Today's Tip: Don't Believe Your LCD

I've learned not to trust my LCD. I'm talking, of course, about the LCD on the backs of dSLRs.

So often, what you see on the back of your camera looks great. But remember, that little LCD screen is back lit. The images are going to appear brighter than they actually are. The factory defaults on most dSLRs are showing you a brighter image than the image you've captured. That's why I keep my LCD's brightness level turned down a bit. Often, when you do this, the displayed image looks a little dull and the colors a bit muted but what you see will probably be closer to what you're going to get. In fact, with the brightness turned down you might be surprised when you load your images onto a hard drive and view them on your computer's monitor: The images might look better than you thought.

Since I don't trust my LCD screen, I rely on a meter and the histogram to tell me where my exposure is at. If you're serious about photography, a light meter is one of your most valuable tools. Also, learning to read histograms might be one of the best investments of your time you can make, i.e., the time you invest in learning about digital photography.

Here's a good starting point for your quest to understand histograms, assuming you accept the challenge and embark on the quest, Sir Snapper. A simple Google search will yield many more web pages focused on histograms.

As far as light meters go, there' s many to choose from. Their price points vary. I use a Konica Minolta Auto Meter VF: One of the more no-frills, inexpensive, meters available from many retailers. I've read reviews on this meter that express some concern that it feels a bit fragile but I've beaten the crap out of mine and it hasn't broken and keeps working just fine.

The pretty girl at the top is Shawna Lenee from last night's shoot. I shot two sets with Shawna-- One of them on the set depicted in the image and the other on a white cyclorama. No MUA. We didn't want her all glammed up anyway. In spite of that bra-n-panty set, we were looking for more of a girl next door look. Shawna, who is a Buckeye, was a peach to work with. (My second time shooting her.) She was the July, 2008, Penthouse Pet and a runner-up for Penthouse's Pet of the Year.

There's a slight red tint to the image. It drove me nuts during my brief time with the pic in Photoshop. I digitally messed with it for a short while then threw my hands up and said, "Screw it." Yeah. I get surly and impatient in post. "Dammit, Jim! I'm a photographer not a graphic artist!" There are three walls surrounding that set and they are painted red. Hey! There's another tip: Be mindful of the colors that are dominant in the environment you're shooting in, mostly when shooting indoors and with strobes. Those colors have a habit of reflecting and altering skin tones, especially when there's a lot of skin exposed.

Here's another snap of Shawna from last night that's a bit more, uhh... revealing. Not much post on this one. Yeah, I'm lazy.