Digital Photography Lighting Tips - Learn How To Use Digital Photography Lighting

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Digital Photography Lighting - Digital Photography Lighting Tips

Digital photography lighting is a very important part of taking pictures. With poor lighting you might never get a quality shot you want. You could be stuck having a bad tint or not being able to capture your subject the way you want. Sometimes it could all come down to a small mistake soo here i'll post up some tips that just might get the trick done.

 

I'll tell you some of the basic tips ive picked up here and there and get u started on your way to taking great pics! First we'll start off with something fundamental that lots of people seem to miss. Your stance! Yes your stance is very important to your picture taking and could easily keep you from getting a good one. Even though this isnt about lighting its still important enough to mention real quick.

Digital Photography Lighting Tip 1

Digital Photography Lighting: Posture

Many times you might get a blurry or grainy pic and it doesn't come down to your digital photography lighting this time. It comes down to you. If your finding it hard to hold the camera still it all comes down to posture. You can stop the camera shake by doing simple things. Try holding the camera closer to you and not streched out away. Make sure your well balanced yourself. Try crouching on one knee if you have to and supporting your camera with it. You can even bring a tripod which comes in handy if you got a bit of space. The less chance of movement by the camera while your shooting means better overall picture quality.

Digital Photography Lighting Tip 2

Digital Photography Lighting: Patience

Sometimes the shot just isnt there. You might be in a rush to get some quick pics but if you take a shot under very poor lighting conditions it could keep you from getting anything that looks slightly good, particularly when your outside. Sometimes the flash its self wont make up for the lack or abundance of light. If you really want to here are a few solutions...

Try to find a different location or angle to take your picture from

Try your other digital photography lighting tips out maybe

Come back at different times of the day to try your luck

Wait for the sun to get in a different position

Try dawn or dusk shots since those tend to come out very nice

Digital Photography Lighting Tip 3

Digital Photography Lighting: Histograms

Many digital cameras now come with a histogram feature which may seem alittle complicated but its actually quite simple.

If the histogram shows up more on the left side with little on the right, this most likely means your picture is to dark and underesposed.

If it shows up more on the right and not so much on the left then, you might be taking it in an area too bright which can be corrected with the exposure compensation tool to darken the image. You can also try a faster shutter speed so less light hits the camera.

If it shows up more in the center then your photo is just about right. No need for tools to fix it since its pretty perfect! This really shows you your improvement in your digital photography lighting techniques.

Though sometimes the histogram might show up heavy on both sides. This just means the picture has lots of dark and light all in the same picture. Waterfall shots might appear this way sometimes or if you have a dark spot next to a sunny sky.

Try some different ways of using the histogram out in your photos and if you cant get it right when you first snap one remember software works wonders for fixing or making pictures better!

Digital Photography Lighting Tip 4

Digital Photography Lighting: Studio Lighting

If your setting up a particular thing for a shot you dont need all the fancy expensive photography studio extras! You can easily exchange the expensive studio lights with a simple lamp. Just avoid fluorescent lighting since its really bad for quality pics. Incandescent and halogen bulbs work great for taking pictures though!

A studio lighting setup can be a few tables with lamps put in different positions to get the shadow just how you want it. You can setup the background with fax machine paper or sheets of plywood since its easy to edit out later. You can also use something metallic as a reflector to make the shadow spots brighter if you want, try directing a strong beam at the reflector to take away the shadow even more (like using a flashlight).

Digital Photography Lighting Tip 5

Digital Photography Lighting: Presets

Sometimes since your trying to be a pro you might ignore these or look over them. Truthfully the can be a life saver at times and shouldnt be ignored. Most cameras have presets in them and you should dig around and find out which you have (if any) and try them out sometimes.

No shame with getting alittle help, thats why your here now isnt it? So just relax a bit and try them out. Most are obvious such as night time or motion settings. I consider this one of the better digital photography lighting tips i can give because its soo widely ignored and very useful. Please consider this even if its just to try it out a bit.

Digital Photography Lighting Tip 6

Digital Photography Lighting: Software

This is a very common way of achieving the lighting you want for your pics. Though it isnt a fix all cure for every picture and can sometimes be abit complicated if your new. If a picture is under and over exposed in different areas software will not be able to fix this, it might make it better but not a complete fix. This is really a basic trait you should learn when you consider improving your skills in handling digital photography lighting.

There are tons of digital photography software solutions, both free and charge services. A few would be Photoshop (Win) and Apple iPhoto (Mac) which are great programs to start off with. There are many different programs out there though and some might work better for others. To find a program you can just type into google *photo editing program" or anything close to that and get a lot of software (free or otherwise). Most should come with there own quick tutorial!

My Final Tip

This Would Be Digital Photography Lighting Tip 7

This is even better then the digital photography lighting tips i could give you. It can take along time before your become really good at taking amazing shots! You could have tons of questions and spend days just finding 1 answer on the interenet (its a big place). You would probably love someone to put infront of you a step by step instruction guide on how to improve your photography skills. Well i have found a great guide that has more then enough information to help just about anyone, for beginners and advanced photographers. Its pretty easy to read and doesnt have lots of useless filler, just the help you want answered directly.

It comes in a quick and easy downloadable package so you dont have to wait weeks for dvds or books to come in the mail. If your really interested on becoming a better photographer or learning how to make a profit off your photos you might want to take a look. If you dont like it, it comes with a money back gurantee of 8 weeks so there isnt anything to lose. Just click the big link below.

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  • Reply
    spikey64 Feb 7, 2012 @ 1:52 pm | delete
    Thanks for the great tips. Lighting has always been a problem for me and as you point out you could spend days on the internet looking for answers. I am definately going to take a look at the guide you have recommended thanks.
  • Reply
    DemDela Nov 12, 2009 @ 10:38 am | delete
    I always found halogen light to be better because its brighter and naturally more white. If it is a set up studio you got you could try a few things like moving around the set and lights and adding a reflector to make the overall picture brighter, it really does help sometimes.[in reply to Paul Vuiverito- paulvive@cfl.rr.com]
  • Reply
    Paul Vuiverito- paulvive@cfl.rr.com Nov 3, 2009 @ 7:29 am | delete
    Your article was a great help. My problem has been with the type of lighting I should use, incandescent or halogen. I can't get my white background to come out white. I'm sure it's not white balance but the type and way I'm using my lighting. Thanks

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DemDela

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