Lock the doors, and wait for it.
I know you're not ready, but it's for your own good. It's coming.
There are less than three months before....
CHRISTMAS!!!!
It has been a while since we talked. Life has come and gone with a vengeance. We are all returning to normal with a renewed hope and determination for a wonderful future. I hope and pray that your fall and Christmas season will be wonderfully blessed.
So why am I talking about Christmas so early? Well, it's not just Christmas but all of the special occasions that happen in the fall and winter, starting with Columbus day and it's fall colors, Halloween with its decorations and really fun costumes, Thanksgiving gatherings, the avoidance of Black Friday and of course, Christmas.
I see so many photos taken by my friends of their holidays that, well, aren't very good.
So for the next several weeks, I'll be adding my 2 cents about how to make your holiday photos worth keeping and showing year after year.
If you are like I was, and thought that the "P" on the camera stood for "Professional", there is still hope. (For the record, it stands for "Program Automatic")
Let's start with the photo of the Christmas Tree. With no flash, it's dark and blurry, with flash it's all washed out with the tree too bright, lights barely visible - there seems to be no way to make the photo look like the beautiful, warm, aromatic tree that you just decorated.
First, I can't help with the aroma. You need a live tree for that, and I'm not about to do a scratch n sniff photo of a tree.
But I CAN help with the image.
First, find your owners manual. Develop a good, working, meaningful relationship with it and your camera. Knowing which button to push for what is usually buried in that document, and with enough perseverence, you will find it.
My students are tired of hearing me say "If you want to capture the image that nobody else can, you have to DO what nobody else is willing to DO." This starts with reading and learning the owners manual, which is usually the most neglected enclosure in the box.
Adjust your ISO to the highest it will go - usually 800 or 1000 for point and shoots. Turn the Christmas lights off. Take a photo with no flash. You want the room to be darker than "perfectly exposed", but still be able to see detail in all parts of the room.
OK, now turn the Christmas lights on.
Take another shot. You will see that the lights are overexposed, and that the image is brighter than you had expected. This is ok for the moment. Here is where your owners manual comes in. Adjust your camera to underexpose by one stop. You can find an adjustment in your menus that should be able to accomplish this. If not, you will have to look at the image you just took and read the data - 1/30 at f4 for instance, switch the camera to manual and adjust to 1/30 ad f5.6. You will have to play to get the image you want.
Once you get the exposure right, now it is time to work on the composition. Anybody can stand up and take a photo of a tree straight on. It looks mousy, uninteresting, no matter how well decorated. Discouraged? Don't be.
But remember, what made your tree the wonder of Christmas morning? First, I bet your first memories of Christmas morning had your eyes at about 24 to 30" off the ground. The tree was huge and went on forever, with mountains of presents underneath.
I know from experience that 24 to 30" off the ground is the most painful level for taking photographs. Do what you have to do. Endure. The results will justify your pain.
Zoom way out to try to capture most of the tree, but to increase the feeling of size, let parts of the tree spill outside the frame. And move to the left or right of center. Straight on photos with the tree in the center are uninteresting. Put your self off center, and put the tree or your center of interest off center in the frame. Remember the rule of thirds.
Back earlier in this blog I spoke of "The Sniper Method of Focus". Now would be a good time to revisit that post.
That's a lot to digest for one session. Your homework? Go find the owners manual! Even if you have thrown it away, I'll bet you can find it on line. Learn the modes, and how to adjust your camera. These cameras today have great capabilities, but only if you know how to access them!
