June, 2010

Photo Tips — 2 Comments
28
Jun 10

Summer Shade

Shade is great on these warm summer days, especially if you’re shooting flowers. To the human eye, flowers look great in bright sunlight. The sun makes the colors fairly explode into brilliant irresistibility. Our eyes and our brain work as a super camera and filter allowing us to see the brilliant beauty of a sunlit flower. The camera, on the other hand, is a poor imitation of our eyes and brain, so it sees flowers quite differently.

The same flower shot in shadow and in full sunlight

In bright sunlight, the camera sees flowers as harshly lit with blinding highlights and deep shadows. Unfortunately, our eyes and brain do not compensate for the extremes of light in shadow in a photo, so we see a harshly lit flower. Harsh sunlight can make the colors look washed out or create unwanted highlights. The subtlety of the petals coloration is lost.

Flowers photograph to best advantage in soft, diffused light. The petals fairly glow under soft light. Since we envision flowers as soft and delicate, soft diffused light enhances their beauty in our eyes. Look for early morning or late evening light for soft sunlight. If you find yourself with a perfect flower in harsh mid-day light, create your own soft light. Use your body to shade the subject, or if that angle doesn’t work, press a friend into service.

You can also take advantage of thin, hazy clouds that naturally diffuse the sunlight. Since most of us are unable to call up hazy clouds on demand, try using a diffuser. Diffusers are made of translucent material that diffuses the light. There are many manufactured diffusers available online. It is also possible to make a simple diffuser using a variety of materials from translucent plastics to various lightweight fabrics. Beware of color casts that can be created by some colored materials even though they may look white to your eye.

Enjoy

Frank

Equipment / Photo Tips — No Comments
9
Jun 10

Keeping Your Balance

When I switched from film to digital, I had to get a lot more tech savvy. With film, I was limited by the chemistry of the film. With digital, I’m not sure there are limits. One place where that is most evident is with White Balance. With film, you had two choices, daylight or tungsten. Digitally, you have about half a dozen presets, but in post processing, you get nearly unlimited adjustments.

There is an incredible amount of differing opinions out there about white balance. Some folks say to set your camera on auto and forget it, others say never rely on auto WB. You’ll also hear people say that if you shoot RAW format, you don’t need to be concerned about WB when you’re shooting since you can adjust it in post-processing. Whether you adjust the WB when you’re shooting or in post-processing, the WB is adjusted based on pre-determined criteria that may or may not be representative of the actual field conditions. So what’s a body to do?

I started doing some experimenting when I found that many of my photos had a color cast no matter what WB setting I picked, in camera or post-processing. I found that I was spending an inordinate amount of time trying to correct the image to what I thought I remembered it looked like or at least something decent. As I researched the problem, I found that there are lots of WB gizmos and gadgets out there. For every one of them there are those that love them and those that hate them—both with justifiable reasons. And of course, they come with price tags. For me, money is an object, and simplicity and durability in the field are essential. I finally decided on the WhiBal card. It’s inexpensive ($20 plus the cost of any non-essential accessories you get), it’s light, durable, and very easy to use.

When I began testing it, I was surprised at the results. I experimented with the card in various conditions and the results have been impressive. I now use the WhiBal card to provide a reliable neutral gray under any lighting conditions. I’ve also been amazed at how inaccurate my memory of the lighting conditions really is. Clearly the brain filters what we see—or what we think we see. I’ve found the WB card to be a useful tool, especially under difficult light.

Enjoy

Frank