UnderExposed Photography

I can’t count the amount of times I tried to take photographs of reflections then realised that I still had my Polarizing Filter on the lens. As Always until the penny Dropped I had moved the Camera up & down , left & right and thought my glasses were causing the reflection I was seeing and not the window as I had imagined. I’ve walked away from some very good reflections saying to myself I need to get my glasses fixed.

When is the best time to Take Reflections Photography?

I believe that as long as the Light is harsh you can pretty much move the Camera to an angle that gives you the best reflection. This photo was taken at 10:00 AM on a very scarce sunny day and I think the result is quite pleasing.

So Why Black & White Reflection

I love how the reflections appear more pronounced and the Eye is drawn into the contours of the Reflection rather than the colours. My aim was to try and attain an almost dual exposure feel to the reflection which I haven’t quite succeeded in doing, but all the same I think it’s a nice photo. Although some people may say it’s underexposed. I like to have a stark contrast when I take Reflection photographs but again that’s me. I believe that this is almost like a vignette that draws your eye into the Reflection which is the subject i’m trying to showcase. As always that’s my opinion and may be the reason why i’m still doing my day job.

Grain or No Grain That is The Question

I like Grain, especially in B&W photography. But many people claim it is easy to overdue in post production and I try to get this in camera, which means either increasing the ISO and coping with all the required changes that need to be made in Aperture / Shutter speed or exposure correction or cheat as you can with many cameras and add grain in the menu settings of your Camera.

I didn’t use grain here as although the sun was out an Aperture setting of F11 was used which brought the exposure down to -1 at the Shutter Speed I had chosen.

Today was all about the Blue Hour. This was because today was my first day back at my day job which meant I had an early rise to catch a plane to the project location. I took this Photograph from the cage aka the Smoking Terrace at Istanbul Airport.

It’s no David Bailey Shot, but it’s my attempt at trying to capture Ambient light in it’s naked and unaltered form. I am fascinated with trying to balance ambient light with artificial light. As always with Photography, my interpretation of the Blue Hour will find agreement with some and gasps of disapproval from others. That’s the beauty of this Blog, because it’s my Blog I can delete the nasty comments or take them on board and use them constructively. Hmm that is a tantalizing thought. Walk into a baron empty space and shout “Stone me Stone me”.

Let’s Move on

Anyway, My attempt at humour aside, I believe that I’ve captured the light the best I could from the cage. I tried to line up several elements in the foreground with the Cage walls and did manage to catch some of the elements. the Sun was rising quite quickly and I had a total of 5-10 minutes to get this done trying to wrestle myself in position amid the Smokers in the Cage. This photograph is the result of me taking out my trusty Fujifilm X-T3 with my biggest looking lens as I watched the Smokers part in front of me turning away with gazes of disapproval & distrust that I may capture them partaking in the sins of all sins.

Joking aside, thanks Ladies and Gentleman for allowing me to capture this image. Day Two complete and I’m already thinking what can I Photograph for tomorrow’s Blog. Let’s see what I come up with.

Photography with Mixed Lighting

This is proving to be my biggest hurdle. How do you balance Ambient Light with Flash or how do you balance Tungsten light with Flash hence Mixed Lighting Conditions.The colors in the Photographs always have a slight hue which I cannot seem to correct with the White Balance Slider as demonstrated in so many YouTube Videos and courses. The closest I have come is using a Camera Filter in Affinity Photo and selecting the opposite color to the color cast on the Color wheel.

So what is the Answer ?

Well if you listen or follow the instructions given In the YouTube videos You get mixed results depending on RAW file format used and if you are shooting in TIFF or JPEG. In short the claim that you can change the White Balance of the Photograph if you shoot in RAW format is not the full Truth as this is also dependent on the ISO setting used and if you nailed the Exposure when you Took the Photograph.

So in a nutshell it’s all a little hit and miss and experimenting with the editing software you use is the only way you can correct this. Photoshop 2020 claims to have a tool as does Capture One for this issue however I’m either to inept to use it or the claims they make are overstated Surprise Surprise.
if you found the Holy grail please drop me a comment but if you explain your process please provide this in baby steps.