CORRECTING COLOR IN SHADY SITUATIONS- Watch out for blue light. Believe it or not, but very heavy shade gives off a blue tint. Our eyes normally adjust in high contrast areas, such as going from a bright sunny day, to walking under a large shade tree, but a blue tint does exist in shade. I remember actually noticing the blue tint produced from the shade this summer as we were walking through the park. The brighter the day, the darker the tree, and the more contrast between the two, the more noticable the blue tint. To avoid the blue tint added to the natural skin tones, you have 2 main options. First, many cameras have built in "filters". These "mock filters" come from the days of film when you would actually place a color tinted glass filter on your camera to correct the tint. Now, shade does not produce a large amount of blue just enough to be noticable, so your camera adds a bit of red to counter the blue produced by the shade. Some cameras do a better job than others. If you camera does not have a "mock filter" shade setting or you do not like the results produced, do not fear as you can always add a bit of red to your picture in any editing program. If you look closely, you can see the slight blue tint on the skin tones in the second picture here, I think that I corrected it a bit, but it could use another pass.

"CHEAP TRICKS"
Portraits- Using Natural Light.


If you are wanting a portrait of a family member or friend like the one here, try a few "cheap tricks" to get great results. First of all, sit your model in front of a large window in your house and use the natural sunlight that comes in indirectly through the window. Make sure all the other lights are off in the room so that you don't mix lighting types. Now, you don't want to have direct light from the sun, but the indirect light that comes through the window will be plenty and help keep natural skin tones. After taking a few shots you will see that having the model face the widow straight on and to an angle will get different lighting results. Now to take the picture, it may get a bit tricky. You will want to back up against the window and shoot from a slightly upper angle. It gets tricky because this shot will most likely be low light for the cameras you are using, so the shutter will automaticaly stay open long enough for proper exposure, which means you may get a blurry image from camera shake. Because of this, you will most likely need a tripod ($10 at walmart I think), or shelf to set your camera on (with books to help angle it), and don't forget to tell your model to hold still during the shot. The only other thing to remember is to watch your background for "noise". Hanging a black or dark sheet can help to fix this as well. This "cheap trick" should hopefully help to get some sweet, cheap shots! Good luck and let me see some samples!