Finding a killer location without a killer location

Posted on May 31, 2011
Filed Under Lexia Frank, Photos | 5 Comments

So, we live in suburbia, and there is a serious lack of unique photography locations close by. Every house is the same, there is no character to where we live. If I want character, I’ve got to drive at least a half hour or more and then I’m just driving around trying to find something, ANYTHING unique that I can use as a location.

But lately, I’ve been trying to find the beauty in the here-and-now, in the everyday, in the right-under-your-nose. With photography you have the power to create a scene, to create an atmosphere, to create a mood.

This is the field that is right next to our house. It’s tiny, and completely surrounded by busy noisy roads, telephone wires, intersections, and fast food joints.

The upside was that it was RIGHT NEXT TO OUR HOUSE which is convenient when you have two little babies who are nearing their bedtime, that there were little yellow flowers, and the sun was getting low and creating a beautiful rich light.

So it went from the above pictures to this…

and this…

I should note that these photos do not have any post processing work on them at all- these are straight out of the camera (SOOC). They were shot with a Nikon D3s, a 70-200mm lens wide open at f2.8 and shutter speed 1000 with ISO 200. They were also shot by my lovely husband who thought maybe I needed to get out from behind the camera for once.

Ok, so what the heck?! Why does it look like I’m standing in a HUGE field that stretches for miles on end in a dreamland of beauty and light? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE INTERSECTION. My friends, this is the beauty of knowing your equipment and trusting your artistic self. It’s also the beauty of composition and cropping out what you don’t want.

And the dreamy hazy light? Yep, it’s only because we’re shooting into the sun, which you can learn more about by reading this post on outdoor lighting.

Here are some tips for turning a so-so spot into a killer location to shoot:

Choose your lens wisely:

Because we used a 70-200mm lens (which is a telephoto lens) and shot wide open with the aperture at f2.8, we knew the background would fall completely out of focus. The longer your lens is (the more telephoto it is) the greater depth of field you will have- meaning only a sliver of your photograph will be in focus (in this case, it was me and my boys) and the rest will fall out of focus in the background creating some beautiful bokeh (blur). I knew we needed this because if there were any chance of those pesky roads being in the photograph I wanted them as out of focus as possible. All of that blurry background makes it look like we’re in a field that goes on for days and days. A wide angle lens seems like it would be the wise choice because you want to show lots of the field, but if you do that you’ll also be showing lots of the road which totally ruins the photograph. The telephoto, in this case, was a much better choice because it’s actually quite a tight crop (meaning, not a lot of the field is in the photograph) but because of the fall-off of focus it appears to go on and on and on behind and in front of us. If we would have used a wide angle lens we would have seen ALL the roads along the edges. Also, for those of you who don’t have thousands of dollars to spend on a telephoto, a 50mm f1.4 would have worked as well, just get in closer to your subjects.

Crop, crop, crop. Think of your composition:

When there is lots of extraneous stuff going on you want to compose tightly. Cut out that road! It was tricky here, because dustin had to stand on a bit of a hill to get this shot composed correctly. When he stood on the same level ground that I was, the road behind me looked as if it was intersecting my head, and he wanted it out of the photograph completely. His fix was to get higher than us (just about a foot, you cant even tell from the photograph) so that he was shooting slightly downward at us, just enough so that the road appeared higher than my head, and he was able to just cut it out of the photograph completely. Look again… there is no horizon line. That is why the photograph looks like the field goes on forever, because, in the photograph, it does.

This is when YOUR perspective (the photographer’s perspective) plays a crucial role in the quality of a picture. Sometimes I have to lie on the ground to minimize background issues, sometimes I have to stand on tables. It’s all about getting the subject in a clear spot, an uninterrupted background.

Look at it this way. Here is a shot of the grass when I pointed my camera straight down. It looks rough, dry, sparce, and kind of sickly.

here it is again, that very same patch of grass when I crouched down and shot THROUGH the grass.

Now it looks full, thick, dreamy. It’s only because I’ve changed my perspective and layered all that grass together to create some depth, thickness, and interest.

So really, it’s all about working with what you have. You don’t have to have an amazing location, cool props, or anything at all really. You just need to know your camera and lenses (ps… are we all shooting manual now? If not, you’ll need to learn it to get that dreamy light. Check out the post about manual settings here), and experiment with ways to crop out unwanted items (getting in nice and close to your subjects, changing your perspective, changing THEIR perspective, using a different lens, etc). Use what you have and make it yours.

Ok, one more example just for good measure.

I photographed an incredible Indian Sikh wedding in Milwaukee a couple of weeks ago and I was kind of freakin out. The indoor lighting was not ideal, and unfortunately it was CHILLY (ie, ridiculously cold) and we couldn’t necessarily spend all day in the frigid weather. Scrambling to find a good location I stumbled upon this walkway from the garage to the main hotel. It was not ideal but it had two things going for it: it had the only good source of natural light in the entire place and 2) it was long, which would create some nice depth.

So, with that crappy walkway I created this image with the bride standing with her back against a window

And this image utilizing a wide open aperture to create a shallow depth of field to eliminate distracting backgrounds and create some dimension.

Client trust is paramount in this; I prefaced this location with, “It doesn’t look like much, but it has incredible light. It will really, really make a difference in your photographs, and if it were me being photographed today, THIS is the place I would want to be.”

Normally, I don’t show my clients the images I take on the back of my camera, but in a situation like this I will show them one or two sneak peeks so they gain a little bit more confidence. I mean, I wouldn’t feel confident if someone was shooting me in a dingy walkway either!

Have you ever had a situation where you hated your location? Do you have good locations you love to photograph in? any locations you’ve thought were terrible that ended up great? I want to hear your location horror stories or success stories!

Light: Using whatever you’ve got!

Posted on May 18, 2011
Filed Under Lexia Frank, Lighting, Photos | 3 Comments

So by now, I’m hoping that you are starting to put together that lighting is super important. Without good light you don’t have a good picture. But you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on expensive studio lights, strobes, soft boxes, or diffusers. You just have to understand how to play with your light and manipulate it. And more importantly (if you’re on a budget), where to FIND light.

Because I photograph a lot of events, there are times that I really don’t have a lot of control over the lighting situation. This can be super stressful and there have been so many times that I’ve had to just wing it and shoot from the hip while trying to look cool, calm, and collected. Really, I’m totally freaking out inside wondering how in the world I’m going to get a decent shot.

The trick is finding good light when you don’t have any (I.e. no flashes, no studio lights, etc).

Here are some examples of what I’ve done when I’ve been in a serious pickle:

This shot was taken in a super dark hotel; I loved the dramatic light that was coming from the spotlights from the ceiling. I had my model look up into the light for a little bit of drama. If I would have had him look straight at me, his face would have been lost in shadow and attention would have been called to the bright light spilling on top of his head.

Here’s another example of the same exact scenario:

You can use literally anything at all to light your subject. A flashlight, a regular lamp (pending you have a long enough cord to maneuver around your subject). I’ve even seen people light their models with iPads or iPhones) . All I’m saying is that you can get pretty creative and use whatever you have.

Just remember, adjust your white balance to your main light. That means, if you’re using a more florescent light (like an iPad), you need to set your white balance to “florescent” on your camera, otherwise your picture is going to look blue. If you’re using a regular light bulb, set your white balace to “tungsten,” or your picture will look orange. But, if worse comes to worse, and you cant get a decent white balance setting, or your mixing too many different color temperatures you can always turn it to grayscale (black and white!)

Here are some more creative examples:

This shot of the wedding rings was taken at the reception. It is set up on the stairs of the resort and those orange lights in the background are actually rope lights that were illuminating the edge of the next step up. I lit the rings with a flashlight coming from the right hand side of the camera. Super cheap lighting… and I like it.

This shot was lit with a video light that cost us less than $50, but you could do the same thing with almost any portable light source.

It’s really just a matter of getting creative and finding the light. Next time you’re out at night, start looking at what’s around (street lights, neon signs on store fronts, up-lighting on the side of buildings, car headlights, your cell phone) and start thinking of how you can take those available (and, umm…. free) lights and use them like you would a light in a photography studio. It’s going to make you a smarter photographer and also make your wallet (or in my case, my husband!) happy.

Comfort food

Posted on May 11, 2011
Filed Under Photos | 2 Comments

The Boss has been making a valiant effort to maintain a positive attitude ever since the Lakers were eliminated from the playoffs, but I can see the sadness creep up often. He’ll let out a cold, dramatic sigh, take a long hard look at one of his Lakers shirts, or the saddest (and cutest) is when he just quietly hangs his head. I know he’s taken this loss to heart so the other night for dinner, I made his favorite comfort food: homemade tomato soup (with a side of Texas toast from the grocery store). And in an extended effort to lift his spirits, I threw in an extra sprinkling of cheese.

Talking fashion

Posted on May 10, 2011
Filed Under Photos | 2 Comments

These were the lovely women with whom I spoke on a panel with last week in Minneapolis. From left to right: Lisa Stone, Bethany Gale, Melanie Shankle from big mama, Reagan Breinholt from Reagans’ Blob and Sally McGraw from Already Pretty. Melanie, Reagan and I changed back into our travel clothes right after our meeting and then all of us got a few minutes to relax and chat before we headed out to the airport. I knew this was going to be a quick trip, but after meeting some of these wonderful women for the first time, it really felt too short; I hope to be back in Minneapolis for a similar affair soon.

Graves 601, Minneapolis

Posted on May 9, 2011
Filed Under Photos | 1 Comment

I was in Minneapolis last week for a business trip and stayed at the Graves 601, a beautiful hotel in the heart of downtown. I didn’t bring a camera but snapped a few pictures with my cell phone from my overnighter.

I had the most perfectly poached eggs I’ve ever had in my life for breakfast at this hotel. They were so beautifully done, when they arrived up to my room, I thought the chef sent me a complimentary bowl of cotton candy. I should totally have left a note in the suggestion box.

The bathroom in my room (which was lovely) reminded me of this video we filmed for Newlyweds Dish regarding privacy between spouses. Though the half door for the shower felt intimate and serene, the half door for the toilet felt a little…uh…like…THERE WAS ONLY HALF A DOOR FOR THE TOILET. I didn’t have to share my room with anyone, but if I’d had to, you better believe I would have channeled my 10-year-old self and made a fort out of the couch cushions to make up for the missing half of this door.

 

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