| Quiz question (not really. .
.) Should the sun be behind the subject you're photographing,
beside the subject, or shining on the subject? |
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People used to think that
you could only take good pictures if the sun was behind the
photographer (YOU!) shining on the subject they were taking
a picture. But that's not true.
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| For instance, if you want to
take a sunset picture and want your framing subject (such as
a person walking down the beach) to be a silhoutte, the sun
should be behind him, shining toward you (back lighting). |
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Front lighting
is best when you want to see the details, like if you're taking
a close-up of someone's face. A downfall is, that if the lights
too bright, such as in the middle of the day, there might
be "glare" in your subject. |
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Side lighting
is great for bringing out shapes and textures, such as a rocky
mountain cliff or tree bark. |
| These two photos are from Mono
Lake In California. Notice how different the same rocks look
depending on where the light is coming from? |
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Back lighting
is lighting from behind the subject, tends to hide the subject,
forming a silhoutte. Some good places to use back lighting are
a camporee flagpole at sunset, a cow/horse grazing at sunset,
or a playground after everyone has gone home for the evening.
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- The best light conditions are 1 1/2 hours
before sunset or the first hour after sunrise. The reason
is that the light isn't SO BRIGHT that it washes out the
colors in your picture, but at the same time the shadows
are long (which makes side lighting pictures look extra
special). Also, the sunset or sunrise gives off a kind of
"pink" or "orange" light, which makes
many nature pictures look very friendly & special. If
you want to know when sunrise and sunset are going to be,
check out www.adventist.org's
sunset calendar!
- Be careful of evening shadows when photographing
people. long shadows on faces hide features and expressions!
- Pictures taken during the middle of the
day will be "stark" with hard lines and minimal
shadows. Buildings & some landscapes such as mountains
look especially regal or majestic during the middle of the
day. Just remember that if you take a picture during the
middle of the day, shade the top of the lens of your camera
by placing one of your hands or a piece of paper horizontal
about 2" above the lens to form a "shade for the
lens. This will keep pink & blue "sparks"
from showing up on your photos.
- When there is no sunshine (on a rainy
day) don't give up on taking pictures! Zoom in close on
flowers and other colorful objects. The color will be extra
deep since its not being "washed out" by the sun.
Fog which often accompanies soft rain also makes a very
nice soft hazy look. Just be sure to protect you lens from
specks of rain!
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A Picture looks best when you imagine a
tic-tac-toe board on top of your picture you're going to take.
Remember that we're wanting a photo to look 3 dimensional!
Part of that is arranging it in combination with "Framing"
and "Leading Lines" techniques, but putting objects
in "3rds" on the photo. |
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For example: In a mountain scene (see diagram)
the landscape in the bottom screen--maybe even a tree or rock
to help it look "more 3-D"-- the mountains in the
middle 3rd, and the sky in the top third. |
| Another Illustration: If you're
taking a picture of a landscape with puffy clouds, take one
picture where 2/3 of the picture is composed of the clouds and
the landscape fills the bottom 1/3. Then try with 1/3 clouds
and 2/3 landscape. Notice how different this same landscape
looks with the "3rds" changed from top to bottom! |
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