Oh, Good it is Cloudy Today.

by Jon Wason   copyright 2012

Some people only want to grab their camera and shoot on sunny days. But you shouldn’t let a cloudy or rainy day stop you from shooting a great image. I am happy when I wake up, look out the window and see an overcast sky. That is because cloud cover provides diffused light which is softer than bright sunshine, so your images won’t have lots of harsh shadows. Remember, photography is all about light.

Studio photographers invest piles of money in a constant search for the latest light modifying equipment in an effort to illuminate their models with the softest light possible. However, an outdoor photographer who takes advantage of a cloudy sky has the benefit of even lighting as a free gift from Mother Nature. The cloud layer softens the sunlight and acts as a huge diffuser. The pleasing quality of light creates great portraits.

The Dutch Master painters of the1600s such as Rembrandt, Hals, and Vermeer appreciated the quality of soft light. What was their preferred light source? These painters loved to use a window that faced the North as their source of light, because the sunlight that enters is indirect and diffused. Take a look at the portraits painted by Rembrandt and you will see fine examples soft lighting.

On a bright, sunny, day when you photograph a person outdoors, they can end up with dark shadows under their nose, and chin. A guy wearing a baseball cap disappears under deep black shadows hiding his forehead and eyes. Noon is about the worst time of day, by the way. Of course this problem of harsh light can be remedied by using a flash as a fill light, but that is a topic for another posting. But, when you are shooting pictures of people outdoors, on an overcast day you can get some very pleasing images due to indirect lighting. 

When it comes to weather you have to take what you get. So when it is a cloudy or storming outside, take advantage of the situation. Grab your camera and go shoot some great images.

Capture the Golden Light of Sunset and Sunrise

The average person does not pay much attention to light, but photographers develop a sensitivity to the quality of light. For outdoor photography the "magic hour" is hour hour before sunset and one hour after sunrise. The sun at that time of day is not directly overhead and so it creates long shadows. The light is also not as bright and has a slight yellow cast.

RTFM Where is My Owner’s Manual?

by Jon Wason   copyright 2012

Back in 1901 if you had a dollar to spend on a frivolous luxury you could buy a Kodak Brownie camera. Even though the advertisements claimed the camera was so simple “any schoolboy or girl can make good pictures with the Brownie Camera” it came with a 44-page instruction booklet.  

More than a hundred years later, cameras still come with a manual and people still don’t read them. However, there are benefits to reading your camera manual or the manuals for any other mechanical devices.

The initials RTFM stand for “Read The Fine Manual” – or something like that. I think perhaps the angry retort, “RTFM, you idiot!” can be traced back to frustrated computer help desk employees, but that is just a hunch. Anyhow, my advice is just invest a few minutes and read the manual. After that put in your camera bag so in some future date when you are out in the field shooting some interesting subject and need to adjust something on your camera, you can easily retrieve the manual and find the answer. If the manual is back at home with the box the camera arrived in you are out of luck.

Many people purchase a new camera, excitedly open the box, remove the wonder of modern technology and never even open the manual, much less read it cover to cover.

I can’t recall how many times I was at wedding shooting all the events of the day and a person approached to ask me how to operate their camera. They ask, “Hey can you show me how to turn on the flash? I just got this camera,” or “Do you know how to change the shutter speed?” I did my best to help them but they were making two mistakes. The first was assuming that because I am a wedding photographer I know how to operate every camera. The second mistake was not learning how to use their camera. The best remedy for that one is to read the manual.

A few minutes spent looking at boring little booklet can pay off later with better photos.


HERE IS A LINK TO A SHORT VIDEO ABOUT F-STOPS:


http://youtu.be/FBJLg77daP8 

F-stops, Apertures and Lenses: a Lesson with Jon Wason

What is an F-stop? What is an aperture? How does the f-stop relate to the shutter speed? Learn the answers to these questions and more. Jon Wason uses salt to represent light for a lesson that will clarify the concepts and help improve your photography.


Follow this link for a 9 minute video:


http://youtu.be/FBJLg77daP8

Celebrities Are People, too

by Jon Wason copyright 2012

As a photographer I enjoy taking pictures of lighthouses, pansies and covered bridges, but photographing people is a whole different challenge. When a lighthouse or a covered bridge is my subject I don’t say “Oh, I have to take another one because you blinked.”

Last night I was the official photographer at a fundraising event featuring Bob Ley of ESPN and Robin Roberts of Good Morning America and I had a great time interacting with these notable figures. Robin Roberts was very tall and photogenic. She was also very patient with people that asked a question or wanted to pose for a photo. When she arrived at the cocktail hour, before the main event, swarms of people surrounded her. My job was to get a nice photo to preserve this special moment. Several challenges confronted me. The room’s lighting was dreadful because it is a small "black box theater" at Fairfield University, lit by a series of red lights. Yuck.    Additionally, the walls and ceiling were painted flat black. This is where light goes to die.

In a nice calm setting, it would have been easier to set up small groups of people for my shots, but this was a Friday-evening, wine-sipping group of excited people. Add to that the thrill of meeting a figure seen on TV on a regular basis and you have a chaotic atmosphere. The room was also rather loud so it was not easy to ask someone to tilt there head a bit to right or to brush their bangs out of their eyes. Getting a good shot meant I had act fast and use my sign language skills. But I got many great shots. It was fun.

The great thing about the experience was catching the spirit of the enthusiastic participants. Some of the men were so thrilled to pose for a photograph with Bob Ley of ESPN that they were beaming with pride. In the back of their mind they were probably preparing a list of friends and relatives they can impress with the photo.

Josh Elliott of ESPN was not officially scheduled to be part of the event but he showed up and mingled with the crowd. The tall, handsome broadcaster was at ease with women of all ages. What a charmer!

Why Would I Need Filters On My Lens?

by Jon Wason copyright 2012

There are several reasons to use a filter. Serious film shooters usually have a several filters in their camera bag. But with the widespread transition to digital cameras, the use of filters has waned because the after capture processing done in a computer may often accomplish the same results. A dropdown menu in Adobe Photoshop can perform wonders with an image.

However, there is one important thing that a circular piece of glass can do for you: protect your expensive lens from windblown dust, splashed liquids and blunt force impact with the floor. Replacing a cracked, dented or shattered UV filter is a lot cheaper than buying a new lens. A skylight filter is basically a clear glass but it protects your investment. A UV filter is a bit more than just glass; it filters some of the ultra violet rays and can slightly enhance the colors of your images.

The use of either a skylight filter or a UV filter is a wise choice and after taking the baby step you may want to delve deeper into the wonderful world of filters by adding a polarizer filter to your line up of equipment. A polarizer is sort of like sunglasses for your camera but better. This filter has the effect sifting multidirectional light beams into a tidy collection of light that is uniform. This is great for capturing bold blue skies. Another use is eliminating reflections, especially on surface water or glass such as the windshield of a car. The most useful polarizer filter can be rotated into the best position once mounted on the lens. These are called circular polarizer filters. If you want a dramatic sky in your photo, point the camera at about a 45 to 90 degree angle from the sun. Then slightly rotate the polarizer until you get the effect that suits you best. Linear polarizers are a bit lower in cost but cannot do this. One little parlor trick you can perform with two polarizer filters is to stack one in front of the other and rotate it. At a certain point the two polarizers cancel each other out and block all the light. Impressive.

Neutral density filters are used by digital photographers and film photographers. This is a filter that reduces the amount of light that enters the camera. This is desirable when a long exposure is required such as a photo of a mountain stream with blurred out details denoting fast moving water.

There are a variety of special effects filters. One is a star filter that creates a pleasing twinkle when photographing the flame of a candle or sunlight reflecting off a lake. The soft focus filter is a favorite of portrait photographers. It can create a dreamlike effect or reduce the detail of a wrinkled face.

Soft focus

Photographers who shoot black and white film can use color filters to control which parts of the light spectrum enter the camera and expose the film. For instance a red filter can bring out the green tones in an image.

Filters are yet another creative tool for photographers.