Friday, May 01, 2009

What Dosen't Work


I am fairly new to photography so I am thrilled when my friends let me practice on them; It's one of the quickest ways for me to learn what works and what doesn't. I've recently learned, the hard way, a few thing to avoid.

Dappled light. When patches of sunlight fall through trees and land on your subject they leave "hot spots", areas that appear bright white on your photograph. These are almost impossible to fix. If you have to shoot in harsh sunlight, look around for some full shade and place your people there. For example on the shady side of a building or, Miz Booshay's favorite, in the garage with the door open.

Double check what's in the frame. I recently was having so much fun at a photoshoot that I forgot to look around and check what was in the frame. In this case there was a garden hose on the ground. I spent a LOT of time in post-production trying to get rid of that stupid hose, which ended up intertwined in the feet of my subjects - I couldn't just crop it out. It would have save me so much time to have just stopped and moved it before I kept shooting (smacks forehead). Look around - what's in the background? An ugly trashcan? Move it. An ugly trampoline? Move your subject. ;)

Hope this saves you some pain.

1 comment:

Alisa said...

I've learned all my lessons that hard way.

I'm dumb that way.

A lot.

Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone.