Basic exposure 43
looking at the eyes of the subjects for the “catch light.” A per-
son’s eye will refl ect the light source used when the image was
taken, and you can often tell what kind of lighting was used to
make the photograph. A small dot of light indicates a small light
source, such as an on-camera speedlight. A larger round catch
light is indicative of an umbrella, whereas a square or rectangle
means that a soft box was used. You can also look at the shadows
being cast to help determine light placement.
Using a fi ll light outdoors in bright sunlight isn’t as crazy as it
sounds. There’s nothing worse than portrait photography under
harsh direct overhead light. That’s why the Golden Hour is so
special to photographers. When forced to shoot at high noon, fi ll
fl ash is a lifesaver, fi lling in the eye sockets to soften an other-
wise nasty image. Proper exposure is easy if you’ve got a dedi-
cated fl ash for your camera, although there are some fl ash units
that work well in TTL (Through-the-Lens) mode on a variety of
cameras. First, make sure the camera is set for the proper overall
exposure. Set the fl ash to TTL mode and make a test shot. By
zooming into the image on the LCD, you can see the effect of
the fi ll light in the subject’s eyes. The best way to increase or
decrease the amount of fi ll light is by adjusting the exposure
compensation of the fl ash unit, not the camera.
Really available light
Whenever possible, Barry still prefers to use the available light
for his photography. In addition to the histogram, the ability to
change ISO and adjust white balance are the biggest advantages
of digital photography. Using this technology combined with
ultrafast lenses (see Chapter 5) produces superb results in situa-
tions once deemed too dark for traditional fi lm-based available
light photography.
The following photographs were taken at a national symposium
on health care, held annually in Beaver Creek, Colorado. In
addition to photographing the keynote sessions, Barry had to
photograph each breakout session, with several of them running
concurrently in different locations. A few were held in window-
less rooms with a mixture of overhead fl uorescent and incandes-
cent light; one took place in a room illuminated by one full wall
of windows plus overhead incandescent lighting. It was easy to
work between the different rooms by merely changing the White
Balance and ISO settings on the camera before shooting in each.
Film-based photographers are limited in both of these areas,
because each roll of fi lm is manufactured to one ISO value and
one light temperature value. The quality of photographs made
with high-ISO fi lm has been less than ideal, and fi lm was never
color balanced for the myriad of different light temperature
sources.
