Creating Amazing Photographs in Laramie’s Harsh Conditions
With temperatures rising to 50 and then falling to the low 20's you may quickly become frustrated with your outdoor photographs this time of year. Bright sun can erase detail, texture, color intensity and skin tone however you can take certain measures to insure success. This is a great time of year for creating beautiful images. Soft light will give a richer tonal range,deeper color. If you are lucky and have snow you can create softness in your images and nice contrast. Good times of day are morning or afternoon 3:30 or 4pm. Late afternoon / early evening may be beautiful but the light level is actually much lower than your eye can detect. The images above of Lexi are created in the morning . Most cameras, and now the i phone have exposure compensation (+/-) and ISO . You will need to adjust these settings for the best results. To have even, soft light face your subject away from the sun, cloudy weather is ideal. You will be using your flash to fill your subject with soft light. Next you will need to increase your ISO to a range of 400 to 1600. What this does is lessen the severity of the auto flash setting and increase the detail in your backround. What will determine the exact ISO will be the level of light you are working with therefore you will need to bracket your shots ( take a photograph at each ISO to determine what looks the best). You will also bracket with adding light(+)or subtracting it(-) on the exposure comp. setting. By doing it this way you will find the setting that works best. Many seasoned photographers when planning important images will go out the day before and experiment so they are better prepared the day of the shoot. This saves time which is important, sometimes you only have minutes before the sun or wind come full force.
Laramie Live's photography expert is Anne Brande of Ludwig Photography in downtown Laramie. Anne would love to hear from you if you have any photography questions as she continues to write photography tips and answer questions. The most effective way to talk with Anne is to make a comment on this story or you can contact her directly in the following ways:
Phone # (307) 760-7388
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