Thursday, March 11, 2010

Back to the lesson plan....

So, I've neglected the 12 week photography lesson plan lately and wanted to get back to them as many of you found those posts helpful. We left off on achieving balance between your camera's ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. Then we spoke briefly about the color of light (white balance). Today, we will talk a little bit about flash.
Sometimes your environment isn't condusive to proper lighting and no matter what you do no three combinations of your pyramid will give you the results you need. That leaves you only one option... using your flash. Not so terrible, but if used improperly, your images won't turn out the way you want them to. Here are a few pointers for using flash indoors:

1. Consider Distance - keep your subjects 5-6 feet away from walls/backgrounds. If they are too close you will get harsh shadows. Stand 5-6 feet away from your subject. If you are too close the flash will bounce/reflect off of your subject causing a washed out look.

2. Consider Surfaces - Glass, shiny or mirrored surfaces will cause glare in your photos.

3. Red Eye - to avoid it have your subject look slightly over your shoulder. The angle is just enough to avoid reflection and it will still look like they are looking straight at the camera.

Finally, consider using your flash outdoors. "Fill" flash is actually your normal flash. Even when you think your environment has enough light, using your flash will fill-in shadows or poorly lit areas of your photo that you may not otherwise notice. It helps "pop" colors on grey wintery days.

I will post an example tomorrow of "fill" flash as this isn't used as often because we assume the lighting we have is good enough for proper exposure.  I want to give you a good example of this and would prefer showing you via an outdoor photo.  Seeing that it is already 8:30pm we won't be able to do this tonight!  Come back tomorrow to see what I come up with....

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