Monday 3 December 2012

Taking Better Photos - Part 3

This is the last part of my mini tutorial. And it's the least obvious and intuitive tip.

Use the Flash in Bright Sunlight
What??? Why would I do that? The sun provides all the light I need! Well yes. But not always from the right angle. The camera exposes a photo for the average brightness in the shot. It's not as good as our eyes at seeing bright and dark at the same time. So you have to help it out a bit.

2 situations to look at are a good background with a dark foreground and a good foreground with a bright background.

In the first photo below, the camera has exposed for the sky, but Liam in the foreground is in shadow. Turning on the flash won't affect the sky, but will brighten the subject making him stand out much better.



In the first photo below, Luca is fairly well exposed, but the sky is over exposed and bleached out. Turning on the flash allows the camera to expose for the sky and the flash lights the foreground. And bam! Fab shot!


So that's my 3 top tips for taking better photos. Whether you're out walking the dog or on a sunny beach somewhere, try to apply 1 or all of these to your shots and see the difference it makes!

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