Home Photography Tips #1 - Light

April 01, 2020  •  Leave a Comment

Since the lockdown caused by the Coronavirus many of us are stuck at home wondering what to do with all this time suddenly available to us.  All my work has been cancelled/postponed so I am making the most of my time by taking lots of photos of my family, well, mostly of my daughter, Imogen.  She is a huge poser (don't know where she gets it from...!) and loves her princess costumes so what better way to spend this time capturing all these special moments.

I've decided to share some tips with you to help you fill up some time productively, learn some new skills whilst at home with your loved ones and turn your photos from ordinary to extaordinary!  You can practice these on your parents, children, pets or flatmates, or if you are self isolating by yourself then it can be applied to still life objects.  They can be done on a smartphone as well as a DSLR camera as the priciples are the same so anyone can do it.

I'll post one tip with a day which you can practice at home or out on your daily exercise (which you're all hopefully getting!). 

Today's first tip is the MOST important in any aspect of photography and something I emphasise in all my classes - LIGHT!  It is what creates the image and defines if it will work or not.

TOP TIPS

  1. Look for where the best light is in your house first, not the best location. 
  2. Natural light is always going to be good and windows or doorways are great for this. 
  3. Place your subject facing the light so that they are lit evenly across the face. This is the same for outside and the sky will look more blue.
  4. If close up you will see catchlights in the eyes which will give your portrait life and depth.

I've chosen this first photo as it covers all of the above and was taken on my phone (Samsung Galaxy S9+) so anyone can try this one.  I've used the Live Focus mode which blurs the background out (known as the depth of field or aperture but more on that later) and makes for a more pleasing portrait.  Not to worry if your phone doesn't have this but if it does then have a play around with it.  You'll notice a big difference in your portraits.

Portrait using natural light near a windowPortrait using natural light

So that's the first tip for today.  Have a think about where the light is, how bright it is, where it falls on the face and what shadows it creates even with small movements of the head.  Light is a big subject so I will most likely come back to it later with more tips.

I'd love to see your photos so please post them in the comments, and if you have any questions I'll be more than happy to answer them.

If you want to get any printed out then Photobox are still delivering.

Have fun!

 

 

 

 


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