The next most common crime that most everyday photographers commit is improper exposure or lighting. When you are found guilty of this, your photos will be too dark in some areas or too bright in others. Two conspirators lead to this common problem.
The first coconspirator is our own eyesight. Human vision is nothing less than remarkable. Go outside on a bright, sunny day and put your kid or pet under the shade of a nice big tree with a bright sky, sunlit grass or sand in the background. Your shaded subject and the bright background will both be properly “exposed” in your mind’s eye. That is, you will be able to see total detail in both parts of the image at once. Now take a photo of that same scene. Either the background will come out overexposed and seem too bright, or your subject will be underexposed and seem dark. Most likely, unfortunately, it is the main subject that will be off. In either case, the improperly exposed element will lose detail and your image will be ruined.
Human vision is an incredible “technology” in itself, but it is often a hindrance in photography. Your eyes can see detail in bright sunlight and dark shadows at the same time, and you expect your film or digital camera to reproduce exactly what you see. You are sometimes dismayed to find out otherwise when you get your prints back.
But alas, your eyes don’t have a 10X zoom lens and you can’t download images to your PC!
Your eyes have such a wide “dynamic range” they can view very bright objects next to very dark ones and balance them perfectly and make out the detail in both. Both film and digital cameras have a limited dynamic range. They can only record detail in objects that are within a certain brightness range. Anything outside of this range will be under or over exposed. So your own vision is a big roadblock to you becoming a better photographer. Fear not, though, we will discuss ways to deal with the dilemma later on.
The other conspiring factor is a feature you learned about when you bought your camera or learned how to use it. Most modern (and even not so modern) film cameras and all digital cameras have fully automatic exposure modes. This can give the inexperienced photographer a very false sense of security. These words lead you to believe that all you have to do is compose your image and press a button and the camera will do the rest of the thinking and make everything come out OK. This works sometimes, but not always. The better (and more expensive) your camera, the better it will do on its own. But there are some situations when you will need to help it out.
So let’s see how we can eliminate this all too common mistake.
OUTDOOR PHOTOGRAPHS
When you are outdoors, the sun is your main studio light. The sun can be very unforgiving if you forget about it, or it can be your friend if you learn how to use it to make your pictures better. On a clear day well after sunrise or before sunset, the sun will highlight directly-lit areas and cast deep shadows into areas which are not in direct sunlight. If the sun is off to the side of your subject, that side will be well lit while the other side will be too dark. As we discussed earlier, your eyes will give you no clue that the difference in lighting is too much for your camera to handle.
The camera based the exposure on the bright sky and barren landscape, leaving this beautiful family in the dark. Next time (if you ever go to Peru again and run into the same family), get them to face the sun or, better yet, force the flash to trigger by popping it up and setting it to “On” if need be.
There are a number of ways to deal with this problem. If you want a good portrait and there is no hurry, wait for an overcast day. The “diffuse” lighting conditions will provide soft, even lighting on the subject, hence no bright highlights or deep shadows. But if waiting for a cloudy day is not an option there are still other tricks of the trade. Have your subject face the sun, so the whole frontal area is well lit. If that does not produce a pleasing effect, or if your subject cannot avoid squinting, fill flash works wonders.
The flash on your camera will fill in the shadows and help balance them with the highlights. If the camera is sophisticated enough, it may recognize the imbalance and trigger the flash automatically. But on many cameras, you will need to force it to flash. Most cameras set for auto-exposure allow three flash modes: “Off”, “Auto”, and “On”. If the flash does not activate while in the “auto” mode, set it to “on”. Remember that your flash will be ineffective if you are too far from the subject, because it has a limited range. This range of your flash can be found in the specifications section of the brochure or user manual.
It is almost never a good idea to shoot into the bright sun. It will overwhelm your camera’s brightness sensor and render everything else in the image too dark, or it could even damage the sensor or hurt your eyes. The only time it is safe to have the sun in your viewfinder is when it is rising or setting, or is subdued behind thick cloud cover.
This one was taken in the more balanced lighting of a shady area, so mom and daughter, as well as the background, are properly exposed. Nonetheless, a flash may have made this photo even better by popping the beautiful colors more.
One more outdoor situation where you may have to take control is when you leave too much bright sky or water or any other highly reflective element in the background. The camera will adjust for the bright background, and will underexpose your subject. The solution can again be fill flash. The alternative is to eliminate as much sky or water from the background as possible by recomposing the image, allowing the auto exposure to be set for the more dominant foreground.
When in doubt, use fill flash - it will almost always produce a pleasing result.
INDOOR PHOTOGRAPHS
The most common exposure/lighting problem in indoor photographs is similar to the last outdoor problem we discussed. You place your subject in front of a brightly lit window and shoot. Again your eyes are no help, as they have no problem seeing detail in the lowlights and highlights at the same time. Then you get the picture back and you can hardly see the faces they are so dark. Same solution. Move them away from the window or use fill flash. If you use flash here, however, be sure you do not shoot straight on into the window, or the glare from the flash bounce will be distracting and may even ruin the picture.
The other indoor problem stems from the fact that indoor lights are actually a different color than sunlight or photographic studio lights. Again our eyes are no help, since our brain compensates so well we don’t even notice. But the prints come back looking unusually “warm” (that’s photographer talk for a little on the orange or red side).
The camera set the exposure based on the brightly lit window in the background and failed to capture detail in the faces.
Since most films are balanced for daylight, you will probably use that same film indoors. You will not want to buy special indoor film just for the indoor shots. Again, the solution is your camera’s flash, which is balanced for daylight film and will overwhelm the indoor lights. If the indoor lighting is adequate, your camera will not trigger the flash. You will have to force it on again.
If you want to use the ambient indoor lighting, you should use indoor film.
For digital cameras the solution is easy - just set the color balance to “indoor”.
If you must shoot in front of the window to capture the moment, force the flash to activate by popping it up and setting it to “On” if need be. This will give you sufficient lighting for your main subject.
Next we will look at your subject in “Keep Your Composure”
