homework

In class we are given homework. Homework to help us keep our motivation outside of the class and throughout the week. So this week we have a LOT of homework and this is one piece.

HWK 13 - find FACES in life. Find faces in inanimate object.

When I left class I sat in the car and noticed a face staring me in my face. See my first attempt at finding faces :)

 

In the first one, I would have liked to blur out the background some more so I could have lowered my f-stop...and should have. Then in the second one, I turned the wheel upside down to see it from a different perspective...remember to always look at things differently...you never know what you're going to find :)  

Taking it to a new level

Today I had the first class in my second course on photography. Yay!!!  I loved it!  And as I sat in class, I thought about this blog. I am going to take it to a new and slightly different level. Instead of me saying where we were and what we were doing and posting pics, I'm going to actually talk about what I'm learning. I'm going to talk about the class and the actual setting on pictures. It's my hope that some of my friends that are looking to improve will get to use this blog as their learning tool.

So here goes.

First, photography is all about capturing the light! There is light all around us and we see it different from different perspectives. So take a look around. What do you see? If you see something that sparks your interest, look at it from a different perspectives to see how else you might see it and how the LIGHT affects it.

Second, photography is subjective. You probably got that from the first lesson....because it's all about WHAT YOU SEE :)

Now for some tidbits about actually using the camera.

When you first begin to take pictures you want to recognize what kind of light you're working. Do you remember those speeds on the old 35mm film? Remember things like 200, 400, 800, etc? Yeah, that's your ISO. It is set according to how much light you have. For example, when in  bright light or sunny day you would use 100 or 200. Cloudy days or darker insides might require a higher ISO like 600. BUT keep in mind that the higher your ISO, the grainier your picture. Soooo, keep your ISO as LOW as possible!

I took this picture straight out of the bag. I didn't look at my ISO or exposure reading or anything. So of course it was all under exposed. ISO set to 200, shutter speed 1/25 and aperture 4.5

Then I took the time to look at my exposure rating to line it up with zero.  This time my ISO is 200, shutter 1/4 and aperture 4.5. Even with these settings you can see a little over exposure in the background.

Aperture, or Av on the camera dial, is all about your depth of field. What do you want in focus? You can focus on the foreground, background of middle of a subject. Typically for a portrait you'd use an aperture of about f11. It focuses on the person. If you want to blur the background, you can focus on the person and set your aperture (Av or f-stop) to about 5.6. See the examples below.

Focus the camera on the middle flower with aperture (f) 8, shutter 1/250, ISO 100.

 

Then refocus or point the camera to the flower you want in focus, the first one (same settings f8, ISO 100, shutter 1/250) 

 

You've probably heard people talk about the shutter speed....or Tv on your camera dial. This mode can BLUR or FREEZE an action...like the water in the fountains in the previous post. 1/4 will slow the water down or blur it. 1/60 will get more detail and 30 seconds will FREEZE the motion. Anything below 1/60 of a second though will require either a tripod or you setting the camera down to stabilize the image.

For example, i wanted more details in this picture so my settings were f 3.5, shutter 1/1000 (stopping the action), and ISO 100 (because it's a bright day).

Then, I in the below picture I wanted to slow the motion, so ISO still at 100, f 22, and shutter at 1/15.

I think that's plenty for now. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask as if I don't know, I get to ask someone else and LEARN more.  Next time there will be some homework posts as well as ACCESSORIES you need!!!  Happy picture taking!

What do you see?

Yesterday Marc and I went to the Tidal Basin after work...it was cold but with the weather we're having I wasn't sure if we'd get to see the blossom again (and Marc has never seen the full effect before). So we went...sniffles and cough and all :)  I played with the camera of course and timing and framing.

 Then, today we took a fieldtrip with our intro to digital photography...to Capital Hill. At first, I was kind of like, "why am I doing this right now? I just took a lot of pics yesterday and I'm tired and I'm sick (not really but these allergies are kicking my butt)." It's true, yesterday I took a lot of pics at the Tidal Basin of the Cherry Blossoms...but my professor says, "if you're not taking photos, you're not a photographer and you're not learning."  So, I stuck it out after an hour and a half in the car due to traffic and started shooting. I learned first that I'm an exposure freak! I love over-exposure and saturating a picture!  I love love love it!! I'm sure eventually I'll go back to black and white being my favorite but right now, I'm a saturation and exposure fanatic.

I love a good shot of one subject with a shallow depth of field!  This picture uses both a shallow depth of field and repetition. I was able to focus on the first tulip and therefore blur the front leaf and the background.

See the next two pictures. I was changing the shutter speed on this. I wanted to capture the water at two different "speeds."  

Jackie is framed here. And she's a prime example of using triangles...the iron gate and her stance are perfect.

This came out really nice because the light and shadows are behind our subject and not on her face.

National Cathedral

So today I went to the National Cathedral. It is truly huge and gorgeous! And the day was beautiful....too bad I'm sick and didn't spend nearly the time I should have on exposure and practicing techniques. Some of them I really liked and others, they're okay and still others, way over-exposed. Ugh...wish I knew what I was doing all the time :)

just playing with the camera

So I live in a house with cats and flowers. I love to take pictures of both of them!

The beginning of a fun journey :)

For years I loved taking pictures. I took them of family and friends of buildings and wildlife. I just loved taking them...and felt I had an eye for it. So I'm trying to begin doing something about it.

I'm not sure yet if I want to be "professional" but I know I want to learn and do more. So first step was taking the new camera (Rebel T2i) out of the box and putting it together :)  I managed to do it successfully. But more than putting it together, I wanted to learn more about the camera and how to use it, so I signed up for classes: introduction to digital photography and intermediate digital photography.  In two weeks we go on a field trip to "practice" and I can't wait for that either. Following intermediate I'm going to look into composition :)  I must say I love every minute I'm in class!

Of course you won't see much in terms of editing because I don't have the software yet, but I think it's important to get down what I'm seeing first...as in what you will be seeing. I want to make sure I'm capturing the image (or light) the way I want it to actually look. Then later I'll buy the software and more tools and start really playing with images.  

Places I've never been and people I love to see, will be most of my subjects but I'm also hoping to start working with Operation love.  OpLove supports U.S. Military families by offering special sessions with a patriotic edge during their enlistment, focusing on deployments– before and more importantly, after, at their reunion when the deployment has terminated and the soldier is safely home– usually in an airport. In order to do OpLove though, I have to have a blog or professional website.

So here goes...this is my photo blog :)  Pictures to start coming soon and when they do I hope you will give me your feedback - both good and bad/constructive :)!