Photographing Babies

It’s a fact that we can never take enough photographs of our first born. I believe the second born generally gets second billing. Probably because you are spending most of your valuable time chasing after the first born.
Anyway, this chapter of photo tips looks at that age from when you first bring the little darling home till just prior to it being able to scurry off on all fours. That is, it doesn’t need to be tethered yet.
Where to shoot? Indoors or outdoors, you can probably think of many options for the best place to photograph your child. But outdoors is not always a good option because you can’t always rely on the weather. Too chilly, too sunny, too windy. And having to cart everything out and bring it all back in again. It is much easier to do it indoors.
“What about lighting indoors?” And may well you ask.
The best overall indoor lighting, whenever possible, is natural lighting, as it is much safer with colours and skin tones. That means choosing the room in your house that has the brightest available light - natural light but not direct sunlight. This is likely to be either in the main bedroom, living room or sunroom. Or even a room where there is a skylight in the ceiling.
You should use your own imagination to set up a little area, that is easily dissembled, in the brightest part of the room or an area that you think will best suit the following photography suggestions.
Whatever you intend to use as a backdrop, it is important to at least have one. Preferably of a plain or soft neutral colour, so as to put more emphasis on your little one.
Place the child in the spot where you intend taking the photos and start with a few practice photos to check how the exposure or quality of the light is. While you’re at it, check for any background annoyances or distractions. If the child’s face is over bright, you may have to move slightly to one side or reduce the amount of light entering the room.
If the child’s face is too dark, you may have to move closer to the window or allow more light to enter the room.
Depending on the type of camera you will be using and I assume it will be digital, so at least you can repeatedly check each shot till you feel that the lighting is right for the child’s skin tones and this is very important for the outcome of your photos. After all, they have to last you and the child a lifetime and believe me, you’ll be glad you went to all this trouble.
When you finally get down to some serious photography, you’ll find your photos will look more natural and come out better if you get down on eye level with the child and at times, even lower. There are just too many of those photos around where the photographer is standing up, looking down at a child who’s head looks three times bigger than it’s body due to camera distortion at that close-in high angle. As I said, get down at eye level or lower and shoot heaps from different angles and various view points. Get as much variety as possible.
If you have a problem getting down on the floor with your child, because you might have a problem getting up again, use a higher base such as a bed, high chair or even someone’s shoulders.
Include props like toys, family pets, or even other people or someone else’s baby.
Catch the child’s emotions - laughing, crying, eating. Especially eating something new for the first time and watch for funny facial expressions.
A great pose is when the little one is either in the bath or has just had a bath and is lying belly down on a towel.
I am sure I don’t have to tell you how to pose your child, you know what you want and you are only limited by your own imagination. Just enjoy every pleasure that this valuable time with your child can bring. Because pretty soon your going to have to nail them down to hold their attention.

Food Photography

Have you ever seen those Coca Cola billboard advertisments, where the icy cold can or bottle is literally dripping with condensation that makes you think, ‘Oh, I could just go one of those right now.’ Well, that’s just the sort of response that one would expect to get when viewing food photography.
When you are looking for a recipe book, chances are you are looking for the one that includes the simplest recipes, but it’s very likely that the book with the better presented photographs is the one that you’ll purchase.
I did a similar thing when I was looking for recipes devoted to chicken, but I ended up buying a book that was obviously far beyond my culinary capabilities - but I liked the pictures.
These are the things you have to accomplish with food photography, because it’s what sells, not only the recipes, but more importantly, the book itself.
Food, in a way, should be photographed and treated much the same as “Still Life” shots, but unlike the vase of daisies or a bowl of red peppers, it has to be able to leap out of the picture at you and on to your table. So it has to have a great deal of impact. And what is the best way of achieving impact? Getting the right light and as naturally applied as possible to provide the best in whatever colours you will have in your dish.
If you have never attempted this type of photography before, I suggest you get in some practice on the bowl of red peppers first. For at least you can spend more time fiddling and adjusting with that, than you can a bowl of steaming hot soup ready for the table. Then, when you have the set-up and lighting right for the peppers, and your confidence is brimming, only then can you start on the hot fresh stuff. Because if it is going from the stove top to the table, you will want to get the job done in less than a minute or so. Otherwise you’ll have the family banging on the table shouting, “WHERE”S MY DINNER, WHERE”S MY DINNER?”
You don’t really need to have a full-on lighting studio for this task, but you will need to set up an area near a window, preferably close by, in your kitchen that allows for lots of good natural light to enter the room. You will also however, need a camera that is able to be operated at least semi manually. There are some great point and shoot digitals on the market these days that have this option, so get to know your camera well and if you can, use it in “Aperture Priority” mode.
So we are looking for, mid range apertures, enough to blur the background, but show off as much of what we are photographing as possible. If you do not have a camera that you can manually operate, you may get by as long as you can switch to “Portrait” or “Close-up” mode.
But do not intend to use on-camera flash in this situation, unless you absolutely have to. If you have an external flash attachment, you can use it to bounce light off the ceiling or a nearby whitish wall, to supplement the natural light from the window.
Or instead, make up a reflector from a piece of white card, enough to reflect and bounce light back into the shaded side of the subject. So that the light is evenly distributed. The direction and quality of which may change, depending on the season and time of day.
You will also need a tripod and I would go as far as to say, a remote, or cable, shutter release, but it is not essential. All these things at least allow you to have your gear all, ready and set up whilst you fiddle about getting your subject right.
The correct attitude for your camera on a single plate setting should be just above the level of the food, so that you get a good view of the front, side and top of your subject. Try to get as much clarity and sharpness on the main viewing part of the subject with the background almost completely out of focus. This puts all the emphasis on the food itself. Choose an interesting looking plate or platter, but not too interesting that it detracts away from your main point of interest. Try also a couple of props, such as a whitish or plain table cloth, fork, wine glass or table napkin, which should also be visible, but just out of focus. A look at some recipe books will show how the professionals set up their food shots.
Try to get a balance of the contents of the plate so that the chicken legs you are photographing are prominent in view and not totally covered in dark gravy or the like. Or do away with the big spoonful of red/orange honeyed carrots at this stage, because their bright colour will surely act as a distraction to draw the viewer’s eye away from the chicken legs. But as a means of drawing the viewer’s attention to where you want it, you could use a drizzle of gravy across the plate and over a lesser part of the chicken. The glistening gravy will also act as a guiding line. Then you can add a couple of other items to the plate of lesser significance. And to add to the authenticity, it looks better if the contents of the plate are still steaming.
I am sure, in due course, you will look at many various food photography tutorials, but I hope this one helps in providing you with a good start.

DELUSORY ILLUSIONS

Before you get into the tutorials, here are some images that are guaranteed to send you reeling . . .

WARNING ! . . . . Do not view these images if you are on strong medication, or if you have consumed more than 2.8 litres of full strength beer within the last 20 minutes.

No.1 It appears that this brick wall is very hot. Would you not agree?



No.2 Is this a real spiral, or concentric circles? It's really just concentric circles.
This illusion is so powerful, it can even cause your finger to trace in a spiral.



No.3 Here vertical or horizontal edges seem to appear distorted. Other areas seem to move.


No. 4 The lines look as though they are tilting, but are parallel.


No. 5 These circles seem to cross over one another, but your wrong!



No. 6 The vertical lines appear to be bent, but they are parallel.



No. 7 Watch how the intersections in this image scintillate and move about.



No. 8 Can you see the grey angled bars move from side to side?



No. 9 Which of the brown bars is longer? They are both the same.



No. 10 red appears to be magenta or is it orange?



No. 11 Is the grey surround in this image lighter than the centre square?



No. 12 Are all the vertical lines the same length?



No. 13 Stare at the centre, are the bluerings rotating? Which direction are they going, clockwise or anti clockwise?



No. 14 Watch this image as you move your head closer and away. It should rotate.



No. 15 Got the wobbles.



No. 16 Animation where there is none. Turns from left to right.

HOW DESPERATE DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO GET THE RIGHT SHOT?

I don't think anything could make me this desperate . . .It's downright scary!

This is a case of photographer photographing a photographer. The following photographs were taken by Hans Van De Vorst at the Grand Canyon. The descriptions are Hans' own. The identity of the subject photographer is unknown.

I was simply stunned seeing this guy standing on this solitary rock in the Grand Canyon. The Canyon's depth is 2,700 feet where the photograph was taken. The rock on the right is the edge of the Grand Canyon where all the normal people stand behind the established guard rail! Watching this guy in sandals, with a camera and a tripod I asked myself three questions:

1. How did he get onto the island rock in the first place?
2. Why not take the picture from that rock to the right, which is perfectly safe?
3. How is he going to get back?
After the sun set behind the canyon's horizon, he packed his things and prepared himself for the jump. This took about 2 minutes for him to make the jump.

He has a camera, tripod and a plastic bag, all on his shoulder or in his left hand. Only his right hand is free to grab the rock. He landed low on his jump and his right foot slipped away as I took the last picture. He waited for a few seconds, threw his stuff on top of the rock, climbed up and walked away.

Shooting Indoors

Challenges of shooting indoors

(real estate photography)

I have found shooting indoors can bring about, for me, many more challenges, than outdoor photography. Particularly with lighting and especially if there is a bright, open window dominating part of the scene. This can result in a drastically under-exposed shot due to the camera exposing for the bright window.

Other problems could include room clutter, such as kid's toys on the floor, too many ornaments or brightly coloured cushions, articles of clothing or dishes still in the sink. If there are windows that show a clear view to the outdoors, make certain it is a clear view and one without any annoying or distracting elements either. 
Another problem with indoor photography is distortion cause by wide angle lenses on vertical and horizontal surfaces, such as, door frames and window drapes. And we need a good wide angle lens to get everything in, but the wider the lens the more distortion. Fortunately some mid range SLR cameras now have a built-in Distortion Correction facility to alleviate these problems.
All these things can not only detract dramatically from our main point of interest, but also give shots a very unprofessional look.

Perhaps you are photographing a property that is for sale or rent for a Real Estate office? Is it going furnished? If so, will you need to show all items in each room? But you will also need to find out if there are any special features of the property that the owner would like to have included in the shoot.

In real estate photography you would normally shoot both inside and out, so outdoors will need almost the same amount of scrutiny, care and consideration as inside.

Obviously, a SLR camera is best suited for this type of photography. Mainly due to the fact that if you need to use flash, as would normally be the case, the pop-up flash of a compact camera is simply not powerful enough for distant shots and just too over-bearing for close-ups. Therefore an external flash attached to a SLR camera's Hot Shoe is much more acceptable, as its light is more powerful and can be diffused by being bounced off a whitish wall or ceiling. You may need to adjust its strength, and/or your white balance however, depending on the type of fixed lighting being used in the building.

A slave flash mounted atop a tripod would also be an asset in large rooms.

As for the strength and direction of the sunlight coming in from outdoors, you may have to draw the curtains or possibly come back when the sky is a bit more overcast.

It all depends on the equipment you have and how proficient you are with its use.

The best type of lens for this job of course, is a wide angle lens. If you are using a compact camera, set it to its widest angle.

On a SLR camera, 14-18mm is about right for larger sensors, but for smaller, 12-14mm. You will notice however, the wider the lens, the more “barrel distortion” will affect your shots. And unless you have a very costly distortion altering lens, the best you can do is try to make it as less obvious as possible, by not including vertical door frames, etc., in the shot.

To make it less obvious, get a rough idea of the ceiling height of the rooms and if you shoot at half that height, you will find those distortions will not be so prominent.

One thing that I consider is important with real estate photography, is to contact the owner prior to the shoot and be fully informed with what he expects and all that is required.

Keep a file on him/her and the real estate office handling the property. Take notes of each consecutive frame number that relates to a particular room, so that you can then relate back to them if needed. Also note down any special aspects of this shoot that you may want for future reference.

Ask the owner if he/she would like to have a photo or print of any special part of the house or garden that they are particularly fond of or has a certain closeness to.

All these things considered can only help you become more professional in what you do and how you accomplish it.

Shooting Panoramas

I really cannot say that I am over-joyed with excitement for panorama photography, but I suppose there is a niche for it somewhere in photography annals. Some newer cameras are even equipped with their own built-in stitching program, mine program came with my printer of all things, but there are programs available freely on the net.
Admittedly, panoramas are fun to do and can require a certain amount of skill to get a reasonable result.
The main thing I find, is to choose a really interesting subject or at least one that has one or two good focal points. They can look fairly boring with miles of landscape and nothing much to fix your eye on.
For instance, scenes such as, Monument Valley in Utah, Ayers Rock (Uluru) in Australia or Yosemite National Park, just to name a few, they would all make excellent panoramas and hold great interest to the viewer, because of the interesting elements they provide.
For best results, your equipment should include a good stable platform for your camera. If you do not possess a tripod, might I suggest at least a small bean bag which you can rest on a fence post or the roof of the car and mould your camera firmly into it. But I still recommend a sturdy tripod with pan head if possible. A remote/cable shutter release would also be an asset, but not essential. If it is a windy day and you are concerned about camera movement, you can always use your camera’s timer facility.
Depending on the scene you are composing (we will assume, in this case, a landscape) and type of camera you are using, for a correct exposure you should switch your mode dial to “Landscape” and have your lens set on wide angle. Or, on the other hand, if you are using a SLR type camera, a 50mm (standard) lens or zoom set at around 45 - 50mm. For exposure, “aperture priority” mode and set it to f11 or f16 or “shutter priority” - 1/125 or 1/250 second (for a bright sunny day). Focus control set to infinity. This should allow you to get good clear focus throughout the scene, availability of light permitting. You may have to make minor adjustments till you get exposure settings right.
I am hoping, at this stage, you have been practicing your composition skills, so I don’t have to go through all that with you but when you compose your first shot, remember it is the start of your panorama and in most cases people will view a scene from left to right, so it is therefore important to include part of your subject in the first frame.
When you are happy with your first composition, (and I am assuming you are panning from left to right), carry out the shot, but keep a mental note of any elements near the right edge of the frame, such as a tree or rock. Pan your camera along for the next composition, but overlap slightly the tree or rock that you mentally noted from your first frame. Then compose and take the shot.
Repeat this process for a third, fourth or fifth shot. Depending of course on how long you want your panorama to be, or in fact, how long your subject is. Generally speaking, most panoramas will include four, five or six frames.
Remembering of course, the more frames you have, the longer your panorama will be, and the more difficult it is then to view comfortably on your PC.
We have been discussing horizontal panoramas here, but you can also do vertical panoramas simply by turning your camera 90 degrees on your tripod and using your vertical adjustment lever to vertically pan each shot.
Yes, panoramas can be fun to do and with a bit of planning and care and good subject selection, you can get some pretty good results.