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“RootsWorks: Basic Photography—
Part I, Common Mistakes”
by Beau Sharbrough
Whether
your camera uses digital or film as the storage medium,
you have the same basic challenge—to capture light
in a way that portrays the subject the way you want. In
photography, “the subject” is a technical term
that means, “what you’re taking a picture of.”
Use this term often in conversation and people will think
you know more about photography than they do. They might
start to copy you. That’s normal; they want to be
as cool as you are.
Professional
photographers seem to always get better pictures than the
rest of us. Part of the reason is that they take lots of
pictures— hundreds of photos to get dozens of good
ones, and a handful of really special ones. We can’t
all be professional photographers, but by avoiding some
basic mistakes we can get better results when we try to
photograph our families, friends, and heirlooms. We want
to be thought of as cool for the content of our photos,
not our conversations about them.
Flash
Limits
I don’t know where I got the idea that using a flash
guarantees a good photo. I understand now that it’s
a big misconception. Using a flash guarantees that you’ll
get a flash of light. That’s it. Most built-in flashes
have a range of about 10 feet. Anything farther away is
going to be too dark. Think about this before you take the
picture, and try to keep the subject in range.
Light
behind the Subject
Have you ever seen this happen? Spontaneous group shot time,
and the person with the camera wants you to stand in front
of the sunset? The resulting photo will have a great picture
of a sunset, and you’ll be a dark silhouette. The
light has to bounce off the faces of the people in the group
picture. Let’s arrange the shot so that the great
sunset illuminates their faces, not their backs. And it
never hurts to think about what the background will contain—is
it too light or dark? Does it distract from the subject?
Bright
Sunlight
You know the idea “if a little is good, a lot is better.”
Well, with light on the subject, you can have too much of
a good thing. In particular, if the sun is shining directly
on the person you’re shooting, they will most likely
squint. Direct sun can really wash some people out, too,
making them look as white as paper. Pictures of squinting
relatives are okay, but you might want to mix in a few shots
where their eyes are open. Think about the light before
you shoot your family and try shooting in what is commonly
referred to as “open shade”—which we often
find near the shady sides of buildings and under big trees.
Rule
of Thirds
Brains are funny; I don’t understand them at all.
One of their peculiarities is that, when they look at photos,
they sense a “balance” by dividing the image
into thirds. Imagine a tic-tac-toe pattern on your photo,
with lines dividing the image into thirds, both vertically
and horizontally. There are four intersections among these
lines, sort of at the corners of the center square of the
tic-tac-toe pattern. Those are the four points where the
most interesting parts of the photo belong.
If
you are taking pictures of adults and children standing,
try to position yourself so that the faces of the adults
are about two-thirds of the way between the bottom and the
top of the photos, and the faces of the children are about
one-third of the way from the bottom to the top. If you
take a picture of one person, try to position them so that
their face is on one of the four points, and orient it so
that the background “works”—whether you
are using a desk or the sky for background.
Why
does the Rule of Thirds works like it does? Why do people
see the photo as more interesting and better balanced when
you follow it? I don’t know, go ask your mother.
Frame
the Shot
We take a lot of photos where the subject is a distant object,
like a mountain or house. If there is anything close to
you that you can use to establish the foreground, it might
improve the picture. I like to use edges of doorways, tree
trunks and branches, lines on highways, and anything else
that “fits the edge” to “frame the shot.”
It gives your pictures depth, and you’ll get lots
of good comments from otherwise critical relatives when
they look at your pictures. They might smile more when you
shoot them, too.
Read
the Manual
The new cameras have lots of great features. Even the inexpensive
ones like mine have features like a close up, or “macro”
setting, a way to make short movies, zoom lenses, night
settings, “red eye” flash settings, and other
features that can improve your shots. Read the manual! It
comes free with the camera! I don’t think it’s
important to know what every knob and button on the camera
does. I think it’s important to know how to do what
you want with the camera. If you own the book that has that
information in it, and don’t take the time to read
it, it’s not the camera’s fault.
More
Information
For links and more information about basic photography,
please see the RootsWorks site at: www.rootsworks.com/basicphoto
. If you want to discuss your photography challenges, please
drop by the RootsWorks Forums at: www.rootsworks.com/forums
. Registration is free, and I'd be interested to know what
kinds of issues you are facing.
Beau
Sharbrough is a product manager at Ancestry.com. His articles
contain his own views and opinions and do not reflect any
corporate policy or statement by the company. The RootsWorks
series of articles focuses on genealogical applications
for generic technologies. Beau would like to hear from you.
Whether you have something to add or something to ask, please
point your browser to www.rootsworks.com/forums
and discuss this or any topic related to the use of technology
in family history. Tell us about your experiences. Please
note that he cannot assist you with your individual computer
problems. Visit the RootsWorks website (www.rootsworks.com
) for links to previous articles and Beau’s lecture
schedule.
Copyright
2003, MyFamily.com.
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