|
Color. A lot of people want it. Color can help a photo sell, but bright colors without harsh shadows are what gallery owners like. Simple prosumer cameras require that you set them to a daylight setting. Although this setting does a pretty good job, higher-end dSLR models can be manually set in most of the same ways as a film SLR can.
So how do you get a lot of color in a photo shoot? For starters, follow these basic guidelines:
- Have your back to the sun. With the sun to your back, your subject is lit from the front and devoid of shadows. You'll probably get a better exposure reading, too, because your aperture won't have to open wide and your shutter can open and close promptly, without blur where you don't want it. Just try to avoid making your human subjects stare into intense sun to prevent them from squinting.
- Have lots of ambient light. Ambient light is good anytime during the day in winter when the sun is low in the sky. In summer, it's best to stick to morning and/or afternoon sun, staying away from times when the sun is directly overhead, a time when the sun is so harsh it can overexpose parts of your image.
- Have a good camera. A high-end point-and-shoot or an SLR or a dSLR — where you can manually set the shutter speed and/or f-stop — will help you get better exposures for different kinds of foregrounds and/or backgrounds.
- Have a subject full of bright colors. Fill your photos with bright colors or unique features, like broad steel vertical beams that are often placed on high-rises to accentuate their strength, or appearance of strength.
- Place objects in clutter-free backgrounds. Clutter usually gives a bothersome disruption to the flow of a photograph. Making your background clutter-free is dependent on the size of the object:
• For movable objects: Place them on a clutter-free surface (the ground will do) and shoot standing up with the sun at your back.
• For immovable objects: Position yourself with your back to the sun and find the part of the surface where there are no shadows.
 | Taking close-ups of people outside requires that you use the portrait mode. However, this mode does not protect your subjects' eyes from squinting when you're sitting comfy with your back to the sun and they're facing the sun. You can, however, move your subjects to the shade or wait and take your photograph during the magical moments of the sunset when the light is less harsh. |
 | To get finer detail in subjects that are washed out because of overexposure (too much light around them), get close to the subject, lock the exposure (lightly press the shutter control and hold it there), step back, and then take the picture. Note: You get a very bright white background doing this. |
|
