As the sun sets, it casts one final beam across wild lupine and granite boulders, Sierra National Forest, CA
This week’s photo is all about light. If you take away the dramatic lighting effects from this photo, you are left with something pretty mundane – a forest and some rocks. But with the sun filtering through the trees as a star burst, lighting the granite boulders and contrasting them with the darker forest, an interesting image is born.
Before this composition found me, I was pointing my camera in the opposite direction and quickly becoming uninspired. Sure, I was shooting from the edge of a cliff and had a large, open, forested valley below me, but no specific feature stood out and grabbed my attention. I turned around and saw that the sun was setting behind the trees, and knew then that I would use sunlight as my subject.
It didn’t take much hunting around to find this line of granite boulders illuminated by the setting sun. Now I had a decision to make – include the sun in the image or not? Since I was shooting at f/16 (as I often do with landscapes), I knew I’d get a nice, tight star burst effect from the sun. I ultimately decided to include it in the image because I wanted to balance the lower right of the image which included a lot of light, with the light of the sun in the upper left.
Another thing to worry about when shooting into the sun is that the camera’s meter can will be thrown off. If I shot this at the camera’s recommended shutter speed (I was in aperture priority), the forest would have been rendered brighter and the granite would have been completely blown out. I dropped the exposure compensation by two stops, which gave me a photo much closer to what I was seeing with my eyes.
I am pretty happy with the result. It is not the typical grandiose landscape typical of Sierra photography, but a more intimate scene. Hopefully it conveys more than just the visual aspect, but a real sense of place – the distant echos of forest birds, the sharp smell of pine needles, the thumping of the heart at high elevations. Ultimately for me, it was my latest reminder that when in doubt, I should always follow the light.
Watch for two of my images that will appear in the October 2010 issue of Backpacker Magazine. The following two photos will appear in an article about the Ray Lakes loop trail in King’s Canyon National Park.
Mist Falls is situated along the south fork of the King's River as it flows down from the Sierra Nevada high country, King's Canyon National ParkThe campsites of Lower Paradise Valley line the banks of the south fork of King's River, King's Canyon National Park
Red Foxglove grows alone in a clearing in the forest, Corbett, Oregon
This week I’m posting a wildflower shot. I don’t often get out to specifically shoot wildflowers, but seeing pristine foxglove like this, standing out against a green forest backdrop makes it hard to pass by.
I was up visiting my parents who live near the Columbia River Gorge outside of Portland, Oregon. I decided to photograph portions of their forest, which is mostly Douglas fir, and can get pretty dense in places.
Because the forest was thick, it was dark, and a tripod was required. For this shot, I used a polarized filter to cut any sheen from the vegetation. This really allowed the greens to pop. I also wanted to isolate the flowers, so I used a wide aperture (f/2.8) and the telephoto end of my 24-70mm zoom lens. In general, the longer the lens, the shallower the depth of field, so if I’d shot the flower at 24mm, even at f/2.8 the background foliage would have been much more in focus. With 70mm, all the busyness of the forest disappeared into a sea of green.
Below is another shot from the same trip, though of a different foxglove in a different part of the forest.
Ever get tired of all the ads that tell you that to take better photos, all you need is this new camera or that new lens? If so, this article is for you. Almost everyone has a camera of some kind these days – point and shoot, SLR, cell phone. The tips below will work with any kind of camera out there, and will improve the photos that come out of them without requiring the purchase of a single new item.
A typical snapshot - overall, pretty bad
A better shot, using some of the tips below
I took the photos of my brother above with my iphone. This camera has no flash, a crappy lens, and no controls of any kind other than taking the photo. Using some of the techniques discussed in this article, I was able to add interest and improve the quality of the photo.
1. Stabilize, stabilize, stabilize!
This is perhaps the most important tip here – do anything you can to keep the camera still while taking photos. This usually means using a tripod (and I’d definitely recommend that whenever possible – it’ll change the way you do photography!) But if you don’t have the funds (or the patience) to use one, there are many other ways to keep the camera stable. Get an old grocery bag and fill it with dry beans. Place this make-shift beanbag on anything you can find – rocks, tree stumps, table tops. This will give you a malleable surface from which to position your camera. If that isn’t available, lean up against a tree or wall and hold the camera tight against your face, bracing your elbows against your torso. Hold your breath and shoot.
2. Shed some light on the subject
The darker the subject, the longer the shutter speed required to get the proper exposure. Getting some natural light on your subject will improve the photograph dramatically. Indoor photography (even in the middle of the day), usually has less light than desired. Open some windows to bring in natural light from outdoors, or if possible, bring your subject next to a window. Strong directional light against a dark background can have dramatic effects.
Shooting outdoors with a harsh mid-day overhead sun? Try shooting your subjects in the shade to even out the light. Get a large piece of cardboard and some aluminum foil and build a homemade reflector. With a reflector you can bounce that harsh noon sunlight onto your shaded subject, giving you plenty of light to work with.
3. Find a new angle
Shooting your subject from a lower or higher vantage point can differentiate your shots from the rest of the pack. Think creatively about new ways to capture a subject you’ve seen over and over again.
By moving above my nephew with him looking up at me, I added interest to the photo
I took the photo of my nephew above for his family’s Christmas card. I found a fence to climb, and had him stand below me on some bright green moss. This new angle added interest to what would otherwise have been a mundane straight-forward portrait with a background of trees.
4. Don’t center your subject
Anyone who’s been around photography a while will immediately recognize the rule of thirds. But it’s important, so I’ll repeat it here. Using two imaginary vertical lines, divide your photo area into three equal sections. Now do the same horizontally. There should be four places in your photo area where the imaginary lines intersect. The rule of thirds says that the main subject of the photo should appear in one of these four spots. Unless your photo is specifically illustrating some form of symmetry, avoid placing your main subject in the middle of the frame.
The example below demonstrates applying the rule of thirds. Which photo looks better?
Here the mallard is centered in the frame
By moving the subject to the right, in keeping with the rule of thirds, the photo looks better
5. Edit ruthlessly
This tip doesn’t technically concern the “taking” of photos, but rather what to do with them afterward. Everyone takes crap photos. The pros just take fewer of them, and know enough to get rid of them when they do. Next time you’re reviewing photos from your last vacation or outing, don’t be afraid to delete the misses. In my early years of photography, I was as guilty of this as anybody. I kept EVERYTHING. And yes, with today’s storage, you can technically keep everything that ever comes out of your camera forever. But really ask yourself, do you ever want to actually go back and look at all the bad shots you took?
A friend of mine (I won’t name any names) once took a two week trip to Europe. When he came back, he asked if I wanted to see his vacation photos. “Sure,” I said, “how many do you have?”
“Oh, about 5,000.”
“What?!” We waded through shot after shot of the same subjects, taken as he tried to get the photo he wanted. Needless to say, we never got through them all. And the unfortunate part was that I missed all the gems that I’m sure were in there. So, throw away the crap, or at the very least, pick your winners and copy them to a separate location. When asking your audience to view your photos, having an edited collection will change their response from “Oh, do we have to?” to “Yes, please!” And I’ll bet you never look at your garbage folder again.
As the saying goes, all rules are meant to be broken. Such is true with each tip above. For each tip, there are situations in which they may not be the best choice for one reason or another. But by in large, keeping these in mind when I pick up my camera helps me focus beyond all the bells and whistles of the camera. It pays to occasionally get back to basics and remember the simple things we can do next time we’re out trying to capture that perfect shot.
