Adding spontaneity to make great portraits

One way to make family portraits feel more real is to keep shooting well after the posed image you set up.

I've talked about it before, but one of the reasons why shooting digitally is so great is that you don't have film and processing costs. All you have is a memory card, which can be reformatted and reused. So after you have shot the picture of your favorite people in a pretty location, keep shooting when they sit down and relax.

In this example, I sat next to my friend Paul and his son Parker, and actually held the camera down low near the ground. I used a zoom lens set at 35mm, set the auto-focus on a wide spread pattern covering all the focus points and just clicked away while they played. Because both of them were focused on enjoying their moment together, the images were much more relaxed, spontaneous and intimate.

Using color to make great portraits

It's always fun to shoot portraits, and at the same time you want to make one that is unique. So in sizing up the opportunity, besides looking at the features of the person you are shooting, try to take other things into account to make the image special.

In this case, I certainly wanted to make an image of Tasha's warm, smiling face. But where to place her? When I looked around, I found this wonderful melon colored wall that worked well as a background. Certainly it was nice because it was a simple background and allowed the eye to focus on her face and not be distracted by other elements like texture or pattern. But the real key is that the wall is the complimentary color to the aqua dress she was wearing, so it makes the whole image pop.

So when you are shooting a portrait, look for color to help you make an image that is unique.

Control Depth of Field to Take Better Photographs

One of the biggest shifts I encourage my students is to make in their growth as photographers is to take control of the camera functions. In the early stages of shooting, many people rely on the camera's automatic exposure controls capability. They set the camera on Program mode, and shoot away.

One of the first steps in taking creative control in evolving your vision is deciding what the viewer's eye will focus on. Depth of field is one of the tools in accomplishing that. Simply put, depth of field is the distance in front of, and behind the point your focus on that is in focus. A photograph shot at a wide open aperture like f2.8 will have less depth of field than an image shot at a small aperture like f16.

In this example, my interest is in having the viewer look at the texture of the wooden buggy at a historical site. In the image above, the aperture is set at f2.8, so the focus is quite shallow. The background is blurred and the eye focuses on the corner near the wagon wheel. But in the image below, notice that using a small aperture of f16 allows the rocks and winter grass in the background to compete with the main subject because they are much sharper.



So my recommendation is that when you are making an image, think about what you want the viewer to see, and use depth of field as an ally to accomplish that.

Available light photography vs on camera flash

Most point and shoots have an auto flash setting so that when you are indoors, it simply guesses the best exposure. But that's not always the way to go.

For example, if your subject is near a window, you could raise the ISO setting, and shoot with the available light. The advantage is that unlike the small point source of the on-camera flash, you will have a large broad, palnterly light source.

And the second advantage is that instead of the flatness rendered by a light coming right from the camera (see the image below), you can position your subject so that you have directional lighting in the image. The result is that there is a more three dimensional quality to the photograph.



Obviously, this would not work if it were very dark inside, but when the light levels allow, try this technique for some lovely results.

Making good photographs in bad weather

Shooting on location is not all blue skies and dramatic color. Sometimes, you are in a great location, but the weather is bad. But should that stop you from looking for opportunities for images?

In fact, bad weather creates a whole new set of possibilities for pictures. And here's a good example. I was in New York recently, and the weather was overcast with rain showers. Certainly I could have just kept my head down under my umbrella and scurried from one dry interior to another.

But the wet streets and the shapes of the umbrellas of the passers-by was intriguing. And because the light level was so low because of the rain, I could shoot at slow shutter speeds giving me the opportunity to create a sense of activity and movement.

Getting great winter photographs

One of the challenges of getting great winter photographs is the lack of color in a snow covered scene. The world is mostly white with muted shades of browns, which can be exciting if you are shooting black and white pictures. But what if you are shooting color?

I find one of the best solutions is to shoot either at sunrise or sunset, where you get get the warm light associated with those times to add strong, dramatic accents to a colorless world. The added advantage of shooting sunrise is that there will be less footprints in the snow to break up the pristine quality of the scene.

Great fall photographs

Fall is one of the most exciting times to be out shooting landscape images because of the spectacular color found in the trees dotting the hillsides. Here's one tip for getting a great photograph when you get out there.

When you are surveying the opportunities while you are hiking or driving, look for situations where the trees are backlit. That's because the added contrast of the leaves being lit from behind will make them more luminous, add more depth, and makes the color pop off the page. Just look at this example to see what I mean.

WHAT TO PACK FOR A PHOTO TRIP PART IV

There are a lot of things I've been able to shed from my pack when I head out the door to shoot with a digital camera. Color compensating filters, for example, used to adjust the color of how film sees light in different conditions is easily replaced by one of two methods. You can either use preset or custom white balance settings in shooting to affect how the sensor reads the existing light, or shift the color in post production with the color balance adjustment layer in Photoshop.

But one thing I still carry for digital photography is my polarizer filter. Yes, there are some Photoshop plug-in filters that emulate it, but I still prefer to have the real thing in my camera bag. Why? Well, a polarizer is a great tool for making a sky look darker and richer than what the scene would look like without. The effect is particularly noticeable when you are shooting a subject that is in the shade, but the sky is still visible. That's because you are opening up the exposure from the full light exposure to capture detail in the shaded areas. But along with that, you are lightening the sky. Using a polarizer compensates for that overexposure of the sky, and makes it look more natural. Just compare the image above with a filter, to this image below that does not have one.



But be aware that a polarizer works at it's best when aiming 90 degrees from the sun. Shooting into the sun, or directly opposite will have no effect. In between, the effect increases as you approach the full 90 degree differential. In this example, I am shooting with the sun in the eastern sky close to sunrise, and I am shooting straight south.

WHAT TO PACK FOR A PHOTO TRIP, PART III

When it comes to lenses to carry on a trip, it's good to have a range so you can cover a variety of situations. And with today's technology, zoom lenses often come close to or match the quality of prime, fixed focal length lenses.

If you are shooting digitally, you want to keep in mind the camera sensor factor before choosing a lens. A 17-35mm lens for a full frame chip becomes a 27-56mm lens when used with a smaller chip with a 1.6X factor. That's a significant difference in coverage, and if you love to shoot wide angle, it's something to consider.



The same effect is a consideration when choosing which telephoto lens to take. A 70-200mm zoom becomes a 112-320mm lens when used with a chip with a 1.6X factor.

I always try to pack as light as possible, but insure that I have a bit more focal length range than I think I will need if I can fit the extra lens in my bag and am willing to carry the extra weight. I might think I am only going to be shooting broad landscape images that show scale and intimacy, but along the way, I might be surprised by a scene where a telephoto lens makes a more succinct statement, as the image at the top exemplifies.

WHAT TO PACK FOR A PHOTO TRIP, PART II

Visiting in more detail the overview article I wrote on what to pack for a photo trip, I want to cover the specifics group by group. So in this article, I'm going to talk about the items in the camera gear group, which are:

1-Camera
2-Camera manual.
3-Wide angle zoom lens (minimum 24-70, possibly 14-35 as well)
4-Telephoto lens 70-200mm
5-Lens extender 1.4X
6-Polarizing filter
7-Graduated neutral density filter
8-Filter holder
9-Lens cleaning solutions (bulb brush, lens cleaning tissue or microfiber cloth, and fluid)
10-Tripod and cable release (optional)
11-Portable flash (some cameras have these built in)

In this brief article, I want to talk about the value of taking the camera manual on location.

These new digital cameras are computers, and they have tremendous capabilities. Even for someone who has been in the business for years, I sometimes find it a bit overwhelming when I get a new camera. So my suggestion is to be sure to take your manual along until you know the camera functions inside and out.

It's a bit like loading film onto darkroom spools, or loading 4x5 film into holders in the dark. You want to be able to do things without even thinking about them. I would suggest practicing the possible scenarios you might be faced with before you go out to shoot.

Make sure you understand how to set the camera to shutter priority mode, aperture priority mode, change the metering mode, change the auto focus points in the viewfinder, add exposure compensation, how to playback images and how to zoom in on them to check focus and composition. And bring the manual along in case you forget these things, or need access to a more obscure function.

Hesitating because you do not know how to make the camera do something will result in missed images. Avoid the frustration, and carry your manual.

WHAT TO PACK FOR A PHOTO TRIP

Whether going out for a one day excursion around town, or traveling overseas for an extended photo expedition, the key is making sure you have the right gear so you can capture those great images.

Let's start with the photo equipment itself. This pertains to 35mm gear. Lens choices in larger formats would be different.


Camera
Camera manual
Wide angle zoom lens (minimum 24-70, possibly 14-35 as well)
Telephoto lens 70-200mm
Lens extender 1.4X
Polarizing filter
Graduated neutral density filter
Filter holder
Lens cleaning solutions (bulb brush, lens cleaning tissue or microfiber cloth, and fluid)
Tripod and cable release (optional)
Portable flash (some cameras have these built in)


SPECIFIC TO DIGITAL CAMERAS
Charger and an extra battery
Memory cards
Card reader
Laptop with DVD burner, back up hard drive or photo storage solution

SPECIFIC TO FILM CAMERAS
Film of various ISO ratings
Color compensation filters and filter holder
Extra batteries

GRIP EQUIPMENT AND MISCELLANEOUS
Gaffers tape
Rain protection
Chamois or soft cloth to dry off camera gear
GPS for noting locations (some cameras are coming with this built in)
Notepad or voice recorder to help with cataloging images later (some cameras have microphones built in)
Guidebooks, maps or other research material for the location
Food and water
Good shoes that can support the extra weight, and keep you comfortable

TAKE GREAT PICTURES IN CLOUDY WEATHER

More often that we might like, we end up at a location where the opportunities for photographs are quite good, but the weather is not. An overcast sky that is uniformly grey can be a big damper in creating beautiful scenics, so what do you do?

One possibility, of course, is the shoot the scene and add a sky later in post production. Although this can be successful in some situations, you have to be careful that the sky you add looks believable.

The other option is to look for photographs that do not include the sky, thus eliminating the lackluster quality it brings to the image making process. The first thing I would suggest is to look for a composition that shows as much of the landscape as possible without including the sky.



This is also great time to hone your observation skills, and zoom in on details. Start looking for parts of the landscape that are interesting, things like streams, rock formations, flowers. All can be great subjects in the soft light the overcast sky provides. For example, the lower light level means you can shoot with slower shutter speeds to get motion blur in a stream. And the same soft light allows you to see patterns in rock formations without the harsh contrast (and shadows) created by a sunny sky.

Using Open Shade to Make Better Photographs

Often, we have an opportunity to take a spontaneous photograph of a friend outdoors, on a bright sunny day. If the sun is high up in the sky, it's easy to end up with a picture where the person's eyes are in deep shadow, and they are squinting.

When a situation like that arises, it's time to look around for open shade. Maybe there is a tree close by that you can put the person under, or a doorway they can stand in (as in the example above).

Or maybe there is an overhang on a building. In the situation below, I put the subject just behind where the sun would have hit her face directly under the roofline of the shed. That way, the exposure was still at a high enough shutter speed that I could hand hold the camera, but I could get the benefit of the soft light provided by the overhang.



Whatever the options, look for opportunities to get your subject out of the harsh, overhead light, and into open shade. The results will certainly be worth the extra effort.