When shooting portraits in brightly lit situations outdoors it can be very handy to have a reflector on hand to assist you in ensuring that your photo is well exposed.
The challenge with outdoor portraits is how to ensure that your subject’s face is well lit. Often you’ll get harsh shadows in areas which don’t have direct light on them. Such shadows create dead patches in your image and can actually cause certain facial features to be accentuated in non flattering ways.
Commonly it is the undersides of a face that is the problem area in outdoor portraits (under the chin, nose etc).
Using a reflector helps with this by reflecting available light into those areas of your subjects face that would be in shadow without it. Quite often the best place for one is below your subjects face reflecting light back up into those dark under-spots.
The most obvious place to try out a reflector is outside but don’t write them off for indoor shooting. I find that they are particularly handy in those shots you take indoors next to windows where there is some natural light, but not quite enough to shoot without a flash. Introduce reflector into these situations and you will often find that a flash is not needed at full strength (if at all).
Reflectors generally come in two colours, silver and gold. Each gives off a different light, silver ones giving a bright and whiter reflection and gold giving a warmer and more subtle light.
To use a reflector you’ll usually want to get it pretty close to your subject - without getting it in the shot. Place your subject so that they are not looking directly into the sun (I like back or side light) and then position the reflector so that it’s glow bounces back up to light up your subject’s face. You’re ideally looking for a nice even light with no shadows so keep positioning the reflector until you achieve this (an assistant can be handy with this - although if your shot is more tightly cropped you might even be able to get the reflector positioned in your subjects lap).
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Darren, thanks for your recent articles on aperture and shutter speed, they were really interesting. My problem is that I have a point and shoot camera that doesn’t have the ability to change aperture and shutter speed manually. I would especially like to have more control of aperture and depth of field - is there any way I can do this without upgrading my camera? Submitted by Susan.
Good question Susan - it’s one I’ve had a few times of late so you’re not alone as a Point and Shoot user wanting more control over your settings.
Really you have two main options.
1. Upgrade your camera
The first of these options is probably ideal if you want real control over the settings your camera uses for aperture and shutter speed. While you can do a few things to ‘trick’ your camera (see below) you’ll be limited in the exactness in the settings it will choose.
If you’re looking to upgrade you’ve got two main choices - a DSLR or another point and shoot with more manual control (read this tutorial on making the choice between DSLR and Point and Shoot cameras).
Probably the best bet if you’re after complete control (in more than just aperture and shutter speed) is to go for a DSLR which will let you add a variety of lenses, shoot in full manual mode (in most cases) and have lots of control over other elements such as ISO, white balance, exposure etc.
Alternatively look at a more advanced point and shoot. These days even some of the more basic point and shoot cameras coming onto the market come with manual or semi-manual control. If you go for a point and shoot look for something that at least has aperture priority or shutter priority modes.
Of course this option is going to cost you financially. If you don’t have the budget for this - read on.
2. Learn to live with your point and shoot and learn how to ‘trick it’ into doing what you want.
Ultimately you’ve got a digital camera that was designed largely to be used in Auto mode where it makes the decisions about what settings to choose.
Having said this - even the most basic entry level point and shoot digital cameras these days come with a variety of shooting modes which give you the photographer the ability to tell the camera what situation you’re shooting in and what type of photo you’re hoping to take.
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I love heading for the coast and every year I attempt to head there at least once for a little rest and relaxation (which generally involves at least a few hours of photography each day).
Coastlines present the photographer with a wonderful array of photographic possibilities ranging from people shots on a crowded summer beach to more landscape oriented shots with waves crashing, ragged cliff faces and moody skies.
Here are a few random tips for coastline landscape shots:
Find a Point of Interest
If there’s a tip I write on virtually every type of photography it is to find an interesting focal point for your shot. This is particularly important for coast line shots which can (if you’re not careful) be made up largely of sky and water. Of course there’s nothing wrong with sky or water - but unless you’ve got something in your frame to draw the eye of the person viewing your shots you’re unlikely to create something that holds their interest for long at all. Your focal point might be a physical aspect of the landscape (like a rock in the sea), it could be movement (like waves) or it could be some sort of texture or pattern (ripples in the water). Train your eye to see this way and you’ll create some great shots.
Look for Reflections
Whenever you’re around large bodies of water you introduce the element of reflections into your shots. These can make or break your shot, depending how you treat them so be very aware of their impact. If you want to eliminate reflections consider moving the position that you’re shooting from or using a polarising filter - however be aware that the reflections of a colorful sky or interesting rock formation can add depth and interest to your shots.
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If you’re anything like me, you love your digital photography and look forward to any opportunity to get out and about with your digital camera.
Vacations present you with wonderful opportunities for photography with lots of new sights, plenty of time to craft your shots and a more relaxed vibe which often unlocks creativity.
The only problem is those you’re vacationing with, your family and/or friends, might not share your passion for photography and will probably quickly tire of having to wait for you to line up the perfect shot of that perfect sunset or having to pose for 10 minutes while you set your aperture…. and set the tripod up….. and adjust your focal length….. and get the flash just right….. and…..
Of course holidays are times not only for hobbies like photography but are times for family and friends also - striking the balance between the two can be a challenge for some of us - but here are a 7 tips on how NOT to tip your family over with your photography on you next vacation:
- Get them involved - perhaps one of the best things I’ve seen done by a serious amateur photography with his family holiday was for him to buy a new point and shoot camera for each of his children. He presented them with their new cameras on day 1 of the holiday and instead of having to drag his kids out while he took photos they were begging him to do it more. Instilling a passion for photography in kids is not only a great way to get them to let you do it more, but more importantly it gives them skills that they’ll use for the rest of their lives. You might also find your own photography improves as you go back over the basics with them.
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A reader sent me an email this week telling me that they were having a few issues with exposure levels in their shots. Their LCD screen was small which didn’t help with analysing shots and they were consistently getting back to their PC to find that they’d overexposed shots.
While it’s difficult to give advice without seeing pictures or know settings - my reflections were that if I had the choice between consistently over or underexposing images I’d probably prefer to underexpose them.
If you’re in a tricky situation and you suspect your exposure might be out I’d advise you bracket your shots (most cameras have a function that will do this for you, taking shots quickly in succession at slightly different exposures).
However if bracketing wasn’t an option I’d go for a slightly underexposed shot rather than an overexposed one.
The reason for this is that it is easier to adjust an under exposed shot in photo editing software than to adjust an over exposed one. Under exposed shots still record most (if not all) of the detail of your shot (even though you can’t always see them) and with a little tweaking in photoshop you can bring them out.
On the other hand overexposed shots tend to record less of the detail and you end up with less to work with in your post processing of images.
Of course - ultimately you’d rather get your exposure just right when you actually take the picture - but if you’ve got access to some photo editing software to do some tweaking later on the underexposure will in most cases be easier to fix.
Here’s a quick tip to add a new dimension to your travel photography.
Look for and Photograph Signs
Last time we took an overseas trip (we travelled mainly through Turkey) I set myself the task of photographing the ‘little things’ that we saw along the way.
My hope was that in photographing ordinary, everyday aspects of the countries that we were travelling through that I’d capture the essence of the country.
One thing that I was drawn to photograph as we travelled was signs.
Of course I didn’t exclusively photograph signs - I took all the normal shots of people and sites along the way - but signs were a definite theme and ended up being a feature of the album of photos I showed friends and family on my return.
I photographed Street Signs, Shop Signs, Advertising Billboards, Town Signs and more.
Why do I like signs as a subject? A number of reasons come to mind. Here’s a few:
- Signs give your photos context - I used my sign photos like headings in my photo album. Each new phase of our trip was marked in the album with a sign so those viewing my photos knew where we were.
- Signs can be interesting subjects - I found that as I travelled that the signs themselves were often interesting subjects and said a lot about the place that they were in - ie whether the place was a modern or traditional one, whether it was a touristy place (often featuring lots of English) or whether it was a little more authentic (in the local language) etc
- Signs are universal yet individual - I loved comparing and contrasting the signs from different countries. On one hand they can be incredibly unique to a location but on the other hand they can often be quite familiar and surprisingly similar to what you see at home.
- Signs can be humorous - some of the funniest things that I’ve seen on trips have been on signs - whether it be a language difference humor, something that someone’s added to a sign, humorous billboards or a misspelt sign - the funny ones can add character to your collection of photos.
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