I am finally starting to get it.
There is no better time to learn the ins and outs of my DSLR than in early Spring. In the past, I tried the routine of reading the manuals and experimenting with buttons I didn't quite understand. I never was able to quite get the hang of it or dedicate the time I needed to be successful. SO a few weeks back I jumped at the chance to take photography class with Candice Stringham over at www.jessicasprague.com - where I could gather the strength and motivation to tackle the unknown.
Our first week was spent on shutter speeds. For sports photography (all those soccer moms out there) this is a need to know: if you are looking for that sharp action shot where everything is clear then move your dial over to S (I use a Nikon D50) for shutter priority where you can set the speed to a large number like 1/4000 of a second. This will freeze motion in its place. But every so often you want to catch that movement or soft blur behind the foot that is kicking the ball or swoosh behind the runner, and that is when you want to turn down the shutter to 1/25 of a second and show that motion as it happens. Running water will look like it is flowing right into your lap and the wind will make the flag fly. So, long story short...the higher the speed the sharper the picture. I caught a bit of this yesterday on my field trip outing with Nichole. See if you can tell the difference in these beautiful spring pinwheels decorating the old Field's windows on State Street (sorry, it will always be Field's to me - can't get used to the Macy's name change).
Can you see the soft blur across the pinwheels in the bottom pic? When I knocked up the shutter speed just a bit the focus was more intent on the blades as they spun, stopping them in their tracks. Too bad the window glare snuck into the frame...I'll learn a manual focus trick before my time is up, hopefully!
------------------------------------------------
Week two, this week, has my favorite topic at hand: aperture! I'm a sucker for a hazy background where my focal point shines and the background blurs. Playing with F-stops is the reason I am always looking for new lens for my camera - the smaller the aperture the more I like it! The best way to explain this is DEPTH OF FIELD. If you are looking only to focus on one item, one person, one detail then you want the background to soften and blur so that it does not attract as much attention. Candice Stringham says, "Your aperture is a hole in the lens that opens and closes to let in light. It works in a similar way to the iris in your eye. While your shutter controls the amount of time that light comes in your camera, your aperture controls the size of the opening that the light comes through. The bigger the aperture the more light that comes through. This can be tricky because the bigger the number the smaller the hole becomes."
Again, yesterday, using Nichole as my focal point I pulled my aperture down to its smallest number so that the distraction of the trees and cityscape would fade behind her on the left picture. On the right picture, when I nudged the aperture up the background becomes sharper and more defined.
I gotta say, I'm having a ball with this, but time won't always be on my side as it is this week with Spring Break letting me experiment! Off to take in the 70 degree temps we are enjoying today!!!
There is no better time to learn the ins and outs of my DSLR than in early Spring. In the past, I tried the routine of reading the manuals and experimenting with buttons I didn't quite understand. I never was able to quite get the hang of it or dedicate the time I needed to be successful. SO a few weeks back I jumped at the chance to take photography class with Candice Stringham over at www.jessicasprague.com - where I could gather the strength and motivation to tackle the unknown.
Our first week was spent on shutter speeds. For sports photography (all those soccer moms out there) this is a need to know: if you are looking for that sharp action shot where everything is clear then move your dial over to S (I use a Nikon D50) for shutter priority where you can set the speed to a large number like 1/4000 of a second. This will freeze motion in its place. But every so often you want to catch that movement or soft blur behind the foot that is kicking the ball or swoosh behind the runner, and that is when you want to turn down the shutter to 1/25 of a second and show that motion as it happens. Running water will look like it is flowing right into your lap and the wind will make the flag fly. So, long story short...the higher the speed the sharper the picture. I caught a bit of this yesterday on my field trip outing with Nichole. See if you can tell the difference in these beautiful spring pinwheels decorating the old Field's windows on State Street (sorry, it will always be Field's to me - can't get used to the Macy's name change).
Can you see the soft blur across the pinwheels in the bottom pic? When I knocked up the shutter speed just a bit the focus was more intent on the blades as they spun, stopping them in their tracks. Too bad the window glare snuck into the frame...I'll learn a manual focus trick before my time is up, hopefully!------------------------------------------------
Week two, this week, has my favorite topic at hand: aperture! I'm a sucker for a hazy background where my focal point shines and the background blurs. Playing with F-stops is the reason I am always looking for new lens for my camera - the smaller the aperture the more I like it! The best way to explain this is DEPTH OF FIELD. If you are looking only to focus on one item, one person, one detail then you want the background to soften and blur so that it does not attract as much attention. Candice Stringham says, "Your aperture is a hole in the lens that opens and closes to let in light. It works in a similar way to the iris in your eye. While your shutter controls the amount of time that light comes in your camera, your aperture controls the size of the opening that the light comes through. The bigger the aperture the more light that comes through. This can be tricky because the bigger the number the smaller the hole becomes."
Again, yesterday, using Nichole as my focal point I pulled my aperture down to its smallest number so that the distraction of the trees and cityscape would fade behind her on the left picture. On the right picture, when I nudged the aperture up the background becomes sharper and more defined.
I gotta say, I'm having a ball with this, but time won't always be on my side as it is this week with Spring Break letting me experiment! Off to take in the 70 degree temps we are enjoying today!!!
2 comments:
Oooh! Have fun experimenting!
Very interesting and I love that you posted 2 examples. Thanks SO MUCH for sharing. I want to get out and play too...
Post a Comment