High Key - trial Photoblog
Saturday, June 12, 2010 at 9:13PM Visthra had posted a facebook linkpointing to another site with some tips for high key photography.
This weekend started off very differently with both in-laws being out of the house and just the four of us starting off a lazy weekend. The nose was acting up and that meant no outdoor stuff. Perfect day to find the right bright window and play with the kids, right?
Wrong.. as it turns out, the models should help by not moving or this thing does not give you good results.
Finally what worked?
Crank ISO all the way to 1600, go 1/60 to 1/200(for the moving models we raise in this house), and go as open as the aperture would allow me with the 18-200mm at 150-200mm. No flash (but used two foam sheets to reflect light back on to the kids..
The other option was to use the 50mm and go f1.8 with the ISO still at 1600 and 1/250 seconds.
Expose for the subject, don't worry about the background. Let it flood the shot. That pretty much summarizes the "high key" concept. Can totally see why a bounce flash would be useful in this case.
Here are the first trial results. They will be perfected over time..
Thanks to Visithra and Louis Pang for making an otherwise ordinary Saturday morning, exciting!
ps. on a side note.. ain't manual mode great? If you took a picture of the kids in automatic mode in the same location with the same setup, this is what you will get! There is more to photography than having a good or great camera. It is all the little tricks and the experience you build with constant experimentation, learning from failures and improving on successful shots that makes a difference.
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Reader Comments (7)
You bet ! Manual mode is everything ! Most of the time, atleast !
Lovely pictures here Sundar ! And i guess it goes without saying that photography doesnt do much unless you have lovely subjects !
:)
i should bring back my tips section ;p nice to see ppl following some of it - yes manual rocks - gives you more opportunities to create - little ones shot came out the best including the one with her behind the sister love that - ure using the 50 mm or zoom for this?
louis pang is amazing - now focus on the compositions ;) he usual 1/3 rule always works
Fabulous photographs, and of course your models are stunning!
Kavi, Dipali, you are both right on. they make the whole thing worth the effort.
Visithra, Jr.'s photos is with the 18-200 sigma.
the other three photos are with the 50mm f1.8
focusing is crisp with the 50mm
the 18-200 works well only when locked at 200mm. anything where I am at 150-180 gives me a weird light bending effect where the light from the background wraps around the edges of their faces.
please note, the only edit on these photos is cropping, bordering and putting my name on it.
maybe if I play with software and adjust the luminance this can be improved a lot more..
:)
Glad to see you made it worked out for you. Remember, shutter speed controls the amount of ambient light you bring to your shots. One of the pictures looked a tad yellowish. Any sort of tungsten light turned on during the shoot?
Loius
thanks for the tip on your site. Your photos are ammmmaaazing!
:)
you are right. I did turn on a hallway light because the white foam wasn't reflecting enough light on her face.
thanks again.
:)
sundar:
happy father's day!
- s.b.