Since I moved over the weekend and my life has continued to be crazy, I thought I’d answer some of the questions that are quick answers in a bundle.
**For a printable PDF version of this post click here.
How do I find locations?
My eyes are always open. Sometimes I want to shut my brain off from thinking about it, but I look for color everywhere. I’m actually kinda burnt out of the 10 mile radius from my home, but venturing out almost doubles the time I am away from my family. I look for texture, open shade, interest. Random places you might not otherwise consider. I have about 25 spots I really like in my 10 mile radius, and with High School Senior or Couples Sessions, I location hop to about 5 spots depending on the outfits they brought. I look at the clothes when we first meet up and tell them what to wear and in what order based on how we will drive around.
Do you ever use a macro lens?
Never have. I hear they are nice. I just haven’t had an interest or need.
Is there a way to make copies of what you have posted so far?
Great idea—I have no idea! If anyone knows, let me know:) I thought about printing it for myself as well to share with friends locally. I like being able to have a hard copy vs. computer screen for regular referencing.
How do I take a picture full on sun without it looking blown out?
You just gotta find the right shutter/ISO/fstop combination. Hard to know with a little screen on the back, but I know a lot of photographers use their histogram after shots to see if they are properly exposed. I don’t do that, so look it up if you are interested. Also, when shooting RAW, if it is blown, I can lower the exposure a tad and its’ less blown. I found this statement HERE JPEG has even less tolerance for overexposure than shooting in RAW. If you shoot in JPEG, your chances of holding detail in the highlights are not very good. Or—sometimes I don’t care if clothes are blown and the skin looks great. Blown skin—not so great.
How do you get good images inside when it’s dark?
Honestly, I use my pocket camera a lot. When I’m outside, 100% manual with my Canon 5D. Inside, 50% my orange Olympus pocket camera (It’s also waterproof—very cool), 30% my old Canon rebel with the pop up flash, and 20% my 5D in great light. My new home has much better window light than my old home. Also, I don’t want to have all the RAW files for indoor everyday shots with my family. I am totally fine with imperfect images of my family being silly around the house. But I do brighten them in photoshop to go onto my family blog. It’s kinda like those that love to pop zits when they see them. When I see a darker images, my fingers are itching to lighten them.
How do you get Text on an Image ?(ok, this took a few minutes to do it right):
Just so you all know, my 5D is working great now! It was an overused battery issue, now resolved. It will die eventually, but not yet. If I have missed some questions, post them in this post and I will get to them, or email me. I plan to cover RAW, head swap, and focal points in future entries as well.
If you want to see my new digs, come on over…
Do you have any on-line references or books you could recommend on learning photoshop? I was going to take a class during the summer at a community college but they're full.
Also, do you use a Mac or a PC?
Thanks Kristen! I look forward to your posts every week! I would be very interested in obtaining your photo tips on hard copy. I have taken notes from every post but I'm afraid I might have missed something.
Kristen…great tips as usual. But we have come to expect that! Your home is lovely!!
Maybe I could copy the post and then post it into a link as a PDF on google reader and then readers can go to the link and print it out on their home computers. Anyone interested in that idea?
Thanks Kristen for all the great tips! I look forward to your posts…..
PDF would be great. Will it copy easily?
Oh, I'm a PC. My hubby wants a mac, but I'm fine with my Dell. Photoshop references….Scott Kelby's books are really popular. I've been on photography forums where I've learned my tricks. http://www.ilovephotography.com is one.
GREAT tips again Kristen!!
I have a question for you…..I've noticed when I take pictures outside, especially on a sunny day, even though I meter, I have a hard time looking at my screen and seeing if everything is the way I want it. I try to find a shady spot or cup my hand around the screen….any suggestions? or do you just totally go by metering? I don't know how to use the histogram on my camera.
And as far as printing these post – you guys could do what I do for my recipes. copy the post(s) and place in a google doc, save as web page then put the link to the webpage here with each post.
If you want help, just contact me, I did a tutorial on my blog.
Thank you so much for all your posts, it's helping me get a basic understanding which is perfect timing since my first ever dSLR camera was delivered today!
Amy,
It would be nice to have this as a pdf. I would love it!
Kristen,
Please explain the difference in mm lenses.
I was looking at your beautiful shots in the post about light and I was wondering about your 70-200mm lens. I was pricing one for my Nikon-D40 and it was $2500. I'm not a professional photographer, so I can't really justify that expense. :) Maybe there's another brand that would work fine with my camera for a lot less, but I'm sure it's still pretty expensive.
And thank you for your post on light. I really had to search for some shade (around 7 p.m. I get some from my neighbor's wall; it's bright and sunny with no shade here in Las Vegas; even the trees at the parks look like giant tumbleweeds). I had some fun having my children stand at the edge of the light. Thanks!
Kriste,
I just found the post where you explained about your lenses. :)
Amy,
is there a way to link the posts all together so that we can make sure we haven't missed any? Maybe in addition to the PDF for those of us who are new to your blog.
I have now added the PDF printable version of MOST of Kristen Dukes photography posts. I am working on the others as time permits.
To access all of Kristen's Posts on Photography…find the label on the right hand side of my blog and you should see the label Kristen Duke Photograpy. I am working on adding a button that you can click on to also take you to all of her posts. I will let you know when that is available!
Thank you so much for all these little tutorials/tips/bits of info! You are so talented!