On November 26, the world celebrates Good Grief Day to honor the life and the legacy of one of America’s most revered, legendary cartoonists Charles M. Schulz. The fact that his characters — Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and the rest of the gang — have withstood the test of time demonstrates how influential these legendary characters have had on global pop culture.
Today’s Post by Jason Anderson, with Joe Farace
I think I’ve discovered the secret of life— you just hang around until you get used to it. —Charles M. Schulz
No matter where you are on your photographic path, you can always pick up nuggets of information, tips and tricks by listening to and reading about other photographers. That’s part of why I think it’s important to stay networked with others in your field.
One of the best things I’ve learned from other photographers is their know how on saving a photo, taking pictures in tricky lighting scenarios and insights into working in challenging working envronments. Here are five tips that I’ve found helpful in my own photographic endeavors.
- Blown highlights are not necessarily a bad thing. You can convert the image to black and white, add a vignette and the photo can become quite powerful!
- Use flash! We all are likely aware of the downsides of on-camera flash. In a pinch though, you can use it for fill. Got a piece of paper or even a cocktail napkin? Wrap it around the flash to diffuse and soften the light. You might be able get that photo you might otherwise have missed.
- Fast Metering! Need to get a quick white balance measurement? Put your camera in manual focus mode and stick your hand in front of the lens. Use that for a quick custom white balance in a pinch when a gray or white card isn’t available. I use skin as a white balance point in Lightroom! (When photographing automobiles, Joe likes to use white cars, like the one above, for a similar approach .)
- Don’t be afraid of ISO! Don’t be afraid to crank up the ISO to capture your images! In digital photography’s early days, high ISO settings were a recipe for disaster as noise in photos quickly rendered many images useless. These days camera manufacturers have made high ISO more manageable but noise reduction software like Dfine can sometimes be a help in post production.
- Look for emotion! This is especially true in photojournalism but all images can benefit from capturing the essence of human emotion because emotion trumps everything else in photography.
How Joe made the above photograph: Joe Farace photographed this impressive BMW i8 at a Cars & Coffee event at the Vehicle Vault in Parker, Colorado using a mirrorless Canon EOS M6 Mark II. The lens was the otherwise unimpressive EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM at 15mm with a Av mode exposure of 1/400 sec at f/9 and ISO 320.
If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to buy Joe a cup of Earl Grey tea ($3.50), click here.