Posted 28 January, 2009 by Carol | No comments

Rachel building a snow fort

Rachel building a snow fort, originally uploaded by calligraphycarol.

Another snow day photo

Posted 25 July, 2008 by Carol | No comments

Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes!

Whenever I browse the portrait photography in Flickr or on other photography websites, I notice what makes the great ones stand out from the amateur ones is the sharpness of the eyes, and the bright, white, shiny “catch lights.” The key to a good portrait is having the focus be on the eyes; the rest of the photograph doesn’t have to be in focus, as long as the eyes are, and those catch lights make the eyes sparkle and give them dimension.

I have found that many photographers I admire use a 50mm prime lens for portraits, because it gives a great depth of field, where the background is out of focus, and the eyes are in sharp focus. Bill has a really nice 50mm lens that is a GREAT deal…only around $100.  I have been coveting this lens, but on my Nikon D40 it doesn’t have automatic focusing, and, unfortunately, my aging eyes make it difficult to focus on manual. I was determined to give it a try anyway, to see if I could get away with ordering one for myself, so the other day I was experimenting while visiting a friend. I found that if it was light enough outside, I was able to get it in focus some of the time. As sunset came closer, I couldn’t see well enough to focus on the eyes.

I took some pictures of my friend’s 3-month-old baby, and a couple of her other children, with awesome catch lights and sharp eyes. If you look closely, you can even see my shadow in his eyes! Infants’ eyes are always so beautiful–they’re HUGE and sparkle, and they tend to just stare right at the camera, while the older kids get bored so much more quickly! Here are some examples of the 50mm lens and those awesome catch lights! You can find some tips on how to get them from digital-photography-school.com, a great site for learning more about photography! Here’s the link: An Introduction to Catch Lights

Eyes That Sparkle