12 Weeks to Better Photos: Week 9

Al 12 lessons can be viewed here . This tutorial was originally offered through the 2 Peas in a Bucket scrapbooking/photography website. Show them some love here.

Week 9 is Portraits
Well isn't that easy peasy? Technically speaking, my eleventy billion photos of K count as portraits :)

Challenge: Take a Portait
1. Take a portrait of an individual.
2. Take a group portrait if you have the opportunity.
3. Take a portrait in front of a backdrop or colorful wall or a fun outdoor setting.
4. Take a portrait with black & white film or convert your photo to b&w. (In fact, we'd love to see both versions - color and black & white, if you care to share.)

I hit #1 and #3 on a weekly basis. here are some of my faves from the week I completed this challenge:

I love the texture and colour of the bench here. plus it gave me a nice chance to have her look straight up for awesome sky catchlights. even with her crinkled face her eyes are super sharp and blue.

both are SS: 1/250, F/2.5, ISO 200
both were edited in GIMP - most likely just a curves adjustment (pull up the middle, pull down the left) and an unsharp mask.
The 2nd is me trying to work a bit with backlighting.
Normally I would probably try to pull out some of the pink in her face, but it was a hot day and she had been working hard, so I left it. it tells the story of how she felt at the time :)

And for #4, here is the 2nd converted to B&W. I really struggle with conversions. I always think mine look gray and lifeless unless I completely blow out their skin. Which looks unnatural.

This one I don't hate too much (except for that white shadow on the edge her face, but I am nowhere ready to try and tackle that)

next up: Landscapes

12 Weeks to Better Photos Week 8: On the Go

looking through my older posts, I realized I am a bit behind in blogging my 12 Weeks tutorial challenges.

Al 12 lessons can be viewed here . This tutorial was originally offered through the 2 Peas in a Bucket scrapbooking/photography website. Show them some love here.

Week 8 is On the Go
Everything to do with manipulating your shutter speed!


Challenge: Capturing Action
1. Use a fast shutter speed outdoors to photograph your moving subject
2. Experiment with panning
3. Embrace a little blur indoors
3. Take action - practice your skills at a sporting event
4. Take a portrait of your pet-in-motion

This was my photo from that week. I used a slow shutter speed to capture the blur of this moving model train:

SS: 1/5, Ap: f/14, ISO: 400

I love this affect! There is so much you can do when you understand how to freeze or blur motion. I have had some more fun since playing with motion blur/panning:

This was K's first train ride at a local fair. That is her in the middle of the photo with a pink shirt on.
SS: 1/10, Ap: f/22, ISO: N/A (I never understand why sometimes it does this. maybe its when I stop below 200?)

giving panning a try. You stop down your SS and then attempt to "move" with your moving target so the background shows motion and your subject is still in focus. This is SOOC.
SS: 1/20, Ap: f/10 ISO: N/A

12 Weeks to Better Photos Week 7: Shooting Outdoors

All 12 lessons can be viewed here . This tutorial was originally offered through the 2 Peas in a Bucket scrapbooking/photography website. Show them some love here.

Week 7 is Shooting Outdoors
I will admit I was somewhat perplexed by what they were asking for this week. Since few lenses are "macro" lenses, I didn't really get the instruction. Regardless, here is what they asked:

Challenge: The Close-up
This week we're going to experiment with macro mode. The good news is that this is a great challenge to try with your point & shoot camera!

1. With your point & shoot camera -- We want to see the difference between macro mode & another mode, so simply take a picture of an object after selecting macro mode on your camera. Move as close to the object as your camera will allow. Then take the picture again in a different mode.

2. With your SLR/ dSLR camera -- If you have a lens with macro, use it! (Use a tripod for more control and ease of use.) Unfortunately, if you don't have a lens with macro, the macro mode setting will just give you a shallow depth of field for your photos. You can still take a photo using this mode, but it's not the same as having a lens with a macro. To compensate, you could try "imitating" a macro shot by taking a photo and then cropping it very closely in a photo editing program.

Here is the chain link on my complex swing set. I was drawn to the "S" for my alphabet gallery too, but then realized I already have a lovely S in the collection.

settings:

Exposure Time:	1/1600
Aperture:	f/2.8
ISO:	800
Focal Length:	50mm (75mm in 35mm)

for perspective, here is the whole swing, complete with a toddler:

same settings

next up: motion!

12 Weeks to Better Photos Week 6: Shooting Indoors

All 12 lessons can be viewed here . This tutorial was originally offered through the 2 Peas in a Bucket scrapbooking/photography website. Show them some love here.


Week 6 is Shooting Indoors
::sigh:: I have so not mastered shooting indoors. Our house rarely gets direct light during the day. It is long and boxy, so only one edge of the living room has natural light at any given time. Our bedroom gets decent light, but I am terrified that my monkey of a child will roll right off the edge while I try to take pictures. The photos often have a funny colour cast and/or are grainy. So usually I just don't bother taking my camera out. My lightscoop helps some, but this week's lesson demands natural light. Well, I was at a friend's house and tried. Unfortunately they are not tack sharp.

The guidelines for this week's lesson:

• 1. Position your subject in direct light and then reposition your subject in
  indirect, or filtered, light.
• 2. Capture catchlights - have your subject face the window while you're sitting or standing with your back to the window.
• 3. Position your subject so that he/she/it is parallel to the window, while you are perpendicular to the window.
• 4. For those with SLRs or digiSLRs: If you can adjust the exposure meter on your camera, try metering on the background light vs. metering on your subject and setting the exposure for your subject. Also note that you could use a wall in the room or the floor to set your exposure meter.

trial 1: K
I could not get her to look at me. I did get some light reflected in her eyes, but its an unflattering lower eye reflection.

Exposure Time:	1/500
Aperture:	f/5.6
ISO:	800
Focal Length:	105mm (157mm in 35mm)

This is SOOC. I should have brought down that ISO since the window was right behind me, but I often forget to change it on the fly. That would have allowed me to bring the ISO down a bit too. Since I was using the kit lens, that is as low as my aperture could go. I actually should have opened it up a stop at that length; that probably accounts for a bit of the blurriness.


Trial 2: Baby S
(sidebar - doesn't she have the most amazing big brown eyes? I have been killing myself trying to photograph them properly. brown eyes are so much harder then blue!)

Exposure Time:	1/80
Aperture:	f/5
ISO:	800
Focal Length:	58mm (87mm in 35mm)

Also SOOC. Ignore the terrible composition with a some random (albeit lovely) legs and high chair in the background. This is not directly in front of the window, but I think I got better catchlights with this one. Its actually catching part of a mirrored wall that leads to the open front door. All sorts of random light bouncing. But here my SS is too slow for the subject and focal length, so its still not tack sharp.

Well, at least I came out and tried right?

Next up: shooting outdoors. much better!

12 Weeks to Better Photos Week 5: Composition

I have some catchup to play with the 12 Weeks to Better Photos course. I am about 4 weeks behind. Bad blogger!
All 12 lessons can be viewed here . This tutorial was originally offered through the 2 Peas in a Bucket scrapbooking/photography website. Show them some love here.

Week Five is Composition.
Probably my favourite thing about photography is composition. I love how a different perspective or angle can really bring life to a photo.
Here are the guidelines for this week's challenge:

• 1. Keep it simple - eliminate distractions
• 2. Apply the rule of thirds
• 3. Keep an eye on the horizon
• 4. Frame your subject
• 5. Fill the frame
• 6. Try a new perspective

Here is mr. Duck. For this photo I attempted to place him in a rule of thirds position (#2), with his eyes falling on a cross section in the top left corner. This (hopefully) adds more depth then if he was simply dead centre in the frame. Also, by shooting him against a neutral background and achieving bokeh, it eliminates distractions (#1)

Exposure Time:	1/800
Aperture:	f/5.6
ISO:	800
Focal Length:	105mm (157mm in 35mm)

and say hello to his friends, the goslings (not to be confused by the uber dysfunctional Gosselins). I think this photo again utilizes rule of thirds (they are all on the bottom 3rd of the picture, with emphasis on the left side of the frame), but because I was able to get way down low at their height (thanks to a rather steep hill) it added a new perspective (#6),  a very different way of usually seeing some baby geese from way above looking down on them.

Exposure Time:	1/800
Aperture:	f/5.3
ISO:	800
Focal Length:	62mm (93mm in 35mm)

I think this photo nicely meets "fill the frame" (#5). Much more interesting and engaging then if I stood several feet away and attempted to get their whole bodies in the shot:

Exposure Time:	1/1250
Aperture:	f/5.6
ISO:	800
Focal Length:	105mm (157mm in 35mm)

What are your favourite rules of composition? What drives you when composing a shot?

12 Weeks to Better Photos, Week 4: Flash

All 12 lessons can be viewed here
Week Four is Flash.

Most of the time we all think the onboard flash is the devil incarnate. Pinlights, red eye, blown out skin and flat backgrounds. But what is interesting to discover, is with the right knowledge, you can even get the devil to work for you!
This week's lesson was all about how to utilize "fill flash" to help you on super sunny days, cloudy days and indoors.
We just went through a heat wave here, so I chose to demonstrate fill flash on a sunny day.
no flash:

fill flash:

Notice how in the first one, her face is underexposed. Since the sun is coming directly down, it can create harsh shadows in lines and crevasses. But in the second one, her face and body are more clearly exposed.

12 Weeks to Better Photos, Week 3: Colour of Light

All 12 lessons can be viewed here
Week Three is Colour of Light
This is to help you understand how different colour casts can occur, depending on the type of lighting you have available around you. And also how to utilize the various auto and custom presets available to you to maximize the lighting you are in.
So the challenge this week involved shooting one object using 3-4 different white balance settings.
auto white balance:

tungsten:

cloudy setting:

custom white balance:

I am actually fairly impressed with the auto white balance on the D90. On my D60 the colour was very cool on auto settings. Here it is only slightly cool. I also find it really interesting that the cloudy setting looks most like the custom. I chose cloudy because this was indoors without any direct sunlight. Apparently I chose right.
Have you looked at your auto preset options recently, and thought if maybe they would help you?

12 Weeks to Better Photos: Week 2 - Shutter Speed

I am a bit behind in blogging about this. my apologies!
All 12 lessons can be viewed here 


Week Two is shutter speed. The challenge is take the same photo on 3 different shutter speeds. The goal here is to demonstrate how to either freeze motion (high shutter speed) or blur motion (low shutter speed). Hence action shots (sports, animals, traffic) require a high shutter speed so you don't get that pesky "motion blur" where an arm, or tail or such is all blurry. but sometimes you want that really nifty motion blur, like in a river, or waterfall. That is when you would use a slow shutter speed.

In terms of everyday photos, a neat trick I was taught was to double your focal length, and that is generally what you should aim to keep your shutter speed at. Also, with kids, try to avoid dropping below 1/160, or 1/100 at a minimum.

So here is my photo challenge for shutter speed. A neighbour's fountain:
1/1000. See how the droplets are all nicely frozen in time? High shutter speed

1/100 average shutter speed, but for this, it just makes the water look spitty

1/15. I would need a tripod to really show this one as there is probably hand blur going on, but see how the water near the fish's mouth is almost translucent in a continuous flow?

12 Weeks tp Better Photos, Week One: Aperture

I decided to revisit the 2 Peas in a Bucket - 12 Weeks to Better Photos tutorial I initially started all the way back in January (only made it to week 2 I think. shame!)
All 12 lessons can be viewed here 
Week One is Aperture.The challenge is to take the same photo on 3 different aperture settings. When I did this challenge initially back in January, it was the single most important lesson that busted me out of the auto settings on my camera. You mean I can control how much light goes into my camera? And I can use this knowledge to consistently acheive bokeh (blurred background)? Yes please!
Even after only 2 weeks, I never shot on an auto setting again (aperture or shutter priority not included).
So here is my Week One, redux. (ignore the brightness. I accidentally had exposure compensation jacked up from something the night before, and forgot to reset it. I am too lazy to edit these and tone it down)
f/1.8

f/10

f/22

What we are looking for here is that the lower the fstop, the more light that is allowed into the camera (aka wider aperture), and shallower the depth of field is. Confused yet? I know its backwards - smaller number = wider opening. Hence why at f/1.8 only the flower is in focus, while at f22 almost everything in frame is in focus. So this helps you decide - how much of your photo do you want to be in focus? Adjust the aperture to achieve the look you want.