Thank you to all the people who had questions for me about photography! It was fun answering these for you! Of course we will start this Foto Friday off with a cute picture of Summer. She is getting so big! A whole 2 months now! Love this little chunk!

Jenny —

I was wondering how do you pose seniors for senior photos in the harsh Arizona sun? What times are the best and do you always need to have a DSLR camera in order to take amazing photos?

Whenever we think of beautiful lighting we think of soft, diffused light; maybe some clouds or the “magic hour” at sunset. Well what the heck are we Arizonaians supposed to do when we are surrounded by this yucky, non-diffused, harsh light (blazing sun!). Well, if you can’t beat them join them! We have to adapt to make the sun work to our advantage. First off do not ever let your clients determine time of day you should be shooting. Unless there are special circumstances I always shoot about an hour and a half before the sunset. If you are a morning person you can shoot the early morning hours as the sun comes up before the sun gets too high in the sky. When using direct sun as your main light remember it does not work for everyone. Some people are very sensitive to the sun and you can get some criers or people who plain just can’t open their eyes! In those situations with seniors try them looking away, or doing some fun candid shots where they do not need to be looking at you. Below I posted a few examples of full sun photos.

Direct Sunlight

Also, you can use this sun to create your own light! If you do not already own a reflector it is such a great tool to have. Pose your senior right in the sun (with the sun behind to create a nice hair light) and use a reflector to bounce the sun back and give them some beautiful lighting on their face. It also creates an image with a little more drama and adds more interest and dimension.

Reflector

And to answer your last question. Yes, it is my opinion that an SLR is going to give you the best quality pictures possible. But not only is it the camera, it’s the lenses that really makes a photo. Great lenses are going to add to your quality just as much as the camera itself.

Maureen —

I do have one question…sounds super silly and probably pretty obvious, but I cannot get a crisp, clear, non-blurry photo to save my life. I have a great camera and semi-decent lenses, and the photo looks crisp to me in my preview screen, but once I get them on the computer, they’re blurry…HELP!

It’s hard to answer this question without actually seeing the image itself (email me one!) because there could be many culprits. I will suggest a couple.

Whether you are shooting manual or auto you need to know what your shutter speed is when you are shooting. I do not recommend shooting below 1/125 if you are hand holding and do not have a off camera flash. You may be able to hold your breathe and shoot it a little slower if your subjects aren’t 2 year olds but you have more chance of blur from either you moving your camera or your subjects moving. Another reason in my experience is poor lighting. When you have a great light source it effects the sharpness of the image tremendously (much sharper). Poor lighting can create soft (or lets just say it, BLURRY) grainy photos. Below I have a photo with an off camera flash and one with natural light. Both are straight out of camera (not retouched at all) and shot at the same time when light was getting low (after sunset). You can see the image without the light is grainy and has a slight blur and she was standing still. Maybe I am the one that moved slightly to make it soft but with a flash it froze the image and makes it near impossible to get a blurry shot. I know not everyone owns a OCF system but looking for light even when shooting natural will increase your chances of sharp focused photos. Light is the key!

Make sure when you are in a shoot you constantly zoom in on your photos to see it clearer and MAKE SURE they are sharp when you take them. I do this so much during my shoots. You can always fix the problem while you are shooting but once you get home it is too late!

OCF (off camera flash)

Natural light

Lacie Waddell —

Ok so I have two questions first, What software do you like to use get your gorgeous soft skin on your photos? Second what do you do to learn and keep up with all the current education/ trends on photography?

Well to answer your question I actually have a few actions I use and have created a few of my own to hand paint a softning filter on each and every one of my photos. But I also love to use the Portraiture software as well. Check it out here! It’s the greatest tool ever! (save you so much time too.)

I have had 2 babies in the last 2 years so I know it’s hard to keep up with the latest trends and stay up with the current photography techniques and styles. The one thing I have loved doing is attending WPPI and PPA conventions. You are learning from the PROS there and honestly it inspires me to be a better photographer everytime I go (not to mention you take classes and learn so much!) Also about ever 1 to 2 years I try and do a workshop with a photographer I admire. You can take a few things you learn and apply it to your own photography and business. My last mentoring session was will Camilla Binks. Her style rocks and I love her use of light! It’s also nice to see other photographers workflow and editing techniques. We all do things a bit differently so I love just soaking in the knowledge others have to give.

Shannon —

So you don’t auto white balance? you do that per shoot? And what setting do you use for metering and focus? Do you ever use a pocket light meter instead of the one in-camera?

If you are not setting your white balance per shoot then your color in your images may be suffering. I had to learn this the hard way. When I first started I didn’t really white balance and was spending hours correcting color in post process. It was pretty annoying. HA! Once I started using my white balance my colors were much more accurate! So every shoot try to set your white balance (and even change it throughout the shoot when lighting and location setting change). For example, shade shoots blue so in order to correct that you can turn your white balance to the shade or the cloud icon. This will add warmth to your photos giving more vibrant color and accurate skin color. You will be so glad once you start using them! It will save you so much time for such a simple step.

I use my in camera metering system when I am shooting natural light and I tend to overexpose above the “0” just a bit. Here is the meter in your camera.

USE IT. your exposures will be so much better. Be warned if you are back lighting your subject your light meter will meter for the sky instead of your subject (it will trick you!). In that case make sure you overexpose on purpose (according to the light meter) so that you are exposing correctly for your subject. I also use center weighted metering. And to be honest it works well for me when shooting portraits. If you are working with a specific light source or maybe want to expose for JUST the face or something very specific it would be wise to try out spot metering for a dead on reading.

For focusing I just use the “one shot” mode. I like to have control on EXACTLY where I am focusing on a portrait session. I may switch it up at wedding when there is more movement (like a bride walking down the asile), but for the most part prefer the one shot mode. I feel that sometimes when the camera has the flexibility to change your focus it does not always focus on what I want it to.

I also use a Alien Bee light on location. For my light I use a pocket light meter like this one.

A lot of times I am lazy and I just eyeball it which you probably should not do. =-) I just have so much equipment to carry so sometimes it doesn’t make the cut.

Let me know if this clarified anything for you guys and if you have anymore questions!

Foto Friday ~ Follow up, the answers revealed!