As your photographic skills improve and you start venturing more into light modifiers there are two terms you should understand; reflection and refraction . Reflection refers to a change in direction of light when they bounce off a substrate. Refraction is the change in the direction of light as it passes through a substrate. So why should you know these terms? If you work with light modifiers, having an understanding of how they work will help you understand what kind of results you can expect from them. All modifiers used in photography fall under one of these two categories. In physical space, a light wave will travel in a straight path, from the source of illumination, until one of two things happen. An object in the light path either absorbs it or the object deflects it. Typically all object tend to do both. As light encounters an object, some of the light's color spectrum gets absorbed and the rest gets deflected. What gets deflected is what allows us to see color...

The Matchmaker by Gerrit van Honthorst In the previous article, Studying past Masters - Gerrit van Honthorst, pt1 , I introduced you to the chiaroscuro style of painting and discussed how light is used to direct the viewer's eye to the main subject. I also explained how studying the works of many of our great art masters can help improve your photographic education. In this installment we will analyze the compositional choices of the painting and comparing them with well established photographic practices. So dust off your rule of thirds and let's take a look at The Matchmaker through the eyes on a camera lens.

The Matchmaker by Gerrit van Honthorst The art world is rich with educational possibilities for a photographer. The grand masters in particular. All one has to do is be open to the potential lessons. One of the more influential of the art movements in terms of lesson values to a beginner photographer is the Tenebrism style of painting of which the term Chiaroscuro is most commonly associated with it. I won't get into a long explanation of tenebrism and the subsequent chiaroscuro movement here as there are plenty of resources you can use to research on your own. I will, however, explain some of the elements that make it a valuable tool for photographers.

One of the hardest concepts for beginners is understanding light and how it behaves. As I've said many times before, we can not see light, just the effect of light. Once you start thinking of light in terms of particles of energy then it starts becoming easier to understand. Specially since light behaves in very predictable ways. This article discusses angle of incidence . A fundamental concept that appears in many areas of photography. Getting a grasp of this concept will open up a whole new realm of possibilities for you as you move forward in your career or hobby. An incidence  is simply an  occurrence , an action that takes place at a specific point. In our case this incidence is the point at which a particle of light strikes a surface. The law of physics states that whenever an object strikes another object there will be an equal but opposite reaction. Because we are talking about a particle of light, when that particle hits a surface it deflects off that ...

Recently I was in a conversation about exposure ranges and methods of extending them through the use of processing software, either through expanding on the RAW file or by tone mapping, otherwise known as high dynamic range or HDR photography. One of the question that came up that I'd like to answer here is, "how do you know when to use HDR?" If you are unfamiliar with high dynamic range photography the image above is one example. In essence, high dynamic range utilizes a series of images captured of the same scene but with different exposures. It allows software to assemble, or tone map , a resulting image that contains an exposure range greater than the camera can handle with a single exposure. Let's take a look at what I mean.

Back in the film days, high ISO films were notorious for creating a very grainy image. It was the trade off for having enough sensitivity to light to be able to capture low light situations. In today's digital age we have a similar problem called digital noise or image noise . Image noise is something most serious photographers have to take into account when creating a photo. Specially if a paying client is going to be on the receiving end. No one wants a picture that looks grainy with a lot of imperfections. Casual shooters could probably care less though I find many of them worry about it simply because it's mentioned so often everywhere you read.

I recently went on a trip to Mystic Seaport with Pat Cook's group, Beyond the Photo with HDR*. It was a great day for shooting and capturing images for HDR. Of course there were plenty of opportunities for all kinds of photography and this portrait op landed in my lap. I just had to take it. After posting this photo of Mystic Seaport employee, Sam, to the group I was asked by another member regarding the settings used to get this particular look. I thought I'd share and elaborate on my response.

As a beginner, you may find yourself overwhelmed by the number of buttons a typical dSLR camera has. However, once you become familiar with the function of these buttons you will find that using the camera becomes easier. Each of these buttons have a task. Some may do several tasks depending on what mode your camera is in. The model of your camera will also have an influence on the number and function of these buttons. It seems the more expensive the camera the more buttons it has. Regardless of the cost or size of your dSLR the first step to discovering what each of these buttons do is your instruction manual. As you go through this article you might want to have your manual opened next to you. As we go down the list you can reference your manual and compare your camera's function with what is discussed here.

I have posted several articles on exposure triangle, getting proper exposure, metering, and so on. Today's article will focus on a camera function that can greatly help you set your exposure out in the field during those high contrast days. That function is your camera's exposure lock or FE Lock. I first have to preface this by mentioning that not all cameras have this feature. Before you tell me your camera doesn't have this feature do yourself a favor. Look in your manual for "exposure lock" to make sure (just in case). Some cameras also allow you to customize button assignment. Typically the button is placed somewhere near the shutter release and is marked with an asterisk (*).

An existing light is used to break up the silhouette on this food building at Hammonasset  State Park Sunset photos, when all the elements fall into place, can be very powerful images. You can be a casual shooter but as soon as you pull out that one great sunset shot all your friends will be awestruck. The best thing about sunset photos is that they are relatively easy to get, exposure-wise. The hard part is everything else that goes into getting that perfect sunset. The best time for a sunset shot is during the time period called the "golden hour." Golden hour is that time period that brackets a sunset by one half hour, 30 minutes before the sun goes down and 30 minutes after. Keep in mind that the light will change drastically during this time period but you can get really great results. Your shutter speed will decrease as the light diminishes so have your camera on a tripod with your release cable ready. Here are five tips to getting a great sunset image. ...

If you have been following along so far you have learned about the exposure triangle ( Understanding exposure - exposure triangle ) and how it controls timing and depth of field. Now were going to completely confuse you and throw in a fourth element; flash. In a previous post we learned how to  use fill light in high contrast scenes . When using flash for fill we are simply taking our existing exposure and adding light to the dark areas. The nice thing about using flash is that we can control the way the camera captures ambient light just by using the power of the flash unit to compensate our exposure. One simple technique to illustrate this is the "invisible black background" technique as illustrated in the photo at right. The results are very dramatic. and the interesting thing is that this was all done in broad daylight out in the open.

This past weekend Mid-CT Photography Meetup Group held their second annual "Capture the Wind" event at Hammonasset Beach in Madison, CT. It was a wonderful event and posed a variety of challenges to our photographers. I did a short mini-workshop on using reflectors and flash to fill in the shadowed area caused by the strong sun light. Here are a few of the tips discussed at the workshop. The first thought most beginners think of in this type of situation is that they don't need to use flash. After all, it is a bright day and there's plenty of light. Unfortunately this is the wrong type of thinking and nothing could be further from the truth. The main problem with a bright sunny day at a beach is the high contrast light creating harsh shadows. When you have strong directional light coming in from one side you will get strong oppositional shadows on the other. Not a very flattering look for anyone. To balance out the contrast you need to add  light to the sha...

Bright sunny days are a horror for portrait photographers. The harsh light is never flattering and it makes the subject's eyes squint. Then there is the heavy contrast between light and shadowed tones. If you don't choose your location properly you can easily loose the nice mid tones. The trick to correcting this, of course, is to move the subject into the shade. By moving into the shade you avoid that stark direct sun hitting your subject, blowing out details and enhancing flaws. While we loose the heavy contrast we also can gain a certain amount of 'flatness' to the photo. The reason is that in brightly lit days there are no real soft, diffused shadows. The transitions are sudden. You're either in direct sun or in shadow. No in between. This is where off camera flash can be of help.

BTS of one of my recent flower shots Up until this point I have been discussing exposure dealing with natural, available light. However, there are times when nature needs a little assistance. This is where light modifiers come into play. There are many types of light modifiers available to a photographer. Commercial and home made reflectors, diffusers, lighting setups and who knows what else. But one of the most common type is the speedlight. The speedlight (or off-camera flash) is that piece of equipment most photographers go out and purchase early in their gear collecting. More so than springing for a better lens. After all, we are told that if we don't have enough light we will need to use flash. But introducing a secondary light source changes our exposure triangle from the familiar triangle to a new shape, the square. To give a little insight into how off-camera flash can be used to control light I will show a step-by-step example based on the recent daffodil meet ...

One part of the exposure triangle , as we discussed, is aperture . Aperture controls our depth of field but not all depth of fields are the same. The amount of depth of field is influenced by many things including the type of lens, it's focal length, the focal plane and so much more than we can get into in this post. So to keep things simple to understand we will discuss depth of field in how it relates to focal distance and its relative focal plane.

Depth of field. It's a commonly used term tossed around by all photographers more often than can be counted. Because it is so much a part of our vocabulary we assume we know what it is and how to achieve it. That is until you are pressed to explain it or, worse still, when you are trying to achieve it and you're wracking your brain because you just can't seem to get it. Yes, on the surface we do understand what depth of field is. We are even happy when we achieve that blurred effect we were so longing for. The trick is to be consistent with it and understand why we have that consistency. Here is a little exercise to help you understand how depth of field works and how to achieve more consistent results.

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and you most likely have seen many examples of this type of photography. There are may fantastic examples used in every outlet of photography, from commercial advertising to fine art prints. The there are the not-so-fantastic examples where the colors seem to clash and the image looks horribly over processed. But what is Dynamic Range and how do we recognize it when we survey a scene? Hopefully this article will give you a little insight into what HDR is and how both our eyes and our camera interpret it.

In our previous posts we talked about how an exposure value (Ev) is calculated using several numerical values; they are  aperture value (Av) , shutter speed (Tv)  and ISO  based on a predetermined luminance value (Lv) . We also discussed stops  and how cumulatively they combine to create a properly exposed image. The article also introduced the concept of an exposure value table and how we can calculate corresponding shutter speed and aperture combinations from it. But how do these combinations relate to each other? That is where understanding the exposure triangle  can be of benefit. The illustration at right gives a hint on how interconnected these elements are to each other and what aspect of photography each element influences. So let's take a closer look at our exposure triangle .

Another term that posses problems for beginners is the word stop . It is used in just about every aspect of photography. APERTURE:  "I'm overexposed. I need to close up a stop ." ISO:  "My light dropped a full  stop  during the time I was shooting the sunset. I compensated by bumping up my ISO a stop ." SHUTTER SPEED: "The difference between freezing and blurring the action was only a few stops ."  EQUIPMENT PHYSICS:  "You will loose about a stop  when you add an extension tube on your lens." STUDIO LIGHTING:  "Your main light needs to be two stops brighter than your fill light." But what is a stop , and why does it apply to so much? We'll get into that but first you should realize that it has taken photography technology a long time to get here although the principle is as old as photography.

One of the hardest concepts to understand in photography is exposure. Partly because it is an abstract concept rather than an apparently obvious and tangible action and partly because there are so many elements involved. One other problem that is seldom addressed is the fact that terms are thrown around with complete abandon. It's not just the novice photographer to blame for this, pros do it too. In this article I will introduce you to the following acronyms and their meanings; Ev (exposure value), Lv (luminance value), Av (aperture value) and Tv (time value). Some of you may be familiar with the more common A and S for aperture and time (shutter) respectively.

HDR, or high dynamic range, photography has been growing in leaps and bounds lately. Even though the process has been around for years it was usually done manually in higher end programs like PhotoShop®. Now there are programs that are specifically designed for this process, including HDR specific modules in PhotoShop®. The process extends the dynamic range (the range from light to dark) in a scene far beyond what the camera can capture in a single image. This is done by combining two or more images taken at different exposure levels and combined in such a way that the shadows and light areas don't get lost. This requires the photographer to take multiple shots at various exposures. If your camera allows exposure bracketing you will need to learn how to set this function in order to get the required images for HDR. While most higher end 'pro-sumer' cameras can bracket three exposures a fewer number can bracket five or more exposures. The answer to obtaining more ex...

We recently made a trip to the gorgeous Bellamy-Ferriday House and Gardens in Bethlehem, CT for a photo shoot. While we were supposed to have a model, we ended up without one and were left to our own devices. So as the saying goes, " when life hands you lemons, make lemonade. " On the property there is this cute little one room shed set off at the edge of an overgrown field with a quaint little path mowed through the grass leading to it. I knew I wanted to shoot it and as I walked around I spotted a view that I wanted to explore. It included some wildflowers and a foreground shot of the field, using the shed in the background.

So you have decided to take my advise and switch the camera from auto to manual mode, now what? Here is where it can start to seem a daunting task to beginners.  What do you set the camera to in order to get a well lit, useable image? Unfortunately the answer is not just a 'set it to such-and-such' and fire away. One needs to understand how a camera creates an image in the first place. While I will give you a short introduction in this post I highly recommend reading more about exposure for a fuller understanding of picture taking.