GoingManual.com It's time to take control!    Home    Tutorials    Photography Forum  Photography Tutorial Introduction Part I – Gear The Camera  -  Focus  -  Resolution  -  MegaPixels Vs Print Size  -  Sharpening Semi auto settings  -  Aperture Priority (Av)  -  Shutter priority (Tv) Zoom and Focal Length  -  A Note About Sensor Size Other Camera Features  -  Viewfinders  -  Lens Hood  -  LCD screen  -  White Balance Extra Equipment  -  Tripod  -  Cable Release  -  Filter systems  -  Polarizer and ND filter  -  External Flash  -  Studio Lighting  -  Reflectors Part II – Capturing The Scene Your First Manual Photo  -  It's All About Exposure  -  The Light Meter  -  Exposure Explained  -  Controlling Exposure Creative Effects  -  Aperture and Depth Of Field  -  DOF Preview  -  Shutter speed Putting it all Together  -  ISO  -  Ap. & Shutter Relationship  -  Stop for a minute  -  So What?  -  The Bulb Setting Metering the Scene  -  18% of Everything Metering modes  -  Matrix  -  Average  -  Center weighted  -  Spot or semi-spot Taking Meter Readings  -  Expose for your subject  -  Sunsets and sunrises  -  Reflecting sun  -  Night Exposures  -  Moon  -  Green Foliage  -  Bright or White Scenes  -  Dark or Black Scenes Understanding Your Histogram  -  Flash Metering Composition Lead in The Viewer Eye  -  Point of Focus  -  Fill the frame  -  The Rule of Thirds  -  Moving Subjects  -  Print and frame Sizes Different Styles Learn by doing  -  Giving and Getting Critique  -  Portraits  -  Groups  -  Children  -  Shooting Outdoors  -  Silhouettes  -  Macro  -  Products  -  Landscapes  -  Sports and Action  -  Panning  -  Rear Sync Flash  -  Abstract  -  Long Exposures  -  Black and White A few Other Useful Things  -  Blown Out Skies  -  Neutral Density Filters  -  Polarizing Filters  -  Electronic noise You're Half Way There! Part III The Digital darkroom  -  Computer hardware  -  Card Reader  -  Printers  -  Mouse Post Processing  -  The Ethics of Altering  -  Choosing Your Program  -  Tutorials   Photoshop Tutorials   Photoshop Primer   Saving Your Image   Adding a Border   Using Levels   Using Curves   The S-Curve   Correcting White Balance   Improving Saturation   The Clone Tool   Correcting Lens Distortion   Blending Multiple Images   Black and White Conversion   Sepia Conversion   Reducing Noise   Cropping for Different Print Sizes   Sharpening   Working With RAW Files   The Gimp Tutorials   The Gimp Primer   Saving Your Image   Adding a Border   Using Levels   Using Curves   The S-Curve   Correcting White Balance   Improving Saturation   The Clone Tool   Correcting Lens Distortion   Blending Multiple Images   Black and White Conversion   Sepia Conversion   Reducing Noise   Cropping for Different Print Sizes   Sharpening   Working With RAW Files   << Children Macro >> Shooting Outdoors Shooting outdoors has several advantages including natural light and a variety of backdrops. Every town has it beauty spots and even your back yard or local park can provide an improvement on fake indoor backdrops. Look for simple uncluttered areas to use behind your subject that do not compete for the viewer's attention or recognized local or famous landmarks. If possible avoid overhead sunshine in the middle of the day due to the unflattering shadows and harsh quality of light. If you have no alternative but to shoot at high noon then use a fill flash or a reflector to reduce some of the shadows. If you can, find natural shade, say of a tree, then your subject's wont need to squint and the lighting will be more even. Watch out for the difference between the amount of light in the shade and a brightly light background. This picture was taken at noon with sun slightly behind the subjects. A fairly powerful flash was used to fill the shadows. Tip: Shooting early morning and late evening provides a nice quality of light. The side angle is flattering and the reddish tones add warmth. When shooting people use a reflector or fill flash to fill the shadows. If you can't find shade turn your subject away from the sun and use a flash. You might need a more powerful flash then your on camera flash can provide to use this technique. You have to be careful when metering a scene like this. Make sure you don't let the backlight fool the meter into underexposing your subject. Careful too when reviewing your images on your LCD screen in bright sunlight, they often look too dark. Your histogram can be useful here to be sure you're exposing correctly. << Children Macro >>

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