12 Weeks to Better Photos Week 6: Shooting Indoors

All 12 lessons can be viewed here . This tutorial was originally offered through the 2 Peas in a Bucket scrapbooking/photography website. Show them some love here.


Week 6 is Shooting Indoors
::sigh:: I have so not mastered shooting indoors. Our house rarely gets direct light during the day. It is long and boxy, so only one edge of the living room has natural light at any given time. Our bedroom gets decent light, but I am terrified that my monkey of a child will roll right off the edge while I try to take pictures. The photos often have a funny colour cast and/or are grainy. So usually I just don't bother taking my camera out. My lightscoop helps some, but this week's lesson demands natural light. Well, I was at a friend's house and tried. Unfortunately they are not tack sharp.

The guidelines for this week's lesson:

• 1. Position your subject in direct light and then reposition your subject in
  indirect, or filtered, light.
• 2. Capture catchlights - have your subject face the window while you're sitting or standing with your back to the window.
• 3. Position your subject so that he/she/it is parallel to the window, while you are perpendicular to the window.
• 4. For those with SLRs or digiSLRs: If you can adjust the exposure meter on your camera, try metering on the background light vs. metering on your subject and setting the exposure for your subject. Also note that you could use a wall in the room or the floor to set your exposure meter.

trial 1: K
I could not get her to look at me. I did get some light reflected in her eyes, but its an unflattering lower eye reflection.

Exposure Time:	1/500
Aperture:	f/5.6
ISO:	800
Focal Length:	105mm (157mm in 35mm)

This is SOOC. I should have brought down that ISO since the window was right behind me, but I often forget to change it on the fly. That would have allowed me to bring the ISO down a bit too. Since I was using the kit lens, that is as low as my aperture could go. I actually should have opened it up a stop at that length; that probably accounts for a bit of the blurriness.


Trial 2: Baby S
(sidebar - doesn't she have the most amazing big brown eyes? I have been killing myself trying to photograph them properly. brown eyes are so much harder then blue!)

Exposure Time:	1/80
Aperture:	f/5
ISO:	800
Focal Length:	58mm (87mm in 35mm)

Also SOOC. Ignore the terrible composition with a some random (albeit lovely) legs and high chair in the background. This is not directly in front of the window, but I think I got better catchlights with this one. Its actually catching part of a mirrored wall that leads to the open front door. All sorts of random light bouncing. But here my SS is too slow for the subject and focal length, so its still not tack sharp.

Well, at least I came out and tried right?

Next up: shooting outdoors. much better!

PSA: Look Behind You

Before my Lightscoop arrived this week, I was using a budget lightscoop to shoot in the evenings - a white side plate. Actually very useful! I managed to catch some great candids when I would otherwise not be able to, and avoid the dreaded deer in headlights flash look. Including this little ditty.

I was so excited because her eyes looked so crisp. And I managed catchlights! (pleasing light reflection in the eyes which makes them look bigger and luminscent) Bonus. But then I was like, "WTF is that red speck in her eyes. It can't be red-eye."  So I zoomed in to 100% and cropped, to discover the culprit:

That would be the red pillow on the couch behind me. Dang flash bounce picked it up and reflected the colour back into her eyes. Doh!

So your PSA for the day: When using a flash bounce, remember not only what is in front of the lens, but what is behind it too.