Chicago Trip

New post coming soon but in the meantime here are some pics from my recent trip to Chicago. :)

Lesson 3: Aperture, The Sunny 16 Rule, and Your Exposure Indicator

I've been shooting so much lately that it's been awhile since I've posted anything informative. So today I am going to give you some helpful tips and tricks for working with aperture, plus a few other helpful tidbits.

As a quick review, aperture is the hole/opening through which light travels into your camera. A small aperture lets in less light, a big aperture lets in more light. A small aperture is represented by a larger f number and a large aperture is represented by a smaller f number. Why? Just to keep all of us photogs on our toes.

The Sunny 16 Rule
The 'Sunny 16 Rule' helps to give you a baseline of where to start with your camera settings if you're a bit unsure. Always remember that on a sunny clear day, generally speaking, you should be able to put your camera settings at an f# of 16, shutter speed of 1/100 or 1/125 and an ISO of 100 and get a pretty good shot. If it's a little gray out or very bright, start with these settings and adjust accordingly.  Or, keep the below guidelines in mind:

f22 - Snow/sand
f16 - Sunny
f11 - Slightly overcast
f8 - Overcast
f5.6 - Heavy overcast
f4 - Open shade/ sunset

As a reminder, here is what an aperture with an f# of 16 looks like (bigger f number, smaller aperture):

And for an example of what a shutter speed of 1/125 looks like, check out this snazzy animation: Photocourse.com

Great Resource, Shortcourses.com
Speaking of Photocourse.com. This is another GREAT resource for anyone and everyone who wants to learn more about digital photography. Most of the stuff has to be paid for but if you go to Shortcourses.com, they usually have some free books and animations posted, I highly suggest you check them out!

Using Your Exposure Indicator
Most digital SLR cameras these days have an exposure indicator and once you find it, your life will never be the same. Check out your user's manual and see if you have one.

It should look something like this:

This handy-dandy little tool will tell you if your aperture and shutter speed are lined up to make a well-exposed picture. On my camera, this doesn't only show-up on my monitor but when I look through my viewfinder, I can see it there too. It makes adjusting your aperture and shutter-speed settings so freaking easy! Keep in mind that depending on your lighting you may not always want to line up your exposure perfectly at zero, you may want to over-expose or under-expose depending on what works best for your settings and how you want your picture to turn out.

Something To Think About 
A large part of being a good photographer means being prepared.

"Being prepared involves understanding your camera well enough to capture what you see the way you want to interpret it."
-Dennis P. Curtain

Photography is not just about taking a picture of what we see... it's about taking what we see, interpreting it in our own individual way and portraying it to others, exactly as we want them to see it - To do this we must first understand how to use our tools in order to create the interpretation that we desire.

Understanding the in's and out's of our camera's isn't always fun and sometimes it can be quite complicated but taking the time to understand now will, in the end, lead us to our nirvana.

I'm off to another shoot for class. Today we are shooting at the Phoenix Airport, it should be an awesomely creative time!

Adios and stay inspired.

Phoenix Art Museum

Last week our class visited the Phoenix Art Museum. I had an incredible time shooting the museum. I think maybe too much fun considering I came home with almost 400 photo's, which made cutting down and editing a B. I. T. C. ... well, quite difficult.

While at the museum our teacher asked us to focus not just on shooting the art but also the facilities and the cool architecture. He also asked us to find a unique way to take a self-portrait of ourselves.

Here are some of my favorites from the shoot, however, I have many more I would like to post too... That is, if I had more time.

Enjoy the photo's, I am off to class!

The Japanese Gardens

This week in class we went to our first location shoot at the Japanese Gardens in Phoenix and I had WAY too much fun.

Since there are many waterfalls at The Gardens, our instructor asked us to focus on shutter speed and discover the effect it has on the appearance of moving water. I did plenty of that, as you will see below, but considering we got there at 5:30am to get the good light, I couldn't help but take some shots of the sunrise as well. :)

Here are some of my favorites from the day.

f3.5 SS 1/4000 ISO 100


f16 SS 1/8 ISO Exposure +0.67


f5.6 SS 1/40 ISO 100


f18 SS 1/4 ISO 800 - The high ISO explains the fuzziness of the picture. Next time I will focus on not moving ISO away from 100 if I don't have to.


f5 SS 1/100 ISO 1600


f7.1 SS 1/200 ISO 100 Exposure +0.67


f32 SS 1/4 ISO 1600 (again, the high ISO is causing my shot to come out a bit fuzzy, I need to work on this) Exposure +0.33


And here are some great examples of the effect that shutter speed has on moving water:

f10 SS .3 (very slow) ISO 100


f5.3 SS 1/13 (a little faster) ISO 100


F5.3 SS 1/80 (pretty fast) ISO 800


f5.3 SS 1/125 (fast) ISO 800

Lesson 2: The Camera, Framing and Visualizing

Last week, we focused a lot on getting to know our cameras. I am pretty familiar with all the different aspects and functions of my camera, however, I did learn that I have manual focus ring on the lens of my camera, which I was unaware of. I am so glad that I discovered that little ring, because now I never have to worry about the auto-focus not focusing on what I need to it to focus on ever again!

Our teacher also told us about an awesomely resourceful website: www.photoanswers.co.uk. They give a ton of tips and tricks and it's all for FREE! I highly suggest you check it out!

Our assignment last week was on framing and visualizing. We were tasked with finding and shooting all 26 letters of the alphabet but here's the catch, it couldn't be something that was meant to be a letter (i.e. you can't find a 'E' on a sign and use that) AND, you can't use the same object twice.

Here are a few of my favorite finds:
B:


E:


i:


Q:


Z: (This shot was taken at night with a shutter speed of 1.6 seconds and an f # of 4, without a flash)

Fitness Shoot

I recently took some fitness shots of a good a friend of mine. I haven't had the time yet to post-process all the shots, but I have played around with a couple of them. I have obviously done a good deal of manipulation to both these photo's... I do not plan on doing this with the rest, but it was fun to make them a little more artistic and a little less realistic. :)

This one is my favorite of the two, although my boyfriend disagrees with me. He likes the one below better. He doesn't like that she is off center in this photo... that's an easy fix but I prefer that she isn't directly in the middle. I like the imperfectness of it. That's what I love about photography, the beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. I also LOVE how the light is reflecting off her arms... after all, I wanted them to be the focal point of the shot and the light really helps highlight them.



I'm not sure how I feel about the alignment of the mountains with her head in this shot... I wish the mountain peak was a little bit more to the right and she was a little bit more to the left, that way they would equal each other out - I think that would have looked pretty cool. But, either way, the chick is ripped and the photo definitely shows that!

Lesson 1: The Photo Four

Wow. Just got done with my first class and I am even more excited now then I was before....

Class today was pretty chill. First we went over our syllabus and that's when we were told that we will be going on five location shoots over the next month - We will be going to the Japanese Friendship Garden, the Phoenix Art Museum, Sky Harbor Airport, Arizona Falls and The Desert Botanical Gardens. I am so excited to have the opportunity to explore, shoot and learn at locations that are so full of inspiration and beauty.

After we reviewed the syllabus, our teacher covered "The Photo Four." I am familiar with the concepts of The Photo Four but I am not totally comfortable with them when it comes to actually applying them in practice.

Below is an outline of Lesson 1.

The Photo Four

1. Aperture

>Aperture is the opening in the lens through which light passes to expose the film or digital image sensor. Aperture is also referred to as f/stop. The more open the aperture is, the more light it allows in.

> In combination with shutter speed, aperture is your cameras primary way of regulating the exposure of your photos.

>Aperture can be confusing because a smaller f number represents a larger opening in the lens. For example f4 is much more open then f32. This is because all f numbers are assumed to be fractions therefore, when you are working with f4, you are really working with f 1/4 which is equal to .25 versus f 1/32 which is equal to a very small number, .03125, to be exact. So when working with an f number, always make it into a fraction by putting a 1 on top of it and that will help you remember whether or not it makes the lens opening bigger or smaller.

> Aperture has a direct relationship with depth of field (DOF). DOF is the distance in front of and behind your subject that's still in focus. A large aperture such as f4 (think 1/4) equals a smaller depth of field because the lens is wide open. A small aperture such as f32 (think 1/32) equals a bigger depth of field because the lens opening is much smaller.

>Generally speaking in low light you will want to use a larger aperture in order to let more light in.

>Aperture priority is a great way to shoot when you really want to focus on a particular subject.

2. Shutter Speed

> Shutter speed is how long the shutter remains open when taking a picture. This also effects how much light is exposed to the image sensor. Shutter speed is equal to exposure time.

>Adjustments to shutter speed will effect aperture and vice versa, therefore in manual settings if you change one, you will most likely need to adjust the other.

>Typically a larger aperture requires a faster shutter speed, otherwise too much light will get in and your picture will become over-exposed.

>Having too slow of a shutter speed can cause fuzziness.

>Shutter priority is typically used for fast action shots.

3. ISO

>ISO is the sensitivity of the image sensor. The lower the ISO number, the less sensitive your camera is to light. An ISO of 100 is a typical ISO level that, in a well lighted area, results in little or no noise.

> A higher ISO, allows your camera to be sensitive to more light but it can also create more noise in your photo, so it's important to take your pictures at the lowest possible ISO that you can, depending on the lighting.

>A lower ISO will result in a sharper image.

4. Focus

> Focus is the clarity or distinctness of an image.

>As photographers we can control what is in focus in our pictures and what is out of focus.

>Eye's will always be more attracted to the sharpest point of an image - we tend not to look at things that are out of focus.

>Today, many cameras allow us to manually control the focus of our camera.

>If you are trying to take a picture and the Auto-focus isn't allowing you to shoot what you are trying to shoot, simply switch over to manual focus and you will be able to get your shot.

Random tips learned throughout the lecture:

-Using a tri-pod and a longer shutter speed can help with shots in dark settings (that is, as long as the subject is still).

-Photomark on McDowell and 22nd street gives student discounts.

-Bigger photosites in your lens allow for sharper images - but lenses with larger photosites also cost more :)

-Lingo: if someone says, "stop down" that means close your aperture a bit... If someone says, "open up" that means use a larger aperture.

-Always have your camera manual with you.... You never know when you'll need it, no matter how long you have had your camera.

-And lastly, don't get into the habit of shooting imperfect shots with thought in mind that you can fix it later in photoshop. You'll save time and frustration by just taking the shot right the first time.

That's all I have for you today folks. Life is good.

My First Day of School!

After 8 straight (great) days of work at The Montelucia, I can finally get excited about my first day of school. Oh, and yeah, it's today!!!

So, in order to keep my family happy I, of course, took the traditional first day of school photo. As you can see the pig tails have been replaced by sun glasses and the lunch box with a digital camera. :)

I have NEVER been so excited for school in my life!!