The Exposure Trick That (Almost) Never Fails!

The three shots above definitely have one thing in common. They're all difficult to meter. At Yellowstone National Park, all the pictures from the "front side" of the geyser were way too cliche. Getting away from the masses, I found this couple sitting on a trailside. The backlighting of the water was glorious, and there were dark shadows in the foreground. With the limited dynamic range of today's digital cameras, getting the right exposure becomes absolutely critical. The Griffith Observatory in the hills over downtown LA presented a similar challenge, though this time the only backlighting was a faint glow in the blackening evening sky. The windows with their incandescent glows cast a bold, almost candlelight orange hue to complete the scene. The church with a diffraction fringe around the top of the steeple completes the set of three problem lighting conditions. Though there are a lot of tricks of the trade that can be employed to bring out all of these shots, but it's not about post processing using photoshop layers, shooting in .raw and tweaking the levels, or using auto bracketing. Whenever you're faced with a difficult contrasty landscape scene like these there's amazingly simple cure to help nail critical exposure. Meter the sky.

Night Photography in Historic Downtown Los Angeles

It's not too often you get to use the words "historic" and "Los Angeles" together in the same sentence. Last week I had the opportunity to lead a group of photographers on a night shoot in Downtown LA. We enjoyed a meal at Phillipes, the restaurant where the french dip sandwich was invented, and then set off on a walking tour through Chinatown and Olvera Street, where the buildings sometimes date back to the 1800's. Which for LA is "really old." I mean, in this town, the music from INXS and New Kids on the Block already qualifies as "oldies."

Night photography here is fun. Chinatown's a place to start shooting early in the evening, the shops are open and lit up, and there are people scurrying about. One of my favorite things about low light photography is the way the lack of light allows you to add motion blur to your images. A tripod and a cable release are a must here. While using a tripod and your camera's self-timer might work for landscape shots, nailing down the motion blur you want to capture in the city takes split second timing. A passing bus, a cop on a code three run, a cyclist, or almost anything else that moves is an opportunity. A street photographer working at night needs to know his camera the way a special forces soldier knows his weapon. Alright, he doesn't need to be able to disassemble and reassemble it blindfolded, but it does help to be able to change shutter and aperture, dial in exposure compensation, bracket shots, and use the camera in full manual. And be ready to plunk the tripod down, frame, and shoot in a couple of seconds. It can be done. All it takes is a little practice. What works? Anything with action and color, strong lighting, abstractions of line and shape, or a story to tell. Get together with a friend and go out shooting together!