Search Results for: ISO

How to Capture Emotion in your images through exposure and the zone system.  Capturing True emotion in photography comes with experience and practice.  Learn through this tutorial how to capture in photography feelings and emotions as well as use our exercises to capture emotion photography projects given.     How can you use exposure to control the emotional tone of your image, and how can the lighting impact what the viewer is feeling? To start we will define the terms that we will use in this post: The Zone System: A method to visualize a scene and a subject to fit your creativity. This is a technique to determine the optimal exposure needed to fit your visualization. Every shade falls into a certain zone, whether color or black and white. Understanding this is a vital key in moving forward.   How to Capture Emotion In Your Images Soft light: Light stemming from a larger light source, diffused in some way. Minimal shadows and contrast. Emotionally it can be a happy image. Great if you don’t want to draw attention to any one point of an image, but rather the entire image as a whole. Hard Light: Generally from one direct source, non-diffuse. Harsh shadows, high contrast. […]

How to Take Pictures in the Rain – taking photos in the rain with a dslr can be tricky and stressful.  Here is your ultimate guide with camera settings for rainy day, tips for family photos in the rain or portraits in the rain.  There’s something about taking photographs in the rain that I love.  Perhaps because they aren’t your typical blue sky, sunshine, warm and fuzzy kind of photographs and I love a good challenge. Rain also makes me nostalgic and a little homesick – I grew up in Vancouver BC, aka “rain-city” so whenever I wanted to be outside the weather had other ideas.  With that being said, shooting in the rain doesn’t have to be that much of a challenge if you are prepared.  Here is a quick checklist to get you started and I’ll go into more detail below.   Rain checklist A long waterproof jacket with hood Rain boots A good sturdy wood handle umbrella (preferably one with the rounded handle so if the rain does stop it’s easier to carry on your arm or hook onto your camera bag) Rolling camera bag Baby stroller rain cover. Optional – a rain sleeve for your camera. […]

Today we are talking about Low Light Photography Tips using your dslr camera.  Are you wondering the shutter speed for low light pictures?  are you attempting low light photography without a flash?  All of this is covered in our ultimate guide to low light photography tips.    I love dramatic lighting.  It can transform an otherwise boring image into something beautiful.   Low Light Photography Definition Light or the absence of light will draw the viewer’s eye to the subject of your image, so it is important to understand how to control the light that you see by manipulating your camera’s settings in manual mode. If you set up a shot correctly in camera (by this I mean proper exposure), post-processing of these images are quite fun and simple.   It is important that you understand the limitations of your DSLR camera before photographing low light.  If you are using a basic model camera, these images can be grainy if you crank your ISO up too high.  Most cameras do not perform well with an ISO higher than 800, so it is important to utilize other parts of the exposure triangle – namely the aperture and shutter speed.  I will explain […]

Let’s start off with a bit of real talk, I’m a professional photographer and I have images sitting on my computer that are far from perfect. And for a long time, I believed the lie that they had to be perfect to have meaning. A couple months ago I was pulling images for a Father’s Day gift for my husband. I sat at my computer looking back on images over the past 2 years since we became parents. While I was a bit overwhelmed with the amount of images I had, I was more taken back at how many images I never touched, quickly dismissed for imperfections. They were unfocused, the lighting was off, the grain was too intense or I played the “if only I tried” game. It’s interesting how time changes your perspective though. One image in particular, when my son was first finding his feet, had been sitting on my hard drive. When I first uploaded this image, I was heartbroken that the focus was soft and the image had more grain than I like. I questioned my ability and felt frustrated that I may not get that moment back. Rather than seeing the beauty, I just […]

Create the perfect silhouette picture!  A silhouette can provide a unique perspective on a subject, sharing how to take a good silhouette picture and photography settings to use! Silhouette Picture How do I take a Silhouette Photo? 1- When to Capture a silhouette picture: I have found that the easiest time to capture silhouette shots is when the sun is lower in sky, close to sunrise or sunset.  Really, though, you can create them at any time of day, but the colors might not be as vibrant as when the sun is lower in the sky. This is called golden hour – get more tips on shooting at Golden Hour! 2- Where to take a silhouette picture: Find a spot with an open background.  You generally want the sun in front of you and behind your subjects.  I’ve also used water as my background, instead of sky, because of how it reflects the light! 3- What position to shoot a silhouette picture: When you are shooting, get down as low as possible so most of your subject is in the open space, and not blocked by trees or other background elements.  (Watch out for poison ivy!  I speak from experience…) […]