The Key to Better Pictures: Lighting!

Of all the photography questions I get asked, this one is the most common: What is the key to better pictures? There are so many different answers to this question {most of which I answered in yesterday’s post}, but it really all boils down to one key factor — lighting.

I’m not saying that you need to run out and buy oodles of expensive camera and lighting equipment to ever hope to get a great shot. No way! I want you to be able to make the best of whatever situation you are in, so I’m here today to share my tips to get that perfectly lit shot.

Although there are SO many different situations that you can be in with your camera, you can essentially boil it down to two basic locations: indoors and outdoors.

Indoors

The key thing that I can recommend if you are taking pictures indoors is to find the light. The pictures of my daughter and my best friend were taken in front of large windows with the blinds pulled all of the way up and drapes pushed out of the way. If you can’t get outside for great light, make it happen on your own.

If you know ahead of time that you’ll be taking pictures indoors or you don’t have large windows, you can use a white foam-core board as a reflector. It’s an easy and inexpensive way to get brighter pictures. Just make sure that you actually use the board to reflect light into your subject’s face. I may or may not know from experience…

If you can’t get to a large window, don’t be afraid to open doors too. Dutch was a sweetie and having the heat come in from the front door actually made him sleep better.

Basically, imprint this in your memory bank: find the light when inside.

Outdoors

Here is where things start to get a smidge more tricky. Outside lighting can pose a whole heap of issues, but mostly it can affect where you shoot and when you shoot.

The key to better pictures outside is to find open shade. This begs the question: what is open shade?

Open shade is the term for shade created by trees or buildings where you aren’t directly underneath something. A good example of open shade is the shot of Reagan above. The tree creates a nice filter for the light without taking anything away from what the focus should be: her sweet little face.

The picture of Luke below is the exact opposite. I was so focused on the stacked peaches that I didn’t pay attention to the shadows creating a monster claw on his head. To me, it’s completely distracting and I don’t want shadows to be what draws the eye first.

Another great way to use outdoor lighting is to utilize back lighting. This will really only work out for you during sunrise or sunset, when lighting outdoors is at it’s best. Shoot your subject with their back to the sun and use either the person or another object to block some of the light, so that the sun doesn’t overwhelm your picture.

A few other helpful hints for outdoor lighting:

Avoid shooting outdoors during the middle part of the day when the sun will create icky shadows on the face unless you absolutely have to.
Like I said before, sunrise and sunset are the best times for taking pictures outside. Try to stick to an hour after the sun rises and an hour before the sun sets to make the best of it.
Try to get your subject either all in the shade or all not. It isn’t fun to have your pictures look like you have someone cut in half because of the shadows.

If you have any other photography questions, please don’t hesitate to ask either here, on Facebook, or Twitter. I’ll try to help you out as much as I can.