Part 4 The Course

Maybe you have just joined the course as you feel you know the basics involved, and that's fine. Yet if you feel you are starting to lose the plot please don't be ashamed to go back to the beginner section because we all sometimes need refreshing. If you have now moved through the course and have completed the tasks in the first three sections, well done! You are ready for this.

So we have placed a lot of information into those brain cells and now it is time to start taking some photographs. Although this course is based in Glamour, as I keep saying photography is many elements and you cannot always find a pretty girl to photograph. So please follow this lesson, but you can use any subject you like.

Let's quickly recap on what makes a photograph. Film, light. That was quick wasn't it.

It's nice to have a subject of course and it's even better if the photographer uses the light to it's best advantage to produce a pleasant picture. Then of course the framing of the picture, the background, the colours, the amount of the scene in focus, etc. etc.

Do you see now with your eye what the film will reproduce? This is especially true for you guys that started photography with digital. There seems to be the idea that as no film is involved the same problems don't arise. Being a nice guy I say "Phewey"! You get a colour cast on a digital picture and you have had it. It will be impossible to get white white and skin coloured skin.

So even if you are using digital this ALL applies to everything you do.

I will not keep going over the technicals as I have to assume you have all the knowledge from the first three lessons, and anyway it gets boring. If you start to lose what I am saying it is all there for you to read and refresh.

Let's begin by saying that the first tentative steps toward producing good photographs will be taken by us using day light. Remember our colour temps that we discussed in our first lessons? Daylight is free, it's readily available and it is probably the easiest way to produce nice pictures. It can be used out of doors, and indoors. It's definitely the only lighting that is preferred by professionals. Yes that was a lie. Well sort of. When you are experienced it is easier to set up your studio lights to produce the type, mood and style of picture you want. It can be a pain waiting days for just the right lighting for a particular shot, but most would given the time, prefer to use the real thing. Laziness for some and lack of practice means they never venture out of their studio and they miss so much. I even know of two top pro's who's studio work is exemplary, but their outside work is a disaster. After year 1 at college, everything was studio based and that's how it stayed.

I don't want that happening to anyone who completes this course. Graduates of the GP OnLine Course will be able to take great pictures in and out side. Any lighting conditions will not be a problem, they will have a knowledge base at their call that will overcome any problems. That means you, so be proud you will know everything you need to know to take pictures by available light.

What you must be aware of with daylight is the light is not portable, it is the subject that has to be. In bright sunlight, "harsh lighting" conditions this is the most important thing to remember.

Very Hard shadows as the sun is behind the subject.	Lose the shadows by turning the subjects face to the light.

Sometimes you will told it can help if you are inside a glass conservatory, or similar. Yet as you can see from these two pictures you still have to look closely as harsh shadows will still be there as in picture one. Unlike a studio this is easy to see. Use your eyes, but remember how they compensate unlike the film/digital camera you are using. Move the model, move yourself to lose the harshness yet keeping the modelling effect of the light.

By the photographer moving and the model turning to the new direction the effect in picture 2 is far more pleasing.

A very good way to kill harsh shadows is by moving into the shade. The light is indirect and softer. Notice though how the colour of the picture changes. There seems to be a blue hue. This is actually a reflection of the blue sky. Your eyes will not see this, but your camera film/digital will. Remember that.

So to finalise. Using natural light in bright conditions we look at this picture here on the left. The photographer has used the problem to his advantage. Using the harsh shadow to accentuate the bust and turned the models face into the sun. Obviously it would be impossible for her to keep her eyes from squinting so she is wearing sunglasses.

You see how you can take a great picture in any situation providing you know what the pitfalls are and can deal with them.

On the right is a picture taken with no forethought and planning. If the model had been twisted to the left and faced right, up into the sun the advantages of the left hand picture would have been achieved.

So let's finish with a gallery of pictures that with the knowledge you now posses over the four lessons you are quite capable of imitating. Please look at the pictures and see the problems the photographers have overcome and how they have done it. One has nothing to do with light by the way.

The project then is simple. Take pictures out of doors using what you have learnt here to produce sensitive pictures using the light, rather than just snaps.

What happens if the subject isn't portable? Maybe you are determined to use a particular direction so the background is just as you want, but the light makes that shot impossible? Yes we'll be getting to that in a future lesson.

Next lesson we will be covering using natural light in a diffused and softer way.

Practice, practice, practice.

©Glamour Photo OnLine 2002