One Sharp Subject-My daughter & her out of control hair. :)
F 5.6 1/30 ISO 800- Fore & background fuzzy (her blanket is most noticeable to me).
F11 1/160 -in between ISO 800
F22 1/160 - Entire image is sharp ISO 800___________________________________________________________________
'Who Cares'? - Above the kitchen cabinets. I think I was too far away to get much of a difference between the 3. Plus, the indoor lighting didn't help. I tried to change the WB, but it seemed to make matters worse when I did.
F 5 1/200 ISO 800
F11 1/60 ISO 800
.JPG)
F22 1/160 ISO 800
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'Story Telling'- My work building. It's been so cloudy and grey lately, these were horrible and very frustrating for me..For the life of me I could not get the sky to not look so white!
F5.6 1/200 ISO 200-Colors are obviously worse & the letters are noticeably fuzzier to me.
F 11 1/200 ISO 320
F22 1/50 ISO 320-Sharpest, & clearest coloring.I think the most difficult thing for me was figuring out what to take the pictures of & then getting the pictures in the three stops. I have about a million options I had been taking through the week. But, poor indoor lighting, and this gloomy weather outside, I felt very limited. Any suggestions on good indoor lighting sources? Umbrella lights vs. box, etc.? I think I need to invest & learn with those as well!
Your daughter is so cute! I think I learned just as much from looking at your pictures as I did taking mine. I also struggle with white balance inside! P.S. I am in your class, not some wierdo stalker. (Or am I.....)
ReplyDeleteHaha thanks 'stalker' Lindsey! Glad to know I'm not the only one who struggles there!
ReplyDeleteYour daughter is beautiful. Those eyes...wow! I also shot photos on an overcast day and with the bland coloring it offered for my photos. It looks like you did the best with what you had though. Good job.
ReplyDeleteDitto on what everyone is telling you about your cute little girl! Beautiful eyes. I really like the angle you used for your Storytelling shots - even though the sky was kinda bland, the angle added great interest to the shots.
ReplyDeleteYour daughter really does have amazing eyes. These pictures have so much interest! I agree with Alice on the storytelling pictures--way to add interest with the angle! I know how you feel as far as the sky goes--it's hard when there's just no color to capture.
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel! You have some fun images!
ReplyDeleteFirst Set: Yes, indeed an absolutely LOVELY subject :) I always wanted curls like that!
My first question for you is regarding flash. Did you use flash on these shots? Indoors always presents some challenges in regards to light. The artificial lighting of indoors is not near as powerful as the sun outside, and even things like darker colored walls, furniture, carpet, etc. all act to absorb light rather than reflect it--which results in extremely slow shutter speeds if shooting manually without a flash. (which is why I'm asking... at f22 we likely wouldn't be able to get a correct exposure at 1/160 shutter speed without the help of flash.)
We can still shoot manually and use flash, but it does affect the whole idea of metering. Why? Because we're metering a light environment that is going to change the moment we fire the shot and release the flash. So basically, adjusting the shutter speed to the center for a correct exposure isn't really necessary since flash will make up the difference.
Second Set: Love the sign :) Super cute!
Good observation as well on your depth of field. Yes, you are further away, and thus everything is registering on the same plane to your lens. And thus, changing apertures around is not going to show much difference between your images. It does of course, make a huge difference in your shutter speed since you are effecting how much light is coming in through the lens--meaning the shutter will have to stay open longer if less light is coming through--and shorter if more light is coming through the aperture.
Final Set: This is a great example of depth of field! I love how you shot this on an angle to emphasize the vanishing point, instead of straight on. You definitely notice a difference between the f5.6 shot (especially looking at the far left edge of the building) vs. the final shot at f22. Notice also how it affects your shutter speed.
White skies? Was the sky really white? It looks like it was just an overcast day. If however you did have some bluer skies and were trying to maintain the blue, this is where we come to an interesting choice on exposure. Sometimes, to expose our subject (your building) properly, you have to make a choice: 1. You expose for your building and loose the blueness of your sky. or 2. You expose for a blue sky and have a bit of an underexposed building. Since the sky is so light, and the building is darker (or in different lighting), the camera can't really expose for both.
ReplyDeleteWays around this: 1. Digital manipulation later. Especially if you are shooting RAW file format, you could bring back one or the other in post production later. 2. Bracket. This is a feature on cameras that will take three different exposures for you. One that is correct, one that is over exposed, and one that is underexposed. You then take the three images and combine them later in a computer program like photoshop or other programs that specialize in this type of manipulation. Yep! more work! I have only played with the first option myself.
As for indoor lighting suggestions:
1. A low aperture lens such as the 50mm 1.8 or 1.4 (unless you shoot with Nikon D40, d60, d3000, or d5000--in which case I'd recommend the 35mm 1.8).
Having the option of taking your aperture down so low REALLY helps in indoor photos to keep a faster shutter speed. Plus it gives the option of some amazing low depth of field shots, awesome color and sharpness as well.
2. We'll talk more about light on week 4, but seeking out the window light will help. Finding natural light reflectors inside, like white sheets, light colored walls... all of which will help your lighting.
3. You of course can get even more technical with flash. It's an entire other class to learn about flash :) I personally have flash, but usually only pull it out if shooting in my house at night when I don't have any window light. I just really really like the look of natural light and am somewhat of a minimalist I suppose, not wanting to have to mess with even more equipment (most especially since my subject would be a curious 1 year old who can do fast damage!).
Overall though, I'd go for a low aperture lens first since it would be super useful in all situations--light/dark/indoors/outdoors/and fun!
Good work Rachel!
Great pictures and your daughter is adorable!
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone for your kind comments about my little one & photos! It really does give me encouragment!
ReplyDeleteBrooke- I did use flash on the pictures of my daughter. It was night, and I had no way of getting outside light when I took them. I didn't even think about the metering not really mattering..I still did it. I can see why it wouldn't though!
The skies I guess weren't technically white. Haha. They were very overcast and bright so they sure came off as light grey/white with certain apertures, etc.
I tried a few pictures of my daughter in the RAW image file type,and apparently my computer (even my version of photoshop) won't recognize the file type. Sad. Is there anything I can download, or what kind of program would I need for that? Also, is there anywhere in the valley you'd suggest to purchase a new lense at? Or do you prefer to orer online?
RAWs are fun, but you do need software to use them.
ReplyDeleteI use Lightroom and love it. I just posted some new toolbox tips that cover RAW vs. JPG AND perks of Lightroom. (which by the way, you can download for a free 30 day trial.)
I usually purchase most of my gear online at amazon. Just cause I don't like shopping in person :)