TIP OF THE WEEK - Shooting in Direct Sun

Yikes!  I nearly forgot about my promise yesterday to post the TIP OF THE WEEK today. It's nearly midnight here, and now I'd better get my bum in gear!! Now, that's dedication for you.

Ok, so the tip for this week...
I've been avoiding shooting in mid day sun like the plague until I learned a very important tip - 
(Drum roll please.... )

If you're shooting in  bright mid day, direct sunlight, turn your subject so she's standing IN FRONT of the sun.

In other words, the sun should be BEHIND your subject. I always thought that you, as the photographer, wanted to the sun behind you. Turns out, that's not true. If you have soft, even light, like at sunset, then yes, that light will rock your world. During the day, though, you want to rotate your subject, otherwise you're bound do get squinty eyes and shadows that are very unflattering.

This was actually taken pretty late in the afternoon, but check out the shadows under her eyes. It makes her eyes seem hallowed.

SO, turn your subject away from the sun, and spot meter of her face. This will dazzle you. I swear.

See how much better her face looks? There was a bit of light bouncing back up off the table which evened it out nicely.

Ok, how cute is she?! And look! No dark shadows.

And these are later in the day, but I just love back light, so I'm posting a few that I thought were super cute.

Bella's fashion sense. I love it!

 There you go, my friends. I hope this is useful to some of you. Have a wonderful weekend! Take it easy and keep on clickin' on! ; )

Improv in Photography

This week our assignment in my photography class is to continue taking pictures in the mid day sun, using the sun as back light, but now we're to use a reflector. Unfortunately, I don't have a reflector, so instead I found a white table cloth to do the trick. Improvisation can work wonders!

I don't think I've ever loved any piece of clothing as much as I love Bella's rainbow leggings.

Yesterday around 11:30 am, I went out on a walk with Alex and the girls in tow. The sun was shinning, the kids were in good spirits and Alex was game to help me by holding the table cloth. While  I messed around, trying to get the perfect shot, moving up and down and then waiting for that ONE moment, Alex began to get antsy. He stayed for about five shots and then decided to go on a run. There I was with the two girls, a table cloth and the mid day sun. No problem! I found a spot right in front of some hedges in some nice, lush, hyper-color green grass. Julietta is pretty eager to get out of the stroller just to explore, touch the grass and pick up the leaves and twigs...etc, so I put her down and tadaaa! Instant baby model. Her innate curiosity makes me nervous, of course, so in addition to all the stuff I have to think about while shooting, I have to make sure my kid doesn't choke on anything.

She's showing off her little blades of grass that she happened to find.

Setting up the "reflector" must have been a sight to see. I tried to throw it over my shoulder, like a toga, then I laid it over by body and stretched it all the way down to my foot. Since I was shooting my kids, I had to get down at their level, so I got down toward the ground with it laying over my leg and I put that leg forward while I squatted on the other (are you getting a mental picture?). Not the most comfortable position, but I did what I had to do!

This one doesn't REALLY fulfill the assignment, but I did use a my table cloth (see the reflection in her eyes?)

Bella was unusually helpful with the shoot and actually sat still for a few minutes. That was when I got my favorite shots. It's amazing the shots you can get when your subject will just sit still!!

Tomorrow I will post the TIP OF THE WEEK: Shooting in the Direct Sun. Until then, keep on clickin'!

Third Anniversary

Alex and I celebrated our third anniversary yesterday.  Our real anniversary, September 29th, fell on a Wednesday, so we waited to celebrate it on Alex's day off. Actually, our REAL anniversary was last Monday, the 27th. We had to get married in the civil courtroom two days before our wedding, but we don't acknowledge that day as our real wedding day. I couldn't understand anything that the judge said, anyway. It felt like we were at a Spanish auction. I just waited until he stopped and stared at me before saying, "Sí, quiero".

Anyway, yesterday we sent the kiddos to the Yayos' house for the day and we went for lunch at La Forqueta in Rocafort (mmmmm!!!). We had planned on going to a movie afterward. Instead, we drank too much wine, wandered around Rocafort taking pictures of each other, and ended up going home and watching Dexter. It was perfect. It was us - three years later, worn out and tired after too much work and two energetic, crazy kids, just wanting to take it easy on a true day off.

I woke up wishing we could go on another date today.  No such luck. ; )

Sweatin' it in the Mid Day Sun

I just don't get! See all the over exposed spots? Grrr.

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When I first moved to Spain, at the end of each day I used to sit, defeated and drained, while my brain would spin and spin. There were so many things to think about while I was trying to learn Spanish - choosing one of the 14 tenses, deciding on the gender of each noun, conjugating each verb, thinking about things like possession, word order. . .etc, plus I still had to come up with something clever and winning to say (which is hard enough for me in English!!).  Learning a language is seriously like doing mental exercise. It felt like I was doing a mental Ironman marathon when I was only equipped for Sweating to the Oldies with Richard Simmons. Actually, come to think of it, I still feel that way most of the time!

I had to back light him in full sun without blowing out too many of the high lights. I did it! FINALLY!!!

Anyway, since starting photography, that feeling has come back strong. Trying to get all elements to come together at once - exposure, aperture, focus, lighting, angle, and making sure I'm not chopping off any fingers or toes (all the while trying to capture that perfect moment) is no sock hop.  My brain hurts by the time I'm done. I'm sure it will become like second nature at some point (um... yeah...  like Spanish was supposed to become as well...), but at the moment, it's kicking my butt. I had no idea how exhausting taking pictures could be!

This one came out really well. I had to bribe Bella with a cracker.

See how her head is over exposed and her leg too? It's ok to overexpose a little bit of wispy hair, but not so much of her head. DOH!

This week has been especially trying because of the assignment we are working on for my photography workshop. We have to take photos at midday in full sun, or in the shade with a bit of back light sun to make the hair look flowy and glowy and glam. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, it's not. Not at all. I've been strugglin'. Big time!!!! I'm posting a few of the shots I've got this week, but they are nothin' special. Getting perfect exposure in high contrast situations makes me weeze just thinking about it.

So, that's that. Have a wonderful weekend!! I'm skipping the TIP OF THE WEEK until next week when my brain has stopped spinning! 

This is Bella saying "Stop taking pictures of me! I just want my cracker!"

"What does she have in her mouth?" you're asking. It's a stick! Yes, I give my children sticks to chew on.
 

TIP OF THE WEEK - WARNING: Backgrounds Not Child Appropriate!

Do you notice anything, I don't know... out of place in this photo? No?  Ok good, that makes me feel much better. Here, I'll give you a hint. I'm pretty sure that black graffiti above Bella isn't supposed to be a lotus flower. You'd think I'd have realized this before or even during this mini shoot, considering I took about 40 pictures here! On top of that, before taking this shot, I'd read a bazillion critiques on the photography forum I'm a member of, and the reoccurring criticism was that the background was distracting.

I'm apparently not distracted, or even aware of graffitied penises on walls, or stake-like trees that go right through children's bellies. But you should be. This is one of those kinds of tips - "do as I say, not as I do" (but really, all of my tips are going to be like, because I'm not a professional. And I'm not a robot. And I'm certainly not a professional robot, so I'm going to make many many photography-related errors, and you will too. At the end of the day, though, we can still pat ourselves on the back and have a good laugh at all the ridiculous things we did throughout day, knowing that it was already in the cards to begin with.)

So, my tip of the week? Pay attention to the background.

You want to watch out for any distractions in the background. This includes bright colored objects, garbage cans, trees and poles growing out of heads, and signs (anatomical graffiti included, of course). A the moment, I am reading a book about composition and the author was talking about how much the eye is attracted to writing in paintings and photographs. Interesting stuff.

Another thing to try to avoid is a lot of clutter. If you have the choice between a plain wall and toys scattered and strewn across the floor, choose the wall (unless, of course you want to include the toys as content).

I didn't have time to clean up, but I wish I could have removed some of the clutter.

Obviously there will be times when you just don't have the option of choosing your background because the moment is more important, but when you have a little extra time to compose, take a look around and see what is right behind your subject.

I adore this shot. Too bad she looks like Daisy-Head Maiyze.

A Rare Occasion

So how old is it getting, seeing my two cute kids ALL THE TIME?! I know, sorry I don't have a lot of other subjects to photograph. I, of course, never tire of seeing their squeezable faces, but I do understand the boredom that comes from repetition. So, to shake things up, I thought I'd share a face with you that you rarely get to see - MINE! Hail the marching bands and bring out the drill team!

I'm so glad we captured this - Bella let the girl next door put her hair in a ponytail!!!

I asked Jesús to take some family photos for us, and I think he did a wonderful job. He's a miracle worker! I especially love how he got all the "imperfect" moments as well. Those are my favorites. I'm posting some more of the "outtakes" on my face book page.

Here are a few of the ones I got of Alex, Bella and Julietta this past week.

Ok, I just love this one. I love how you can see the similarities between them

This is my sweet family.

Tip of the Week: Window Light

It seems fitting to talk about window light, since that's what I'm learning about (plus I couldn't think of a tip to share and Erin asked if I'd share on window light so I said, "BINGO!").

The cool thing about window light is that you can get so many different effects, by just turning your subject, plus, you don't have to wait all day long for perfect light.

Sweet little Cam Man. I love this kid. I love how these impromptu window lit photos came out too.

Here are some things that I've learned since I started learning about photography (remember, I'm no pro, I'm just a girl who would like to be someday. ; ))

1. When you see light shinning in through a window - the bright sunlight - that is NOT the light you want. You want soft, indirect light. Think of the kind of light many indoor plants like.  Most people say that a north-facing window is the bomb. I just say, "It's preferable" because, c'mon, you know I don't talk like that (I use much cooler vocabulary, like "BINGO!").

An exception to direct window light would be evening window light when you want to play with sunflare.

2. Look at the room you're shooting in. If you're in a room with a lot of windows and white walls, COOL! I'd love to come shoot at your house. You might not get a lot of contrast, but you'll get some amazing shots. If you shoot in a room with only one window, you'll get some very dramatic images which will also be stunning.

This was shot upstairs in our sunny attic. It has windows on both sides, so she's all lit up. Her face it still a tad dark, though, but you get the idea.

This was shot in our living room which only has one large window.

3. Move. You move. Try taking the shot from different angles. Then tell your subject to move (if they'll oblige. I don't typically have that luxury, so I move... or I bribe, then shoot quickly).  Try some with your subject facing the window for a really nice even effect, and also try some like I have been working on where your subject sits in front of the window, but at a slight angle. 

This is the one I submitted for our first assignment. The teacher said "great job", so I guess I did all right!

4. Pay attention to the light. Where is it falling? Where are the shadows? You typically want at least a portion of the face lit up with some shadow. Try not to get the entire face in the shadow. I did this waaaay too many times to count while I was doing my practice shots.

Julietta! Where did your face go?! Yeah, I know you can see it, but it's so dark, you see?  Get it?

5. Don't over-expose your subject. You want light parts, but not completely WHITE parts. If you can only see white, it's overexposed (if you have a DSLR you can check to see if you've blown anything out after each shot). Other parts of the picture can be over-exposed, but not your subject.

I love this shot so much, but I did over expose Julietta's face a bit and Bella's hair. Shucks!

If you want to learn more,  "Available Light" by Don Marr is a really great, informative read. Or you can always take Detra's Creative Light workshop (and no, I don't get a kick back for mentioning her. I just really love it so far!)

I hope this helps a bit. Make sure to leave me a comment if you have any questions, or you can always leave me a comment just because it makes me smile. : )