Styling your photos

May 14, 2012 By Fred & Holly Stickley Leave a Comment

This is one area where you find yourself really collaborating with your designer client.  Styling is basically where you dress the set with accessory items. Anything that’s not architecture, furniture, or large appliances. It is very easy to over-do the styling of a shot.  Designers love to load up their vans with lots of stuff. I guess it’s always good to have alternatives.

From a photographers point of view, this is an area where less is better.  I would rather go with a few choice items that are truly needed and have more negative space for a cleaner look, than have little clumps of styling elements that are hard to define. Remember that when you’re shooting interiors or exteriors, it’s the actual architecture that will make the photo.  A few beautiful, but essential items go along way.

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Lighting

June 29, 2011 By Fred & Holly Stickley Leave a Comment

Lighting is everything in photography.  If the light is fabulous, it can make up for a poorly composed shot, but for a great shot, you have to have both.  When using available light try to choose an angle, or direct your subject so that the light is coming from either side at a 45º to 90º angle.  Two common mistakes folks make, is shooting with the light coming from the same direction as the camera, or the light is coming from behind your subject, directly at your camera lens.  You’ve seen the photo where the subject is in silhouette with a bright sky in back.

When your subject is lit from the side you can see shapes, textures, and it creates a more natural, pleasing look.  This not only applies when using the sun as your main light source, but when using artificial lighting, such as hot lights and strobes.  Try and utilize all the natural light that is available, and use supplemental lights only when needed to fill in dark areas of the shot.  Sometimes it’s good to bounce a light off the ceiling to up the exposure level a bit.

An added element that will take your photos to the next level, is the use of your camera’s flash attachment.  You can use this as your main light, source if your available light is too dark for a good exposure, but usually you’ll get flashy and unnatural looking photos.  The better way to use your flash attachment, is as a “fill-flash.” And, just as the name implies it acts as a “filler-light.”  For example, you’re shooting a group of people outside and the sun (main light source) is coming in nicely from the side, but there are still dark shadows on everyone’s faces.  This is where the fill-flash light works perfectly.

The trick is, how bright should the fill-flash be?  You’ll need to play around with the flash a bit to get the right look.  Adjust the angle of the flash, maybe don’t face it directly at your subject, but angle it up, if the flash attachment allows you to do this.  Adjust your f-stop, (shutter speed has no effect on flash, since flash is instantaneous) and “stop down or up” your flash attachment – In other words, lessen or increase the brightness of your flash.  Also, try and use some sort of diffusion on your flash.  An opaque, milky colored plastic diffuser works great and they come in many shapes and sizes.  I personally like the ones made by Gary Fong.  Keep shooting and checking your image as you proceed though all these adjustments.  Once you’ve dialed in your flash for a certain environment, you’re good to go.  Keep checking your shots as you go along to make sure things haven’t changed.  Don’t get discouraged – Flash can be very challenging but will make a huge difference in your work.

Remember, direct sun, especially midday is harsh and not good for photographing people.  Shooting under overcast skies or in the shade is actually a whole lot better; less contrast.  Overcast skies are also great for shooting gardens and landscapes.

Thanks for stopping by, FS, StickleyPhoto

Filed Under: Photography Lighting Tagged With:

Angle & Composition

March 8, 2011 By Fred & Holly Stickley Leave a Comment

Historic Jackson Tower, Portland OR

Determine the shot and choose the direction.  Consider where the most light is coming from, whether from a window, skylight, or overhead.  You want your light to be at an angle to the camera lens or subject matter, and not from the back of your subject, or from behind the camera.  You basically do not want the light to be pointing in the same direction as the camera. The best light will show itself when coming into the subject matter from the side or at roughly 45 to 90 degrees.

Most people make the mistake of shooting at eye level.  Usually for medium to small spaces, get as low as you can without losing your subject matter to give a feeling of being in the room.  Many times for a typical living room shot we may be shooting from 2 feet off the floor.  This will also give you more access to strong foregrounds, like the arm of a chair, a couch, coffee table, or a counter top.  For large commercial spaces we will might get up on a ladder and shoot from a higher angle, say 10 or 12 feet, an angle that people don’t normally see.  This makes for a more interesting photograph.

Don’t forget to actually look through the view finder and look at what you’re shooting.  Most people literally just point and shoot.  You basically have a box or frame that you’re filling with converging lines.  If you’re having problems getting something nice, simply move in closer to your subject matter.  This has a tendency to simplify things in the viewfinder thus, a better photo.  Try and set prominent objects in your frame on an imaginary tic-tac-toe grid.  Thirds work well when composing photos just like in other forms of art.

Many designers want everything in the room to be in one photo and many times this doesn’t work, although it depends on the architecture of the space.  In the end, I believe the photo needs to stand on its own as a well composed and well lit piece of work.

Extreme angles can be more interesting.  Remember Alfred Hitchcock?  For the next post we will cover some lighting concepts for interior photography.

Till then, shoot away ~FS, StickleyPhoto

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