Sep
03
2013So far in this class I have dissuaded you from using your flash at all. You’ve learned to take even low light images without the aid of on camera flash. One of the reasons I discourage the use of flash while you’re learning your camera is because your camera will automatically trigger the flash in the wrong lighting situations.
When to use On Camera Flash
Here are a few rules of when it’s okay to use flash.
- When your subject is at least 3 feet away from the camera and no more than 15 feet away.
- When you need to freeze motion in a dark scene and can’t get your shutter speed fast enough any other way and you’re still following rule 1.
- When you need fill flash for a dark subject.
- When you can use a diffuser for your on camera flash.
In this post, I’m going to cover reasons 3 and 4 since the first two are just sort of common sense guidelines.
Fill Flash
Remember our back lit scene? Remember how tough it is to get a good exposure for your subject without blowing out all the details in the background? A brightly back lit scene is the ideal place to use your on camera flash. This is also true for those harsh mid-day photos with the sun high overhead casting terrible shadows.
“What, Melissa?” You cry. “I thought flash was best used in low light situations?!” Well, unless your low light situations meet requirements 1 and 2, then this actually is the best place to use on camera flash. In this scenario it’s called fill-flash. You’ll have to manually activate your flash in these situations (mine has a simple button next to the pop up flash, but read your manual to be sure!)
You may need to adjust the strength of your flash to do this (read your manual to learn how), but you may not. You’ll know right away if your flash is too bright when your subject looks white and washed out. Power it down a little and try again.
For this example I powered my flash down two stops. The extra light did make the sunrise a little brighter than it appeared in real life, but not so much that I’m unhappy with the outcome. Just in case you were wondering, if you’re tent camping with this little boy, he will wake you just prior to the sun. So what else should you do but take sunrise pictures?
Diffusing On Camera Flash
So what about those low light situations where don’t want a lot of grain and your subjects are closer than 3 feet or you’re hating the washed out look of your on camera flash?
This is a situation where your flash will need diffusing. You can start by taking your flash power down a few notches (read your manual), but if that doesn’t work you can buy a flash diffuser. Like most gear, this isn’t something you will need unless you face the situation over and over. But it’s a cheap little piece of gear if you like to play around. You can also improvise something like this with lightweight white fabric and a wire coat hanger for you DIY types 😉
A Little Housekeeping and your Assignment
Whew! I can’t believe we’ve powered through all of our lighting posts. The class is beginning to wind down. Over the next three weeks, I’ll be featuring a few sort of miscellaneous posts on things that haven’t really fit well elsewhere. Then, I’ll guide you in picking a final project to showcase your new skills. Finally, I’ll be featuring your images from these summer assignments on October 8th (so now is the time to catch up!). After those feature images, I’ll spend our remaining time on various editing topics (with just a few mini-assignments) while you work through your final projects.
To make it easy for you to finish all your unfinished assignments from summer here they are all in one place:
Using your Camera in Manual Mode Assignment
Manual Mode Workflow Assignment
Exposure Bracketing Assignment
Full Sun/Open Shade/Golden Hour Assignment
Portrait Lighting (the post is for next week so the link will work then)
Lighting Assignment
I’ve been preparing you for this throughout our lighting series. If you’ve been taking images concurrently throughout the series, you’ve likely covered all these assignments. If not, it’ll probably be pretty easy to combine them with the assignments above. Just make sure you label them for both assignments in the Flickr Pool.
- Front light an image or two.
- Side light an image or two.
- Back light an image so as to silhouette your subject.
- Back light an image exposing for your subject.
- Back light and use an improvised reflector (poster board, white towel, concrete, a lake, sand) OR use fill flash to get decent exposure for both the background and the subject.
Sep
01
2013It’s no secret around here I have a heart for Compassion International.
We got our first letter from our sponsored girl Delsys where she actually responded to our questions. She’s just 6 years old so this is a big deal! Delsys lives in El Salvador and my girls and I wrote her about painting birdhouses. We asked her if they built houses for birds in El Salvador and we got this witty response.
Hello dear friend.. I am very happy for the letter that you sent me and I want to tell you that there are hardly houses for birds just nests…”
That pretty much cracked me up. I’m not sure if it was the translation or real witty sarcasm or if it’s just my silly sense of humor 🙂
But let me tell you this: I can tell that Compassion is making a difference in the life of our sweet Delsys. In this same letter, Delsys told us her favorite bible story is the crucifixion. See her beautiful rendering of this story. 6 year old art is beautiful!
So why am I telling you this: well, Septmember is Compassion International’s blog month. The goal this year is to have 3,160 children just like Delsys sponsored. You get to be the game changer in a child’s life.
So here are my personal goals as a small blogger and photographer:
- I’d like to get 7 readers to participate in writing on their blogs for blog month.
- I’d like to have 5 readers sponsor a child. The difference you make in the child’s life is eternal. Check out these research statistics for proof that you really will make a difference.
So comment below and tell me how you’ll join me during Compassion Internation Blog Month. These children are counting on us!
Aug
30
2013My husband and I just can’t get this song out of our heads. This combination of banjos and percussion and this message of refusing to waste our lives… Listen. Be encouraged. And I’d love to hear about how you dream of making a difference.
Aug
29
2013
Andrew’s mommy is a photographer acquaintance from college. I saw her using Pinterest to collect tutorials on the “Frog Pose” featured above and offered to help her achieve that image. I guess that means I’m a Greer SC Newborn Photographer who does mentoring sessions? I really do love helping other photographers learn 🙂
Let me tell you, it was so nice to have another photographer in the room. I could pose and she could photograph which is one of those things that make sibling images so much smoother: especially with a sibling as young as Sophie (2). It was a little slice of heaven. So about half of these images she took and the other half I did, but I edited them all for the purpose of this blog 🙂
But the real reason I invited her over was so that Michelle could get in the images too. As a photographer, it’s pretty difficult to get ourselves in our images and I wanted to give her that gift.
In return, Michelle gifted me some images of me doing one of the things I love most: posing squishy little babies. Thank you, Michelle!
Sometimes if you tickle a cheek the baby smiles. 😉
Aug
28
2013
It’s Wednesday here at Quiet Graces and that means today is the day where wives are digging in to the dirt in our own marriage and, with God’s grace, growing to be better wives. Today Chelle is visiting from Treat Me to A Feast.
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An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones. Proverbs 12:4 (ESV)
We’ve been married 20 years. He truly is the love of my life, and Lord, You know, I do everything I can to be a good and loving Christian wife, all Proverbs 31 and such. Friends and family have often heard me say, “absolutely, I’m an obedient wife….particularly when it suits my purposes.” On this particular day, obedience was easy.
I’d bragged to my husband this morning about a tip I discovered online for DIY laundry detergent. I was all excited and ready to make it, but, then my “spidey sense” tingled and I thought I better let him know. (Thank God for a spidey sense, female intuition, it’s all a Word from the Lord…call it what you will). I have a houseful of people with allergies and sensitivities, so I’m constantly seeking out opportunities to stay close to natural, save money, and still efficiently get things done well. I even listed the all-natural, good old fashioned ingredients (two already in my pantry) to my Dearly Beloved; he wasn’t.
Here I am, trying to do the right, thrifty, good for you, frugal (did I mention that?) thing. Are you ready? Dearly Beloved says “baby, buy the Tide.”
We have an high efficiency (HE) washer, a lovely splurge purchased a few years ago when the washer and dryer that came with the house died. We did our research. I looked for something compact, efficient, and
inexpensive, but I am thankful as is so often the case for my husband, who is a “measure twice, cut once” kind of man. His guidance was to look for the most richly feature packed, efficient, compact set I could find that I liked (I chose a Kenmore set in blue, my favoritecolor), under the theory that we buy the best we can afford thereby avoiding the need to replace those units for a good 15-25 years.. Covering my bases, I’d even researchedindependently whether DIY detergent was HE washer friendly….there are special, lowsudsing detergents sold for HE washers….regular soap will ruin them, leading to expensive repairs (I had a friend live through that nightmare….that was a lesson I could learn from).
Undeterred by my diligence, my darling husband said he’d pay for Tide over a visit from the Kenmore man. Here’s my praise report in obedience…I smiled and said “okay…yes, dear.”
I kissed him on the nose and he left for the office. Over. Done.
I was having a conversation with my BFF yesterday about not taking things personally. As women (wives, mothers, friends, professionals, etc.) it must be the way we’re wired. I’m sure that there was a time in my life when I’d have felt the need to defend my position, not very curious) just wasn’t my hill to die on that morning. It wasn’t that important. I’m not suggesting that you make a habit of capitulating, but rather that you pick your battles, and learn, in the interest of a long, happy, and mutually satisfying marriage, that you don’t always have to be right. Or, and hold on to your seats here, because it’s about to get radical, you may actually be right, but you don’t have to have the last word.
Is it more important to be right than to be at peace?
My blessing? On that day I lived my day as a Happy Wife, rejoicing in my happy place. It’s a good place to be, because as you probably know, your happy place keeps moving. Staying in Joy, living in Grace is a movable target. It requires diligent prayer, constant striving, and more humility some days than you might believe you have available.
Can you think of a time when you got it right? If so, what lesson can you take away for the next time you are challenged? Is there a situation that you’ve handled poorly? If so, pray over it. Make amends, be accountable for your shortcomings, and then, seek out your husband to let him know you’re going to do better.
And now, because today has so far been a good day, I’m off to bask in my happy place, while I know where it is….and with that, I say, stay under construction, Godly wives. What you’re building is worth it.
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A little about Chelle
Growing up in the Baptist church a fourth generation preacher’s kid, Chelle Wilson married an Anglican. She boldly seeks God, and thanks her Dad for releasing her from denominationalism, instead encouraging her to embrace Theology and chase Truth. While she is a fiercely private person, she enjoys two public worship forms, liturgical dance and writing. Dance freed her, providing a language for expression beyond words. Dance is her prayer language. Writing is humbling, sometimes terrifying, but always enlightening. Hers is a quirky but reverent perspective on God and Grace.
She started blogging to replace a big job that went away. Formerly a Human Resources Executive in the entertainment industry, she suddenly became a Stay-At-Home-Mom, not entirely by choice. Writing started as something to do, but evolved into an ongoing journey to draw nigh to The One. She and her beloved husband have two beautiful children, a gorgeous Boxer, and 20 years of wedded bliss. She maintains a joyous relationship with the Creator, even as she learns difficult lessons while hearing His loving laughter on the wind.
Find her at Treat Me To A Feast:Notes From My Abundant Life, on Twitter at @treatmetoafeast or on Facebook. Chelle is the Director of Community Engagement and a regular contributor at www.CirclesofFaith.org. She also writes regularly for Christ Centered Home Magazine.
