08Jan
Exposure Compensation made simplecategories: photography, technical
I went out to shoot a little demo of how a light meter works this morning.
I shot a very white scene; a stick on some snow—and a very dark scene; a very wet, dark manhole cover (it was almost black). The top two pictures are how the two subjects looked to me in reality. (I had to use an exposure compensation setting of PLUS one and two-thirds for the snow and MINUS one and two-thirds for the dark manhole cover.)
The bottom two are how the light meter saw them with an exposure compensation setting of ZERO—normal exposure.
The important thing to notice here is how the meter tries to make everything gray—the bottom two pictures.
Here's a little essay I wrote a while back on this subject.
Here’s a fact. If you took a picture at the north pole on a sunny day—that’s in blinding snow—your camera would make an exposure error. It’s not smart enough not to. So here’s the question: Would it make a picture that was too light; overexposed—or too dark; underexposed.
Wrong! (I know that was presumptuous of me, but please play along.)
If you fill the frame with bright snow the camera is going to underexpose it. The picture will be too dark. Light meters have been built to make everything a middle tone—not too bright and not too dark. It’s a safe place to be. So when your meter sees bright white snow it wants to make it gray—yes, gray snow!. (If it sees black dirt it will make that gray, too—it does not discriminate. It wants to put everything in the middle. The middle ground is safe when you’re exposing photographs.)
A picture of snow that’s too dark?—somehow that’s just wrong. And though you feel unqualified, you are the only thing between your camera and certain types of exposure errors. The problem is knowing which ones, isn’t it?
Well, the digital camera let’s you off the hook a bit. You can see your photos as you shoot them. And then, you can compensate for whatever meter errors are happening. You will use the exposure compensation button. It's that button on your camera someplace that has a little plus and a little minus sign on it. Plus means brighter. Minus means darker.
The important thing to notice here is how the meter tries to make everything gray—the bottom two pictures.
Wrong! (I know that was presumptuous of me, but please play along.)
If you fill the frame with bright snow the camera is going to underexpose it. The picture will be too dark. Light meters have been built to make everything a middle tone—not too bright and not too dark. It’s a safe place to be. So when your meter sees bright white snow it wants to make it gray—yes, gray snow!. (If it sees black dirt it will make that gray, too—it does not discriminate. It wants to put everything in the middle. The middle ground is safe when you’re exposing photographs.)
A picture of snow that’s too dark?—somehow that’s just wrong. And though you feel unqualified, you are the only thing between your camera and certain types of exposure errors. The problem is knowing which ones, isn’t it?
Well, the digital camera let’s you off the hook a bit. You can see your photos as you shoot them. And then, you can compensate for whatever meter errors are happening. You will use the exposure compensation button. It's that button on your camera someplace that has a little plus and a little minus sign on it. Plus means brighter. Minus means darker.
05Jan
What IS that stuff?categories: photography, technical
Part one:
Here's a "photograph" that Victoria posted this morning of a solid blue sky.
I have lightened it and increased the contrast just to make Victoria feel worse than she already does about her dirty CCD sensor.
All that stuff you see there is normal build up of dust and dirt. (There a big chunk in the top right corner.) If you want to feel lousy about YOUR camera take a picture of a white wall at the smallest f-stop you have.
Your CCD chip probably looks like Victoria's. If you use a large f-stop it will look perfectly clean. (The smaller the opening of light the sharper the shadows of the dirt, right?) So to make Victoria feel better I photographed a white wall at f22 with my camera. That's my next post.
Part two:
So here's my picture of a white wall. Ironically, this is the cleanest I think my CCD has ever been.
Yes, there is a big piece of dirt there but that's just par for the course. (Mine usually looks just like Victoria's. I can't explain why mine looks so good today. I must be doing something wrong.) Seriously, this is the cleanest CCD chip I have ever seen. Not kidding.
Anyway, there are a bunch of ways to clean it.
1.Some cameras have an auto clean function that works pretty well.
2.You can send it to the manufacturer and have them do it. If you ever do that, run the white wall test when it comes back and you will see what you're up against. They can't get rid of all the dust, either.
2A. You can buy the cleaning kit of swaps and special solutions that the manufacturer will use to clean it. They're pricey and will drive you a bit crazy, too.
3. You can do what I do which is blow it with a can of high grade air (just for this purpose) BUT YOU HAVE TO BE VERY CAREFUL! THAT CANNED AIR CAN SHOOT SOME LIQUID THAT CAN DO PERMANENT DAMAGE TO YOUR CAMERA. DON'T SHAKE THE CAN! HOLD THE CAN LEVEL! DO TEST SPRAYS BEFORE YOU SHOOT! SHOOT LIGHTLY! THIS IS NOT RECOMMENDED BY THE MANUFACTURER!
4. You can do nothing. It's what I do most of the time. If dust shows up someplace in a picture you can usually fix it in editing.
5. Know that the dust is really going to show up when you shoot something like a plain wall or sky at a very small aperture. That's when it's most noticeable.
6. To avoid dust, turn your camera off when you change lenses. The electric charge can attract dust. Don't leave you camera open without a lens or lens cap for very long.
7. DO NOT GO CRAZY ABOUT THIS.
8. Most importantly, understand that CCD cleaning is not for anyone with any kind of compulsive disorder.
2A. You can buy the cleaning kit of swaps and special solutions that the manufacturer will use to clean it. They're pricey and will drive you a bit crazy, too.
28Feb
I just wanted to say a heartfelt thank you to all of you who took the time to write and let me know how much you enjoyed the short film I put together for the Creative Memories regional events this past month. Your comments were so flattering and so much fun. They really touched me. (Seriously, I’m not kidding. They really did. I really, really mean it.)
Many of you have asked how you can get a copy of the DVD to use in your business. The management folks at CM and I are trying to make that happen as fast as possible. I can’t give you a date, but we’re working on it.
Some of the scenes from the film (my mother-in- law, my sister-in-law, etc.) were taken from my new DVD How to Photograph Your Baby. If you got a kick out of the Creative Memories presentation, you’ll love How to Photograph Your Baby. It’s the same attitude and same approach to photography tips—there’s just a lot more of it. You could easily share this with your clients as a photography primer and get the same reaction. (My wife wants me to say here that it’s America’s great baby shower gift.)
I’ve always felt that if you learn to photograph a baby you’re now qualified to photograph that little human growing up. All of the tips in my DVD apply to everything you may want to photograph—even if there’s not a baby in sight.
Here’s a link to check out my DVD:
www.howtophotographyourbaby.com/dvd
Also, I’d love to stay in touch with all of you on a Creative Memories website blog. If your think that’s a good idea please let them know. Here’s CM’s suggestion site:
www.creativememories.com/CompanyLinks/Contact-Us/Suggestion
It would be terrific if you could pass this note along to your memory keeper friends.
Once again, thank you for your kind words. It’s a privilege to have you for an audience.
Nick
P.S. My mother-in-law thinks she’s a big star now. She’s impossible to deal with! Some things never change.
20Jul
Mastery of Simplicitycategories: inspiration, photography
Although I've taken a few hundred piano lessons in my life, I can't play the piano. I didn't practice — funny how that works. But that doesn't mean I didn't learn anything.
My most accomplished teacher always stressed that, even when playing a lowly scale, play it with heart. Make people feel it. He said that no great pianist would ever scoff at a simple scale played as art. One hand — eight notes up and back — can change the way you feel about music. It can change the way you listen, not to mention your relationship with your fingers.
Shooting a simple close-up portrait of your baby in some beautiful light is a visual exercise that can change the way you feel about photography. It can change the way you look at other people's photographs and the way you approach more complicated subjects in the future — all of them need to played with heart.
My goal is to get new parents (and any other new baby lovers with cameras) to an elegant and satisfying mountaintop quickly. The simple headshot in some gorgeous light (with no flash) is the way to go. The motto for www.howtophotographyourbaby.com could very well be, "Wow, you are a good photographer."
And believe me, no great photographer would ever scoff at a technically unsophisticated but exquisite portrait.
Do it with heart and make people feel it.
This is my son, Teddy, on his first birthday last January. We had just returned from a late-afternoon walk and I happened to park his stroller in a nice patch of sunlight bouncing off the snow in the driveway into the dark garage. We were getting ready to go in the house for dinner. I hung up my coat and turned around. This is what I found.
I will let my eyes —and my heart — speak for me.
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