(I will warn you now. This post has nothing to do with cute stories regarding my children or quirky antics among our household....so I apologize for the boring nature, but writing is how I learn!)
So last week I embarked on a 6 week photography class at a nearby college campus. Jason surprised me with the gift for Christmas. Yeah, he must REALLY love me to put himself in a position to fly solo with the kids for 4 hours for 6 consecutive Saturday mornings! ANYWAYS, last week was basic intro: quick history of photography, basic functions/buttons on DSLR cameras, etc. This past week we focused on Aperture and Shutter speed.
After the class my head was spinning. It all made sense to me, but my thought process was slow to get from "wanting to shoot" to "having the settings I want to shoot" that there's no way I could do it in a natural setting. SOOOO...with that in mind. I'm going to try and blog what I've learned each week, in hopes that writing it down and in my own words will help it all sink in that much more!
Now, I'm the first to admit that I have no clue how to use my camera, nor do I know much of anything about photography in general. If you're not a novice like myself....you may laugh at me. Go ahead, its ok...I laugh at myself all the time. If you DO happen to know what you're doing and can shed some more, or CLEARER light, on the topics, feel free to comment...I could use all the help I can get!
Shutter speed: So shutter speed controls how long the "gate" is left open and it is measured in seconds or fractions of seconds. The longer the shutter is open the more light you allow into your photo (thus affecting exposure) Shutter speed is particularly important when dealing with fast moving objects (i.e.: my children) or when you want to blur a picture to show movement (i.e.: a waterfall). When wanting to freeze time you need a fast shutter speed (1/125 or faster usually works for kids) However, anything slower than 1/60 and you need to use a tripod to avoid camera shake (this is usually needed when working with very low lighting)
Aperture: Aperture controls how wide the gate is open. It is tricky because it is counterintuitive. The larger the opening= the more light you allow = the smaller the F stop number and vice versa. Aperture and Shutter speed work together to create your exposure. But aperture also affects your depth of field (essentially what is and is not in focus in your picture). DOF helps add interest to your photos. The lower the number = the higher the aperture = more shallow depth of field (less in focus) and vice versa.
Probably the most interesting thing I learned was how to use the shutter and aperture priority modes on my camera, how to bracket and check exposure while in manual mode, and that it isn't always the shot that is perfectly exposed that you'll like the best. This last one was the most surprising to me.
Our homework was to play with shutter speed and aperture, mainly focusing on exposure, looking at the difference between a shot perfectly exposed vs. one under exposed vs. one over exposed. Here are a couple different pics that I took while practicing. I didn't have a lot to work with: the backyard while the boys napped. I couldn't' imagine going out to shoot with the kids in tow....all of these were at ISO 400 (don't even know what that means yet, but that's what the instructor told us to put the camera on).
One of the trees in our backyard, I tried to shoot it from the ground up to add interest. Another thing I learned: never take the shot that everyone sees (i.e.: change angels)
F/9 aperture, 1/13 shutter speed=over exposed (too much light allowed in)
f/9 aperture, 1/30 shutter speed. This one is considered perfectly exposed. But I liked the last one best.
f/9 aperture, 1/60 shutter speed.
The following is the one and only flower growing in our back yard right now, which is kind of cool if you consider its a gerber daisy that isn't suppose to make it through our winters. It has not only survived 4 years for us, but is blooming in the middle of January....
f/9 aperture, 1/200 shutter speed = under exposed (also the one I like best)
f/9 aperture, 1/125 shutter speed = perfect exposure
f/9 aperture, 1/60 shutter speed = over exposed.
And this next one is the shot I ended up printing and I am going to take for critique next saturday. The flower (as you can see) is a little gimp on one side, so I tried to shoot it off center to compensate and add interest to the shot. Not sure it worked, but its all I got!
f/5.6 aperture, 1/250 shutter speed = under exposed
f/5.6 aperture, 1/125 shutter speed = perfect exposure
f/5.6 aperture, 1/50 shutter speed. This one is actually my favorite. I like how the very edge of the flower almost blends into the overexposed white in the background. I could see this picture being cropped on the right side and adding text on the left. Again, this is me talking like I have any clue what I'm saying....
Whew, and that's about it so far... we'll see where next week takes me!
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