One thing that I’m going to spend some time during the shoot working on is exposure.  I know it sounds silly to still be working on exposure since that’s what photography is all about.  But I’ve found that exposure is not as easy to understand as it seems.  Sure I could can rely on my meter and move the dials until the meter indicates a “correct exposure”.  The problem with this is that there is no “correct exposure” that will be “correct” all the time.  My meter might tell me that the correct exposure for a composition might be ƒ8 1/125th sec. but if I shift my composition slightly, the meter might make me jump to 1/200th sec. TTL  meters in most of today’s cameras are good but I know that my in camera meter doens’t always give me the image I want when it reads a “correct exposure”.

I find that my camera’s meter is about 1/2-2/3rds of a stop to bright.  This is great for bringing out details in the dark areas of an image but it tends to blow out the highlights which is worse.  I’d rather play it safe and lose the detail in the shadows if I can retain the details in the brighter areas of my image.  One of the ways to do this is to take notice of the histogram view after the image is captured.  Making sure that the graph shows me data in the middle of the histogram.  If the graph is touching the left edge, the image will be too dark.  If the graph is touching the right side of the histogram, then the image contains blown out highlights.  By making sure that the graph stays in the middle of the image ensures a good exposure with good contrast and saturation.  I will of course see how this works during the shoot with Jillian and report back later….

Jillian - Nov. 17 2008

On Monday, I had the privilege of shooting with a very talented and beautiful model named Jillian who was visiting Oahu.  When we initially talked about the shoot and locations she had mentioned shooting at a waterfall.  I was hesitant because I have spent a great deal of time hiking in the woods of Oahu trying to find a suitable waterfall and each time I try to find one, it never works out.  So we agreed on a stream location that she knew about.  So we set off on our adventure and it was an adventure.  we got turned around a few times and had to double back in order to find this super secret and extremely beautiful stream.

Jillian - Nov. 17 2008

Once we found it I knew it was going to be an amazing shoot.  we started off with some very basic shots on the stream bank.  playing in and around the trees and rocks.  It was raining and luckily JIllian brought an umbrella.  So I borrowed it to keep the camera dry while we shot which was an interesting way to shoot. I only wish I had a picture of myself holding the umbrella as we shot so I could see how silly I looked.

At one point during the shoot we found ourselves in the stream.  Jillian was posing on various rocks and I found myself knee deep in water just hoping that I could keep the camera from getting wet.  It was a real challenge because through out the shoot I felt that my mobility was stifled.  Normally I’m all over the place getting different angles of poses.  but because of the water I felt that I had to stay still.  Jillian did a lot to help me remember that I needed to get to different perspectives of each pose.

Jillian - Nov. 17 2008

All in all we both had a great time creating art under what can only be decribed as challenging conditions.