Correct Your Images With White Balance
June 22, 2010
Many digital cameras come with a control for something called white balance which allows you to correct your images with white balance settings. White balance is important because different light sources have different color temperatures, meaning that when you photograph your child the image will appear to have a slightly different color tone depending upon the kind of light it is taken in.
You may have noticed this yourself without really ever paying any attention to it. You may have observed, for instance, that the light given off from regular light bulbs appears more yellow than the light which streams in from outside. And other sources of light — like candle light and fluorescent lighting — certainly give off very different colors of light than sunlight or ordinary light bulbs.
Photographers and scientists have gone to the trouble of cataloging the different color temperatures given off by various light sources. Higher temperatures appear warmer, or slightly reddish, while cooler light sources tend to add a blue tone to your pictures. It is not at all unlike the way a flame has different colors at its outside than in the center of the flame. Why? Because those different parts of the flame are at different temperatures.
Lets look at the color temperatures of several different light sources:
- Candlelight – 2000 degrees Kelvin;
- Sunset – 3000 degrees Kelvin;
- Tungsten light – 3200 degrees Kelvin;
- Fluorescent light – 5000 degrees Kelvin;
- Daylight – 5500 degrees Kelvin;
- Camera flash – 5600 degrees Kelvin.
If your camera is set for one kind of light source — daylight, for instance — and you photograph your child who has been illuminated by a very different temperature of light — such as tungsten — the resulting image will not reflect the true colors in the photograph. What should be white will turn out looking a little reddish. This is why you need to be able to correct your images with white balance setting changes. Ordinarily, we don’t notice this ourselves, because the human brain is very good at interpreting what the eye sees. Our brain adjusts for different color temperatures so that the white almost always looks like, no matter what color of light we see our subject in. Of course, cameras are not quite that smart, and that’s why we need to adjust our camera for white balance.
The white balance setting on your camera allows you to pick out exactly what the color temperature of the scene you plan to photograph is. In most cases, your camera can automatically adjust to conditions. If need be, however, you can do it yourself. You will know that you need to adjust the white balance on your camera if your pictures routinely come out shifted to the blue or red end of the color spectrum. If your whites are not white — in other words, your camera doesn’t do a good job of correcting white balance — then you need to do it yourself.
A word of caution here. If you get into the habit of manually adjusting the white balance, remember to reset the white balance to auto when you’re done with each shoot. Otherwise, you might forget that your camera is balanced for fluorescent light when you shoot outdoors, and you wind up with very strange results.
Adjusting White Balance Presets
Most digital cameras will let you choose from a small collection of white balance presets. In addition to automatic white balance selection, your camera probably includes white balance settings for conditions like incandescent light, fluorescent light, an external flash unit, and cloudy or overcast days.
Choosing a White Balance Preset
Changing your white balance setting varies from camera to camera, but the process is typically fairly simple. For the specifics on your camera model, check your camera’s users guide. In general though, this is the process:
- Turn your camera on and set it to its normal mode. If your camera has a separate manual control, choose this instead;
- Press the menu button on your camera so that you see a set of menus on the LCD display;
- Scroll until you find the option for setting white balance;
- Find the lighting condition that best represents your current conditions;
- Choose that option;
- Press menu again to turn off the menu, then take your photograph.
Setting White Balance by Real Kids Photography
You can see an example of the menu setting in the image on the right.
Measuring White Balance Yourself
Sometimes, if you’re in a tricky lighting situation, such as a room that has both incandescent light and candlelight, you may need to set the white balance manually based upon the actual lighting conditions in the room. This may seem complicated, but it’s really not that hard.
Before you start, you will simply need one additional item: a white surface that the camera can use to set the white balance. Typically, you can get by with a small square of white poster board or typing paper. For better and more consistent results, though, I recommend that you purchase an 18% gray card
Professional photographers use small gray cards to measure exposure all the time, since the exposure meters in most cameras assume that images average out to about 18% gray overall. A gray card costs just a few dollars, and you will be surprised at how handy it is for setting the correct white balance.
To set the white balance yourself, follow these steps:
- Ask your child to hold the great card with a great card site facing you. Make sure the card is where you’re actually going to take the photograph, salute you are measuring the actual light as it will be in your scene.
- Turn on your camera and set it to the record mode.
- Activate the menu system on your LCD display.
- Once again, find the white balance controls in your menu.
- Scroll through the white balance options until you find the option to record it yourself. Select this option.
- You should now see an option on the LCD display directing you to photograph a white object. Compose your scene so that the gray card — or whatever you are using to set the white balance — fills the frame.
- Take a picture and exit the menu system.
The camera will now expose any pictures you take using this new white balance setting. Be sure to reset the white balance back to automatic when you’re done taking these pictures; otherwise, you may try taking pictures a day or two later in very different lighting conditions and wind up with some very bizarre results because the white balance setting is completely wrong.
So remember, learn how to correct your images with white balance and the photographs of your children will be consistently better and more pleasing to the eye.
Remember, keep taking lots and lots of photographs of your kids. You will be glad you did!
Betty Muscott, Child Photographer
ps: Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter “Real Kids Photography” here!
How To Improve Your Indoor Photographs
June 21, 2010
When we photograph our children indoors we are often less concerned about harsh sunlight than we are about having enough light for our photograph and the proper color of light. If we are to create great images of our children then you need to know how to improve your indoor photographs.
In addition, the evil “red eye” is the nemesis of many an indoor photograph as well. For the most part, however, for common snapshots of your children indoors it is probably just fine to use the automatic camera settings and the internal flash unit.
But, if you really want to get great indoor photographs of your children there are a few things you can do to move the odds in your favor.
Use The Best Indoor Light – Window Light
Using Window Light Photographing Children
- Avoid using windows where the light streams in directly creating harsh shadows; instead, pick a window where the incoming light is more diffused and indirect;
- Position yourself with your back to the window and then turn the child so she faces mostly head-on into the window, with some of the light spilling over on the side of her face;
- When necessary, use a reflector or fill flash to fill in the side of the child’s face that may be in shadow.
How To Avoid Red Eye
Remember, the dreaded “red eye” is what happens when the camera flash reflects off of your child’s pupils. You can see this effect on any living subject, but it appears particularly spooky on dogs. The important thing is that red eye occurs more often when photographing your children indoors, underlining why you need to know how to improve your indoor photographs.
Now that you know what causes red eye you can learn some easy ways to avoid it. Here are three common ways to avoid red eye when photographing your children:
- Use the camera’s red eye reduction mode – This is the easiest solution most of the time. When you use this function the camera will trigger the flash several times before it snaps the photograph – but remember, don’t move the camera when it snaps the picture!
- Use an off-camera external flash – If your camera has a hot shoe for an external flash you can connect an external flash. If mounted on the camera, bounce the flash, if you have a flash sync cable port such as the one on the Nikon Coolpix 995
you can connect up to 5 separate flash units to the camera. The cool thing about using separate flash units is that you can hold it away from the camera! - Photograph your children near windows – If you are near a window with natural light streaming in you can avoid the red eye problem entirely because your child’s pupils will already be closed down due to the bright light source.
Correct The Color Balance
The color of artificial light, like the lights bulbs in the home, is entirely different than the color of natural outdoor light. And that means that different kinds of artificial lights have different colors.
Because of these variations in color many indoor photographs just don’t look right. The good news is, though, that you can adjust for different light sources with your camera settings. Called white balance, it will help you make sure that you get natural colors in the photographs of your children regardless of what type of artificial light you use.
Remember, keep taking lots and lots of photographs of your kids. You will be glad you did!
Betty Muscott, Child Photographer
ps: Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter “Real Kids Photography” here!
Reflect Some Light On Your Children
June 18, 2010
Better Than Flash
A second source of light is just the ticket to eliminate shadows, reduce contrast, and even out the lighting in your pictures. Sometimes you can do that with fill flash, and sometimes a small reflector will do the job just fine.
A reflector many times is better than a flash unit, because the light from a reflector is softer, and that typically makes for much better pictures of your children. In other words, it is always better to use natural light — and that includes reflecting it — than the use of electronic flash.
Reflect Some Light
There are two ways to get into reflectors: the cheap way and the expensive way. Believe it or not, you really don’t need an expensive reflector from your local photo shop in order to move light around — you can enjoy a lot of success just using a glossy white sheet of poster board. Purchase a sheet of poster board from your local art supply store for a buck or two and try it out.
Flashpoint 5 in 1 Reflector System
The problem with poster board, of course, is that it is often difficult to carry around. For a more compact reflector solution, the cover photo reflector at your local camera store. Personally, I really like Flashpoint collapsible disc reflectors
.
These clever little reflectors fold up so small that you can almost put them in your pocket. Take them out of the bag, however, and they pop open to a variety of handy sizes. I use the Fashppoint 32″ 5 in 1 set of reflectors
that measure a Little over 2 feet across, and I find that’s a great size for most of the things that I want to photograph.
When you are ready to take a picture with your reflector, you will probably need some help. It’s very difficult to hold the reflector and take a photograph at the same time. So instead of trying some seed of photographic gymnastics, ask an assistant to hold the reflector. So that the light reflects from the sky onto your child. Try to have them hold the reflector to minimize shadows or lumen eight the dark side of your child’s phase.
You Can Bounce Light
If you’re digital camera has a hot shoe or input for a flash synchronization cable, you can attach an external flash unit for additional light control over your photographs. I love using flash units because the flash head tilts. This means that you can tilt the flash so that it reflects light off the ceiling or wall, thus diffusing the light and creating a softer effect in your photograph.
Be sure that you’re not reflecting light off of colored walls, though, or the reflected light might paint your subject some rude shade of yellow. You may also want to disable the built in flash unit on your camera when you use an external flash unit. Check the camera’s menu system for flash controls, try different ways, since some pictures can benefit from dual flash units arriving on the scene from different directions.
Reflectors serve a second important purposes well. When you are out in the field trying to take a picture, the wind can sometimes get in the way. You’ll notice this most often when you’re trying to take a close-up of a child and their hair is blowing in the wind. The solution? Compose your picture so that you can use the reflector not only to add light to the scene, but also to serve as windbreak. That’s right, reflectors can block the breeze and give you a more stable picture.
Remember, keep taking lots and lots of photographs of your kids. You will be glad you did!
Betty Muscott, Child Photographer
ps: Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter “Real Kids Photography” here!
Improving Your Outdoor Photographs
June 17, 2010
Beware of the sun
When you’re photographing your children outdoors, always take a quick look at your watch. By that I mean that there are better and worse times during the day to take photographs. The worst time of all is probably mid day, when the sun is directly overhead. The noon sun creates extremely harsh shadows and casts unflattering light for almost any kind of photographic session when the extremely bright light (particularly in the summertime) can tend to overwhelm a digital camera.
So, what is the alternative? Well, you can shot your photographs earlier or later in the day. Professional photographers traditionally like the warm colors created by the Sun in the late afternoon, but shooting photographs of your children in the morning is almost as good. If you are traveling, or on vacation. For instance, you want to get some very good pictures, plan your photo sessions for the early morning hours and then again for later in the day.
A great compact camera with built-in flash and zoom features
Unfortunately, if you are photographing children, the sun would blast that light right into their faces, causing them to squint. That made for some mighty ugly pictures. A much better solution is to position the sun over your left or right shoulder, but no matter where you place the sun, don’t shoot towards the sun unless you are intentionally trying to photograph the sunset or a silhouette.
Use fill flash
while most people think of their cameras flashed as something be used at night or in the dark, is also a great way to improve the look of your photographs during the daytime. Set your camera/2 it’s forced flash mode, and use it to shoot portraits of your children and any other outdoor photographs of them. You will find that the flash fills in shadows quite nicely, dramatically improving the quality of your images. You may be surprised, in fact, just how much full flash can do to improve photographs that you thought were pretty good to begin with. Remember, you will need to be fairly close for this to work. Stay within..
Creating Silhouettes
Another cool idea is to photograph your child as a silhouette — in fact, new photographers do it all the time. They just don’t always do it on purpose..
The easiest way to photograph a silhouette of your child is simply to position yourself so that the child you would like to silhouette is arranged against a bright background, such as the sky. Point the camera directly into the sky and slightly depress your camera shutter release — that locks in the exposure based on the bright sky. Then, recompose your picture of the child and shoot. What you’ll most likely get is a grossly underexposed subject, since the exposure was based on the brighter sky. If your child isn’t quite silhouetted, you can underexpose the image even more using the EV controls on your camera. You may also want to use your camera’s spot meter to lock the exposure on a brighter piece of the sky.
You may discover that the child is out of focus because the camera focused on infinity when you pointed it at the bright sky. If that’s the case, check to see if your camera has a separate exposure lock button and use it. If not, you may need to set the exposure manually or focus the camera manually instead. One way or another, when your subject is too close to infinity you need to find a way to separate the exposure and focusing aspects of your camera.
Remember, keep taking lots and lots of photographs of your kids. You will be glad you did!
Betty Muscott, Child Photographer
ps: Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter “Real Kids Photography” here!
Basics Of Flash Photography
June 15, 2010
When we are photographing children many times we need to take the photograph when we are indoors, say for example at a birthday party or pajama party. In order to capture the very best images we need to make sure that we understand the basics of flash photography and use them as we photograph the children.
Remember – photography is all about light. In earlier posts I have discussed photography when we are using the existing light in a scene and how to control the camera to take advantage of or compensate for a particular lighting situation.
Panasonic Lumix ZS5 Digital Camera
But we don’t always have the ability to use the ambient, or existing light, to get the photograph that we want. Sometimes using the light that you have doesn’t work quite well enough, however. This is why professional photographers spend so much time working with flash units, strobe lights, reflector units and other devices to enhance or supplement the existing light.
Almost every camera you pick up will have a flash unit either attached to it as part of the camera, or will have a “hot shoe” which allows you to attach a flash unit to the camera. The flash unit is a tool to bring extra light with you to brighten up many kinds of pictures.
I have found that most people really don’t know how to take advantage of flash units when photographing children, so I will provide some posts that deal with fill flash, red eye and bounce flash.
Lighting isn’t just about using flash units either. You can use reflectors to spread light around for a more pleasing photograph of your children, and you can adjust the white balance setting on your camera for better lighting control as well.
And let’s not forget about night lighting as well.
Remember, keep taking lots and lots of photographs of your kids. You will be glad you did!
Betty Muscott, Child Photographer
ps: Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter “Real Kids Photography” here!
How To Capture The Moment
June 14, 2010
One of the most essential things you need to understand when photographing children is how to capture the moment. After all, the goal of our photographing children is to record their history, and if we are not prepared we won’t create much of a record.
Most digital cameras have a two-step shutter release; only the most inexpensive fixed-focus cameras do not. Knowing how to use this feature is key in learning how to capture the moment and creating great pictures.
When you put a little pressure on the shutter release button, the camera leaps into action: it locks in both the focus and the exposure setting. If you continue to hold the shutter button down, the focus and exposure settings won’t change.
Child With Chalk
You can then recompose the picture and, when it meets your approval, press the shutter release all the way down to snap your photograph.
There are a number of reasons why you want to use this method with your shutter release:
- Focus lock takes only a small fraction of a second – If you are taking a photograph where you want to precisely control the instant of exposure, lock the exposure and focus first, then when you are completely satisfied with your composition apply slightly more pressure to the shutter release to capture the scene instantaneously.
- To use the camera’s spot meter function – The spot meter is usually found in the dead center of your viewfinder. Using the spot meter aim your camera at the point you want in focus, press the shutter release half-way down, then recompose the picture using the rule of thirds to snap your photograph.
If you want something off to the side of your picture to be in focus, then point your camera at your off-center subject and lock the focus and exposure. Then recompose the shot and snap the picture.
Above all, remember, keep taking lots and lots of photographs of your kids. You will be glad you did!
Betty Muscott, Child Photographer
ps: Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter “Real Kids Photography” here!
Every Photograph Tells A Story
June 4, 2010
We have been discussing various ways to frame your photographs when snapping pictures of your children, and the reason is because every photograph tells a story.
When you have taken photographs of your children correctly the results will be pictures with depth, motion and which convey some sort of story. As the viewer looks at your photograph their eyes will naturally start in one place and then move to another place within the image.
That’s different than with the typical snapshot that has no particular story to tell. The focal point in the typical snapshot is haphazardly placed, and it is so cluttered that there is no obvious path for the viewers eyes to follow.
Good artists and photographers use techniques like lines, symmetry, patterns and multiple focal points to lead the viewer on a specific path through an image. When you have learned to do that you should consider it success.
Tell A Story With Your Photograph
Take a look at the photo on the right: can you tell what the story is? Is it clear what the children are doing, and does it create some curiosity on your part? Does it evoke any feelings, or recall something you have seen your own children do?
Does the photograph suggest a different perspective for photographing your own children? Does it suggest some different ways to look at your children as they play, and how to photograph them in an unobtrusive way but yet capture their essence?
Rules are great to know, have and use as you photograph your children’s lives. Learn the rules well, think about what you want to convey with your photograph, use the rules as you frame your picture and watch what happens when you show them to family and friends.
You will be surprised by their reactions!
But – there are times to break the rules, and we will explore how to know when to break the rules next Monday.
Until then remember, keep taking lots and lots of photographs of your kids. You will be glad you did!
Betty Muscott, Child Photographer
ps: Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter “Real Kids Photography” here!
Move The Horizon
June 3, 2010
We have been discussing the “Rule of Thirds” as respects framing our photographs, but what if we are photographing our children outdoors and we are dealing with a horizon. An example would be taking a photo of the children on the beach, or playing in an open field.
If you always follow the rule of thirds then this probably won’t be of much help. However, placing the horizon dead center through the middle of the photograph is akin to placing your subject smack dab in the middle of the photograph. In either case the photograph will not be terribly interesting.
Ok, so where do you put the horizon?
Easy, either along the top line or the bottom line of your 2 horizontal lines. Use the top line if you want to emphasize the foreground of your photo to include the beach and some of the water, use the bottom line if you want to emphasize the distant landscape and sky.
Aligning The Horizon In Photography
Take the photo on the right, and notice how the horizon is treated in relationship to the children playing on the beach. It is straight, and follow the top line of our “rule of thirds” formula.
But most important of all is to keep the horizon straight! A slightly off-kilter horizon line can make a horizontal picture look a little cockeyed, so try and be as careful as you can when aligning the horizon in your viewfinder.
Remember, photographs are 2 dimensional representations of 3 dimensional scenes and subjects. The question then becomes how do we lead the viewer’s eyes through the picture to give them a sense of the real depth of the image.
The answer is to use the natural lines you see through the viewfinder. You can use a line of trees, a road, sidewalk or row of buildings to create a sense of depth and perspective in your photograph.
Remember, keep taking lots and lots of photographs of your kids. You will be glad you did!
Betty Muscott, Child Photographer
ps: Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter “Real Kids Photography” here!
Why The Rule of Thirds Matters
June 1, 2010
When I was young I took lots and lots of photographs of my younger siblings, and quite without realizing it I have intuitively understood why the rule of thirds matters. When the prints would come back and I would show the images to my family they would always remark “My, that camera takes the best pictures!”
I guess they never understood that it was the way the photographer composed the picture that made it so interesting. Almost without thinking I would engage the the rule of thirds when snapping my photos, and as I look back on those early photographs I can see how I just naturally did that.
Rule of Thirds in Child Photography
An example of proper use of the rule of thirds can be seen in the photograph on the right with 2 children looking for bees in a flower patch.
Notice how the heads of the children are at the corner intersection of the left hand vertical line and lower horizontal line that we saw in the image in our earlier post on the rule of thirds.
Well, my husband is a pilot, and likes to photograph things aviation. But when it comes to having a natural ability to employ the rule of thirds, he is completely devoid of it being natural. So, I have been working with him to think about the composition of his photographs before he takes them.
Because it isn’t natural he struggles a bit, but over time I can see an improvement in the quality of his photographs. They are becoming more interesting, and it seems to be easier for him to think about the composition of his photographs before he takes them.
And if you don’t have the natural “eye” for composition, not to worry. Just be aware of the rule of thirds, imagine those crossing lines in the viewfinder of your camera, and soon enough it will become second nature.
Remember, keep taking lots and lots of photographs of your kids. You will be glad you did!
Betty Muscott, Child Photographer
ps: Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter “Real Kids Photography” here!
Exposure Compensation
May 24, 2010
You probably have heard a lot about exposure compensation when photographers talk about taking photographs, and wondered what all the fuss is about. Well, not all lighting situations are easy to shoot, that’s why photography is considered both an art and a science.
It is fairly easy for real life scenes to trick your camera’s exposure sensor and under or over expose your photograph. Sometimes you can fix the problem later with a program like Photoshop, but you would be much better off to expose the picture correctly to begin with.
The reason you want to get the exposure correct the first time is that an over or under exposed image is missing some information about colors, texture and detail which can never be restored afterward. Only at the moment of exposure can you be sure that all the information will be in your image.
When you base your exposure on the wrong portion of the picture you can find yourself with an over or under exposed photograph. There are, however, several ways you can correct your exposures when you see a problem in your viewfinder. They are using:
- Exposure Compensation – Use the EV control on your camera to intentionally under or over expose your picture beyond what the camera’s exposure sensor recommends;
- Switch Metering Modes – You can use a different kind of exposure meter to account for very “contrasty” images;
- Use Exposure Lock – Lock your exposure on a different part of the image, and then recompose the photograph and shoot.
Most digital cameras come with an exposure compensation control, usually referred to as the EV adjustment. The EV control allows you to lock in and use the cameras recommended automatic exposure setting, but then adjust that value up or down based on factors that you’re aware of but that the camera may not be smart enough to see.
It is really the camera’s exposure sensor known as an exposure meter that does the majority of the work when figuring out how to shoot your picture. It decides how much light is needed to adequately expose your picture. Therefore, it comes as no surprise to learn that cameras distinguish themselves by the kind of exposure meter they use. Some meters are better than others at metering a scene and applying the right exposure.
Tomorrow we will discuss more about metering.
The exposure lock feature in most digital cameras, ias borrowed from 35mm camera technology, and it is one of the handiest tricks you can learn and master. Exposure lock is almost always achieved by applying slight pressure to the shutter release. Not enough to activate the shutter and take a picture, but enough that you feel the camera itself respond. This allows you to focus on the part of the image you want properly exposed, hold that exposure, and then re-frame your picture.
You may be perfectly satisfied with the results you get from the automatic exposure controls in your camera. But there will be times when you can do much better on your own. Some of these situations are when you’re in very bright sunlight, or your subject is back lit or you’re in a very low light situation.
It is very important to consider exposure when you’re taking your photograph. This is particularly true when you are working with photographing children. Again, learn the controls on your camera well and experiment. You’ll be glad you did.
A really great new camera is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD.
compact digital camera which has many of the controls we have been discussing, is a great value and a handy camera to carry and use when you are out and about with your children.
Remember, keep taking lots and lots of photographs of your kids. You will be glad you did!
Betty Muscott, Child Photographer
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