Photography: Indoor and Outdoor photography

Photography is all about lighting. A camera is nothing more than a device that burns light onto a sensitive strip of film, paper or in the case of a digital camera, an image sensor. In order to take better photographs, it’s critical to understand how to capture light and preferably, how to bend it to make it do your will.

OUTDOOR LIGHTING

Unless your creative vision requires strong shadows or taking advantage of the sun’s brightness, you probably don’t want to go outside at high noon and take pictures of your subject in direct sunlight. Strong shadows can cause unflattering distortions in perception.

Diffused sunlight is soft and even and makes photographing outside easier. Take notice of your surroundings and you’ll likely find several places throughout the day which make perfect spots to take photographs.

OPEN SHADE

Find a nice shady spot, such as under a tree, porch or canopy, in the shadow of a building or in an alley. This works especially well for portraits!

OVERCAST DAYS

When the sun is hidden behind a sheet of clouds, it naturally diffuses the light. You may need to be careful of your composition to avoid the inclusion of gray skies, however.

OUTDOOR LIGHTING

Unless your creative vision requires strong shadows or taking advantage of the sun’s brightness, you probably don’t want to go outside at high noon and take pictures of your subject in direct sunlight. Strong shadows can cause unflattering distortions in perception.

Diffused sunlight is soft and even and makes photographing outside easier. Take notice of your surroundings and you’ll likely find several places throughout the day which make perfect spots to take photographs.

OPEN SHADE

Find a nice shady spot, such as under a tree, porch or canopy, in the shadow of a building or in an alley. This works especially well for portraits!

SUNRISE, SUNSET: THE GOLDEN HOUR

Also known as the magic hour, the first and last hour of light during the day is a photographer’s holy grail. Due to the way sunlight travels through the atmosphere, the light is soft and warm and makes just about anything look good.

If you’re the crafty type, you could also:

• Make Your Own Shade: Use a sheer or opaque umbrella, sheet or shower curtain to create your own shaded set up. Unless you want to rig up something to keep this in place, an assistant or two will probably be needed.

• Make Your Own Light Box: If you take a lot of photos of food, products or crafts for your blog, you might want to look into making a very cheap and easy lightbox out of a cardboard box and some sheets of white paper. (With the addition of a cheap desk lamp or two from the thrift store you’ll have the ability to shoot both indoors and outdoors.)

INDOOR LIGHTING

Indoor lighting is extremely challenging. It’s frequently dim which makes it hard to focus and capture your subjects. It contains multiple light sources which, when combined, could produce odd colors in your photographs. Just like outdoors, take notice of your house throughout the day to find the areas with the best natural and artificial light. This is where you want to take your photos.

UTILIZE NATURAL LIGHT

Windows with indirect sunlight work great as soft, even light sources. If you have horizontal blinds, you can try angling them to bounce the light off a wall or the ceiling for added depth. Your subject will look less flat with light hitting it from the side. Don’t forget you can also open doors to let in light!

LOW LIGHTING (AVOIDING FLASH!)

This is a terrible lighting condition and one place where having a better camera and better lenses will help most. Try turning on or bringing close as many like-colored lights as possible.