Wednesday Wisdom - Mix it Up

Hi everyone! This week's hint comes from watching Seinfeld's stand up show entitled "I Am Telling You for the Last Time".

Jerry: "Wait up!" That's what kids say. They don't say "wait", they say "Wait up! Hey, wait up!" 'Cause when you're little, your life is up. The future is up. Everything you want is up. "Wait up! Hold up! Shut up! Mom, I'll clean up! Let me stay up!"

Parents of course are just the opposite. Everything is down. "Just calm down. Slow down. Come down here. Sit down. Put that down."

Isn't that so true?! How often do we get down to our kids' level to see just how THEY see things in life? This is especially true with photography. We as photographers typically take the "easy angle". What this means is we take whatever is easiest for us and don't put too much creative juices into what we are actually shooting. We shoot DOWN on our kids.

So here is my tip for the day. Try shooting ACROSS to your kids. Or even UP at your kids. You just might like the angle.

Wednesday Wisdom - Lighting

LIGHTING So it is that big day - the one you have been waiting for. The weather is perfect! Not a cloud in the sky and the big event is planned for right in the middle of the day. How could life get any better?!

So many people think that this is the perfect scenario for pictures. Not so. The perfect scenario would to be wake up to a slightly overcast day with a slight skiffing of clouds. No rain per se, just enough clouds to diffuse that harsh sunlight.

So last week we talked about when you should turn off your flash. This week I promised I would talk about when you should turn your flash ON. I need to preface this, however, by talking about lighting in any situation. If you can, instead of taking your subject out into bright, open sunlight (which brings on harsh shadows and hollow-looking eyes) try moving them into soft shadows, right at the edge of a tree or building shadow so as to get even lighting. Try not to get splotchy lighting with the sun coming through the branches making "angle kisses" on your subject's faces.

However, if this is not possible you might think that you should place your subject with their back to the light. This can work if you are trying to get a nice backlit effect or even silhouette shot of your subject(s).

If, however, you would like to actually see this same situation and view their faces you would need to turn on your flash and shoot (this is called fill flash on your camera). In technical terms, the camera is metering off the sky and therefore turns everything in the foreground black in order to make the sky look "right". By forcing your flash to go off it will brighten up your subject and keep the sky looking correctly exposed. Take a look at these two photos I took outside of my home (Ashley wouldn't pose for me - and I quote, "Mom, I look like dirt!" so you get flowers, sorry).

Notice how the face of this flower is dark. Magnify this x 3 when you are actually shooting faces. All the nooks and crannies in a face tend to really leave behind shadows.

Here I turned on the flash and it really brightened up the face of this flower. Notice the difference.

So go ahead, turn that flash on in the middle of the day, even when you are outside so as to brighten up any extremely dark spots in your pictures you might want to look lighter. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. I am always happy to help. Also, if you have anything you would like covered, let me know.

Wednesday Wisdom

I know that you were all terribly devastated when no Wednesday Wisdom came out last week. What can I say? I was out of the country! I will try to make up for it this week by giving you a really good one.

ARE YOU A FLASHER?
When you go to a concert or even your child's concert in the school gym, ever noticed those insipid flashes going off clear up in the nosebleed section? They look pretty (kind of like little fireflies in an otherwise non-firefly-ey kind of environment) but they really aren't doing a whole lot -- and in some cases they are actually making your picture worse. So the first thing you need to learn is how to turn off your flash when you DON'T need it and know how to turn ON your flash when you do.

When do you NOT need it:
Most point and shoot camera flashes only reach a light boundary of maybe 5-6 feet. If you are further away from your subject than that, you are basically lighting up the area in front of your subject and leaving them even further in the dark (because you camera will expose for the lighted area in front of your subject). So if you in a nighttime situation (or darkened room) where you have taken a picture and you really don't like the outcome, try turning off your flash, re-taking the picture and seeing if you like it any better. If it looks really blurry then you have what is called camera shake and you are basically in a really tough situation picture-taking-wise. Try placing your camera on a tripod and taking the picture or try placing your camera on a steady surface (i.e. wall, nearby seat, nearby ledge, etc.). If that still doesn't work -- you'll have to probably what we in the photography business call, "up your ISO". Unfortunately, this is another discussion for another time. If you are interested let me know and I will let you in on this little secret.

When should you turn ON your flash:
This will have to be the topic for next week's Wednesday Wisdom, so stayed tune!

Hope you enjoyed this very little bit of information. If you liked it, let me know. If you have something specific you would like covered, let me know that also! Take care until next week.

The following pictures were all taken with a point and shoot -- another story for another time -- a very sad "other time".

This picture was taken with a flash. Notice how Mona Lisa was out of the camera's flash's range. Consequently it is dark.

This picture was also taken with a flash. Notice how Ashley is exposed correctly, but poor Mona is left in the dark. The camera exposed for Ash -- not Mona.

Here I turned off the flash on the point and shoot and voila! Both Ash and I, AND Mona Lisa are exposed correctly. Would I blow this picture up to a 20x30? Probably not, okay, definitely not. But you take what you can get when you are in the city of love!

Wednesday Wisdom

Wednesday Wisdom: So some of you have inquired about how to make your pictures even better. Although I am not all-knowing, I have a learned a little about what makes a good photo that I am more than happy to share. So every

Wednesday I will put up another tip to help you make better photos.

Tip #1: Avoid standing in line.
No, this doesn't mean you should stop visiting Wal-Mart at 9:00 on a Saturday night (when no one is working and there is only one line open -- grr!!) but rather watch to ensure that your subject's heads are at different levels. Think of your subjects' heads as notes on a scale -- does your picture sing a lovely melody or is it more monotone? Try to encourage the viewer's eye to move through the picture and then start again -- looking at each person's face one more time. Here is an example of what to do and what not to do... See if you agree. Thanks and see you next week.