Walk Towards the Light

pho·tog·ra·phy   [fuh-tog-ruh-fee]
noun
1. the process or art of producing images of objects on sensitized surfaces by the chemical action of light or of other forms of radiant energy such as x-rays, gamma rays, or cosmic rays.

As you can see from the definition above, light is EVERYTHING in photography. I first fell in love with photography as a teenager. I attended Myers Park High School in Charlotte, North Carolina where I took my first photography class with instructor Bryon Baldwin. He loved photography and his enthusiasm for it was contagious.

For me, photography was the perfect way to marry my artistic side with my desire to tell stories, both real and imagined. I always felt like I had an artistic soul but was a mediocre musician and wasn’t interested in the traditional ways of expressing myself as an artist, such as drawing or painting. Since elementary school I had loved writing stories and would often lose myself in my imagination and musings. So I grew up to become a professional watcher of light and the objects they illuminate.

Lens Flare

I soon realized that to love photography you must understand light and become technically proficient at capturing light as you see it. As a watcher of light you have to learn to record it in all its many forms. Today I want to write about a side effect of bright light called lens flare. Flare is caused by a very bright light source either in the image or shining into the lens, but not in the image. Generally this bright light produces a haze and makes the image look washed out or devoid of contrast. Typically photographers try to eliminate lens flare. Most commonly, it occurs when shooting into the sun (when the sun is in frame or the lens is pointed in the direction of the sun), and is reduced by using a lens hood or other shade. But if you are a lover of light you will want to find ways to embrace lens flare and make it work in your favor.

This portrait was taken in 2001 at Ayr Mount in Hillsborough, NC. My client, Jane Rouse Ellison, wanted a spring bridal portrait. I was shooting film with a medium format camera. Unlike fast, spontaneous 35mm photography, 120mm forced me to slow down and be very intentional about what I was photographing. I saw this amazing weeping cherry tree and envisioned having Jane surrounded by the new blossoms. I wanted to create a feeling of hope and rebirth. I set up my light in front and had her turn her back to the sun. This gave her a natural hair light and I think the lens flare works to create a magical look.

In this image of Jeannine Sato and her son, Kenji, I deliberately shot into the sun to create lens flare. I really do think it creates a great mood, when used sparingly. Because lens flare typically produces an image low contrast I usually go into Photoshop to increase the contrast in post production. Again, I am using this normally undesired effect to bring more meaning to the image. For me, motherhood and raising children is such a fantastic journey but it goes by so fast! The haziness of the lens flare contributes to the illusory, fleeting feeling. And on a side note I think brunettes, especially, photograph better with a little bit of hair light so not to get lost in a dark background.

Here are two more examples of intentionally using lens flare. In the image above you can see the tell tale lens flare circles coming across the frame. The spatial distribution of the lens flare typically manifests as several starbursts, rings, or circles in a row across the image. In the photograph below the lens flare created by the early morning sun is almost overpowering.

You can even artificially create lens flare if you really want to. This image of my youngest, Leo, was taken at night in Croatia as we were walking to a Carnaval celebration. I slowed the shutter down to an eighth of a second and bounced my powerful flash off of a nearby, light colored wall thus creating the lens flare. I also put my flash on rear shutter sync. What a handsome pirate!

This is what happens when you combine lens flare and smoke. I love smoke bombs!

Carrboro Just Keeps on Loving!

Just because Valentine’s Day is over doesn’t mean the love is going to stop! For the Love of Carrboro is going on all February! See this ad in the Carrboro Citizen.

To see our special:
http://www.kpophoto.com/stories/kids/specials/

The Cicada Invasion

I have had houseguests for over a month who have created quite a racket and have left a mess all over the yard. I guess it is alright as they won’t be back for another 13 years. I am referring, of course, to the 13-year cicadas. Officially they are called Brood XXIX. They last burrowed out of the ground in 1998 and won’t be back until 2024.

At the beginning of May my children and I began noticing holes in the yard. At first I wondered if we had a serious, miniature vole problem. But then we started seeing exoskeletons on leaves. Soon, we could not ignore the fact that there was a loud wall of sound. Some neighbors thought it was a car alarm at first. It was seriously so loud that I could not talk on the phone outside. I recorded 50 seconds of it just so you can get an idea. Remember this is only 50 seconds but it really went on all day long for weeks. Thankfully they rested at night.

Brood XXIX Male Mating Call Audio

Although they look a little creepy they are harmless. They don’t bite and they won’t destroy your garden. The newly emerged cicadas are pale with bright, red eyes. They mature to a dark color and then take to the air in search of a mate. The males sing to attract a mate. Once fertilized, the females split open twigs to deposit their eggs, which hatch after about six or seven years. After hatching the nymphs drop down into the soil below where they will feed on roots. They end up laying just 10 inches below the surface, which happens to be right below the frost line.

Now, over a month after they first emerged, the call of the males has quieted and their spent and limping bodies are all over. The piles of exoskeletons will decompose and nourish the earth. 13 years ago I was a childless, single woman trying hard to establish myself in my chosen field. The movie, Patch Adams was being filmed on the UNC campus that summer and 911 still referred only to the number you call in an emergency. In 13 more years, God willing, my oldest child will be 23 and all the unrest in the Middle East will be hopefully be a thing of the past. But, the cicadas don’t care. They will continue this amazing cycle regardless of what we crazy humans do.

PHOTO GEEK FOOTNOTE:

These images were captured with a Canon 7D using a 50 mm/ f2.5 macro lens. I shot at the lowest ISO possible, mostly 100 and tried to have an f/stop of at least 5.6. so I could get some nice depth of field. I sometimes used my 580 EXII flash bounced off a reflector if I needed extra light. All images were captured RAW and were converted to jpeg using Aperture. I finalized the images in Photoshop using Totally Rad Actions.

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Snapshots from the Hill

I have lived in Chapel Hill since 1991. I moved here at age 18 to attend UNC and just never left! Even though I am not a native, like any Chapel Hill native I know WCHL, 1360 a.m. During March Madness nearly all locals turn the television down while watching days of basketball so they can hear commentary by WCHL. I also tune in to get my political junkie fix by listening to Stephanie Miller in the a.m. So after knowing this station for years I am so excited to be chosen as one of their Local Buzz columnists!

My column is called SNAPSHOTS FROM THE HILL.

The description of the column:

-A column about photography and the stories behind the pictures. Kristin Prelipp Oguntoyinbo, owner of KPO Photo in downtown Carrboro, has spent her adult life telling stories with her camera — capturing the everyday and extraordinary with her camera lens. She graduated from the UNC Chapel Hill School of Journalism and worked for The Chapel Hill News and The News & Observer before founding KPO Photo in 2001. Kristin’s passions revolve around this amazing community we live in — raising her three children, cultivating her garden, and documenting the important moments in her clients’ lives. She writes about the art of photography and the local people and happenings she has met and experienced while exploring her craft. She is very open to suggestions for stories. If you know of a person or event you think deserves to be documented, please write to her at kpophoto@chapelboro.com.

How to Better Photograph Your Children | Tip 6

This is the sixth in an eight-part series that will post each week through May. This series was created by me, Kristin Prelipp Oguntoyinbo, for the amateur family photographer. These tips are simple, quick things you can do to vastly improve the photos you take. I will be using photos that I have taken in my role as the family photographer, not images taken with high end cameras, complicated techniques nor studio lighting. These are images that ANYONE can take, many of them shot with a point and shoot camera.

TIP 6: NATURAL LIGHT

Professional photographers spend years learning how to work with light. The goal is to make their artificial light look like beautiful, Rembrandt-style, natural light. But why spend all that time learning how to modify light when the real thing is right in front of you? I am going to show three examples of using natural light versus the on-camera flash. For those of you using a point and shoot, you may have to consult your camera manual to learn how to turn the automatic flash off, when you so choose. Also, in darker situations, it would be nice to know how to turn your ISO up a bit, maybe to 800 if you can.

My first example is shooting indoors at night. Roman’s birthday is right before Christmas and Leo’s is right after, so the holidays are really big for us. It is right before bed and Roman is playing with his new train that he received as a birthday present from his Grandma and Grandpa Oguntoyinbo. First I photograph him using the on-camera flash. This photo is fine for capturing the action but it is rather bland.

In this second version I turned the flash off. I think that this image captures the scene much better- a quiet, dark room with the beautiful, twinkly Christmas lights. The only caveat with using no flash indoors is if you inadvertently shake camera the image will be blurry. In this case, I was down laying on my stomach on the floor. I put my elbows on the floor and used my body as a tripod so that the camera did not shake.

Next we are indoors but during the day this time. Most point and shoot cameras automatically turn on the flash when you are indoors. Often there is plenty of good light indoors to use. At least it is worth a try! In the first example the automatic flash came on. This illuminates the subjects closest to the flash but almost always renders the background very dark. In this case my background is ugly and messy, (see Tip 4) so maybe that was a small blessing, but normally I would like to see what is going on in the perimeter as it adds detail and information to your image.

In the image below I tried again. I used a plain background and had the girls close to a large window with the flash off. I think this works much better!

Finally, we are outside in front of a bonfire. First I let the on-camera flash do it’s thing. Again, this is not a horrible photo but the second photo with the flash off captures the mood of the evening much better, don’t you think?


Did you miss the fifth tip? Click HERE to read it. You can also read all of the tips on our FACEBOOK or TWITTER page.

How to Better Photograph Your Children | Tip 4

This is the fourth part in an eight-part series that will post each week through the first week of May. This series was created by me, Kristin Prelipp Oguntoyinbo, for the amateur family photographer. These tips are simple, quick things you can do to vastly improve the photos you take. I will be using photos that I have taken in my role as the family photographer, not images taken with high end cameras, complicated techniques nor studio lighting. These are images that ANYONE can take, many of them shot with a point and shoot camera.

TIP 4: WATCH THE BACKGROUND

It seems counter intuitive, but any successful photograph BEGINS with the background. A bad background can ruin an otherwise amazing photo. Think of how a painter would work on the background first and then, layer by layer, add the protagonists. When filling up your rectangle (see tip 1) pick a clean or pleasing background so that you can focus on the action, aka. your family.

HERE IS HOW NOT TO DO IT! So here we are in August in North Carolina. It is a hot as Hades and I am at home with a full slumber party of five- my children and their Prelipp Lojk cousins. They had not seen each other all summer so the mood was very festive. The kids were having a raucous game that involved balloons, teams, rules incomprehensible to me and A LOT of screaming. I first tried photographing them in a direction with a really busy background. The detritus of my life, closets, toys, a chair fort, etc. made for a very busy background. So you can hardly focus in on the action.

When shooting digital you can just look at the back of your camera to see how things are looking. I could see right away that the background was too busy. So, I just took a position at the opposite end of the room to get a different view point. The result is below.

Now, with this nice clean background I could just follow the game until I got the right mix of elements. I tend to take a lot of photographs while I am at it. When shooting digital, why not?

Before I put the camera away, I took a quick photo of my favorite people.

Did you miss the second tip? Click HERE to read it. You can also read all of the tips on our FACEBOOK or TWITTER page.

How to Better Photograph Your Children | Tip 3

This is the third part in an eight-part series that will post each week through the first week of May. This series was created by me, Kristin Prelipp Oguntoyinbo, for the amateur family photographer. These tips are simple, quick things you can do to vastly improve the photos you take. I will be using photos that I have taken in my role as the family photographer, not images taken with my high end cameras, complicated techniques and studio lighting. These are images that ANYONE can take, many of them shot with a point and shoot camera.

TIP 3: GET UP. GET DOWN. GET MOVING!
When you photograph your family without being intentional about it, most of your photos are taken from the same eye level. While some photos are great taken from that level, if all are taken that way it makes for some pretty boring photos. Here is an example of what most people do: line up kids, stand upright, raise camera to eye level and shoot before one child wanders off.

I am not saying the above photo is a bad photo. It serves its purpose of documenting the kids at Christmas. But like any holiday, many photos are taken and wouldn’t it be nice to see some variety? Get low. Get high. Move in close. Back up to get a wide view of the scene. Take vertical and horizontal photos depending on what fills up the viewfinder better (see TIP 1).

For the image above I wanted to see the look on Roman’s face as he opened presents, so I shot from up high.

For the image on the left I got down low so I could see Leo’s cute face under his huge Santa hat. In the image on the right I actually got in the bathtub and stood on the edge so I could have a nice, high vantage point from which to see these kids “helping” to wash baby Luke.

Oh, and yes, I am aware of the fact that my family has a freakish amount of holiday sweaters and outfits! I have my darling mother to thank for that.

Did you miss the second tip? Click HERE to read it.