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Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Saturday, September 03, 2011
How to shoot in bright light | photography tips
A few days ago I took my two little ones to the park after we dropped Valerie off at school. It was about 10am, full sun, not a cloud in the sky.
A lot of people ask me what kind of camera to buy to get great photos. The truth is, you can really improve your photos with any camera, even without a DSLR. (DSLR's are fantastic and give you more control over multiple variables, but, here is a tip that can help anyone!)
I tell all of my clients that we really need to avoid mid-day photo sesssions because of the harsh shadows that will inevitably fall across the face. Especially if our hearts are set on shooting in a specific location where there is no shade. This is why:
This photo is straight out of the camera. You will notice in this photo that the sky is a beautiful blue, beautiful! However, the sky is not what I want to photograph here. I wanted a photo of Ellie playing at the playground. Our cameras are not capable of focusing properly on both the super bright areas and the super shaded areas that the harsh sunlight over head creates. So we get these harsh shadows and areas where I blew out the color entirely (such as her purple shirt) because I was trying to focus properly on her face. Here's what you can do to improve this situation:
Again these are straight out of the camera. I wanted a true comparison and to prove that it's not photoshop that does the magic! You must start with a good photo. There really is not much I could do to the first photo to make her evenly exposed. Ellie is in the same spot in these two photos, I simply walked to the other side of the ladder so that the sun is behind her. Notice the sky is now white/blown out. Some photographers will scoff at that. I'm okay with that. I want Ellie to be properly exposed and I'm really not concerned with what is behind her. In the photo on the right, there is a little bit of a blown highlight on her shirt and side of her face as she turned her body just as I snapped the photo, but this is a snapshot. Again, I'm ok with that. Sometimes shooting into the sun will give a little bit of a haze and the photo has less contrast. I personally like this effect, but you could increase the contrast a little bit in your photo editing software to compensate for this in the above photos.
This is just a quick tip, but it makes a big difference where you have the ability to change directions. If you don't, go with it. Snapshots are snapshots. :)
