PHOTOGRAPHING THE SUN

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.

I took this photo last week while walking through the woods. In this day of digital manipulation, I have witnesses to attest that this is exactly what we saw in the sky! It was a magnificent "sundog", a ring around the sun that happens on rare occasions.

When photographing the sun, for any reason, here are a few tips:

1. Manually focus your lens to infinity. The brightness of the sun may confuse your autofocus sensors.

2. Set your exposure to Aperture Priority, and underexpose the photo by using your Exposure Compensation +/- dial. The camera's exposure computer will automatically underexpose the photo anyway, as a result of the incredibly bright sun. However, for more dramatic effect, you can use your exposure compensation to varying degrees.

3. Do not look at the sun through your camera viewfinder, as this can cause eye damage. Wear sunglasses, compose and shoot quickly.

4. You can experiment with different white balance settings (for digital) or colored filters (for film). Each change in color temperature offers a different emotion for the viewer.

5. Caution: I have experienced first-hand certain digital SLR's that have a very difficult time handling the extreme brightness of direct sunlight. If the resulting photo looks extremely off, without smooth tonal gradations, it may be best not to submit your camera's sensor to such abuse.

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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

EASY INTERIOR 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.

It is my desire that these weekly lessons be profitable for photographers who want to make the leap from amateur to professional, but do not as of yet have the funds to buy all the necessary equipment. In this lesson I will show a very simple way to get decent interior photography results with minimal equipment.

Two weeks ago I was asked by a client to help create an ad campaign that involved teenagers doing unwanted housework. While I used studio strobes for this shoot, I could have just as easily used the following inexpensive set-up:

(The first step is to make sure you have a removable camera flash, also called a speedlight. You will also need a very long extension PC Synch cord from your local camera store. Purchase the longest one possible. If your camera doesn't have a PC terminal, ask your camera store clerk for a hot shoe PC terminal adaptor)

1. Using a tripod, compose the photo so window light is acting as the main light source hitting the subject matter. Take a test photo and make sure the subject is well exposed.
2. On a piece of paper, write down the exposure of the photo that you just took (f-stop and shutter speed).
3. Change your camera exposure mode to manual, and use the same shutter and aperture numbers that are written down on your piece of paper.
4. Connect your external camera flash to the PC extension cord, and have a friend place it behind the subject at a fair distance. Do a test shot to make sure the flash fires when the picture is taken.
5. At this point, there is only one variable for exposure, and that is the power of the flash unit. Since your camera is in Manual mode, the majority of the exposure will remain the same from picture to picture. The flash exposure however, may be either too bright, or not bright enough. Ask your friend to increase or decrease the power of the flash unit until the back of the subject is evenly exposed.
6. As you can see in my example photo, the uni-directional back light of the flash unit is balanced well with the frontal window light. Because the flash unit from behind is usually harsh and direct, you will get shadows similar to the one created by the roll of paper towels. I like this look, as it creates a "sharp" and contrasty look to the photo, which is usually required for commercial jobs.

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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

MONOCHROME PHOTOS

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.

A few tips for creating black and white, or monochrome images:

1. Use Black and White film!
2. If option #1 is not available, set your camera to maximum contrast.
3. Choose a scene that has as few visual elements as possible. The simpler the scene, the more power will be transmitted to the viewer.
4. Keep your photo in color, and create your black and white later within your editing program. You will have many more tonal options within your software, and possibly better quality, than using the "Black and White" option within your camera itself.
5. Turn off Auto ISO in your camera. Because of excessive digital grain (noise) inherent in black and white conversions, it is very important to keep your camera ISO setting at its lowest number (ISO 100 or 200).
6. Shoot in RAW mode if possible. This goes for all types of photography. RAW files allow for maximum flexibility, and if mistakes are made by you in processing, you can always return to the master digital negative.

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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

NIKON D300

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.

I don't usually mention specific brands on this blog, but one noteworthy product deserves special mention: the Nikon D300.

I bought one just a few days ago to use as a back-up camera body. I didn't expect anything great, just normal Nikon dependability.

My family and friends went to a picnic yesterday, and I took the camera to photograph the kids. I wanted to see how well the camera dealt with skin tones using the on-camera flash. I don't ever use such flashes in studio, but for travel photography situations I often wished my pro camera body had a pop-up flash to capture fleeting, low light opportunities (Geisha in Kyoto come to mind). The D300 is amazing! I have no idea how they were able to do it, but the small pop-up flash creates fill light better than workhorses such as the D2Xs with a Nikon SB800 speedlight. I was very impressed with how well the camera judges exposure.

Usual problem areas with flash photography are blown-out foreheads, noses, and chins. This has always been a problem for editorial or event photographers, as they are almost always using a flash unit attached to the camera. Each flash photo that I took with the D300 was perfectly exposed; no bright foreheads or noses, and the background was always well balanced with the foreground subject matter. When I got home and checked all the images, my first thought was that (among many others), this was a great camera for travel, news, and event photographers. It is light-weight, fast, and exposes intelligently in full AUTO mode.

One of the secrets to creating such a well-balanced photograph is the optional Active D-Lighting. When this is enabled the camera underexposes the photo slightly, to avoid over-exposed highlights on a person's face. It then immediately overexposes the darker areas to create an evenly lit scene.

Some could argue that this is replicable in Photoshop. It is, to an extent. I found however that the D300 does a better job of boosting the shadow area than Photoshop's tools, such as the Shadow/Highlight slider. One could also say that the results of the D300's Active D-Lighting are the same as setting other cameras on Low Contrast. Not so . . . the D300's Active D-Lighting still maintains an acceptable amount of contrast, whereas the Low Contrast setting on other cameras yields a bland, washed-out photograph.

As I am only three days into the camera, I still have much to discover. At this point, at $1800 I believe that for digital SLR's, it is the best value for the dollar.

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