Using Natural Light

Focal Point Camera Club's November presentation was given by me, and it covered some of the technical and practical points involved in seeking out and capturing naturally-lit scenes. I have made an abbreviated version of the PowerPoint available as a download to club members.

I will gladly field any questions in the comments section of the blog, and I invite anyone with an opinion to chime in as well. I will also field e-mail questions, but I will probably just end up posting them anonymously in the comments section in an effort to make the discussions as diverse and community-wide as possible.



Here is the abbreviated version of Using Natural Light. The password was sent with the original e-mail. If you've misplaced the e-mail, the password is the club president's first name all in lowercase letters.

An outline of what was covered:

Technical	f/8 & Be There
RAW & JPEG	Magic Hour/Golden Hour Aplenglow
Exposing Right	Night
Bracketing	Difficult Light Daylight & Noon
Color Temperature White Balance	Macro
	Filters

I planned on handing out a few website URLs to go along with some of the points I was talking about. Off the top of my head, The Luminous Landscape is a great resource, especially this article on exposing right. Posted just today (Nov. 21) is an article entitled JPG Follies, which touches on flexibility in white balance and correcting exposure "mishaps".

The November 2007 issue of Popular Photography had an article on RAW vs. JPEG with a brief, but beneficial slideshow featuring some images from the talented Marc Adamus.

A few other resources that I didn't use in writing this presentation, but are useful to have at one's disposal: fredmiranda.com (especially the forums, with a grain of salt), Nature Photographers Online Magazine, POTN (Canon), and The Radiant Vista (Photoshop tutorials, critiques).

Again, feel free to ask questions in the comment section. I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.