2+2=X

Aperture and shutter speed. Two very important things to think about when you are taking pictures. These two things work together to control the amount of light that reaches the sensor inside the camera. I say sensor because I am a digi. The sensor inside a digital camera is basically the film. On all of the cameras I have seen there are settings for Aperture Value (AV) Which means you can adjust your aperture, and the camera automatically adjusts the shutter speed to accommodate the aperture. Shutter speed (represented as TV for time value on a canon and I believe it is an S for shutter on the Nikon) and that does the exact opposite of the AV setting. You choose the shutter speed and the camera chooses the "correct" AV. And then there is Manual mode (M) that allows you to adjust both the AV and the TV.

Now that I know about Aperture is this. It is very much like an eye. (well that's how I think of it anyway)There is an adjustable ring, that I think of as the iris and the Aperture is the opening in the ring and it functions like a pupil. The brighter the light is the smaller the opening should be and the darker the scene is the wider the opening should be just like an eye. The size of the aperture is referred to in f-stops. (And this part is a little confusing) The smaller the number the BIGGER the opening, f/1 for example is the biggest opening. and would be used in a VERY dark situation. Maybe when trying to shoot the moon. (Note the "maybe") The bigger the number the smaller the opening so f/64 would be a tiny opening and would be used in a very bright situation. This I understand....I just don't know what aperture setting to use when. I mean I have the general idea so I can monkey around with it and (this is why I love digital) if it look over or under exposed on the screen I can adjust accordingly. Aperture can also be used to control depth of field (how in or out of focus the background is)The smaller the opening the more clear the background is and the larger the opening the blurrier the background will be.

Shutter speed is also a relatively easy thing to understand. Where the aperture controls how much light reaches the sensor, the shutter speed controls how long the light reaches the sensor. So the brighter the light the less time you need and the darker the light the longer the shutter speed should be. The shutter speed is shown as fractions. so when you see 1/100 that means the shutter is open for 1/100 of a second 1/30 is 1/30th of a second and so on. There are also shutter speeds that look like this "6...That my friends is a 6 second shutter speed. With a slow shutter speed you have to keep the camera VERY still or things get blurry. So a tripod is needed or at least strongly advised . Shutter speed can be used to imply motion. You can use a slow shutter speed and a tripod to take a picture of a child running by and the child will appear streaky or you can pan the camera with the child and make the background streaky. Or you can use a fast shutter speed and freeze motion, showing off every drop of water from a splash or waterfall.

Now like I said AV and TV work together. Even the smallest aperture can result in an over exposed picture if the shutter speed is to slow. And the problem I have is the camera is stupid....It doesn't know what you have in mind for your picture. Say it's a beautiful day and you are out in a field full of flowers, and you spot a butterfly going from flower to flower... Well in order to draw attention to that butterfly in and amongst all of those flowers, you need to blur the background. In order to blur the back ground you need to open up your aperture but like I said...it's a bright sunny day and if you leave your camera in AV the camera will not account for the bright light when it auto adjusts the TV and your shot will be over exposed. You solve this problem by putting your camera into manual mode, and this is where I start to run into problems...I don't know if there is a formula or if it just requires a whole butt load of trial and error to learn, but I still don't just KNOW how to adjust the AV and the TV to work together with out taking a whole lot of crap shots first. (and I have to say I am so glad I am learning on a digital and not film lol) Some times I have to take pictures of the same thing 20 times to get the colors right or the contrast to where I like it. Some times I think that I have it but I realize that the depth of field is not where I want it and then I have to start all over.. Now when I am taking pictures of mountains or Beaches this doesn't really cause a problem but in portraiture this can really get to be a pain in the ass. Trying to get your kids to sit still in front of the Christmas tree while you are trying to speed up the shutter speed without underexposing the picture can take to long so the kids get fidgety and all hope is lost. So if there is anyone out there who knows of a formula or rule of thumb or  some trick I can use to speed up this process I would really love some advice. I feel like I have the cogs working separately in my head but when I try to mesh them to work together they slip or grind and I can't get them to click into place. Grrrrrrr it's so frustrating. 

Opinions and grains of salt

One of the first and hardest lessons to learn in photography is remembering that "art is subjective" This school that I am doing is a correspondence class (you send your pictures into a professional photog and they tell you what you can do better) and that can make it a little challenging to argue in defense of my pictures. It doesn't happen often. Normally I agree with the critiques and maybe even see them coming. But I have had a couple of photos that I was very proud of that were given a bad review.

This picture is one that I am very proud of. The assignment was to emphasize the subject by blurring the background.  The subject here is the baby's face. His expression, not the whole baby. The critique was that the baby was cute but "you cannot crop into the human body that much, especially the head" My thought are, that if I zoomed out to include the whole head, it would take away from his face. Maybe that's just me, but I know that this baby's mom loved this picture and I feel comfortable saying that if this had been a paying gig, this would be a photo that they would be happy to pay for. ( as a matter of fact I think the did pay for it on snapfish so there lmao)

  And then there are photos like these. I personally like this picture (obviously or I wouldn't have turned it in). The assignment was to emphasize the subject using size and off center placement. I was out for a walk at a local nature trail and I walked by this little grove of Quaking Aspen trees. The all had these "eyes" staring at me as I walked by. What I really wanted this picture to be was the one eye emphasized with the background slightly blurry, but I wanted the other trees eyes to be visible as well. As you can see my depth of field was a bit too shallow for the eyes in that background but having met the requirements of the assignment I chose to turn it in. The critique was "there should be more interesting lighting" (I can agree with that the picture is a bit flat) and "I should have turned the camera vertically because the tree grows up and down" Ok pump your breaks. I don't agree. This review came from the same man who told me that you camera should be turned the same direction as your subject (ie vertical for a water fall, horizontal for a truck) Well the subject here is the eye not the tree. Plus if I had turned the camera vertically, you would see less of the trees in the background.

The lesson learned here is, be objective. that even if it is a professional photographer critiquing your photos, take what they say with a grain of salt. Listen to the advise given and take that into account and if they don't love a picture that you do just remember, you could have 10 different photographers look at your picture and get 10 different responses.

Finding Photography

I LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY. I love it. I love that you can look at a good photograph and feel the emotion of it, or be amazed by something as simple as mushrooms. A good photograph is something that people can get lost in.

The challenge of photography is taking something as simple as mushrooms and making them amazing. Unfortunately it isn't as easy as walking to the local farmers market, pointing your camera at the mound of fungus and calling it a day. There is something else involved. I don't know what it is yet, but I am going to find it.

I know that there are people out there born with a talent for photography and I know that I am not one of these people, but I also know that I don't have to have to be born with talent if I am willing to work. I am currently a photography student and I am very excited about it, but it is turning out to be a lot more challenging than I thought. It's not just about the camera and what you can make it do, it is also about lighting and lines and things that I have minimal control over. I have to learn to see things differently and to be aware of how light hits things, the color of the light, the shadows that are cast. I also have the small issue of a lack of creativity lately. I am having an idea blockage and all the ideas I do have feel generic.

I have a lot of learning, working and developing in front of me, but I am teachable, willing and able to practice. I will find photography, it's just going to take me some time.