Objective:  to learn how to diffuse your flash so that you can improve the look of your images taken using a flash.

I get many complaints from clients about how the flash on their camera makes the images look ugly, flat, contrasty and harsh.  This is all true but there is a solution!  Today I am going to teach you how a little piece of inexpensive equipment, a flash diffuser, can dramatically improve your images.

The main problem with flashes is that the light source is small, strong and placed right on top of the camera.  For those of you who have been to my studio, you might have noticed that my lights are big boxes with white fabric over the front.  This makes the light broad and the white fabric diffuses it thereby making it soft.  When we talked about shooting in open shade we talked about why it was so nice- it's because it is big, soft and open.  So, how do we make the light on your flash bigger, softer and better positioned?

We diffuse it!  There are many companies that make little devices that velcro onto your flash to help you diffuse the light.  Here is a sampling of the products made by Lumiquest, which are available at most good camera stores.  Good meaning they keep a good array of equipment and accessories.  In Houston, you can see Lumiquest products at either The Houston Camera Exchange or Houston Camera Coop.

All of the above diffusers are used with detachable flashes.  I know they look a little scary but they are really nice  once you get to know them just like a cool new friend.  You do not need to be a pro to use these.

The diffusers that I use are made by Gary Fong.  I use the Lightsphere and the Whaletail.  Gary also has a cool diffuser made just for people who have pop up flashes.  It is called The Puffer.  If you have a flash that you take on and off, you would use the Lightsphere.  If your flash pops up, you use The Puffer.

All of these diffusers have one thing in common, they make the light softer and broader.  They diffuse it.  The ones that attach to the detachable flash also raise the light up and bounce it, which makes it even softer.

The very best part is that you don't shoot any differently really.  You just attach the diffuser and set your camera as you normally would.  This is especially true in the case of The Puffer.  Gary has an awesome video on The Puffer here.

Here are some example images.  I took these in my living room last night.  There was NO available light.  I used the Lightsphere and set my camera to AV mode (aperture priority).  These are straight out of the camera- not enhanced or retouched at all.

These first images are with the Lightsphere.  What I want you to notice most is that the shadows are soft and the colors look warm and natural.

Hot Wheel problem you say??  No, not us.

These are taken without the Lightsphere.  The shadows are harder and the whites are more bleached out looking.  The whole image feels more harsh.  You can see a classic flash shadow on the right of Finn in the first image.  In the second one the pillow blocks the flash, and because the flash is not soft and broad, it cause a dark shadow on his face.

This picture is cute and the shadow is not so bad but the colors aren't as nice as in the diffused ones.  He was far enough away from the back of the chair so I didn't get the dark shadow.

Shocking as it may be, Finn decided he was tired of me taking his picture and he didn't want to sit still any longer.  So, many thanks to my Chihuahua, Phoebe, for letting me finish up with this side by side.  This set of images shows with and without diffusion.  The left is shot with the diffuser and the right with the flash alone.

It makes a huge difference doesn't it?  I never use flash without a diffuser. Once you get used to it being there, it just becomes an awesome tool that you can't live without.  If you have the same flash frustrations that I so often hear about, please give it a try.  I think you'll love it!

Your homework- don't fear the diffuser!  I am inspired and fueled by your awesome comments about these lessons.  Please keep them up and show me some of your images!

Class Reminder:  I am doing a workshop at my studio on Saturday May 10th from 10 am until 4 pm.  The class is about taking better photos of your children.  We are almost full as I type so if you are interested in the workshop, please register soon!  Call us to sign up- (713) 255-2882.  This class is intended for non-pros who like to shoot for fun.  You will need to have a digital SLR (no point-and-shoots please).  The class is limited to 15 students to ensure a lot of photo TLC and personal attention.  The cost is $100 per person.  Give us a call if you have any questions.

This week I thought we'd take a break from the more technical aspects of our cameras and try something fun.  Today I am going to talk about getting great expressions out of your children and how to approach your photography in a new way.

Objective:  to learn and experiment with new techniques that are aimed at capturing fun and genuine expressions from your subjects.

If you have ever been to my studio and watched me photograph kids you might have noticed that I never ask them to smile.  Kids are real in every way and when they try and fake a smile it looks really, really forced and not at all real.  This is not bad news at all.  You just need to change the way you look at the dilemma.  The best part of this is that when you do get a big genuine smile it is truly that- BIG and GENUINE.  It is the kind of smile that is full of life and personality and make you smile yourself just looking at it.  The other bonus about little kids is that they don't mind being silly or even looking silly.  In fact, they think it's hilarious and they are (for the most part) more than willing to share some really fun expressions with you if you're game too.

I always ask kids to show me their silly face, their mad face, their super happy face, their sad face, etc.  I laugh and make the same faces back and that gets them into it and they start laughing in between.  It is in those in between moments that you can get some real gems.  I happen to also like the silly faces too.  I also really appreciate the serious faces and I can't resist a pouting or crying face either.  Don't get too hung up on them looking right into the camera or having a perfect smile.  In fact, some kids are downright serious and that is just who they are.  In that case, that is something to celebrate, appreciate and photograph.

Last week we were in Colorado.  The house was full of kids (7 under 7 to be exact).  I was sitting in the study with three of the kids.  The light was great so I grabbed my camera and started asking them to be silly.  They were all 3 so it was pretty easy to go that direction.  Here is Finnian.  I asked him to make a sad face and then a mad face and then he let out a huge belly laugh.

I think one of the big tricks here is that you have to be silly too.  Instead of making them "sit still" and "say cheese", you are just letting them be who they are in a fun and silly way.  It's fun, I promise.  You may even discover your own silly side in the process.

Zoe was all smiles- in between, at the beginning and at the end.  She reacted the most to me making funny faces at her.

Steven (my husband) always says that he never heard me sing before we had kids.  Now you might find me singing, doing silly walks with Finnian (yes, like Monty Python) or pretending to be a Star Wars character with Sayer.  Kids have an amazing way of bringing that out of us.  Not only do they not care if you look crazy or silly, they want you to!  They love you for it.

All that being said, don't turn away from the serious faces too.  If your 8 month old is sitting happily playing on the rug and the light is nice, you may just let him be and take some pictures just as he is.  Here's a little serious in between moment of Zoe.

Here are a few other shots from that day just to give you some ideas.  One thing I love to do is ask kids to scream as loud as they can, kiss each other, jump around, dance, and so on.  It might be hard at first to manage the technical aspects of the shooting while also shooting fast trying to get the in between moments but, with practice, I think you'll start to get comfortable.  I also like to be close.  It never hurts to be at tickling distance when all else fails.

Who would have guessed that when I asked Zoe to kiss Alexander, he would also take that opportunity to pick his nose!?

Dancing!

Falling down and rolling around

So, what's your homework?  Go play, make ridiculous faces and noises, let your kids scream at the top of their lungs (and laugh at it), dance with them, say forbidden gross out words to your boys to make them belly laugh...GO BE SILLY and take your camera with you.  The worst thing that can happen is that you have an awesome time and the pictures aren't so great.  If you get some good ones, please post them in the comments area.  I love comments and can't wait to see what you come up with.

 Objective:  To define and show examples of the Rule of Thirds and how it will help you create better compositions in your photographs.

What is the Rule of Thirds?

The basic idea of the rule of thirds is to imagine breaking your image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have 9 parts. As follows.

With this in mind the rule of thirds now gives you four important places (the intersections) that you should consider placing points of interest in as you compose your shot.  In addition to the 4 intersections, you also have the lines that you can use to help you in placing objects.

Putting elements at these places helps your photo become more balanced.  It helps the viewer experience your image better and the shot feels more purposeful.  Studies have been done that show that people are naturally drawn to these points rather than the center of an image.  It is simply easier on the eye. 

Now, before we get to far into this, I need to say that I do place subjects at the center when it is visually the right thing to do.  You have to make that decision based on your subject.  I always encourage people to try shots in a variety of different ways so you can see (after the fact) which idea worked best.

Here is a shot that I took of an apple in the snow.  I placed the lines over it so you can see the intersections.

 Now, here is the image with the apple placed near an intersection.

 The 2 shots without the lines on them:

I always think that when this rule really works, what it does is make the image feel more artistic and less like a document of something.  I also really like open space in an image.  I think it helps out your eye and directs you to what the subject is.

Symmetry works nicely in certain images.  You can have symmetry and use the rule of thirds.  These images were taken from alongside the road in Crested Butte, CO.  This cemetery is so covered up in snow that only the tops of the monuments are sticking out.  I took this image is a few different ways.  The first 2 are my favorites and they are really symmetrical but still use the rule of thirds.

 These were some others in the series that I felt were less successful.  The key here it to try lots of different angles.  Using a variety of angles won't work well with subjects that are all over the place (your children).  It makes it much harder but you can certainly try!  I think thids little series illustrates how the framing & angle really changes the whole feel of an image.

 Here's another example.  I took these of my son playing on the floor.  I just had him scoot over for the second one.
 

 Here's another.  Darth Vader volunteered for this shot.  You may be noticing that I really like the lower left corner.

This evening, right before dinner, we had a really amazing little visitor outside our window.  It was a wild fox.  She just sat and watched us watching her.  It was beautiful.  Here she is using the same principles.  The first one is centered.

And then using the rule of thirds.

Framing your shots this way takes a little getting used to.  What I would like you to do, your homework, is to create some shots using this principle and placing elements in the "sweet spots".  Please post them here.  I'd love to see what you come up with!  Here's one more shot.  I took this this morning outside the house we are staying at.  These are some deer prints left during the night.

Objective:  to introduce you to the idea of composition and how compositional choices will make a world of difference in your photographs.


Defining composition: the plan, placement or arrangements of the elements in an image.  The general goal is to select and place appropriate elements within the work in order to communicate ideas and feelings to the viewer.

What makes the difference between a great photograph and a mediocre one?  Once you begin to understand the technical basics of photography where do you go from there?  Every time you make a photograph you make choices either deliberately or accidentally.  You might choose to show a whole scene or just a small detail.  You may make use of depth-of-field and blur your background (or keep it in focus).  Do you use a fast shutter speed and freeze your action or a slow shutter speed and blur the action?  What is frustrating to most people is that there are so many ways to deal with a subject (and so many ways to make mistakes as well).  What I am hoping these lessons help you do is make these choices deliberately, intentionally and thoughtfully.


The first step to making better images is to really start thinking about yours and others' images.  I keep an "inspiration board" at my office and an "inspiration folder" on the desktop of my computer.  I tear out images that I like from catalogs, magazines, ads and books.  I collect screenshots from websites that I like and digital copies of images that I love from the web or from friends.


When I used to teach photography at The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts here in Houston, I gave my students an assignment where they had to pick a photographer that they loved and try and imitate their style perfectly.  One of their first questions would be- "but isn't that copying?".  My answer was always no.  No matter how hard you try, it is pretty impossible to completely copy someone because you will always bring your own flavor to the images.  What this project does for students is get them to start noticing work that they like and learn how to dissect an image for the elements that are most interesting to them.  You can do this too.  When you see work that you like you can start asking yourself why you like it and , as you progress in your own artistic and technical skills, you will begin to see the images in new ways.


This week, I would like you to do 5 things.  All of these will help improve the  compositions in your images.


One:  Get closer.  A famous war photographer, Robert Capa, once said. "if your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough."  Obviously we aren't in the trenches...wait a minute, I think trying to get an 18 month old to do something (anything) that you want them to do is a battle so maybe this does apply.  Seriously though, many pictures can be improved simply by moving in closer.  This can often eliminate distracting backgrounds, highlight the subject of the image and make it all more intimate and engaging.  Be careful though to watch your focus.  Some cameras and lenses won't focus closer than about 12-18" inches away.  Check your camera and see how close you can get and still keep focused.  Don't worry about cutting off parts of your image either- just experiment!

This image was actually taken using BW film.  I took this at home.  My friend's baby (Mathilda) was laying on my bed and sunlight from the window (and a little bit of light from the overhead lights) was coming in.  I did not use a flash or any other light source.

Two:  Use shallow depth of field.  I really believe that shallow depth-of-field is a fairly simple way to dramatically improve composition- especially when shooting portraits.  For more info on this topic, please refer back to the Monday Lesson about Aperture.

These images were taken at the park using available light.


Three:  Keep it simple and clear.  When a viewer looks at your photograph, they should always be able to tell what the subject is.  Also, watch your focus.  If your image is blurry it can look a lot of its impact.


Four: Look at images.  Find photographs that you love and really look at them trying to discern what it is in the image that moves you.  If it is a feeling, try to analyze the image technically to ascertain what choices the photographer made that allows the emotion to come through so well.


Five: Use vertical framing as well as horizontal.  My husband is so guilty of this.  Every time he goes to take a picture he just automatically holds the camera in a horizontal position.  He's gotten used to me telling him to turn the camera.  He thinks I'm bossy by the way.  The way in which you hold your camera can make a big difference so don't get stuck doing it just one way.

Getting close and getting vertical!

So, what's your homework this week?  Go take more pictures!  Take a look at the 5 things that I suggested and see how it changes your photographs.  Have fun!

Please, please, please post and comment!  I am actually in the process of developing content for a book.  Your questions, comments and overall feedback will really help me create and hone the topics for my book.  Thank you!

Objective:  The objective of today's lesson is to teach you what shutter speed is, what is controls and how it does so.  This lesson builds on the previous lesson about Aperture.

Our Monday lesson is a little late today.  The studio was busy!  Today is the third lesson and I hope you guys are enjoying these.  I would love it if you commented and posted some of your example images.  I think other people would really enjoy seeing your work as well.

Let's begin!  Here's your dictionary definition:  shutter speed is the length of time a camera's shutter is open; the total exposure is proportional to this exposure time, or the duration of light reaching the film or image sensor.

The shutter is basically a little door inside your camera that opens and shuts (hence the name).  Think of it this way...the shutter door opens for a period of time.  The light enters and goes through the f-stop hole onto the film or image sensor.  So, the shutter is the amount of time that the volume of light (controlled by your f-stop) is allowed to touch the film.


Shutter speeds are numbers and they refer to fractions of a second.  If you have a shutter speed of 60 that means 1/60th of a second.  Generally speaking, I would not hand hold your camera and take pictures of anything that is moving using a shutter speed slower than 1/60th.  Slower shutter speeds would be 30, 15, 8 and so on.  The higher the number, the faster the shutter opens and closes and vice versa.


That leaves the question- how does the shutter control motion? Imagine that I am running and you take my picture.  The film or sensor will record light for the amount of time the shutter door is open.  If you set your camera at 1/60 of a second then for the duration of that time, whatever happens in front of the camera will be recorded.  Here's an example.  I had my son, Sayer, shake his head from side to side.  These were taken at 1/30th (left image) and 1/60th (right).  You can see how, while both blurry, the 60th starts to get less blurry.

Here is the same action but shot at 1/500th of a second. 


So, how do you know when to shoot at what speed?  You will end up having to experiment a little but here are some general guidelines:


below 1/60th- use with caution, a tripod or for intentional motion blur (which can be very cool)
1/60- Things that are not moving around very much at all
1/125 and 1/250- moderate movement
1/500 and up- things that are moving fast, running, jumping, sports, etc.

These are by no means exact because it really depends on how fast the action is.  Think of it as being a continuum from slowest to fastest and as the movement gets faster the shutter speed must as well.

Here are some other examples.  This image was shot at 1/500th and then at 1/30th.

These two were shot using 1/30th of a second.  To give you an idea of how fast he was moving, think about someone dancing.

Here is an example at 1/125th you can see that it gave us a little blur while the slower moving parts of the image are getting more clear.  Motion blur can be a very cool thing in the right circumstance.  For Flickr lovers, just type in "long exposure" in the search box and you will see some very cool stuff that people are doing with very, very slow shutter speeds.
 

I love this little 4-up of Sayer jumping around.  These were shot at 1/500th and higher.

Okay, now how do you use it?  The best way to start experimenting with this is to set your camera into the shutter speed priority mode.  On Canon that is TV and on Nikon it is S.  If you are using a point-and-shoot, then your setting is probably the running man.  On a point-and-shoot it may be harder to get purposeful blur because the running man icon is going to be a higher shutter speed, which will freeze the action.  You'll have to experiment.  In the shutter speed priority mode, you will choose a shutter speed on your dial and the camera will calculate the other parts of the exposure (like f-stop).

Your homework:  Find a model and try and imitate the pictures above.  Try and get someone frozen in an action (fast shutter speed) and then try and get some motion blur (slow shutter speed).  If you don't have a handy model, you can have someone toss a ball in the air and shoot it various times with various speeds.  Your kid's next soccer game is a great place to practice.  When your done, come back and post some of your shots.  I can't wait to see them!

To get your creative juices going, this was an image that Danny shot at a wedding that we did together recently that I think really illustrates the idea that as long as the shutter is open it will record information.  This was a long exposure shot of a sparkler.  I love it!

Now, GO SHOOT!