THE THINGS I DO…

With graduation season upon us, it’s a good time to go over some photo tips for shooting these family milestones. If you’re like me, when one rolls around, you are responsible for capturing the moments…and you’d better not fail! Here’s some tips for getting great images from these fairly formal ceremonies…

• First, interrogation. Leave the waterboard behind. But do ask some questions of your graduate after he or she returns from the rehearsal. Most important, find out where they’ll be seated for the ceremony and the route of the processional.
• Next, grab a seat ON THE AISLE on the same side your target is sitting. An aisle seat will allow you to quickly move about without disturbing others. Being on the same side as your graduate will also save you some steps. Leave your camera bag here with your spouse or whoever accompanies you to allow you to move about without looking like a pack mule. If you aren’t allowed to move about (and some schools have a tendency to restrict this sort of thing), you’ll be in a great spot to get the photos that come after.
• Set your color balance, ISO and, in general, have your camera ready. A freshly-formatted memory card is a must.
• Concentrate on the action, not the speeches. Using the intel you gathered earlier, you will have an advantage over all the other mommies and daddies shooting the event. Shoot the processional, looking for your special person. No one will care about how great your photos are of the main speaker…except maybe his mom!
• Wide, medium, tight. The formula for making an interesting series of photos. Shoot a wide angle shot to show the crowd and act as a scene-setter for what’s to follow, then shoot medium shots of the action and zero in on your subject for a couple close-ups. My lens of choice for this is a zoom. It keeps lens-changes to a minimum and allows me to pack only two lenses: my 24-70mm f/2.8 and my 70-200mm f/2.8.
• Inside or out, add a pop of flash to brighten colors and freeze action. Digital images benefit from a pop of flash. It brightens the colors while helping you to stop action. Balance the flash with the background so that your flash is just adding a slight “kick” to the scene. You might want to practice on other folks’ kids before your “money shot” rolls walks across the stage.
• Remember your alphabet. Since every graduation I’ve ever attended marches the grads to their diplomas alphabetically, you have plenty of warning for when your grad will be taking the long walk to the stage. Be ready for it and position yourself in plenty of time to get the diploma hand-off. I usually spring into action when they start calling names a couple letters ahead of those I’m photographing.
• Get low and watch your line of sight. After you’ve found the spot where you want to shoot from, bend your knees and get down low. You do this for two reasons: you won’t be blocking the view of others and you’ll be able to use the sky or the ceiling as your background and not a distracting crowd of other graduates. I like to shoot at f/5.6 or wider to further blur my background…watch your focus point, though.
• Get the important shot but look for something better. Sure, the shot of the headmaster handing over the goodies is important, but don’t get so hung up on getting that shot that you miss better opportunities. A great expression is more important in the larger sceme of things.
• Don’t put the camera down after the ceremony! This is the time when the most memorable moments happen. Caps get thrown in the air, hugs are exchanged and the real memories happen. Slap your wide-angle lens on the camera and blaze away. Why a wide-angle? It forces you to get close to your subjects while making it harder for someone to walk in front of you. Believe me, the latter reason alone is reason enough!
• And finally, don’t wait to post and share your work… crank it out as soon as you can. Post your photos, e-mail your photos, print your photos to share these moments with friends and family. After all, that’s what’s most important!

Looking for a new way to see things? Try shooting from a low angle. I found this patch of gigantic mushrooms perfectly lit by a shaft of late afternoon sunlight. From my normal, standing perspective, the photo wasn’t much to look at. Bending my knees and shooting up from ground level, however, made a big difference.

Keep in the back of your mind “would my shot be improved by going lower?” the next time you’re out with your camera. It can transform the ordinary photo to something extraordinary.

Oh, and purchase a gardener’s knee pad, they make getting low more comfortable and less messy on the knees!

There are very few books about the craft of photography on my bookshelves. This is because I’ve found that most books about photo technique are boring, repetitive and poorly written. Basically, they’re not worth much more than a quick skim-through and definitely not worth taking up valuable shelf space.  That said, Kirk Tuck’s book, Minimalist Lighting is a welcome exception.

I picked up this book on the recommendation of David Hobby’s Strobist.com web site and found it to be both worth the money and inspiring. Tuck makes a living shooting executive portraits and this book shows how he goes about producing high quality portraits with a minimum of equipment. At first glance, the book seems to be awfuly Nikon-centric but upon further reading the information given works with any flash system, not just the big N. The book is a great starting point for advanced amateurs wanting to improve their multi-flash technique and take their photography to the next level. As a pro with over 25 years of experience, it served as a great refresher course in using the new generation of small handheld strobes to do the same work I used to do with larger, high powered studio strobes. It was also motivation for me to take my strobes out of their cases and apply his lessons to my shooting style. Tuck provides shopping lists of recommended gear as well as plenty of examples of the portraits he made using his techniques. Of course, he includes lighting diagrams for every shoot to explain how he lit his subjects. It’s not a thick book (128 pages) but it’s written in a conversational style that’s easy to read and digest. If you’ve always wanted to become more comfortable using multiple flashes, this book is a perfect first step. 

Here’s an example of the lighting you can do with three Canon strobes and a patient spouse: 

Is it any wonder my copy’s dog-eared already?

The ability to use light and shadow effectively separates the pro from the amateur photographer. While some say this is something you’re born with, I disagree. The skilled use of lighting is something that can be learned.

In the decades since I first picked up a camera, I’m constantly picking up new ideas for making my photos better. One place I find myself going to for a visual kickstart is strobist.com. This is a website devoted almost exclusively to the creative use of small, hand-held electronic flashes. Compiled by David Hobby, it’s a great place for ideas and inspiration. If you’re new to photography or are a pro in need of some new lighting techniques, you can’t go wrong by stopping at David’s site. His Lighting 101 tutorials are fantastic!