Friday, March 16, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Learning to Photoshop
I know this can be done simply with other programs but I am attempting to learn Photoshop.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Spring is coming
I hope to continue my "Understanding Exposure" posts now that the weather seems to be getting a bit better. No promises though, the weather around here does crazy things.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
4: The Most Creative Exposure
The next principle in Bryan Peterson's book "Understanding Exposure" talks about finding the most creative exposure. Previously he taught how to obtain a correct exposure, which I went over in lesson 2. There are many combinations of aperture and shutter speeds that give a correct exposure but as a photographer you are after the most creative combination.
As an example I took a vase with red roses and placed them on a bed sheet that sat on our living room sofa. I used the natural light coming through the window and reflected light on the shadowed side of the flowers with cardboard covered in foil. I went through six or seven shutter speed/aperture combinations. The two photographs below are the first and the last picture I took.
I know the differences are subtle but if you look closely the first photo's background is a bit more blurry along with the roses that are in the back. Your attention is drawn to the rose in the front because it is the only flower in complete focus. Both photos are correctly exposed but one is more creatively exposed. I think that some might say that they like the bottom one better which is fine. Creativity is often relative and depends on the photographers intent.
As an example I took a vase with red roses and placed them on a bed sheet that sat on our living room sofa. I used the natural light coming through the window and reflected light on the shadowed side of the flowers with cardboard covered in foil. I went through six or seven shutter speed/aperture combinations. The two photographs below are the first and the last picture I took.
Shutter Speed: 1/50 sec
Aperture: 2.5
Shutter Speed: 1/2 sec
Aperture:14
I know the differences are subtle but if you look closely the first photo's background is a bit more blurry along with the roses that are in the back. Your attention is drawn to the rose in the front because it is the only flower in complete focus. Both photos are correctly exposed but one is more creatively exposed. I think that some might say that they like the bottom one better which is fine. Creativity is often relative and depends on the photographers intent.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Extras
Some other photos from last night. As you can see my kids are really my only subjects for now. Sorry for the repetition.
3: White Balance
Our eyes are very good at adjusting to different types of light. When we are inside objects that we see are most often lit by tungsten or florescent light and when were are outside everything is illuminated by natural sunlight. Our eyes adjust to these different lighting conditions and are able to keep the colors that we see true. In other words our eyes see white as white in different lighting situations. Digital cameras need a little help with the different lights in order to keep the colors true. This is where the white balance setting comes in.
Most DSLR's have preset white balance (WB) settings such as auto, tungsten, florescent, sunny, or cloudy. In addition to these settings, most newer DSLR's enable the photographer to manually ajust the WB using a white piece of paper during the shoot to tell the camera what white should look like under the specific lighting conditions. Mr. Peterson says that he almost always puts his camera in the cloudy WB setting. WB can also be adjusted after on your computer using a program like Adobe Lightroom.
Tonight we put together a little photo shoot in our home with the kids. Here is what we came up with.
I left this photo's WB alone in Lightroom. This is the result of my camera's auto WB setting.
This one was adjusted with Lightroom's auto WB setting.
I had a hard time deciding which one is more correct but I decided that I like the top one a bit more due to the warmth the photo has. Which one do you think looks better? Be honest! I have stared at both of these for so long I think my judgment could be off. Here is one of B cub #2 with the warmer WB.
Most DSLR's have preset white balance (WB) settings such as auto, tungsten, florescent, sunny, or cloudy. In addition to these settings, most newer DSLR's enable the photographer to manually ajust the WB using a white piece of paper during the shoot to tell the camera what white should look like under the specific lighting conditions. Mr. Peterson says that he almost always puts his camera in the cloudy WB setting. WB can also be adjusted after on your computer using a program like Adobe Lightroom.
Tonight we put together a little photo shoot in our home with the kids. Here is what we came up with.
I left this photo's WB alone in Lightroom. This is the result of my camera's auto WB setting.
I had a hard time deciding which one is more correct but I decided that I like the top one a bit more due to the warmth the photo has. Which one do you think looks better? Be honest! I have stared at both of these for so long I think my judgment could be off. Here is one of B cub #2 with the warmer WB.
Friday, January 20, 2012
2: "Correct Exposure"
I still haven't been able to get good examples that demonstrate the importance of learning to use your camera in manual mode. I am eager to move on so I will briefly say that in order to consistently create both correctly exposed and creative photographs, you must use the manual setting on your camera. The do-it-all auto setting will not always produce a good picture, which often leads to frustration. This is not to say that learning to use the manual settings is not at times also frustrating, but it will pay off as you become more efficient at it.
This brings me to the topic of this post: correct exposure. There are 3 fundamental parts to a photographic exposure. They are shutter speed, aperture and ISO. These are often referred to collectively as the photographic triangle.
Shutter Speed: How much time the camera's light sensor (film) is exposed to light. It is expressed in seconds or a fraction of a second (1' or 1/60).
Aperture: The circular opening that controls how much light is allowed to enter the camera and the depth of field of the exposure.
ISO: Controls how sensitive the light sensor is in the camera. Bryan Peterson describes the ISO as the number of worker bees that are sent out to collect light and then bring back to the camera. The more bees you have, the quicker all the light is gathered and brought back. Unfortunately, as you increase the ISO, or the number of bees, you also get more "noise" as they return to the camera, which results in a grainy photo.
A correct exposure is obtained when these three settings are balanced with one another. If the ISO is increased, then the aperture and/or the shutter speed must be changed to maintain a correct exposure. Think of a three seated teeter totter. It would be shaped like a peace sign without the circle around the edge (see pic below). When this teeter totter is flat with the ground it is causing a "correct exposure" and everybody on the totter would be at the same height. If a lighter person was to get on one of the seats then the other two seats must be sat in by a combination of people that balances out the teeter totter to again be flat with the ground. This is how a correct exposure can be obtained with any combination of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.
 |
| Vintage DeSoto in Teton, Idaho |
This brings me to the topic of this post: correct exposure. There are 3 fundamental parts to a photographic exposure. They are shutter speed, aperture and ISO. These are often referred to collectively as the photographic triangle.
Shutter Speed: How much time the camera's light sensor (film) is exposed to light. It is expressed in seconds or a fraction of a second (1' or 1/60).
Aperture: The circular opening that controls how much light is allowed to enter the camera and the depth of field of the exposure.
ISO: Controls how sensitive the light sensor is in the camera. Bryan Peterson describes the ISO as the number of worker bees that are sent out to collect light and then bring back to the camera. The more bees you have, the quicker all the light is gathered and brought back. Unfortunately, as you increase the ISO, or the number of bees, you also get more "noise" as they return to the camera, which results in a grainy photo.
A correct exposure is obtained when these three settings are balanced with one another. If the ISO is increased, then the aperture and/or the shutter speed must be changed to maintain a correct exposure. Think of a three seated teeter totter. It would be shaped like a peace sign without the circle around the edge (see pic below). When this teeter totter is flat with the ground it is causing a "correct exposure" and everybody on the totter would be at the same height. If a lighter person was to get on one of the seats then the other two seats must be sat in by a combination of people that balances out the teeter totter to again be flat with the ground. This is how a correct exposure can be obtained with any combination of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.
 |
| photo credit |
Friday, January 13, 2012
1: Manual Mode is Best (Take 1)
I went out late morning today to get pictures for the first topic from the book Understanding Exposure. I was to take a picture in automatic mode and then in manual mode to show how the auto settings don't always take the most CORRECT exposures. I had a hard time getting my auto mode to not take a good exposure to illustrate my point. This was my fear as I left this morning. I will not give up though. For now here are two manual mode photos of B cub #1.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Taking Pictures
I woke up early this morning to get up and take some pictures of the sunrise. I was hoping to get the sunrise behing the Rexburg Temple but I soon learned after getting to the top of the hill that the sun wasn't were I had expected it to be. I should have thought this beforhand.
Understanding Photography:
Lesson 1: Know where the sun rises!
Although I didn't get the Temple in my sunrise shots I did get a few shots of the sunrise this morning. They turned out ok. I am in dire need of a tripod. I took this one hand held and for this reason the sharpness is, well not sharp.
I have purchased a DSLR camera and am going to learn how to take interesting and creative pictures. As was recommended by our wedding photographer, I have picked up a copy of "Understanding Exposure" and have set out to become something of a photographer. Not long ago I watched a movie with my wife about a women who cooks all the recipes in Julia Child's cook book. I would like to take this same approach with photography. This book by Bryan Perterson is my photography cook book. He does a wonderful job presenting the important points of photography to the reader. He uses his own pictures to illustrate the principles he teaches. It is my goal to learn by practice. I am setting out to make my own book of examples of what he is teaching in each section of the book.
This is sure to be a slow process for now, due to the winter weather in Idaho, but I am determined to see it through. I don't expect there to be any readers but if there happens to be a few that stop by I hope that you will enjoy the photos. I suspect not all will be highly interesting but more importantly they will be good examples of the principles taught in Peterson's book.
Understanding Photography:
Lesson 1: Know where the sun rises!
Although I didn't get the Temple in my sunrise shots I did get a few shots of the sunrise this morning. They turned out ok. I am in dire need of a tripod. I took this one hand held and for this reason the sharpness is, well not sharp.
I have purchased a DSLR camera and am going to learn how to take interesting and creative pictures. As was recommended by our wedding photographer, I have picked up a copy of "Understanding Exposure" and have set out to become something of a photographer. Not long ago I watched a movie with my wife about a women who cooks all the recipes in Julia Child's cook book. I would like to take this same approach with photography. This book by Bryan Perterson is my photography cook book. He does a wonderful job presenting the important points of photography to the reader. He uses his own pictures to illustrate the principles he teaches. It is my goal to learn by practice. I am setting out to make my own book of examples of what he is teaching in each section of the book.
This is sure to be a slow process for now, due to the winter weather in Idaho, but I am determined to see it through. I don't expect there to be any readers but if there happens to be a few that stop by I hope that you will enjoy the photos. I suspect not all will be highly interesting but more importantly they will be good examples of the principles taught in Peterson's book.
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