Shooting Indoors

Thanks everyone for coming last night!! It was great to back in the saddle again and talking about photography. Here's a recap of the powerpoint last night:

Indoor Photography can be a bit tricky. Usually there’s not enough light to get a “good” result. Because of this, we have to make some sacrifices to get the photos that we want.

Sacrifices:

•ISO – (the light sensitivity) We have to turn up our ISO to get the shot, but this causes our pictures to be grainy. If you do shoot with a high ISO, you can turn your picture to black and white to help.
•Do you remember what ISO is?
•ISO, or film speed, is really just a setting to determine how quickly an image will be captured by either the film or digital sensor.
•It uses numbers such as:
100, 200, 400, 800, etc.

•Depth of Field – You can choose a lens with a lower f/stop. A 50mm f1.8 is affordable and lightweight. This allows your camera lens to open up really wide and thus a faster shutter speed to take better pictures in a darker environment.

•Shutter Speed – “As discovered through the challenges a flash will help to ‘freeze’ the action, but a flash also comes with its own limitations and/or complications. A tripod can be helpful, though sometimes hard to reposition quickly.”

•Color of the light – you can create a custom white balance or choose the appropriate wb setting for the environment (tungsten for normal lights).

So, what do we do?

•I say make the most of NATURAL LIGHT!
•Find it. Be aware of where the natural light is in your home.
•Indirect vs. Direct Light
•Indirect provides a well-lit area that doesn’t have the strong shadows, or contrast, of direct light. This is what you want!
•If you don’t have it, use sheer curtains or blinds to block the direct light.

INDIRECT LIGHT

DIRECT LIGHT

Of course there will be times when you will just need to use your flash. We talked about that a while ago, but here are some highlights:

•Move your subject as far away from walls as possible.
•Don’t stand too close to your subject, or he/she will get “washed” out.
•“A good rule of thumb is to keep your subject as least 5-6 feet in front of you, with at least that much behind the subject and the closest wall.”
•Meter on the subject as much as possible.
•Remember, your camera’s flash has an effective range of about 10-12 feet.
•If you try to shoot something further away than that, you will only light up the foreground while the background will be dark.
•Look at the surfaces in front of you.
•A glass, shiny, or mirrored surface is going to reflect the flash.
•If someone has eye glasses, have them tilt their glasses down by lifting the part of the glasses that goes over their ears.
•You want to avoid the evil red eye.
•This is when the flash is reflected off the back of the retina.
•You can use the red eye reduction (small bursts of flash).
•Have the person look just a little over your shoulder instead of directly into the lens.
•Produce more light so the black part of the eye shrinks down.

Back to Natural Light…

•Windows and doors are great places to find natural light.
•Place your subject parallel to the light while you are perpendicular to the light.
•OR… Have your subject facing the window while you are sitting with your back to the window.
•Both create beautiful catchlights!!

Make sure to…

•Open your aperture as far as it can go (the lowest number). Remember the teeter tater? The more open the aperture, the faster the shutter speed.
•If you don’t want to shoot in manual mode, use your Aperture Priority Mode to set your aperture.
•Be prepared to have some blurry pictures from moving objects.

If you dare to shoot in Manual Mode…

•Do you remember when we talked about using fill flash and some of the pictures were over exposed? Here’s the deal. You have to pay attention to your metering.
•If you are indoors and your subject is in front of a bright window, you can do one of two things:
•Expose for the background and use a fill flash for your subject OR expose for your subject and have the background overexposed.

Your CHALLENGE:

•We are going to take advantage of our windows this month!
•You can use any type of camera this month, but do not use your flash.

Choose one or all of the following options for taking your photos:

1.Position your subject in direct light and then reposition your subject in indirect, or filtered light.

2. Capture catchlights – have your subject face the window while you’re sitting or standing with your back to the window.

3. Position your subject so that he/she/it is parallel to the window, while you are perpendicular to the window.
4. For those with SLRs or digital SLRs: If you can adjust the exposure meter on your camera, try metering for the background light vs. metering on your subject and setting the exposure for your subject. Also note that you could use a wall in the room or the floor to set your expose meter.

A Little Halloween Treat

•How to shoot pumpkins and a practice with ISO.

(First turn off your flash)
•Turn your ISO up to 200 and take a picture.
•Turn your ISO up to 400 and take another picture.
•Turn your ISO up to 800 and take another.
•What happens?

If you are trying to take pictures of a lit pumpkin:

1. Use a tripod.

2. Turn your ISO up to 800.

3. Turn off your flash.