Cameras

The is a guest post by Fiona Hall, an Antarctic specialist and Wildlife Photographer of the Year semi-finalist. Check out some of her awesome photos of Antarctica on her website.

The direction from which light strikes a scene, relative to the camera position, has a significant effect on colour, form, texture, and depth in the resulting photo. Here are some quick ideas on how to get the most out of your shot in any of the likely lighting conditions.

Frontlighting spills over your shoulder and falls squarely on the front of your subject. Because frontlighting is very even, auto-exposure systems handle it well. It produces bold, saturated colours, but when too strong can actually wash out some colours. The downside is that, because all the shadows are falling behind the subject and away from the camera, frontlit scenes lack a sense of depth or three-dimensionality.

Photo by SarHounds

Sidelighting comes from the left or right of a subject. Because the light is scraping across from side to side, it catches every surface blip and imperfection, leaving a trail of large and small shadows and exaggerating surface textures. It is ideal for landscapes, like desert badlands or beaches, where you want to convey the tactile qualities of a subject. Sidelight also imparts form and three-dimensionality to objects, giving a pumpkin its full roundness or a tree trunk its volume. Gentle sidelighting, especially from slightly above, works well for portraits because it creates a delicate modelling of facial features.

Photo by Stefan Mendelsohn

Backlighting can produce theatrical effects, particularly with landscapes. Shadows coming toward the camera exaggerate depth and distance and help lead the eye into the scene. When backlighting is used behind partially translucent subjects, like leaves or human hair, it creates a bright fringe called rim lighting that helps separate subjects from their surroundings. In backlit portraits, however, you may need to increase exposure by 1 to 1 1/2 stops over the metered value to keep faces from being lost in shadow. An alternate solution is to use flash fill. Keep the sun itself out of the frame or it will trick the meter into severe underexposure.

Photo by Victor Burzukov

With many subjects, you can change the apparent direction of lighting by changing your shooting position by taking a short walk if you’re shooting a close-up of a barn or a horse, or a drive if you’re shooting a landscape. Try to plan out your shoot and the likely conditions including the light direction and you will be well prepared.

lightstalking.com

Portrait photography engenders mental images of the traditional head and shoulders composition shots that make up 99% of the genre, but portrait photos can be so much more. The funny thing is that most people’s favourite photo of a relative or loved one is rarely the head and shoulders shot, but rather an action shot or one of them in their natural surrounds.

That means there is an opportunity to add a special element of interest to any portrait photography. Here are a few ideas with our guide on 7 Ways to Add Interest to Portrait Photography.

Reflections An easy way to add both depth and interest to a subject is to shoot it in reflection. That means setting up near reflective surfaces such as glass, a mirror, water or a polished surface which can be found in almost any location. The reflection adds a point of interest and makes the portrait composition much more interesting.

Consider the Setting Let’s face it, sitting for a portrait in front of a screen is boring and has been done to death. Why not get outside where you can use natural lighting as well as the interest of the natural environment to create an interesting portrait? Shooting people in their natural environment such as at work is also another way to get a more natural looking shot.

Consider Your Lens Getting closeup portraits is one way that many people capture interesting shots of people. The shot below was taken with a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 lens. If you want to take portraits this close, you might need to consider what type of lens you are shooting on.

Use a Prop A strategically placed item or even having the subject interact with an item can also produce much more interesting portraits. The shot below introduces the element of cigarette smoke very effectively to add interest and draw the eye to both the subject and elements of the background.

Underexposure - Intentionally underexposing your subject in portraiture photography can produce some very emotive images and will draw the view of the audience towards the lighter parts of the image. It also adds a gravitas to the image that is great if you are trying to evoke emotions of seriousness.

Overexposure - On the other hand, intentionally overexposing a subject will draw the eye to the darker areas of the portrait and produce very stark results. You quite often see this technique in magazine and fashion shots but it is easy enough to replicate if you like these types of photos.

Change the Angle Most portraiture photos are front on, head and shoulders shots. Maybe the easiest way to mix this up is to simply change where you are standing as the photographer. Get above the subject so that they are looking up for example. The shot below made what would have been an average front-on shot quite interesting simply by getting above the subjects to shoot.

Check out these other links on Portrait Photography:

• 16 Inspirational Portrait Techniques
• 19 Portrait Photo Tutorials
• The Art of Portrait Photography
• Richard Avedon’s Power Portraits (Video)

lightstalking.com

Getting great results in black and white from a camera phone takes some skill. The rewards though, seem to be fantastic if you have the patience and time to devote to it. The real challenges in this photography niche lie in both composition and post production due mainly to the limitation of the medium.

by Tomas Rotger

by Johnnyphoto

In general terms there are a few things you are going to want to think about when you are embarking on a quest to take great black and white photos with a camera phone. These are some of the more obvious ones:

• Abide By the General Rules of Photography Just because you’re planning on turning shots into black and white doesn’t mean you can afford to take mediocre shots. Abide by general photography rules such as the rule of thirds and make sure your composition is good. Improving a good shot post-production is much better than saving a bad one. The limitations of a camera phone are large enough without magnifying them with poor initial images.
• Get Closer I know we repeat this one a lot, but so few people take heed. You usually need to totally fill the frame of your shot with the subject. Don’t be afraid to get closer to whatever you are taking a photo of because that is how you fill the shot. Don’t stand back. Walk up to it!
• Consider the Shadows Black and white shots can often be enhanced if they have incorporated shadow. Consider shooting in the Golden Hours to make sure there is plenty of shadow around for you to shoot.
• Get Good at Post-Production As most camera phones shoot in colour, you’re going to have to learn how to manipulate photos on your computer. For most people, this means investing in Photoshop, or if the wallet doesn’t stretch that far, downloading a free copy of GIMP. If you don’t know how to use these programs then a simple search for “Photoshop tutorial” or “GIMP tutorial” in Google will land you with some great starting points. You can also consider buying any one of hundreds of photographic magazines that come with CD-Roms that usually include specific Photoshop tutorials.
• Play with Contrast Black and white photography allows you to play with the contrast of an image in a way that colour doesn’t. Look at the above image parts of it are almost entirely pitch black (such as the legs). This can sometimes produce a very impressive effect in your images.

by Tomas Rotger

Online Resources for Camera Phone Black and White Photography

B&W Camera Phone Photography Flickr Group Another great Flickr group that produces some sensational shots (like the one above). It shows you exactly what can be achieved using camera phones as well as gives a lot of ideas for subjects and compositions that you can try to replicate.

How to Create High Contrast Black and White Images in Photoshop A great step by step guide for converting your colour images to black and white. Not specific to camera phone photography, but the post production process in Photoshop can be applied to any digital image be they from a camera phone or a DSLR.

by Tomas Rotger

Concluding Thoughts

Let’s not make any mistake camera phone photography in black and white is going to be tough. But if you eliminate as many random variables as possible by adhering to the general rules of photography and then hone your post production skills, you will still be able to come up with pretty good photos. Don’t be afraid to try!

lightstalking.com