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Are your photos dark with too much shadowing? Are your subject's eyes creepy black? The reason is most likely due to poor lighting. Lighting, as any photographer will tell you, is the most important tool you have. Knowing how to use light can make a good photo great! Light is the difference between an everyday snapshot and a quality portrait. Successful professional photographers understand how light affects every aspect of their photos and know how to use any amount available to create a beautiful art piece. If you want to improve your photos with one change...learn how to manipulate light!
The first photo (above) of my darling son is, to be quite frank, terrible. It's simply a dark snapshot. Get a look at those blackened alien eyes! Eyes are often the focal point of a portrait and if they're black and lacking a nice catch light they appear lifeless. The only light available was the sun, and that was fading fast into the evening and was blocked by both clouds and our house. To quickly improve my lighting situation I placed a reflector underneath my son to bounce what little light I had back onto his shadowed face.
EXIF: manual mode | f/3.2 | ISO 1250 | no flash | evaluative metering | shutter 200
The resulting photo is much brighter and dynamic. Notice the nice catch light in his blue eyes...yes, they're blue! You can't tell in the first photo! Notice, also, that the first photo is much more grainy compared to the photo below despite the fact that both were taken at the same ISO. This is because the increased light from the reflector allowed the camera to pick up more detail. I did not change any settings on my camera or perform any post-editing. I wanted everything to be as it was, just to show the differences.
AFTER:
The first photo (above) of my darling son is, to be quite frank, terrible. It's simply a dark snapshot. Get a look at those blackened alien eyes! Eyes are often the focal point of a portrait and if they're black and lacking a nice catch light they appear lifeless. The only light available was the sun, and that was fading fast into the evening and was blocked by both clouds and our house. To quickly improve my lighting situation I placed a reflector underneath my son to bounce what little light I had back onto his shadowed face.
EXIF: manual mode | f/3.2 | ISO 1250 | no flash | evaluative metering | shutter 200
The resulting photo is much brighter and dynamic. Notice the nice catch light in his blue eyes...yes, they're blue! You can't tell in the first photo! Notice, also, that the first photo is much more grainy compared to the photo below despite the fact that both were taken at the same ISO. This is because the increased light from the reflector allowed the camera to pick up more detail. I did not change any settings on my camera or perform any post-editing. I wanted everything to be as it was, just to show the differences.
AFTER:
| The self portraits below clearly illustrate how a reflector can instantly improve a photo. The photo on the left was taken without a reflector. The camera couldn't find enough details on my face so the photo turned out blurry and grainy. I also could not for the life of me get catch lights in my eyes! I cropped that photo in closer to better show just how terrible it turned out. ICK! EXIF: manual mode | f/3.2 | ISO 1250 | no flash | evaluative metering | shutter 200 I took dozens of shots without the reflector and failed to get a focused photo. But with the reflector I only took two shots before getting a keeper. Placing a reflector underneath my face gave the camera more detail to pick up on. My teeth illuminated, my skin appeared smoother and more even-toned, the dark under-eye circles disappeared, and everything was obviously in better focus! And, as with the photos above, I did not change any settings on my camera. Even I was shocked by the results. Once again the reflector turned a nasty snapshot into a decent self-portrait. Since I was using the 10-sec timer, getting these two photos took some time...but I really wanted to illustrate the importance of light and how easy it can be to get more of it! |
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| I used a silver reflector for these photos because it was stronger than my white reflector and daylight was fading fast! A gold reflector produces the same amount of light as a silver one, only warmer. I did not use a flash or change my shooting angle. I also kept all the settings on my camera the same throughout the entire process. The only change I made was including my reflector. Easy. So next time you're trying to figure out how to get more light without using a flash, just reflect the natural light. You don't have to purchase an expensive reflector; you can use anything that reflects light, such as white board or poster board. Crinkled tinfoil laid flat on cardboard will work too! The reflector I have is called a 5-in-1 because it includes four reflectors (white, black, gold, and silver) and the screen insert, which can be used to diffused harsh sunlight...that will be saved for a future blog!  |
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