Archive for exposure
Change Drab Skies into Bold Skies
Posted by: | CommentsShooting on overcast days is terrific. It sure beats mid-day sun with heavy shadows and overly bright highlights. When photographing buildings overcast is very helpful for a nice exposure.
But what do to with that lifeless, dreary sky? Drop in a new one! Go out and shoot clouds on a day when the sky is full of them. Make a jpeg file and file it in its own folder called something like “clouds for new sky.” Of course you need to remove the old sky then place the new layer underneath the original layer.
Does the lighting match in each of these images? No, not really. But consider the use of the image, does it have to match? Sometimes it does, and sometimes it might not have to be perfect.
In the case of this church image, the intended use was for a bookmark. I was giving them to the church family members with the books of the Bible on the back for quick reference. So in this case, perfectly matching lighting was not an issue. I rather liked the impact of the bold sky.
You might want to get really creative and photograph storms and other skies for backgrounds.
If making the lighting match was critical, go out late in the day or early in the morning and shoot when the shadows are long and the lighting is softer.
A really good digital artist can actually tweak lighting in Photoshop also to make an image even more believable. I have a sample of this with a portrait session I did that I can share with you in a few weeks.
Oh – a good tip for shooting buildings (if you have the luxury of time) is to go in the spring or late fall when the leaves from the trees are not blocking out too much of the structure.
Meter it Right!
Posted by: | CommentsAn F2.8 member asks, “What is a good grey card and light meter to go with? There are so many that I would like a recommendation from someone I trust!”
Well first of all thank you for your trust! But I have to admit once again that I am not a very technical person. I do know what works for me and I am happy to share that with you.
I do not believe that any one grey (or gray) card is the perfect card. Without buying a dozen of them and testing them all out and writing a review (which I’m sorry, is not my style) I can not say what is the best.
The important thing is using to use the tools correctly and consistently. I do cover grey card usage in the “Beyond the Photography Instruction Manual” available here. http://barbgordonphotocoach.com/blog/products/beyond-the-manual-beyond-the-photography-instruction-manual
I have used the same grey card for many years. I did get a new one when digital came out. I tried a card by created by Gary Box that had a lot of grey tones on it so you could click balance in increments. Gary Box has a line of books called Digibooks available at http://www.garybox.com/index2.html. For those of you who need to learn technical aspects of digital these books deliver. Book Four has his grey card and instructions in it. I own all of his books and they are worth every cent!
Meanwhile I did a little digging for some links on grey cards. These are so affordable that you can not really go wrong trying a few different ones for yourself.
This is a cute and very portable set of cards in picture number one is very affordable at around $12. I might have
to order one of these myself! I like being able to put it around my neck and not have a big clunky card I have to fetch out of my camera bag.
The Zeikos Digital Grey Card Set provides you with a handy white balance tool that you can wear around the neck or easily stash in a camera bag. Because color temperature varies under different lighting sources (i.e. sunlight, fluorescent, halogen, incandescent) it’s important to use a white balance card, either in pre or post production, for accurate color representation under any type of light. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/738232-REG/Zeikos_ZE_DGC_Digital_Grey_Card_Set.html
This is the kind of card I have been using for years in image two. These are available in all camera stores and also for around $12.
http://www.porters.com/flash-studio/light-meters-and-gray-cards/neutral-gray-cards-pack-of-2.html
If you are still unsure, 
make friends with your local camera store salesperson. Build a relationship and trust with them and they will make good recommendations.
I am going to say again that it is more important that you learn how to use your tools correctly for consistent results. Keep testing your process and refine it until you get the results you need.
The grey card I use outdoors I know that I always have to open up my f-stop one full stop to get the correct exposure. I learned this with practice. Practice before you are with a real client please! Your customers deserve the best work you can produce so figure out your system before you sell your services.
Oh! My member also asked about light meters. I use the light meter already in my camera set to just the center spot to meter off of my grey card. Get close enough to fill the viewfinder with the card to get your reading. Make any adjustments (usually it is opening up a bit) then recompose the image how you want it. More details on this are found in the “Beyond the Photography Instruction Manual”.
Portrait photography takes a little bit of care and time. No one expects you to get to a location, jump out of the car, and start snapping away willy nilly. Take the professional approach and meter it right!
Five Tips for Working with Outdoor Light
Posted by: | CommentsPhotography is all about recording reflected light. Many beginners and amateurs are not yet familiar with how to see light and know what to look for yet. It can be quite a challenge to find locations that are suitable for outdoor portraits but there are some things you can use to your advantage. Here are five getting started tips:
- Photograph in the shade. Raccoon eyes, squinting eyes, deep dark shadows, and images with no catch lights in the eyes do not make a pleasing portrait. Place your subject in the shade with open sky as your main light source. This takes practice and deliberate study to find this kind of light. Going deep into the woods in too thick of shade is not going to give you a nice lighting pattern. By staying closer to the edge of the shade you will have great light coming from open sky.
- Photograph late or early in the day. This is often referred to as “Sweet Light”. An hour after sunrise and an hour before sunset is really beautiful light. The light is more even light and shadows are long and soft.
- Use a reflector. Reflectors work great to fill shadows and give a little kick of sparkle in the subject’s eyes. I personally use the gold side the most.
- Use a fill flash. When working in brighter conditions or wanting to include dramatic sky in your portrait images a fill flash is required to balance the lighting conditions for a proper exposure.
- Watch for color reflections. Color from items like green trees and red paint on a building, for example, will reflect into a person’s skin tone and shadows. This is not a desired outcome and will look unnatural. Be careful how close you are to strong color reflections. You can also correct minor color shifts in the artwork stage of your final image.
Of course you still must meter correctly, white balance, and process your files. But the more you get right in your camera first the easier the rest of the process is.
The cool thing is we can tell our camera what white is supposed to look like. This is called white balancing. If your camera understands what white is, other colors will fall into place more accurately. Be aware that colors do reflect and bounce around. For example, photographing with someone under a tree may cause a green to grey cast in the shadow areas of their face and neck.
Color temperature, measured in degrees referred to as Kelvin temperature (K), is the color of the light. You may remember seeing pictures of people in fluorescent light, everything was kind of greenish? That is an example of color temperature.
Our camera meters are designed to read 18% grey. By shooting in RAW and using a grey card to take reflected metering off of will make the process of color balancing in the processing stage possible. It is also fast, easy, and accurate. You can not do this with shooting JPEG.
I prefer to shoot RAW not only for the large amount of information I have for a quality file, I have more flexibility. I do not enjoy white balancing at every new location I go, especially when I photograph high school seniors. We change locations a lot!
To keep this simple but still get professional results, I manually set my color temperature on my camera to 4600K. (This setting works perfect for my studio lights and my system. Do not assume your work will look the same. You must test this for yourself.) This is close enough to the outdoor color temperatures so I can leave my camera at my indoor temperature and tweak any outdoor images in Adobe Bride Camera RAW processing.
Color balancing is tweaking the red, green, and blue channels of a file for the desired final effect like warming up skin tones in a portrait so people look healthy.
You may be interested in learning more about histograms also in the “Beyond the Photography Instruction Manual-Professional Results with Manual Photography”. I will take you through it step by step. Click here to learn more.
Proper Exposure is Critical for good Print Quality
Posted by: | CommentsBeginner’s Photography Tip #8: Exposure
This is a big in-depth topic as it has so many variables. One change you can make is to be aware that the exposure will be difficult when photographing very light and very dark items at the same time. The large amount of contrast is difficult to record well.
That is why I prefer overcast days, big clouds over the sun in a bright sky, or working in complete shade. If you can place your subject in the shade, so they can have their eyes open and not have a really bright sky or hot spot behind them, that will look much nicer than out in full sun with harsh shadows and squinty eyes.
I am also assuming that you are using automatic settings at this point. In the future, we will cover more details on the settings of the camera and how to use them. I will also be having more advanced articles on exposure, metering, and histograms.
The type of scene to avoid for the beginner is like this image on the left. Notice the reflection off of the metal roof, the bright spots on the grass and the very black horse head that has no detail? Not the best place to photograph at four in the afternoon. One remedy would be to go out at almost sunset or sunrise when the shadows are long and the light is softer. We call that “sweet light.” Other solutions (that would be easier if it wasn’t a prey animal we were dealing with) would be a more evenly shaded area, adding reflection or extra lighting.
Go out and shoot!
With practice, these eight tips will become easier to do in your everyday photography. Eventually, these steps will become practically automatic, and you won’t have to try to remember them. You will start to look like a pro! Then you can move on to other techniques and acquire more skills.
If you liked this eight part series on “Everyday Images Made Extraordinary”, you will also enjoy my other success based products, articles, and training materials to help you elevate your photography, people and business skills. Check out the Barb Gordon Photo Coach Protege Clubs at http://barbgordonphotocoach.com/blog/the-protege-clubs
About Barb
Barb Gordon, of www.BarbGordonPhotoCoach.com, is a Master Photographer, Photographic Craftsman, and Certified Professional Photographer with the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) to which she has belonged since 1984. She is a nationally published and award winning photographer, entrepreneur, speaker, and author including being published in the prestigious PPA Loan Collection 2006, PPA Showcase 2003, twice named Iowa’s Top Ten Photographer of the Year, and 2010 Iowa’s Master Photographer of the Year.
When not working, she enjoys life on a new farm raising organic chickens, gardening, and playing with the horses, cats, and dogs.
Go out and shoot!
With practice, these eight tips will become easier to do in your everyday photography. Eventually, these steps will become practically automatic, and you won’t have to try to remember them. You will start to look like a pro! Then you can move on to other techniques and acquire more skills.
If you liked today’s Special Report on “Everyday Images Made Extraordinary”, you will also enjoy my other success based products, articles, and training materials to help you elevate your photography, people and business skills.
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