By John Boykin, in Folio Magazine. © John Boykin
HANDLING THE TECHNICALITIES
The Camera's Variables | Lighting | Light Readings and Bracketing
DEALING WITH CONTENT
Composing and Shooting | Center of Interest | Prepare for the Shoot | The Deadlies | Group Shots | A Few Final Points
SIDEBAR--Depth of Field: Making Tradeoffs
There are dozens of things you should keep in mind while holding a camera to your eye. But until most of those things become second nature to you, it's easy to tie yourself in knots trying to remember them all. So don't try. Learn a few pointers, practice them, then come back and learn a few more. Approach photography as a game to be mastered gradually, and you'll not only take much better pictures, but you'll have a lot more fun doing it.
Those things that affect the content of the picture should be your first priority; technical considerations should come second. Although we'll talk about both, we'll need to start with some of the technical considerations.
1. HANDLING THE TECHNICALITIES
The Camera's Variables
To review a bit from part one of this series, every 35mm SLR camera works on the basis of tradeoffs between two key variables: shutter speed and aperture.
Shutter speed determines how long the shutter stays open to allow light in. The faster the shutter speed for a given shot, the more you will freeze any motion; the slower the speed, the more likely you are to get blur.
Aperture describes how wide the lens opens to let in light for a given shot. The wider the aperture, the more light is allowed to reach the film; the smaller the aperture, the less light. Aperture is also a factor in determining depth of field--i.e., how much of the picture is in focus (see sidebar at end).
If you don't know how you want to balance these variables for a given picture, go ahead and set your camera on its automatic or program setting and let it make those decisions for you. You'll usually get decent shots. I use one of my camera's automatic settings about 75 percent of the time.
But the more experience you get, the more often you will want to exercise control over how those variables are balanced. For example, if you are using a 100mm lens without a tripod, you will need a shutter speed of at least 1/125 of a second to counteract camera shake. Or if you are photographing a dozen people sitting at a table, you need maximum depth of field, so you need to use a small aperture.
And to get the setting you need in one variable (shutter speed or aperture), you will have to make compromises in the other variable. The camera may make the compromises for you, but you need to make the initial decision about the setting of the more important variable.
You don't have to invest in expensive photo lamps to get good lighting. But you do need to learn to read light and take at least some basic steps to control it.
You read light primarily by studying shadows: How dark are they? How long? How sharp are the edges? At what angle do they come off the objects casting them?
On faces, the shadow to watch is the one cast by the nose. It shouldn't touch or cross the top rim of the upper lip. If it does, the light source is too high relative to the face. Also watch the catchlights in the subject's eyes. These are the points of light you see on the iris reflecting the main light source. Besides adding a spark of life to the face, catchlights indicate whether the light is coming at a proper angle to flatter the face. They may be left, right, or center, but should be on or above the equator of the iris.
One of the least expensive, simplest, and most effective ways to improve your shots is to use a white card as a reflector. Mount or have someone hold the reflector on the shadow side of a face or whatever other subject you're shooting. The card can lighten the shadows, reduce contrast, and enable you to use a smaller aperture for greater depth of field.
The kind of light meter built into most cameras is designed to deal with averages. It considers the darkness and brightness of everything in the main picture area and averages them together to arrive at a recommended exposure. That arrangement will work just fine most of the time. But, while some light meters are more sophisticated than others at analyzing the lighting complexity of your scene, no meter knows what is really important to you. So it can be easily fooled. If, say, you have a light-colored subject standing in front of a dark, wood-paneled wall, the light meter may see all that dark wall and order up a wide aperture to expose the wall correctly--which will overexpose your subject. The converse is also true for a dark subject against a light background.
To avoid problems in such situations, move in close enough to the subject so that the important area (for example, the face) fills the frame, and then take your light reading. Afterwards, move back to where you want to shoot from, and use either the setting indicated by that light reading or some compromise between that reading and the one you get from your actual shooting distance.
If you are shooting slide (transparency) film, expose for the highlights; if you're shooting print film, expose for the shadows. Thus, if half your subject's face is in the light and half in shadow, take your light reading off the light side of the face when shooting slide film, and off the dark side of the face when shooting print film.
To be sure you get a good exposure, bracket your exposures. This means taking several shots--one at the exposure recommended by the light meter, then at least two more, manually overexposing and underexposing a little.
Bracketing may sound like the mark of an uncertain amateur, but it's no such thing. It's insurance and it's smart. Pros do it routinely.
Composing and Shooting
Plan to shoot lots of film. For every one good picture you want, make at least 15 shots. And vary them. Move closer in, farther back, use a little different angle for each, a little different pose, different idea, location, prop, lighting, filter, arrangement of elements, horizontals and verticals of the same scene, some context shots and some detail shots.
If you're not happy with the shots you get and if time and circumstances allow, go back and do it again. Better to get it right than to publish something you won't be proud of.
One of the principles pros go by is to fill the frame--i.e., move in close enough so that the important material occupies the entire picture area, with no waste around the edges. That's a basically sound principle, but for publication photography you usually need to leave a little waste around the edges to give the art director the needed flexibility to crop the picture to fit the layout. Don't overdo it, though, or the important image will be so small that it won't hold up well when enlarged.
The image area of a 35mm picture is 24mm x 36mm, so the proportions are exactly 2:3. (The 35 in "35mm" refers to the width of the film itself.) In vertical shots, these proportions do not quite match those of a printed page in a standard size magazine, about 8-1/8" x 10-3/4". Proportionally, the page is a little shorter than the picture, so on a one-page full bleed you'll lose some of the top and/or bottom of the picture. If you expect to use the picture that way, then leave a little waste top and bottom. The proportions of a double-truck, however, exactly match those of a (horizontal) 35mm image area.
When composing the shot, place the center of interest somewhere other than the center of the frame. A third of the way in from a corner is usually an excellent spot. See if the center of interest can be framed by some other element in the picture, such as a window frame, an overhanging tree branch, a bicycle wheel. See if you can use some line in the picture, such as a rope, a fence, or the edge of a desk, to draw the viewer's eye to the center of interest.
Our eyes are a lot more forgiving than film is. Developed pictures have a nasty habit of displaying obvious flaws that the photographer didn't even notice. Make a point of looking for possible problems.
Check the details. Look for fingerprints on the executive's otherwise shiny desk, and wipe them off. Notice reflections and glare on eyeglasses, windows, computer screens, etc., and eliminate them either by using a polarizing filter or by moving the light, the subject, or the camera. If you're shooting toward the sun or other bright light source, watch out for flare in the lens; use a lens shade or hold your hand up to cast a shadow over the lens.
Watch the angle and intensity of the light: Is it casting flattering shadows or harsh, ugly ones? Move the light source or the subject if you can, lighten shadows with fill flash or a white card reflector, or wait for the sun to reach a better position.
Pay special attention to backgrounds. Look for anything that might distract: plants, telephone poles, shadows, corners, wall hangings, electrical lines, cars. If something in the background doesn't enhance the picture, either get rid of it, move the subject and/or camera so it's no longer in the scene, or, if nothing else, use a very shallow depth of field to throw it out of focus.
Look not only for distracting backgrounds, but also for inappropriate ones. As a rule, lightness or darkness of the background should contrast with the subject to make the subject stand out.
As long as you're playing photographer, you might as well go all the way. Play the role. Talk a lot: "looks good . . . yeah . . . great . . . OK . . . good picture . . . I like that, now let's try . . . ." Pour on the charm and wit. The subject won't put any more energy into the effort than you do, so work hard. If you expect the subject to have any confidence in you, you must exude confidence in yourself.
The better prepared you are, the better the shoot will go. If possible, scout out the location in advance so you can assess lighting, find a good background, plan furniture moves, anticipate problems, visualize shots. Also try to spend some amount of time with the subject in advance, not only to get acquainted, but also to observe how he sits, crosses his legs, gestures, smiles, and generally carries himself. Make mental notes of these characteristic mannerisms so you can later direct him into them again for the camera.
Be prepared to shoot a lot of film to get one excellent picture. Go ahead and waste the first 10 shots on terrible poses and expressions if doing so will loosen up the subject. Don't be surprised if your best shot is one of the last.
If the subject starts posing stiffly or locks on a single expression, stop. Tell him to close his eyes, take a few deep breaths, relax, and shake all over. Then continue. If something just doesn't work, take a break.
Rather than have the subject stand like a post and stare at you, have him sit and do something, preferably with his hands. He'll be more comfortable, people usually look more interesting when they're doing something, and hands almost always liven up a picture. Get him talking about his dog, kids, hobby, favorite meal in the past week, how something works, current pet project at work, and so on.
If you edit an association magazine or trade journal, odds are that you sometimes need to shoot one of the deadly shots, like a reception, group picture, or (heaven help us) Person A handing Person B a check or award. Such scenes are an ever-dependable and bottomless mine of deadly dull pictures. Here are a few suggestions.
If you need to shoot at a dinner or party, remember that the formal program will probably yield the least interesting pictures of the evening. So try getting candids of people arriving, greeting one another, chatting. A 100mm lens is ideal for that. Catch the speaker glancing at the MC during the introduction. During the talk, look for the speaker's gestures and catch those. Even the most wooden speaker will show at least a spark of life just before the first word and at the closing "thank you." Get candids of people listening when the talk first begins (before they fall asleep!).
Avoid flash if you can. My prejudice is that it's better to use fast film and push it. Not only will you be less obtrusive at the event, but the pictures will look less snapshotty. If you do use flash, be sure the people in the picture are all about the same distance from the flash so they will be lighted equally.
If you must bring some people together for a group picture, have them put their drinks down, or at least lower them. Nothing looks tackier than a row of people staring at a camera with wine glasses in their hands.
Not much can be done with a handshake, but try to catch it an instant before the hands clasp. Try some unusual angle, perhaps one that shows the audience and thereby gives a sense of the total event. If you can (or must) restage the handshake, don't have the two people stand there waiting for you: Have them walk toward each other and meet at a designated spot. Or (if the two are comfortable and friends) try skipping the handshake altogether and getting them side by side with one's hand on the other's shoulder.
Before putting too much energy into a shot of one of the deadlies, though, rethink the need for such a shot at all. Do you honestly require a picture of Sam handing Ralph a check? Why? Can the point be made some other way? For example, if the check is Ralph's reward for selling 1,000 widgets this year, try running a picture of what the check represents: Ralph out there in the field hustling sales, Ralph communing with a widget, or maybe Ralph waxing the Porsche that the check helped him buy.
Group pictures are particularly challenging. Be sure you know your camera well and have plenty of confidence in yourself before standing in front of a group with a camera. Groups tend to be less patient than individuals, so you must take charge immediately, work fast, and keep the energy level high. Talk constantly. Tell them exactly what you want them to do, but try to make it enjoyable for them. Make jokes. If you can, enlist a member of the group in advance to help keep the juices flowing.
If you are working with a small group, put one person in place, then add the others one at a time, like flowers in a bouquet. To keep the picture from looking too static, arrange people so their eyes are all at different heights. Give all heads equal prominence.
With a large group, you'll probably need to use a wide angle lens. Do not fill the frame in this case, because people near the edges will come out with fat heads. Center the group and crop the picture for publication. Focus about a third of the way into the group and use as small an aperture as you can so everyone will be in focus.
Putting people on steps gives much less phony results than having people in the front kneel. But as an alternative to either of these obvious approaches, try standing on a ladder and having the people look up at you. Tell everyone that if they can't see the camera, it can't see them. Don't let anyone hide. Make sure no one is in shadow if everyone else is in the light. Don't have the sun behind you, or everyone will squint--and you'll quickly have a mutiny on your hands.
The group will expect a traditional one-two-three-cheese shot. Do that, but don't expect it to yield the most interesting picture. You are liable to get your best shots when the group is off guard, particularly just after you use some ploy to loosen them up. To catch those unguarded moments, shoot a lot of film.
Instead of posing everyone stiffly to stare at the camera, have them ignore the camera and interrelate somehow--perhaps by telling the person beside them what they had for breakfast. If possible, don't have a formal, posed group at all. Have them sit rather than stand; have some stand behind seated people and lean casually on the backs of the chairs with their hands. Have them turn their sides to you to varying degrees. Try getting only a sampling of the group, and shoot candids of them interrelating or doing something plausible together.
In any group of people, chances are that someone is going to blink when you shoot, so get several shots of each arrangement.
For other ideas on creative alternatives to the standard deadly shots, look through some annual reports.
When you take a picture of a person, focus on the eyes.
Take as much time as the subject(s) will give you until you are sure you have enough good shots.
To develop your skill at sensing the ideal moment to trip the shutter, practice while watching TV. Snap your fingers at each moment that would make a nice picture.
Finally, there is no substitute for patience. An impatient photographer gets mediocre stuff because he/she settles for whatever is quick and easy. In photography, as in anything else in life, the good stuff takes time and effort.
Depth of Field: Making Tradeoffs
When you focus on something, some area in front of and beyond that point will also be in acceptable focus. This area is called the depth of field (or depth of focus). It is one of the most important things you can and should learn to control in a picture.
Depth of field is determined by a combination of three factors: the focal length of your lens, how wide the aperture is, and how far you are from the spot you're focusing on. The chart below shows how that works.
Rarely will you have all three factors pushed to either limit. Making tradeoffs among them is one of the main ways a photographer's creativity comes into play. This is one reason it is so important to know how to override your camera's automation manually, even if you rely on the automation most of the time.
|
Factors |
For greater |
For less |
|
Lens' focal length |
Shorter |
Longer |
|
Aperture |
Smaller |
Wider |
|
Distance from subject |
Farther |
Closer |
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