Photography as Story Telling II

In a recent post, I talked about how the best photography often tells a story: it has depth and layers of interest.

My wife Becky snapped this photo the other evening of my youngest daughter. Though a casual snapshot, it tells a story, no? (The yarn under her chin, by the way, is the hair of a doll that my older daughter, Sarah, made for her sister a few year's ago, a doll that has become Mary's greatest source of comfort in times of trouble.)

P.S. Everything turned out okay, and the tooth fairy did in fact visit that night to claim Mary's first baby tooth. A bittersweet day for Mom and Dad.

The Moon

It walks the sky
cloudless, clear
the moon alone
- Ogiwara Seisensui

The moon rose full on an exceptionally clear night earlier this week. So, I pulled out the camera and snapped this shot. 70-200mm zoom at 200mm. Tripod. Remote switch and mirror lock. Cropped.

To get the detail in the moon, you have to underexpose significantly. So, I used the spot meter, underexposed by one stop, then two, then three, etc. until I got the detail I wanted.

But that's all technical mumbo jumbo. In the end, it's just the moon. Alone.

Window Light

Ah, window light. I'm a big fan, as anyone who spends much time with my photos can tell.

Why? Because typically it offers the best kind of lighting for portraits: soft and directional, creating that Vermeer-like quality in an image: the deep reflective eyes and warm skin tones. Lovely.

This photograph required almost no post-processing because the lighting was right where it should be, to my mind anyway, and the effect--while possible to duplicate with studio lighting--is soooo easily done without studio lighting (a big plus in my book).

The subject here is positioned close to an open window, at a little more than 90 degree angle from the light (one can experiment with that), with the light either reflected or filtered by a diffuser of some kind (here, high clouds). I also positioned a reflector at camera right, to throw a little light back on the shadowed side of the face. The idea there is to keep some detail in the shadows and prevent the contrast from becoming too sharp.

So, the challenge for the day is to attempt a portrait using window light, if you haven't yet. With low light levels, you'll likely need to either adjust the ISO to a higher setting and/or brace the camera with a tripod (ideally) or against a wall or other object (less ideal, but still works).

Happy shooting!

Vampire Eyes

A plea to all aspiring portrait photographers: please do not Photoshop your subject's eyes to the point he/she looks like a little vampire. It's creepy, and it's wrong. (Not to mention kitschy--like pink flamigos and garden gnomes.)

Just sayin' ...

The Two-Dollar Diffuser

Several months ago I wrote a post on reflectors and diffusers and explained how cheaply one can be made. For example, my diffuser cost maybe $2.00 and was constructed from a junk store screen and cheap plastic.

Anyway, I thought I'd post two recent examples. Dads make great "clouds" by the way, and can usually be enlisted to hold the diffuser, at which time I usually start to refer to them as "Cloud," "Mister Cloud," or "Daddy Cloud," as in "Hey, Mr. Cloud: a little to the left."

Both photos here wouldn't have succeeded without a diffuser--and a Mr. Cloud.

Sepia Prints

What is it about sepia prints? Lately, I've found myself more and more drawn to them for portrait work: more so than traditional black and whites.

Why? That's what I've been pondering. My wife suggested--and I'm inclined to agree--that it has something to do with the warmer tones. So, sepia captures all the great tones and textures of traditional black and white, but the final image is warmer, which seems to suit portraits particularly well.

The only drawback, to my mind, is that many developers used darkroom techniques to create sepia prints in the early days of photography, and so sepia has that "old" connotation. As a result, when used in contemporary photography it can seem a bit gimmicky.

Oh well, I like them anyway. Do you? The good news is that, while a sepia print used to take a lot of time, effort, and specific chemicals in the dark room, one can create sepia prints today with a few clicks of the mouse and a few minor tone/texture adjustments.

So, give it a try! (There's always the back button if you don't like the results.)

Clean Backgrounds

Backgrounds illustrate both the challenges and opportunities of natural light portrait photography.

In a studio, backgrounds--just like lighting--can be carefully controlled. Outside, however, you have to take the world as you find it: a world that includes cars, telephone wires, and the like--an unending stream of potential image clutter.

So, taking effective portraits out-of-doors means finding good, uncluttered backgrounds (like this one, no? it's a bunch of marsh grass), and employing a few tricks of the trade as well, like using a long telephoto lens and careful placement of the subject to create "bokeh" or a blurred background effect.

It's a challenge, to be sure, but when it works right no sterile studio backdrop can hold a candle to it.