A friend of mine recently emailed me saying she would like to get more serious in photography. And she wanted to be pointed in the right direction. And this TOTALLY excited me, because now it’s my turn to give back!
About a year ago, when I started to get more serious about photography, Denise took me by the hand, gave me an INSANE amount of encouragement, never EVER put my photos down (even when they were horrific) and really, really helped me become the photographer I am today. If you want to see just how far I’ve come, please check out my VERY FIRST blog post here. And don’t laugh. At least not too hard.
And now it’s my turn. My turn to share whatever I’ve learned with you.
Oh, and I’ll only say this once- my little disclaimer. I am not an expert. AT ALL. There are a million and one photographers who are both better than me and can explain this better than me. I visit their sites regularly and am both humbled and inspired. So, please, PLEASE take this series for what it is- just another person trying to help and encourage fellow photographers.
So, we’ll start this series called “Starting Out,” which will help new photographers or photographers who want to get more serious and study their craft a bit more.
The series will be aimed at DSLR owners (the bigger cameras with lenses that can be changed), but I also hope they’re relevant for point-and-shoot owners. Because, my dear friends, it is the magician and not the wand that makes a great photographer (as evidenced by Tara Whitney who now takes her point and shoot to the beach and STILL gets the raddest photos in the world of her family).
And now, without further ado is my first lesson- the lesson of using light.
Light is a tricky beast. VERY VERY tricky. Before I started photography, my motto was The more light the better and so I’d stick Benjy in direct sunlight and go to town. NOT GOOD, my friends. NOT GOOD.
First of all, we’ve got some squinting action going on. Second of all, the harsh light bleaches Benjy’s skin. Third of all the white is TOTALLY blinding. So, bad. Bad, bad, bad.
Whenever possible, avoid direct sunlight.
So, what, then- how about some shade? Yes! Great! Shade! But what kind of shade? Shade from a tree?
Bah! Then you end up with blotches like these!
Not good! Let’s try and find some open shade!
Ah! Better! Open shade is the kind of shade you find beside buildings or next to cars or in the shade of tree trunks or… be creative! It should be smooth, even shade, without blotches or patches of light.
But what do you do if you’re somewhere without open shade? Say, at the beach or the pool?
Well, what I’ve done- and I’m not saying this is right- but I’ve shot INTO the sun, setting up my camera to expose for the faces, so that my shots are backlit.
Or I sucked it up, stuck a hat on Benjy and shot directly in the sun. But again, I set up my camera to expose for the face (we’ll get to how to do that in a future post).
So, in conclusion- here are the takeaway points for you:
1. Don’t shoot in direct sun if you can.
2. Find OPEN EVEN shade whenever possible.
3. If impossible, make your photos backlit or just suck it up and shoot in the open sun, setting up your camera to expose for the face.
If there are any photographers reading this who have something to add, PLEASE DO. Please, please leave your know-how in the comment section. And if there are any readers with questions on this post, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Posted by sarah
