Lately, a lot of threads I come across are pointed towards gear. Many of 'question' threads involve "what should I get?", "is this good?" instead of addressing the finer art side. A lot of photos produced are usually enhanced by filters, faster lenses and the best answer to all photography questions, Photoshop...
I dedicate this thread to giving example images and explaining how they were done technically. For the people who are starting out, they'll find that they can achieve any image if they try instead of going out and spending a lot of money hoping it'll do the job for them.
So post an image and specifically explain how you achieved that 'look'. I'm sure this will inspire some of us to go out and give it a try and actually learn something.
I'll start first I guess!
These examples are of my sister. The look I was trying to achieve was a nice warm feel while the subject was surrounded by the glare of the sun but still exposed. I feel this style is very natural and easy on the eyes.
Aside from converting to JPEG from RAW and adding some sharpening and cross processing of color in the second one, these pictures were pulled off pretty easily.
How To:
Make sure not to shoot in direct over-head, afternoon sun light. As it is very harsh and widely dispersed to really cover your subject with a nice glare. It also hurts your eyes like crap. Try shooting early or near sunset where the sun is somewhat lower and near the horizon. This way the sun will be directly behind the subject's head or mid body and the light won't be so harsh.
Place the subject directly in front of the sun but leaving some light to seep past their face or body to give off some glare or shine. Meter off the subject's skin that is somewhat lit by the sun, don't meter off the sun's light itself or you'll end up with a silhouette. After some trial and error with the exposure, making sure not to extremely blowout the highlights you can start shooting! If you start shooting as is, your subject will be dimly lit with a nice hair light or a nice glare as shown in picture one.
But! The picture itself will look somewhat bland...It's missing something...The face isn't as illuminated as you would like, nor is their eyes. A simple fix; a white piece of printer paper! I made my sister hold them and made sure they reflected the sun's light onto her face to properly illuminate her face and eyes. It even served as a catch light for her eyes.
And that's that...Try experimenting and trying out different angles using the sun as your backdrop. You can also use a flash but I'd rather use the available natural lighting on hand. Good luck!
And time for bed I'm tired T_T; hopefully more will contribute to this thread!
