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

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.

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

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.

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

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 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.

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

BALANCING THE LIGHT

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.

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