The Digital Photography Companion

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TAKE PORTRAITS YOUR SUBJECTS WILL LOVE

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How do I…? ose are the first three words in any photography question, aren’t they?

Most of the time you know what you want to do: capture that sunset; take a pretty

portrait; preserve the memory of that monument. e trick is to know how to see the

world the way your camera does.

is is such an important point that I’m going to tell you a story about my evolution as

a photographer. Back in the slide film days, I struggled with getting the exposure right.

My slides rarely turned out as I remembered the scenes. My pictures were always too

light or too dark.

I went to a talk by noted wildlife photographer Galen Rowell to learn whatever I could

about how he captured those beautiful pictures I had seen in magazines. At one point

he stopped, then remarked, “e trick is to know how to see the world the way film

does.”

Once I realized that my eyes can distinguish about twice as much dynamic range as film

can, I was on my way to taking better pictures. e funny thing is, all these years later,

the notion still applies. Except now we’re using image sensors instead of film.

And that brings me back to what you’re going to learn here: how to see the world

through the lens of your camera, and then capture the parts of it that are important to

you. I won’t be covering every conceivable situation in this chapter ...