Basically, a catch-light is that little glint of light in the eye that adds a hint of life to the eye. In this image here, I have deliberately removed the light from the eyes in the portrait on the left. As you can see (I hope), the little sparks of light add a spark of life.

Now you see them, now you don't

How to get the catch-lights there? Well, that’s all part of the fun.

The easiest way is with flash, but you need to try to get the flash away from directly in front of the eye. In good light, the on-board flash will work but in low light, you need to watch for the dreaded red-eye.

If you can use an accessory flash, that would be even better. Hot shoe flashes tend to be higher above the plane of shooting so give a nice highlight. As well, you could invest in an off-shoe cord (or even wireless triggers) to really get the flash away from dead centre.

There are a number of non-flash ways to get catch-lights as well. Just using an alternate supplementary light source will help. In the shot above, I have three light sources. An accessory flash used off camera and two household lamps for that little extra. Any highly reflective object (mirrors, sheets, white paper or a proper reflector) can help by directing a fixed light source to where you want it.

Probably the nicest though, is to use a natural light source such as a well lit window. This has a couple of bonuses: 1) it’s free; 2) it’s fixed; 3) with a sharp lens you get a wonderful reflection in the eye; and, 4) if the light is soft enough (use a curtain if needs be) you get a wonderful soft light for your portrait.

Whatever you choose to do, just try it and see. When looking to do a portrait (animal or human) really look for where the light is and see what a difference it makes. Humans should be easy but animals are a little harder … especially wild ones. However, moving so a light source is at an angle coming from behind you and then getting (or waiting for) the beastie to look at you will get that catch-light there. I know that since learning this tip, I wait that little longer for my bird shots until I see that highlight, and then … bang, down goes the button!

Filling your subject with a little flash (no innuendo intended) helps to reduce shadow and contrast and will give a colour kick in most situations. The shot to the right of a little tractor on the beach has been ‘amplified’ with some fill flash.What this does is to allow you to use strong angular light, for modelling of textures, but get colour into the darker spots which would normally be blocked up or muddy from lack of light. If you can control your flash output, either by de-powering it or putting some form of mask over it, this will balance the image and not make it look too artificial. There are any number of tools you can use to assist here from the extremely simple (tissue or baking paper over the flash) through to the expensive and more technical such as bouncers or diffusers. Just remember, the aim here is to supplement available light, not to overpower or replace. Fill flash is a useful technique but when used wrong, can lead to some seriously unnatural looking shots.

Most SLR cameras will allow some form of Fill-Flash mode which can be used day or night to throw a little light on the subject while keeping the background exposed properly.

The other thing that fill flash allows is to get a little catch-light into your subjects (human or animal) eyes. I will go into this in another tip, but sufficed to say, catch-lights in the eye work wonders for adding sparkle to your image … and fill-flash helps when there is no other source of light around.

Second one first – with memory cards getting cheaper by the hour, there is no excuse for shooting in a small size to save room. It may mean you need to do a little more work back on the computer but you will always have the largest image available to start with. That way, if you decide to crop the image to focus on a particular element, there will be far less loss of quality.

Also, don’t be tempted to shoot in anyting other than Fine mode. The way that the computer in your camera makes the image smaller is by throwing away ‘unnecessary’ pixels. But remember – once gone is gone!! Be greedy and keep them for yourself. In Fine mode, it throws away the least amount of pixels so you have more picture to work with.

Now the other part – don’t let the processor decide what looks good for you. If you can tell it to back-off, do so … no sharpening, no colour enhancement, no additional contrast. When shooting in JPEG, the image is created with the attributes you shot it with. In RAW mode, the attributes are ‘attached’ to the image so can be changed later.

Therefore, to give you the greatest amount of flexibility, try to tone down anything the camera is going to do to the image. Your image should still be very usable from the camera, but there are few things worse than only taking one shot of a special image and then realising you don’t like the way the camera has ‘fixed’ it for you. It is always possible to do something with the shot later, but better to do it with a neutral starting point.

One of the paths to improving your imagery is learning to ‘see’ – part of learning to see is to catch (when you can) that which has caught your attention. When you are learning to visualise, it doesn’t really matter about mega-pixels, resolution or other ‘quality’ related issues. What really matters is to record what you are seeing and then to study it later to understand what stood out for you. Understanding the play of light, the relationship of objects and the importance of low clutter levels can be determined from just about any image source. Shoot and learn!

Next – learn the limitations of your equipment … and then exploit those limitations for creativity. With a fully featured SLR, it is unlikely that you will find all the limits of your camera … but that won’t be the same for a compact digital or a phone-cam. Knowing there are limits will then push your creativity buttons. You will either have to learn how to achieve the shot you’re thinking of, or learn how to adjust your visualisation to match the equipment. Whatever you’re choice, it should lead to some interesting shots.

Finally, there will be no excuse for missing the shot. I learnt this myself as I commuted by bicycle or foot, back and forth to work – especially in Autumn and Spring – when I would miss the most magnificent sunsets for the lack of a camera. Off I went and procured a small compact to stay in my back-pack. Initially, I considered the compacts that nearly matched my D-SLR for features … until I was reminded what the purpose of this camera was for. Once that happened, I focussed on a compact with a nice wide-angle of shot as that is the most common type of image I am looking for when on the move. So now, I am satisfied that everything from a glorious sunset over the mountains to a close-up of a praying mantis eating a bee will not escape me again.

Taken with a Nokia 6233 Mobile Phone on Straddie

Have you ever noticed that the majority of photos appear to be taken from the same point of view … averaged to about 5′ 8″?

Basically, the average photographer, standing perfectly upright, will simply bring the camera up to the eye and then press the shutter button. Thereby guaranteeing that the PoV of the shot will match just about everyone else’s view.

Simply by standing on something, or kneeling/crouching/lying down, you will immediately make a difference to your shots.

Wear clothing that can take a small beating – it’s worth the laundry effort.Many a time, I have been seen lying flat out on the ground getting the shot from a different angle. Even lying on your back and shooting upwards gives you a totally fresh view of the world.

There is at least one more advantage to the fully prone position. You are almost immediately in a more stable position which should give you a sharper shot.
Shot while lying across a dirt path in a State Forest

So, get an immediate reward by adding this tip to the previous one. Not only will you be getting the shot from a different place, you will also add a level of intrigue as viewers of your images wonder just how it was that you managed to get that shot from that angle!

This shot from Stradbroke Island, was achieved by listening to a keen fisherman and budding photographer … my Father-in-Law.

He showed me a place that I never knew existed, right below where I had taken plenty of dawn shots before. Of course, you still need to be able to find where you want to be, so scouting around is critical.

What it meant for me is that I could get another view of a place I love to go, but was starting to get a bit jaded. As I was taking similar shots from the same locations, it’s easy to no longer ‘see’ what you used to and to become dis-heartened.

So, when you get somewhere that other folks are already at, or it’s a place you frequented before, try looking left, right, up and down to see if there is a new angle that others may not have noticed. Alternatively, go for a walk or talk to a local and see if they know somewhere you’ve never spotted.