Photography Class Westbrook Community Center Class 3

If you are following my photography 101 class, this post is an update on last weeks class. 
We reviewed white balance, and learned how to read a histogram, and practiced with our camera's using shutter priority.  Here are a few photos provided by Heidi Espey, a student in the class, to help us understand shutter priority mode.  The first shot is on a shutter speed of 1/200, remember the camera picks the aperture of 5.6 and the motion is "frozen".  In the second shot we have a shutter of 1/8 of a second, and an aperture of F 14.  Both shots were taken with an ISO of 1600.  The major difference between these shots is in the second shot the shutter is open longer, letting in more light and capturing more movement.  Note, hand holding at 1/8 of a second is not recommended...nice shot Heidi!  (also, smaller aperture gives us greater depth of field in second shot...clearer background)

F 5.6 1/200  ISO 1600

F 14  1/8 sec  ISO 1600

 

In these next two shots we have an ISO of 6400...(all these photos were taken with a Canon EOS Rebel T3)...and please note noise is not an issue, even at ISO 6400.  Each shot captured at different shutter speeds to show movement. 

F 5.6  1/250  ISO 6400

F 10  1/60  ISO 6400

 

Here are a few more links that I provided to the students in the class, that go to one of my favorite websites when looking for tutorials.  Please check them out if you are interested in learning more on these topics.

http://digital-photography-school.com/aperture-and-shutter-priority-modes

Direct link to white balance http://digital-photography-school.com/introduction-to-white-balance

Histograms http://digital-photography-school.com/understanding-histograms

another great example of histograms and "blinky's" highlight menu. http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-read-and-use-histograms

Thanks to Heidi for providing these photos she took in class last week.

Hope you will return to my blog in a few days to view updates on my next class.  Thank you! 

 

 

Cats. A Maine Pet Photographer

I have so many beautiful cat photos, I thought it was time to share some with you again.  These photos were all taken this January at the Animal Refuge League.  Some have been adopted, some are still available for adoption.  Be sure to check the Animal Refuge League website if you are interested in any of these beautiful cats!

Bill

 Bennet

Frankie

Panda

 Shen

Bella

                                                                                                     Eli

Boston

 Furby

Noah

                                                                         J.Z.

Binx

Digital Photography 101 2nd Class Westbrook ME

Life is busy!  Life is good!  On a personal note, if you are a regular reader, you may recall I packed up my studio last November.  Since 50% of the work I do is on location, and the other 50% is from my laptop on my kitchen table, there really hasn't been a big change here that affects my photography business.  I am a bit inconvenienced that my "supplies" are scattered around the house a bit more, but in general it's business as usual.  In addition, I did purchase a new laptop last summer, with a bit more "cutting edge" photography software with the hopes that in the "slow" winter months I would be jumping on the learning curve in front of me and getting "smarter"...
...but with every good plan there comes a curve...in this case it is not a learning curve.  The reason I packed up my studio was so that we could turn that side of our house back into an income apartment, like it used to be...before it became my studio.  We've decided to buy a house...and to make all the numbers work better in the future...one of the options was to get some income coming in.  I'm probably repeating myself here, but to say I stretch myself in November and December is an understatement...and in addition to the usual caos of those months came lots of packing and remodeling.  Hubby is doing most of the remodeling...I'm just doing a lot of packing.  Just how much of my belongings gravitated to the other side of my house in 5+ years...?!

So, I'm happy to report that the light at the end of "this" remodel-packing phase is very visible.  We have a tenant all set to move in February 1st, and we will now begin the next phase of the curve which includes house hunting for a home and a studio space.  So where does that leave me with my new laptop and cutting edge photography software and personal learning curve?  Right here...at the kitchen table...for the time being anyways.

Now, to update you on what we covered in Digital Photography 101 during class 2.
We reviewed the exposure triangle.  We learned about some composition "rules" when photographing landscapes, and we learned about white balance.  I've copied and pasted some links on these topics from one of my favorite sites, Digital Photography School.  Here are two of the links, and a paragraph that I copied and pasted from the email I sent my students.

http://digital-photography-school.com/combining-rules-of-composition-to-improve-your-landscape-images

In addition, if you do get an opportunity to go and shoot outside in the snow on Tuesday, keep in mind that all of the white will fool with your settings! You may want to try taking some photos on auto, on aperture, and then on manual...because aperture is "semi-auto" the camera still picks the shutter for you...and your camera will be fooled by all of the snow and all of the light. Try it if you get a chance, and we can talk about it on Thursday.

Also, here is another DPS link, this one is about adjusting your white balance when photographing in the snow.

http://digital-photography-school.com/why-is-the-snow-in-my-pictures-so-blue

 

Learning when and how to adjust your white balance will change the way your photos look.  Here are a couple of samples.  Let me add, that your camera may give you many different options for fluorescent lighting...all of which may seem like a different language.  It's OK to play with these and pick what you like best.  In my first photo, I had my camera set to fluorescent #4.  I think it was still quite "blue" so I played with it a bit on my computer to "warm" it up.  Same with the last photo...taken on an "auto" white balance...still kinda "blue"...the snow photo at the beginning of this post is edited.

 

  

Digital Photography 101 Westbrook ME Part One

OK, so I promised to share here on my blog what I was covering in my digital photography class that I am teaching for 6 evenings this month.  My class started last week, I have 15 students!!  Wow...I'm not lying when I say I was both excited and nervous!  So, here's what I covered.

The exposure triangle.  Before you take your camera off of the auto mode, it's important to understand the exposure triangle, and how aperture, shutter, and ISO all work together.  We talked about how important it is to go through your camera manuals to learn how to adjust these elements.  15 students, all with different cameras, and varying knowledge of their cameras chews up an hour and a half pretty quickly...so if you wanted to be there but couldn't, I can share a link with you that will cover what we learned in week one.  You need to be sure to dig out your own camera manual and learn how to change the settings...then follow this link and learn all about the exposure triangle.  Also, I love DPS, (Digital Photography School) which is where this link is hosted.  I highly encourage you to sign up to receive their weekly emails if you desire to learn more about photography.  Lots of information right at your fingertips.  You can even read the forums, where people share their opinions.  It's easy to get bogged down in the forums.  I keep reminding myself to keep an open mind...there are some people who are not shy about sharing their opinions...and that doesn't mean you need to agree...use them for learning and be smart enough to not take any of the info personally. 

So without further delay, here's the link.  I challenge you to learn something new today!
http://digital-photography-school.com/learning-exposure-in-digital-photography

And, because I like to call this my "photo blog", I'm including a photo below, utilizing the exposure triangle.  This photo was taken, of the moon, in Naples FL, just a few weeks ago.  In order to get the details of the palm tree, I wanted a small aperture, I needed more light because it was dusk so I used an ISO of 800, and I needed a tripod and slow shutter speed of 1/1.6 of a second to let in more light with the small aperture.  It's not perfect, the night was overcast, but one of my photographic goals of this vacation was to get the moon and a palm tree in the same shot.

Joanne's Digital Photography Class 101

Did I make a New Year's Resolution?  Yes I did...in fact I made several...but we shall save that for another day.  Today I want to share with you that I have agreed to teach another photography class at the local community center.  So, if you were lucky enough to receive a nice new camera over the holidays, or if you already have a nice "fancy" camera that you would love to know how to work, then this class is for you.  We will talk about what you need to know to create great photos, and how to get your camera off the auto mode and start controlling it yourself.  It's a six week course, from 6:30-8 every Thursday evening beginning this coming Thursday January 10th.  This is a hands on class, with individual practice on your part outside of class.  Like anything you want to get good at, you must practice.  There will be no extra material to read (just your own manual)...and I should warn you I teach by using examples...sometimes as they occur to me...not a hugely structured class...we all learn together as situations occur that make learning easy.  So if you live locally, please sign up for my class!  Here is the link.  http://www.westbrookcommunitycenter.org/info/activities/program_details.aspx?ProgramID=29253

Here are a couple of email comments I received after the last class, and in part are why I agreed to do it again.

Most of the time I had my camera set to manual and paid close attention to the meter. I never would have been able to do that before I took your class!!! I have learned a lot about photography with you....and still have a lot more to learn. The links you have sent and all the links connected with them will keep me busy studying photography for a long time to come!! I am so appreciative!!

and

I am the student with the new Nikon 1J1 and I don't think I can adjust my camera for Aperture, shutter speed and ISo from what I can tell from my manual. I think it is mostly automatic. I am going online for more info on that. So maybe I am in the wrong class. But I would like to continue, as I am learning good stuff

I too will get better with practice.  This is not a college level course or even a high school level course.  No grading will occur.  It's designed for the individual who simply wants to learn about what they can do with their fancy camera but hasn't had the desire to read the manual and would rather learn in a hands on way!

This is my second time teaching this class.  The first time around I told my readers here that I would cover the weekly material each week here on my blog...but that didn't happen...so although we are not talking about my New Year's Resolutions here today, one of them is to be true to my blog on a weekly basis, so this time around I will keep you all updated.  That's a New Years resolution promise!

Here are some sample photos from last falls class.  With each photo I have added the name of the person who took it, and info about it.  If you don't understand the info on the photo, then this class is for you!

 Joanne Kingsley 1/1000 sec f/5 ISO 200 Shutter Priority

Francine Baltos  1/15 sec f/11  ISO 400 Shutter Priority

 

 Theresa Brackett 1/125 sec f/4 ISO 250 Rule of Thirds

Carol Regan  Manual Mode  1/125 sec  f/8  ISO 100 Rule of Thirds 

 

 Dorothy Lepage 1/320 sec f/9 ISO 250  Depth of Field

Maureen Regan  1/640 sec f/5.3  ISO 100