Lesson 2- Exposure

I must admit that I had never given much thought to the meter on my camera. I typically use semi-automatic modes in which the camera adjusts itself to the f-stop or shutter speed I have chosen. Okay let me be completely honest. I have never really taken any pictures in manual and I never knew what the meter was. I had noticed it but I had never actually used it before or knew what it was for. I think this might be a flaw with the advancement of digital cameras. They can figure this stuff out themselves and so the photographer can get away with lacking in certain areas. Normally, when I take a picture I have an idea of what I want and I research on how to shoot an image to get the results I want. Most times googling "photographing fireworks" on my smart phone, I can find different settings to experiment with and decide what results I prefer.

I am ashamed to admit my poor abuse and neglect of the meter on my camera. After reading through lesson 2 a few times, I went outside to play and do the exercises.

Here I have taken a photo of my lovely yellow iris with an aperature of f16, a shutter speed of 1//125 and an ISO of 100.

Below is another picture taken at f/11, 1/250 and ISO 100. I noted when taking the picture that the sun had went behind a cloud and it darkened the image and the meter showed that I should adjust.... but for learning purposes I took the image anyways to be able to see the results. 

I am really glad that this lesson dealt with lighting. While I have a good grasp of f-stops and shutter speeds and how to adjust them to effect the depth of field or add motion blur, I really never grasped lighting and metering in any sort of practical way. While I would not consider myself anywhere above a beginner, I think I now am starting to develop a foundation that I can strengthen through practice and experimentation.

Best Photo Lessons- Lesson 1

Lately, I have been drifting around the web, picking and choosing what I learn like it is a buffet. There has been an increase in demand for my work and I find myself getting requests from family and friends to take their portraits and capture their memories. It is such an honor and a responsibility to take part in these memories that I would hate to produce inferior work. I started rummaging around to see what was available in photography courses and such. Given the fact that I am a stay at home mom who home schools, I really don't have the time to travel to a college for a course. There are a few courses online, but they tend to have mixed reviews and I just wasn't sure how I felt about paying money for something I could teach myself for free with a little more hard work and research. Then I found this website, http://bestphotolessons.com/ I figured I would give it a shot. Since I had this poorly neglected blog laying around, I decided to post my progress here.

Lesson 1

Lesson one is all about intent. It is a brief little exercise to answer the whys. It basically asks readers a few questions to get their minds rolling.

1. Things you like about photography. Do you love the moment of seeing the images in prints or on your screen? Is it the challenge of making the photo? Is it the sharing the images with your friends? Is it the memories you get when you look at your photos later? Whatever it is you like about taking pictures, write it down.
2. What you want to achieve with photography. Do you want to remember what your kids are like at each stage of their growing up? Do you like flowers or architecture or mountains and want to document them? Do you want to show the human condition? Do you want to pursue a career in photography? Write down what you want your photography to do.
3. What subjects you want to shoot. Flowers, dogs, kids, models, food, people’s feet, whatever. Write down those things you find catch your eye or make you wish you had your camera when you see it.
4. How you feel about those subjects. Do you love it, hate it, feel afraid of it, laugh at it, wish it was yours? This is actually the most important section of the lesson. When you understand what you feel towards something, you’ll find your photography of it improves automatically.

1. Hmmm, what I like about photography??? Well, I was drawn to photography because I wanted to show people how I view the world. I also think that there is a bit of magic in photography, with the right angle and lighting you can take something ugly or even something that is disregarded and overlooked and turn it into a beautiful image. Often times I find myself wondering about this. Like, if perhaps this desire I have is an extension of my personal desires on how I feel about myself. Perhaps, I am simply thinking too much. 

2.  At first, I simply wanted nothing more than to take pictures. I was content with seeing my own interpretation of the world captured in an image. Now, my goals have become far more specific. I want to do portraits in order to earn enough money for a better camera and to be able to travel around Asia and photograph everything I see. I want to visit Taiwan first, then maybe South Korea or Japan. Kyoto, Japan is a photographers dream in spring time with countless old temples and cherry blossoms that cover the world in a heavenly snow of pedals which makes one think they stepped back in time to some fantastical place. I also want to visit Hanging Temple and the Huangshan  Mountains in China. This photographer basically illustrates the exact reasons I want to visit Asia with my camera http://www.flickr.com/photos/yameme/

3. I find this question extremely difficult to answer because there is not any specifics that I want to shoot. Basically, if something catches my eye it ends up in a picture. I take a lot of pictures of flowers as of now. I also like taking pictures of animals and people. There really is no method to my madness. 

4. Given that I didn't exactly answer question 3 properly, I can't really answer this question as specifically as others might. But the bottom line, which holds true for every photograph I have taken, is admiration. Anything I shoot, I have a deep seeded admiration for the subject and a desire to preserve it at that moment. 

Shutter Speed

Complete article on shutter speed.

Shutter speed is how long the shutter is open and it is used to capture motion. A longer shutter speed blurs movement and lets more light in. A short shutter speed will freeze motion. Below are some pictures that illustrate different things that can be done with different shutter speeds. Currently, I don't have any photos that I am sure the exact number of the shutter speed used. I will work on taking some photos where I know the exact speed.

Pinwheels at various shutter speeds.

A spinning quarter captured at a stand still with a fast shutter speed.

Moving water captured with a longer shutter speed.

Fireworks taken with a longer shutter speed.

Aperture

Please read the complete article on Aperture this simply contains a summary and photos to illustrate.

Aperture or f-stop affects how dark or light the picture is, as well as, the depth of field. Think of aperture like the  iris in your eyes, it allows your pupils to expand and contract, depending on how light or dark the room is. Aperture opens (low f-stop number) or closes (high f-stop number) to control how much light gets in.

If you think of your picture as a bulls-eye, with the focal point of the picture the center and as your eyes travel away from the focal point the picture gradually gets more out of focus. This is the depth of field. A photo with a crisp image standing out against a blurry background has a short depth of field (low f-stop number).

Short Depth of field

With a higher f-stop number, the depth of field becomes longer and the image becomes crisper and sharper throughout. 

Longer depth of field 

Below is the same picture, taken with different f-stops.

Notice the sharpness throughout

Much lighter than the F-22 and the blades of grass at the edge are beginning to blur, especially in the lower, right corner.

Brighter and Blurrier

Welcome

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted an SLR camera. I wanted to be able to capture the world how I see it and share it. In May of 2011, my husband surprised me with a Nikon D3000. I soon realized that having a DSLR camera is one thing, knowing how to use it is a completely separate issue. I slowly struggled with learning how to use my treasured camera. I am a firm believer in being able to learn how to do anything on the internet. The information I have learned I wanted to be able to share and decided to combine it with my other passion, writing. I got it in my mind to start writing articles and wanted a place to put everything in one place. This is that place, my virtual camera bag. Here you can learn about photography, SLR settings and tips and tricks in a way that is easy to understand. My goal is to enable beginning photographers everywhere to be able to take the pictures they want to take in the way they want to take them.

The first picture I took with my camera!