3 Mistakes Photographers Can Make

Number One:
Not getting close enough to the subject. Try not to stand too far away from what you are photographing. You want to make your subject the main focus. How close should you be? Close enough for the subject to fill the frame. If you are photographing a house, let the house fill the frame. If you are photographing a child, let the child fill the frame. Be constantly aware of what's in the picture and what's out of the picture. If a chair is important to you than include the chair, but if it's really the child that is important to you then loose the chair. The easiest way to do that is get closer. Also, don't be afraid to crop some of the subjects face too. It will make for an interesting photo. Below is an example of one:


Number Two:
Not shooting enough. Take lots and lots of pictures until your finger hurts from pressing that button. It is all digital these days. Can't get cheaper than that, no more buying film. The more pictures you take of a subject, the better your chances are of getting something really different. Try different angles too. Whether you get up high or down low, this will help get a different perspective on the subject. Another bonus is you can learn from your mistakes by taking lots of pictures. Get to know your camera and try different things. With digital technology, you can get instant results and know right away the things you need to change on the next shot.

Number Three:
Not considering the quality of light in a picture. I still struggle with this and practicing is the only way to overcome it. The pro's secret for getting great portrait light indoors is using natural light. This is such a wonderful light that many pros insist on using nothing but natural light for their portraits. So turn off your flash. Read your camera manual to learn how to do this. An electronic flash produces a consistent amount of light that comes from a consistent location (the camera,) with that said, it produces consistent results. The problem with this is the light is consistently harsh, flat, and a mood destroyer. It fills shadows that would otherwise add depth and drama to an image. With consistency, there is safety which means predictable, safe results. The light that comes from your built in flash, is the same lighting effect you see when you're sitting in your car on a dark night and your headlights blast someone in the face. Not pretty... Below are some other alternatives you can try:

Window Lighting:
This light is so flattering on a subject. The most ideal window light is a north facing window, but any window, getting nice soft non-direct sunlight will work. If the window is dirty, that is even better because it will help diffuse some of the light and make it softer. If the only window you have gets direct sunlight try using a sheer curtain to diffuse the light on the subject's face. If you don't have any sheer curtains try going to Walmart or Target and buy two things. A frosted white shower curtain (or a shower curtain liner,) and some tacks or push pins. With the tacks or push pins you are able to hang up your shower curtain. You can also bump up the exposure to blow out the background and give a bright white effect behind them. Try different things with this technique. You can place them close to the window, far away, use or don't use a sheer curtain. You will get different effects every time. Be creative and have fun!


The doorway:
Place your subject inside the doorway. This provides a shade for your subject so you won't encounter harsh lighting from the sun. Plus the lighting is great in this area. If you don't like your background, you can always drape something behind your subject to hide the background. Or you can use a large aperture to blur out the background.

The Garage:
Great light comes to the most unexpected places. Believe it or not, when the sun hits the driveway outside the garage door, lots of the light we're looking for flows inside. Position your subject as close to the garage door opening as possible. I actually stumbled upon this great light effect. I was in my Dad's garage taking pictures of some of the things he loved... his tools and his classic Pontiac car. While I was taking pictures, I noticed the great lighting I had in there. Here is a shot that I loved the lighting in:


The Porch:
Porches let in so much light and they are big enough to fit a big group of people. You will want to wait until it is a sunny day when the area around the porch-the grass and trees-is bright with direct sunlight.

For those of us that live in an apartment and may not have a porch or even a garage there is still hope.

The best time to take pictures by an apartment window is when the building across the street is being hit by direct sunlight. Therefore your building that you live in is receiving the reflected light.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not against flash photography, but natural light is always best to use if you can. There are times that you have to use a flash. If you do need to use a flash I would recommend buying LumiQuest's Soft Screen Diffuser. Mind you this is only for pop up built in flashes. The best part is it will only cost you around $13 plus shipping. Here is the website for it:

http://www.lumiquest.com/softscreen.htm

Now for those of you that have external flashes, there are a lot more options for you. On LumiQuest's website there are a bunch of options you can choose from to help diffuse that light. I recently bought the Promax System, and it has proven to be quite useful so far. If you don't have any accessories like this than I would just use the good ole' bouncing flash technique. All you do is aim your external flash towards the ceiling and let the light fall on your subject. This creates a very even light around your subject. Make sure your ceiling is white and it is not higher than 10 feet. If it is, this is where the attachments from LumiQuest come in handy. The picture on the left is a photo that was blown out by the direct flash. The picture on the right was created by bouncing the flash; Therefore it created an even lighting over the couple and the background.