Legit Rocket Photography

You really cannot get a good picture at high noon on a sunny day. I learned this when our good friends Jim and Michelle asked me to take an engagement photo for them. I had actually never done anything like it before and just figured that we would go somewhere pretty and good pictures would happen. Instead, many of the pictures had my friends squinting through harsh shadows while I tried using some fill flash to compensate. Totally by happenstance though, Michelle suggested that we go down by a lagoon. That's where we got the best shots. They worked because the hard sun was frittering off of the calm water and lighting my friends evenly, resulting in some of my favorite pictures.

If you have ever wondered why people's kids and pets have such huge eyes on Facebook, it is probably accidental. Most cell phones have a focal length of around 29mm (35mm equiv.). That's a very wide angle that suits most point-and-shoot situations, but also has the effect of making a person or animal's nose and eyes look huge from close range. Here are a couple of pictures of our dog Basil taken days apart. The right-hand photo was taken with a wide angle lens that gives her puppy eyes and a bulbous nose, even though she is making almost the same expression as on the left.