teens were secured by ropes and harnesses, they were twenty feet above ground with no net and were doing this for the first time. Taking this photo involved its own challenges.

This weekend I did a photo assignment for SummerSearch, a non-profit agency that provides guidance and support to low-income teens. I did it for free. This was partly because I support their mission and partly because it would give me a chance to exercise my professional photography muscles. By that I mean the ability to anticipate and overcome challenges that might otherwise result in images that cast doubt on my skills as photographer.

The challenge for the teenagers was having to complete an Outward Bound activity that involved strapping on harnesses, climbing twenty feet into the air, and then either jumping off the top of a telephone pole or walking across a 60 foot long steel cable to the other end.

The challenge for me was that their activity took place in a heavily forested park on an overcast day. Light levels were low. It didn’t help that I was using two zooms that both had a maximum aperture of f/5.6 at the long end. I would need to be at the long end a lot because the kids would be at least twenty feet away after their climb.

Another complication was that most of the kids were dark-skinned African-Americans who were heavily backlit by the sky above. Increasing the exposure enough to prevent them from being silhouettes would require increasing the ISO (thus increasing image noise), the shutter speed (thus increasing the changes of image blur) or both. The extreme backlighting would also increase lens flare and veiling glare.

This was shot with flash fill and at the maximum flash sync speed (in this case 1/180 sec.) to catch this young woman in mid-leap and with a triumphant smile.

Fortunately, I had the foresight to bring along a Pentax AF-540FGZ flash unit to use for flash fill. (The pop-up flash of the Pentax K-5 I brought couldn’t provide enough light at the distances and apertures I was using.) I simply set the flash exposure compensation to – 1.5 stop, which would be enough to lighten shadows and separate foreground subjects from the background without overpowering the daylight. The auto-exposure and white balance systems did the rest.

I was also lucky that most of the kids were on the ground manning the ropes and waiting their turns to climb upward. Although the light intensity was low it was also low in contrast. That meant I could shoot from practically any angle without having to change exposure. The vibration reduction feature of the Pentax K-5 I was using took care of the camera shake and the kids weren’t moving fast enough for subject motion to be a problem.

Despite all the challenges (did I mention it started raining while I was shooting?) the photos turned out remarkably well. The kids had a great time and so did I. If I had to do everything over again and if I could afford the cost and weight I would have brought zooms or primes no slower than f/2.8. The two stop advantage over f/5.6 might not sound like much in theory but in practice it can make a big difference in your ability to shoot comfortably in low light.

I’d definitely still bring the flash though. When you’re in situations where there’s just not enough light or it’s coming from the wrong direction, it’s damned convenient to have a battery-powered solution ready and waiting in your camera bag.

 

Shooting In the Dark

Despite the bright lights from the neon, I wanted shadow detail, so I shot this handheld with a Pentax K-7, ISO 800, 1/10 second at f/2.8. This works out to approximately EV 3.5. Although the vibration reduction feature was on, this image is not perfectly sharp. The focus was on the lighthouse but should have been on the foreground. Still, it's not bad for handheld at 1/10 second and with a camera that's not reknowned for it's low-light abilities.

These days any reasonably alert person with an automatic camera can get a sharp, well-exposed photo outdoors in bright daylight. Take the same camera indoors under low light and things can get ugly. It will struggle to focus quickly and accurately, especially if it’s equipped with an f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens. Even if you do manage to focus you’ll discover that the limited maximum aperture forces you to use slow shutter speeds, high ISOs, or both, and even then subject motion can be a problem. Anyone who’s ever tried to photograph an active child indoors at night with normal room lighting knows exactly what I mean.

Those of you who own fast primes needn’t feel smug. True, you can use faster shutter speeds and/or lower ISOs, but fast apertures often result in narrower depth-of-field, increased aberrations, and reduced image contrast, not to mention the possibility of focus-shift. Perfect focus can be elusive at best.

And then there’s the issue of white balance. Mixed lighting is the norm in most interior spaces these days. You’ll find tungsten lights in some fixtures and fluorescent lights in others. Even the flourescent lights may have different color balances, with some being greenish, some yellow, and others more cyan. Shooting raw or attempting a custom white balance won’t necessarily solve this problem because correcting for one light source often exaggerates the effects of the other.

Here's a classic example of mixed lighting. I corrected the white balance for the sign in the foreground and the server's flesh tones and decided not to worry about the sickly yellow background. This was shot at ISO 800, 1/90 second at f/2.0, which is roughly EV 5.5. The guitar pick shaped highlights in the upper-right corner are the result of light entering the lens at an oblique angle.

Electronic flash can come to your rescue. It’s bright and its daylight balanced. Then again, direct flash can result in photos that have that “mug shot” lighting effect we know so well. If you’re lucky there will be a white or neutral-colored surface nearby that you can bounce the flash off of for softer, more indirect light. If you’re not, the walls will be green or magenta or some other color cast that’s hard to remove even if you’re shooting raw.

Tripods? They’re great if you don’t mind carrying one around, have the time and space to set it up, and you’re shooting a relatively stationary subject. On the other hand, if any one of these things isn’t true, your tripod is likely to stay at home, in the car, or in the studio—anywhere other than attached to your camera.

The situation isn’t quite as hopeless as it seems. In fact, if you can master the art of shooting in the dark, shooting in broad daylight becomes a breeze. Here are a few practical tips for improving your keeper-to-delete ratio.

1. Go for slow and steady.

You’re going to need to pay close attention to your technique and camera settings. Make sure your shutter speed is one at which you’re capable of holding your camera steady, with or without image stabilization. If there’s anything nearby that you can use to help brace your camera, by all means use it. You should also wait for your subject to be either at rest or at the peak of action. Maintain a relaxed state of alert preparedness, let the picture come to you, and you might be surprised what you can catch.

2. Observe the direction and quality of light.

Unless there's literally no light—in which case you’ll have to add your own—there’s a continuous light source somewhere that’s creating highlights and shadows that clearly visible to the naked eye. So take a good look at them. Are the highlights where you want them? Is the background free of bright areas that compete for attention with your subject? Remember that highlights are where most viewers will look first, so try to make them count for something, even if you have to move yourself, your subject, or the light source to do it.

3. Know your camera’s capabilities and limitations.

For example, a camera that focuses perfectly in bright daylight may back-focus when the light level drops to EV 4 or lower—unless you’re using a lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 or faster and use the center AF sensor, in which case everything is fine. Similarly, your camera may produce great ISO 1600 images when you shoot raw but look horrible if you shoot JPEGs. The best way to discover a camera’s limitations to push it to the edge—low light, dark subject, high ISO—until you discover the point at which it falls off. Back off from there and you’ll know the just how far you can go. By the way, I suggest you base “acceptability” on a print that’s as large as you’re likely to produce. For some this will be 4x6 inches. For others it will be 11x17. In either case, an image that looks horrible at 100% on your display can look surprisingly good in a print.

4. Use the fastest lens you’ve got.

Even if you have to sacrifice image-stabilization to do it, the faster aperture will give your camera a lot more light to work with than a kit zoom that maxes out at f/5.6. You may also see a substantial improvement in focusing accuracy: many cameras have higher-precision sensors in the center of the screen that produce more accurate results with lenses of f/2.8 or faster.

5. Try manual focusing.

You may discover that you can focus more reliably in low light than your camera’s AF system can. If your camera is mounted on a tripod and you’re using an intermediate aperture, you don’t even have to look through the viewfinder. You can use the distance scale on the focusing ring (assuming your lens has both), guesstimate, and let depth-of-field mask any slight inaccuracies.

6. Be willing to tolerate less than perfect results.

It's extremely difficult to capture low light photos that are perfectly in focus and have perfect white balance, high resolution from center to edge, and all the other attributes of technical perfection. You'll have a lot more fun if you aim instead for emotional perfection. Capture the mood. Let motion blur work to your advantage. Emphasize the often fantastic colors of artificial lights. Focus on the process instead of the goal and you may discover you've taken some fantastic photos.

You can thank me later.

I Wish All Wedding Gigs Could Be Like This

Why not let the background blow out if it distracts from a foreground as joyous as this? Fortunately for me, the Pentax 35mm f/2.8 DA lens I was using is amazingly flare- resistant. If it weren't, the tux and robes would have rendered as gray rather than black.

Last weekend I flew down to Raleigh, North Carolina to attend my sister Adrienne's wedding. I have three sisters and Adrienne is the eldest. (I, however, am the eldest of all the siblings, as Adrienne would be quick to remind you.) This was not her first marriage, however, considering the stellar qualities of her new husband Kevin, it's almost sure to be her last.

Because this was a second marriage for both of them, the event was low-key. It was held in a converted mansion. The ceremony was in a sunroom on the ground floor while the reception was in a second floor dining room. There was no official photographer, just me and one of my brothers-in-law. He shot with his Canon EOS 50D and a 430EX II flash. I shot with my Pentax K-7, almost entirely with available light.

Although I also brought a flash, I would only have used it for indirect lighting. That wouldn't have worked in the sunroom, which was walled with floor-to-ceiling windows, or the dining room, which had peach-colored walls and ceilings, so the flash stayed in my bag. Instead, I opted to rely on fast aperture lenses, high ISOs (up to 800), and in-camera image stabilization to get sharp images at shutter speeds averaging 1/30 second.

This is an example of when it's more important to capture the emotion of the moment than a "perfect" color balance--whatever that is. Even if the balance had been way off I could have converted the image to black-and-white and it would have looked just as good, if not better. This was shot with a Pentax 55mm f/1.4 SDM DA lens, which is just as flare-resistant as its little brother.

If this had been a paid job I would have shot Raw. Since I was shooting as a I guest who knows what he's doing and wanted to minimize his post-processing time, I shot JPEGs. It was a bit tricky nailing the right color balance in a peach-colored room lit by large windows and incandescent lights, but I was trying to capture a mood, not perfect neutrality. The proof is in pudding and in this case the pudding was just fine, thank you.

In the end, the wedding party, my brother-in-law and I all had a great time and we were all happy with our photographs. Once I got home it took me no more than an hour to sort through the photos, select the best, crop those that needed it, resize them for the web and upload them to my website. Any of the guests that want to can log-in, click through the shots, and order whatever ones they want printed. A lab affiliated with the website will fulfill the order without my having to lift a finger.

That's about as fun and easy as wedding photography gets, my friends, and if you're shooting "just for the fun of it," that's how it should be.

It Ain't Easy

This may look as if all I did was walk onto the scene with a camera, frame, and release the shutter, but trust me, it wasn't quite as simple as that. Custom white balance and flash units were involved. If they aren't obvious then, in my opinion, I did my job.

Lest you think that I am a Certified Master of Photography, one who has All The Answers and whose every exposure is of exhibition quality, let me assure you, I am not. I do pretty well when I'm just wandering around with a camera, free to shoot whatever I like, when I like. There's no pressure to produce, so if a photo doesn't come out as well as I'd like, it's not the end of the world.

That all changes when I take on a professional assignment, especially one like the job I did last week. I was hired to photograph a variety of programs and activities sponsored by Philabundance, a non-profit organization here in Philadelphia that distributes surplus food to the hungry. The locations included a warehouse, a training kitchen, an indoor food distribution center, and two outdoor distribution centers, one of which was located underneath an elevated highway.

I had brought a compact power pack and three flash heads to help with the interiors, but setting up light stands, cables, umbrellas and soft boxes in crowded areas where people have other work to do is challenging at best. In some cases I had to make do with a combination of ambient light with custom white balance, battery-powered flash units bounced off ceilings and walls, and good old-fashioned prayer.

As much as I wanted to concentrate on the technical challenges of photographing in less-than-perfect conditions, I also had to worry about other people tripping over cables, myself slipping on just-mopped floors, memory cards filling at an alarming rate, and above all, how to get photos that didn't look as if they had been staged by a photographer.

Because the job was for a non-profit group I wanted to keep the price down and didn't hire an assistant. That meant I had to pack, unpack, set-up, repack and transport everything myself. Fortunately, I'm in good shape and didn't mind the workout, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't dog-tired by the end of the day.

Was the job stressful? At times, yes. There were also times when the positivity and good spirits of the people I met reminded me of how great it is to be alive. In the end I managed to deliver the goods, my client was happy, and I can now go back to a less demanding approach to photography. It's good to know I can do a pro gig when I have to. It's also good to know that, except on rare occasions, I don't have to.

If any of you reading this has ever had an assignment that has put you to the test, feel free to share it with the rest of us. It may serve to remind some amateurs dreaming of turning pro to be careful what they wish for.