#EverydayLight is a guest series by Chelsea Ahlgrim Photography with the purpose of helping mommas capture better photos of their family’s memories at home. Be sure to check out the Introduction here and Part One and Part Two. You can also follow along on Instagram and post your own images using the #EverydayLight hashtag!
Hi everyone! It’s our third and final week of tips and tricks for capturing better images of your family at home, and this week we’re pulling out the big guns- or more specifically, your camera. Ready? Here we go.
1. Turn off your flash– I know what you’re thinking- this seems a bit counterintuitive, especially if you’re shooting indoors where you have less light, but just stick with me here. Shooting with a flash can cause overly-bright subjects (“blown out” faces) that lose their detail, and harsh shadows directly behind them. You can also lose much of your background because of the stark contrast caused by using your flash. So go into your camera’s menu settings and turn OFF the flash. Don’t let the camera choose for you on “Auto” either. You’re smarter than your camera, so be sure it’s all the way off. You might even be able to choose this on the Mode dial on the exterior of your camera. Usually it looks like a little lightning bolt arrow with a slash through it. Is it off? Okay, now don’t forget to throw open those windows before you shoot!
2. Half-press: this is a little trick I knew nothing about before I started learning about photography. Digital cameras have this cool function where if you press the shutter button halfway down, it focuses on wherever your camera is pointed. Give it a shot. Look through the viewfinder on your camera (or at the LCD screen if yours doesn’t have an eyepiece). Now lightly press the button halfway down and hold it. Did you see and hear it focus? Pressing it the rest of the way down will release your shutter (take the picture). A couple of points: if you’re photographing people, always focus on the eye closest to you; you can also change your focus point by pressing the arrow buttons on your camera (known as toggles) to allow you to compose your shot the way you want.
3. Set it Up: Okay. Let’s all take a deep breath and just accept that we’re about to learn some techy stuff, kay? At the risk of over-simplifying things, for the purposes of this narrative, “exposure” is how bright or dark your image is. It’s determined by three settings: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO. Here’s my favorite way to explain exposure:
Let’s pretend you’re in a house, and your camera is a window with shutters on it.
APERTURE- this is the size of the window- a bigger window means more light in the room. A smaller window means less light. This number is expressed in F stops. The aperture mantra is, “Smaller number, bigger hole.” Now, there’s a lot more to this, including how much of your background is in focus (known as “depth of field”) I’ll leave that for another time.
SHUTTER SPEED- this is how quickly the window’s shutters open and close. The longer they’re left open, the more light can be let into the room. If they open and shut quickly, less light is let into the room. These are expressed in fractions- specifically fractions of a second. The shutter speed mantra is “smaller fraction, faster the shutter.” A faster shutter will freeze your shot, reducing blur.
ISO- Now let’s say you’re wearing sunglasses in the room. This basically desensitizes your eyes to any light that’s being let into the room- like a low ISO. The mantra to remember with ISO is “The lower the light, the higher the number.” So the darker your room is, the higher you’ll need to set your ISO. All of these elements work together and affect each other when they’re altered. But don’t fret. Since we’re all assuming we’re beginners here, I’ve got an easy solution to get you started…
4. Try Aperture Priority: This setting is represented by an “A” on your program settings dial. This allows you to select the aperture (how big or small your “window” opens when you open the shutters) and then chooses the other two elements (shutter speed and ISO) for you. Things that will help you decide where to set your aperture (which F Stop to choose) might be: how fast your subject is moving, how far away from them you are, and how dark or light it is in your location.
So let’s say you’re in your living room. If you’re photographing fast-moving kiddos, and you’re going to be fairly close to them, it’s probably safe to place your aperture at a number between 1.8 and 2.5. This let’s in a fair amount of light when your “window” opens and closes. The camera will choose the other two settings for you. That’s it. Easy peasy, right? The images below were shot in Aperture priority mode at f/2 in a room with only a single window for light.
Gosh, there’s so much more I want to cover, but I hope that I’ve at least gotten you started. The good news is that I plan to turn all of this information into an eBook that will be expanded upon and available for download on my website! I’ll be sure to make an announcement on here once it’s ready!
In the meantime, if you’d like more information, I’m always happy to answer any questions you might have in the comments section here or on the Prayers for a Pirate Facebook page. You can also find me at chelseaahlgrimphotography.com and on Facebook as Chelsea Ahlgrim Photography. Thank you so much for joining me on this three-part series! I really hope that you took something away from it- even if it was just the urge to take more photos of your messy blessings!
God bless, and happy shooting!
xo,
Chelsea