Photographing Children In The Fog

February 16, 2010

OK, so the weather isn’t great, its early in the morning, and you want to photograph your children because they have been doing something real cute lately while playing outside, and there’s fog! As parents we know there’s a time to catch the action or the opportunity will go away to never return.

Children have this way of moving on once they get bored with doing something, so it is very important to be prepared for those rare occasions when they have come up with something truly unique and interesting. The one thing, however, that we can’t control is the weather. Here we are with fog; what do we do?

Actually, this isn’t a disaster, but just another opportunity to work with light. In this case the light will be very soft, and it gives you the chance to photograph your children in a lighting situation that lends itself to creating a mood, or feeling. There is something peaceful and calming about photographs in fog that give the photograph an extra element of interest.

It’s time to use the AV, or aperture priority function, on your digital camera. All of that white mist can fool your exposure into thinking there is more light available than there really is, and that will cause your photograph to be under exposed. Therefore you will need to open up the lens wider, by at least one f-stop, so that the color in the photograph will be balanced.

Observe the photo on the right, and look at the quality of the lighting. Notice the colors, experience the feeling conveyed by this photograph.

Fog comes in different consistencies, ranging from light to thick, high to low, and can change minute to minute. If you want to use fog to your advantage avoid high fog because it will not create the beautiful haze which will cut down on contrast.

Keep in mind that fog can cause your flash to engage, and you do not want to use flash in fog because the water droplets will reflect the light and look like dots in your photograph. On the other hand, fog can give the photograph a mood which conveys gentleness, quiet and sensitivity.

Your photographs will have a more painterly quality to them as you photograph against a light background. Colors will be more muted, and the whole photograph will convey this feeling of time and mystery.

Remember, keep taking lots and lots of photographs of your kids. You will be glad you did!

Light Modifiers

February 12, 2010

Light Modifiers

If you go to a photography store website you will discover that there all kinds of devices available to modify light in one way or another. You really don’t need to spend any time researching all of these. Light modifiers come in three basic categories:

1. Reflectors
2. Diffusers
3. Gobos

You have seen reflectors, I am sure. Sometimes you see them used on television, or perhaps you have been to a portrait studio, and sometimes even in mega store or mall photo shops.

Many times they look like an umbrella, other times they look like the same material you see on space vehicles. No matter, they all serve the same purpose: to reflect light.

You will recall we discussed bouncing flash off of a neutral surface like a wall or the ceiling when we need fill flash to fill in the dark background behind our subject. White walls make great reflectors, or commercial reflectors you set up or have an assistant hold.

As you think about it you will realize reflectors are everywhere. For example, in the picture on the right you see a small child under a blanket on some sheets. In this case the sheets serve as a reflector.

Diffusers, on the other hand, are used to spread out the light that is shining on your subject. If you find yourself faced with a harsh light situation you can use a diffuser to soften the light. There are commercial diffusers, but you could use something else like translucent drapes or a white sheet between the light source and your subject.

If you are using flash, you can put a diffuser on your flash unit itself, or you could purchase a diffuser from your local photo store. In any case, a diffuser does exactly what it sounds like – it diffuses the light.

Gobos are used to block the light altogether. You place a gobo between the light source and the subject in order to completely block out the light source. Sometimes commercial reflectors will have a gobo, or black side, on the reverse side of the reflector.

When would you use a gobo? When there is too much light on your subject, or when you want to create a mood, or perhaps a halo around the head of your subject. Blocking the light from one side of your subject can also create that Rembrandt-like look.

Again, as you learn more and more about light your photography will improve and you will begin to create some rather stunning images. So study the light, learn the light, make the light your friend!

Remember, keep taking lots and lots of photographs of your kids. You will be glad you did!

The Direction of Light

February 11, 2010

No matter whether you are working with direct or indirect lighting, the direction from which the light is coming is very important to consider as you start photographing your child. Luckily, children look good in almost any light, so that makes them the ideal subject to experiment with lighting in your photography.

Light from the front, or direct light, is usually the most flattering kind of light, and is almost always used when photographing models. Front lighting is also called Flat lighting because placing your subject face on to the light gives your subject the most flattering picture because it creates shadowless light that disguises all the texture and or imperfections in the skin.

The broad light source from flat lighting usually provides a large enough area to allow the subject child to roam around a little bit while still in nice light. Another benefit is that you will not need a flash, or speedlight, in order to properly light your subject.

As you can see in the photo on the right there are no shadows, the skin texture looks great and if there were any imperfections in baby’s skin they most likely would not show up in this photograph.

Again, direct light refers to light which falls directly onto the subject from its source. Direct light is light that has not been diffused by anything nor has it been reflected or bounced off of anything else.

Tomorrow I will discus reflective light as we continue to explore the role of light in photographing children.

Remember, keep taking lots and lots of photographs of your kids. You will be glad you did!

Main Light and Fill

February 10, 2010

As we have talked about in the past, light is one of the most important things to learn about in photography. Light can be your friend or your enemy, depending upon how well you understand it and how much you are able to use it in your photography.

The other side of light, shadow, can also be very useful; however, today I will discuss the use of light. Light can be categorized in two ways – main light and fill light.

Main light is that light which provides the primary illumination of your subject. Fill light, on the other hand, is exactly what it sounds like – light that you provide to fill in those areas of your subject that are in shadow.

If you look at the photograph on the right you can clearly see an example of main light, that is, the light which is coming from the both the front and right hand side of the child illuminating the image clearly.

You will also notice the shadow of the child extending slightly behind and off to his left. You can see that his pants have a shadow on them, but his face is clearly visible in the photograph. This is because I used fill flash from the camera in order to make sure the child’s face did not have any shadows falling across it.

This is an example of how to use fill flash. Fill flash comes from a flash attachment, usually called a speedlight, attached to the camera and adjustable. By adjustable I mean it can be aimed in one direction or another rather than straight at the subject like you would have from a point-and-shoot camera.

Many times it is beneficial to aim the flash at something above or to either side of your subject, preferably which is white or at least a neutral color, in order to fill in the areas in shadow so that the entire subject can be clearly seen.

If you need to soften the light from the flash, you can diffuse it by placing some type of material between your flash unit and the subject so that the light is softened, eliminating any harsh shadows or washed-out skin tones.

One or two pieces of vellum tape placed across the front of the speedlight can soften the light enough so that your subject does not look star-struck from the flash.

Whether working with direct light or indirect light, it is important that you understand light and how best to incorporate it into your photographs.

Remember, keep taking lots and lots of photographs of your kids. You will be glad you did!

Why You Should Shoot In The Raw

February 9, 2010

Well, you may be surprised but I love Christmas, and I still have our Christmas tree up. Today I finally got around to taking some photos, one of which was of a red ball I particularly like. I had to use flash, so as you can see in the top photo there was some reflection on the ball, and I didn’t get quite as much depth of filed as I wanted.

However, because I shot in the raw I was able to work on the image to get it exactly the way I wanted it. Using Adobe PhotoShop
I was able to take the raw image and make corrections without destroying any of the quality of the photograph. This is an example why you want to shoot your photos in the raw, if you can.

It also demonstrates why having a detachable flash unit is very handy. I was able to reduce the flash by 3 f-stops as well when I took the picture. Using a DSLR camera with flash will give you a lot more flexibility than your typical point-and-shoot camera; however, it will be far more expensive to purchase.

The top photo is the one shot in the raw, the one on the bottom is the result after working on it. As you can see I was able to remove the reflections from the flash, and I was able to get the color more true to the actual color of this ornament. While it took a little time, you can see it was worth the effort.

If you don’t have Adobe PhotoShop
I would really recommend that you get it; it will help you create better and more interesting photos as you develop your photography skills.

Remember, keep taking lots and lots of photographs of your kids. You will be glad you did!

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