Where's the light?! Taking better (phone) pictures!

      Last week, I decided to offer up my services to a local business owner (betting on some free Frozen Yogurt!) at their Ribbon Cutting Event!  Not only did I get some fun shots for Yo Fresh Yogurt Cafe, but I was also inspired to write this post after helping a person taking a picture with Mrs. Michigan Stacie Zotkovich!  Get your phone and get ready to see the light!!

     I have become a big fan of Yo Fresh Yogurt Cafe in Brighton Michigan... TOO big a fan I'm afraid...  So I was more than happy to donate my time to my fellow Chamber of Commerce friend by getting a few shots of the Ribbon Cutting ceremony.

     I had been shooting that morning images of my step-son on the four wheeler (see last blog post for images and the video of me eating a lot of dust!).  I had to run home, clean out my gear and then head over to YoFresh in a matter of minutes.  I slapped my flash and Gary Fong diffuser on top, not remembering that I had just emptied out the batteries to replace with fresh ones... DOH!!!  So when I arrived at the event, I found out that I couldn't use any flash inside the dark(ish) cafe.  I had a couple of options:

1. Bump up the ISO for lower light photography.  (negative: could get "noisy" or grainy)
2. Lower the speed and/or the f/stop.  (negative: slow shutter speed could cause blur, I had to take a big group picture, so a low f/stop might mean only a handful of folks would be in focus!)

     As you can see, this was not going to be easy.  BUT... I did notice that the light coming in from the beautiful big windows was great!  I just had to make sure I kept it at my back as much as possible.  And so should you!

     As you can see from the image below, Mike and Pam were a little farther away from the window, which meant for a little darker, not as soft light.  It's still usable, but you can see from the image above that the quality of light is different.

 
     Here, you can see that I had moved these pretty ladies closer to the window!

 How did this happen?  In the image above, I had noticed someone taking this picture of the two ladies together, when I stopped them and turned the subjects towards the window.  Before, the image would have looked dark and the sun would have over exposed the windows and under exposed the subjects.  Having the subjects face the light gave the iPhone photographer a much better light and a better chance at a sharper and more pleasant looking image!

     So the point of the story:  If you are in a room and need better light, just look before you shoot!  Look for the light, where it's coming from and the quality to get better images.  Give it a try!

Robb