Tips for taking great photographs at home | Nicole Hollenkamp Education | Photography Mentorship | Newborn, Maternity & Family photographer in Princeton MN

Photographing with available light

Hi There!

Welcome to my blog. Here are my tips. Enjoy!

Raising the quality of the images that you are creating is not as hard as one might think. There are a few key principles that can be applied easily to take a photo from drab to fab in a quick second.

Wiki’s Definition

Photography is the use of light to capture a moment in time. The word “photography” literally means “drawing with light”. The word was supposedly first coined by the British scientist Sir John Herschel in 1839 from the Greek words phos, (genitive: phōtós) meaning “light”, and graphê meaning “drawing or writing”.

The light that we choose to use to capture each moment is what creates that wow factor. 

3 Quick Steps Towards Fantastic Lighting

  1. Quit Using Flash: using flash help you freeze a moment, however, unless properly balanced and maneuvered your flash will likely overpower your image and give a very flat light across your image. Turn this feature off if you can.
  2. Use A Window: Daylight from a single source is best for capturing moments that give your subject dimension. Shadows are an important part of the image. Pay attention to what they are doing. Bring your subject up next to the window so that the window light falls across their face. Do not face your subject directly at the window.
  3. Turn off ambient electric light sources: light bulbs and screens give off many different colors of light. when photographing for shadows this color can fill those shadows and make them brighter.

Shooting in the dark?

Of course when there is no window light your camera will not be able to take a good quality image without a light source. Remember that it is not the quantity of light that you have but the quality. If you need to use a light source try to limit it to one source if you can or at least make sure the color of the light sources are the same.

Least recommended light sources: Led lights tend to flicker and fluorescent lights will yield inconsistent results.

~Nicole Hollenkamp

Photographer and Mentor

Newborn, Maternity & Family photographer in Princeton MN

Online and In person educational tools and Mentorships for photographers | Photography Mentorships

P.S. Did you see my amazing offer for free maternity photos when you book a newborn session?

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