Speaking of Photography by Peter Gold MPA

A discussion of light by Peter Gold MPA.

If you’re getting quite tired of the results you’re getting photographing people with the built-in flash on your camera, fantastic! That means you’re not satisfied with the mediocre images that you’re creating and are ready for the next step.
Learn to see the ambient light all around and use it for a natural look. There is no great financial investment but you will experience a great leap in creativity.

You have the ability to adjust your white balance to match the colour of your light source. You need to arm yourself with a few reflectors to redirect the light onto your subjects. There are great commercially produced pop-open reflectors that are handy when you need to leave the confines of your home base. They come compacted into a round pouch but open up with a flick of the wrist to 12″ right up to 60”.  They are two-sided with a different reflective colour on each.
The one I prefer is the white-silver combination. This gives you the option of more or less light but doesn’t change the colour of the reflected light. The reflectors are also made in gold foil but I don’t use them because it tends to throw a yellow cast onto part of the image which is then difficult to blend with the cooler light source.  For wild flowers, you only need the small 12” since it’s still bigger than your subject. For people, you’ll need something larger like a 32” and up.

If you’re not sure if you really want to start using reflectors, try making your own to see the results you can get. You don’t need to make the pop-up versions; just remember to use a white or silver surface. You probably have something to start you off at home right now. Everybody has a roll of aluminum foil. Pull off a strip about four feet long. Crush it and then try and spread it out flat. The wrinkles will still be there but that’s okay because you want that to soften the light that is reflected. Tape it to a board about the same size and viola!  You’ve just created your first reflector. Along those same lines, what else do you have around the house that reflects? White sheets, pillow cases, white foam core, Styrofoam sheets, aluminum roaster pans, white printer paper, etc. are all things you might have already.  Sit someone down next to a window so the light is illuminating the front of the face. Do you notice that the other side of the face has no light because the head is blocking the window light?

Use the reflector on the opposite side of the face so it’s facing the window. Now you can reflect some window light onto the dark side to light up the shadows so it’s not totally black. Set your exposure for the front of the face since that’s the important part of the subject. The more you practice with reflectors, the more creative you will become and the more you will recognize the different qualities of light that actually available to you to use. Once you see the amazing difference between flash lit portraits and those that are illuminated with ambient light, the more you will want to invest in a commercial reflector or two so you can have one around for all locations.

Have fun re-acquainting yourself with the qualities of light………
Until next month…………….

Peter Gold MPA
Gold Photography