Archive for January, 2011

Great lighting is by far the most important thing to photography. You can have the most expensive camera equipment, the most beautiful subject, and the perfect background, but if the lighting is off the entire photo is bad. Lighting is everything. Today I took Noah outside to get some examples of  where the best lighting is outside in the middle of the day.

One night I was in the grocery store and a client came behind me in line. He told me his son had graduated from college that day. After the congratulations were given he then told me he was disappointed because the photos they took afterwards looked really bad and he didn’t know why. The first thing I asked was if they were standing out in the sun. His answer confirmed that they were directly under the sun on a bright day.

Please please please try to avoid taking pictures on a bright day right underneath the sun. This is what happens when you do.

Why yes, he’s very cute (I’m biased), but it’s not a good photo because of the dark shadows all over his face. I can’t even see his beautiful blue eyes.

The first rule of thumb is do not take photos out in full sun during the middle of the day if you can avoid it. With that being said universities don’t schedule graduations for optimal lighting for photos. Sometimes it cannot be avoided. In those situations you have a few of options to still get good photos. First, look for some shade. Not the deep dark shade way underneath a porch or big heavy tree. I’m talking about what’s called open shade. That is the shade of a building, tree, fence, anything. Stand your subject at the very edge of the shade right before the sun hits the ground.  Now look at your subject. If there are bright patches of sunlight on their face, or dark shadows under their eyes move them back a little.

The second thing you can do is look for the sweet spot where the sun is lighting the back of your subject, and leaving their face evenly lit. I usually look around at the people around me to find out where the sun is hitting them.

You can see in the above photo the sun is to Noah’s back. His back is brightly lit, but the front of him is shaded. This is a great position to take his photo.

There are his eyes, and no shadows! The other advantage of your subject not looking straight into the sun is they aren’t squinting their eyes in discomfort.

You do have to be very careful not to get one side of the face totally blown out, or too bright. I could have avoided this by moving his face a little more to his left.

Some of you might go to try this and come back with pictures of your subject completely black, and the background nicely lit. That is because your camera tries to measure the light of the entire scene and then even it out to get the exposure that would work for most of the picture. You can avoid this by switching your camera to manual mode (if possible). Check in your camera instruction manual for directions on how to do that. I know it’s incredibly boring to read, but I promise it’s worth it.

I use what’s called spot metering in my camera. All I do is fill the frame, or what I can see through the lens, with what I want exposed properly. In the above case it would be Noah’s face. I adjust the exposure and then I step back and take the photo. It takes a little bit of practice, but it’s easily done. I find that back-lit photos like this one look best with a dark background. If the sky is the background it will look white in the photo.

If you have a camera where you can’t use spot metering or expose manually just move in really close and have your subject take up most of the frame. Your camera will then choose a more correct exposure for your subject than the background. The other option you have is turning on the flash. This will light the front of your subject while exposing properly for the background as well. You might have an option on your camera for fill flash. This is the situation to use it.

So next time you’re at a graduation, birthday party, wedding, family gathering, or just outside in the backyard look around to find where the best lighting would be before you start snapping photos. You’ll be much happier with your results.

Next time: Where to find the best lighting in your house.

How can I take better pictures? I get asked this question all the time. I always feel sort of overwhelmed, and at a loss for words. Where do I start? Should I begin with exposure, composition, lighting, f-stop, shutter speed, or connection? Over Christmas especially I get asked about teaching a photography class, what camera is the best, what settings should I use, what do you do in Photoshop to make it look better, etc. I truly want to help people use their cameras to capture their memories. The problem is I can’t teach someone about photography in one conversation.  I decided I would humbly answer some questions you might have about photography on my blog. I want to emphasize the word humbly because there are millions of people who know how to explain these things better than I ever could, and believe me I’ll be directing you to them a lot.

I think the best book out there that explains your camera’s settings in a way that is easy to understand and follow is Bryan Peterson’s book Understanding Exposure. I highly recommend it. In fact all of his books are fantastic. There are a million websites with as much information as you would ever need to know. A great one with tips and tutorials is Digital Photography School and a forum with a wealth of knowledge is  I Love Photography.

I know you’re thinking  you don’t have time to read a book or a website to learn how to take pretty pictures. In fact you would rather watch the grass grow than do something so dull. You just want to use the camera you have to get better results. You are in luck because you can get beautiful photographs using the cheapest camera on the market with just a little knowledge about lighting and composition. You don’t believe me? Take a look at this fashion shoot using a cell phone camera.

People often think, “I need a better camera to make my photos look better.” While it is true that better equipment makes it easier get better results, there is so much more to it. I’ve heard it explained using the example of a great chef. He or she usually has the best knives, pots, pans, ovens, etc. to work with in their kitchen. These tools help them be more efficient, but really it’s their knowledge of food and the process of cooking that makes the food taste amazing. Even if they were given Walmart pots and pans their food would taste better than mine. If you put me in a kitchen with all of the greatest equipment I guarantee you the results would not be the same.

I’m going to start a blog series with simple, easy ways you can improve your photos. Please note these will not be ground breaking, earth shattering tips. These are just simple things you can tweak in your photos to make your pictures better and more meaningful. I don’t know how often I will do this, but hopefully on a regular basis. I recently asked what questions people had on my Facebook page and on Twitter.  I will be answering those questions first. Feel free to contact me with any questions you might have.

So, here it goes. The number one thing you can do to improve your photos is to MOVE IN CLOSER. I am guilty of being lazy. If there’s an easier way to do something where I have to exert as little energy as possible I’m all for it, but please please, do not stand far back and take photos of your child. You really need to move in, and get down on their level to take their photo. It is the only way to get a good portrait of them. There is a huge difference, and I promise you your photos will improve dramatically if you just remember this one rule.

Just this morning I took Noah outside because that is where he is happiest, and I wanted to show you the difference it can make if you move in closer. Here is the first one. I’m standing and looking at him at my level. I see my cute little boy there in the middle, but I can hardly see him, much less see what he looks like. All I see is the mess that our yard is with all the weeds and brush. It’s embarrassing, and not a picture I would ever keep.

I moved in a little bit closer. Here he is longing for his car he sees through the fence. It’s more of a storytelling photo, but still, not what I was looking for. Plus, you can still see the mess that my yard is, and that is embarrassing.

I moved in even closer, but still on my level. He’s way to far down . I still can’t see his chubby cheeks and bright blue eyes.

So I stooped down to his level, and YES, that is how I want to see my baby. The lighting didn’t change. He’s still in the same location (you can see the white fence blurred in the background), the only thing that changed is I moved in closer and got down to his level. What a huge difference it made.

We moved around to the front of the house by the garage. I stooped down to his level again and got his attention. I like the leading lines of the garage and drive way that brings the eye to him, but I still think it would be better if I moved in a little closer.

We enjoyed a fun game of peek a boo with the side of the house while I moved in a little closer. It’s not perfect, but I like it with less drive way, and less distraction. It’s clear he’s the star of the show.

We eventually made our way to the back where Noah’s favorite outside toy is. This snapshot is simply not interesting. It’s poorly composed. Most of the picture is taken up by the yard. That beautiful block wall, and brick patio (try not to be jealous of our outside oasis), and the grass fill the space. What does that kid look like?  What is the point of this photo? Are we supposed to look at the yard or the car, or the kid?

When I move in, stoop down to his level, and get his attention the point is so much more clear.

Don’t get me wrong there are times when you want to take in the whole scene and move back. If you are taking photos of a group, or the whole room is important to your photograph please move back. If you are just trying to take a picture of that cute toddler’s face, move in closer. This does 2 things. It makes the child the focus of the photo, and removes the distracting background that competes for your attention.

Give it a try, and let me know what you think.