May tutorial – Back Lighting

In the Mar/Apr tutorial, we talked alot about front and side lighting.  This month, we’re going to try our hand at backlighting.

Backlighting, as I mentioned in the Canadian Scrapbooker Spring 2010 article, can be a difficult task to master, so it is not widely used.  However when used correctly, it can produce dramatic results.

Backlighting results from placing your light source directly behind your subject.  This eliminates any undesireable facial expressions such as squinting and blinking, but your camera may be fooled by the background light and your subject will appear underexposed. 

There are several methods of handling exposure for backlighting, depending on your desired end results.

Silhouettes are always dramatic – and they are easier to create than you would think.  Simply place your subject directly in front of your light source and expose your image for the background light.  Most cameras’ sensors will choose settings based on the brightest light available, which in this case is usually the surrounding background light.  If in Auto mode (*gasp*), this means that your subject will be underexposed, creating a silhouette.  Even if shooting in Manual mode, your camera’s built-in exposure meter will show the same settings.  To expose for the subject, you will need to increase the amount of light to your subject by opening up your aperture, slowing your shutter speed or increasing your ISO sensitivity (see prior tutorials and articles, if you’d like a refresher):

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/8, 1/1250 sec., ISO 200

As discussed in my article, backlighting may cause lens flares.  Given the right subject and the correct angle, they can provide drama and interest to an image.  However, it can ruin some photos as well, so it’s important to know how to create, and prevent, them from occurring. 

Lens flares are caused by the sun hitting your lens directly, so to achieve this technique, you have to position yourself so that you are shooting directly into the sun.  That means that at certain times, you may need to get right down onto the ground and shoot up at your subject!

Photo Source: www.digital-photography-school.com

In the above photo, the photographer has used the sun to create lens flares for dramatic impact.  You can see that because the photographer exposed for the subjects on the steps, the background becomes overexposed, or “blown out”.

As I said earlier, lens flare is not always desireable. 

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/5, 1/320 sec.

 In this photo, the lens flares cross right in front of the image and mar the subject’s image.  As well, you can see the dust mote in the flares that detract from the image.  To prevent lens flare, you can purchase a lens hood to use, or create your own!  If you are stuck without one, your hand can work in a pinch – just be sure not to obstruct your own view!

Backlighting can also be used for a technique called the hair light, or “the kicker”.  It’s often used by photographers when photographing dark-haired people against a dark background, but it can also be used to highlight wispy hair, or whiskers as shown in this photo  that I found by serni:

Photo by serni (http://www.flickr.com/photos/serni/)

Lastly, backlighting can be used to illustrate tranparency of objects, such as leaves or flowers.  The following photo was taken by naughton321 - gooseberries were laid on a standard light box!

Photo by naughton321 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/naughton321/)

 Your May assignment: 

Using the May tutorial as a guide, photograph a subject with BACKLIGHTING.  Get creative and try to catch some lens flares in an artistic manner.  Silhouette your subject, or expose for your subject and see the effects on the background.  Try to photograph translucent items.  Go out and PLAY!!  As always, if you have any questions, please leave me a comment on this post, or email me. 

Deadline:  11:59 pm EST, May 31th, 2010 

Please submit your photo, using our submission form only, for a chance to be entered into our draw to win an awesome prize.  A randomly chosen entry will be drawn after the deadline.  Please click HERE to review the rules regarding this draw BEFORE submitting.  Please note – submissions that are not relative to the tutorial and/or do not abide by these rules will not be posted on the blog, or entered into the draw.  PLEASE remember that your photos should be sized to 72dpi, and 500 pixels wide.  Don’t forget to  include your camera settings, including camera used, f/stop, aperture and ISO for your image in the Comments section of the submisson form!

This month’s sponsor is Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker – Look at all that yummy goodness!

Thanks for playing along this month – happy clicking!

More Submissions – Round I

To everyone who has submitted a photo for this assignment, thanks for your patience!  Because there are so many, I will post them over the next few days.

Lee-Anne Thorton, of AB, sent me these two photos for her assignment this month:

Taken with Canon EOS 30D at f/4.5, 1/40 sec., ISO 100 (Front lighting)

Taken with Canon EOS 30D at f/4.5, 1/40 sec., ISO 100 (Side Lighting)

Notice how the side lighting adds depth to the flowers and highlights their delicate petals?  Beautiful!  Thanks for your submission, Lee-Anne! 

Check back tomorrow when I will have a submission from Lesley Langdon.  Until then…

Cheers,

And we’re back!

Sorry for the slight hiatus in posting, everyone!  I have been busy working on preparing my Hands On! photography workshop that I taught at ScrapFest this past weekend – I finally had a chance to meet my very talented and lovely Canadian Scrapbooker teammates, Connie Nichol and Cathie Allan!  

Photo by Holly Attfield

Of course, in the process, I neglected to update with some incredible submissions that we have been receiving for our March/April assignment!  There’s still time for you to send me yours – wouldn’t you love to take home one of our two prizes for which we are drawing?!?!?

I am working on a post and will have new submissions uploaded by Thursday – thanks for your patience!

And to my ScrapFest workshop participants, thanks so much for an incredible experience!  You were a great group!  I hope you will submit some of your photos, showing off your newfound knowledge!   I’d also love to see any photos you may have taken of our class as I didn’t get  a chance to snap any!

March/April tutorial – Side Lighting

Welcome to Part II of the March/April combined tutorial!  Yesterday, I wrote about front lighting and its’ characteristics; today, I’m going to write about side lighting – our assignment this month will have a bit of a twist, so read on! 

Side lighting, as the name implies, refers to lighting that is directed towards your subject from either the right or left sides.  It is more effective than front lighting for many situations in that it effectively uses shadows to reveal texture and depth in your photos. 

Consider the following landscape: 

Taken with Nikon D60 at f/5.6, 1/500 sec., ISO 360

One of my favourite barns that I’ve come across, this photo captures the texture of the wood panels and faded roof paint, while effectively casting the right side of the barn in shadow.  The light source was the setting sun, hitting the left side of the barn.  A bit of useless trivia – this photo was taken with me and my camera, hanging out the car window, driving up to Collingwood for a weekend getaway.  Don’t worry – the camera strap was wrapped around my wrist about three times! Oh, and I was the passenger, not driver!  

Side lighting is not only useful in photographing older subjects, but it is equally capable of capturing children.  In the following photo, the side lighting from our front window highlights my daughter’s fine flyaway hair, capturing what we referred to as her “crazy hair” effectively, preserving the memories: 

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/4, 1/250 sec., ISO 200

Side lighting can be effective in candid and sport photography as well.  I snapped this photo of my son coming up for air, during warm ups at his Regionals meet.  The pool had one entire wall made of windows, which made this photographer mama VERY happy!   The fast shutter speed, combined with the lighting, captures the water sluicing off his face, and the water droplets as he came up. 

Taken with Nikon D90 at f/5.6, 1/320 sec., ISO 640

As well, side lighting is crucial for striking black & white photography.  Black & white photography uses a mixture of grey tones to capture your subject so lighting is particularly important because in my opinion, it is the effect of shadows on the subject that causes photos to become extraordinary.  

With the event of digital photography, it doesn’t matter if your photos were shot in colour or black & white.  PhotoShop and other photo processing software allows us to convert our photos, using actions or various features.  So it is especially important to get the lighting correct for your photos, for you may decide later to convert them to black & white or sepia.   

Look at the following photos of my daughter.  In this first photo, Aili is laying on our bed, facing the patio doors.  Frontal lighting provides great exposure and while the expression is adorable (okay, so I’m biased! ), it looks flat and two-dimensional. 

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/3.5, 1/40 sec., ISO 200

Because of the clashing of our deep red walls with her pink sleeper, I chose to convert this photo to black & white, using Adobe PhotoShop Creative Suite 4.  

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/3.5, 1/40 sec., ISO 200

Again, adorable (in my opinion!) and there are good catchlights in her eyes, but the overall appearance is flat and lacks depth. 

Now, note the following photo.  I carefully propped Aili up and turned her perpendicular to the doors.  Sitting on the floor next to her (with one hand on her thigh!), I managed to capture this photo: 

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/4.5, 1/40 sec., ISO 200

I love the depth in this photo, with the dark shadowing on the right, but still managing to capture the catchlights in her eyes, not to mention those chubby cheeks! 

Now, because side lighting tends to produce these shadows, it is important to consider your subject.  If an overall exposure is desired, you can lighten your shadows by using a reflector of some sort, to bounce the lighting towards the back of  your subject. 

In the following photo shoot, I asked the couple to stand in front of the window at a 45 degree angle.  While the lighting on Mom-To-Be is effective, Dad is cast in her shadow a bit. 

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/4, 1/60 sec., ISO 200

So I set up a large piece of white foam core to act as a reflector and bounce some of the side lighting onto Dad.  This is what it look like: 

Photo shoot set-up

We will be discussing reflectors and bouncing light in later tutorials, but it’s important to remember that light reflects OFF a surface at exactly the same angle at which it hits the reflective surface.  So when setting up a reflector, remember to position it accordingly.  You can usually see the reflected light on your subject so use your eyes as your guide. 

This was the result of using a reflector: 

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/4, 1/60 sec., ISO 200

So I’ve discussed various effects of side lighting – now how do you get it?  Well, it’s pretty straightforward – just position your subject so that your light source, whether it be natural light from a window, the sun or even headlights, strikes from the side.  Consider your subject when choosing your camera settings.  You can use your information gained from the previous tutorials or use your camera’s electronic analog exposure display (in your viewfinder display) to determine exposure and aperture.  We will discuss the electronic exposure display more later on, but your camera’s manual should contain information on it, if it’s an available feature. 

Now for the fun part!!  I decided to combine the March and April tutorials for a couple of reasons.  First, because of the technical changes, I am posting this tutorial later in the month, which leaves less time for your March submissions.  And secondly, I think that combining the two tutorials will be an effective teaching aid in that it will allow you to photograph the same subject with two different lighting scenarios.  What better way to see the effects of both!?  

Your March/April assignment: 

Using both March/April tutorials as a guide, photograph a subject with both FRONT and SIDE lighting.  This may involve moving your subject, moving your feet, or photographing the same scenario at different times of the day.  Then submit BOTH of your photos to me to be eligible for our draw.  Remember, your photo will be of the same subject – but with different lighting directions!  As always, if you have any questions, please leave me a comment on this post, or email me. 

Deadline:  11:59 pm EST, April 30th, 2010 

Because you have to submit TWO photos, I’m giving you an extra month!   Please submit your photo, using our submission form only, for a chance to be entered into our draw to win one of  two prizes.  Yep, you heard right!!  We’re combining our tutorials but we’re going to have TWO winners!  A randomly chosen entry will be drawn after the deadline.  Please click HERE to review the rules regarding this draw BEFORE submitting.  Please note – submissions that are not relative to the tutorial and/or do not abide by these rules will not be posted on the blog, or entered into the draw.  Don’t forget to include your camera used, along with your camera settings for BOTH photos in the Comments section of the submisson form! 

Our March/April prize packs will be revealed shortly! 

Happy Clicking!

March/April tutorial – Front Lighting

In the Spring 2010 issue of Canadian Scrapbooker magazine, I discussed three directions of lighting: front, side and back.  This month, we will do something different - I will be discussing both front and side lighting and their different effects!  Today we will talk about front lighting.

Front lighting is exactly as described:  lighting that is directed toward the front of your subject.  It is very easy to use and can come from many sources:  on-camera flash, sunlight from behind the photographer, and directed studio lighting to name a few.  Front lighting generally results in bright, well-lit photos:

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/6.3, 1/160 sec., ISO 200

Despite its’ ease of use, professional photographers do not tend to use it very often, or only in particular settings.  Front lighting will cause your subject to appear flat, losing the illusion of texture.  It is for this reason that it is sometimes referred to as “flat lighting”.  It is particularly effective in landscape or architectural photos, like these, where there is a need for uniform lighting:  

Taken with Nikon D60 at f/9, 1/200 sec., ISO 100

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/10, 1/200 sec., ISO 200

Oftentimes, during portrait photography, front lighting in the form of sunlight will cause your subject to squint:  

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/5.3, 1/800 sec., ISO 200

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/10, 1/400 sec., ISO 640

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/4.5, 1/60 sec., ISO 200

Check back tomorrow for the tutorial on Side Lighting and your March/April assignment!

Cheers!

February tutorial: Sunny 16 Rule

This month’s tutorial is a fairly simple concept to grasp, but its’ application can be difficult to use if you don’t understand the correlation between shutter speed and aperture. I discussed this correlation in the Spring 2008 issue of Canadian Scrapbooker, and again back in October, in Part II of that month’s tutorial.  However, since it’s so important in understanding photography, we will delve into it again a bit later on.

First, however, let’s look at the Sunny f/16 rule.  This guideline in photography was developed as a rule of thumb to achieve correct exposures without a light meter, while outside or in direct sunlight.  It states that “on a sunny day, set aperture to f/16 and shutter speed to the [reciprocal of the] ISO film speed.” (reference:  www.wikipedia.com).  So what does it mean?

Well, if you are shooting at an ISO of 100, the reciprocal of the ISO film speed would be 1/100, or the closest available shutter speed*  of 1/125 (*Note: many digital cameras deal in 1/3 increment values for shutter speed, but for this tutorial, I will deal with whole values only.  Thus 1/125 is the closest available shutter speed when considering this).   Therefore, the Sunny f/16 rule means that you can usually assume, when shooting with a film speed or digital ISO of 100, that an aperture of f/16 and shutter speed of 1/125 will give you the proper exposure on a sunny day.  This is also true for any equivalent setting.  This is where the understanding of the correlation between shutter speed and aperture kicks in!

To review:  Imagine that you have your kitchen faucet’s tap wide open, filling your sink to do a mountain of dishes.  At this speed, let’s say it takes a couple of  minutes to fill your sink with hot, sudsy water.  Now imagine that the tap is barely open, so that water is just trickling out.  It would take much, much longer to fill, right?  Aperture and shutter speed work the same way.  For example, per the Sunny f/16 rule, the following is a proper setting on a sunny day:

ISO 100 > f/16 > 1/125*

Now, as I described in the Spring 2008 issue, the following settings would be equivalent to f/16, 1/125 sec.,  at ISO 100:

f/22 > 1/60
f/11 > 1/250
f/8 > 1/500
f/5.6 > 1/1000
f/4 > 1/2000
f/2.8 > 1/4000

But what if I want to shoot our subject with a very short depth of field, as in our January assignment?  As per the above table, you would set your aperture to f/2 and your shutter speed to 1/4000, which is a very fast shutter speed.  You can also achieve the same exposure by changing your ISO, as we discussed in the October tutorial.  By using a less sensitive ISO speed, you can use a slower shutter speed.  Check your camera’s manual to see your minimum ISO speed.

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/16, 1/400 sec., ISO 400

But what if it’s not sunny?  Well, the following adjustments can be made to your aperture for variable lighting situations:

Sunny > use f/16
Slightly overcast > use f/11
Overcast > use f/8
Heavily Overcast > f/5.6
Dawn/Dusk > f/4

(Because of the reflective nature of sand or snow, you should DECREASE your aperture when following this rule to f/22)

The Sunny F/16 rule, like everything is not fool proof.  You may need to adjust your aperture a half-stop or more, if your subject is backlit.  It is best to use bracketing (see October tutorial: Part I) to ensure that you capture to best exposure.  Consider this example:

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/8, 1/250 sec., ISO 100

When applied to this setting, the Sunny f/16 rule dictates that the optimum exposure should be f/16 > 1/125th sec., or the equivalent of f/11 > 1/250th sec.  However, in noticing that my daughter’s hat cast a slight shadow on her face, I decided to open up my aperture one more full stop to f/8.  While there is still a slight shadow, her features are visible and her skin tone is not overexposed.

Alright – are you ready to play along?  The trick will be to find a sunny day in the middle of winter – but you can use the chart of equivalents above for overcast situations!  If you have any question, please leave me a comment on this post or email me! 

Your February assignment:

Using this tutorial as a guide, apply the Sunny f/16 rule to determine the proper exposure for your outdoor photo.  Please remember to include your camera settings to be eligible for the draw!

Deadline: 11:59 pm EST, February 28th, 2010

Please submit your photo(s), using our submission form, for a chance to be entered into our draw. A randomly chosen entry will be drawn after the deadline. Please click HERE to review the rules regarding this draw before submitting. Please note – submissions that are not relative to the tutorial and/or do not abide by these rules will NOT be posted on the blog, or entered into the drawing.

Our February prize pack will be revealed shortly!

Happy Clicking!

January assignment: Depth of Field

Ever notice how some photos have subjects that just seem to POP off the background?  More than likely, they are photos with a very shallow depth of field.  The term, depth of field (DoF), is ”the portion of a scene that appears acceptably sharp in the image”¹.

DoF is a relatively straight-forward technique and is determined by a number of factors, such as subject distance, focal length, aperture and format size¹.  However, for this tutorial, we are going to concentrate on using aperture to control our DoF.

 The premise of the technique is that the smaller your aperture, the larger your DoF.  To understand DoF, you must understand aperture, shutter speed and the correlation between the two.  You may recall this discussion in my article in the Spring 2008 issue of Canadian Scrapbooker, Capturing the Light: Aperture & Exposure.  Aperture is the measure of the shutter’s opening which allows light to enter the lens.   I have found that the part that sometimes confuses people is that a higher (or smaller) aperture is represented by a larger number (e.g.: f/22).  Conversely, a lower (or larger) aperture is denoted by a smaller number, such as f/1.8.  Once you can remember this, it will become easier!

I have taken a series of photographs to demonstrate the effects of changing your aperture to control your DoF.  I lined up our personalized mugs and using various apertures, snapped these photos.  In all photos, I was focused on my name on the red mug.    In the first photo, the small aperture of f/22 allowed for a large enough DoF to allow all four mugs to be in focus, relatively.  The mugs on the outer edges are a bit softer but this is due to my close proximity to the subjects.

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/22, 1/2.5 sec., ISO 800

 Next, I increased my aperture by half, to f/11.  Note how the DoF is changing and becoming smaller.

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/11, 1/10 sec., ISO 800

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/8, 1/15 sec., ISO 800

Decreasing my aperture by half again, to f/4, the outer cups are completely out of focus and the third cup is on its’ way:

¹ www.wikipedia.com

Bokeh, revisited – and more submissions

I have received alot of submissions over the last few days – I am loving everyone’s work!

However, I have had several photos sent that are not really in line with our December assignment.  I have tried to email everyone back as soon as I received their email, to let them know and to allow them enough time to re-submit another photo , but as we are wrapping up this assignment in the next hour, no more emails will be sent.

As I mentioned to many of you, I think that I may not have been very clear in my tutorial so I am going to try to explain it more thoroughly so even if the assignment deadline is over, you can still practice and try your hand at mastering this technique, which can be spectacular when done correctly.

Depending on who you ask and what you read, the term bokeh can mean several things.  As I tried to describe in my tutorial, I consider bokeh to be circular-type light sources (i.e. Christmas lights, candles, patches of sunlight through trees…) in the out-of-focus section of a photo.  To show you an example, I photographed this Santa ornament tonight:

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/4.5, 1/15 sec., ISO 800

(Please ignore the grainy-ness – in my haste, I forgot to set my ISO back to 200.)

Note the circles of light that are my Christmas tree lights in the background?  Bokeh.  The more circular and out of focus, the better, in my opinion!  But of course, depending on your settings and desired effects, you may feel differently.

Lori McLellan, of Calgary, AB, sent me this AWESOME photo of bokeh – aren’t those large circles of light such a beautiful backdrop for her ornament?

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel at f/2.8, 1/50 sec., ISO 1600

 Corry Heinricks, of Silver Valley, AB, also highlighted this sweet snowman with her Christmas tree lights:

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel XTI at f/6.3, 1/25 sec., ISO 800

Taken with Canon Rebel XSi at f/4.5, 1/1000 sec., ISO 400

Taken with Nikon D80 at f/2.8, 1/1250 sec., ISO 1000

Teresa McNutt, of Truro, NS, too, this photo looking through her patio door, with the winter storm creating some subtle bokeh:

Taken with Nikon D40 at f/5.0, 1/800 sec., ISO 400

And Natalka Lindstrom, of Edmonton, AB, took this photo of the Meerkat at the Atlanta Zoo, using the diffused light through the reeds to create bokeh:

Taken with Nikon D60 at f/5.3, 1/500 sec., ISO 200

So how do you achieve bokeh?  Well, the trick is to use the largest aperture setting that you can, given your camera capabilities and your lighting.  The larger the setting (i.e. lower the f/stop number), the more blurred and pretty your bokeh will be!  Here are two examples that I photographed tonight to show you the difference between settings:

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/9, 1/6 sec., ISO 800

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/4.5, 1/15 sec., ISO 800

Note the difference in light with the larger f/stop – the bokeh consists of larger circles and provides a less distracting background.

I hope that helps to clarify things a bit – my apologies for confusing anyone!  There’s about an hour left to submit your photos so if you haven’t already done so, please do!  We’ve love to see!

And don’t forget about our contest – click here for more info!

Happy Clicking!

December Assignment Deadline Extended!

I have several other submissions that I will upload tomorrow, but wanted to make a couple of quick announcements!

First, due to the holidays, I’m going to extend the December assignment deadline to January 5th, 2010!!  Be sure to send us your photos by 11:59pm EST to be eligible to win this lovely prize pack by Kelly Panacci:

Secondly, I hinted earlier that we will be having a contest on the Hands On blog, but with illnesses and then the holidays, it seemed to get away from me!   But we will definitely be hosting a contest so watch for details in early January!!

Now let’s go out and take some photos!

December Assignment: Bokeh

Bokeh, as we learned, is derived from a Japanese word, boke, which means “blur” or “haze”.  It basically refers to the out of focus area of your photo.

So now that we know what it is… how do we get it?  It’s quite simple, actually!

To create pleasing bokeh, ensure that your background has some light sources.  It could be Christmas lights, car headlights, or even dappled sunlight behind your subject, like this:

(Taken with Nikon D70 at F/4.2, 1/320 s., ISO 200)

Then, using a very large aperture (meaning the smallest number, like f/1.8 or f/4.5, depending on your lens), focus on something in the foreground of your composed photo.  The short depth of field, created by your large aperture, will blur the background and create bokeh!

I told you it was easy! 

Your December assignment:

Using this tutorial as a guide, create your own bokeh background.  Experiment with different light sources and backgrounds. With Christmas around the corner, I’m sure you’ll find plenty of inspiration!

Deadline:  December 31st, 2009

Please submit your photo(s), along with camera settings, using our submission form linked above, for a chance to be entered into our draw.  A randomly chosen entry will be drawn after the deadline.  Please click HERE to review the rules regarding this draw before submitting.  Please note – submissions that do not abide by these rules will NOT be posted on the blog, or entered into the drawing.

Our December prize pack is this lovely seasonal kit by Kelly Panacci:

Thanks in advance for playing along this month – I’m looking forward to seeing your submissions!  And stay tuned for more information about our contest to be posted early next week!

Happy Clicking!