An simple technique to create a professional looking photograph

Here's an easy to use formula to create the photo below. All you need is a black sheet and a large window with lots of soft light streaming in. I used a north-facing window, which has indirect sunlight shining in and bought ten feet of velvety black material for $5 from Michael's fabric store.

Drape one end of the black sheet over a table or back of a chair. Lay the opposite end on the floor. Sit your baby on the floor on top of the black sheet, her back to the raised end of the sheet so you have a nice, black background in your photo. Turn baby's body a little into the window to preserve her modesty. Get your camera down to baby's eye level or a little higher. Use up the full roll of film, or around 30-40 shots if using a digital camera. Figure that most of your images will be rejects due to camera shake, baby turning her head, closed eyes, etc. Out of an entire roll of film hopefully two or three images will be just right.

Take your film to your local developer. Make sure they will reprint photos on request because I promise the images will not be exposed correctly by their automated machines. When you receive the prints, look over them and choose the one or two best images. Your prints will likely show the black sheet as grey and the image overall will appear dull and flat. Tell them you want the black sheet printed as pure black instead of the dull grey and make the baby brighter. They'll adjust their machine to boost contrast, clip the black level, and clip the white level. Hopefully the operator will also view the image on the machine's preview screen to see if it looks better. They'll say "ok" and to come back later. When you come back the second time hopefully your prints will look similar to the image below - a velvety black background and bright highlights that give the print a full range of contrast. This is the key to the photo - a full contrast range from deep black background to bright skin tones.

Photo taken next to my window using an SLR and inexpensive but sharp 50 mm prime at f/1.8 using a black sheet.

After trying out this technique, you might decide that you really enjoy photography and want to take more photos. Here are some suggestions:

Have a human adjust your print exposure, brightness, and contrast settings

Try slide film instead of print film

More photographic careers have been inspired by looking at a perfectly exposed slide for the first time. It really is shocking how good they can look.

Take lots of photos

Figure that your first thousand photos are throwaway. Your photographic vision will improve so dramatically that it will be hard to compare your first photos with your 1000th and believe the same person took them. Over time, you'll develop the ability to pre-visualize what the image will look like on film before you press the shutter button. When you reach this stage, consider yourself a "real" photographer.

Another characteristic of a photographer is the desire to experiment and not be afraid to "waste" film. Even after you've become proficient, most of your photos will still be rejects. Ansel Adams said he was happy if he could produce a dozen exceptional photographs per year, even though he made hundreds of images a month. For the above photo, I took 40 shots and was satisfied with only a couple.

Try a Lightjet print

Lightjet prints are simply the highest quality method of producing museum quality fine art prints, far surpassing the quality of standard darkroom prints that soften the image during enlargement. Lightjet prints use lasers to create the image on standard photographic paper. Most professional photographers have switched to Lightjet prints for sales where ultimate image quality and long display life are paramount. Lightjet prints on Fuji Crystal Archive paper have a display life of 71 years before noticeable fading, compared to Kodak's best of 16-20 years. A 16x20 inch print on Fuji Crystal Archive paper costs $23.50 from Calypso Imaging.

Equipment

Galen Rowel used to joke that asking a photographer what camera he shoots with is like asking a writer what brand of typewriter he writes with. I agree with him that equipment is not that important in creating great images, and I have found that using extremely cheap photo gear actually forces you to think about being more creative, but many people are still overly concerned about having the "right" gear.

For those people here is what I suggest:

1. 35mm SLR Body - Canon and Nikon are what most pros use. If you already own another brand like Minolta or Pentax and a couple lenses then stick with that, otherwise get a used body from EBay or better, borrow that unused film SLR from a relative that just bought a digital camera. He'll probably never ask for it back.
2. Lenses - 50mm prime for portrait shots. The large aperture is perfect for focusing attention on the eyes thru creative use of depth of field. If you like outdoor photography then an inexpensive 24mm wide angle lens works best. You'll need to use a small aperture anyway to maximize depth of field and small aperture lenses are cheap to manufacture as well as being extremely light - perfect for backpacking. Galen Rowell's favorite landscape lens was a 1970's, manual focus 20mm f/4 due to it's light weight and compact size.
3. Digital SLR - Resist the urge to splurge until you've shot 30 rolls (1000 shots) of slide film or buy an inexpensive point and shoot digicam that offers manual exposure control. Here's a review of a very nice Canon G6.
4. After you've shot 1000 images, film and processing costs will start adding up. If you feel that you'll continue your new hobby, move to digital. It's cheaper in the long run and current digital SLR's have surpassed 35mm film quality. 16 megapixel digital SLR's even compete against medium format film.

This image was taken outdoors on an overcast day. I used a "soft focus" effect in Photoshop that simulates a soft-focus lens.