Photo-Tips

 I get questions all the time from parents about photography and how to get better photos of their kids, what to do with them once you have them, and when do I need professional photos instead of snapshots of the family.

There is so much I can say on these subjects.  I actually have published several articles in magazines and newspapers but I would like to start putting some of these ideas here on my blog.  I hope you find something useful here and if you do please tell your friends about me so they can help spread the word too.  I welcome your opinions and comments as well so please enjoy.

BTW – I’m sorry I can’t just download my brain and put everything I know on here all at once (wouldn’t that be great) so I will start to trickle topics on here as I go.  I don’t know if this is the best way to organize either so if it gets too cluttered I may re-organize everything later on.  I’ll try to post something about once a week but I can’t promise that I’ll be 100 percent.


Faces too Dark
Megapixels
Keeping you images safe on the road
Photographing portraits with flowers

For my first post here I want to talk about a common problem with outdoor portraits.

Faces too dark?

Most cameras have a built in light meter that determines the settings for the automatic exposures.  Almost all point and shoot cameras default to the entire frame.  This is usually great for landscape images but maybe not if your taking photos of people.  If the background is lighter than the subject then the faces will appear darker than you might want for a portrait.

If you are using a simple point and shoot camera and you are close enough to the subject you can usually correct this by turning on the built-in camera flash  .  If there is plenty of light for your landscape then the AUTO setting on the camera would not know to use the flash until you override it and force the flash to fire.

On more advanced SLR cameras you may have a spot meter setting which would expose the image properly for the face but then you may lose detail in your brighter background.  I would suggest that you still use a flash or reflector if available.  If you have a variable power flash experiment a little with the settings to see how strong to make the flash.  If the background if very bright then you may need to set the flash to full power (sunsets for example).  If your faces are just a little dark then use a lower power setting.

Warning: Don’t make the flash so powerful that you lose detail in the face or create additional shadows behind your subject.

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Megapixels

Okay, so not all digital cameras are created equal and not all megapixels are equal either.  Just as your 35mm film camera was better than the little brownie cameras and the medium format negative was bigger than the 35mm digital cameras work much the same way.  Most SLR digital cameras have a bigger “chip” than the smaller point and shoot cameras so even though they may both say 10 megapixel, the SLR pixels are larger so you can make larger prints.

If you are in the market for a new digital camera some points to consider;

What are you going to use it for?  If it’s mostly for vacation snapshots then a small point and shoot is cheaper, smaller, and some have special features like I have an Olympus that takes photos underwater.  It’s great when your going to the beach and you don’t want to get your nice SLR wet.  In general the more megapixels the better, I would try to get something that is fully automatic but has manual setting also so you can take better photos as you learn.  Waterproof, shock resistant, smile detection, image stabilization, and video are other features you might be interested in.

If you are really serious about photography then you really need a good SLR with interchangeable lenses.  You can buy kits that include a body and lens but you will buy most of your lenses separately.  Most of the major manufacturers produce a pretty good camera but most pros and serious amateurs out there are either Nikon or Canon.  Unless you are professional I would say that it doesn’t matter which one you go with, I have my preferences but they are personal and you’ll have to call me or e-mail if you want to know more than that.  If you are buying an SLR and can only afford one lens I would start with a medium length zoom lens like a 35-70mm.  The built in flash is not very effective so when you can you will also need to get a good hot shoe mounted flash.  You can get an SLR for under $400 new but I would stay away from the cheaper models.  A decent body will start about $650 or more if you want something that is going to last.  Several of the newer SLRs even take pretty good  HD video.  If your going to buy new then go to an actual camera store.  There are some really good ones here in the Salt Lake area and most will give you free training and if something goes wrong you have someone to talk to.  You might get a cheaper price on the internet but trust me when I say it’s worth it to pay a little more and have some support.  If you e-mail me I will tell you the best stores in your area and who to talk to.

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Keeping your images safe on the road

When you travel whether it’s for a wedding or just vacation photos you don’t want to run the risk of losing your images if the airline loses your bag or you leave your carryon in the airport restroom.  For me losing a wedding would be disastrous but you would also be disappointed if you lost all of your vacation pictures.

At least we don’t have to worry about running our film through the x-ray machine anymore.  Digital gives us plenty of opportunity to be safe with our images.  First advantage, we know we actually got the image because we saw it on the back of our screen.  Now do you know how to get it off your camera and into your computer?  I’m always amazed at how many people don’t.  This is one step your probably going to have to learn on your own.  If you have teenagers I’m sure they could show you or call Tech Support (my husband Russ) and he could probably walk you through it.  Every computer is going to be a little different depending on the imaging software you have installed.  The important thing is that you do learn how to do it and also create a consistent system of where to put your images.  In my studio and for my personal images for example I have a folder I call “Portraits Raw”.  These are un-altered, un-edited and copied straight from the card.  I create a folder for each days images using the format “yymmdd”.  By putting the year first I can sort my folders by date and find exactly the day I am looking for.

Purchase a USB card reader, don’t copy straight from the camera.  Copying will drain your camera batteries faster than anything and a card reader is actually a lot safer as well.  If your camera battery dies in the middle of copying you could end up with corrupted or partial images on your computer.  You could use a laptop when you travel but I recently started using a Netbook computer.  They are smaller, cheaper, the battery lasts longer and best of all it fits in my purse.  My Netbook has about 160 Gig hard-drive and it’s just perfect for internet on the road and copying files.  I think I paid about $300 but I have seen them now for as little as $200.

Once you have copied all your images to your computer hard-drive now back them up.  You could use CDs or DVDs but if you like to take photos like I do you may spend your whole vacation burning CDs.  I have a couple of portable external hard-drives that I take with me when I travel.  They don’t require an extra power supply as they run right off your USB cable.  I usually pack the external drive in one of my checked bags and then I carry the netbook with me.  That way if I lose the netbook I will still have the external hard-drive, if the airline loses my bag, I still have the netbook.  I know somebody is going to ask, if I lose both.  Then I am very unlucky but when I shoot weddings in Europe or South America I actually do carry an extra external hard-drive with my passport.  If I lose that I’m not coming home anyway so it doesn’t matter anymore.

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Photographing portraits with flowers

Spring is almost here and the daffodils and tulips are starting to bloom.  Everybody loves portraits of the kids in the spring flowers so how do you make the kids look good and still get the flowers?  This kind of falls into the same category as the previously discussed “Faces too dark” problem.  The secret is in the time of day and the location of the gardens.  Ideally of course if you could photograph on a slightly overcast day, not black clouds but blue sky with white puffy clouds covering the sun. This gives you nice clean shade to photograph and your subject is not squinting into the sun the whole time.

It would be nice if you could order up a cloud anytime you wanted but since thats impossible I carry one with me.  Most photography stores sell a round foldable disc made of translucent material called a translucent.  It lets just enough light through to give you good contrast and skin tone but blocks the harsh sunlight.  The closer you can get to the subject, the better your light will be but also the smaller the shaded area will be.  When creating your own shade you not only need to shade the subject but also the flowers that will be in your portrait.  If not your subject will look great but the flowers behind them too bright for the photograph.  A white sheet could also be used or any white sheer material.

Sometimes you just have to work with what you have.  If for some reason you can’t create your own shade, you can face your subject away from the sun, so you are shooting into the sun, depending on the time of day.  You normally don’t want the sun to be in your background except for maybe a few special effects shots with flare or sun spots so if it’s later in the day you may have to choose an angle where the sun is not in your image.  If you are using automatic setting on your camera this is one of those times that your camera is not smarter than you.  You can change to spot meter and expose for your subject but then your background is going to be too bright.  If you don’t have a flash or reflector then that might be your best option.  Otherwise expose for the background and use a reflector or flash to brighten up the subject to the level of the background.  You may have to use full power on the flash so play with it a little to get best results.  Try not to overpower the subject with your flash though as that also looks bad.  It’s like spices in your food, just enough to give it flavor but not so much that it ruins the natural flavor of the food.

If you have to take photos in full sun where the subject is also facing the sun have them look down and play with the flowers or some object on the ground or in the lap.  Try to angle the face so the sunlight is even across the face and doesn’t highlight certain areas too much, like the tip of the nose is a common mistake many photographers make.

Practice taking photos under different conditions and don’t be discouraged if they don’t all turn out the way you want them to.  If you are still having problems send me some images and tell me what kind of camera you are using and maybe I can help.  The real secret though is just keep practicing.

Using Light Modifiers

Most professional photographers spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on umbrellas, softboxes, reflectors, filters, gels, and other light modifiers.  You don’t have to spend a lot of money though to get great light.  Some common items that you probably already have can help you get better photos around the house and on vacation.

The Sun is always the best light we have access to and the most natural.  The problem is that the light coming from the Sun is not consistent.  Sometimes it’s too bright, too hot, too hard, or too strong.  You can use simple light modifiers to change ugly, harsh sun light into more usable soft, “portrait” lighting.  Professionals sometimes use round or square popup reflectors.  They usually come in a small, flat bag and when unfolded turn into a large white, silver, or gold reflective surface.  When the light or the Sun is behind the subject and you want to get light into the face and eyes a reflector is a great way to do it.  If you don’t have a popup reflector a big white poster board or I’ve even used the silver car dash shade before when on vacation. 

Sometimes you need to substract light from the subject.  Photographers may use a large popup translucent to block the sunlight from the subjects face.  Any white semi translucent material will work, a sheet maybe or large piece of white material.  Make sure that it is white though or you will have color issues to deal with later. 

Practice looking for good light.  Outdoors there are sometimes natural reflectors such as buildings or driveways that reflect light into your subject.  Find a shaded area and watch how the Sun falls on your subjects face.  Turn them around until you see the most complementary light for their face.  Indoors, window light can give you some incredible images.  Find a window that is passing sunlight, not direct sun, just the light.  Position your subject back from the window so that the soft light from the window falls onto the face creating light and shadow to give shape and dimension.  Move the subject back or forward until you get what you are looking for.

Remember, when photographing people, it’s more important to find good light than an impressive background.  Photographers “paint” with light.