Lark Photography

One of the most striking field techniques around is foreground framing. Used effectively, it helps direct the viewer’s eye right to the photo’s star attraction. Read more in this photography article by BetterPhoto instructor Kerry Drager:

Desert Rock Frame © Kerry Drager All Rights Reserved

Options: Frames come in all shapes and sizes. Some surround an entire background subject, while other frames are partial ones: i.e., side, bottom, or top. Examples of framing devices include overhanging tree branches, arches, windows, doors, sculptures, fences, looming rock formations, fountains, flowers, architectural elements, a companion’s outstretched arm, or a nearby hot-air balloon in a colorful race.

Composition: Although a foreground border often spotlights your center of interest, an extra-special frame sometimes serves as the primary subject itself. Also, a frame can show a subject in relation to its surroundings and can even produce a three-dimensional effect, in which the scene sweeps away from front to back.

In addition, a border can help clean up a composition – by concealing distracting objects or by filling up a featureless sky. Occasionally you can use more than one frame – for instance, picturing a subject through the openings on separate walls of an old building.

Wide Look: An exclusive “storytelling” perspective – the ability to combine intimate details with distant views in the same picture – makes the wide-angle a valuable tool for creating frame shots. The wide-angle also helps strengthen the sense of depth, since a close-at-hand foreground appears larger in relation to the background.

Tele Views: A telephoto or tele-zoom offers its own unique look for framing. Use it to compress space – in other words, to make the frame and backdrop appear closer together than they really are.

Sunset on California Coast © Kerry Drager All Rights Reserved

Exposure: Be careful of lighting extremes – say, if your frame is in shadow and your subject is in sunlight. A camera can’t record good color and details in both sunlit and shadowed areas at the same time.

Fill-in flash, however, could lighten up a shadowed foreground. But if that dark object is sharply outlined, easily identifiable, and set against a bright background, consider going for a striking silhouette to spotlight your distant subject. To achieve a silhouette, make sure your meter registers the sunlit areas of the scene and not the shaded frame.

Depth of Field: Most foreground frames look best if they are in sharp focus; others work more effectively when they are in soft focus (say, to emphasize a crisp-and-clear background subject).

Not sure? Then shoot the scene both ways: with a small aperture (high f/stop number) for maximum near-to-far sharpness and a large aperture (low f/stop number) for a “selective focus” effect. Such experimenting is crucial to success when framing frames!

More photo examples: Check out BetterPhoto’s “Framing the Subject” gallery.

Basic White Balance

Keep White Balance (WB) on ‘Auto’ most times, but change them when shooting in a light source that does not look right on the LCD (i.e. the picture looks way too yellow, red or blue).

Typically the most common mistake is when the ‘Indoors’ WB is set and we shoot outside! Read the rest of this entry »

Wildlife subjects can be divided into two categories: wild and under human control. Pursuing both can produce wonderful images. Of course, there’s nothing more exciting than capturing a spectacular image of a wild animal in its natural environment, but many times it’s not possible to travel to exotic locations or spend days or weeks tracking an animal. What’s more, many animals are extremely dangerous. Learn tips on getting great wildlife photos in the following article by professional photographer Jim Zuckerman. Read the rest of this entry »

Camera lens: Different types of camera lenses

To new photographers it can be quite surprising just how many types of lenses there are.  Some manufactures offer dozens of lenses at any given time.  Understanding the options is the first step to building your own photo system.

Basic Lens Types

At a glance there are three basic types of lenses: wide, normal and telephoto.  All lenses, in some way, warp what they are looking at.  The way they focus light can make the foreground and background appear really close together or really far apart.  A normal lens is one where these layers appear most like they do to the human eye.  Ones that push the background away are wide.  Those that bring the background close are telephoto.  The more popular lenses are called zoom lenses.  These are extendable lenses that are often (but not always) wide, normal and telephoto all built into one.  Read the rest of this entry »

A face devoid of love or grace,
A hateful, hard, successful face,
A face with which a stone
Would feel as thoroughly at ease
As were they old acquaintances,–
First time together thrown.
– “A Portrait” by Emily Dickinson

Below are two photos by world-famous portrait photographer: Elsa Dorfman. Elsa has the same kind of studio, background, lights, and equipment as a lot of folks with more technical skill. Yet those folks aren’t portrait photographers and Elsa is. What’s the difference? Elsa cares about people. She is genuinely curious about people she has never met and can connect with them in just a few minutes. After a one-hour session, she knows more about her average subject’s life than I do about my sister’s.

Elsa uses a 20×24″ Polaroid camera. Film costs about $50/exposure, so she limits herself to two exposures per subject. Yet her photo of me and Alex (below right) is one of the only pictures of myself that I like. Our advice to digital photographers is to fill the flash card with at least 50 images in hopes of yielding one that captures the essence of a subject’s expression.

Elsa’s artistic success implies that the most important thing about portrait photography is an interest in your subject. If you are so busy working that you can’t care about strangers, don’t take their photos! Or at rate, don’t expect those photos to be good. Some of my better portraits were taken on a trip to Alaska and back because I had 3.5 months in which to be alone and learn to appreciate the value of a stranger’s company and conversation.

Location

If you don’t have or can’t create a photo studio, concentrate on environmental portraiture. Show the subject and also his surroundings. These tend to work best if you can enlarge the final image to at least 11×14 inches. In any smaller photo, the subject’s face is simply too small. Taking photos that will enlarge well is a whole art by itself. Your allies in this endeavor will be a low ISO setting, prime (rather than zoom) lenses, a tripod, and at least a mid-range digital SLR.

There are two elements to a photo studio for portrait photography. One is a controlled background. You want to focus attention on your subject and avoid distracting elements in the frame. Probably the best portraits aren’t taken against a gray seamless paper roll. On the other hand, you are unlikely to screw up and leave something distracting in the frame if you confine yourself to using seamless paper or other monochromatic backgrounds. You don’t have to build a special room to have a controlled background. There are all kinds of clever portable backdrops and backdrop supports that you can buy or build. If you absolutely cannot control the background, the standard way to cheat is to use a long fast lens, e.g., 300/2.8. Fast telephoto lenses have very little depth of field. Your subject’s eyes and nose will be sharp. Everything else that might have been distracting will be blurred into blobs of color.

The second element of a portrait studio is controlled lighting. With lights on stands or hanging from the ceiling, you get to pick the angle at which light will strike your subject. With umbrellas and other diffusion equipment, you get to pick the harshness of the shadows on your subject (see out studio photography primer). There are some pretty reasonable portable flash kits consisting of a couple of lights, light stands, and umbrellas. These cost $500-1000 and take 20 minutes or so to set up on location. If you don’t have the money, time, or muscles to bring a light package to a project, the standard way to cheat is to park your subject next to a large window and put a white reflecting card on the other side. Don’t forget the tripod, because you’ll probably be forced to use slow shutter speeds.

Stealing a Location

What if you don’t have a big open space with diffuse light and a neutral background? Steal one. If you live in the United States, a vast open space with light pouring in from expensive skylights is as close as your nearest art museum or university. With a 200mm lens set to f/2.8, the background will be thrown out of focus. Here are some examples from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and a couple of lobbies at MIT, taken on a cold February day in Boston. Canon EOS-5D, 70-200/2.8 IS lens, handheld without flash.

Lighting

The most flattering light for most portraits is soft and off-camera. A large north-facing window works, as does the electronic equivalent, the softbox (light bank). The Elsa Dorfman Polaroid photo at the top right was taken with two large light banks, one on either side of the camera. Note that there are essentially no shadows.

If your subject is outdoors, an overcast day is best. If the day is sunny, make sure to use a reflector or electronic flash to fill in shadows underneath the eyes.

At right: In a New York loft, light coming from a bank of windows at left. Canon 70-200/2.8 lens on tripod. Possibly some fill-flash. Fuji ISO 400 color negative film.