Photography Tips and Tricks

Hi,

And welcome to my lens! I have spent many years peering through the lenses of cameras, from 35mm to medium format, to Polaroid. Now, it is time to share some of that knowledge that I picked up along the way.

So join me as I share some little known, or lesser known tips and tricks on getting the most out of your camera and your talent, as it pertains to many types of photography.

Since I haven't figured out how to write new content and add it to my lens, I am just adding it to my intro.

I have read Carson's lens, and I also do some virtual tour photography. I  have found that the hardest part of photographing interiors is the difference in light values between inside and out. Traditional film does a lot better job than digital handling these differences, but neither is what the human eye can see.

So, the question is: How do I properly expose the interior and exterior, especially around windows?

I have discovered a technique that works well for me. It may work for you too. Give it a try and see. I used to get two exposures, one for the interior and one for the exterior. That works pretty well in most situations. Then, you merge the two photos together, using the highlights of one and the shadows of the other. There is a program that can do this pretty well for you, called Photomatix.

But, then I discovered something even better. If, while shooting the interior, you zoom in on the window, you will see that the metering has changed to just the area of the window, and it is properly exposed. Capture this image of the properly exposed window.

 In photoshop, or another image editing program, open the image of the window by itself and the image of the interior with the window in it. Resize the window shot to the size of the original interior, and drag the window onto the other image.

Unlock the background layer, if locked, and drag the window layer so it is below the other layer. Using a selection tool, outline the window on the background layer and erase it. This will allow the correctly exposed window to show through, giving you a properly exposed interior and window. Cool!