Thoughts on Editing

I've been working alot in Lightroom this week, trying to get more familiar with it, and developing a workflow. I have also selected a few photos and worked for a long time on them, trying to find good editing style for me.

I like photos that have bright, vibrant colors. Having a photo completely in focus is a must for me, and I really try not to crop off limbs. I want my photos to look real, not all hazy and dreamy, but also not over-edited.

I really admire photographers who do not edit. For one thing, they don't have to spend nearly as much time processing, and they also can spend more time learning how to use their camera to the best of their ability.

It is my goal to get everything right in camera....white balance, focus, cropping, and other things, like making sure there is nothing I don't want in the photo. 

Look at the photo below... 

In the before version, you can see the tip of a red scooter handle right next to his head. I really didn't notice that when I was shooting the photo, but when I went in to edit, it bothered me. I tried to edit it out, but it kind of failed (as you can see :P). I want to notice those kinds of things, and fix them before I take the photo.

Anyway, that was a little bit rambling and I don't know if you got anything out of it. 

Oh well. Enjoy the photos!

Windows + Reflectors

I am posting an educational blog post, that (for once!) hopefully will not leave you feeling like your brain has been fried. :P It is just about using a reflector in indoor photography. 

Ever seen those lovely photos that are highly grainy and orange tinted? Taken in low unnatural light inside a house? I have...lots of them.

I've even taken them. Like most people. :) But there are some ways to fix indoor-photography-that-isn't-so-great. 

1. Use your flash. Try making yourself a diffuser. I posted a little about the one I made HERE. 
2. Check your white balance. If you set it correctly, it can effectively reduce yellow-orangish lighting.
3. Shoot at a higher ISO or lower shutter speed to prevent underexposed photos.
4. Get near those windows! Or a door! They usually provide the best indoor light.
5. Use a reflector. [This is what my post today is mainly about]

 What? Reflector?

A reflector helps bounce light so that your subject is evenly lit.

Like so:

See how the left side of her face and her hair are all in shadow?

But after strategically placing a reflector beside her, her face is more evenly lit. 

The below photo demonstrates the way I set the reflector up. 

A window on her left and a reflector on her right! Voila. 

Okay... what do you use for a reflector? 

I use that shiny grey thing. I think it is called foam core, but I'm not sure... It works very well though!

When using a reflector, you often need an assistant to hold the reflector while you take the photo. Kind of inconvenient sometimes, but worth it in the end.

Left: without reflector | Right: with reflector

Post #50! Wow! And it's only been 3 months!

Quarter's End

Well, the first quarter in school is almost up... that means that I am halfway through my photography class.

*sniff*

   

It's been wonderful learning how to take a photo manually... you change anything to make the photo look the way you want it! 

I remember trying to take photos manually just 2 or 3 months ago... I got so frustrated because I understood almost nothing about changing the settings, and all my photos turned out blurry, or dark, or overexposed... It was kind of sad, and I was discouraged.

But after just 2 months of studying and working to "get it," I can finally take photos manually. (and understand what I'm doing. That has been one of the most rewarding things in my class so far.

 I'd like to mention this resource:

click button to visit...

This series has been a huge help to me so far! The author, Darcy, writes so clearly and explains everything very well. (Her photography is also amazing!) I highly recommend this for beginner photographers. Or any photographer for that matter. :D I now understand aperture, ISO, shutter speed, white balance, and histograms thanks to this website!

31 Days to a Better Photo has been my "textbook" for this course. I've basically gone through two posts each week, and done projects and photography that correspond with the concepts I learned from reading the posts.

There were 3 settings that I learned about that really helped me to understand photography. Aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. If you study anything about photography, study those 3 concepts. They are really useful. And essential if you want to get a good photo! 

White Balance Applied

Well, as I am learning a little more about white balance (and about setting it manually!) I decided to share some better examples of white balance with you. 

I took some photos of an egg that my sister dyed recently. 

(Visit her blog here.) 

She'll be posting about the eggs once I take photos of all of them for her....:D

Anyway, these are 6 different photos, taken at exactly the same place, at the same time of day. 

You can kinda see what white balance does with these photos.
It basically adds a little tint to a photo that is unbalanced in color.

For instance: Take the cloudy photo, or even the shade one.
If you take a photo on a cloudy day, or in shade, the lighting is more cooler, more blue, than if you were to take a photo on a sunny day.
 The cloudy setting will add a little pinkish red to the photo to make it look balanced, and the shade will add a little yellow tint.

But the halogen (for indoors, in unnatural light) will add a little blue to the photo, 

because often photos taken  indoors can turn out too orange or yellow, because of the unnatural light. 

Getting it yet?

I won't talk much about setting manual white balance, but basically, you tell the camera what the neutral color is in the light you are in, so white looks white. Sorta complicated. But you can usually get a better photo when you set the white balance manually. Auto also works very well ;) I think the auto, or even the daylight photo looks better than the manual one. Humph. I'm not great at setting white balance manually yet. :(

To learn more about white balance, visit 31 Days to a Better Photo: What's White Balance?

and 31 Days to a Better Photo: Setting Custom White Balance

:)

Once in a Blue Moon

 {White Balance}

Ever seen that famous blue moon?

Now you have.

The above photo is unedited. I took it straight out of the camera.

I didn't edit it to make it blue. I didn't do anything to it, except re-size it and add the watermark! (Impressive, hm?)

Here's what happened:

Before I took the photo, I adjusted the white balance. 

White balance is the setting that changes the balance of lighting in the image. Yeah.
Well, it is hard to explain.

If you take a photo outside, in the middle of the day, the lighting is very different than if you were to go take a photo near a lamp with a yellowish bulb. White balance fixes that, and makes the photo look the right color. See, if you have the white balance set too high, a photo taken near a lamp will look very yellow. And if you have the white balance set too low, it will look bluish.

That is basically what happened in the first moon photo. I had the white balance on a low setting (or a low temperature) so the moon looked blue.

The white balance on this photo is correct ;) The moon looks like it should!

And this photo has a very high white balance, (high temperature) so it looks ORANGE!

Now (I hope!) you know a little about white balance. :)