Last week, a couple of us spent an hour and a half talking with Jan, photographer extraordinaire, who went over some of the basics and some of the not so basics and metering, which a couple of us weren't using at all (even though we've been shooting manually for nearly a year and a half). She gave us an assignment and we met with her earlier today so she could critique our work. Criticism is a bitch but I appreciated everything she had to say. Also, while there we figured out how to adjust my camera so that it wouldn't re-focus when the shutter release button was partially depressed and I moved the camera so my subject (typically Hen) would be off-center. Her thoughts were pretty much that we're doing what we should be doing we just need to:
- slow down - not take shots willy-nilly in the hopes of catching one that is good, take time to compose a shot
- be mindful of the light source (which thankfully you do automatically when you use metering)
- try different angles and don't be afraid to get close, real close (also known as fill the frame)
- work on figuring out the best aperture/shutter speed/ISO balance to get your subject(s) to POP!
- play with crooked horizon lines (a little off looks weird but a lot off looks artistic)
- get creative in post editing - vignetting, cropping, etc.
- look for interesting backgrounds to blur
- focus on the eyes, particularly when using a higher aperture (higher meaning lower number)
- cheat when taking a photo of a subject near a window - look for the triangle of light on the side of the face that is in shadows
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| Shutter 1/125 Aperture f/1.6 ISO 200 - cropped from original |
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| Shutter 1/600 Aperture f/1.8 ISO 200 - cropped from original |
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| Shutter 1/400 Aperture f/1.8 ISO 400 - edited, probably could have used cropping on this one |
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| Shutter 1/3999 Aperture f/1.4 ISO 200 |
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| Shutter 1/1600 Aperture f/1.8 ISO 200 |
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| Shutter 1/1600 Aperture f/1.4 ISO 200 |
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| Shutter 1/1000 Aperture f/3.5 ISO 200 |
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| Shutter 1/125 Aperture f/3.2 ISO 200 - we're thinking of having this printed on canvas for our bedroom |
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| Shutter 1/3200 Aperture f/1.6 ISO 200 |
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| Shutter 1/100 Aperture f/1.8 ISO 1250 |
3 comments:
1/3999 ??
I have no idea what the triangle of light is.
It really boggles my mind that you all have been shooting in manual without using the meter. I can't even grasp it, as I am so dependent on it whenever I switch to manual (which I am SLOWLY doing more and more).
Yeah, I have no idea how the 1/3999 came up but that is what was listed so I guess that's where it was.
I employed the 'take a picture and adjust' method of determining what my aperture and shutter speed should be. Using the metering certainly makes this easier. Also, the meter on my old camera didn't work - we figured that out in the Creative Camera techniques class when Zeb admitted I needed a new camera. Good news, it works on the new camera!
Wow, Christie, these photos are gorgeous. Henry! Cute! Love!
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