FRESH SNOWFALL

Dear reader, if this entry or my other blog entries don't answer your specific photography questions, you can call me on the phone anytime for advice by clicking here.

Today's entry is not so much an instruction, but more of an encouragement to get out of bed early the next time you have a winter storm! If you are living in a southern climate, you are at this moment missing out on a cold snowy day . . .

The best conditions for winter photos are early morning after a storm. The mornings are usually calm, which means the snow will still be resting on the tree branches. If the sun is out, you will be guaranteed excellent images. The early morning sun will warm up the image, and will provide a welcoming and happy feel to your photos.

If it is still cloudy when you start shooting, my suggestion is to use a blue filter mixed with a slight soft focus filter. If you are a digital shooter set your white balance to Indoor Lightbulb setting, which will give you a blueish image, then apply the Guassian Blur filter. This combination will produce a more dreamy, wonderland style of photo.

Regardless of the type of sky you have, early morning fresh snowfall images are always fun to create.

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

BLOWN OUT HIGHLIGHTS

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While I love this photo that I took of a Japanese bride, I didn't realize until after that the white highlights were blown out. When this happens detail is lost, as there is no other tonal information except pure white. Pure white does not allow for any adjustments; all ability to adjust tonal values is lost.

There are a number of ways to correct for this, but one way is to do two exposures utilizing a tripod. If the subject has dark skin and is wearing very light clothing, try the following technique:

1. Ask the model to remain perfectly still.
2. Take your first image with a proper exposure of the face.
3. Reduce your exposure, and quickly take a 2nd photo exposed for the bright clothing. Make sure there are no extremely white highlights (unless you purposefully want pure white).
4. In Photoshop or another image editing program that allows you to layer a photograph, place both images together, resulting in a two-layered image.
5. Click on the Eraser tool, and start erasing either the clothing, or the face, depending on which layer is on top. Make sure the eraser is Feathered for a soft erase.
6. If you find it doesn't look right, try it again until you are confident in the process. If your tripod was sturdy, and your model was still, you should have a perfectly registered, and well exposed image.

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

LENS BABY

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No, the blur on this photo is not done with Photoshop, or vaseline. It was from a special lens called "Lens Baby". It is a flexible bellows lens that was based on the old lenses used at the turn of the century. The nice thing about this lens is that you can choose the location of sharp focus, and the rest of the image will be a pleasing blur.

I was a bit skeptical of this lens at first, but I thought I would try it out on a trip to Hungary that I took a few years ago. I was so thoroughly impressed with it that the whole trip was photographed with the Lens Baby!

The Lens Baby is available at most large camera stores. If you can't find one, do a search and you will find the company's website.

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

MIXED LIGHTING

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If you are asked to do a commercial assignment inside a building, such as this image of a hospital lab, always look around to see what kind of lights are being used.

The most common lights are normal household incandescent and fluorescent. When shooting interiors, especially when people are present, it is very important to have only one type of lighting turned on. Sometimes this may be impossible, but the results will be far better with a single color temperature light source.

Say for example you had flourescent tube lights and standard house light bulbs turned on in the same room. When you take the photo, the room would be a mix of greenish light (from the fluorescent bulbs) and orange/yellow light (from the household bulbs). This light mixture is very unflattering, especially for skin tones.

The solution is to have only one light source. The best option is to have studio strobe lights to illuminate the interior. However, if you don't have the cash to purchase studio lights, use just one type of lighting in the room. Your camera has a white balance that you should set to either tungsten light bulb (household lights) or fluorescent tube lights, often found in businesses. I took this image inside the hospital using studio strobes, which are balanced for daylight, or approximately 5600 degrees on the Kelvin temperature scale.

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Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

BALANCING THE LIGHT

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When photographing very large interiors, where using strobes or other lights are impossible, it is best to wait until evening to get the right balance of exterior and interior light.

Even though it looks like a bright midday sky outside of this building, it was actually quite dim outside, after sunset. The reason the windows look nice and bright is because of a long exposure. The interior lights were low to begin with, so I waited until the interior lights matched the light levels from outside. The end result is a balanced photo that looks bright and clean.

The only drawback to this is that people will be blurred because of the slow shutter speed. In this instance, at the Tokyo International Forum building, it worked to my advantage.

If you don't completely understand this process, try it with your own living room. Set your camera on a tripod, and keep photographing until the exterior window light matches your interior house lights. You will find that balanced light is very attractive, and looks more natural than using an on-camera flash.

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

AFTER DUSK PHOTOS

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This Laurentian village scene was a request by one of my clients, and as many times that I tried to capture it in the daytime (even Golden Hour!), it just didn't seem to work.

Being a big fan of night photography, we set up the tripod when it was almost completely dark, and let the shutter stay open for an extended period of time. The result was a peaceful, calm mountain scene, thanks to the unique quality of late evening light.

Our eyes are not good judges of how a late evening or early morning photo will turn out. It must be learned through trial and error, using long exposures and a steady tripod. Don't forget to use your self-timer to release the shutter!

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

SKIN TONE

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If you are just starting out using studio strobes, and are having problems getting accurate skin tones, you might be better off using a Kelvin white balance instead of Auto white balance.

Auto white balance is often quite good at judging proper color temperatures, however it has its limitations, especially when there are people in a group with different skin tones. If your camera has the ability to adjust the Kelvin temperature (check your manual), you will do well to set the white balance to approximately 5600 K. Most strobes differ slightly in their own daylight colors, however if you experiment with 5500 K to 5800 K, you will be able to find out the best combination for your camera and studio strobes.

If you are not getting into studio photography, but use a normal on-camera flash, you too can enjoy the accuracy of the Kelvin white balance. Simply set it to 5600 K whenever you are doing flash photography, and your photos will probably turn out better than you expect.

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY

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When in a different country photographing city-scapes, the first and easiest subjects to photograph are the buildings. Night city photography can be exciting in places like Times Square or Shinjuku Tokyo. However, when you photograph objects that are immovable, such as skycrapers or neon signs, there is a potential for the image to become static (far too still and stationary).

To move your images from static to dynamic, why not add an element of movement? Spend the time to get your tripod out, and include in the foreground moving people or moving cars. Your exposure will be long, so a tripod is essential, and even better is the use of a cable or remote shutter release.

By adding movement to your city photographs you have just increased the value of your images tenfold.

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

CITY SCAPES

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Many large cities have top-floor observatories where you can see the city from an aerial view. Tokyo is no exception, with many options for viewing the world's largest city.

Although I have talked about photographing through windows in a past lesson, it was from the outside of a window looking in. This lesson deals with the opposite.

When you are at an observatory, you will need to use a tripod and a lens hood. If your lens does not have a built-in hood, you can make one out of black construction paper. Your goal is to eliminate all interior light shining between your lens and the window pane. So place the lens as close to the glass as possible, and if necessary, use a jacket or other dark fabric to completely surround the lens.

When you feel that you have no reflected light between the glass and the lens, you can take the shot. If the window is dirty, focus your lens to infinity, and use a small F-number. If the window pane is clean, focus to infinity and use an F-8 aperture.

This photo of Shinjuku, Tokyo was taken by me a few days ago from the Park Hyatt hotel bar. This was the bar where much of the shooting took place for the film "Lost in Translation", by Sofia Coppola.

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Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

TEXTURE PHOTOS

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Most of the photographs that people take have a subject and a background. Even if there are multiple subjects in the image, there will usually be a separation between the subjects and the (preferably) subservient background.

Texture-style photos are different however. They have no subject nor a background . . . the only defining element to these images are color variations, and a multitude of small and uniform objects. In the case of this foliage photo that I took last week, the small and uniform objects are the individual leaves.

The key to getting good texture shots is to back up, and allow a lot of the scenery into the camera lens. The individual objects (leaves) should be small enough so that they lose their identity amongst their neighbors. The result is a painterly image, often inducing calm and tranquility in the viewer.

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VIBRATION REDUCTION

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I was doing a job last week for a major ski and golf resort, set in the beautiful Laurentian Mountains in Quebec. While walking around the various properties we came across a family of deer. We were at a distance such that a 200mm zoom lens was required, and luckily it was already on my camera.

You may have noticed that the longer your lens is zoomed to, the shakier your photos become when not using a tripod. This can really be demonstrated by looking through a telescope; one minor vibration of the tripod, and the whole celestial scene shakes for a few seconds! For wildlife photography, using a tripod is usually not convenient, so the latest solution is to purchase an Image Stabilizing lens, or sometimes called a Vibration Reduction lens.

Even though the sample photo of the deer seems nice and bright, my shutter speed was slow enough that the photo would have been shaky and blurry. I turned on the image stabilizing feature on my lens, and immediately the scene became stable, and I was able to get a sharp photo. Although I am not an expert on the mechanics of vibration reduction, my understanding is that a gyroscope with sensors tells the lens to move the opposite direction of your camera shake, thus canceling the unwanted movement. These corrective lens movements happen in milliseconds . . . incredible technology!

Although more expensive than normal zoom lenses, if you enjoy nature or sports photography, an image stabilizing lens might be a worthwhile investment. Depending on the brand, they often go by the names IS (Image Stabilizing Lens) and VR (Vibration Reduction Lens).

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

EXTERIORS

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Have you ever wanted to take a photo of a building, or maybe your own house, but when you got the photo back the sky was pure white instead of blue? The reason for this exposure problem is that the sun is not shining on the side of the building that is being photographed.

If the sun is shining behind the building, the camera needs to increase the exposure in order to take the building "out of the shadows". By increasing the exposure, the blue sky becomes white, or over-exposed.

The most natural looking solution to this problem is to photograph the building when the sun is illuminating the the side that you are photographing (often morning or evening light). Because the house will be bright and well lit, the camera will not need to increase the exposure. This will result in a nice deep blue sky, and a well exposed building.

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

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HAPPY ACCIDENTS

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There have been many times when during a photo shoot, it is the test shots that turn out the best. Most often it is because the models aren't conscious of the need to start performing. In this case, the woman in this photo was my assistant, and we were getting the studio ready for a photo shoot. Prior to any photo sessions, I always get my assistants to stand in so I can test my lights. When I saw the results of the test photo, and the mystery that it conveyed, I immediately knew that this test image would be far better than the results of the real photo shoot, and I could probably not duplicate the results anyway. So during the real photo session we worked with other studio set-ups.

What I learned from this experience is that it is wise to avoid deleting photos in-camera, at least until after they are all loaded into your computer. There could be many jems that may not look good on your tiny 3 inch screen, but may be great on your much larger computer monitor.

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

HOW TO FOCUS

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If you are photographing any type of room or interior, and would like to get as much of the room in focus as possible, try this:

Set your camera on a tripod, and compose your picture. Now, walk away from the camera into the room and divide up the room into "thirds". Between the camera and the far end of the room you should be able to estimate where to mentally divide up the space into 1/3 distances. For example, if your interior space from the camera to the far wall is 30 feet deep, find the location on the floor (or a piece of furniture) that is 10 feet away from the camera. This section is "one third" of the total depth of the room.

Go back to your camera, and now manually focus the lens to that place on the floor, or that piece of furniture that is (as in our example) 10 feet away from you. Now re-compose you picture, set your lens aperture number to f8 or f11 (Aperture Priority setting), and take the shot. Your resulting image should have the most even amount of foreground and background sharpness.

Other tips: f8 and f11 are usually the sharpest lens apertures. If you need the maximum depth of field possible, go to f22 or the highest aperture number that your lens is capable of. The trade-off is that the final image may not be as sharp as the same image taken at f8.

When doing interiors, always use your self-timer. The shake of your finger on the shutter button will compromise image sharpness. Instead of waiting the full 10 seconds for the shutter to be released, see if your camera allows for a 2 or 5 second self timer.

Finally, make sure your camera is set to Manual Focus. After you have focused on your "1/3" location, you don't want the camera to focus on some other location as soon as you take the photo (which it will do, if the camera remains on Auto Focus).

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

BACKGROUND CLUTTER

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This posting is short and simple; always be conscious of what background elements are directly behind the subject's face. During this photo shoot the coffee table was positioned such that the books were behind the model's nose and mouth, which was very distracting. By moving the background out of the way (or by moving your own position) you can create more open, uncluttered background space for the subject.

There are many people who have a good eye for composition, but when they get their photos back the images are far too busy. Before you take the photo, always scan the background, and make sure it is as minimal as possible. Also try to have the background slightly out of focus as well, as this aids in directing the viewer's attention to the subject.

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

FRONT LIGHTING

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I am a great fan of back lighting, and I seem to use the technique on most photo shoots. Front lighting, however, is very necessary and effective for certain subjects.

One of the most dramatic uses of front lighting (when a light source illuminates the front of a subject) is when you are photographing flowers on a cloud-less day. As in the attached sample photo of the sunflower that I photographed last week, the early morning sun was creating a far brighter subject (flower), than the background (blue sky). As I reduced my exposure of the sunflower the results were a continually deeper and richer blue sky.

Front lighting has the effect of making backgrounds darker. This is especially true if the background is at a great distance from the subject. Regardless what the subject is, because it is closer to the light source it will receive a majority of the light, and only a small percentage will reach the background. Use this to your advantage by choosing backgrounds that will compliment the subject matter. In this case the dark blue background works very well with the yellow flower, as the two colors are opposite on the color wheel, and the darker tones of the background sky accentuate the flower’s details.

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

COLOR WASH

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If you have ever wondered how nature photographers get that nice 'color wash' in their nature photos, here is how it is done:

Make sure your f-number (aperture) is the lowest possible for your particular lens. Then crawl around in the grass until you find the right scene, and then place foreground flowers DIRECTLY ON YOUR LENS. Don't be afraid if the flowers actually touch the glass.

Experimentation is very important; sometimes the technique works, and other times it doesn't. The soft color cast is dependent on how much of the grass or flowers touch the lens, and what color the flowers are. Try a few different positions, and eventually you will get a shot similar to the above sample photo.

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

WINTER PHOTOGRAPHY

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Don't be mad at me for mentioning winter in the middle of August! Today's blog entry should probably be a beach scene instead, but I have a great fondness for winter photography, so hear it is: the best time to get great winter shots is very early morning after a snowstorm of the previous evening. The conditions are usually excellent; the wind has died down overnight, and the fresh snow stays on the trees. There will also be a cool blue color cast to the sky and ground, which visually benefits the image.

The best tip I can give you for doing early morning winter photography is this: if the atmosphere does not have enough 'blue' color cast, use a light blue filter, or place your digital camera's white balance dial on the "indoor light bulb" setting. Both of these options will punch up the blue color cast, and give you a far more dramatic image. Why? Because color in landscapes is usually more visually dynamic than overcast gray (assuming your intentions are for a color image, not black and white).

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS

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This photo, taken at Hanguk Minsokchon, in South Korea, always makes me smile. It was a very hot day; 40 degrees celcius, and one woman was fanning the other. The whole time I was there they were laughing, talking, and having a great time with each other. I decided to just sit and take in the surroundings, and only when I got up to leave did I snap a quick shot, more for the sake of remembering the lovely scene.

When in another country, try to follow these guidelines and you will enjoy your trip much more:

1. During your pre-trip planning, never give yourself a quota of photos that you need to accomplish. If you do, you will be met with unnecessary frustration.

2. A slower pace yields greater results than a faster pace.

3. Do not be a "taker". Give back to your host country in any manner, and you will have contributed to your own learning.

4. Photographers who continually look for the ill in different cultures have nothing to contribute to the world. For your own sake (and everyone else's), do not be one of these parasites.

5. Food is one of the world's foremost forms of communion. When invited to share a meal, whenever possible, eat whatever is given to you. This will be your way of recognizing and celebrating the intrinsic value of the other person.

6. Go out of your way to make friends. Even if your time is limited, you will enjoy the exchange for many years after the actual event.

7. Finally, it is a sign of respect to be able to say a few words in the host country's language. Even if they understand English, saying , 'hello', 'goodbye', and 'thank you' in their own language will be a sign that you value them.

Finally, flexible people have a great advantage over uptight people. Flexible people can bend and twist around adversity. If you have trouble dealing with change, and the unknown, it may be best for you to start your travel photography closer to home. However, each time out you will have more experience dealing with unfamiliar locations.

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

SHALLOW DEPTH OF FIELD

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Most lenses that come with a camera are consumer lenses, meaning that they are priced to be competitive and affordable. These lenses can have perfectly fine optics, but they suffer from a lack of shallow depth of field. Your lens has "f" numbers that relate to the changeable size of the circular aperture blades. A wide circle allows a lot of light into the camera, and a small circle reduces the amount of light entering the camera.

A "fast" lens refers to lenses that have small f-numbers, such as f1.4, f1.8, or f2.8. These lenses, although often more expensive than your normal lenses, have the benefit of offering the photo a very shallow depth of field. The above example photo was taken with a 50mm f1.4 lens. Part of its pleasant nature is the fact that the background is out of focus. If your lens has f4.5 as its smallest f-number, the background may remain somewhat in-focus, thus reducing the photos visual impact.

Not everyone can afford 'fast' lenses, as they are professional models and can be more than $1000. However, why not start out with a used 50mm f1.4, or a 85mm f1.8 lens? These prime lenses will increase the value of your photos in two ways: they will be sharper than your consumer zoom lenses, and they will offer a much shallower depth of field (which means more background blur).

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

EVENING LIGHT

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If you have access to a field or meadow, wait until just before sunset to get a nice soft wash of golden light. The process is very easy; just place the lens slightly lower than the direct sun. In other words, if you raised the camera a little bit, the sun would be shining directly into the lens. The soft, golden look comes partly from lens flare, which in this case is actually desirable.

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SCENIC BACKLIGHTING

Backlighting is when the light source is pointing toward the camera, and the main subject is in shadow because the light source is hitting the subject's back. You can create very dramatic landscape photos in early evening if the landscape includes water. Set your digital camera to High Contrast, or use slide film, and make sure the sun is illuminating the rear of the subject, in this case, the island.

Exposure probably won't be too difficult, as the extreme highlights of the reflective water and the dark shadows of the land will often give an accurate average exposure meter reading. Still, it is always best to take a few photos of the same scene, at different exposures. This image was taken in the South Shore of Nova Scotia, an area rich in photographic subject matter.

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GRAPHIC IMAGES

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If you have ever heard of the term "graphic image" applied to a photograph, you are probably looking at an image that is bold, minimal, possibly abstract, and strong in its compositional framing. This type of image usually doesn't tell a story as it is more for attention grabbing; because of these photos are often well suited for advertising photography.

When deciding on a certain subject matter and crop, look for bold colors, or high contrast if the image is black and white. Often symmetrical compositions work well, or the utilization of geometric shapes such as triangles, squares, and circles.

To make your image more marketable, allow for a lot of empty space for the addition of text. My example above of a Lunenburg building has plenty of empty space, thus making it a good choice for a magazine cover shot. Speaking off magazines, remember that vertical compositions are sometimes preferred . . . make sure you take two photos of everything, one horizontal and one vertical. You will then have the choice if an editor needs a few different options.

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LOOK FOR NARRATIVES

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When doing street photography, it is not good enough to just capture people within their environment . . . anyone can do that. Continually look for interaction between people, or a situation that suggests some form of narrative between the subjects. If you look at the history of street and editorial photography, you will see that the classic images all have the above mentioned elements.

In the example photo, the merchant has a pleading look on his face, hoping that the passing man and boy will stop to make a purchase. If the viewer senses tension in the photo, then the photographer has done his or her job. Viewers of street photography want to see emotion and tension. Resolution is rarely present, as a photograph is only one still frame; it is the job of the filmmaker to allow a street narrative to have a conclusion. Indeed, many of the best films seem to be extensions (in both directions) of a single photograph.

I took this photo in the famous Market district of Ueno, Tokyo, using my favorite film, Kodak T-Max 3200. Email this Blog to a friend! To see more photographs by Mark Hemmings, click here

SINGLE LIGHT SOURCES

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If you don't have access to a photo studio with strobe lights, but you do have an external flash with a long sync chord, try the following set-up:

1. Hang a piece of black velvet fabric on a wall, in a fairly dark room. Pin a flower onto the fabric. Roses work well.
2. Place your camera on a tripod, and focus on the flower.
3. You will need to find a way to hang a white bed sheet directly behind you.
4. Attached to a flash synch chord (available at camera stores) to your external flash, and place the flash about 2 or 3 feet behind the white bed sheet. The easiest way to have the flash unit secure is to place it on a second tripod, or get a friend to hold it.

To summarize the set-up:
Black velvet hanging on a wall with flower pinned to it
Camera
Photographer
White bed sheet behind photographer
Flash unit a few feet behind bed sheet

The flash unit should be directed so that the light is hitting the back of the photographer (albeit through the bed sheet). The goal is to only allow perimeter light to hit the subject. Your own body acts as a light blocker, keeping the strongest light away from the subject. Place the flash unit on its fullest output setting, and take some test shots. You should end up with a nice softly-lit image, as it is only the softer light that comes from around your upper body that will illuminate the flower.

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NON-STATIC PHOTOS

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If you have been to New York city, no doubt you have visited the iconic landmark, Rockefeller Plaza. This location has been in countless movies, and always makes for interesting people photography. This lesson has to do with the importance of movement in a photo, and how to technically achieve such an end.

This image would not have nearly as much drama if the people were frozen in action. The figures needed a very slight motion blur to suggest movement, taking the image from a static to a dynamic state. Since every moving subject will be traveling at a different speed, it is impossible for me to suggest accurate shutter speed and aperture settings, so it is best to experiment with a few different exposures. Put your camera on a tripod, lock it tight, and start photographing.

If you find that the people are blurry beyond all recognition, then speed up the shutter speed. Conversely, if they are still frozen in place, the shutter speed needs to be a bit slower. Depending on the speed of the subject, 1/2 second exposures are a good starting point for this process.

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NIGHT PORTRAITS

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Even though this image is exposed normally, there is something about the quality of the light that tells you it was a night shot. If you are living in a city with traditional or old architecture, try doing portraits using the artificial ambient light that comes from streetlights and other sources. I have found that slight camera shake or lens blur adds a Romantic quality to the image that seems to be absent when the shot is in perfect register.

This photograph was taken in Hungary, which is blessed with Baroque, Art Nouveau, and Secessionist architectural styles. However you don’t have to travel to Europe for this type of image. Doors in old buildings seem to work well, as a door is an iconic image that is rich in metaphor, and is understood worldwide in poetic and philosophical terms. Try a few shots without a tripod and slight defocus. If the results are un-usably shaky, try a monopod or a tripod with a loose ballhead. Sepia toned B&W film seems to work well with these images, or if you are a digital shooter Photoshop has a sepia tone Action that you can play around with.

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HIGH CONTRAST

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If you are using only natural window light and want to get a high contrast look for your portrait, black fabric will do the trick. The best material is black velvet, which seems to "soak up" the light, as velvet does not reflect any light back toward its source.

Simply hang or pin any type of black material as close to the subject as possible. Obviously you will not want the material to be in the photo, but just at the edge. If you want to see how much difference this technique makes, take two photos, one with, and one without the black material.

To increase the contrast even more, use high contrast film, or set your digital camera to its highest contrast setting. Keep in mind that extreme contrast portraits are usually best for fine art photography. If you are doing a portrait session for a normal paying client, it may be best to do it with a more traditional method.

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DEPTH OF FIELD

Dear reader, if this entry or my other blog entries don't answer your specific photography questions, you can call me on the phone anytime for advice by clicking here.

Low Depth of Field means that only a small "sliver" of the picture will be in focus, and the remaining parts of the picture space will be softly out-of-focus. This is very helpful for People photography, as long as the point of focus is always the subjects eyes.

There are two main ways to obtain low depth of field. Purchase a 50mm f1.8 lens, and set the lens to f1.8. Focus on the subject's eyes, and everything else should go out of focus. The closer the camera is to the subject, the greater the effect.

If you currently only have a zoom lens that came with your camera, you can still get a good effect without buying a new lens. Set the zoom lens to the longest setting, such a 200mm, and the f-stop at its lowest number, such as f5.6. Similar to the 50mm lens, the closer the camera is to the subject, the greater the effect. You may need to use a tripod however when using such a long lens. The longer the focal length, the greater the chance of camera shake.

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AIRPLANE WINDOWS

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This was touched on a few weeks ago in a similar blog, but it is worth repeating. When flying in an airplane make sure you place your camera as close to the window as possible when taking pictures. Place a blanket or other fabric around the lens so no interior light is hitting the window where you are photographing, and place your lens aperture at the lowest f-number. You can often get spectacular images in aircraft, especially during sunrise and sunset over the clouds.

It may be hard to see, but Mt. Fuji is peaking up through the clouds!

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Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

SCALE AND PERSPECTIVE

Dear reader, if this entry or my other blog entries don't answer your specific photography questions, you can call me on the phone anytime for advice by clicking here.

Today's blog entry is very short, but effective. When photographing large-scale scenes, whether they are natural or man made, it is important to include a reference point (such as humans) to give the viewer a sense of scale. As camera lenses do not give a 100% accurate representation of reality, it helps to either include background subject matter of a known scale, or additional foreground elements that the viewer can make spatial judgments from. In this case, the people in front of the falls show the scale of the waterfall.

I took this photo at Montmorency Falls, near Quebec City. Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

TELEPHOTO COMPRESSION

Dear reader, if this entry or my other blog entries don't answer your specific photography questions, you can call me on the phone anytime for advice by clicking here.

If you are interested in learning how to take good sports photos, try using a zoom or telephoto lens at around 200mm. These long lenses have a tendency to "compress" an image, making depth of field changes more prominent, as well as giving the image much more drama. Another benefit to long lenses are the compositional possibilities; you can usually get rid of distracting background information because the subject usually fills the entire picture space.

The downside to long lenses are few, but keep these in mind:
1. You will need a tripod, as the longer the zoom, the shakier the images can become.
2. The longer the lens, the quicker the focusing will need to be. This is either the camera's autofocus, or your own focusing.
3. You may need to increase the ISO to freeze the action of the moving subjects.
4. An f2.8 zoom lens is ideal for sports photography, but these are very expensive. A cheaper but high quality option is the 180mm or 200mm f2.8 telephoto lens (non zoom). You can buy them used for good prices, and the quality is excellent.

I took this photo at a bike race in Burlington, Vermont.

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

NIGHT ILLUMINATION

Dear reader, if this entry or my other blog entries don't answer your specific photography questions, you can call me on the phone anytime for advice by clicking here.

This is a photo of my first vehicle, a very enjoyable (and expensive to operate) Dodge camper van. I was out doing night photography a long time ago and decided to take a picture of the van, in case it ever died or was driven off a cliff in frustration. As it was a cloudless night, the moon provided all the light that I needed for my vehicular portrait. If you would like to see the world in a completely different way, set your camera up on a tripod (on a cloudless night), and do a long exposure photo of whatever subject you desire. Your exposure may be a few minutes, but the results are worth it. Even though moonlight is a similar color temperature as the sun, it is a very different quality of light, which will be evident in your final image.

If you are unsure of how to do a long exposure with your camera, click here for a previous blog post that dealt with star trail photography. Have fun!

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

WIDE ANGLE LENSES

Dear reader, if this entry or my other blog entries don't answer your specific photography questions, you can call me on the phone anytime for advice by clicking here.

If the above photo looks exaggerated in scale, it's because I photographed the dandelion with a wide angle lens. The distortion caused by such lenses are usually unwanted; stretched, fat-looking faces, and an untruthful expansion of interior spaces are a few examples. However when it comes to nature photography, the exaggerated results from a wide angle lens shot close to the subject can result in very interesting images. Simply get as close to the subject as your focusing will allow, and you will find the lens distortion adds to the picture. It really helps (as in the above photo) if you subject "trails off" into the background, which creates a feeling of even more depth. Anything wider than a 35mm lens should do the trick!

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com