Difficult Lighting And Metering

To achieve a classic portrait, you usually look for large areas of open, even shade, so your subject's face is exposed evenly without harsh shadows.  However, sometimes those conditions are not available (or undesirable), so you have to make the best of what you've got.  In those instances, it's best to understand metering well enough to expose your photo properly to achieve the desired effect.

Metering Modes (information found here)

Evaluative/Matrix Mode: 

Basically, in this mode the camera breaks your shot down into a grid, measures the brightness and darkness information, and finds the middle ground.  Many newer cameras take the focal points into extra account as well.  This would be completely acceptable in an evenly exposed photograph, where your lights and darks are consistent throughout the image.

Center-Weighted Mode: 

In center-weighted mode, the camera considers 75% of the frame, all in the very center, giving no importance to the corners of the shot.  This would be ideal in outdoor portraiture. With this mode, you would have to recompose the shot if you'd like to have it off-centered and still have the subject be correctly exposed. 

Partial & Spot Mode: 

This mode measures the light only from a very small area of the photo, usually less than 5% of the total area.  In many newer DSLRs, you can program where you would like the spot to measure (usually it follows where you focus).  It is the most effective in high contrast and backlit situations, where the light behind the subject is much brighter than the exposure of your subject.  It is also the best mode for silhouettes and lunar photography.

I choose to keep my camera on center-weighted all the time, mostly because of my work with portraits.  Consider what it is you photograph the most, and then take the time to consider which metering mode would make your work easier on both your camera and you!  Make your camera work for you!

nature up close

I've been trying out close ups.  Luckily when I saw this butterfly, I had my camera in my pocket, and was able to capture about 12 shots.

Another time when I had my camera in my pocket.  I've always thought the Japanese Cutleaf Maple was a beautiful tree, and the breeze stopped just in time as I clicked away.

Reminder

This is a friendly reminder that June 3rd will be the camera club's last meeting, unless any interested parties join up again (and I sincerely hope that you do!).  Mackenzie is sadly leaving us for great adventures in the southwest, so we need some new blood to infuse into our group.  Please spread the word to your friends, and if you are planning to, don't forget to sign up for the summer session of the camera club here!

If you can't or aren't planning to sign up for the camera club again, I will miss you and thank you for these very fun and memorable few months' of sharing our shared love of photography!

More Sun Flare

On the way home from the photo walk, I couldn't help but notice how much more agreeable the light was for sun flare and silhouette, mostly because it was lower in the sky and was casting a beautiful, warm glow on everything. So I stopped at the Base Lodge of the Quechee Club and captured the sun filtering through the leaves of a flowering tree, with my aperture set at f/22.

I wish I had done one with a lower f/stop as well, but I was enjoying the star shape so much I didn't stop to think of it.  Good thing there is plenty of sunlight left!

Photo Walk: Silhouette and Sun Flare

Mackenzie and I had a very nice time practicing our technique on backlit subjects Tuesday night.  We discussed metering and how to expose for a subject properly if the background is brighter than the subject's face.  After that we went inside to practice silhouettes against a window (where the light would be directly behind our subject rather than above, as it as outside).  Finally, we talked a bit about sun flare, and practiced on the wind chimes outside.  To achieve sun flare, one must put the sun directly behind a subject, with a bit of light peeking out around it.  The higher the f/stop (meaning the larger the number), the more star-like the sun flare will appear.

f/22

f/3.5

I think having my UV filter on my lens added to the light spots that appear in both photos.  If I had thought of it, I would have removed it, although I don't mind the appearance of them in the shot!

Late Afternoon Light

Afternoon and early morning light gets progressively kinder the closer you are to sunrise and sunset.  In these photos, Hannah was in direct sun, around 3:30 pm, but I overexposed them to compensate for the shadows on her face and just dealt with the consequences of blown out highlights.

It's a matter of preference as far as lighting styles.  Brightness works for me.  You have to figure out what works for you!

Tricky Lighting: Backlit

I took these with my 50mm lens at approximately 6 pm in full sun.  It helps that the sun was lower to the horizon, but my subjects still had nowhere to hide.  I turned their backs to the sun, had my meter exposing for their faces, and recovered blown out highlights and lightened their faces in Lightroom after the fact.  

This is why metering is worth learning!

Tips For Better Bokeh

This is a really great, easy-to-understand explanation on bokeh, one of my favorite photographic tools.  Enjoy!

http://www.lightroompresets.com/blogs/pretty-presets-blog/6162048-bokeh-tips-and-tricks

Mother's Day

I played with light yesterday and it was a lot of fun! I hadn't yet figured out metering on my camera yet so these are without any adjustments.

Tricky Lighting: Full Sun

Full sun is not a photographer's friend, but Saturday afternoon I had Emmy all to myself, a green field, a kite., and my camera.  Any shots captured would be worth the inherent flaws.

Yes, she was squinty and the shadows were harsh, but the photos feel worth it.  Don't miss the moment because of tricky lighting!  Embrace the full sun!