Photo Clinic #1

[Rolan Duffield]

Don't be fooled in thinking you can take good pictures anytime. Daylight conditions are constantly changing and present many types of problems for achieving good results. We'll start by explaining how your everyday picture taking results is affected by different daylight lighting conditions.

Bright daylight: All colors close to the camera will be bright, very colorful and have very high contrast. Areas farther away may tend to lose some brightness, especially when there is haze in the distance.

Problems related to bright daylight: Expect shadow areas to be much darker than visualized. Normally expect to see very high image contrast and dark shadow areas with little shadow detail in the final picture. Under these type lighting conditions you will need to make certain there are no heavy shadows on the face of your subject. Try to position your subject so the light comes at your back or within 45 degrees from your backside. Don't forget that hats will contribute to very dark shadows.

Don't trust what you see when reviewing the image in the camera. The picture, when viewed in the camera, willprobably show more detail than what will be reproduced in the final print. Learn from the results of the quality of your final prints. You'll develop an awareness of potential problem areas and learn how to make camera adjustments. We'll discuss methods to improve this type picture in the next clinic.

Bright overcast day: Expect to see bright colors with good shadow detail. This is my favorite day light conditions for taking average pictures. It's the very best condition for close-ups of people as there will be good detail in the shadow areas, reasonably good image contrast and brightness of colors.

Problems related to bright overcast days: Areas in the distance will lose brightness in the colors and the sky will probably show as a shade of gray.

Dark days, dark areas and dark shadows: Generally you should see lots of detail in the picture, contrast of images will be softer and colors will be dull. The final picture results depends on how dark the area is and how well you control lighting and camera exposure.

Problems related to dark days and/or dark shadow areas: Expect to see duller colors with little contrast in the final picture.

More on lighting --- next clinic.

[UltraLight]

Good points. Color has tempatures and the sun also goes from ultraviolet to infrared during the day. Color shots are best made before 10:30 am and after 4:00 pm. The time in between can be compensated for by using filters. Slightly overcast sky will produce better tempatures for color shots. If you want snapshots then take them between 11:00 and 6 if you want photo's to stand out then watch the time. For dark days use a fill flash. You click what's there and hope you reproduce it or you can paint with light and control the effect, how far you want to take it is all up to you. And then came the digital camera with it's built in programs that effect how a sensor senses light and where it tends to capture images and colors and processes them. Which in short means if you want certain colors then you are a slave to the brand name you purchased. Color slides rule.