Outdoor Photography Tips - Electronic Flash * Histogram * Composition
Outphotography Tips - Index
Outdoor Photography Tips - Electronic Flash * Histogram * Composition
Outdoor Photography Tips - Panning
When you take your camera outdoors you are confronted with a world of color, movement, light, and opportunity for great photography. When working outdoors you will sometimes need to override your camera automated functions to create the image that you want.
My suggestion is this. When you see a photograph that you want to take feel free to use whatever camera mode that you want. If the image does not work for you, override the camera and create that perfect image. I'll have a general shooting guide up soon.
Topics Discussed on this page include:
- Exposure - Reading your histogram
- Composition - A basic discussion on composition. For more check out: Composition
Soon to be added:
- Perspective
Exposure
There is no easy explanation on how to handle exposure. Great exposure is the most important aspect to an image. Without great exposure your perfect composition won't be appreciated. Exposure is covered elsewhere on the web site. Click here for a more detailed explanation.
How to Read a Histogram
A key part of understanding exposure is knowing how to read the histogram on the back of your camera. If you are not sure what I am talking about check your owner's manual to see how to get it displayed.
The problem with a histogram is that there is no one perfect histogram look which is correct. What is correct is based upon the individual image. Take a look at the following examples of histograms. All of the images were very printable and yet their histograms look quite different.
When you look at this image you can see that the majority of the image had darker and mid-range tones. The histogram shows that there were highlights that were too bright. This came from the sky above the bridge and in this type of a photograph can't really be avoided.
As you look at the histogram you should note that the shadows do not touch the left side of the image. What this means is that all shadow detail has been recorded.
The histogram for this image touches the shadow side of the histogram and goes off the highlight side of the histogram.
As you look at the photograph you can see that there is solid black at the top on the stuffed animal. This solid black is what caused the histogram to be touching the left side of the histogram.
The reflection on the ornament and the cat's white fur is what caused the histogram to be off on the right side. This histogram is acceptable for this particular image.
If the exposure been reduced to eliminate the slight over exposure on the cat's chest the texture of the fur on the cat's face might have been lost.
When looking at the histogram for this image you can quickly see that there are very few highlights or white areas in the photograph.
When you look at the shadow side of the histogram you can see that it touches the left side of the image. This could tend to make you think that the image may be too dark. A quick look at the photograph will tell you that there is a big dark area on the right side of the photograph which is causing the histogram to look like the image is underexposed.
Look at some of the other images on this web page for more histogram examples.
Composition
Composition is a key element of what makes a great photograph. You and your camera can create a technically perfect image and without composition it will have no story to tell. An additional page which discusses composition can be found here.
FRAMING YOUR SUBJECT
When you are working outside look for locations that can frame your subject or lead your viewers eye to your subject.
In this photo the location was picked because the green foliage on both sides framed the two girls. This framing helped draw attention to the girls.
In addition, the path leading toward the girls helped provide a way to draw the eye to the girls.
If you were trying to take this photo with a more formal look you would of course have them sit on something less obvious and would want to work to get the two girls heads a little closer together.
Camera Settings:
- The first inclination might have been to set the camera to portrait mode. Depending upon your camera that may work. Keep in mind that PORTRAIT MODE will be default want to narrow the depth of field, and expose the image with skin tones in mind. How narrow the depth of field or area of focus will vary based upon the focal length.
With a more narrow depth of field the pathway in front of the ladies is slightly out of focus as is the water behind them. The end result is a nice composition for this portrait.
No, it does not follow the rule of thirds. By choosing a location where the subject is framed the rule of thirds would not apply.
Using Your Camera Flash Outdoors
Your camera's flash unit can be useful outside too. When using your flash always keep in mind that compared to the sun it puts out very little light. Working up close your flash is an excellent way to fill in shadows on a bright day.
In the above photograph the two young ladies were sitting on the railing of the bridge pictured in the middle of the image. When the camera looked at the photograph it decided that there was plenty of light in the image and took the photograph on the left.
The left hand photograph was shot in Full Auto(Idiot) Mode. Most of your cameras have 3 to 4 flash options.
Option 1 - Full Auto The flash will fire when the camera thinks it is needed. This is "usually" the default option for most cameras and is the setting for Full Auto.
Option 2 - Red Eye This mode tells the camera to emit a series of small flashes before the image is taken. The purpose of this is to cause the subject's iris to close thus reducing the chance for red eye.
Option 3 - Fire Always This is the mode used for the photograph on the right. As you can see this allowed me to capture the image with the ladies faces properly exposed. Depending upon the scenario you may need to make some further adjustments to your camera to get a shot like to to work. On some cameras there is an exposure compensation setting which tells the camera to lighten or darken the image based upon settings that you change.
In addition to the exposure compensation some cameras will let you make changes to the lightness and brightness of an image as well as the output of the flash.
Tip Summary:
- Learn how to control your flash.
- Make sure you know how to adjust the cameras settings to lighten or darken your image.
- See if your camera allows you to make adjustments to the flash output separately from the over image exposure.
