6 Ways of Using Reflector to Take Better Portraits

By: Dennis Drenner 

I’ve been making my living as a photographer for over 20 years, and have accumulated thousands of dollars of gear over time. I have the latest Canon SLRs, a full complement of lenses, strobes, light stands, gels, filters, soft boxes, tripods, and even some video and audio gear. But the one thing that often makes the biggest difference in the quality of my portraits is a simple $20 reflector. I never leave home without it and neither should you.
When shooting outdoor portraits, the first thing many photographers think about is the background, but the pros consider the quality of the light first and foremost. They know, for example, that a portrait with nasty overhead lighting is not going to work, no matter how cool the background.

A reflector can help you salvage bad light, and turn okay light into something magical. You can use your reflector from below to fill in shadows, or from above to block distracting light. You can bounce the sun from the silver reflector to create a main light, or you can use a reflector with a black side to create deeper shadows. You can even sit on your reflector to keep your pants clean when shooting outside, or pop it open dramatically to dazzle young children.
Most of the photos in this article were shot with a 5-in-1 reflector you can buy for less than $20. 5-in-1 refers to the fact that the reflector and cover can combine to give you five different options: white, silver, gold, and black sides, as well as a diffuser.
Here are 6 tips to help you use this versatile tool, a reflector, to transform your photos.

1. Using a Reflector for Fill Light

The most traditional use of the reflector is to simply reflect light into the shadows. I took my wife Karen out into our local park to demonstrate this.

In the photo on the left (above), she is photographed in nice soft light, but there are still pretty deep shadows under her eyes and chin. In the photo on the right, she is holding a reflector at her waist. The shadows on her face are noticeably lighter and there is a subtle catch-light (reflection of the reflector) in her eyes. If she were an older person with more textured skin, the contrast would be even more dramatic.

Of course, you may not always want to fill in the shadows in this way, but if you are trying to flatter someone it almost always helps. You don’t even need an official photo reflector. Anything that reflects light will work. In a pinch I’ve used everything from old newspapers to a nearby person wearing a white shirt.

2. Using a Reflector as the Main Light Source

This is one of my go-to reflector moves, and an easy way to wow your friends and family. You place your subject with the light hitting them from behind, then use a reflector to bounce the light back into their face. You will get nice soft light on their face, with a dramatic rim light on the back of the subject’s head. The only trick is positioning yourself so the light doesn’t go straight into your lens and create lens flare (unless you like that look, of course).

In the photo above the is sun hitting the left side of her face and arm. The light from a reflector is bouncing back some of the sun to light up her face.
You may also notice the shallow depth of field in this photo. If you are lighting with a reflector, you can jack up your shutter speed as much as you like to allow for a wide aperture (this photo was shot at 1/1250th of a second at f/2.0, with a 50mm lens). If you were using flash to create this same effect, you would have to lower your shutter speed (to 1/250th or whatever matches your camera’s maximum) to sync with the flash, requiring a larger aperture and greater depth of field (killing the whole look).
Yes, yes, some of you are no doubt thinking, “What about high speed sync?!” Well, yes, that could give you the same effect if you had the right equipment (and know how to do that). Or, you know, you could just use an old newspaper.

In the next example above, we positioned Karen against a tree and had her cousin Claudia reflect a spot of sunlight on her from about 10 feet away. At this distance, the light from the reflector looks more like it is coming from a grid spot or snoot (hard light) – in other words, it’s a focused and dramatic beam (notice the fall-off of light on her legs). It’s a cool look that you can recreate with a reflector, a few feet of aluminum foil, or your bathroom mirror. Your friends will be wowed, and ask what fancy gear you used for the shot (and your family will ask what happened to the bathroom mirror).
Using a slight variation of this technique, we moved the reflector slightly behind the subject (relative to the camera) to created a dramatic rim light on the face in a profile shot (see below).

3. Using a Reflector to Block Light

Sometimes you’ll find yourself in some beautiful shady light under a tree, except for that pesky sunbeam that finds its way through the leaves to light up your subject’s left ear. When this happens, turn your reflector into a light blocker (sometimes called a flag or gobo).
A few years ago, I was doing a maternity portrait in a local park, when a newspaper photographer snapped my picture using just this technique. If you look at the reflector, you can see the bright spots of sunlight that it’s blocking (imagine how those spots would have ruined the final image if we didn’t block them).

4. Using a Black Reflector to Create More Dramatic Shadows

Sometimes you actually want to deepen the shadows. I use this technique all the time in my headshot studio. Below is a photo of me with a white background. In one shot, I have a silver reflector opposite the main light, sending light back towards my left cheek. In the other, the reflector has a black cover on it, gobbling up reflected light, leaving a dark shadow on the cheek.


Except for the small change of literally flipping the reflector from one side to the other, the lighting setup is identical, but as you can see the difference is pretty dramatic. (For you studio lighting enthusiasts out there, my key light here is a large soft box, and there are two bare heads pointing at the background to make sure it is nice and bright white).
This is the same technique used in the famous Steve Jobs portrait where he has his hand on his chin. In addition to creating a little drama, you can also use this technique to give someone a photographic face-lift by trimming pounds from the dark side of their face and under their chin.

5. Who Holds the Reflector?

You may be saying to yourself, “But, I don’t have an assistant! Who’s going to hold the reflector for me?”. I usually don’t have an assistant either, but there is usually someone nearby who is more than happy to help, be it a family member, passerby, intern, wedding guest, etc. Sometimes you can even have the subject of the photo hold the reflector themselves (as in the photo of my wife holding the reflector at her waist in the photo above). Of course if you’re in the studio, or outside on a day without too much wind, you can just pop your reflector onto a light stand (like in the studio shots of me above).
In the photo below, I was shooting wedding portraits on a beach in the Florida Keys. My reflector assistant that day was one of the bridesmaids, who truly enjoyed helping her friends out with their portraits.

6. Reflectors in the Environment

Once you get the hang of reflectors, you’ll probably start noticing reflected light everywhere. Ever see a white building getting blasted by the sun? Well that’s nothing but a giant reflector! Depending on what’s around it, you may have found yourself a giant studio, with no rental fee.
Mind you, anything that reflects enough light can work as a reflector. A brick building, large truck, flock of seagulls flying by at just the right moment…

Final Notes

Although they may not be as sexy as strobe kits, reflectors can often yield similar, or superior results for your portraits, and are cheaper and easier to use. I will leave you with a few more assignment photos, shot using nothing more than a reflector.
In the child portraits below, note that there is light behind the kids in both cases, but there is still beautiful light on their faces. Same goes for the athlete portraits.


As a final image, I leave you with a group of wedding guests who were so enamoured of my reflector that they wanted a picture with it. Hopefully you will soon have similar feelings towards your own reflector!

Do you have any additional reflector tips to add? Please do so in the comments below.

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5 Ways to Capture More Diverse Landscape Photos

By: Jeremy Flint  

One of the most challenging things with landscape photography is to capture images that stand out. Planning to get to a destination at the right time is the easy part, and usually requires minimal effort. So when you have arrived at your location, how do you go about capturing more diverse landscape photos?
Well, there are several ways to represent greater diversity in your landscape images. Read on to discover how to make your landscape photos more interesting.

1. Minimalist scene

1/400 sec at f/11, Canon 5D Mark IV, 70-200mm f/2.8 lens

The first thing to consider when you are out in nature doing landscape photography is to decide what you are going to capture.
You may decide to photograph the entire view of the beautiful scenery in front of you. However, while executing a wide-angle shot of everything in the scene is a great way to start, why not try simplifying a scene to make it stand out.

Take a moment to think about what is actually appealing about the landscape. Are there any interesting features on show? What elements help to make the landscape look stunning? Is there an attractive outbuilding or a tree, for example?
I find limiting the number of components in a scene helps to convey the spirit of a place more fluently. Try adopting a “less is more approach” and bring certain elements together, such as a visually enticing cloud formation or evocative mist floating over an alluring landscape. The natural light and components within a scene can play an important part in the overall composition and look of your final image.

2. Extract patterns

1/100 sec at f/11, Canon 5D Mark IV, 70-200mm f/2.8 lens

Have you ever felt your landscape images are overly complicated or lack impact?
Another great technique to capture more diverse landscape photos that depict a location in a better way is to draw out patterns or details within the environment.
One method to do this is to shoot with a long lens from afar and compress the perspective to reduce the sense of space. A long lens helps to focus on capturing a certain part of the landscape, bringing near and far objects closer together and emphasizing shapes and patterns more effectively. An example of this may be to capture an attractive building with a field.

3. Aerial views

When looking to capture diverse landscape photos, a great way to alter the perspective of your shots is to vary your viewpoint. Shooting from a high viewpoint provides a great way to capture scenes from an angle that people may not normally see. This can be a good strategy to photograph something new and develop some creative landscape photography.
Elevated views can help to flatten the perspective of your image as it eliminates distance indicators. You can reduce the amount of sky in your photos and concentrate on creating images with interesting shapes. You can achieve aerial views by walking up to a higher vantage point, or shooting from a plane or hot-air balloon, for example.

1/180 sec at f/11, Canon 5D SR, 24-70mm f/2.8 lens

4. Shoot in overcast conditions

Don’t limit your landscape photography to sunny days or only wait for perfect light to appear, you can achieve diverse landscape photos in all weathers.
Capturing a scene in overcast conditions can lead to particularly striking results. The flat lighting will remove shadows and help to simplify a scene. Also, the reduced contrast will help to provide a simpler and more minimalist composition.
Overcast skies provide beautiful diffused light that can be really appealing for landscape photography.

5. Shoot fleeting light

Working with light can be a great way to capture remarkable images. With the right amount of light and cloud, you can convert a dull scene into a special scene, taking your photos to the next level.
For example, after a storm has passed, interesting light can transform a photo of the landscape into something incredible. This is especially so where the sun paints the land with magical pockets of light.
The precise combination of light, sky, and atmosphere can be blended to create an incomparable beauty within a frame.

1/320 sec at f/8, Canon 5D Mark IV, 24-70mm f/2.8 lens

Following a rain shower, keep a lookout for rainbows, as they provide an extraordinary addition to your pictures and help them to stand out. Remember to ensure your gear is kept dry during any rain too. That way, your camera will work well when capturing these great lighting moments after the rain has stopped.

In summary, you can capture more diverse landscape photos by applying a few important techniques. Go for a minimalist look by focussing on attractive elements within the landscape, and extract patterns by using a long lens to compress the perspective.
Shoot from above, shoot in overcast conditions, and capture momentary light and rainbows for more varied landscape images.
Apply these techniques next time you are out with your camera photographing the landscape and share your pictures with us below.
Do you have any other tips for capturing more diverse landscape photos? Share them with us also.

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7 Tips to Help You Capture the Perfect Landscape Photo

By: Kav Dadfar  

Landscape photography is one of the most popular genres of photography and it’s easy to understand why. After all, every single person at some point in their life has probably looked at a landscape photograph of an epic scene with dramatic clouds and beautiful light and just thought, “Wow!” But as easy as it may seem, capturing stunning landscape images isn’t straightforward. Here are seven tips to help you capture the perfect landscape photo.

1. Find Your Perfect Spot

The starting point for any great landscape photo is your location. This, of course, means you have to start planning a shoot in advance to ensure you don’t waste time looking for it once you are on location. The first thing you need to do is decide what you are actually going to photograph. Is it a beautiful valley from lookout point? Or is it a historic castle perched on top of a cliff?
This might come from your research into the area you are visiting or it might be a place someone has told you about. It could even be somewhere that you have already been to, but now want to photograph.
Once you have an idea of where and what you are looking to photograph, you then need to look at the relevant maps to make sure that what you are planning to photograph is accessible. Then you need to delve in deeper and ensure that your view of that beautiful valley isn’t going to be obstructed by a big hill in front of you – this means using maps that show elevations. On top of all of this you also need to factor in the direction of the light and how that will affect your view.
Ideally you want to end up with an exact spot of where you would like to photograph and which direction you are intending to look. The good news is that in today’s digital world there are tons of options to help you find out this information from the likes of Google maps, and apps like Photographer’s Ephemeris or PhotoPills.

2. Light is Everything

Any sort of outdoor photography relies heavily on the light that is available. For landscape photography, light is even more vital. The most amazing scene in front of you will look uninspiring and mundane under a blanket of white cloud. If you want to capture the perfect landscape photo, then you need to ensure that you are working with the best light possible.
It’s no secret that most landscape photographers would recommend photographing in the early morning and late afternoon/evening. This is when you will get a low golden soft light from the sun that produces long shadows but that doesn’t mean you can’t photograph at any other time.
You just need to ensure that you understand and have planned for the light you intend to use. For example, it may be that you want to capture a particular side of a cliff. It may be that the only time it is lit by the sun at that time of year is late morning. The most important thing is understanding and trying to organize your shoot for the best time that you possibly can.

3. Compose Your Shot Perfectly

One of the best things about landscape photography is that you often have plenty of time to prepare and compose your shot. That big mountain in front of you isn’t suddenly going to move like an animal does in wildlife photography. As long as you have planned your shoot well and have arrived at your location early, you should have enough time to really fine-tune your composition.
The first thing I always do whenever I get to a location for a landscape shot is just to sit down and look around for 10-15 minutes, I recommend you try it. Not only does this help you evaluate the scene and think about the best composition, but it also helps you lower your heart rate (if you have had a long walk). It allows you to get over that initial awe that you often feel when you see an amazing landscape before you.
When you feel you are ready, compose the shot and take a few test photos while you wait for the perfect light. Think about the scene in front of you. Should you show more of the foreground? If so, is there a point of interest to capture the viewer’s eyes? Or are there interesting mountains or sky, in which case you need to show more of the background? As I said earlier, keep taking test photos and recomposing your shot until you feel that you have the perfect composition and then wait for the perfect light.
Clearly, on the odd occasion, you might have to work fast. For example, if you have a small break in a storm that allows the rays of the sun to get through, but the majority of the time if you have planned your shoot well, you should not be in a hurry.

4. Use a Tripod

For landscape photography a tripod is essential. If you want to capture the best possible photo, in the best possible light, you will have to use a tripod. The alternative usually means having to raise your ISO, which in turn means excessive noise in your photos that can affect the overall image sharpness.
But the other advantage of using a tripod is that it can give you more options for your photography. For example, you can use slower shutter speeds to capture movements of clouds or water or give you a more elevated or lower point of view.
Yes, they are a hassle to carry (you may want to invest in a good camera bag that you can strap your tripod to), but they are simply essential for landscape shots.

5. Use Graduated ND filter

Often the other most widely used accessory for landscape photography is graduated filters. One of the big challenges of landscape photography, especially in low light conditions is the difference in the light areas (the sky) and your dark areas (the foreground). For example, as it gets nearer to sunset, the sun drops lower on the horizon. This might mean that mountains obstruct it.
You then have a situation where your sky is really bright as obviously it is still being lit by the sun, but your foreground is dark because the light from the sun is obstructed by the mountains. So, if you expose for the sky (light areas or highlights) then your foreground will be too dark and if you expose for the dark areas (shadows) your sky will be blown out ( completely white with no detail).
To compensate for this difference in exposure settings needed, you can either use a technique called “exposure stacking”. That means taking multiple shots at different exposure levels and then merging them into one photo in post-processing (using layer blending or HDR techniques).
Or, most landscape photographers prefer to capture photos as correctly as possible at the time of taking the photo. In this situation, the only way to do this is by using a graduated neutral density filter, which balances out the difference in the brightness between the top and bottom of the photo.

6. Experiment With Shutter Speed

As mentioned earlier, one of the great things about landscape photography is that you often have time to take a few different shots. Even during the short time when it’s sunset or sunrise, you will have plenty of time to experiment with different settings and even a few different compositions. So don’t be afraid to really push your settings to extremes.
For example, set a really slow shutter speed of 30 seconds and if there is some wind you will see some amazing cloud movement streaks in the sky. Or if you are by the coast set a fast shutter speed to capture the waves crashing into the rocks. Play around with the settings until you have something that looks amazing and captures the scene perfectly.

7. Post-Production

Usually, the final step in any good landscape photo is some post-processing. This always seems to be a contentious issue as some photographers prefer to keep post-processing to a minimum and some like to really boost the image. Whatever your preference and way of working are, it comes down to personal opinion. But there are a few things that you should look at as a minimum.
For example, making sure your images are straight, clear of dust spots, and correcting the white balance should be a must. You may also want to tweak the crop of the photo if it needs it. Beyond that, ensuring a good contrast and boosting the saturation will help your landscape image jump out.
Generally speaking, every photo will benefit from some level of post-production. Some will need more and some less.

Landscape photography is an incredibly rewarding genre of photography. A great landscape shot often has the power to really capture the viewer’s attention which is why it’s no surprise that it’s also one of the most popular branches of photography.

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10 Tips for Better Landscape Photography

By: Leanne Cole 

Landscape photography is a very popular genre and many amateur photographers start their hobbies doing it. There is, however, a lot more to it than just going out somewhere beautiful, putting your camera up to your face, and clicking the shutter button.
Have you gone out and taken some landscape photos, then found that they didn’t look that good when you got home? Do you get lost when you go out, and don’t know what to photograph, or how? Here are 10 tips to help you get you do better landscape photography.

A bush trying to grow on the edge of some cliffs show how harsh the environment is and leads you 

to the cliffs.

1 – Work the scene

One thing you see a lot of new photographers doing is walking up to a scene, taking one photo, and think they are done. However, a more experienced person will take a lot more photos, and spend time walking around and seeing what they can get from that scene.
Think about different angles, and different heights. With digital you can take so many photos, and it won’t cost you anything, other than a few minutes. So work the scene, and see what else you can get.

2 – Leading lines and patterns

This is something that we all learn from the beginning, find a leading line that will take your viewer into the image. Fences, roads, or anything that is like a line, that starts at the side of the frame, and takes people into your image. It is the invitation to look at the photo.
Patterns can be a great way attracting attention. If you notice a pattern somewhere, and take a photo of it, there is a good chance that your audience will also find it interesting. Patterns can be anywhere, in the ground, on the bark of trees, how they are planted. They can be fascinating.

Roads can be great leading lines to take your viewer into your image.

3 – Time of day

This is something that we all learn at the beginning, time of day is important. It is also dependent on the time of the year. Here in Southern Australia you can shoot all day long in winter. The sun is never high in the sky, the shadows are soft, and it is a great time of the year to take photos. On the other hand, summer is terrible. It is hot, the light is harsh, the shadows are sharp, and often the colors in your images can look bleached.
Think about where you are, and what time of the day is best where you want to take photos. Some people prefer early morning, there aren’t many people around, and you can get what you want before the day starts. Others prefer later in the day, and don’t mind sharing their location.
Some areas that you want to photograph will be better for sunrise, as you may not be able to get a sunset there. Or it could be the other way around. Many coastal areas on the east coast of Australia mean that is it almost impossible to get a sunset, so you need to get up early and aim for sunrise instead.

Early morning can mean sunrise, but at certain times you can also get mist on water.

4 – Look at your foreground

The foreground is often forgotten when taking landscape photos, but sometimes what is right in front of you is exactly what you need to make your image stronger.
Some images of landscapes can be a bit more interesting by adding a small plant or something that is in the front, close to the camera. It can also be a leading point to the scene at the back of the image.

The foreground plants give interest to the landscape behind.

5 – Look at what other photographers do

Without a doubt, one of the best things you can do is to look at other photographers, and take note of what they do. Don’t underestimate how much you can learn by looking at the work of others. Not just good or professional people, but also amateurs, you can see the good and the bad.
Look work that you like and determine why you like it, exactly what it is that you think makes it work. Can you pinpoint what it is about that image that makes you jealous that you didn’t take it?
Take notes of images that you don’t think are very good. Analyze them and see what it is that you find isn’t working. Learn from them, and make sure you don’t make the same mistakes.

6 – Think about the seasons

It’s very easy to go out one day and take photos of a particular place, then forget it exists, but what about thinking about other times of the year. Some places will look better in summer than they do in winter. Spring could be a time with lots of flowers, while autumn will give you colourful trees.
Photographing the same place throughout the year can give you a different feeling to your images every time you go there.
It is also a good idea to think about where you want to take photos, then consider what will be the best season to show it off. The mountains can look sparse and uninspiring in the summer, but in winter they are covered in snow; it adds a different dimension.

Autumn can bring lots of color to your landscape photography.

7 – Look for the smaller landscape

When you are out, it is very easy to put on a wide angle lens, and take all your photos with it. Most landscapes are wide vistas showing the scene that is before you. But, there are other ways to show what is there. Look around for objects or flora that you can use in the foreground. This is especially good if the subject is in the distance. It can give something interesting in front of your image.
Try taking a zoom or macro lens with you. You might be able to photograph something like the flora. Don’t just zoom right in on flowers that may be growing on it, try considering the whole plant and where it is situated. It can you give it some context as to its environment. This can help you tell a whole other story at times.

Flowers trying to grow in sand helps to tell the story of the location.

8 – What equipment do you need

You don’t need anything special to photograph landscapes, a camera with a decent lens is enough. You can use a compact camera just as well as a DSLR, it is really up to you.
If you are using a DSLR then you probably want a wide angle lens, or something a bit longer. Landscape photographers tend to use wide angles more, though many also use up to 200mm lenses as well. You don’t need the best camera that is available, and often it’s the lens choice that will give you the best results.
A sturdy tripod is good to have. The best advice is to get the best you can afford, don’t skimp on the price, you will regret it later if you do. A remote shutter release is a great piece of kit to have as well, or you can use the self-timer on your camera.
When you progress, and as you get more skilled at landscapes, the equipment list tends to grow. You will find yourself wanting items like filters for long exposures or better lenses. The list can be endless.

9 – Tripod: when to use or not

There is an opinion that if you are a serious landscape photographer, then you will always use a tripod, no matter what. If you are not, then you can’t be sincere about your craft.
It’s one way of looking at it. But, so many new and experienced photographers, find it can be limiting, or stifle your creative flow; that you can’t move around easily when taking your photos.

The short answer to this is that you have to feel comfortable when you are doing photography, so there is nothing wrong with not using a tripod. Though you also have to accept that, at times, you may not get the sharpest images – so it’s a trade-off.
If you are shooting at night then a tripod is a must, especially if you don’t want noisy photos. A tripod means you can use the best settings on your camera to get the highest quality image.

10 – Look for the story

There is no denying that some places you go to will seem boring, and you will wonder why on earth you went there. It’s one of those times when you will want to consider other tips here, but one tip that can really help is to find the story of the area.
Consider where you are, and why you went. Is there some history that you can see that still remains? How can you incorporate that into the image to show the story?
In many places in Victoria, Australia, you can travel to a town and find very little there. The only thing there might be grain silos, and fields of crops in various stages of growth. Look at the silos up close, and see if you can photograph how long they have been standing there. Look for how they are used. There will always be railway tracks next to them, so shoot how they lead you to the silos (see tip #1 above). Maybe do one from a distance showing the silos standing tall in a flat country. The story becomes all about the silos and that countryside.
Landscape photography is wonderful, and what you can take photos of is endless. Think about all the tips here and they should help you do your best landscape photography.
Please share any other tips you have for landscape photography, and your images in the comments below. If you use some of the tips, let me know how they worked out for you.

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Tips for Photographing Wedding Decor Details

By: Melinda Smith 

Wouldn’t we all love to be the photographer for lavish, perfectly detailed weddings? It’s discouraging sometimes to follow the work of famous wedding photographers and feel like we’ll never measure up. The truth is that for most of us, we’re photographing weddings of average everyday people, who can’t afford those over-the-top perfect weddings.

That doesn’t mean that the wedding we’re photographing is any less special, or any less important. The bride and groom have put so much time, effort, and thought into every detail of their wedding. Even if their budget is a fraction of some of those perfect weddings, they’ve most likely spent what amounts to a small fortune for them.
When I am hired to photograph a wedding, I want to treat each wedding as if it were the glamorous wedding of royalty. Whether you are the hired wedding photographer, or just a friend of the bride with a camera, I have a few hints to help you photograph the decor details of any wedding, and make it look like everything the bride and groom hoped it would be.

Get There Early

Arrive at the wedding or reception about half hour before it’s supposed to start. You will most likely have a small window of time where the decorations will be finished, but the guests have not arrived yet. You can photograph details with the guests there, but it’s harder to get clean photos without people in them, and sometimes the decorations have been moved or ruined later in the day. There are some things that you’ll need to photograph later, like if you want to show guest signatures on the guest book (or globe!), but try to get most of the details shots before the guests arrive.

Arrange the Details

Sometimes you can move things around a little bit to get more of the story of the wedding theme. In the photo above I wanted to capture the mass amounts of origami cranes that the bride and groom had folded themselves, but I also wanted to pull one out to photograph with the sign telling the guests to “please take a favor”. Often I will open a favor box to photograph the contents inside, artfully arranged.
Sometimes you can photograph a centerpiece arrangement better if it’s moved slightly closer. You can borrow the bride’s bouquet if she has set it down for a bit (ask first), or borrow one of the bridesmaid’s bouquets to photograph. As long as you don’t do anything that can’t quickly be put back into place, you’ll be fine. Make sure to return everything how you found it when you’re done capturing that particular detail.

Shoot Wide Open

I like to photograph most wedding details with my lens almost wide open (with my aperture set between f/1.4 and f/2, usually). This can give the photograph more of an artistic feel, and help the focus be on exactly what you are photographing. If the wedding doesn’t have a lot of fancy details, or attention to perfection, you may want to blur out a lot of background.
I use a 50mm 1.4 lens, or an 85mm 1.4 lens, but most prime lenses will do. Be especially careful that your focus is exactly where you want it to be, and hold very steady. Your focus has to be tack sharp, or the whole thing will just look like a blurry mess. Shooting wide open is, of course, a matter of style and preference, and some may like an entirely different look.

Find Different Angles

I will often stand on a chair to get the angle I want when I’m photographing details. (This is where it’s definitely better to get there before the guests!) You have to get creative with your angles, so your photos don’t look like every other guest’s pics. (This is especially important if you are the hired photographer.) Pay attention to what you can see in the background, where the light is coming from, and which parts are the most important. Even a slightly different angle can transform a photo from “meh” to “wow”, so try lots of different angles to see which one looks the best.

Work With Difficult Lighting

Many weddings and receptions are held indoors, and sometimes they’ve created a specific mood with low lights. This can be a challenge as a photographer, but it’s completely doable. I prefer not to use flash, because I very much prefer the look of no flash in this instance, so I’ll be sharing how I work in dim lighting without flash.
Remember how we are shooting wide open? Not only does this give us an artistic look, but it really helps when there isn’t much light. Sometimes I’ll photograph an entire reception with my aperture at f/1.4 to let in as much light as possible. You will also need to crank up your ISO; keep going higher until you can shoot with a shutter speed that can safely be handheld (for me, that’s about 1/80th, but you may have a steadier hand and be able to go even slower than that). You may have quite a bit of noise in your photos when your ISO is that high, but I like that look, especially when there’s a moody low-light ambience.
In a pinch, if the lighting is extremely low, try shooting in RAW, underexposing to allow your shutter speed to be as fast as you need it to be, and then bringing the exposure up in post-processing.

Photograph Everything

It’s guaranteed that there was a lot of thought, time, and money put into creating the bride and groom’s perfect wedding and reception. I want to capture every detail for them, because although all of the food and flowers will be gone a few days after the wedding, my photos will be there forever.
So I recommend that you photograph the food, the drinks, the centerpieces, the flowers, the favors, the guest book, and every single decor grouping around the room. It might seem silly to photograph a bowl of blueberries, but it will be so much fun for them to look back through the photos later, and remember all the little details of their wedding. If they want to make a book out of the photos, pretty detail photos can make the book have the same feel as the whole wedding did, and they really add to a collage. When in doubt, just take the photo. If their centerpieces are all the same, I’ll just photograph one of them, but if they are all different, I photograph most, or all of them.

Get the Whole Picture AND the Close-ups

As you can see with the above photo, you can photograph the exact same thing, but get a whole different feel by stepping back, then getting in really close, focusing on one little detail. Get the surrounding setting, and then focus in on the parts that make it special.
If there’s a decor grouping in a corner, I’ll photograph the whole thing, and then pick parts of it to get in close. I’ll do the same thing with the centerpieces, floral arrangements, cake, food table, etc. This is a great way to really tell the story, and make your photos a lot more interesting.

Edit the Wedding Consistently

Make sure that all the photos from the same wedding or reception are edited consistently. My weddings each look different from each other, because every wedding is a different lighting and coloring situation, but each wedding is consistent with itself.
Batch editing can help with keeping things consistent, or using the same actions or presets on every photo can help too. Do not edit one photo with a “vintage” action, one photo with bright colors, and another matte. This will make them look unprofessional, and make it hard to put together a book or collage of their big day.

As you photograph any wedding or reception, remember that every little detail is important to the bride and the groom. They thought everything through from top to bottom, start to finish. Even if it’s not a picture perfect wedding, it still represents what they love, and everything is important to them. Help them remember their special day with photos that will last long after the last crumb of cake is eaten, and the final flower is withered.

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12 Photography Errors You’ll Make When You’re New to Photography

By: Simon Bond 

It’s a universal truth that everyone has to start somewhere. It’s also true that when you start something new, you’ll make mistakes. All the expert writers on this site will have gone through this process – myself included. In this article, you’ll learn about 12 common photography errors that are typically made, and how you can quickly correct those mistakes. So read on if you want to avoid some of the pitfalls of photography, and fast forward to creating amazing photos!
To demonstrate that everyone has to start somewhere, the photos used here are among my earliest photos. Taken with an SLR camera, and of course in the days of film. There are plenty of mistakes in the set of images in this article. At this point, I certainly knew my way around an SLR camera, but clearly there were still things for me to learn.

1. Crop in the wrong place in pursuit of minimalism

You’ll have heard photography is the art of subtraction. That is, removing unwanted elements from your frame will give you better photos. You’ve arrived at a popular location to take photos, only to find crowds of people there. The solution is to begin your photo, where the head of the tallest person in that crowd ends.
In other words, crop your photo halfway up the side of a building. While this does remove that unwanted element, it leads to a poorly composed photo in the pursuit of minimalism. This could arise from other objects like parked cars, or wires in the wrong place in your image. So what can you do instead of this overly tight composition?

• Arrive early – One of the best ways to avoid crowds of people or cars is to arrive early. Wake up for sunrise, and get that great angle before the crowds get in the way of it.
• Multiple photos – Set you camera up on a tripod, and take a sequence of photos of the same scene. Ensure people are moving around. Then stack the photos in Photoshop, and use the median function to remove people from the photo.
• Cloning – You can use clone stamping to remove elements in the photo you don’t wish to be there. This requires some skill, but can be used to remove wires, people and sometimes larger objects.

This is a photo that would benefit from more foreground being visible. There is too much dead space 

at the top of the image.

2. Photograph into the light

Not taking the time to plan when you’ll visit a location will lead to this mistake. Perhaps you’re on a walking tour, and your next location is a famous landmark. It just happens to have the sun behind it, with all the interesting detail of the object obscured by bad light. The same is also true when you photograph a person towards the light, unless you’re reflecting light back onto them or using external flash then the portrait is likely to be lacking. So what solutions are there for this problem?

• Know the light – Do your research on the location you’re visiting, and make sure to arrive when the sun is in the right direction. You can use suncalc for this purpose, it shows the direction of the sun in relation to time of day and geographic location.
• Change sides – In some cases, you can move to the other side of a building, where you’ll be able to photograph a person from the other direction. This is a relatively simple solution that can improve your results.
• Light modifiers – The use of reflector discs and or off-camera flash can make portrait photography towards the light possible.
• Digital blending – Photographing towards the light, when the main subject is larger than you’d be able to light with external flash? You can instead bracket your photos, and use digital blending with your image. This is an effective solution when you want to photograph towards a sunset.

A photo that’s reasonably composed but that would have benefited from being taken at another 

time of the day. This type of photo would work well during blue hour.

3. Never change your point of view

If all your photos are taken from a standing position, or perhaps seated position when you’re eating, then you’re missing a trick. A change in perspective is a great way to produce much more interesting photos.
That’s not to say there aren’t great photos to be taken in a standing position. A lot of street photography and portrait photography uses this perspective to great effect. There are plenty of other angles to use though, and adding variety to your photography through these angles is a great idea.
Changing your angle might be as simple as kneeling down, or as challenging as finding access to a high vantage point from a nearby building. The worm’s eye view and bird’s eye views can be used to great effect.
You don’t need to photograph straight up or straight down though. Photographing from lower down might emphasize a leading line on the road that much more, or allow plants and flowers to become a more important element within your frame.

Clearly the focus of the image is the roof tiling and the eagles. Area’s to the top and bottom of 

this image are not needed, and different framing should have been used.

4. Over reliance on post-processing

One of the common photography errors you can make is an over-reliance on post-processing. The aim as much as possible should be to get your result in-camera.
Your camera is, after all, an incredibly powerful creative tool. Of course, it’s important to learn post-processing. If you don’t do so, you’ll be at a disadvantage. It’s a good idea to learn how to use your camera and post-processing in conjunction with each other.
What can happen if you allow your skill in post-processing to outstrip your knowledge of the camera?

• Fix the photo – Instead of getting the photo right in camera, the idea is to correct mistakes in post-processing. This will stall your progression as a photographer, and it makes you a lazy photographer.
• New photography techniques – Post-processing can add that “x factor” to your image. So much so, that you may progress more slowly in learning new camera techniques.
• Transformations – It’s possible to make some quite radical changes to your photo. Compositing images is certainly something you should learn. It’s also possible to just change the sky in a landscape scene to something more dramatic. In doing this, are you as motivated to return to a location many times, until you get a dramatic sky in real life?
• Filters – Post-processing is all about subtle changes. Overcooking your photo by using a filter at too strong a strength might make your photo stand out, but perhaps not in a good way.

This photo needed to be taken at another time of the day when the sun lights up the building. The 

lamp to the left also adds nothing and should be removed by changing the angle.

5. Not learning your camera settings

Your camera is fulling of settings that affect your image. A lot of these settings are connected to one another as well. The relationship between aperture, shutter speed, and ISO is fundamental to photography. You need to take the time to learn each of these settings on their own, and how changing one of them can impact another setting. The first and most important thing to do here is to stop using your camera on automatic.

One setting at a time

You won’t learn everything at once, but you want to get to the point that you subconsciously know the correct settings to use. It’s a good idea to spend time getting to know one particular camera setting at a time and what it does.
A good setting to focus on is aperture.
Learn how aperture can be used to control the depth of field, blur the background, and perhaps produce a starburst in your photos. Having learnt how this setting works, move onto a new setting and learn that one.

This detail photo would have been improved by using a larger aperture. At the time this sort of lens 

wasn’t available to me.

6. Not using selective focus

Getting sharp images is an important part of photography. To get the sharpest images you’ll need to learn how to use the focus settings on your camera correctly. One of the most important of these settings is selective auto-focus.
Another of the common photography errors is to let your camera decide where to focus for you.
Instead, you should be in control of this process.
It’s not always the case that you’ll want to have your focus point in the center of the image. Use selective focus, so your camera focuses where you want it to focus. Your camera will have a grid array that can be seen through the viewfinder. Use your camera’s direction controls to move the focus point to the appropriate position, and you’ll be ready to photograph.

The photo uses the rule of thirds, so composition is okay. The tree on the left is somewhat distracting 

though.

7. Going it alone

Photography is a great past time to practice on your own. It dovetails very well with nice long walks by yourself in the country or city. Indeed you can learn a lot about your craft through self-exploration, and perhaps reading articles on sites such as this one. To only do this would be a mistake though. There are a lot of good reasons to seek out and befriend other photographers. Here are a few things you’ll gain from teaming up with other people.

• Feedback – One of the best ways to improve as a photographer is feedback. Some of the best feedback you’ll receive is from fellow photographers.
• Collaborations – Not all photography is easy to achieve on your own. Once you start using off-camera flash to photograph models, working as a team makes sense.
• Learning – Tapping into the knowledge base of other photographers is invaluable. Different people learn about different things in photography, so being able to share that knowledge helps a lot.

The horizon line isn’t straight, showing this photo was taken too quickly. Another indicator of this 

is not waiting for the man to move out-of-frame. A rushed photo, and a poor result.

8. Not developing your own style

This is true not just in photography, but in many art forms. It’s easy to look to famous photographers, or perhaps local established ones, and look to emulate their photography. It’s a good idea to learn about how photographers take their images on a technical level. Once you know how other photographers work though, it’s then time to interpret these techniques in your own way.
There are, as mentioned, many benefits to joining a group of photographers, but one potential pitfall is developing their style of photography. Learn what makes their photography work, then spend a bit of time of your own developing a style that suits your work.

A photo that is spoiled by the wire at the top of the frame. Simply moving forward and using the 

same composition would have removed this wire from the photo.

9. Not learning new techniques

As you progress and become comfortable in your skin, you’ll come to one of the next big photography errors. You’ve developed a style, but then stopped progressing. It’s an easy trap to fall into, especially if you’re getting attention for the photography you’re now producing.
Photography is always evolving and to stay at the vanguard of the field you need to be learning new techniques. They might not necessarily become your signature style, but learning new ideas allows you to freshen up those styles that are your signature techniques. This might lead to you combining two photography techniques. You might learn a different way of post-processing your images that allows you to improve all the photos you take in the future.

This was once a photo I liked. Today, I know that it really needed a graduated neutral density filter 

for the sky. This aspect of photography was something I’d not learnt at this point.

10. No main subject

How do you elevate a good photograph into a great one? To do that you’ll need a narrative to your photo, and that means a main subject.
It’s possible to take nice photos of a landscape or abstract detail photos that are very eye-catching. A silhouetted person on the brow of a hill instantly adds more story to your scene, making it a stronger composition. A detail photo with one part of the image that’s different? Now you have a photo with a subject.
Sometimes the main subject will be readily available, like a single tree in a landscape scene. At other times you may need to wait patiently for a person to walk into your scene, thereby giving your scene its subject.

This is an awkward photo that lacks a main subject, and leaves a lot of dead space on the right.

11. Too many distracting elements

In photography, you want to keep it simple. Once you’ve settled on a strong main subject, you need to frame it correctly.
Another regular in the photography errors list is a busy photo. This is often because the background has too many elements, but distracting elements can also extend to the foreground. How can you eliminate extra elements from your scene such as unwanted wires? It’s true that you could use post-processing. On the other hand, you can develop your photographer’s craft. So what options are there?

• Angle – That means changing the angle, perhaps as dramatically as walking to the other side of your main subject.
• Focal length – You can also use different focal lengths, longer focal lengths will compress your scene which might allow you to remove things you don’t want from the frame.
• Aperture – Get stuck on automatic mode and you won’t learn about this. A great way of removing a busy background is to blur it out. You can do this by using a large aperture, the resultant shallow depth of field will blur the background but keep your main subject sharp.
• Closer – Walking closer to your subject, when that’s possible, means you’ll remove elements from your frame. They’ll now be behind you, but you might need to use a wider focal length to take the photo.

The water makes some nice patterns, but the photo lacks interest. In addition to this, the bottom 

is overexpose. A well-placed GND filter could have fixed that problem.

12. Bad composition

There are some basic rules of composition, and it’s worth knowing what they are. These are things like the rule of thirds, leading lines, and framing. It’s also true that not every photo benefits by doggedly sticking to the rule of thirds, those photos that use minimalism for instance might not work so well. It is a good idea to know what composition techniques work though, and to look at how you can apply them to your photography. When you don’t do this you’ll begin your photographic journey with awkward composition mistakes.

Chloe, I miss you. This is quite a nice photo of this dog. The foot should not have been cut off 

though, and the angle is clearly from a standing position. Kneeling down might have worked better 

here.

Cut down on your photography errors!

As you’ll see, there are lots of photography errors you can make. Are there any on this list you’ve made? Perhaps there are other photography errors you’ve made while learning, and you can share them with the community here? As we all know, making mistakes is a part of the learning process.
So now it’s time to pick up the camera, and having read this article, hopefully you’ll know more of the photography errors to avoid!

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