When I'm interacting with someone in just about any environment, I'm totally listening to what they're saying, but there's a good chance there are a couple other things going on in my head. First, I'm looking at how the light is falling on their face. Do they have catchlights, and how are those catchlights positioned? I'm thinking about how much better they would look if they just turned their head a little this way or moved to a different spot. What does the light look like on my own face? If I turned my head a little or switched places at the table with them, would I look better?
The other thing I'm doing is Photoshopping their face. I'm getting rid of their blemishes, wrinkles, etc. Yes, I admit it. You probably do it too. And, of course, I've done it to my own face in the mirror plenty of times. If only I could do all those cool Photoshop things to my face for real with a quick swipe of a Wacom pen!
I can't help it. It's just how my brain works these days. I admit it. It's sick. But when you live and breathe photography your mind starts to do some crazy things. You don't have to let anyone know what you're thinking....
I was also noting the other day that another photography thing was going through my mind, and it relates to aperture, shutter speeds and ISO (the three tools you use to manage your exposure). I was sitting across the table from my guy at a restaurant. His back was to the window, so I was looking towards him, with the bright outdoors behind him. I observed that I couldn't really see his face because the light outside was so bright. I could see outside into the bright parking lot perfectly, but his face was really, really dark. That's because I've decided that the pupil of my eye is like a camera on shutter priority mode. The amount of time I was leaving my eyes open didn't change, but the bright light caused my pupil to shrink way down to adjust for the whole scene (like to f/16), causing his face to become very dark. Alternatively, had my eyes been set to aperture priority mode it would have adjusted my shutter speed -- how long I leave my eyes open -- and I would look like a freak with my eyes closed most of the time and just open for quick little slices of time. You know when you're on an automatic shooting mode and you take a photo outside of someone on a bright day and their face is really dark but you can see the stuff behind them? Your eyes and your camera are doing the same thing!
As a last note, I think my blue eyes are a higher ISO than other people's. In other words they are much more sensitive. I seem to need sunglasses (otherwise known as a neutral density filter if you ignore the fact that they may be tinted) more than most people.
I know this all sounds a little nuts, but I think it's a very helpful way of thinking about how your aperture, shutter speed and ISO work together. Maybe someone will find this explanation to be the missing piece that gives them that aha moment they've been waiting for!
Very informative and I admit that I would love to be able to photoshop my flaws away in real life, without having to do plastic surgery.lol.
Posted by: Lisa Little | April 14, 2010 at 11:11 AM
hahaha! this is all so very true!
Posted by: Becca | April 16, 2010 at 07:08 AM
After we figure out how to Photoshop our faces in real life, let's invent an invisible photo-friendly pacifier. That's my other fantasy.
Posted by: Mary Lynne | April 16, 2010 at 08:11 AM
lol - I love this post...and I'm a nut right along with you!!
Although I have not thought of the pupil/aperture/blink/shutter correlation...too funny!
Posted by: Amanda Radovic | April 20, 2010 at 08:13 PM
loved your post.
Posted by: Sean | July 04, 2011 at 12:16 AM