tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9963605719435738712024-03-12T18:43:10.174-07:00Margaret's Digital PhotographyPeggy Millironhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15031868788153946351noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-996360571943573871.post-168613492280799232012-12-19T21:19:00.000-08:002012-12-19T21:19:09.113-08:00<h2>
Summing It Up - My Five Best Photographs (so far...)</h2>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"> The best thing about this class for me was seeing everybody else's work. I learned from what I saw on these blogs and it was really interesting to see the different ways that we interpreted the assignments. </span>It taught me that what makes a photograph really captivating is whether or not it captures the vision of the photographer. It's useful to have all the tools at your disposal, like the guidelines for good composition and the rule of thirds, and to know how to use them. But the thing that makes a photograph really catch and hold attention is the way it shares a vision of a particular time or place or emotion.<br />
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I'm going to keep using what I learned this semester to try to make that kind of photograph. I don't know if I am anywhere near accomplishing it, since feedback has been limited. We have not done a great job of commenting on each other's work. But I still learned from seeing the photographs everyone made, and the blog posts were really helpful too.<br />
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So, here are five photographs I am most proud of. Some I like because they are well composed, or make good use of the rule of thirds, or played around with the aperture to get a particular effect.<br />
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<span id="goog_1590993669"></span><span id="goog_1590993670"></span><br />Peggy Millironhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15031868788153946351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-996360571943573871.post-27878484669537822622012-12-08T16:06:00.000-08:002012-12-08T16:06:54.606-08:00<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Portraits</span></h2>
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A good portrait is more than a snapshot of somebody. It has to do much more than just show what the person looks like. A portrait should give the viewer a glimpse of the person's character, and also maybe a sense of how the photographer sees the subject.<br />
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I like to make candid portraits. Many people really are more themselves when they are not too consciously posed. If they are busy doing something else, it's easier to get a good shot. This is a portrait of my oldest son, who does not like to pose. Here, he is concentrating intently on a book. The lighting on one side of his face creates a nice shadow. The elimination of any background clutter makes the mood of the photograph calm and reflective. He is a journalist and blogger, so he reads a lot. This portrait is expressive of his character.<br />
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It's helpful to follow the rule of thirds when you're composing a portrait. As was demonstrated in that lesson, if you put the eyes at one of the grid intersections, it makes for a more compelling picture. My sister-in-law knew I had my camera out, but it takes me so long to get my settings right that by the time I took her picture she had forgotten about it.<br />
I used a very shallow depth of field here to make the background as blurred as possible. <br />
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She is a thoughtful, gentle person with such a sweet nature, and I think that shows in her portrait.<br />
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A portrait can be the whole person; it does not have to be just a face. (I need to remember that - I usually only photograph faces.) My youngest son had just graduated from boot camp here. A tight face close up would have shown his happiness and pride, but without his uniform it would have lacked context.<br />
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On the other hand, a portrait doesn't necessarily have to be taken from the front! This is my son's drill sergeant. The sharp diagonal of his hat brim creates a sense of movement even though he is standing still, and the total lack of background intensifies the drama.<br />
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I made this picture of a good friend who had just finished recording a CD. He needed a photograph for the back cover. I took many pictures that day, snapping away while he played and sang. This was the one he chose. I like the grainy look of it, and the way the guitar is suggested but not over-emphasized.<br />
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Here is my favorite subject - my niece.<br />
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I was using the zoom lens so I wasn't really that close to her, but she knew I was taking her picture. This doesn't follow the rule of thirds, but here I really wanted to show her quality of direct confidence, and putting her dead center supports that feeling. I love the impish expression!<br />
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These are also my niece. The lighting was really good that day - just right for capturing the translucent perfection of a child's skin.<br />
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Finally, here is one truly posed portrait. I could have made this picture of my nephew better by widening the aperture - I wish I had. But the background color is harmonious and the brick pattern is okay. What I like about this shot is that his smile is so genuine - this picture shows someone who is generally good-natured and ready for a laugh.<br />
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So, that's what I've learned about taking portraits: use the rule of thirds (most of the time) and the guidelines of good composition. Think about backgrounds or lack of them. Get in close. Black and white sometimes helps to establish a mood. And try to catch the essence of the subject's character or the mood of the moment. <br />
<br />Peggy Millironhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15031868788153946351noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-996360571943573871.post-75273356630669243602012-11-25T11:15:00.000-08:002012-11-25T11:16:28.670-08:00<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">Developing an Eye for Good Composition</span></h2>
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Some Guidelines</h3>
If you have an innate 'knack' for good composition, it will be apparent in many ways - most notably in the way you decorate your home. Hanging pictures on the wall requires a good eye, and so does arranging tabletops and fireplace mantles. I know a woman who, when sitting at a restaurant table, unconsciously sets the salt, pepper and other condiments into a pleasing arrangement, totally unaware of her habit.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3w9WDHchAaY/ULJZTCoDnsI/AAAAAAAAFE0/133xCaCPUOA/s1600/DSCF6002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a> Even if you lack the knack, there are some simple guidelines that will help you take better photographs - ones that other people love to look at. I found the last assignment about the rule of thirds particularly helpful. Using the guidelines I read about on line, I went back and studied some of my old photos. Then I went and took some new ones.<br />
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The picture on the left frustrated the heck out of me. I knew what I saw - but I couldn't seem to get an image that pleased me. I must have taken about twenty shots of this subject - none were what I envisioned. This one came closest. Now, after reading about compositional guidelines, I see what's wrong.<br />
The horizon line is very faint, but it is discernible... and it's crooked. It runs downward from left to right. The bud's stem comes right up out of the lower left corner, and this creates a diagonal that is clumsy. It would have been better to position it so that it came distinctly from the bottom or a little higher on the left side. Also, the two diagonals created by the flower are visually unbalanced. As far as the extreme noise in the photo, that was deliberate. I wanted it to look like old film.<br />
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There were a couple of things wrong with this one. (I mean aside from the out-of-focus thing.) Number one is that I did not choose a definite focal point. Is it the light coming through the holes in the side of the old milk box? The dinosaur? The pattern on the floor? Or maybe the half hidden ball? What are we supposed to be seeing here? We also have unbalanced diagonals again - which can sometimes work if they are different sizes, but here they are equal. And they aren't filled equally, so it doesn't feel right. Plus the dinosaur is dead center - rule of thirds violation, beep beep beep! By repositioning the elements of this photo and shifting my own angle, I could have made this shot much better. <br />
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This photo has some good things going on. The lines of the fence move in a different direction than the curving vines, and that is a nice dynamic. Also the contrast between the weathered boards and the orange leaves is nice. One thing mars the effect and keeps this photo from being what it could be - and that is the fact that I failed to align the straight fence line with the edge of the camera frame. So the picture is not straight, and never can be, even if I crop it. <br />
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Next we have a picture that is "nice" but boring. The lines are interesting, or could have been interesting, but I put the window in the center. I should have followed the rule of thirds. I could also have added some contrasting shapes, like the curve of a shrub for example. Or, if the severity of line was what I wanted to share, I could have changed my own angle slightly, cut out the left edge of the photo, and re-focused to emphasize the dark lines radiating from the left side of the picture.<br />
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Now, here are some photos I took after I had picked up some guideline tips.<br />
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I like the curving line from upper left to lower right. I like the repeating pattern of light and shadow on the seam and on the yellow stitching. I like the color, and I love how this is abstract and yet instantly recognizable. I like how it fills the frame.This was a spontaneous shot - I was sitting in my chair trying to decide what to photograph.<br />
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I took this at the cemetery. I changed it to black and white on my computer to heighten the dreadful beauty of the image. This time I kept the vertical lines straight, as they should be. The trees behind the monument and the smaller weathered monument next to the massive one fill out the frame without producing clutter. They serve as background that looks appropriate. <br />
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This is the cemetery too, but the effect is amusing - I thought the three trees looked like friends, standing around and chatting. Their 'arms' give the shot a sense of animation. This might not exactly obey the rule of thirds, but I think it still works. <br />
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Another good technique for composition is to frame the image. The curve of the lake edge emphasizes the reflection of trees in the water. I think I could have zoomed in a bit on this and it would have been more effective. <br />
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This tremendous granite ball blew me away. I wanted to capture the sense of its massive solidity and the perfect smoothness of the surface. I like the reflectiveness of the granite - the granite is the focal point because of its size, weight and surface. That's why the background is deliberately blurred - to contrast with the clear stone.<br />
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So, summary: make good use of lines, whether they are vertical or diagonal or horizontal; fill up the frame, but not with clutter; pay attention to the rule of thirds; and remember to have a focal point. There are more tips online and I have found it helpful to read, read, read! The result will be better shots, and it will all become second nature.<br />
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<br />Peggy Millironhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15031868788153946351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-996360571943573871.post-55973717898910048882012-11-06T11:57:00.002-08:002012-11-06T11:57:15.718-08:00<h2>
The Rule of Thirds</h2>
My camera, like most others, has an optional grid that can be imposed on the LCD viewer. It consists of two lines bisecting the image horizontally, and two more bisecting vertically. Before I learned bout the rule of thirds, I thought the lines were just there to help me take straight pictures, and I did not always use them.<br />
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Now I understand that I can use the lines to follow the rule of thirds, which states that a photograph will be more visually interesting and arresting if I decide what the main focus of interest is, and place it on or near one of the intersections. This technique keeps you from taking a bunch of clunky shots with the subject sitting dead center.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boring.</td></tr>
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The photograph above shows what happens when you ignore the rule of thirds. I placed the ghost dead center and wound up with a very static, uninteresting shot. But all is not lost! If you mess up and take a boring shot, you can try to improve it with the cropping tool on your computer. The one on mine automatically imposes the 'rule of thirds' grid so that I can position the subject more interestingly.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Much better!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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The rule of thirds makes it easier and more natural for the viewer to focus on what you want them to see. Here are some more examples of before and after cropping experiments using the rule of thirds.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kp7MGL17Wtk/UJlcK9u0PnI/AAAAAAAAE7o/R_qmCDIKgX0/s1600/DSCF5663.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kp7MGL17Wtk/UJlcK9u0PnI/AAAAAAAAE7o/R_qmCDIKgX0/s320/DSCF5663.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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By the way, it is still not a great picture because I did not make sure there were no trees growing out of their heads. But you can see that it is more satisfying to look at, and it makes the winding path more subtle and interesting. The figures are positioned at the first vertical line on the left.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ehhhh.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Wd5md6wQ-xQ/UJldsvxCQ1I/AAAAAAAAE8E/u8ngsS19Qps/s1600/DSCF4958.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Wd5md6wQ-xQ/UJldsvxCQ1I/AAAAAAAAE8E/u8ngsS19Qps/s320/DSCF4958.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dynamic!</td></tr>
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You can also use the grid on the LCD viewer to position the horizon line, thus avoiding having a photograph with the horizon line right across the middle - that looks clumsy and unsatisfying. Having it at the upper or lower horizontal line is better, depending on whether you want to emphasize the sky, or the earth or water. Either one works, as long as you don't have the horizon right in the middle.<br />
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I did take this one using the LCD rule of thirds grid. It helped me to see the horizon as the line between sunny grass and shady grass. Having the massive tree only partially in the picture gives it a nicely framed effect, and it is positioned on the right vertical line.<br />
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These last three photos were also taken with the grid.<br />
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<br />Peggy Millironhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15031868788153946351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-996360571943573871.post-15290674828492448712012-10-29T13:46:00.000-07:002012-10-29T13:46:27.675-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<h2>
Fooling with the Flash</h2>
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Boy, I do not like the pop up flash on my camera.Thanks to the reading (and seeing some of your blogs- thanks!) I do understand how the flash can be used to manage shadows, illuminate a subject, or as fill light to even out the exposure. But I'm afraid the pop up flash on my camera is doomed to remain a little used accessory.<br />
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One thing I learned these weeks is that if I set the white balance for the appropriate conditions, and then use the flash, the flash will override the white balance. So if I want to use the pop up flash I might as well set the white balance to auto, and that lessens the control I have over my shots.<br />
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I went out on a partly cloudy day with the white balance set for shade. I wanted to emphasize the warm yellow leaves on the trees around the block. The first photo is the one I took without the flash. <br />
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I took this one with the flash, even though I knew I was too far away for it to have any real effect. I think it looks tepid and dull. This is when I began to realize the connection between the pop up flash and a manually set white balance. <br />
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I knew that to use the flash properly, I had to get close to my subject.
I really like how this photo came out. Because of the flash, the light
on the leaves almost sparkles, and the shadows the leaves are making on each
other are visible, but not too dark. <br />
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Many of the experiments I did with the flash resulted in washed out shots like this one.<br />
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I like the no flash picture better.<br />
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If you want soft shadows, use the flash. If you want sharp shadows,
don't use the flash because it will add light and soften the shadows.<br />
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It's fun to play with the flash. These are some pictures I made by shooting into a mirror and a pane of empty glass. The first picture has nothing over the flash. Then I used a paper napkin to drape over the flash and I like how it looks. They are pretty abstract.<br />
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<br />Peggy Millironhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15031868788153946351noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-996360571943573871.post-19393294417359855842012-10-14T10:18:00.000-07:002012-10-14T10:18:34.797-07:00<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">White Balance</span></h2>
I <span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">have always felt I could pretty much ignore this setting on my camera, which turns out to be mostly true, for everyday photos. But not entirely! My camera, with it's white balance set on AUTO, makes good guesses about true color. But this assignment showed me that I can help the camera out by using the settings to make its job easier. </span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rJgIe031mfY/UHri4qC64bI/AAAAAAAAEy4/t1ddxQtViaQ/s1600/breakfast+room+Aug+2012+009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rJgIe031mfY/UHri4qC64bI/AAAAAAAAEy4/t1ddxQtViaQ/s320/breakfast+room+Aug+2012+009.JPG" width="236" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I took this photo before I knew anything about white balance settings. I had just painted this room and wanted to show my son, who lives in D.C. The AUTO white balance setting did a good job. It's close enough to the actual color of the paint and I was mostly satisfied. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">For the first photo I took for this assignment, I left the WB setting on AUTO for comparison purposes. </span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dMj4pI13LbU/UHrmf3RFabI/AAAAAAAAEzI/X9l4x3pKGQU/s1600/DSCF5504.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dMj4pI13LbU/UHrmf3RFabI/AAAAAAAAEzI/X9l4x3pKGQU/s320/DSCF5504.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It was a cloudy day, so next I set the WB to SHADE to warm the colors up a little bit. My camera doesn't have a setting for CLOUDY but I figured this would have the same effect. I think the color looks unnatural; it's too yellow.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I41JFk2cqFA/UHrnUqG0UvI/AAAAAAAAEzU/uYd9tY2iu2w/s1600/DSCF5507.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I41JFk2cqFA/UHrnUqG0UvI/AAAAAAAAEzU/uYd9tY2iu2w/s320/DSCF5507.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I wanted to see what the camera would do if I told it that I was using incandescent light - here is the result. The camera compensated by toning down the warm tones from the picture and the resulting shot is very cold and blue. Pretty awful. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">After I understood the effects you can get by overriding the camera's AUTO white balance settings, I played around with some apples.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This
is the same room as the first photo, so if you look at the wall behind
the table you can see that the AUTO setting captured the color most
accurately. The FLUORESCENT setting added warm yellow tones, and the
TUNGSTEN setting removed them and made the wall look blue.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">tungsten </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Now, what if you wanted to created a particular effect? I did that here. I put the lens on Macro close-up, used a tripod and a super slow shutter speed to take this shot of some shells and things in a thick, bubbly glass vase. I was going for a dreamy, other-worldly kind of feeling. On the first shot I set the white balance to compensate for the incandescent light. The second shot has the white balance on AUTO. Which one looks more magical?</span></div>
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Peggy Millironhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15031868788153946351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-996360571943573871.post-48652537847533070982012-10-08T12:11:00.000-07:002012-10-08T12:11:15.528-07:00<h2>
<span style="font-size: small;">Learning about ISO settings -</span></h2>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"> I am beginning to understand exactly how the ISO setting is related to aperture and shutter speed. The sensor is the part of the camera that records the available light. The aperture determines<i> how much</i> light will hit the sensor, and the shutter speed determines for <i>how long</i> the light will hit the sensor. SO - the<b> ISO </b>setting determines<i> how sensitive</i> the sensor is to the light. In other words, the ISO setting determines how bright your image is going to be.</span></span><br />
Deciding which ISO setting to use depends on multiple factors: the effect you want to achieve, the amount of light available, whether you want to use a particular aperture setting, and how much noise you're willing to accept in the digital image.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">f5.6 1/42 ISO 64</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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For this first set of images, I decided to leave the aperture set at 5.6, so that I could see the relationship between a variable shutter speed and ISO. Here is a shot taken at the lowest ISO my camera allows me to use. The shutter speed is not slow enough for camera shake to be a problem, */and at this ISO the sensor is not as sensitive to light as it would be at a higher setting. Note the deep shadows. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">f5.6 1/75 ISO 100</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Here is a picture shot at a more commonly chosen ISO, 100. On a sunny day, which this wasn't, this setting would give you a clean crisp shot with no noise, and a slightly faster shutter speed. I noticed that as the ISO setting rose, the shutter speed shortened. The color in the first photo is a little more saturated than in this one, but this is still acceptable.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">f5.6 1/140 ISO 200</td></tr>
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It's a little boring to keep taking the same shot but I thought it would be good for comparison purposes. Here, the ISO setting is doubles, which caused the shutter speed to roughly double too, to compensate for the increased sensitivity of the sensor.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">f5.6 1/250 ISO 400</td></tr>
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You can see the mathematical relationship developing here. Every time the ISO doubles, the shutter speed comes close to doing the same. This is because the sensor is becoming more sensitive to light, so the shutter must shorten the time that light is allowed to hit it. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">f5.6 1/480 ISO 800</td></tr>
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With the ISO set at 800, this photo is beginning to look washed out. The colors are less intense and the detail is less fine.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">f5.6 1/1000 ISO 1600</td></tr>
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Again, the ISO has doubled, and the shutter speed is more than twice as fast. The color is duller yet, almost a gray green, and the yellow flower in the center is much paler.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">f5.6 1/2000 ISO 6400</td></tr>
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I've jumped to the last photo - the highest ISO I could get. At this setting the sensor is extremely sensitive to light, so the colors are not accurately captured. The shutter speed and aperture would both have to be changed to get proper exposure, and even then it might not be possible with an ISO setting this high. If you enlarge this picture you will see enormous noise, or what would be called grain if this were taken with a film camera.<br />
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These last two photos show the effects you can get by playing with the ISO setting. The picture on the left had an ISO setting of 100. The one on the right is ISO 800. To me, the one on the left looks fresh and bright, while the one on the right looks old and faded.</div>
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<br />Peggy Millironhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15031868788153946351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-996360571943573871.post-67261934955913458982012-09-30T18:38:00.000-07:002012-09-30T18:38:23.537-07:00<h2>
<b>Shutter Speed Settings</b></h2>
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I am not too excited about the photos I took for this assignment, especially after seeing some other dynamic posts from you, my classmates! But anyhow, here they are. <br />
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This first photo of one of my cats was taken with an extremely slow shutter speed - <b>4 seconds.</b> I had to use a mini- tripod at that speed. I am using this picture here because she moved her head as I was shooting, and at that speed her movement shows as a blur mostly evident in the upper left hand corner. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">f3.5 1/125</td></tr>
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I was outside on a sunny day for the next set. I wanted to catch some water movement, and since I don't live near any creeks or anything, I used my garden hose. This first shot was taken at the fastest shutter speed I could achieve with my camera under those conditions, and the aperture is large as a result. The water droplets are apparent, but the coiled hose in the background is barely discernible. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">f3.5 1/100</td></tr>
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This shot has a slightly slower shutter speed. The change is so incremental that I was able to leave the aperture setting where it was. The second picture is a little bit lighter than the first because the slower shutter speed allowed slightly more light to reach the sensor.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">f3.5 1/80</td></tr>
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Shutter speed even slower here. Now the water droplets are noticeably less distinct - some of the water appears as streaks of light. There is more blur at the lightest point. I still have the aperture at <b>3.5</b>. The hose in the background is a bit more apparent.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">f3.5 1/50</td></tr>
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This is the slowest shutter speed I could get with the aperture kept at the same setting. The water droplets are blurred and the photo looks very light because this longer exposure is letting more light reach the sensor. There is a sense of movement of the water here, and in the preceding photo.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">f5 1/30</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Finally, here is the same shot with the aperture smaller and the exposure longer. Because of the smaller aperture opening, more of the photo is in focus and you can see the hose in the background now. The shutter speed is slower than in the other pictures, but it is still fast enough to freeze the motion of the drops of water. In this photo you can tell that I had the hose shooting upwards, not spraying down from above.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">f8 1/25</td></tr>
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Here is a close-up of a cat grooming itself. Because of the high shutter speed relative to the speed of the cat's tongue, the action is frozen and there is no sense of movement.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">f4.5 1/30</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">f7.1 1/10</td></tr>
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These last two photos show the different effects you can get from the same shot. In the first one the action is frozen and in the second, the shutter speed has been reduced to one third of what it was, and the person on the swing conveys movement. There is no right or wrong when you are fooling around with shutter speed - it just depends on what effect you are trying to achieve.<br />
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<br />Peggy Millironhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15031868788153946351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-996360571943573871.post-17107931592198691612012-09-22T17:23:00.001-07:002012-09-22T17:23:29.970-07:00<span style="font-size: large;">Aperture and Depth of Field:</span><br />
experiments with aperture settings and what I learned<br />
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The joy of digital cameras! I deleted lots of pictures until I figured out what I was doing. The photos that I decided to use for this blog assignment were mostly taken on a sunny day with an ISO setting of 100. I found that I had the widest range of f-stops with the ISO set as low as possible.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>f3.5 1/320</b></td></tr>
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I started this series of photos with an<b> f 3.5</b>, which required a shutter speed of <b>1/320</b>. If the shutter speed was slower, too much light would have been allowed in and the picture would have been overexposed. As you see, this produced an image that is sharp around the white flowers, but blurred on the green leaves. An f-stop of 3.5 means that the aperture (opening) was as large as it was possible for me to get. With a different lens, I could have gotten an aperture that was even larger (smaller f-stop number) and then there would have been even more blurring of the background.<br />
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The aperture is getting smaller here, so the shutter speed has to be slower to let in enough light for proper exposure. The white flowers are still in focus, and the leaves are more in focus too, because the depth of field is a bit longer. </div>
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Now the f-stop number is getting bigger, which means the aperture is getting smaller, and the exposure time is getting longer. The depth of field is longer too, putting more of the subject in focus.</div>
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Finally, the last shot of this series has the smallest aperture I could achieve. Accordingly, the shutter speed is very slow, to allow more light to enter. The entire photo is in focus; the depth of field is as long as it can be. There is a distinct difference between the first and last photos of this series. I might use the settings on the first photo if I wanted to emphasize the flower, or the settings of the last photo to show what the plant looks like overall.</div>
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The next series, taken the same day, was taken with the macro zoom lens operating. I was very stealthy and was able to get pretty close. Actually, I was lying in the driveway.</div>
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The second photo, with the f 8 setting is the better of the two as far as seeing the whole grasshopper detail. In the first picture, the foreground in blurred due to the wide aperture. I could have avoided this by focusing on the bug more closely. </div>
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I messed up on these last two, (which were actually the first two I took.) The ISO was set at 400, and that was wrong because of the amount of available light, I think. It maybe should have been 600. Also, the camera focused on the lamp base on the right instead of just the china doll. I could fix this by cropping it out of the first picture, where because I wanted the emphasis to be on the doll only I used a low f-stop number. That was as low as I could get under the circumstances.</div>
Peggy Millironhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15031868788153946351noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-996360571943573871.post-22431297264500891172012-09-17T05:59:00.001-07:002012-09-17T05:59:46.797-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-taeZsddg72Q/T6l598kTkuI/AAAAAAAAEXs/Kl1olfLPm-w/s1600/DSCF4634.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-taeZsddg72Q/T6l598kTkuI/AAAAAAAAEXs/Kl1olfLPm-w/s320/DSCF4634.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Master Your Camera ? ?</span></div>
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I really should have done this four years ago when I first got this camera, but the features are so user friendly, and the manual is so boring, and....</div>
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Anyhow - I use what is referred to as a 'bridge camera'. It's a <i>Fujifilm Finepix S8100</i>, a model which has since been discontinued. Bridge (or super zoom) cameras look and feel like DSLR cameras, but the zoom lens is built in, which means the sensor is sealed and will never get dust or dirt on it. It has been convenient for me not to have to bring along extra lenses. This 10 megapixel camera has an 18x optical zoom, so I can take everything from wide angle landscape photos to extreme telephoto close-ups of insects, because the super macro zoom allows me to be as close as 1 cm to my subject. (Note from sad experience: not a good idea when the subject is a bee.)</div>
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The settings are similar to what you'd find on a DSLR - I can set it to Manual, meaning I choose the shutter speed and aperture. I try to use this whenever possible, because I figured I'd learn more about photography this way. I have taken some pretty good pictures, but I rely on the little moving lines at the bottom to tell me when I am where I should be for correct exposure. This means I don't really understand the whys and wherefores of what I'm doing - something I hope I will figure out in this class! There is also a totally automatic setting which makes the camera work like a point and shoot, for when there's no time to fuss around. I also have the option of setting the shutter speed and letting the camera select the aperture, or setting the aperture and the camera will set the shutter speed. Why do I have this? I'd like to know how and when to use this. There are other settings that I don't use, like a portrait mode and a bracketing zoom which takes three photos at once, zooming in closer and closer. I'm not sure why I would want to do that.</div>
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I can change the ISO depending on light conditions, and adjust the white balance. I never mess with the white balance because I don't know anything about that and the camera will do it automatically. This camera also takes movies with sound but I have not done this. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XEJQttWFA7I/SPUEW2ck1lI/AAAAAAAABws/7MyMuzumd2M/s1600/hoyt+lake+oct+08+020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XEJQttWFA7I/SPUEW2ck1lI/AAAAAAAABws/7MyMuzumd2M/s320/hoyt+lake+oct+08+020.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I mostly take carefully composed pictures so I can take my time. I like to photograph flowers, trees, my cats, sea shells, and abstract graphic patterns like porch railings and radiators and things like that. I stink at photographing people because I am too slow - that's another thing I'd like to work on. </div>
Peggy Millironhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15031868788153946351noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-996360571943573871.post-54235889370165817402012-09-10T11:01:00.000-07:002012-09-10T11:01:15.753-07:00I'm ready for my next assignment- yay! Looking forward to this class - more soon...Peggy Millironhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15031868788153946351noreply@blogger.com0