Post your photos on Instagram and use the hashtags #swoonfulofsugar + #glow.
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Today’s challenge is glow.
Each of us may interpret glow in
different ways, so go with your original instinct because that’s what this
project is all about: you exploring. To me, we all glow, but we can set ourselves up for success in photography by using natural
light to our advantage.
Survey your home for great natural light. Lightly colored
rooms usually prove to be better than those with dark walls since they reflect
light. The same theory holds true for white or lightly colored fabrics such as
window treatments and bedding. When you think you have found your go-to spots,
open shutters and window treatments to allow the maximum amount of soft natural
light to flood the room.
If you are using your iPhone to capture special moments,
there are a few things I’ve learned. To start, when you are
taking photos with your iPhone, you can tap the screen in different spots to
adjust the exposure to your liking. You will notice that your image will
lighten or darken depending on where you touch your screen and where the dark
and light spots are on your image. Once you take the photo, I have found that
the Visual Supply Co. app’s fill light feature also helps to freshen up my
iPhone photos. To find this feature, add your photo to the VSCO app, click on
the paint brush, then click on the wrench + screwdriver, then click on the
circle with a half moon full of stripes + a solid half moon. This is the fill
light. Play around here to suit your taste + export your shot to your camera
roll.
Shooting with a DSLR? Then you have even more opportunity to
control your glow. Start by shooting
on the manual mode at a larger aperture, slower shutter speed, and increasing
your ISO as needed. If you need a little refresher, continue reading. When
looking through your viewfinder, have you ever noticed the light meter in
there? Take a look… There is a zero in the center and on Nikon cameras there is
a + on the left and a – on the right. When the dashes are on the + side of the
zero, your image is overexposed (light/bright).
When the dashes are on the right side of the zero, your image is
underexposed (dark). I believe this is opposite on Canon cameras.
Use this meter! I personally like to overexpose my images a tad, but that is
just how I like to shoot. You do what feels right for you. Now, you need to understand
many aspects of your camera, but three in particular: Aperture, Shutter Speed +
ISO. These three features work together. Let me explain. Aperture is how
large or small the opening is in your lense that allows light to travel onto
your image sensor. The larger your aperture opening is, the more light will
flood your image sensor giving you a brighter image with a more shallow depth
of field. The smaller your aperture, the less light will enter. Depending on
your lens your largest aperture opening could be F 1.4 or only F 3.5. Moving on
to shutter speed, this is how fast or slow your shutter opens and closes. The
slower your shutter speed the more light will enter, and the faster the shutter
speed the less light will enter. When photographing indoors, you will usually
need to use aperture and shutter speed to your advantage. This means you might
need your aperture as low as it will go, and you might need your shutter speed
around 1/100 of a second. However, the key is using your light meter. I promise
it will lead the way. There are times when you might want to disobey the light
meter, but it is a great place to start! Lastly for today, let’s
discuss ISO. This is how sensitive
your image sensor is to light. It can play a big role in you not having to use
your flash. The lower your ISO setting is, the less sensitive your sensor is to
light. The higher your ISO setting is, the more sensitive your sensor is to
light. Go ahead and try it. Set your ISO at 200 and snap a photo. Then set your
ISO to 800 and snap a photo. See how much lighter and brighter your image goes
from 200 to 800? This can be a great tool when shooting in darker rooms.
So how do you get glow
in your photos? Try pushing the limits a little. Shoot on the overexposed side
of your meter just a tad. Also, shoot your subjects in brightly lit spaces.
Now if you want to really play, put your light source behind
your subject, but expose for your subjects face not the background.
Just so you know, this is not gospel, but it works for me. We all have to find what works for each of us and what is appealing to our own eyes. Now go out
and shoot!
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